A/N: The countdown's begun, so now this story can't stop. Bring on the apocalypse!...but not quite yet, because Nanoha is still doing her stuff.

Also, thank you to everyone who is still reading this and helping me continue writing.

Hayate flew low across the rooftops of the western district, keeping her eyes and ears open as she searched for any sign of Elsie's whereabouts. Her opponent had fallen out of sight during the course of the battle, having temporarily disabled levitation magic for both of them, but there was nothing to show that she had made any landing at all. Breathless and apprehensive, the Bureau mage scanned the surrounding streets and damaged houses of Uminari City with every piece of sensory magic at her disposal, sweeping expertly around the edge of the main blast area.

Unfortunately, she wasn't having much success in locating Elsie herself. As the rest of the district went past her in a blur of smoke and colour, Hayate soon found herself coming back full circle to where Srethis and Ungore had attacked her initially. Here, the road had been lifted up and virtually pulverised alongside multiple impactive craters fracturing the earth, but there was still no sign of her enemy. Where could Elsie have gone? The Labinnac Sister's magical field still lingered in the vicinity of this area, so she had to be around here somewhere...

"Hayate!" called a girl's voice from the ground directly below her. "Hayate, are you okay?"

She whirled around instinctively at the sound, but then relaxed upon recognising Exoria's voice. The Time Mage was waving up at her from street level, having propped herself up against one of the surviving buildings at the far side of the road to try and stabilise herself. For a moment, Hayate feared that Exoria was badly hurt; the dark-haired girl was bruised and shaken from the blow she'd taken earlier, and her black hair was marred by clumps of dust from falling debris. Apart from that, however, she seemed relatively all right.

"What happened, Hayate?" Exoria asked weakly between cracked lips. She shook her head to clear it as the commander of Riot Force 6 landed gently in front of her. "My...my head hurts and I can't remember much of anything. Srethis and Ungore were fighting us, weren't they? We were about to be beaten, and then...something hit me. I don't remember anything else after that. Where...where did they go?"

"Don't worry about them," Hayate reassured her. She came forward and caught the dark-haired girl in a tight hug, cupping the back of her neck to help her relax. If Elsie really wasn't anywhere nearby, then it would be safe enough to let her guard down temporarily and help out her companions. "They won't be troubling us anymore. Exoria, can you stand on your own?"

The Time Mage flung her a contemptuous look, as proud as ever. "I'm fine," she muttered, though she returned the embrace passionately enough. "You're the one that needs worrying over, Hayate. You can't see where you're going, and I have to protect you from any more enemies by myself - "

She blinked and then went completely still of a sudden, realising what else was drastically different about their situation than before. In a shot, Exoria had pushed herself free and scrambled back to stare at the mage in complete amazement. "Hayate?" the dark-haired gasped. "What's going on here?"

The short-haired mage hesitated, wondering how to go about answering that kind of question. There had a been lot going on, after all. "Well," she said pensively, "if you're talking about the massive hole in the road, then that wasn't my fault - "

"That's not what I'm talking about!" Exoria took hold of her shoulders and gazed deep into the mage's blue eyes – eyes that were now unobscured and free from the effects of Grylmark's blinding magic. "Hayate, you can see! You're not blind anymore!"

"Oh, that," the short-haired mage said happily. She recalled all too well her torturous experience of the past twenty four hours, being unable to see a single thing or interact with people normally; her blindness had been practically unbearable for someone like her, who relied on their eyes for almost everything they did. "Yes, that's right," she confirmed with a smile. "My sight has returned for good this time, Exoria."

She didn't feel like going into details about what had really happened. It had been an enormous relief to be free of her ordeal at long last, and now Hayate just wanted to put the whole thing behind her. Thanks to the Book of Darkness incident in her childhood days, she had spent a lot of time confined to a wheelchair and was no stranger to having a disability, but even so...losing the capacity to walk was very different from losing your eyesight completely. Hayate didn't want to experience something like that ever again.

"I saw you flying overhead earlier," the Time Mage said, staring at her in wonder as if witnessing a real-life miracle. Almost without noticing, Exoria had gradually moved her hands down Hayate's arms until her fingers made contact against the other girl's wrists. "I knew it was strange for you to be flying so skilfully for someone who couldn't see, but I didn't think your blindness had actually been cured! That means you must have seen me waving at you before!" She squeezed the mage's wrists excitedly, bursting with questions. "Hayate, just how much did I miss whilst I was out? Did someone help to restore your sight? Does this mean that you managed to make contact with the Bureau – is that how you won against Srethis and Ungore? Tell me everything!"

"It's a long story," the commander of Riot Force 6 sighed, easily deflecting Exoria's many queries. "I haven't had the chance to try and find the rest of the Bureau yet, unfortunately. I've just been constantly fighting from one side to the next, just trying to keep my head above water, but now I think I should be able to take a breather." Hayate's gaze swept across the general area of the street they were standing in, and her brow furrowed with concern. "Exoria, what happened to the Legion during the battle? Are they all right? I saw them go down when Srethis and Ungore attacked them..."

The dark-haired girl shook her head distractedly. "I...I don't know. I didn't see them get up, but the Legion is usually quick to regenerate itself when it's wounded. Maybe something else happened to them whilst I was still unconscious." She let go of Hayate's wrists with a start, seeming a little self-conscious, and then looked at the mage in a surprisingly anxious manner. "Hayate, there's something I want to ask you..."

"What is it?"

Exoria's gaze strayed down to her feet, and she interlocked her fingers with one another. "You can see me, can't you?" she said in a small voice. "I mean, I know you were able to see me before, but that was through magic and not properly with your own eyes. And now that you've got your sight back - "

"Yes, I'm seeing you in the flesh," the Bureau mage said good-naturedly. "I'm looking at you physically. What's wrong, Exoria?"

The Time Mage avoided her eyes, breathing in deeply. "Hayate, you've done so much for me up to now," she said sensitively. "You stopped me from doing something that I would certainly regret, you saved me from the House of Yagami's dangerous circle, and then you helped me take the path in my life that I had always been afraid of taking. But even though you always were there for me...you were still physically blind, Hayate. You couldn't see what kind of person I really was back there."

She blinked hard, struggling to keep her face clear. "All you had to act on were the words that came out of my mouth and my touch against your skin. You weren't able to rely on the evidence of your own eyes. Hayate, if you'd actually seen my face, if you'd really known what I'd turned into, then - "

"Then it wouldn't have been any different," the short-haired mage interrupted her. She took hold of the other girl's chin and lifted her face towards her, bringing the Time Mage's frightened gaze level with her own. "Exoria, there's nothing wrong with your physical appearance. You still look the same as the first time I met you."

"That's not what I'm talking about!" the dark-haired girl burst out. She tried to turn away from Hayate again, but the mage had a firm grip on her chin and refused to let her look elsewhere. "This is the first time you're seeing me properly since – since I was your mortal enemy! In your heart, I only became a different person to you because you didn't have to look at the face of someone who hated you! Doesn't it change anything, Hayate? Don't you have anything to say after seeing me like this?"

Hayate sighed. Really, Exoria could be a little overdramatic sometimes, but she didn't really mind.

"No, Exoria," she said gently. "When people change on the inside, it doesn't have to affect what they look like on the outside. That's not what really matters. Yes, I remembered what you looked like from our first encounter and had an image of your face in my head to match, but why should that change anything between us? It doesn't change a thing. When I met you again in the House of Yagami, I knew that you weren't the same person as before. I knew that you had changed for the better, Exoria, and I chose to believe in you and trust you because of that. I didn't have to separate the two once I'd accepted what you had become."

She trailed the fingers of her other hand through the Time Mage's black hair, stroking softly down to the back of her neck. "In the end, it doesn't matter what face you show me," Hayate said quietly. "I promise you right now that nothing will change between us, ever."

Exoria swallowed and leaned slightly against her touch, the tension and worry slowly leaving her face. "Are you...are you sure, Hayate?" she said uncertainly. "What if I change again to another type of person? What if I become something that you don't like anymore? What will you do then, Hayate?"

"Then we'll just deal with that when the time comes," the Bureau mage said reasonably. "Whether you change or not is completely up to you, Exoria. You can make your own future and take it in any direction you like." She smiled winningly and took her hand away from the girl's chin; Exoria's gaze didn't waver from her own. "Isn't that what you do as a Time Mage, after all? Crafting the powers of time travel for your own use?"

"That's putting it very loosely." Hesitantly, Exoria stepped forward and took her hands again tightly. "You really think I look the same as last time? Nothing's changed between us?"

Hayate couldn't resist a teasing smile. "Maybe not exactly the same. I guess your hair could do with a wash after that last battle." She flicked her fingers at a few of the strands, playing with them. "But you'd still be just as attractive a girl without it."

A deep flush came to Exoria's cheeks. "You think I'm attractive?" she said in a hollow voice. "Yagami never said anything like that to me before."

"Don't let Yagami get to you, Exoria," Hayate said seriously. Not for the first time, she wondered how much of an impression the Family of Yagami had really left on the girl. How deep did her emotional wounds and scars actually go? "You've left all of that behind you now. And yes, you're definitely a looker in my book." She laughed softly and let go of Exoria's hair. "Trust me, spend five minutes in any lesbian bar in my world and the girls will be all over you. You'll have a girlfriend in no time."

The dark-haired girl flushed harder, and a visible shiver ran through her body. "I've never even had a girlfriend," she whispered, her throat dry. "But you probably knew that already, didn't you?"

"There's nothing wrong with being single." Hayate grinned mischievously. "I'm single as well."

"And yet when I researched you in my work for Red Scorpion, I found out that you're extremely popular with all the women in the Bureau. Especially out of work." Exoria's tone had become abruptly defensive all of a sudden. "If you're single, Hayate, it's because you choose to be."

"What's wrong with that? I just like to hook up with a few girls when I'm in the mood. I don't have to devote myself to a long-term relationship if I don't want to." The Bureau mage took a deep breath and took a mental step back; this conversation wasn't really leading them anywhere except to make Exoria more and more bitter.. Why were they discussing love and romance for, anyway? This wasn't the time for that.

"Exoria, what I do in my free time isn't very important," she said. "What does it matter, anyway? We should really be focusing ourselves on making contact with the rest of the Bureau. That's the whole reason you came along with me, remember?" Hayate folded her arms crossly, watching as calmness slowly returned to the Time Mage's face. "Right now, I need you to help me with something."

The other girl flung her a dark look, still seeming a little annoyed at her in general. "Help you with what, exactly?"

Hayate sighed. "I was in the middle of fighting an enemy before I found you, Exoria. I lost sight of them some time ago, so I was just wondering if you saw anybody pass through this area recently." She swung her staff back into her hand, scanning the skies above her again for any signs of life. "Basically, I'm looking for a little girl with silver hair, silver eyes, silver clothes, silver everything, who carries a black balloon with her. She flies around throwing giant icicles at people, occasionally turns her hair into snakes, and goes by the name of Elsie. Does any of that ring a bell?"

The Time Mage just looked at her blankly at first, not reacting for several seconds as Hayate's words simply went over her head. But as she registered what the mage had just said, her eyes widened and her face went white.

"Elsie?" she repeated hoarsely. "Did you just say Elsie?" She grabbed hold of Hayate's wrists again, though in a less affectionate manner than before. "Tell me you're kidding, Hayate. Tell me that you did not just start a fight with Elsie Labinnac of all people."

"I didn't actually start it," the Bureau mage said helpfully.

Exoria closed her eyes in despair. "I don't believe this," she muttered. "Whilst the Legion and I were out of action and trying to recover our senses, you went out and started a fight with someone even worse. You could have had the decency at least to fight someone who was actually beatable!"

"I wouldn't exactly call Elsie unbeatable," Hayate said. "It's true that I haven't really scored a decent hit on her yet, but neither has she, so - "

The dark-haired girl wasn't listening to her. Her patience exhausted, she pushed Hayate away and drew her initiate's dagger from her belt in a single movement. "As if we didn't have enough problems already, Hayate!" she cried. "Why are you looking for Elsie? We need to get as far away from her as we possibly can! Just forget about finding her and do what I usually do!"

The Bureau mage frowned. "What do you usually do?" she asked curiously.

"Run away!" the Time Mage said insistently. She grabbed the Bureau mage's arm and began tugging her after her as she ran forward. "Like this!"

There was a sharp crack, and the air suddenly rippled before them with the presence of a powerful magical force. In the next instant, a web of plasma spiralled down towards the two mages, whipping around in all directions like a deadly spinning top as it seared the ground with white-hot energy. Smoke hissed out from between the rocks just metres in front of Hayate and Exoria, and the ground literally dissolved in front of their eyes as the plasma made contact. Exoria froze in place with her dagger still poised at her waist, immobilised by panic and indecision whilst the deadly web hurtled towards them...

With quick-acting reflexes, Hayate flew upwards off the ground in a burst of speed to avoid the attack, holding onto the Time Mage's arm tightly and dragging her through the air along with her. The destructive field of plasma thundered into the patch of rock where they had been standing; it ploughed straight through without stopping, reducing the surrounding area to a barren black hole in the ground. Seconds later, the web of magic finally ran out of energy and burnt itself out into nothing.

"Found you!" Elsie crowed, emerging from the airspace behind them. Her eyes were bright with excitement as she hovered several metres above the steaming ground, twirling her balloon around her arms. "I've been looking for you everywhere, Hayate!"

"So have I," the short-haired mage replied tersely, not at all surprised to see her. "I wasn't about to let you escape so easily, Elsie. You would have done even more damage."

The silver-haired girl blinked. "Escape? There is no escape from having fun. I just took the long way round to let you stew a little. Did you enjoy our game of Hide and Seek?" She spun around in mid-air, dancing easily on nothing as she noticed the presence of the Time Mage. "It's hard to find good people to play with these days, Hayate, so I don't want to stop with you now! But first drop that human you're holding. She's just going to get in the way."

"What did you say?" Exoria demanded, dangling from Hayate's grip helplessly as she tried to raise her weapon in her other hand. "Are you talking about me? Elsie, you might be a Labinnac, but you're still just a little kid! I'm made of more stuff than you think!"

"No, you're not," Elsie said cheerfully. Two massive icicles began to form in the air above her hands, each of them twice as big as any of the girls. "Kagura onee-chan told me about you once. Your abilities are just average, like most humans on this planet. Why should I let you join in the game? Besides, didn't you just say you wanted to run away from me? You probably wouldn't last very long before you had to forfeit."

The first of the icicles slowly rotated around until it was pointed directly at the Time Mage, quivering with pent-up energy. "I've been having so much fun playing with Hayate right now, more than I have in centuries!" the silver-haired girl cried. "You're not allowed to ruin it! So bye bye to you!"

She lifted her arm up, and the frozen missile tore downwards at Exoria with frightening speed. With fear in her eyes, the Time Mage instinctively lifted her dagger up to try and counter the attack, but it was a feeble defence with very little to support it. Her other arm squeezed around Hayate's hand, pleading desperately for help...but the Bureau mage was already moving to take immediate action.

Hayate didn't bother trying to block the deadly icicle with her magic, knowing from experience that it was fully capable of decimating any instant barrier that she could put up. The only other thing to do was dodge, but she didn't know if she would be able to manoeuvre Exoria out of harm's way before the missile hit. In a way, Elsie had been right in saying that the Time Mage would get in the way – at this height, Exoria's weight on Hayate's arm was enough to pull the mage off balance and prevent her from flying properly. Either way, the dark-haired girl wouldn't be able to help out much until she was back on the ground.

The icicle screamed through the air at Exoria, a surge of blue-white magic surrounding it in lethal doses, and Hayate's confidence faltered at the last second. She didn't have enough leverage on the Time Mage to get her out of the way in time...

I've got no other choice. I'm sorry about this, Exoria, but I'll make up for this later. There's only one other force that can help you outrun that missile – and that's gravity.

With her heart pounding, the Bureau mage forced herself to let go of Exoria's arm altogether. She heard the cry of shock and surprise from the girl as she plummeted towards the ground below, but Hayate deliberately kept her eyes upwards and away from her, knowing that she had to focus her own attention on the oncoming attack. Swerving round sharply in an evasive manoeuvre, the mage watched the icicle reach the peak of its trajectory and scrape past Exoria's shoulder, just barely missing the Time Mage before she fell out of sight. There was a bright sizzle of magic at the edge of Hayate's vision, and then the missile exploded harmlessly in mid-air some distance away from both of them.

Whew. I've saved Exoria from getting killed by a giant spike of ice, only by letting her fall to her death. It's probably a good time to amend that.

Swiftly, Hayate turned round to fly after Exoria and catch her before she made a stain on the unforgiving ground. There could only be precious seconds left, but if she accelerated with all her might then she still had a chance of making it in time...

"Hayate?" Elsie whispered, appearing in a flash beneath her to block her path. "You can't leave now. I'll have no one to play with."

The Labinnac's silver hair shimmered against the sunlight, giving her a strangely ethereal appearance as she stood framed against the horizon, forearms glowing brightly with green magic for a full frontal assault. One slim hand cut through the air towards Hayate's neck, severing multiple magical threads woven into the Bureau mage's Barrier Jacket; a laser edge sharpened at the edge of her fingertips and stabbed forward in a killing move.

Elsie, just get out of the way! I have to help Exoria!

Hayate brought the staff of Reinforce up in front of her to ward off each new attack, struggling to keep up with her adversary's speed. Close combat had always been one of her weaknesses, having put all her training into using the powerful spells of the Tome of the Night Sky. At the same time, Hayate felt a strange chill come over her from the left, and realised too late what it was...

There were two icicles coming towards me. I didn't see the second one!

In a state of controlled panic, the Bureau mage started to fly around to the right, intending to get past Elsie as fast as possible and save Exoria from hitting the hard ground. But in that moment, Hayate stopped short, knowing pre-emptively that her opponent wasn't going to let her do that so easily. The last of the giant frozen missiles was virtually on top of her now, and no fast-acting protection spell would be sufficient to save her from the blast once it hit -

Determinedly, Hayate gave up on spells altogether and thrust the end of her staff downwards right through Elsie's defences. The silver-haired girl stumbled back in surprise, not expecting to be hit by such a centralised attack, and in that moment the Bureau mage was able to get a grip on her opponent's shoulders, with scant seconds left to spare. With gritted teeth, Hayate flipped the Labinnac's small body around whilst she was still stunned, and threw Elsie right into the path of the second icicle.

"Oh, come on," the silver-haired girl said in dismay as the missile slammed into her back. Upon making contact, thick layers of ice magic began to close over Elsie's legs and torso, freezing her solid in a great crystalline prison. "I don't think this...is in...the rulebook..."

Hayate didn't wait around to see the results of her actions. The icicle exploded behind her with full force as she flew down at high speed to catch up with Exoria's falling figure, noting with alarm that the Time Mage was now very close to the ground indeed. With her heart in her mouth, she zoomed towards the surface of the earth like a fiery comet descended from the heavens, one arm outstretched in front of her. Precious moments went past her in a blur as she drew near enough to grab the back of the Time Mage's robes...

Her fingers slipped through the loose black fibres, just out of reach. There wasn't enough time! There weren't enough seconds left to stop her friend from hitting the ground...

No! I'm not letting this happen!

But then the great figure of a comabt cyborg leaped up from the street below and caught Exoria's body gently in both arms, bearing the brunt and impact of the Time Mage's deathly speed as everything slowed to a standstill. The Legion grunted in pain, its weight cracking the ground cracked slightly as it made its landing, but the rescue had been successful.

"Legion?" Exoria breathed as the roar of the wind in her ears became quiet once more. "You're...you're alive?"

"My apologies, Lady Exoria," the combat cyborg said, releasing her from its arms onto the street as she got to her feet shakily. "My recovery was unavoidably delayed. I regret that I could not come until now to assist you."

Hayate decelerated and landed softly on the ground in front of them. A wave of relief came over her upon seeing that the Legion had made it out as well, with only partially-healed injuries of its own. Wearily, the Bureau mage leaned her hands on her knees to take a breather, knowing that this was not something that she wanted to experience ever again. It had been a rough ride so far, but somehow everybody had managed to survive. It was now absolutely imperative that they rejoin Nanoha and the rest of the Bureau as soon as possible; her current role was already getting stressful enough.

"Exoria, I'm really sorry about that," she panted. "If I hadn't let go of you back there, that ice attack would probably have killed you instead. And thank you, Legion, for coming to her aid. It's good to see you on your feet again."

The Legion inclined its metallic head respectfully. "The purpose of my existence is to serve the Mistress of Red Scorpion," the cyborg replied reservedly. "I acted only according to my own self-programming. No gratitude is necessary." Their gaze shifted towards her in a neutral disposition, an urgent question forming on their lips. "Hayate, my senses were able to confirm the presence of Elsie Labinnac in this area. Can you tell us what happened to her? I have been unable to detect any further trace of her since she left the ground."

The commander of Riot Force 6 gazed up towards the sky, not exactly sure of the answer to that herself; she couldn't see anything significant from such a great distance away, nor was she able to find any signs of Elsie's previous magic. If she wanted real indisputable proof of the Labinnac's defeat, then Hayate knew she would have to go all the way back up there to check if her opponent had survived being hit by her own missile. Of course, she wasn't exactly keen about doing that.

"I've no idea," she said at last, lowering the tip of her staff down to the rocky earth at her feet. "Elsie should have been blown to smithereens by that last attack. Wherever she is, she's probably in a very chilly place right now."

"Never mind where she is," Exoria said impatiently. The dark-haired girl was still breathing hard from her close shave, looking as if she wanted to run into hiding again at the next available opportunity. "If there's any chance that Elsie's still alive, we have to get out of here before she comes back. For now, we still need to make contact with the Bureau and - "

Her words died in her throat when she caught sight of someone else floating above the ground just a short distance away from them. It was a young female mage with short brown hair, dressed in the attire of the Time-Space Administration Bureau, wielding a familiar staff in her hands...

Hayate?

The Time Mage thought she must be seeing things. The newcomer bore the appearance of none other than...Hayate. But Hayate was also right next to her at the same time. How could there be two of them?

What's going on here? Two Hayates?

Everything down to the style of the new woman's Barrier Jacket, her skin tone, the colour of her eyes, even the style of her hair...was completely identical to Hayate in each and every way, as if they had been cloned directly from her. As Exoria continued to stare, the real Hayate next to her stepped forward to look at the newcomer with great astonishment. Could this actually be Yagami standing before them now? No, that was impossible – though Yagami was already an alternate version of Hayate, she wasn't completely identical to her in appearance. Something here was very wrong indeed.

Is this woman a clone of Hayate? What's happening?

"What is the meaning of this?" the Legion said coldly, as the Hayate "clone" approached their group. "There should be no other Hayates able to exist in this world. Who are you?"

The second Hayate came to a stop just a few feet away from them, watching intently with a decidedly non-human state. But when they spoke, everything suddenly became all too clear again.

"Greetingsss," the newcomer said. "Srethiss hass no bussiness with you." In the blink of an eye, the second "Hayate" changed drastically in appearance, shapeshifting back into the form of the scaly green lizard that they all knew well. "Srethiss asssures you that there iss no need to be alarmed. Srethiss hass not come here for bloodsshed, and iss only here under Grylmark's orderss for a different purposse. In truth, the three of you are no longer a threat to hiss planss against the Bureau."

Exoria buried her face in her hands and groaned. Oh, now it made sense. She'd forgotten for a moment that Srethis was able to take on Hayate's likeness perfectly. At the same time, she didn't see why any of this had been strictly necessary.

"Srethis?" she said angrily. "It was you? Why did you transform into Hayate first instead of just revealing yourself properly? I was already getting so confused!"

"Becausse you sstill ssee Srethiss as your enemy," the lizard explained. "Srethis doess not want you to attack them on ssight, so Srethiss takess the form of one you love. Srethiss doess not want to fight you any more."

With regret lingering in her heart, Hayate took a step towards the creature. She could tell that Grylmark's magic was no longer corrupting their body, which was an indication that the lizard may have reverted back to their usual self. Had they been hurt badly after she'd defeated the hybrid? The Bureau mage couldn't help but worry about the condition that Srethis was in. There were no visible wounds on the shapeshifter's body, but that didn't necessarily mean anything where magic was involved...

"I don't want to fight you either, Srethis," she said heavily. "There's no need to resort to deceit. If you have anything to tell us regarding what's happened to Vita, then now's the time."

The reptile hesitated for a split second. "No," Srethis said warily, backing away from her a half-step. "Srethis is forbidden to help the Bureau. Srethis cannot...sshould not even be talking to you. Grylmark has ssent Srethis here for one reason, and one reasson only, and that iss to make contact with Elsie Labinnac. It appearss that sshe has esscaped our radar."

"You're asking us about her?" Exoria said in surprise. "We don't know where she is, Srethis, and we don't want to know! The further that Labinnac brat is away from us, the better! Besides, you and Ungore tried to kill us the last time we saw you, so why should we tell you anything? You can just find Elsie yourself!"

"Srethis iss jusst trying to ssurvive," the shapeshifter said in a low hiss. "If you have no usseful information at all, then - "

There was suddenly a tremendous crash as a human-sized object plummeted out of the sky and landed right in the middle of the street, smashing apart on impact. Startled, Hayate and Exoria exchanged glances and rushed over to investigate, with Srethis and the Legion just a few steps behind them. What was it this time? It was just one thing after another, with enemy after enemy seeking to block their path forwards...

As the mages drew close to the strange object, they saw with a shock that it was a large block of ice. A block of ice with a person trapped inside it – or more precisely, a little girl. A little girl with silver hair who was not at all happy about her predicament...

"Oh, great," Exoria said in disgust, looking down at the Labinnac Sister frozen inside the block. "Looks like we found her after all."

"Hum..." Elsie murmured through the mask of ice as she struggled to move. Strange sounds and syllables escaped from her mouth as she moved her bluish lips against one another. "Hum...I don't like this game anymore...hum..."

The effects of the icicle on the Labinnac Sister were much more noticeable at close range. Hayate realised now that when Elsie had been struck by the missile, she must have been unable to defend herself against her own magic. As a result, her entire body had been frozen solid in a giant cage of ice – a cage which had been meant for Exoria and Hayate instead. However, the impact of the little girl's dramatic fall to earth had broken most of the ice away, freeing the space around her head and the whole of one arm.

Miraculously, Elsie seemed to be otherwise unhurt. She didn't appear to have sustained any wounds or bleeding at any place on her body, and Hayate couldn't help but feel a little worried about that. A fall from that height should have been fatal, and the Labinnac should have ended up with several broken bones at the very least...

"Hum..." the little girl continued to say blissfully. "Hum..."

"What did you do to her, Hayate?" Exoria said, looking a little worried. "I know I never liked her, but she doesn't look too good."

"Negative," the Legion countered. "Elsie's condition is quite stable. As a member of the House of Family, she is granted many privileges and immunities not available to normal humans. It would be well-advised to keep our distance from her."

"Hum...Humpty," the Labinnac sang, forcibly levering her body from side to side. The black balloon in her free hand had begun to glow with a dark light of its own. As the others watched in trepidation, the same glow began to spread throughout the rest of the ice holding her prisoner. "Humpty Dumpty stood on a wall..."

A blazing heat rose from her hand and melted through the remaining chunks of ice in seconds. In a flash, Elsie sat bolt upright and slowly rose into the air, a ring of fire scything the air around her. Exoria and the Legion were forced backwards by the intense heat, shielding themselves with their arms as they struggled to stay on their feet...

"Humpty Dumpty had a great fall..."

The little girl's hair writhed around her and turned into a mass of snakes, crimson snakes which hissed and spat fire and added to the inferno surrounding her. Warily, Srethis flew upwards as well to join her, whispering words in her ear to relay Grylmark's spoken orders. The Labinnac's face changed slightly upon hearing the news, but she made no attempt to halt her current attack.

"All the king's horses and aaaall the king's men..."

The ring of fire surrounding her body expanded outwards and transformed into a red and orange fireball, doubling in magnitude in her small hands until it was almost as wide as the entire street. Elsie's eyes flickered skywards for a moment and a strange smile lit her features, filled with reminiscence and anticipation.

"...couldn't put Humpty together again!"

The Labinnac Sister flung her arms down, releasing the great fireball upon the mages standing below her with dynamic effect. There was a scream of terror from Exoria, and she and the Legion ran for their lives in opposite directions to take cover from the deadly flames. Only Hayate remained hovering above the surface of the blast, keeping her eyes on Elsie and Srethis as they drifted further and further away from her.

"I've had fun playing with you, Hayate," the silver-haired girl called out to her sweetly, her hair quickly returning to normal again. "Lots and lots of fun, more than I've had in years. But Grylmark is calling me, which means I have to go. The nice lizard friend here says that there's food for me, and I really do need to eat. But I'd love to play with you again if you're free!" She turned towards the reptile at her side. "Come on, Srethis! Lead the way!"

"As you wish," the shapeshifter said, beating its wings to fly northwards.

The Bureau mage watched them silently for long moments until they had disappeared from sight, carefully maintaining a trace on Elsie's magic so that she would know the precise heading that the girl had taken. For all appearances, Hayate didn't intend to let her opponent get away so easily like that. So Grylmark had called her away, had he? If that was the case, then...if she followed Elsie, she would be able to find Grylmark. And once she found Grylmark...

"Exoria, Legion," Hayate said quietly, as her two companions gradually got to their feet again. "We're going to follow her."

The Time Mage looked at her as if she were mad. "Follow her?" she spluttered. "Hayate, we don't want to follow her! We want to find the rest of the Bureau - "

"Elsie and the Bureau are likely to be in the same place, Exoria. Where we find one, we'll find the other." Hayate turned towards the Legion for acknowledgement, seeing understanding in the cyborg's face. "We're moving north," she said. "Let's go."

There was a screeching of brakes as Kagura brought her motorbike to a grinding halt in front of the Labinnac Family residence, spewing exhaust fumes and gases all over the place. The assassin had been in a distressed state ever since returning from Cranagan, her mind filled with dread at the thought of what could have happened to her sister during her absence. All of her attempts calls to contact Elsie on her phone had failed, and that had never happened before.

Agitated, the red-haired army girl barely stopped to secure her vehicle before she ran for the steps of the quiet little house in front of her. It felt as if it had taken far too long to make it back home, though in truth the journey had been no faster than usual. Whatever she did, she had to find Elsie at all costs. If some terrible fate had befallen her sister on today, of all days...

"Elsie!" Kagura yelled, slamming the palm of her hand hard upon the front door. "Elsie, are you in there? Answer me!"

She'd never actually needed to knock before, and that unnerved her even further. For as long as Kagura could remember, her sister had always been under strict instructions not to leave the house. She would always dutifully open the door in advance as soon as she sensed Kagura returning home to her. Technically, it was usually because Elsie was constantly hungry and relied on her to bring back food from the outside world, but nevertheless the silver-haired girl would always be eager to let her in. Kagura treasured her, just as she despised so many others; her little sister was probably the only person in Mid-childa who was ever glad to see her anymore.

Listening at the door now, the Labinnac heard no response at all. The sound of silence in her ears was grim and penetrating, and was probably the one thing which could push her even further over the edge right now. Resorting to desperate measures, Kagura smashed the door down with her raised shoulder and rushed inside the house, frantic and breathless.

Where are you, Elsie? Why aren't you answering me?

She surprised herself then with the degree of self-control that she had over her natural instincts, and managed to keep her temper down just enough to hold back from tearing the entire place apart. Had this been anyone's house but her own, Kagura would certainly have destroyed everything in sight, just as she'd attempted to do so at Yagami's mansion; there was a certain pleasure that the army girl took in waging destruction, regardless of whether it was actually necessary or not. But this was not any normal house. This was the home of the Family of Labinnac, and to damage it any further than she had already done so would surely spark the outrage of their mistress, Felicity...

It took the space of a few minutes for Kagura to determine that the house was fully deserted; wherever Elsie was, she definitely wasn't around here anymore. Furthermore, the red-haired assassin discovered to her surprise that there was no sign of a scuffle or a fight, nor of any violence at all. The place was as calm as quiet as it usually was, except that Elsie was now missing from the picture. Could it be that her sister had actually left of her own volition? No, that would be completely unheard-of. What reason could Elsie possibly have to leave? Her sister's last words to her on the phone had been clear enough...Elsie had promised to wait for Kagura to return home with food as usual...

The army girl marched into the living room, breathing hard as she searched every shred of evidence in sight. It was then that her eyes settled on a scrawled-out note lying on the table, written in curly childish handwriting and surrounded by a familiar residue of ancient magic. A magical aura as could only be wielded only by a Labinnac Sister...

Elsie left me a message? She's never done that before! I've been trying to call her non-stop for the last hour, so why didn't she pick up?

Impatiently, Kagura grabbed the note from the table and read it carefully word by word as if her life depended on it. It was a little difficult to decipher her sister's handwriting at first; the words didn't flow in a straight line, but went round and round in a ridiculous format until they seemed to disappear into the uppermost corners of the parchment completely. However, several key phrases leaped out at her at once, names of people and places that Kagura knew all too well and which caused her face to grow dark with cold realisation at what was to come...

"What?" the army girl whispered into the silence of her home. "Grylmark? Grylmark was here? He's...he's asked Elsie to join him?"

No, this was all wrong, Kagura thought. It had to be. Elsie couldn't go with Grylmark, not when she wasn't even aware of the harsh dangers involved in letting her leave the house on her own. And today was a special day for her! If she didn't feed, then there would be catastrophic consequences for the future of the Labinnac Family and everyone else who got involved. And what word was this supposed to be? Bu...Bure...Bureau? How were the Bureau remotely connected with any of this?

Grylmark must have come here looking for me, and found Elsie instead. For him to use food and hunger to persuade her to join him...! I've told that bastard before that he must never interfere with the ways of us Labinnacs, and now look what's happened! He won't know what kind of food to give to Elsie. Why would he? He must think her hunger is only a natural, human hunger, but it's so much worse than that...

She tore the note up into shreds, seething with rage. Kagura had carried out missions for the summoner in the past, missions which had seemed slightly questionable in nature, but the pay had been good and served to help her feed Elsie. With Yagami no longer bringing in any future jobs for her, the army girl knew that she would have welcomed a contract with Grylmark. But this time...this time he had gone too far.

"GRYLMARK!" Kagura screamed.

She had to stop this from getting any further out of hand. Elsie had mentioned the location of the hospital facility in her message, and the red-haired assassin was all too familiar with the site. Yes, Grylmark had often tried to hide such valuable information from her, but Kagura hadn't survived for this long just by luck. She'd watched the old man carry out his operations many years ago, making sure that she knew exactly where in Uminari City he was situated in case such details came in handy later...

There was no time to lose. In a shot, the army girl ran out through the smashed door of the House of Labinnac and back onto the street to start up her motorbike again. She had to get to that hospital facility before Elsie or the Bureau did. Forget about the rebellion. Forget about the war.

"These are Family matters, Grylmark," Kagura hissed between her teeth. "I'll make you pay for your traitorous actions towards my sister. This time it's personal!"

She slammed her foot down on the pedal and accelerated north, towards where an army of mutants was amassing around the hospital complex in greater numbers with every passing minute...

Fate felt a sense of well-being sweep over her as she flew freely across the sky above Uminari City, following the path that Rein and Agito were marking out in front of her. Against all odds, she had escaped from the twisted machinations of the House of Testarossa and succeeded in making contact with the TSAB in the process, neither of which had seemed remotely possible at the time. Even now, the two unison devices were leading her back to Nanoha with all due speed, and the Enforcer's heart beat quickly at the thought of being re-united with her partner again. What had happened to Nanoha since they had last seen each other? How had the rest of the Bureau fared, and what further events had transpired to bring additional Bureau members into this world? She had been surviving alone for too long without knowing the answers to these questions...

Her victory over Alicia and the Cult of Neopocalypticon brought Fate no real comfort. It had been distressing to bring her sister down with that last attack, to watch Alicia open up her arms as if embracing her peacefully for the last time whilst the entire mansion collapsed and buried the woman under tons and tons of rock. For all her immense power and abilities as a mage, her sister had refused to defend herself against Fate's spells, leaving herself open where she had destroyed others without a single thought. Now all of that had been brought to an end.

I have to concentrate on the future. Nanoha and the rest of the Bureau are waiting for me – I should have known that they would never give up on me, not for an instant. There were times before when I didn't think I would ever see my friends again, but that's all over now.

She'd received a bit of a scare just minutes after departing from the ruins of the House of Testarossa – her senses had suddenly warned her that somebody was following them. For fearful moments, Fate had become convinced that Alicia had come back to pursue her all the way to the grave, feeling as if she would be forced to relive the nightmare all over again. Fortunately, no such enemy emerged and the feeling soon disappeared.

Rein and Agito had reassured her that there was definitely nobody shadowing them, and as time passed without further incident the blonde mage gradually began to calm down again. It was just nerves, she told herself. Yes, that had to be it; she was probably still jumpy after her close experience with Alicia and the cultists. Once she was back with Nanoha, everything would surely start to come back into focus again.

With her mind back in the present, it had taken slightly longer for Fate to stay up-to-date with current events. From talking to the unison devices, she had established that most of the Wolkenritter had been brought back together by now, although Vita was being held prisoner by Grylmark. Why was that? Out of everyone in the TSAB, why Vita? The Enforcer couldn't understand the reasoning behind it. The Bureau had already mounted one mission to rescue Vita from the clutches of Red Scorpion, and now the Guardian Knight had been captured by Grylmark as well? Why were their enemies so interested in Vita for?

It couldn't just be a standard hostage situation, Fate thought to herself. If you wanted to hold someone in the Bureau to ransom, the last thing you would do is kidnap one of their strongest fighters like Vita. There just wasn't any sense in it, and the Enforcer felt mildly worried at the implications of such actions. Whatever Grylmark's real ambitions were, they had better be prepared for the worst...

He can't possibly be keeping Vita as a hostage, even if it's to lure us into a trap. Red Scorpion already tried that in the past and it led to their downfall, so there's no reason why Grylmark would repeat their mistakes. What if...what if he's keeping Vita alive for another reason entirely?

"We're here!" Rein announced as they finally broke free of the western district.

The unison device's voice jolted Fate out of her thoughts at once, and she rushed forward to the front of their group with eager anticipation. Almost immediately, she saw the familiar figures of three Bureau mages that had been waiting patiently for her return, companions that she had grown to love and trust over the many years they'd spent together in the TSAB. The Enforcer felt a warm feeling spread out from her chest, knowing that this time she really was back with her friends again; the nightmare that had plagued her for the past twenty four hours was well and truly over.

"Fate!" Shamal exclaimed, her face shining as she caught sight of the blonde mage, impulsively reaching out to embrace her tightly as they reached each other. The pressure in her face bade her to let go again almost as quickly, however. "Fate, I'm so glad you're here! Are you hurt at all? Is everything all right? We need you back here with us at the Bureau – there's so much happening right now that I can't even begin to put it into words..."

"You can say that again," Zafira said mildly, hovering alongside the medical mage with Erio still supported on his back. "We're going to need every single person we can get or the Bureau could be overwhelmed." He looked towards the two unison devices with approval. "Good job on making it back, Rein and Agito. You were gone for so long that I was almost beginning to worry about you."

Agito snorted. "Almost? Of course we were coming back. We promised Nanoha, didn't we?"

"Fate, you're back!" Erio called out excitedly. The Yagami Bracelet in the boy's free hand caught the sunlight briefly, but he took care not to draw too much attention to the artefact. "I really missed you whilst you were gone, Fate. We all did."

"It's great to see all of you as well," the Enforcer smiled back. She meant it, too, with all of her heart. "I can't put into words how good it feels to be back with everyone again! For a while, I thought I'd never make it back to the Bureau at all. However...I'm still not sure why some of you are here." She looked towards the other mages with a confused expression. "Erio's the only one here who actually went through the portal, so shouldn't the rest of you still be back home in our own universe?" Fate watched her companions as they exchanged reluctant looks with one another, and thought she knew why. "I'm guessing it's pretty complicated, right?"

"Time travel mechanics," Zafira replied gruffly. "It's a long story, but almost all of Riot Force 6 has been drawn into this universe as a result of the link shared by the members of the Wolkenritter. Rein and Agito were caught up in it as well."

Fate sighed. "I gathered that it might be something like that," she said. So Oguba had caused further problems and involved extra members of the Bureau who weren't even connected. "There's been a lot of similar things going on where I've been, but nothing that affects us anymore. As long as we're all together again, that's what matters."

Shamal's green eyes filled with concern, as perceptive as ever. "Did anything bad happen to you whilst you were separated from us, Fate?" she said gently. "This world is a very inhospitable environment, and trouble comes in many forms to all of us. Zafira and I were on the run from the executors for many weeks before Signum came to help us out, and even then we had difficulty escaping from the rebellion." She placed a hand on her arm sensitively. "If there's anything wrong, Fate, I can perform a quick check-up on you..."

"Thank you, Shamal, but I'm fine now. I just saw a few things on the way here that I shouldn't have." The Enforcer didn't want to think about Alicia and Arf any more if she could help it. Those were not pleasant memories to be concerning herself with. Instead, she thought about the one person whom she really wanted to see. "Where's Nanoha? Is she all right?"

Rein cleared her throat. "She was right here, actually," she said in a frustrated tone. "This was the last place that Agito and I saw her..."

"Events have moved on a little further since then," the medical mage explained. "Right now, Nanoha is at a hospital facility north of here which serves as Grylmark's base of operations – a facility in which Vita is imprisoned." She took a deep breath, looking the blonde mage in the eyes as she mentally prepared herself. "I don't know if it's a good idea for you to meet with her right now, Fate," she said quietly. "We're about to begin the attack on Grylmark's facility and bring back Vita once and for all. For that to succeed, the Bureau has to keep a set formation around the entire complex."

"That's not all," Erio said urgently. "We've also learnt that a dimensional distortion is going to hit this universe in less than three hours from now. We have to hurry."

Fate blinked, unsure if she had heard this correctly. "What?" she said in staggered disbelief. "A...a dimensional distortion?"

Her mother had almost succeeded in creating such a catastrophe when she had gathered the Jewel Seeds all those years ago. At her side, Rein and Agito were both wide-eyed with similar expressions of amazement on their faces; the unison devices must have been just as unaware of this latest development.

"Are you serious about this?" she whispered. If this was true, then their entire company – the entire Bureau, in fact – was in far worse trouble than she could ever have imagined. "You mean..."

"Yes. This world is going to be destroyed very soon, Fate," the medical mage said gravely. "Just like the rebellion, this is something that has already escalated far out of our control. The only thing we can do now is to try and escape from this universe before the Bureau is completely consumed by global disaster." Her face softened somewhat, however. "I know that the stakes seem very high, Fate...but please try not to worry about any of that for now, at least not right away. Nanoha says she has a plan to bring all of us back before the dimensional distortion arrives, and I believe in her." She looked towards the Enforcer with a quiet calmness in her features. "I'll definitely make sure she knows that you're here safe and sound with the rest of us. The news would be a great confidence boost for her at the very least."

"Is this for real?" Agito demanded, panic causing her voice rising in pitch. The red-haired unison device flew forward angrily. "We've only got three hours to make it out of this world? Rein and I were only gone for less than half an hour! How much happened whilst we were scouting the city?"

"You didn't miss too much," Zafira said lightly. "Just a visit from another world and reality with essential information on the future survival of the Bureau."

Shamal spoke quickly before the unison device could protest further, knowing that time was of the essence. "We can't afford to stay here any longer," she said. "The reason I returned here is because Nanoha has given me some vital information to pass onto you – all of you – and there isn't much time left to do this. If I try and explain it all, we'll probably be here until the end of the world comes, so the best thing for me to do is to just show you instead." Swiftly, the medical mage rose forward in the air and beckoned to everyone as a whole. "All of you follow me. You need to see this."

Following Shamal's lead, the other mages began to fly north at high speed towards Grylmark's facility where the remainder of the Bureau was situated. As Fate travelled alongside everybody else, the blonde mage felt a strange conflict of emotions take place within her. She had been overjoyed at first to be united with all her friends again, and even more so at the prospect of being able to be with Nanoha again, but she had also been led to believe that her partner would be here waiting to see her straight away. The Enforcer understood that Nanoha wasn't necessarily able to be with her all the time, since things had really started to heat up lately, and that the Ace of Aces had to prioritise the safety of the Bureau in pressured times like this. She was disappointed, of course, but she could still wait for a better time; it was more important for her to know that Nanoha was all right and within reach. There might be time for a proper reunion between the two of them later.

On the other hand, never had Fate realised that the events in this world had reached such a critical level that it actually bordered on the destruction of Mid-childa. A dimensional distortion was headed their way and could not be overturned? How exactly did Nanoha hope to bring everyone back home when she didn't even have Oguba's powers to aid her anymore? What about Grylmark, too? The old man wasn't exactly going to let them do as they pleased. The Enforcer wondered how Shamal and the others had acquired such information about the dimensional distortion, even worked out exactly how much time was left for them in this world...but needless to say, she was still grateful for the knowledge.

Shamal wasn't kidding when she said a lot of stuff was happening right now. It's a good thing that I managed to finish things with the House of Testarossa; the last thing we need on top of all our problems is another horde of tough enemies...

With the medical mage leading them onwards, Fate and the rest of their group emerged into the open sky above the hospital facility. Almost immediately, they were greeted by the sounds of deafening roars and howls from the ground below. The airspace around them shuddered slightly with the force of greatly amplified magic, forcing each mage to re-adjust their speed and velocity to compensate; the peace and inactivity which had affected the majority of their company up to now was clearly at an end.

With rising dread, Fate, Zafira, Erio and the two unison devices looked downwards to view the reality of the situation with their own eyes. Before them, Grylmark's hordes of mutants contiued to rampage across every visible spot of the hospital grounds, tearing apart houses and roads and laying waste to everything they saw; at the same time, a powerful force field around the complex prevented anyone from gaining entry by normal means. As the mages watched from their vantage position, more and more of the vicious monsters poured out of the hospital until their numbers must have risen over a thousand...

"This is bad," Shamal said in a fearful voice. She had lowered her altitude to fly as close to the battlefield as she dared, trying to locate any openings in the massive army below them. "There's even more of them than last time. If we don't stop their numbers from increasing further..."

"More of them?" Rein said weakly. "This place was practically deserted of enemies when we last passed through here! And now there's a whole army of mutants in our way? What happened to make us lose control like this so suddenly?"

Fate had been watching the accumulation of monsters with a cool and controlled temperament. It wasn't exactly a sight that lifted your spirits, but somehow she didn't feel that intimidated by the foes that confronted them. She had faced a royal executor in single combat and taken down Alicia and the Cult of Neopocalypticon virtually single-handedly, with only a small amount of help; a voice at the back of her mind told her that this mass of enemies shouldn't pose too much of a problem for her. The only thing that really worried her was the sheer scale of numbers that the Bureau was up against – how much time was this going to take?

Besides, the Enforcer had another reason not to be afraid – she could sense Nanoha's magical field not too far away. Her partner was still out there, alive and well and waiting for her...

"Vita's inside that building," Zafira said. "If we want to free her, then we're going to have to make it past all of these enemies, every last one. Grylmark's really gone the extra mile to annoy us this time." He looked towards the medical mage enquiringly. "You wanted us to see this, Shamal. I don't know about you, but the odds look pretty hopeless to me. Can you tell me what Nanoha's plan is to get us out of this one? How are we supposed to break through an army of hundreds of hostile mutants in less than three hours?"

"We can't," Agito muttered, flying around in a small circle in the air. "We don't have enough firepower or resources to take on so many enemies at once. Even if we met up with Nanoha now, there's less than ten of us in total! We're not going to be able to gain access to that facility in three days, let alone three hours!"

Shamal raised a hand gently. "No, Agito," she said patiently. "It won't take that long. If all goes well, we'll be inside that hospital within just twenty minutes. Now, please listen to what Nanoha has asked me to tell you all." She pointed towards the nearest entrance of the facility behind the shimmering force field. "Do all of you see that?"

The other mages moved around curiously until they could see the dimly-lit entrance properly, a grey outline against the outer wall of the hospital. It wasn't immediately noticeable at first, until you saw that new groups of mutants were rushing through it from the inside and adding to the immense army that already filled the hospital grounds.

"That's the southernmost entrance of the facility," the medical mage explained. "If you look closely at where it meets the force-field at its centre, then you'll see that there's a subtle weakness in the barrier. If a powerful attack is unleashed upon that point, we could cause a small temporary break in the force field." She paused for a moment, gathering their full attention. "Listen carefully. There are four such gates on each side of the complex, and each of them contain a similar flaw to this one..."

Four gates like this? Fate thought, her mind racing. With the same kind of vulnerability? Then that means...

"I see," Zafira said quietly, an understanding smile spreading across his face. "I see what you're getting at, 're going to split into four groups and attack each entrance at the same time."

"Exactly. Nanoha and Tiana are already in position at the eastern gate, and Signum is by herself at the northern gate. That means we're going to need two more groups to cover the remaining two entrances, including this one. Signum will also require back-up of her own, and I'll be returning to Nanoha shortly to help support her."

"Incredible," Rein breathed. "I can see it too. The weakness in the southern entrance...we could really break through their ranks like this!"

Shamal saw the excited looks in everyone's faces, knowing that they were all seeing how it might be possible to get through this after all. All it had taken was a bright ray of hope to capture their motivation. "Here's what Nanoha has suggested," she said to them. "Fate has enough firepower to break the barrier at any of the gates, so she should take command of one of the two groups. Zafira and Erio can join Signum in the north to support her own attack. As for Rein and Agito, they are free to support any groups which are lacking in numbers, although Fate should be accompanied by at least one extra Bureau member. These are just guidelines for all of you, of course."

So this is why Nanoha wasn't able to see me straight away, Fate thought. Since we're both leading separate groups in the attack against Grylmark's facility, we're going to be based at different locations. I understand it much better now.

"I'll take the southern side," she volunteered. It would put her closer to Nanoha than being at the western entrance, at least. "I don't mind whether Rein or Agito accompanies me, though."

"I'm not leaving Rein," Agito refused stubbornly. "If she's going to stay here to support you, then so will I."

Fate rolled her eyes at that, not seeing how it really mattered in the long run. "Both of you can stay with me, then. But aren't we forgetting something important?" She turned round to the rest of their company with a perplexed expression on her face. "Zafira and Erio, you're going to be joining Signum's group, right?"

"It would be the most practical idea," the Guardian Beast ventured with a nod.

"So Signum and you are taking the northern gate, Nanoha's group is taking the east, and I'm going to be covering the south, right here." The Enforcer cast a questioning gaze towards Shamal. "Who's going to be covering the last gate in the west? There isn't anyone else left to spare, not unless we thin out our forces some more."

The medical mage smiled and shook her head. "I wondered about that too, at first. But just take a look at the horizon." She pointed towards a white haze of powerful magical energy that had taken up the western portion of the sky. "It looks like somebody else is going to do that for us."

For timeless moments, the other mages' faces were captured by the brilliant glow which painted the horizon before them, not fully understanding what Shamal was telling them. But seconds later, surprise and shock appeared in their eyes, and they realised who must have created such a display. A spell of huge proportions had clearly been unleashed to the far west of here, a unique attack available only to a particular mage of the TSAB. In truth, the light that remained was the residue of a powerful spell which could only have been taken from the Tome of the Night Sky...

Hayate? Is it possible?

"That's...that's Hayate's magic," Zafira said in stunned disbelief. "There's no doubt about it." He whirled around to face the medical mage. "Hayate's going to be fighting with us too? She's going to be taking the western gate of the facility?"

"That's the idea, yes," Shamal replied easily. "There is a small problem, however." She cleared her throat for a moment. "We don't know if Hayate is aware of the presence of the Bureau around the hospital yet. It's a reasonable guess that she was probably fighting a powerful enemy recently, which would explain why we saw her using her own spells to strike back. If that's the case...then Hayate might only be here by chance. In all seriousness, she doesn't know about the plan to attack Grylmark's facility."

Agito's face fell. "Are you kidding me? She's already moving into perfect formation to cover the west gate! We have to get word to her at once!"

"Due to the geology of the land here, the western gateway is much further away from any of the other entrances," the medical mage said. "It would take several minutes of intense flight to reach her, assuming that she isn't still in a fight of her own. During that time, Hayate might decide to change her own heading or fly somewhere else completely. What I'm saying is that there isn't enough time to get to her: every minute we delay allows that army of mutants to increase further in number..."

"Then what are we going to do?" Erio said frantically. "What if we all get to our positions and there's nobody at the west gate anymore?"

Shamal took a deep breath. "Here's what Nanoha is proposing," she said breathlessly. "Each of us will move to our designated positions at our chosen gate. Once a group is fully prepared and ready to attack, the squad leader – Nanoha, Fate, Signum or Hayate – will fire a signal into the sky to communicate that to everyone. The signal shouldn't be an attack spell or anything which drains too much magical power – just something that can make itself seen in a large radius, like a bright flare or a firework. Zafira and Erio, you will need to tell all of this to Signum when you see her. As soon as all four groups have given the signal, the Bureau will launch their attack simultaneously from all sides."

"And Hayate?" Rein pressed. "She still doesn't know about the plan, so she won't know that she has to fire a signal into the air."

Shamal winced. "That's where it gets a little tricky. Hayate will be able to see the other three signals from the other squads, like all of us, and she should be in range to detect our presence by then. With luck, she'll work out that the fourth signal has to come from her. If not, then..." She sighed and spread her hands out a little sheepishly. "Then we had better hope the rest of our attacks are powerful enough to overwhelm the force-field by themselves."

"We're running a risk by doing it this way," Fate said thoughtfully. "But..." She looked at the others with resolute strength in her gaze. "I think we can rely on Hayate to do her best. In the worst case scenario, I can try sending her a spell of my own so that she realises what we're doing."

Zafira nodded in acknowledgement. "Then it's settled," the Guardian Beast said. "Shamal, is there anything else about the plan that you need any of us to know?"

"No, nothing," the medical mage replied passively. "I've relayed everything to you that Nanoha has told me. It's all up to us to make it work."

"In that case, we have no more time to lose. Erio and I will return to Signum now." With the red-haired forward carried on his back, Zafira flew northward a few paces and turned around in mid-air, inclining his head respectfully towards the other women. "You should see the signal from our group within a few minutes," he said. "Shamal, Fate, Rein and Agito...good luck to all of you. We're going to need it for this plan to work. Let's go, Erio."

"Stay safe, everyone," the young forward called out to them as Zafira flew him out of sight.

As the Guardian Beast and red-haired forward disappeared towards the northern entrance of the facility, Shamal turned round to face Fate.

"I'll be heading back to support Nanoha now," she said. "She'll be happy to know that you're back with us again, Fate. You don't have to worry about her."

The Enforcer felt herself tense up slightly. "I didn't say I was worrying about her."

"But you are, aren't you?" the medical mage said with a faint smile. "I won't pretend that I didn't have my own concerns about Nanoha earlier on, but she's with me and Tiana right now. She's in safe hands."

Fate sighed and put her hand to her forehead. "I guess so, but it doesn't stop me from missing her. If you're going back to her now, Shamal, then tell her..." She hesitated, not knowing the best thing to say. What would Nanoha want to hear from her? "Tell her that I'll meet her inside the facility as soon as I can," she said at last. "Tell her I'll be there for her even if the world is going to fall apart around us. And tell her...to keep herself safe, for Vivio's sake."

"I will," Shamal promised. "But I have a feeling that she already knows." With a shrug of her blonde hair, the medical mage began to fly eastwards with a parting wave towards the Enforcer and the unison devices accompanying her. "Remember to give the signal when you're ready, Fate. And Rein, Agito...please try not to cause too much trouble whilst you're here."

"Us?" Agito protested. "We're not going to cause any trouble. Who do you think we are?"

Shamal laughed. "If you say so. Take care, now."

The medical mage flew away in the direction of Nanoha's squad, leaving Fate and the two unison devices by themselves at the southern gate. Left by herself like this, the Enforcer was able to concentrate further on the mass of mutants pouring out of the hospital below. The Bureau's plan to break inside was already coming close to fruition, though the lack of communication with Hayate was a little worrying. Nevertheless, Fate was excited to be working together with all her friends again. She would have to keep her eyes on the sky and watch for any signals from the other groups, but that was the least of their problems...

"Rein, Agito, stay close to me," she whispered. For all appearances, her group was about as ready to attack as they were ever going to be. Slowly, the Enforcer raised Bardiche skywards and began to power up her weapon to fire her squad's collective signal. "Let's do this."