A/N: Happy Easter! Yes, even though it was yesterday.
Nanoha closed her eyes in deep concentration as she hovered far above the smoke cover of Uminari City, silently wracking her brains for help. Despite knowing that Zafira and Erio were right next to her, the Ace of Aces felt quite alone in her thoughts. Throughout the last twenty four hours, she had been trying to work out how the Bureau would be able to escape this alternate version of Mid-childa and return to their own world, all without any success. There were simply too many threats looming on the horizon and too many factors to take into account, each of which could help make or break their current situation...
After listening to Yuuno's in-depth explanation, however, she knew how to do it now. Or rather, she didn't. Now that Nanoha had heard the full story and discovered exactly what had to be achieved – and established that these criteria had to be fulfilled if the TSAB was going to have any chance of getting back home – the combat mage still didn't have much of a clue of how to actually do any of it. If anything, it made their situation seem even more hopeless, because accomplishing so much with the few mages they had with them seemed practically impossible. Even so, Yuuno had seemed absolutely convinced that it could be done. Perhaps he knew something about their chances of success that they didn't?
All right, let's get this straight, the Ace of Aces thought to herself, struggling to cope with each and every one of the seemingly impossible tasks that faced the Bureua. Maybe she could turn this into some kind of checklist. First and foremost, we have to get to the root of the problem and defeat Oguba. But how does that even make sense? Oguba is a Lost Logia, meaning that he can't be killed or destroyed – and even if that were possible, how would doing so help to bring us back to our own universe again? Yuuno said that I would have to reverse the process, but surely I'm still going to need some of Oguba's powers to do that...oh, this is just too confusing. Maybe I should think about the other points.
Defeat Grylmark as well. None of us know a single thing about him after all this time, although I know that Tiana has had more experience in fighting him than the rest of us. If Oguba is defeated, what's going to happen to Grylmark? According to what Yuuno told us, he has a much stronger connection to time magic than anyone else who took up the same contract...
All of the other points are about mastering time magic itself: ensuring that we go back to the right time period and the right universe, and that we all go back at once. Surely I'll need Oguba's magic to do that, right? How am I supposed to do that after we've somehow defeated him? Do I have to accomplish all this in a different order?
It's Oguba who I have to really worry about, Nanoha decided. He's the source of the problem, just like Yuuno said, and the whole reason why we're in this situation. If I can only work out how I'm going to deal with him, then everything else should fall into place; the rest of the Bureau can help me out in dealing with Grylmark and any other enemies that might obstruct us. As for finding Fate and Vita and the rest of our friends who are still missing, the Wolkenritter is already working on that. We're still making progress.
For a moment, the face of another sinister foe came into her head, filling the combat mage's mind with unease: the veiled woman who had taken Fate away, a mage of great power who had wielded such unnatural energies and virtually destroyed Nanoha's Barrier Jacket in the process. Back then, the combat mage had been at a loss to fight such an opponent, and even now knew that she might not to be able to survive a second encounter. She could only hope that the veiled woman didn't make another appearance any time soon, or everything that the TSAB had worked so hard for was in danger of falling to pieces. Nanoha knew it was a slim risk at best, but there was nothing else she could do. Their forces were already spread pretty thinly as it was.
In the meantime, she had put her faith in Rein and Agito to continue the search for Fate. Even now, the two unison devices would be doing their best to find the Enforcer and bring everyone back to the same place. In addition, Signum and Shamal were keeping tabs on Vita's situation.
So far, so good. Who else was still missing? Subaru and Caro, and then Tiana -
Nanoha reacted with a start as the sharpshooter's name entered her head, whirling around quickly in the air. She'd thought there had been something familiar in the air around her, but hadn't realised the signal would be so far down towards the ground. Now it made a lot more sense...
"Everyone stay right here," she said to the Bureau mages with her, all of whom were looking at her in surprise at her sudden movement. "I have to go down to pick someone up. I'll be right back."
"Nanoha?" Yuuno questioned, looking puzzled. "Wait, you can't - "
But she had already plunged down into the thick layer of smoke that covered the city, keeping her eyes closed and holding her breath as she used her sensory magic to feel her way forward through the fumes. Seconds later, Nanoha felt herself break free of the black cloud, and quickly decreased her speed to bring herself down safely towards the ruined streets of Uminari City. Here was a sight that the smoke had hidden from her. Even if the skies had been completely clear, it would have been difficult to spot anyone on the ground from such a great height.
The Ace of Aces surveyed the area shortly, a sadness gripping her when she saw what kind of state this part of the city was in. Every single building on the ground had either been reduced to rubble by the main force of the rebellion, or burned to ashes from the raging flames. It wasn't too far away from where she'd found Fate, interestingly enough, but the combat mage had no time to think about that now. There was a reason why she'd come down to this location specifically.
A solitary young mage was standing a little further down the street, looking up at the smoke with a dismayed expression on her face. Nanoha's heart raced in anticipation when she saw her, knowing at once that this was the source of the faint signal she'd managed to latch onto. Caught up in Yuuno's wave of revelations, she had almost missed it completely...
"Tiana!" she cried, her feet touching the ground lightly as she rushed towards her. "Tiana, are you okay?"
There was no doubt about it: the person in front of her was the orange-haired sharpshooter of the TSAB, the young mage with whom Nanoha had parted ways at the perimeter of Uminari City in accordance with her own safety. The Ace of Aces felt a great relief at seeing that the forward was alive and well; as far as she could tell, Tiana didn't have any visible injuries. But how had she managed to make it all the way over here without using levitation magic?
"Nanoha?" Tiana spluttered. She had turned around in a flash at the sound of the combat mage's voice, her eyes widening in disbelief. "Is...is that really you?"
"Of course it's me." Nanoha came to a slow stop in front of her, smiling as she offered her hand towards her. Even so, concern lingered in the combat mage's soft blue eyes, knowing that the forward would not have come all the way here for nothing. "What are you doing down here, Tiana? Did something happen?"
Tiana shook her head in response. "No, I'm fine. I was just worried when you didn't return for so long, Nanoha... I thought you might be in trouble, or that you needed my help. So I tried to follow you by tracking your magic, but then..."
The Ace of Aces gazed at her with a mixture of amazement and respect, as well as feeling an uncomfortable pang in the pit of her stomach. In a way, Tiana was quite right about her needing help; the attack on Nanoha's life by the veiled woman had left the mage temporarily helpless and vulnerable. She had been very fortunate that the Wolkenritter had arrived in time to assist her, or things might have taken an even sharper turn for the worst.
As for leaving the sharpshooter on the rooftop like that...Nanoha felt another mild wave of guilt wash over her. Yes, it was true that she had intended to go back to get Tiana some time ago,but something had always come up at the last minute to prevent her from going anywhere. She had managed to find Fate again, which was enough to turn Nanoha's mind blank for any reason, and then the veiled woman had shown up and attacked her, and then the Wolkenritter had arrived, and then Yuuno...
Yuuno, she thought quickly. I have to get back to him right now. He only has a limited amount of time here before the communication link starts breaking down. But didn't he say he'd already finished telling us everything that was really important?
She was also impressed by what Tiana had achieved by her own efforts. The forward had made her way down a high-storey roof and tracked her all the way across Uminari City to their current location on foot, whilst also avoiding any sign of the rebellion. Nanoha had already known that Tiana was quite resourceful, but this went beyond the standards of any normal Bureau trainee. A lot of extra time had been saved in the long run, and that was especially important when the lives of your friends were on the line. If only they were back in their own world right now, Nanoha would have made sure that Tiana received a definite commendation for her work in the field; the sharpshooter had already proved herself enough times. In the circumstances, however, that would have to wait until they returned back home – if they made it back, that is.
"Tiana, I'm sorry," the combat mage said sadly. "A lot of things have been happening lately and I wasn't able to come back for you when I wanted to. I ended up leaving you alone by yourself, and it was really brave of you to come all the way here." She looked the sharpshooter in the eyes. "Tiana, I'm really proud of you for making it this far on your own. Not many others in the Bureau could have done it."
The orange-haired forward flushed a little and turned her gaze away. "It's okay," she mumbled. "I just...I was just worried to see if you might need my - " Tiana's face shifted to one side for a moment, and suddenly anxiety flew back into her eyes. "Nanoha!" she cried out in alarm.
"What is it?"
"Your – your Barrier Jacket!" The forward had caught sight of the Ace of Aces' crumbling armour up close."It looks like it's about to fall apart!"
"Oh, this," the combat mage said a little off-handedly, able to relax despite herself. She put on a confident face, ignoring the uncertainty brewing deep down inside her. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."
"How will you be fine?" The sharpshooter had gone pale upon seeing the state of her uniform. "If there's someone out there who can do this kind of damage to you - "
"Tiana, please. I said I'll be fine." Nanoha rose up in the air, pulling her along with her as the forward took her hand. The doubt and worry had still not completely faded from her eyes, however. "We have to get going. There's been a lot of new developments since the two of us last saw each other, and I don't think I have the time to explain it all again. But the way things are, it looks like we might have a chance to get back to our own universe at last." A warm smile lit the mage's features at the prospect, but she didn't let it slow her down. "Right now, we have to go back and see how things stand with Yuuno. I don't think he's going to be able to stay here for much longer, so we'd better make it quick."
"Yuuno...?"
"It's a long story," the Ace of Aces said quickly. If she tried to go into any more detail about everything that was going on at the moment then they would probably be here forever. "I'll tell you about it once we've got some time to spare, Tiana. But you should know that all of the Wolkenritter are here as well, even those who didn't come through the wormhole with us. We also think that Hayate might be out there somewhere, because she disappeared from our universe along with everyone else."
Tiana shook her head in complete bewilderment. "I am so confused," she confessed.
"I know. It's fine." The combat mage accelerated up to the cover of smoke coming towards them. "Hold your breath."
The orange-haired sharpshooter quickly complied just before Nanoha propelled the two of them upwards at a steep vertical slant which took nearly all of her breath away. She felt the air pressure rapidly increase upon her body, forcing out what little air remained in her lungs, and only the mage's firm grip on her hand kept her moving through the fumes. Moments later, however, the grip of the smoke on the forward's skin had disappeared and the dark cloud was left behind them for the last time. When Tiana opened her eyes again, gasping fresh air into her system, she found that Nanoha had brought her up into the clear, open skies above Uminari City where the winds raced at her back. It was such an enormous relief to be free of the choking smog once and for all.
As the Ace of Aces continued to fly her up to an even greater altitude, Tiana had to force herself not to look down. If she fell from this kind of height, even her Anchor Shot wouldn't be able to save her. No, she was just being silly, worrying about things like that: Nanoha wasn't about to drop her or anything.
"All right, we're back," the combat mage said, as they rejoined Zafira, Erio and Yuuno in the open sky. Fortunately, the makeshift time portal was still active, though there were noticeable flickers of distortion around its edges that had not been there before. It seemed that Yuuno's communication link with them was gradually becoming more unstable with every minute that passed, but at least he was still there.
"Tiana!" Erio exclaimed atop Zafira's back when he saw Nanoha flying her back towards their group. "Tiana, you're okay!"
"I don't know what's going on," the sharpshooter grumbled at everyone in general. "What is Zafira doing here? Why is - " She blinked at the sight of the hologram of the researcher's face, hovering in mid-air before her. "Why is Yuuno in a portal in the middle of - "
Nanoha hushed her with a wave of her hand. "I already told you that I'd explain it to you later, Tiana," she said. "We don't have that kind of time right now."
"Just roll with it for the meantime," Zafira affirmed. He turned to the Ace of Aces and dropped his voice into a much more serious tone, speaking to her directly. "Nanoha – about what Yuuno just told us. About what you're supposed to do..."
"I'm aware of what's involved," the combat mage replied swiftly.
"Are you really fine with this, Nanoha?" the Guardian Beast said concernedly. "It just sounds like such a mammoth task, even for you."
"I know. That's because it's not something I can do by myself. I'm going to need all of your help for this." Her own confidence and resolve surprised her, so free of the doubt and uncertainty which had gripped her just minutes ago. Now that Nanoha had had some time to think through Yuuno's suggestions very thoroughly, the task at hand no longer seemed so impossible. She'd split everything into smaller pieces that were much easier to tackle, and had soon realised why the researcher had been convinced that success was quite feasible. Even so, they couldn't afford to mess this up, not even for a minute; there was a set path to follow, like Yuuno said, one that they must absolutely not deviate from.
"I think I can deal with Oguba, somehow," the Ace of Aces said, her eyes bright. "I don't know how I'm going to do it quite yet, but I'll think of something. However, I'm going to need all of you with me – Signum, Shamal, Fate, Agito, Rein, Zafira, Erio, and you too, Tiana – everyone here and any missing members of the Bureau that we find along the way. Every last person that can help us out in any way could make a huge difference to what we're doing here. It's not going to be easy, not a single bit of it, but somehow...I think it can still be done. We just have to keep our act together."
Her gaze was compelling and charismatic, gathering the attention of all the mages around her. "I have to know that I can count on absolutely everybody to stand with me," she said softly. "The stakes have risen too high to act in any other way. Without the co-operation of every member of the TSAB who is with us today, we won't have a chance of making it back home."
"Of course we'll help," Erio said at once, pushing forward excitedly over the Guardian Beast's shoulder. "We're all in this together."
"Everyone in Riot Force 6 has your complete support, Nanoha," Zafira said with deep understanding. "You know that. Just tell us what you need us to do, and - "
"Nanoha."
The four of them turned around sharply as Yuuno's voice suddenly echoed from within the glowing time portal. The researcher's voice seemed so much weaker now, with crackles of static filling the air as the communication link gradually began to break down. Slowly but surely, they were beginning to lose him.
"Nanoha," Yuuno said in a low, urgent whisper. "I need you to come here..."
Quickly, the combat mage made haste to draw closer to the portal. A strange feeling of unease had passed over her mind, not too different from the familiar feelings of dread that she had experienced with Oguba before. The researcher wasn't talking as if he had good news to tell them, that much was for sure.
"I'm right here, Yuuno," she said, hovering in front of the portal. "What is it? You said that you had already told us everything that was important."
"I had thought so, too," the researcher said quietly, "but a new unexpected discovery has recently come to my attention. So there is still one last thing I have to tell you, Nanoha."
The distorted image of the researcher in the portal wore a very troubled expression indeed, from what Nanoha could see of him. Yuuno looked like he had discovered something truly life-changing, something so awful that it championed everything else he had told them so far. What else could he possibly have to tell them? This couldn't get much worse, could it?
"As you know, I have been analysing the most recent streams of data received from this alternate universe that you're trapped in," Yuuno explained. "There...have been some very radical changes occurring within your general time period. I didn't think to check it before, Nanoha. I'm sorry." Regret loomed tightly in his face as he continued to avoid her questioning stare towards him. "I...I admit that I hadn't thought it would actually come to this. Events should not have escalated this far already..."
"What are you trying to say, Yuuno?" Zafira pressed with a tinge of impatience. The communication link was still fading, cutting into the few precious seconds that they had with him. "Tell us what it is."
"Remember how I told you about how this artificial gateway was constructed?" the researcher asked. "Initially, Mariel and I started it from the remnants of Oguba's magic that were left behind – residue that came from your portal, Nanoha. In other words, a small amount of time magic is present within this portal through which I'm speaking to you now. With time magic, you can extend your reach out to a great variety of different eras: past, present and future.
"As I said before, I was able to maintain a link with the alternate Mid-childa and receive a generous amount of data from the other side. However, when you put time magic into the combination...not all of that information would be arriving from the present. I know for a fact that some of it was coming from the past, telling me about the history of this alternate universe, but it was garbled and difficult to analyze." The holographic image flickered for a tense few seconds, but then came back again. "The rest of the information...must have come from the future."
Nanoha stared at him in wonder, not sure if she had understood this correctly. "You were receiving data from the future?" she said, "The future of this Mid-childa?"
"Yes. I even managed to calculate the difference in time between each new update of information. And...Nanoha, I'm sorry. I really am." Yuuno raised his face up to look her straight in the eyes, tension and fear slanting out across his own features. "Within a certain interval of time, the data that came from the future...it began to disappear without any warning. For some unknown reason, I wasn't able to receive it anymore. The flow of information simply ceased, even though the stream of past and present data kept on going as normal."
The combat mage glanced towards Zafira, Erio and Tiana for a possible simplified explanation. They all shook their heads, not understanding this any more than she was. Where was all of this leading up to?
"Come again?" Erio hazarded.
"There can only be one reason why I stopped receiving data from a certain point in the future," the researcher said. "And that is because...at that point in time, there was no longer any data left to receive. The timeline itself must have ended."
"Ended?" Nanoha repeated sharply, her heart skipping a beat. "What do you mean, ended? Time can't come to an end. It just keeps going on and on, forever."
"Yes, that is true, but for all purposes and appearances there was no longer a future to receive any information from," Yuuno said grimly. "Time moves on, but not everything moves along with it. The data I receive is generated from the movements of people, the passing of important events in the time-space continuum, and generally the living consistency of Mid-childa itself. A stream of life, in other words." He looked directly at the combat mage, and the feeling of dread within her rose to a new high, as if she already knew what he was going to say. "At a set point in the future, not too far from now...all of that will inevitably come to an end. It would certainly not be a survivable environment."
"Yuuno, what exactly are you talking about?" Zafira asked. "We don't have time to decipher your scientific essays. Just tell us - "
But Nanoha realised that she already knew what the researcher was trying so desperately to tell them. All the pieces had been there from the start, but it was only now that they had the means to fit them all together. Streams of information, received from the other side of Yuuno's portal, captured from the past, present and future: they were connected as surely as life and death. If all the streams from the future had really terminated, then that meant -
"I know what he's saying," she said breathlessly. "He's saying that this world is going to come to an end."
She saw the shock hit everyone in an instant, reverberating through every mage around her as she summarised all of Yuuno's revelations in a single, powerful sentence. The literal end of the world and all life as they knew it. Apocalypse. Hadn't enough happened to this version of Mid-childa to make it a living hell already? The constant wars from centuries ago, the Harlaown Program, the beginning of the civil war which took the lives of countless citizens and spread destruction across the entire continent...
Thinking about it now, Nanoha wondered if she couldn't see a pattern between all of these individual events. There was no direct force or ultimate evil which threatened the existence of the planet, no malevolent being which had come out of the blue to destroy everything. No, it was as if Mid-childa itself had been deteriorating from the very start, gradually plunging further and further downhill until there was no longer any other way out...
"Nanoha is right," Yuuno said, his face a mask of tightly controlled emotion. "Every timestream from now on will terminate at a specific point in the future, a point at which the alternate Mid-childa will no longer be in existence. I've been trying to find out what could be causing this directly, but..." He sighed, looking quite distraught. "Unfortunately, I haven't had much success in that. All I know is that the catastrophe will occur at a set event in time – which means that you can't prevent it from happening, no matter what you do. The only thing you can do is try and escape back to your own universe before this ticking time-bomb counts down completely and erases everything for good."
Tiana's face was white with horror, mirroring the thoughts of everyone else. "The world's really going to end?" she said in a small voice. "You can't just know that for sure - " The sharpshooter trailed off when she saw the seriousness of Yuuno's face, knowing then that the situation was deadly serious. "But...but why – how? There's nothing to show that anything is going to – I mean, what's going to happen? Is it a huge attack from somewhere else? Is a giant asteroid going to hit the planet or something?"
"If I knew the answers to these kinds of questions," the researcher said sadly, "then I would have told them to you already. My streams of data have gone dead by then, Tiana, preventing me from gathering sufficient evidence."
"Is it a bomb?" Erio asked desperately. "Alien attack? Oguba himself, blowing up the planet with time magic?"
"That last one is physically impossible," Yuuno answered. "I'm sorry that I can't be of any more help to you. This is all the information I have."
Nanoha had forcibly turned away from everyone else, trying to think. There was something else going on here that they had missed, something which must have started off as relatively minor. This version of Mid-childa was apparently on the verge of destruction at a specific point in the future, and Yuuno wasn't able to work out why – despite receiving countless streams of information leading up to then. He should have some kind of clue, because it didn't make any sense otherwise. Unless...
Unless this apocalyptic catastrophe is going to happen so suddenly and without warning that no evidence at all is left to remain. Even Yuuno wouldn't be able to divine the cause by then. In which case...
"Yuuno," she said slowly. "Could it be a dimensional distortion?"
Tiana, Zafira and Erio all froze in their tracks when they heard this. For a split second, the general sense of panic that had taken over the mages began to break apart and falter, leaving space for some kind of understanding of the situation.
"A dimensional distortion?" Yuuno frowned, the surprise in his voice quite evident. "I hadn't thought of that. No signs of external factors, a very brief lifespan with a huge amount of time magic concentrated inside the existential plane..." His green eyes lit up as the Ace of Aces turned back towards him. "Yes, I think you could be onto something there, Nanoha! It all fits perfectly. A dimensional distortion could result if the current time-space continuum becomes too unstable, caused by the presence of multiple time streams from another universe residing there for too long..."
"Multiple time streams?" Zafira said uncertainly, trying to keep up.
"Oh, my apologies for not explaining before. The multiple time streams would be the Bureau itself. As in, all of you guys." Yuuno tried a friendly smile, although he looked more relieved just to be able to work out what the source of the catastrophe was. "There is a set flow residing within every possible universe, you see. A person who travels through time and space would disrupt the general flow so that that universe could accommodate them. After all, they're not supposed to be there in the first place, and there are various factors like body mass which can cause a mess. That's before you even think about changing history...
"If one person travels through time by themselves and does something like that, then it doesn't seem to be too bad. A minimal amount of damage will be done, and the universe can continue to support everything just fine. But now..." The researcher spread his hands out in front of him as far as he could within in the portal, a look of extraordinary discovery in his green eyes. "Now almost all of Riot Force 6 is already inside the alternate Mid-childa! There are so many of you on that side of the portal, and Grylmark and Oguba aren't making matters any easier. Besides, the longer you stay there, the worse it gets. The state of the universe isn't going to be able to last for too long at that rate..." He shook his head wearily, not looking too hopeful himself. "The only reason I know all this is because I've had the last few years to study Oguba's power extensively by myself. Beyond that, I can only theorise."
"So it's our fault?" Erio said hotly. "This world is going to be destroyed because too many Bureau mages got sucked through that wormhole at the same time? And because we've been here too long?"
We're the cause, Nanoha thought dizzily. Without even knowing it, our presence in this alternate world changing a lot of significant events and indirectly caused so much of what is happening now...Is it any coincidence that Chrono survived for so many years as Commander of the Harlaown Program, despite the amount of resistance he faced, yet died just a day after meeting me? Maybe it wouldn't have happened if I hadn't visited him at the palace. Maybe the rebellion wouldn't have been triggered off in the first place...
No. She couldn't keep blaming herself for things which were beyond her control. None of this was through any fault of her own. She hadn't asked to be thrust through that wormhole into this alien world – she hadn't asked to be separated from Fate! Yes, the state of this universe had been rendered extremely unstable, because so many Bureau mages from another dimension were centred around the same place. But that wasn't anything she had any power over. If anything, she had been doing her very best to get everyone out as fast as possible!
"This isn't our fault, Erio," the combat mage said determinedly. "None of this was our fault. It was Oguba's actions which led to this mess in the first place, and now we're just going to have to make our own way out of it." Surprisingly enough, Nanoha didn't see any reason to freak out or start panicking like everyone around her. In fact, she felt incredibly calm, almost as if there was nothing wrong at all. "So the world's going to end," she said simply. "We'll just have to deal with it, I guess. And I believe you, Yuuno, when you say that we can't change any of what's going to happen."
"The Bureau has resided in this universe for too long, Nanoha," the researcher replied. "It was only a matter of time."
"All right, just wait a second here," Zafira interrupted, holding one hand up. "Nanoha, there's going to be a dimensional destruction. The world's going to end. What do you mean, "we'll just have to deal with it"? This isn't just a minor problem! How can you stay so calm?"
The Ace of Aces shrugged. "I don't feel like panicking, Zafira. I don't feel like losing my head and watching the rest of the Bureau do the same. Maybe it's because the scale of such a catastrophe has overwhelmed me. Or maybe..." She took a deep breath, feeling as if she could see everything unfolding ahead of her in one fluid motion. "Maybe it's because by the time the world does end, it won't make much of a difference. All we have to do is escape back to our own universe before the dimensional distortion comes to pass. The only thing that's changed is the amount of time we've got left to do it in. And speaking of time..." She turned back to the hologram of the researcher in the time portal, preparing herself. "Yuuno. There's just one thing I want to know."
"What is it?" the researcher enquired.
She came forward determinedly, knowing that the answer to this could spell their fate. Even if the TSAB used the best possible strategy available to them, it could still all be for naught. Because if they didn't have enough time in the world to escape...
"When is this dimensional distortion going to occur, Yuuno?" Nanoha said. "How far ahead in the future do all of these timestreams suddenly start ending?" If it had already started happening... "Just how much time have we got to escape this universe before everything is totally destroyed?"
Yuuno hesitated for a split second, and the hologram flickered in and out as the communication link wavered. Fortunately, he was still able to stay online.
"There's a time difference," he replied. "I'm speaking from another universe five years in the future, so it is only expected. However...my readings all cease at exactly 3:39pm where I am. I can't say what the time will be at your side..."
Erio raised the wrist of his right hand, where his watch was attached. "You need to know what time it is over here?"
"You came through a wormhole from another dimension, Erio," Zafira said to him patiently. "Your watch isn't going to show the same time after travelling across light-years of time and space."
Tiana drew herself to gather everybody's attention. "It's about a quarter to midday," she ventured helpfully.
The other mages looked at the sharpshooter quizzically, as if unsure whether she was being serious or not.
"Tiana, this is pretty important to all of us," Zafira said irritably. "You can't just guess off the top of your head."
"I'm not guessing," the orange-haired forward replied tersely. "I've been keeping track from the time that the rebellion started, because I remember Nanoha talking about how we didn't have much time to find Fate. That was from half ten to eleven."
Without even noticing, Tiana realised that she really did have a precise idea of the amount of time had passed since then. Going by the amount of time it had taken her to track Grylmark down across Uminari City, and then backtracking back to Nanoha's trail...yes, she recalled it correctly now. There had been a clock in the house she had seen Elsie in.
"The sun's almost directly overhead, which means it's close to midday," she went on. "When I was following Nanoha's magic, I had to use Cross Mirage to adjust the angle at which I kept my scope in sight. The sun was coming through the smoke at almost the same angle as when I started out, but over an hour has already passed. So a quarter to midday would be a good estimate."
The sharpshooter paused for a moment and saw that Zafira and Erio were looking over at her with varying degrees of suspicion and confusion reflected in their faces. She figured that she'd already lost the two of them whilst trying to explain, and decided to give up on that route. Sometimes it really did get too technical.
"There was also a clock in a house that I passed through on the way," Tiana said instead. "That's how I know."
Erio let out a sigh of relief, his face clearing. "Oh, I see." Then he frowned. "Wait, you were in somebody's house?"
"I thought Grylmark was in there. He wasn't." The sharpshooter sighed. "That part really isn't very important..."
Zafira scratched his head thoughtfully, weighing in each part of her story. Eventually, however, he seemed relatively satisfied with it. "It is true that the sun is almost directly overhead," the Guardian Beast admitted. "We'll go for 11:45am, then. It's close enough. What about your side, Yuuno?"
"The time here is currently 12:40pm."
There was a subdued silence as everyone started to compute the maths of the situation in their heads. Quarter to twelve in this universe. Twenty to one in Yuuno's universe. The difference in time wouldn't be a hundred percent accurate, given that the communication link was taking place across the whole of time and space itself, but...as long as everything was kept in relative to one another, it should still add up correctly.
"So you're fifty five minutes ahead of us," Nanoha said aloud. "And the timestreams all terminate at 3:39pm on your side. Which means..."
"2:45pm in your universe," the researcher responded. "That's when everything ends."
The other Bureau mages stared at each other in horror, realising what this meant. The amount of time that was left remaining until the dimensional distortion occurred was...
"That's exactly three hours away from now," Tiana whispered. "That's how long we've got."
Three hours, the Ace of Aces thought. Her mind was spinning with this last essential piece of information. Three hours to unite the entire Bureau, defeat Oguba and master time magic once and for all. That's all we have to do. If we don't make it by then, we won't be going home at all.
No, we can do this. We can still do this! Even if Fate, Vita, Subaru and Caro are still missing...it can all be done within three hours. Just because there's a time limit doesn't mean I'm going to give up now! If we just admit defeat before we've even started, then what have we got to hope for? This is the Time-Space Administration Bureau, after all. I'm not about to let anyone down, no matter what.
"There's no more time to lose, then," Nanoha said fiercely. "The clock's ticking. Let's move!"
Rein and Agito flew side by side towards the western districts of Uminari City, keeping a sharp look-out for anything out of the ordinary as they continued the search for Fate's whereabouts. The smog had settled just below the two unison devices and had had no further ill-effects, but even so it had not been easy to sweep such a large area. Here, the presence of the rebellion was particularly prominent, and the air was rife with gunfire and explosions at a near-constant rate. It was difficult to concentrate on picking up any kind of magic-imbued trail when it felt like somebody was about to shoot you down any second.
Biting down her frustration, Agito gradually increased her altitude above the storm of bullets, compelling Rein to rise with her. Despite their combined efforts in searching as much of the city as they could, the two of them had still found no trace of the Enforcer at all. There were still many far-off districts that they had yet to cover, but energy was already running low from constant mana consumption; deep down, Agito knew that they would not be able to continue like this for much longer. Sooner or later, she and Rein would be forced to admit defeat and turn back.
Where are you, Fate? Where did you go?
The ground below her shuddered from the impact of another violent explosion – probably a tank or artillery cannon firing upon the other side of the war – and a great billow of smoke rose up, serving only to irritate her further. These were not adequate conditions for any kind of search-and-rescue operation. In addition, it shouldn't normally be this difficult: she and Rein weren't looking for an ordinary civilian caught in the smoke of the conflict, devoid of any magical aura to be detected. No, Fate's field of magic would be giving off a powerful web of golden magic, which should be visible to any mage from nearly half a mile away. How, then, had the Enforcer simply disappeared into thin air like that?
"Agito?"
She reacted with a start as Rein touched her on the shoulder, breaking through what was left of her concentration. Agito opened her mouth to snap at her irritably, but then saw the concern in her blue eyes and quickly swallowed the words forming in her throat. This was not the time for argument.
"I'm running low on energy, Agito," the blue-haired unison device said. "We both are. I know you don't want to hear this, but - "
"We're not giving up," she said angrily. "Nanoha is counting on us!"
Rein sighed. "Yes, she is. But if we don't break off the search now, then neither of us will have enough energy left to keep on flying. I don't want to call this off any more than you do, Agito, but...we don't have a choice anymore. This is just taking too long. Wherever Fate is, she's far out of our reach."
The redhead balled her hands into fists, fuming. As much as she hated to admit it, her companion was rationally correct. She and Rein wouldn't be able to go on for much longer like this, and even Agito felt worn out from using her magic for so long. Had it really all been for nothing? She had Rein had tried their very best, but had their best not been enough? The rest of the Wolkenritter had had no luck in finding the Enforcer either, no matter how hard they tried...maybe they had all been mistaken. Maybe Fate really wasn't in Uminari City any more, and they were just wasting their time...
No, Agito thought stubbornly, refusing to leave it like that. Even if Fate has left the city, she would leave some kind of trail. Something visible to the human eye which was -
Wait a second. Visible to the human eye? Technically neither she or Agito were human, but if you kept everything in perspective...The unison device's face cleared in sudden understanding. Holding her breath, she grabbed Rein's hand and dived down through the thick smoke with another word.
"Agito, what are you – agh!"
We missed something, the red-haired unison device thought. We were relying on our own magic for so long that we missed something really important!
Ignoring her gut instinct to push through the smog as quickly as possible, Agito reached out instead with her own senses towards the other side of the suffocating fumes – not with her magic as she had been doing all this time, but with the physical sight of her eyes. For a single, petrified second, nothing new happened at all, and she began to fear that she had made the wrong choice.
And then she saw it. Through the smoke, concealed in a tight gap of magically-compressed air, was a small filtered glow that seeped in from beyond by a miniscule amount. Hidden in the toxic cloud like this, it would have been obscured from view both above and below. A blind spot on the radar of any mage. Agito's eyes burned as she gazed upon this tiny beacon of hope, exposed and vulnerable like this, but she endured the pain and flew outwards to follow the glowing light...
The two unison devices emerged through the unique opening in the smoke through the gap, hacking and coughing. The eerie magical glow had grown greater now they were able to see it properly. Yes, it was definitely magic, though not of any kind that Agito had encountered before.
There.
A shimmering shield, wrapping around the roof of what appeared to be...a great mansion, up ahead in one of the faraway districts of the city. It wasn't too far away from their current location, but it would take some extra time to get there. There was still no sign of Fate's unique magic in the area, but it was something to follow. What kind of magic was this, that it could escape detection from the Wolkenritter?
"What did you just do?" Rein managed, holding onto her for balance. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw the faraway barrier surrounding the House of Testarossa, and she pointed at it nervously. "What...what is that?"
Agito shook her head. "No idea. But it's the only lead we've got." The fiery unison device flew forward determinedly, prepared for anything. "Come on! Let's check it out."
Pain lanced up and down Signum's body as she hovered in the sky barely a few metres above the ground. Her eyes were squeezed shut and her muscles tightly locked in place, braced for the terrific impact. Minutes before, this area around Grylmark's hospital facility had been perfectly peaceful, but that had been before the unprovoked attack by Srethis' and Ungore's mutated hybrid form as they suddenly appeared in the sky behind her, attacking her with such speed and ferocity that Laevatein had been dashed from her hands. Her levitation magic had been completely de-activated in the process, ensuring that Signum had been sent down towards the ground at a deathly speed...
The pink-haired swordswoman eased her eyes open suspiciously. Considering the speed that she had been travelling at, she was very surprised to not have hit anything. The force of the hybrid's fist against her armour had crippled her in mid-air; contrary to the standard laws of physics, however, it had not buried her deep underground in a crater the size of your regular neighbourhood.
Ugh. What just happened?
With Srethis' and Ungore's sudden departure from the scene, her flying magic had no longer been suppressed. It had returned to aid her in the nick of time, holding her up off the ground just before gravity could dash her body to pieces on the city streets. If her opponents had remained in the area for only a few moments longer, then she may not have been so lucky.
Signum cast her gaze downwards and saw that Laevatein, at least, had made its way all the way down to earth. The magical sword had embedded itself in the pavement, the impact of its fall causing only minor damage to the surrounding environment. Swiftly, the Guardian Knight descended down to street level to recover her weapon; the blade was embedded rather deeply, but she was able to pull it out with a small effort.
To her relief, Laevatein didn't appear to be cracked or fractured in any way from its long fall: her device was still in perfectly usable condition, allowing her to fight on as normal. Satisfied, Signum sheathed the blade and flew back up into the air to see what else was going on. After an encounter like that, there had to be signs of activity on Grylmark's end.
What on earth were Srethis and Ungore doing? Did they mean to attack me like that? And after disappearing again so randomly...
She scanned the skies around her briefly, but there was no sign of the two-headed monster that had attacked her. With a mutter of disapproval, Signum decided that she would just have to keep on her guard in case it did come back. She couldn't go chasing after the hybrid now, not when she had to keep an eye on Vita. Besides, the whole thing seemed rather pointless; her opponent had literally knocked her out of the sky and then run away for no real reason. Signum was a bit annoyed at having her time wasted like this.
"What was the point of that?" she said aloud, rising higher to see what was going on at the hospital.
"Signum!" a woman's voice called out from behind her. "Signum!"
The swordswoman turned around in mid-air, a smile breaking out across her face when she saw Shamal approaching her from a short distance away. The medical mage no longer seemed as drained as before when they had escaped the rebellion with the rest of the Wolkenritter, but an acute tiredness remained around her features. Healing Nanoha's wounds must have taken a considerable toll on her as well.
"Signum, what happened?" Shamal said concernedly, instantly noticing the visible wounds on the swordswoman from Srethis' and Ungore's attack. "If I'd known you were hurt, I wouldn't have waited for Nanoha to ask me to back you up! "
The Velka Knight felt herself wince inwardly from the pain, but was quick to ignore it. "These are just scratches," she replied dismissively. "I've taken far worse before. No," she said, as the medical mage raised a hand to administer a restorative spell. "You don't need to heal me, Shamal. Just conserve your magic for when it's really needed."
Reluctantly, her companion respected her wishes and withdrew the spell, though she still eyed Signum's injuries with worry. "You shouldn't put on that brave facade," she said sympathetically. "Maybe you'll be able to fool everyone else into thinking you're fine, but you can't do the same with me. I just wish you'd let me help you, Signum."
"There's nothing wrong with me," the pink-haired swordswoman said in as dignified a fashion as she could muster. Shamal was probably right, but the Velka Knight refused to let these kinds of minor injuries prey on her before the real action had even begun. "I'm just a little bruised, that's all," she said. "More importantly, what's going on at Nanoha's side of things? Is she feeling any better now?"
Shamal sighed, reluctant to change the subject. "To an extent, yes," she replied. "Nanoha is currently in a stable state of recovery. She's not at full power, but she's well enough to move around like normal and make rational decisions of her own, and that's the best I can do for her at the moment." The medical mage paused, her lips framing a burning question of her own. "We heard from Zafira and Erio what the rest of the Bureau is doing right now," she said. "Is it really true? You've actually found out where Vita is?"
Silently, Signum pointed with one hand to the north where the site of the hospital facility was situated. Looking upon it now with Shamal by her side, the pink-haired swordswoman was surprised to see that the great complex remained as still and silent as ever, and that there was still no sign of activity as far as either of them could see. To be honest, the Velka Knight felt a little insulted. She'd launched an attack of her own which had de-activated the entire force field surrounding the hospital, a chance move which should have prompted some kind of response. And yet...
I don't believe this. After all I did, there still isn't anything going on down there? Is there even anybody home?
"Vita's definitely down there," the medical mage confirmed. "I can sense her, but only through my connections as a member of the Wolkenritter." Her brow furrowed in mild concentration. "It just seems a little too quiet, however..."
"I know," Signum said tersely. "I've been watching that hospital for ages, just waiting for something to happen so that I could get Vita out of there, but there's been no enemy activity at all. Zafira and I guessed that Grylmark was behind all of this, though I'm having difficulty believing that anyone's in there right now. I even used my own magic to get rid of the force field that was protecting the complex, but Grylmark obviously didn't notice."
Shamal glanced at her in surprise. "You disabled a force field of that size by yourself? Isn't that a little dangerous?"
"Probably, but I can handle it." The swordswoman shrugged. "I've been patrolling this hospital for too long, Shamal. Vita could be suffering in there."
The medical mage folded her arms as she continued to watched the empty grounds of the facility. Gradually, a thoughtful expression passed across her face. "If nothing has been happening all this time," she said, "then where did you get those injuries?"
"Oh, these." Signum relaxed a little, her expression turning to mild distaste at the memory. "No, these were from something different. They were caused by a massive purple two-headed mutant that came flying out of the sky at me for no real reason."
Shamal smiled. "Really. You're not one to joke about that sort of thing, Signum."
"I'm being serious, Shamal. It literally knocked me out of the sky. In fact..." The pink-haired swordswoman gazed out into the distance with sudden alertness, her eyes narrowing as she caught sight of a large, fast-moving body of mass heading in their direction. "It looked exactly like that."
As the two mages watched in astonishment, the two-headed muscular figure of Srethis' and Ungore's hybrid form grew steadily larger in the sky before them. The mass of chaos that had previously controlled the mutant had now disappeared along with all trace of Grylmark's magic, and the body of the creature hurtling towards them seemed paralysed and helpless. In fact, Signum saw now it wasn't even flying of its own accord; the monster was being propelled across the sky by the multiple energies of a familiar spell at its back...
That spell...With a start, the Velka Knight realised that she actually recognised it. Where did she know it from? It was certainly powerful, and not any that she would have access to...Wait, it was from the Tome of the Night Sky! Could this mean that Hayate was nearby?
No, they couldn't think about that now. Despite its paralysis, the hybrid was still plunging helplessly in a shallow slant towards the ground, but the curve of its trajectory was such that it was on a direct collision course with the two Guardian Knights. If the two of them didn't get out of the way soon enough or find a way to repel the creature somehow, then their opponent would take all of them down into the ground along with an unhealthy dose of pain.
Signum, however, had no intention of moving out of the way. The hybrid had taken her by surprise last time, succeeding in both disarming her and forcing her to sustain multiple injuries. Now it was time for payback.
I'll defeat you this time, the Velka Knight vowed, as she prepared Laevatein for an attack spell. She knew that Shamal was looking at her as if she were crazy, taking such a monster head-on like this, but Signum didn't have the patience to explain herself at such a critical time. This time, it's going to be different. I'm not going to let you -
The last vestiges of Hayate's ongoing spell finally died away, and the hybrid was abruptly released to fall under gravity alone. With the removal of any real propulsive force to keep it going, the creature's heading had changed by a small, but very significant amount. It was no longer falling towards the two Guardian Knights, but towards...
What the - ?
Signum's weapon-arm dropped to her side, and she and Shamal looked on in bewilderment as Srethis and Ungore plummeted down to crash through the top of Grylmark's hospital facility. With the lack of any force field to repel it, the hybrid went right through the centre of the massive complex, creating a large opening in its wake. The impact of its landing shook the whole of Uminari City for several seconds, and a great storm of dust and smoke billowed up to obscure the view of the two Bureau mages. Crackles of electricity ran across the skin and flesh of the felled monster as it lay motionless within the deep confines of the facility.
Oh, Signum thought in disappointment, and sheathed her sword. Never mind then.
"What just happened?" Shamal said in great bewilderment, flying back down next to the swordswoman now that the danger had passed. "What was that?"
"It doesn't really matter anymore," Signum replied in a satisfied tone of voice. "That thing's not going to get back up again."
"Maybe not," the medical mage pressed, "but it went right through the middle of the hospital! Even Grylmark won't be able to ignore something like this..."
The smoke caused by the mutant's earthshaking landing was beginning to clear, revealing the extent of the damage done to the facility. The hybrid had fallen so deeply into the earth that it could no longer be seen at all, not even from the Bureau mages' formidable altitudes. What was as clear as day was the giant twisted hole which had been torn in the roof of the hospital, travelling all the way down towards the floor of the building and out the other side.
If there had been greater visibility, Signum might have moved forward to investigate what was inside. However, there was something preventing her from doing so – or rather, someone.
The figure of a tall old man had appeared out of the middle of the smoke, hovering in mid-air directly above the hole in the facility. A man dressed in the robes of a summoner. Time magic drifted from the palms of his hands, swirling in a dark blue aura around him, and the hearts of the two mages went cold...
Grylmark.
From the look on his face, the old man was not best pleased by what had just happened to the hospital. The summoner's dark eyes were a chill of ice, cutting into them with a blaze of controlled anger, yet also concealing a mysterious hint of pleasure. Whispered chants escaped from his mouth in an inaudible stream of unbroken syllables, an incantation for a wide-range spell...
Swiftly, Signum raised her device back into her hands for an attack. She'd been trying to get Grylmark's attention earlier, and now she'd got it. What now? She'd never actually fought him before, but judging from Tiana's experiences with him in combat...
"What have you done with Vita?" she challenged him. With luck, she could keep him busy with words whilst her spell powered up. "What do you want with her?"
Grylmark ignored her, behaving as if the Velka Knight had not spoken at all. Instead, he raised his long arms up high above his head and flexed his fingers out like talons. A dark mass of time magic curled forward towards the two Bureau mages, hissing maliciously as it approached.
"Guardian Knights of the Time-Space Administration Bureau," Grylmark said coldly. "You have three hours." Abruptly, he ground his hands into fists. "Begone!"
Simultaneous with his command, the roar of time magic screamed forward towards Signum and Shamal in a tidal wave of dark blue mist and consumed them whole. The two mages felt their vision go black for several terrified seconds, crying out as they both struggled to surface from the sea of corrupt mana boiling around them. Furiously, Signum lashed out at the quivering cloud with her sword and managed to disperse the twisted energy around her; next to her, Shamal was having similar luck with the use of binding spells. The black cloud was gradually breaking up, thanks to their combined efforts, but it only had been a brief distraction for both of them...Grylmark would surely be plotting something else to follow on from this...
As Oguba's power was removed from the vicinity, the blindness disappeared and the two Guardian Knights were able to blink sunlight back into their eyes again. Swiftly, Signum and Shamal rushed forward as one, ready to take on Grylmark before he used any more of his annoying tricks on them.
And that's when they saw that the scene before them had dramatically changed.
Grylmark had disappeared. The great hole in the roof of the hospital, torn open by Srethis' and Ungore's deathly plummet towards the earth – that opening had now been miraculously sealed up. In addition, a new force field had risen up around the entire facility to take the place of the one that Signum had disabled. From the nature of the energy that radiated from it, this new shield was much more powerful and would not be so easy to destroy.
Unfortunately, all of these things were the least of the mages' problems. The real problem...was what was on the ground. The hospital was no longer empty of activity.
As Signum and Shamal watched in horror, they saw that the grounds of the facility were now populated by a multitude of deformed creatures that were rising up from the ground. Mutants of all shapes and sizes which crawled across the outside of the complex in a mixture of delighted hisses and roars; they were the disfigured monsters that Grylmark had used as soldiers of his own to attack the Bureau on the day this had all began.
The two Guardian Knights backed away from the edge of the facility, appalled at the sight. There had to be hundreds of these creatures swarming the grounds. Mutants of varying abilities, both great and small: some with wings and talons, others which breathed fire and wielded curved weapons of their own; some with mutilated limbs and hook-like appendages, others which clawed at the ground with a blood of thirst consuming them internally...
"Signum?" the medical mage whispered, her eyes wide. "What do we do?"
The pink-haired swordswoman had no answer for her. The two of them could fly up high enough to steer clear of these mutants and keep themselves safe, whilst fighting back at their enemies with long-range attacks. However, that would only delay the inevitable, because Vita was still inside that hospital. Somehow, they had to reach her. One way or another, they were going to have to battle their way inside...
Three hours, Signum thought, remembering Grylmark's last words to them. She didn't understand their true significance, but it was clear now that time had truly overtaken them. Our last mission in this world has truly begun.
A/N: Hayate and Fate in the next chapter.