Beta read by Opal and FabledLife
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-Midchilda-
The forest stretched out beneath them, its canopy swaying in the cool afternoon wind. From this height, everything below looked deceptively calm with no sound or movement, with just two figures in the air quietly watching for any changes whatsoever, both visually and through their communication comms.
[Wide area search unsuccessful. Large-scale interference detected. Detecting source… error. Unable to locate source.]
Even using Raising Heart to find any sort of clues proved fruitless.
Nanoha hovered with both arms crossed, her eyes fixed on the tree line where the three had disappeared. She had not moved from that spot since they split up, with her gaze also being glued to one particular spot towards the forest. Too many times did the idea of just pushing aside her primary mission and just going down there to check up on him surface in her mind. Could she even trust that person? From an outside perspective, it would seem like the woman herself was just taking her task seriously about guiding the group in exchange for her own freedom.
For even if, by some miracle, this proved to be not a lie, it also did not appear to be the truth.
"Are you really just going to keep watching? I think you're even giving an eagle a run for its money with how you're focused on them." Fate asked from beside her, saying with some amusement leaking into her tone. "
"Would it sound weird if I said yes?" Nanoha replied with a small forced smile. "Maybe we should have kept it as a single group rather than having them form small teams and head in different directions."
The blonde nodded, "There is technically no fault with that plan, but it sure will sacrifice a lot of time if we go through those points one by one. Also, it would give Jail a moment to escape if he saw one of his hideouts getting raided."
"Somehow, I doubt that Jail has any way of escaping if all of us did end up raiding his main hideout."
A quiet exhale followed. Fate drifted slightly to her left, adjusting her position as the wind shifted and said nothing more for a moment. Hard to argue with that point since she also believed the same thing.
Below, the forest gave nothing away. No movement at the edges, no sound carried up to them that felt out of place, with a field disrupting their observational machines, they had to rely on nothing but sight. So far, one side observed a single person and the other on the other two.
"Jail's been quiet for a long time," Fate said eventually. "While that does bother me more than anything else, I just hope this mission ends up concluding peacefully. We've had one issue after another to deal with constantly."
"He has been gathering information this entire time. I'm not sure what he is after anymore, if he still plans on going after the relics. It wouldn't make any sense to do so after losing the Saint's Cradle." Nanoha kept her gaze fixed on the tree line. "He would not come out of hiding unless he was sure he could use it to his advantage."
"Or unless he wanted us to think that."
"Both things can be true."
Fate gave a slow nod. Her gaze drifted toward the same spot Nanoha was watching, though for slightly different reasons. "And Quattro?"
Again that name was brought back.
"I don't know."
"She led them there. She gave up coordinates and other possible traps in the area…" Fate's voice remained measured. "Whatever her reason, she has been more cooperative in the last hour than I would have expected."
"Useful and trustworthy are not the same thing."
"No," Fate agreed. "But they are not always mutually exclusive either. She may genuinely be trying to help. Even if the reason behind it is entirely selfish."
Nanoha did not argue against that. She had already run the same thought through her mind more than once and arrived at the same uncomfortable conclusion each time.
The wind passed between them again, carrying the faint smell of pine and turned soil.
"Are you going to be suspicious of her forever?" Fate asked again.
Several seconds passed. In the middle of her thoughts, the young woman gazed below them as the birds broke from the canopy and cut across the open air before vanishing into the trees again.
"I don't know," she said at last, her voice dropping just slightly. Pausing again before adding, "What do you think? Honestly."
Fate turned her head to look at her. "I know this will sound like a bad idea, even though I am not fully certain. But… I think everyone deserves a second chance." She let the words linger in the air, most likely checking her expression before continuing. "I got one and so did Hayate. Neither of us was without any faults."
Before any response could be given, a flash of light cut through the trees in the distance.
"—!"
Both of them turned at the same instant.
"An attack?" The brunette mentioned with narrowed eyes.
"It came from the southeast, that's where Caro and Erio went, just like before, our communication lines are still down to know what's going on." It was one thing to have confidence in their team members, but without a good visual on them, feeling a bit of uncertainty was a given.
Boom!
This time, the explosion sounded once more without more force behind it, leading both mages to look at each other and nod their heads. Their duties consisted of keeping watch on the group and acting as reinforcement if needed, while also keeping an eye on their terrain to keep outside forces from ambushing them and to prevent anyone from going out.
Fate was the first to move, heading over as soon as both caught glimpses of Caro emerging from the tree lines while on a dragon. Erio is standing right beside her and blocking several lasers from drones down below before striking them one by one. "They most likely stumbled on the actual hideout, Fate!"
"Most likely, I'll go over to help out a bit and you should find the others and lead them he—" Before the woman could finish her sentence, a sense of danger filled her very being, leading her to whip her head around just in time for both to spot several black dots in the sky heading closer.
"We got company!"
With years of battling side by side, not a moment of hesitation passed when the brunette went over and raised her hand ahead.
"Protection!"
Whoosh!
Complex white geometric patterns tore open in the air directly ahead of her. Concentric rings expanded outward from a central point, each one trailing a lattice of interlocking triangles that locked into place as they spread. The outermost ring was the largest, its circumference wide enough to cover both of them with ease and along its edge, smaller circles appeared in rapid succession, each containing its own rotating geometry that spun inward to feed into the main structure.
A second layer pushed out beneath the first, offset at an angle, the two overlapping until the gaps between them filled with a dense web of lines that cross-crossed and re-crossed.
The first laser arrived before the circle had even finished forming.
It was not a thin beam.
The thing was roughly half the height of a person, a concentrated column of white that punched through the air and struck the barrier dead center. The impact sent a shockwave outward in a ring, the air around the point of contact compressing and then releasing, the force of it traveling down through the barrier and rattling up through Nanoha's arms.
"..."
Yet her body did not budge, even as some of the overflowing energy spilled behind her and cleaved a deep ravine on the ground far away in the distance. The geometric patterns at the center flared white where they hit, the lines bending inward briefly before snapping back.
"It's that same attack from before."
Memories of the beautiful blooming shield flooded Nanoha's mind, a shield as he had described it but a spell in her mind — She once again marveled at its strength. 'Not exactly at the same level as a divine buster, but still powerful enough to go through most barriers.'
Regardless, Jail has decided to show himself at last and she would not be losing this opportunity. "Yes, I noticed. But it's not just one this time."
Two more followed in the same second, both striking the upper section of the barrier. The shockwaves overlapped, the second detonation arriving before the first had fully dissipated and the vibration that passed through the structure this time was stronger.
"Damn it." Nanoha planted her feet against nothing but the artificial platform built with her magic, using the air itself as a brace and held her position.
"More incoming!"
Four more came in from the left side.
Each one hit with the same force as the first. The barrier geometry distorted at every impact point, the rings warping and pulling before correcting. The air around the barrier had turned hazy from the repeated detonations, heat and displaced pressure spreading outward each time. The sound reached her chest before it reached her ears, a low concussive thud that repeated with barely a breath between each one.
Then it stopped.
"Phew."
Even at her current state, keeping up such a powerful barrier and blocking those attacks could not go on forever.
Nanoha kept the barrier up for another two seconds before letting her eyes move past it, which hovered there with a dazed expression upon closer observation.
"You have to be kidding me, I thought he could no longer create more of them without the Saint's Cradle…"
"Turns out our intel may have been wrong, or else already had these made long before."
That thing had an entire factory pumping out such machines by the hundreds. Without it, the doctor would have been crippled, yet he sent so many of these against her today that the young woman wondered if she had missed something.
There were plenty of them.
A formation of drones is coming in from the north, still at a distance but closing. Not one variant but several, none of them recognized from past battles. "Careful, Nanoha. We don't know what they can do. I doubt the doctor did all of this just to have them be destroyed again."
The bulkier ones she recognised from the earlier engagement, but mixed in with them were narrower units she had not seen before, their frames thinner and built lower, the kind of profile that usually meant speed over output.
"I'll handle this. Go help Caro and Erio."
Fate glanced at the formation, then back at her.
"Go," Nanoha said.
Fate nodded once and broke away, dropping toward the tree line. Neither of them worried about the other failing their task; the only worry capable of festering in their heart being the safety of the others.
Nanoha released the barrier and turned to face the incoming group fully. Raising Heart rotated once in her grip.
"Axel Shooter!"
The effects were immediate.
Six spheres of pink light pulled into existence around her, each one the size of a fist, rotating in a loose orbit. She gave them a single second to stabilize, tracked the spread of the formation ahead and sent them out.
All six hit.
"Hm?"
No, right as they were about to hit their target, a thin film of energy took the brunt of the attack. The bulkier units straight on tanked one of the spheres and kept advancing without showing any signs of slowing down, the impacts producing a burst of light and a concussive crack that carried across the open air. The remaining three hit the narrow-body variants, but just like the rest, showed little damage.
None of them went down.
"I see now." A sort of defensive spell, then it just required a more powerful spell.
Yet right as she was about to fire another barrage, a particular voice reached her ears.
"You certainly have grown more powerful than I remember, Nanoha Takamachi. I wouldn't even say it's a surprise at this rate, merely an outcome one would expect from a prodigy like you."
Jail's voice came through the drone in front of her. Raising Heart was already raised and aimed before he finished the sentence.
"I did not come here to fight you," he continued. "Nor did I arrive out of pure goodwill. Though, heh, I did not expect you to believe otherwise."
"I don't." She answered back with a dry tone while keeping a neutral expression, showcasing nothing.
"No, I suppose you wouldn't." A brief pause, his face flashing across the metal hull of one of the drones. Something Nanoha tried to observe closely in order to find any clues where he could be. If Caro and Erio really did find his main hideout then Jail looked a bit too calm for that to be the case. But he also did attack her right as those two started their fight, so possibly a distraction… "But I was being serious. I have no interest in fighting you today."
"Your prior move sure did prove me otherwise, Jail."
That earned a laugh from the scientist, with him then waving his hands dismissively. "Oh that was just to get your attention; nothing from that would have been nearly enough to wound you at all. After all, you have survived far worse; let's just treat it as a greeting from me."
Her eyes twitched at just how shameless this guy sounded.
The formation of drones held their positions. None of them had fired since she raised her barrier. Taking the small window of opportunity where it seemed that none of the drones would be fast enough to react, Raising Heart was raised with another attack charging itself. Several spheres surrounding her being until she—
"You are only delaying the inevitable," Jail said out of the blue, catching her off guard…
Nanoha observed the man for several seconds in silence. "...What does that mean?"
"I think you already know," he replied. "But since you're going to ask anyway — I am talking about Emiya Shirou."
"..."
She said nothing.
"You look unsurprised," he said, though his tone carried no particular amusement behind it. "You shouldn't be. He has been in your world for quite some time now, far longer than he anticipated I bet. Long enough for the Bureau to observe him thoroughly and hope to sink their greedy claws into him. Long enough to study what he can do and begin asking the obvious question."
"Get to the point."
She knew it was a bad idea to just stand there and listen to this man. For there was no reason to even believe a single word that came out of his mouth, but still she did.
"The point is that no one has any intention of sending him home clearly. Not now. Possibly not ever. Simply because he is too valuable a subject with a rather interesting ability. A man who produces weapons from nothing, weapons that behave outside every system this world operates on. You genuinely believe the higher-ups are going to let that walk out the door after seeing what he did on my precious base?"
"You're lying."
"Am I?" It was not a question. "Then tell me — what effort has been made? He has been here for months. He works alongside Riot Force 6, he fights your battles, he bleeds for your missions. And in all that time, what has anyone actually done to find a way to get him back?"
Her grip on her weapon tightened. "That was his choice. He wanted to help people and we did not force him whatsoever."
"A convenient thing for everyone involved, isn't it?" Jail said. "He chooses to stay and help and no one has to feel responsible for the fact that he is still here. A man stranded on another world, with no way back, surrounded by people who find his presence useful. You call that a choice. I would call it something else, a delusion where he simply hides his true thoughts. After all, who accepts being ripped away from their family and friends for so long?"
"Don't…"
"You want him to stay," Jail pushed on with a knowing grin on his face. "I think on some level you are aware of that and you have been for a while. The difference between wanting someone nearby and keeping them there is a thin line, Nanoha. I wonder which side of it you are standing on."
"You kidnapped him," she said. "You don't get to stand there and talk about what's good
for him."
"No," Jail agreed, without any deflection in his voice. "I don't deny that. What I did was wrong by most definitions of the word. But at least I am honest about what I wanted from him and I even offered a solution to his current problem." He paused. "Can everyone around him say the same? Does he have a single person in that city who is not getting something out of his being there? Or is he just surrounded by people who have convinced themselves that using someone and caring about them are the same thing?"
The drones held their formation.
Nanoha said nothing.
She knew better than anyone that everything coming out of his mouth had no other purpose but to get under her skin. Shirou mentioned several times before that he was happy and willing to wait with Hayate, giving her word that they would find a solution. But one thing she had to agree on was their being unable to make any progress whatsoever.
How even could they? The redhead arrived out of the blue on another planet where the place got invaded by an army of monsters. Having arrived here without even using any sort of machine or device, but instead from an accident during his friend's experiment. How exactly does one reverse that mistake when they knew little to nothing about it? It was simply impossible.
And it irked her that Shirou genuinely believed them, but months or even years after… they would come back empty-handed. That silence lasted about two seconds before Jail's voice came through again and this time, there was no further conversation attached to it.
"I have much to gain from his presence, just as all of you. Fire."
All of them moved at once.
The formation broke apart and spread wide, cutting off the angles around her as beams came in from three directions simultaneously. "Protection!" She threw up the defensive spell quickly and took the hits straight on, the barrier geometry flaring at every impact point, the force of each detonation stacking before the previous one had cleared. The shockwaves pushed her back through the air, boots dragging against nothing as she held her position.
"As expected from an S+ class mage! An attack of this calibre would have been more than enough to eviscerate an entire block, yet here you stand as mighty as before! Hahaha, I cannot wait to try out some of my other little toys."
More fire came from the drones, but rather than blocking each one of them again and again. Nanoha's figure flew across the sky, evading all of them with ease while counterattacking as well. Yet just like before, her attacks were met with an invisible force. Her irritation reaching a new high, the woman pushed Raising Heart forward and sent a wide burst back, the pink beam tearing through two drones and dropping them. A third moved to replace them. Then a fourth. The formation kept adjusting, plugging every gap she created.
'Tch, I'll just get rid of them all at once then.'
With each destroyed drone, a cloud of smoke arose, giving her some coverage from Jail's prying eyes.
She dropped.
Not going for a retreat, but instead a deliberate fall straight down through the open air, the tree canopy rushing up to meet her. The drones followed, but not fast enough and by the time the dust and displaced air from her descent had spread across the space where she had been, there was nothing left for them to track.
"Hoh, nice try, but hiding won't help you." The drone that spotted her relayed the signal too late.
"I should be the one saying that."
From the ground, her voice carried up through the trees. "Also, you're wrong about one thing. He does have people who actually care about him. While I do have my own selfish desires, that does not mean I will not try my best to fulfill them. I will get him back home… one way or another."
The drones turned as one and fired. Every unit in the formation discharged simultaneously, the combined output converging into a single column that dropped toward her position. The beam was wide enough to clear a section of forest if it landed, the ground beneath it already cracking from the pressure of the air it displaced.
Nanoha raised Raising Heart above her head with both hands.
The stray mana that had been sitting in the air since the battle started — from every barrier she had raised, every beam that had been fired, every discharge from Jail's drones that had missed or been absorbed — all of it began to move. It pulled inward from the surrounding area in visible streams, thin lines of light converging toward a single point in front of the staff. The sphere that formed was not large at first. Then it kept growing, pulling in more from further out, the light around her dimming as the energy overhead grew brighter.
"Divine…"
A different spell had arisen in her mind, but the sheer destruction of that particular one would be too excessive. These drones were troublesome due to their barrier jacket-like defensive capabilities, but nothing beyond her capabilities.
"...Buster!"
She pushed Raising Heart above and the sphere released into a column of pure condensed energy.
"Hn!"
The two beams met in the air above the tree line. For a moment, the force held even, the combined drone output pressing down and the Divine Buster pushing back up. Then the balance broke with Nanoha pouring more of her mana and having the white beam steadily overwhelm the green, pushing through and making Jail's expression change from confidence to frustration.
"You truly are a monstrous entity, Takamichi Nanoha. I really do require magic from beyond this world if I ever hope to surpass this…"
The attack continued past it, the drone formation scattering as the beam tore through the center of their formation. The beam went beyond the clouds, parting them and clearing the skies for several miles. With sunlight now basking upon the entire forest, the young woman released a breath she did not know she was holding.
As the light faded from her spell, Jail's voice came through one of the surviving units, further back now as it fell to the ground.
"I wonder," he said, almost to himself. "What kind of face will you make when the ones who end up truly helping that boy turn out to be the very people you consider the enemy?"
The transmission cut with her shooting another spell to destroy it instantly. Having had enough of his voice for the rest of the year or life if possible.
"Hah…"
Despite having fired such a powerful spell against an attack several dozen times the power used against Shirou during the auction — No trace of exhaustion could be seen or felt in her body. In a matter of seconds, she already felt her spent energy recuperate and bring her back to her top state.
The last piece of debris from the drone formation hit the ground somewhere below the tree line. Nanoha lowered Raising Heart and took a breath.
"Hm?"
Then another flash cut through the sky to the east.
"That place…" She was already moving before she had time to think about it, cutting across the open air in the direction Fate had gone. The forest blurred beneath her. The flash had been further out than where Caro and Erio were last spotted, but with communication still down there was no way to confirm anything from here. 'Fate is more than capable of handling anything Jail throws at her.'
She came over the trees and stopped.
The scene presented before turned out not to be Caro or Erio being aided by Fate.
Rather, she stumbled upon the second group consisting of Subaru and Teana, both of them sat on the ground roughly a short distance apart from each other, both of them in the middle of a clearing that looked like something had gone through it at speed. Trees at the edges had been knocked sideways and the ground between them was torn up and scorched in overlapping patches. Drones — or what remained of them — were scattered across the area in various states of destruction. Some had been cut apart. Others looked like they had been hit with something that did not bother cutting and just pushed straight through.
In the center of the wreckage stood an unconscious woman. "A Number!" Nanoha immediately recognized the person through both the gear and her appearance. Her clothes were torn at the shoulder and one side of her face had taken a hit at some point, most likely by the two girls. This one looked somewhat young for a Number, with short brown hair and VIII engraved on the metal plate near the neck.
Nanoha dropped between them and Otto in one motion.
"Subaru. Teana. Are both of you hurt?"
"Hey," Subaru said from the ground. She had one arm resting across her knee and a long streak of soot running from her shoulder down to her elbow. "Good timing. We're fine, just a few scratches here and there. You should have seen Teana shooting all of them down so fast, I think it's a personal record~!"
The orange-haired girl in question lay on the ground, lazily lifting up her arm and giving them a thumbs up. "Thanks for protecting me from those ray attacks. I could barely keep up with that guy."
"Guy? Is that not a girl?"
Teana barely managed to look up towards the Number in question. "Looks like a boy."
"Pretty sure I heard somewhere that all Numbers are female."
"Ah, I guess it's a woman."
Listening to their conversation, Nanoha showed a relieved smile, realizing both were in good condition.
Teana was already getting to her feet, brushing debris off her uniform with the back of her hand. A section of her hair had come loose and there was a burn mark along the side of her boot. "We almost did not see her coming during the ambush," she said. "The drones came first and were already on top of us by the time the first one fired. Then this Number used that opportunity as a cover to sneak attack us. Subaru managed to spot her a second early and shield me from any serious injuries in time."
"So you are hurt. After we're done here, it's best to get checked up, just in case."
"It's nothing but bruises." Subaru rolled her shoulder once. "Nothing that needs attention right now."
Teana looked around at the clearing. "Otto was not alone when they arrived. There was another one, but she left before we could catch up. We managed to drive her off before you got here, but it took longer than it should have."
Nanoha exhaled and looked at the damage around them, then at the direction the other Number had gone. Trying to pursue her would be a waste of time; her main priority remained to keep everyone on the team safe.
Then a thought struck her right then and there.
If they hit this group and Caro and Erio's group at the same time, then the same thing would have happened with Shirou.
"Shirou's group," she said, mostly to herself.
Subaru was on her feet before Nanoha finished the thought. "We're coming with you."
"No."
"B-But—"
"This area is still being used. If Jail pulls back and tries to move anyone through here, I need someone watching it." She looked at both of them. "You two are the ones who know this section better than anyone right now. Stay here. If anyone comes through, fire a signal."
Subaru opened her mouth.
"I mean it," Nanoha said.
A pause followed, both girls looking at each other and at the hideout they hadn't yet managed to check.
"Fine, we'll stay here." Then Subaru sat back down and Teana crossed her arms but nodded once.
Nanoha turned and went east.
Fate had gone toward Caro and Erio, so that side was covered. Shirou and Lutecia had gone deeper into the forest with Quattro, further north from her last position. She had tracked their general direction when they split up and held that in her head now as she
moved through the air above the canopy, following the line they had taken.
The forest thinned slightly as she went further in. Below her, the ground was undisturbed at first, then less so. A section of trees at the edge of a rocky outcrop had taken damage recently — bark stripped from one side, branches snapped inward rather than outward, which meant something had been thrown against them rather than falling. Scorch marks on the ground below. A wide section of the earth that had been pushed up and cracked apart.
She came down through the canopy and landed.
The area around her had been through a fight. Not a small one. The ground in the center of the clearing was carved up in several places, the dirt mixed with gravel where something heavy had hit repeatedly. Part of a drone casing sat half-buried near the base of a tree. Further back, one of the trees had been split partway down the trunk by something that had gone through it rather than into it.
But the battle was over. Everything here was still.
Then she saw the blood.
"Oh no…"
It was on the ground near the far end of the clearing, a trail that started from one spot and
did not go far. Her chest tightened and she crossed the clearing in several seconds, already running through the worst version of what she was about to find.
She stopped.
"Eh?"
It was not Shirou.
It was not Lutecia either.
Tres was on the ground, one hand still partway raised as if she had tried to reach for something that was no longer there. Her eyes were open. The wound was through the heart, blood pouring profusely with no signs of stopping. Standing over her, with the broken half of a weapon still in her hand, was Quattro.
The woman had not moved when Nanoha landed. She was still looking down at Tres and whatever was going through her head did not show on her face in any way that made it
easy to read.
Nanoha stared at her.
Neither of them said anything.
{Break}
"Alright, everyone, stand back, we will take it from here. Thank you for your hard work!"
A few hours later, the group found themselves gathered once again and watched as the other members of the TSAB came back with more personnel to further explore what they had found within those hideouts now that the place was cleared. Amongst the things retrieved, Shirou couldn't help but stare at those large vats of liquid where several grotesque humanoid beings still floated without a sign of life.
Aside from the few who resembled the Numbers, there happened to be one specifically that caught both his and Fate's attention.
"This…"
The blonde specifically covered her mouth with a disturbed look as she stared at what he and Lutecia had discovered earlier on. "V-Vivio?"
"Looks like her, but it's not actually Vivio. Still… to think he would have such a thing… I'm at a loss for words." Hayate returned, standing beside them also having a similar expression to the others.
Nobody spoke for a while after that.
The retrieval team worked around them, moving in and out of the hideout with equipment and storage containers, their voices kept low out of what seemed like an involuntary habit. The vats were catalogued and flagged, each one photographed and sealed for transport. The one containing the figure that resembled Vivio was handled last, two technicians standing in front of it for a long moment before either of them reached for the equipment.
Hayate watched the whole process with her arms crossed and said nothing until the last of them had moved deeper into the facility.
"He was never here." She said it flat, no question behind it. "Not recently anyway. This place has been empty for months. The drones were running on automated patrol settings." She exhaled through her nose. "I wanted to find him sitting in that chair."
"We'll get him," Fate said.
"I know. It would just have been nice to do it today." Hayate looked at the entrance to the main room, then at the cleared ground outside where the drones had been. "Still. We took out two Numbers on the field, disabled the hideout and recovered everything inside. That's not nothing."
"The fewer of them there are, the less he can put in front of us next time," Fate said. She paused and her eyes moved sideways for a moment before she continued. "Though that does raise the question of how many we are not aware of. Whether the ones we know about all of them or just the ones he chose to show us."
"Unlikely that there are more," Quattro said from where she stood a few meters back, hands still bound, expression unchanged. "Creating a Number is not something he can do on short notice. The process takes years. Resources. Facilities like this one." She glanced at the vats. "What you found in there is what that process actually looks like before it goes right."
No one responded to that directly.
The retrieval team finished what they needed, flagged the site for a full structural sweep and that was the end of it.
.
.
.
The transport back to Midchilda was quiet for most of the trip. Caro had fallen asleep in her seat within the first ten minutes; Friedrich reduced to a small form, settled in her lap. Erio sat beside her and did not move. Subaru had her elbows on her knees and her eyes on the floor. Teana was the only one reading anything, though she had not turned a page in a while.
Shirou sat near the back. Lutecia sat beside him, not speaking. Quattro was at the far end of the row, separated from the others by an empty seat on each side, her bound hands resting in her lap.
When they landed, the first thing Nanoha noticed was the figure standing on the platform.
Hayate noticed half a second later and her expression settled into something that was not
quite a smile.
"Regius," she said as they came down the ramp. "That is a welcoming sight. Did they run out of things for you to disapprove of at headquarters, or did you come all the way out here specifically for us?"
Gaius Regius stood with both hands behind his back, his uniform pressed without a crease, his posture exactly as it always was. He looked at Hayate for a moment before answering.
"I came to speak with you."
"About Shirou, I assume." Hayate's voice did not shift in tone. "Because if there is
anything left to cover on that particular subject, I would rather save it for when I have had a meal and something to drink."
"No," Regius said.
That stopped her.
Behind her, several members of the group had gone still in the way people do when something does not match what they were prepared to hear.
Regius looked across the group briefly, then back to Hayate. "That matter has been addressed. I have no reason to revisit it." He paused. "I am here because of what your unit accomplished today. The intelligence gathered, the facilities neutralised, the Numbers taken off the field. It was a significant result." He said it the same way he said
everything, without warmth and without any change in register. "You and your team performed well. That deserved to be acknowledged."
Hayate looked at him for a long moment.
"...Thank you, sir," she said politely, but the hint of suspicion was without leaving her gaze once. Even Shirou who rarely interacted with the man felt something off with the entire thing. "Sorry if this sounds rude from me, but perhaps you have something more to discuss, given you took the time and effort to come all the way here when you could have just congratulated me in an easier way."
"Humph," for a brief moment, his mask faltered, but the man continued nonetheless. "You are correct, as you may know, we have been keeping an eye on you for this mission in particular. Especially the group involving both Emiya Shirou and Number Quattro, their actions were monitored closely and we have reached a conclusion."
"Why are you bringing up Shirou?" Hayate immediately asked, the suspicious stare from the others growing.
Regius did not pause. "As I was saying," he continued, "we have been observing both of them since the mission began. There were those among the higher-ups who remained unconvinced about the decision to involve Number Quattro in active field operations. The concern was reasonable. Giving a prisoner access to field intelligence and real-time positioning carries risk and several people made that point clearly before the mission was approved."
He let that sit for a moment before going on.
"Her actions today addressed those concerns. She provided accurate coordinates, disclosed information about Jail's defensive measures and intervened directly when the situation required it. Going so far as to use deadly force against her former allies." He said nothing about Tres specifically, but it was clear enough what he was referring to. "Whatever her reasons, the outcome was in our favour. The higher-ups have taken that into account."
"But we still were not able to find him. He was not even there to begin with; what's to say he did not get the information from her early on?" Hayate argued back, only to see the man before her shake his head.
"Impossible, we were unable to find any proof of her providing outside information. And yes, the fact that you were not able to find Jail can also mean that he managed to acquire the information somehow, but not necessarily through Quattro."
"So we have a rat and they decide to grant Quattro freedom? This does not make sense." This time, Fate intervened.
"Regardless, a decision has been made," Regius said. "In recognition of her cooperation, Number Quattro will be granted modified terms of custody. She will no longer be confined to her cell. She will be permitted to move within the facility and live in standard quarters." He glanced briefly in Quattro's direction, then back to Hayate. "Monitoring will remain in place. That condition does not change. But the terms of her detention will be adjusted effectively immediately."
"..."
The group was quiet, for it was not complete freedom, but still quite risky nonetheless.
Hayate looked at him for a moment, then turned her head just enough to glance at Quattro. The woman had not reacted. Her expression had not shifted at all since Regius started speaking, which was either composure or indifference and from her it was
difficult to tell the difference.
"Understood," Hayate said.
Shirou glanced at Quattro. She was already looking at him, holding his gaze for exactly one second, then looked away at nothing in particular. We are not that long ago. She held a easy going smile but now put on an unreadable mask,
"Alright," Hayate said, turning back to face the group. Her voice had returned to its usual register. "You all heard him. Debrief in an hour. Food first. Move."
The debrief lasted forty minutes. Nobody pushed for longer.
By the time the group dispersed, the light outside had shifted into the grey-orange of early evening. Most of them split off without much conversation, the kind of quiet that comes from people who have already said everything they need to for one day.
Shirou, Fate and Lutecia took the same route back.
The apartment building came into view and they were still at the bottom of the stairs when the door at the top opened.
"You're back!"
Vivio came down the steps at a pace that was technically still walking, just barely. She reached Fate first, wrapped both arms around her waist and held on for a moment before pulling back to look up at her.
"I missed you."
"It has been a few hours," Fate said.
"It felt like days."
"It was not days."
"It felt like it." Vivio released her and turned to Lutecia, pointing at the door with clear intent. "Come on, I set up the board game in the other room. I've been waiting for too long!"
Lutecia looked at the door, then at Vivio. "You could have started without me."
"That's not how it works." Vivio had already taken her by the wrist and was heading back up the stairs. She glanced over her shoulder at Shirou as she went. "You can play too if you want."
"Maybe later."
The door closed behind them.
Fate stood at the bottom of the stairs for a moment, then exhaled once through her nose.
"I need to walk," she said. "Do you mind?"
"Eh? Sure, I'll accompany you." Truthfully, he also needed a moment to clear his mind of what he had seen a few hours ago. Watching the review brought them back with a vengeance and he did not want to act weirdly around her.
Before leaving, they stopped briefly at Subaru and Teana's door on the way out. Fate knocked once, waited, then carefully opened the door. From inside came the faint, overlapping sound of two people breathing at the slow pace of deep sleep.
She stepped back from the door.
They took one of the side roads that ran behind the residential block, with no particular direction. The street was mostly empty. A few lights were on in the buildings they passed, the occasional sound of something cooking drifting out from an open window on the second floor of one of them.
Fate walked with her hands loose at her sides. She did not say anything for the first few minutes.
"By the way, did Nanoha ever mention to you about the two of us starting out as enemies?"
Not expecting this topic to arise, he stormed his brain and recalled this being mentioned before once and nodded his head.
"I met Nanoha when we were both nine," she said eventually. "We were not friends then, the opposite of that, actually. I myself was not in the best state of mind to make friends at that particular point in my life." She paused. "We fought a lot. The kind of fights where you are genuinely trying to put the other person down. I can still remember each moment as clearly as possible, as if it were just yesterday."
Shirou glanced at her.
"I know," she said, reading the look. "It is hard to picture now. But it was real."
"What changed it?"
"She did not stop coming." Fate's voice did not carry any particular weight when she said it. It was just a fact. "I kept pushing her away and she kept coming back. Eventually, something about that got through." She turned her head slightly. "She actually started that habit early. The shooting first and making friends out of it came later."
"Is that where the Divine Buster reputation came from?"
"Partly." There was a faint pull at the corner of her mouth. "She hit me with one in the middle of a fight once, but that one was a Starlight Breaker, which is more destructive and easily broke through my strongest defensive spell. Somehow, that ended up being the turning point. Nanoha has a very specific way of reaching people."
They turned at the end of the block without deciding to.
Fate was quiet again for a moment. When she spoke next, her tone had shifted, not dramatically, but enough.
"I keep thinking about whether I should be trying to do the same with Quattro," she said. "Give her the same consideration Nanoha gave me. But no matter how much I want to do that, there is something in me that does not want to go down that path. Not yet." She paused. "I do not know if that is a reasonable position or just a selfish one."
"Probably both," Shirou said.
She looked at him.
"I have the same problem," he said. "She killed Tres in front of me. I know she did it to protect Lutecia and I am grateful for that. But… the way she did it, the way she looked at her afterwards — I keep trying to work out if she did it for our sake or just because it was
the most useful option available to her at that moment." He kept his eyes on the road ahead. "I can not figure out which one it was. Maybe it was both."
"And does that change how you see it?"
"I don't know yet."
Fate nodded slowly. They walked another half block before she spoke again.
"Hayate would say we are both overthinking it."
"She would probably be right."
"She usually is. Yet lately I feel like she is also going through something similar." Fate turned to look at him and this time the expression on her face had changed. The corner of her mouth came up again, more deliberate than before. "Speaking of things worth thinking about. How are things between you and Nanoha? After she found out you were managing three of us at once."
"Urgh!" Shirou's pace faltered, with him nearly falling to the ground. "Again with that?"
"You can't blame me for being curious. I've only seen such things happen in movies and romance novels. I never thought anyone would be… eccentric enough to try it in real life."
The redhead's face turned crimson not just from embarrassment but also a bit of shame, "You meant an idiot, right? Like I said, I was just trying to make everyone happy in a way that didn't make sense and pay the price. Surprisingly, she didn't seem to mind after that and nothing really has changed between us. In fact, I'm surprised Hayate is not angry with me."
This time, it was Fate's turn to pout, "Why are you not considering why I wouldn't be angry at you? Does our moment together not count? How cruel of you, Shirou, you have turned into a true playboy."
"You're messing with me…" thankfully, he did not fall for her exaggerated acting. "We barely exchanged one or two words and you were still in your car. That would hardly count as anything but a passing conversation."
"Well, I was about to invite you to spend some time with me. But clearly you were more interested in spending your time with the other two. But I understand, one is your girlfriend and the other is your boss, as for me, I am… Well, I am just a colleague." He wondered if his ears were fooling him, for at that moment, he genuinely felt like she was being serious with her words rather than teasing him.
"Why are you saying that? I think we've long since gone past the point of just colleagues, Fate." He said confidently, that answer taking her by surprise as she didn't proceed to look at him with hope in her eyes and bubbling expectation.
"Is that so? Then what do you see me as? If you don't mind me asking."
"A good friend." He replied instantly, this making the woman's smile freeze on the spot, but he did not notice it and continued. "What kind of colleague would spend several hours or even days at each other's apartment? Not only that, but you also cook at my place and it's not just anyone I give access to the kitchen; you alone have that privilege. But to answer you seriously, you have helped me in countless ways that I myself am not sure how to pay back exactly, not only with my own personal matters but also with Lutecia."
"You really do care about her, don't you?"
"I guess so." He said whilst scratching the back of his head. "She feels like a sister. I never had the opportunity in the past to be a proper brother, so part of me feels like I shouldn't squander my chance now that I got a second go at it."
"Eh, you have a sister?"
"Had one." He corrected her, memories of Illyasviel resurfaced and their interaction with one another couldn't be described as affectionate whatsoever. There was no bond between siblings, merely just hatred on one side and ignorance on the other.
Sometimes he wondered if he could have changed the outcome had he known the truth from the beginning, before the war.
"I can't remember if I brought her up during a conversation, maybe I did with Nanoha or Lutecia. Regardless, things just didn't turn out well and I never had the chance to be a proper brother. So I want to try my best this time and not ruin my chances."
"I'm sure you would have been an amazing brother, Shirou," Fate said, with both having walked long enough to reach the other side of town, where a body of water separated them and the centre. Bright lights illuminated the sky in the distance with more ambiance over there than where they resided. Flying cars are visible passing through occasionally and the sound of music playing faintly in the background.
"I want to believe so, but the fact that it did not happen makes me doubt it. Regardless, I can't change the past anymore and it's best to focus on the present. Let's talk about something else; this topic can be unnecessarily dark and I'm not in the mood."
Chuckled but accepted it, "All right then, there has been a question that I've been meaning to ask you for a while."
"Same for me."
"Oh?" This caught her attention. "Can I hear yours first?"
He hesitated at first, his hands clenching against one another with doubts starting to surface in his mind. For quite a while, at least since yesterday, he felt like he was just being too paranoid and was most likely overthinking things. For it made no sense, but the longer he thought back to the events prior, the more something felt odd.
"What do you think of me, Fate?"
"Cough!" Not prepared to hear such a forward question from him, the blonde choked on air, which surprised him but she quickly recovered before turning her attention back to the glowing city in the distance. "E-Em… Why the sudden question?"
"It relates back to the three timing stuff you keep teasing me about. I keep remembering what Nanoha mentioned to me at the end, about how I should have just told her about my plans earlier on and she would have been more than happy to accept it with all of you joining along. But the more I think about it, the less sense it makes. It's still a date, shouldn't such things be more private?"
He asked genuinely, hoping the woman would have some answers for him. But unfortunately, even the person next to him found herself stumped because she did not know exactly what to say. Having no experience herself, this happened to be a new territory as well.
"I suppose so. But like she said, all three of us are very close and maybe she just does not mind it."
"Then how about you?" He asked in return. "Let's say a few were in a similar situation and in a relationship. Would you feel comfortable with this idea?"
He observed her closely from the side, seeing her expression change several times from uncertainty to her face growing slightly red and plenty of other emotions that you could not describe. In the end, she ended up scratching the back of her head, nearly mimicking his own gesture while answering in a quiet voice no louder than a whisper.
"I want to say yes because I also cherish both Hayate and Nanoha very much. There is nothing in my life I wouldn't sacrifice for them and I know they would do the same for me. But I won't lie, I do feel like a very small, tiny part of me would be a bit more possessive. Maybe I would have tried to spend more time alone with you at first."
"With… me?"
"Ah…"
It only dawned on her a second later that the slight slip-up she had made, even Shirou was not dense enough to miss the underlying meaning of her words. His eyes widened while looking at her for several seconds in silence. "Fate… what do you think about me?"
"I… I am not fully sure myself." She ended up answering after releasing a sigh. "Technically speaking, you are still new to this place. I've only gotten to know you for not even half a year, barely two months. No matter how you look at it, that is not enough time to form that kind of feeling, isn't it?"
"You're asking the wrong person." He said, alluding to his own relationship with Nanoha.
"Hehe, I guess that's what makes her so special. She is so certain of her own feelings, whereas I cannot say for certain if this is love, infatuation, interest or just plain curiosity. When I do see you hanging around with Nanoha, I don't feel that kind of jealousy one would have when seeing their crush with someone else. In fact, I am very happy and I want to see both of you make each other happy."
"You didn't answer my question." He continued.
"I… I just don't know what to say, Shirou. I will never take you away from her, but I also did not dislike the idea of having some attention myself. I know it sounds weird, well it is weird, I suppose, but that's just how I feel. I like what we have now, how you take care of Lutecia and I do with Vivio. How do they get to have the closest thing that resembles a family with Nanoha and us as well."
"I'm confused." He admitted, making her chuckle.
"I don't blame you. Let's try this, what do you think of me then? Do you feel the same way about me as you do about Nanoha?'
What he thought about Fate… That was also a difficult question. A beautiful woman with a mature personality who cared about those dear to her. A person he could see himself admiring for her actions and dedication. Someone who supported him and someone willing to help the unfortunate. No matter how one looked at it, just like Nanoha, she was also nearly perfect.
But would he call his feelings for her love?
"Looks like I'm the same as you, I'm also not sure myself. I like Nanoha, that is for certain and I do not wish for me to ruin this by loving someone else — that wouldn't be fair for anyone. I want to make her happy as much as possible. But then she herself does not see the issue with it and may actively have me get along with you and Hayate… it confuses me."
"Love is really complicated."
"Agreed."
Both laughed the awkwardness away, with Shirou then freezing up when he felt fate lean ever so slightly against him. Whether she was just getting herself comfortable or he was paying too much attention, he couldn't tell.
"Then let's just take the easy way out. No need to label whatever is going on between us; we continue to treat each other as we used to and enjoy each other's company. If I don't feel comfortable with something, I'll make sure to let you know, if I feel jealous, if I feel lonely, or wish to distance myself or even ask for something more — I'll just say it out loud. For now, I like what we have here… I'm happy with it. Isn't that what you want as well, Shirou?"
It was but still kind of convoluted in itself.
"There is one thing I am certain about now. You are a good person, Shirou. If, let's say, in another reality, you were to confess to me instead of Nanoha; I don't see myself declining."
A steady warmth started to bleed onto his face, with the blonde sneaking a peek and letting out another melodious chuckle.
"Did I make your heart flutter?"
"For some reason, I'm starting to fear for my future and my life."
The woman patted his chest, strands of her hair cascading down his shoulder, with the centre of her shampoo reaching his nose. All of these factors made his mind feel more chaotic than usual.
"Don't worry, Shirou. You'll be fine. Of course, as long as you don't flirt with another girl, if I see you seducing someone else aside from Hayate or Nanoha… I might genuinely get mad at you. The same will apply with Nanoha and Hayate; we'll always keep an eye on you."
"Noted."
At this point, he started to fear for his own sanity.
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