Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha: Shipping Lanes

[OpMegs]

Author's Note: This is mostly just an exercise for me to write up various potential scenarios as they come to mind, and see how well I can actualize them. Future snippets are possible, and requests may be written if I find them suitably entertaining. After all, these aren't too much effort to write. So, without further ado...

***


[i]Riiiiing-ring! Ring-ring! Ring-ring!
Stupid noise....bad enough she had trouble getting to sleep with Fate out on assignment, but now some kid on a bike outside....

AWOOOOOOOGAH!
Nanoha sat up straight in bed with a startled "I'm awake!" as she looked at the phone by her bedside which had shifted from "friendly call" to "please pick me up right now". Yet again, she regretted letting Hayate blackmail her into accepting the thing as a housewarming gift. As she picked up, the slightly frantic face of Subaru looked back at her. "Nanoha-saaaaan! Heeeeeelllllllp~!"
"Subaru, what is it?" Nanoha asked, concerned. Her old pupil was hardly the type to panic under pressure, especially with her work in the disaster relief branch. If she was freaking out this badly, something awful had to have happen-
"It's Tsubasa! She won't stop crying and I've tried rocking her and singing to her and cuddling her and I can't do breast-feeding like Tea and I don't know what to do but you raised Vivio and hellllllllppppp!"
Nanoha looked at her for a moment as her brain slowly regrew the gears it had stripped off from her late night lesson planning session and insomnia to properly assess the situation, before she looked at the phone with a dour look and sighed. "Subaru, Teana made the contact list for you ahead of time exactly for this sort of thing."
"Yes, but, it's like 5 in the morning over where Gin-nee is at! I didn't want to wake...her....oh," Subaru said as her brain finally caught up with her mouth and she realized that Ginga wasn't that far ahead of them time wise. "....I thought you'd have more practical hands-on experience?"
"Good night, Subaru," Nanoha said, hanging up before making a flying faceplant into her pillow, grumbling about stupid sexy blondes with careers that give them sexy suits but keep them away far too much from bed warming duties....
***
Alright, Lutecia, you know what you have to do, the young summoner said, bringing both arms up in determination. "Right, let's do this. Don't back down. Just ask the question."
Lutecia had come a long way since the end of the JS Incident. Her mother's recuperation had helped that, allowing her to focus more on her own feelings rather than the single minded drive that had sustained her while working for the Doctor to restore her mother.
Which had led her to re-examine the feelings that had led her to leave the Doctor's employ...and the people that had inspired them. Which in turn had led her to this seemingly innocuous question to the two people that meant the most to her in the entire world.
"Um...Caro...Erio...I've been meaning to ask. Are you two...y'know..." she said, twiddling her fingers. "Together?"
"Together?" Caro said, ignoring Erio choking on his drink from where he'd just swallowed a gulp of tea down the wrong tube. "Well, I suppose, in a way. We've always been pretty close since we met, and it's kind of hard to imagine my life before I met Erio," she said, before Erio caught his breath and looked at Caro over Lutecia's crestfallen expression.
"I don't think that's what Lu meant, Caro," he said, coughing slightly. At the pink haired dragon summoner's confused look, he shrugged. "She meant are we dating."
Caro looked at him for a second. "Oh....oh!" she repeated, before looking back at Lutecia. "No, no, it's nothing like that at all. Erio's like my brother."
"Really?" Lutecia blinked.
"Yes," Caro smiled. "We were both adopted by Fate, and we kind of got used to each other during that whole mess back then, so we got really close, really quick."
Lutecia sighed somewhat in relief, before freezing as Erio spoke up again. "Why exactly did you ask, Lu?"
"Um....well. This is going to make my asking about a potential threesome awkward, isn't it?"
***
Fate reflected, as she listened to her lover go on and on, that Nanoha fretted over the strangest things for someone who'd gone head to head with the reincarnation of a physical god and not even blinked.
"Well, it's not that I'm ashamed or anything....I'm just kind of worried how they'll take it. I mean, this isn't as common on Earth," Nanoha said. "I don't want to come on too strong, but at the same time, I'm not going to just pretend we're really close friends and nothing more and....I'm babbling, aren't I?" she finished lamely.
"Yes," Fate said with a soft smile. "So perhaps we should just go in and talk to them?"
Nanoha blinked, looked at her, blinked again, and then laughed slightly to herself. "You probably have a point," she admitted, sliding her hand into Fate's and entering the restaraunt in front of them.
The place was fairly upscale, as Arisa had insisted on paying for the meal when she heard Nanoha and Fate were going to be back in town, and Nanoha's two oldest friends were easily discernable.
Suzuka had grown into a classic Japanese beauty, dark hair hanging past her shoulders from where it was held up by a single white hairband and falling over her white jacket worn over a dark blue blouse and matching skirt.
Arisa, by contrast, was wearing her hair in a short, barely neck length style compared to her old long hair from when they'd been in school together, a tan peasant blouse over a pair of black shorts providing her with a more tomboyish aspect than her friend.
The typical hugs and expressions of gratitude to be able to see each other were exchanged shortly thereafter, before Nanoha found herself waffling on how exactly to bring the subject up. Eventually, mustering up her courage, she spoke up.
"There's something we need to tell-"
"Nanoha, there's something we'd like to ask-"
Both groups blinked, looking at the other, before Nanoha laughed slightly. "You go first, Arisa. Mine can wait a little," she said, much to Fate's amusement beside her.
Arisa looked at her friend oddly, before shaking her head and smiling. "Well...we were wondering if you and Fate would care to be bridesmaids."
"Bridesmaids?" Nanoha said, not quite processing the term. "One of you's getting married? Who?"
"Both of us are," Suzuka giggled. "To each other."
It was only Fate's iron self control that kept her from breaking out laughing at the look on Nanoha's face.
[/i]
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

[Morganite]

"Um....well. This is going to make my asking about a potential threesome awkward, isn't it?"

It should still be fine to date both of them, right? '.'

-Morgan.

[OpMegs]

"Um....well. This is going to make my asking about a potential threesome awkward, isn't it?"

It should still be fine to date both of them, right? '.'

-Morgan.

Well, of course. It just makes bed arrangements a little more complicated than Lutecia had expected.
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

[robkelk]

Future snippets are possible, and requests may be written if I find them suitably entertaining.

Vivio/Einhart?

Zaphir/Arf?

Agito/Rein? (We all know how those love/hate relationships end up in Hollywood productions, after all... )
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[CattyNebulart]

Agito/Rein would be cute
E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?"
B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

[Morganite]

Well, of course. It just makes bed arrangements a little more complicated than Lutecia had expected.

How so? Caro has a bed. Erio has a bed. Lutecia has a bed. `.`

Of course, in the doujinshi they'll all end up in one bed anyway.

I also had this mental image of Caro coming into a room, seeing Erio and Lutecia kissing, and shouting "Why are you making out with my girlfriend?!"

How about Hayate/Shamal?

-Morgan. The Wolkenritter in general get left out a lot, really.

[OpMegs]

robkelk wrote:

Vivio/Einhart?

"So, how'd it go?"

"How'd what go?" Sein asked, innocently, the teal haired girl sipping her tea with a false innocence.

"You know what I mean," Deed said with a knowing look at her older (technically speaking) sister. 

Otto nodded from beside her twin. "Yes. How is the Young Majesty getting on with her friend? Was Dieci correct?"

"Weeeeelllllll....." Sein drawled, pious innocence drawing out into a grin. "I didn't get as close as I could have. Lady Einhart has quite the left hook. But given what I saw along the way, I'd say they're well on their way," she said.

"Perhaps it is true what Dieci said," Otto pondered. "That would certainly be a romantic tale right out of the Saint Church's legends."

"Except a lot more interesting!" Sein said. "Because we can help them along!"

"...help them..."

"Along..." the twins said, both looking at the enthused Sein and feeling a sudden chill of fear.

"Of course! I've seen it in stories a hundred times!" Sein exclaimed. "First, we set them up on a date. Probably with those two schoolfriends of the Young Majesty's. Then we manage to separate them and ensure the proper mood. When the time's right, we assist with the confession! I mean, we're part of the Church now. Assisting with confessions is what we do!"

"I don't think it quite works like that..." Deed whimpered.

***

"For the record....the next time you think of something like this?" Dieci said.

"Yeah." Deed replied.

"We know," Otto added.

"Don't tell Sein about it," they groaned in stereo from their position stuck inside a particularly large oak tree that had been knocked ever so slightly askew by the sudden arrival of three combat cyborgs landing in its upper boughs after a slightly ballistic path.

Fifty feet below, at the base of the tree, Cinque looked over at Sein with an inquisitive expression. "And how, exactly did they get up there?"

"Miscalculation of specific heat?" the teal haired Number suggested sheepishly.

Cinque looked at her for a long moment and then shook her head. "And the hot dog cart?"

"Splash damage."

"...right. Wendi, this is Cinque. We're going to need your board and a winch."
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

[Jorlem]

Could you cross post the second half of that in the ROTFL thread? Or at the very least, the final line? It needs to go in there.
-----
Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber."  --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.

[OpMegs]

She always found her way here eventually. And somehow, it was always snowing whenever she did.

Just like it had that day.

"I suppose this is silly of me," Hayate said. "I mean, we only knew each other....really knew each other...for such a short time. I shouldn't have had time to think of such things. But every year, I wonder why this had to happen. Why did I just stand by.....let it happen? I should have done something. I should have had the power to do something to save you. But instead, I was just there. I let you go, like you wanted. I know you were happy at the end. That you fulfilled your purpose in life...but..."

She dropped to her knees, barely feeling the snow as hot tears slid down her cheeks. "It hurts. Every time I think back on it, it hurts. I see your eyes, see your face. See that last smile. You were happy with your fate, you accepted it. You were stronger than I could ever be. Nanoha and Fate may have helped....but I remember. The longer it is, the more I remember of those days, before they arrived. I remember you. I remember how you saved me."

"The others try to understand...in their way, but it's hard. I think only the girls and Zafira really get it. We all remember it, in our own way. Zafira spends the night outside, howling at the moon until he can't anymore. Shamal will take the day off and go down to the local hospital, working in the ICU. Saving as many people as she can. Signum drinks a bottle in your memory with Vita. Two warriors saluting a fallen one, I guess. But me....I don't have that. I don't have that rock hard centuries of experience with this. And they don't have what I have. They didn't....they didn't fall in love with you like I did. I felt every piece of you. Every segment. Every emotion, hope, and dream. Unison....it's so hard to explain to them because they don't really know. And for the longest time, all it did was hurt..." Hayate whispered, before looking up at the small metal marker sitting half-buried in the snow.

"But I found something. Something to help the pain. To make sure that I didn't just have to remember your death." She gently opened the case she had with her, drawing out a tiny girl barely the size of a toy, napping gently in a small towel. Long silver hair with a small ribbon on one side framed a face so familiar, yet different. Hayate smiled tenderly.

"The Book Of The Azure Sky. I named her Reinforce Zwei....Rein, for short. When we were in Unison, I felt every part of you, and the Book's schematics were exact. I could recreate it....but I couldn't bring you back. It would just be a copy. It wouldn't be the woman I loved. So I didn't duplicate it exactly."

"She's got a little of you...and a little of me. And she'll grow up, taken care of. No malfunctions. No berserk self-defense programs. I promise."

"It's the least I could do for our daughter."

***

No idea where this one came from, and significantly less light-hearted than the previous ones, but once it hit me, I couldn't seem to get it out of my head.
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

[Black Aeronaut]

Awwwwwwwwww...

[OpMegs]

Purely inspired by this piece here.

***

When the signal had gone out, it was a tribute to how well the staff knew their head that no one suggested anything about letting someone else handle the emergency in Room 305. Treatment schedules altered. Backups were called in. But everyone knew that even if she was perhaps, the nicest head of medical staff they'd ever worked for, Doctor Shamal would quite simply knock the block off anyone that suggested perhaps she was too personally involved to deal with the case. Not because they were wrong, but because they were in the way.

The report had said something about the Huckbein, and Levantine being in critical condition as well. Shari and her staff were already working on both it and the similarly badly wounded Agito. But while rare, Unison Devices were still somewhat understood by the staff here. Not like Shamal and her fellow Wolkenritter. The only other person besides Shamal that knew exactly what they were doing in treating Signum was Hayate, and she wasn't close enough and couldn't break off from the pursuit if she had been. Which was just as well. Shamal wasn't certain she could have borne the waiting herself if she hadn't been involved personally.

The minutes ground on, as Shamal continued the delicate work. To bolster the flagging abilities of self-repair that were helping them all less and less as time went on. Instruments, magical and non, were handed to her by people whose names she didn't know. By people whose faces she didn't see. The only thing she saw between the instruments, her healing magic, and the wounds was the same face she'd always seen. Behind the breath mask, brow crinkled in pain she still felt through all of Shamal's ministrations.

She bent to her work yet again. Not again. Not after the last time. She was not going to lose another member of her family.

***

In the end, the nurse had ended up wheeling out Shamal much like the patient she'd been working on. The doctor was utterly exhausted, and didn't protest when she'd been shifted to a wheelchair. Knowing members of the staff had simply directed the orderlies to put her in the room with Signum, knowing it's where she'd want to be.

The rustling of bedclothes roused Shamal from her dozing, the doctor looking up as Signum's eyes opened fitfully, before doing so entirely, the same clear blue gaze, somewhat more pained than usual, but all the same, coming to focus on her. Despite all known medical doctrine that Shamal knew by heart, she wound up performing the same thing she tried to keep others from doing all the time. She practically flew across the room and embraced the other woman in her bed, tears starting to fall as she repeated "Oh, thank the Saint" over and over again.

Signum, for her part, grunted slightly in discomfort, but managed to wrap one injured arm around behind Shamal's back, catching her hand in the other. Her modest reserves of energy expended, Signum just let herself smile slightly as Shamal got her expressions of relief out. "It's fine..." she croaked at last. "It's not so bad."

"Hard-headed idiot, it wasn't 'not so bad', and you know it," Shamal said despite a faint smile framed by tear tracks. "I should know. I'm a doctor."

"Didn't expect them to be that powerful....almost didn't make it," Signum said. "She was strong."

"Yes, I'm quite aware. Why did you do something like that, Signum? You know how dangerous they are!" Shamal protested.

“Couldn’t let them get the kids,” she said by way of explanation.

“And so you got into a one on one fight with one of them?” Shamal frowned. “That’s not it. I know you’re smarter than that. You could have grabbed them and run.”

“Run from a fight?” Signum said, managing a slight tinge of incredulity despite her wounds.

“Yes. What did she do that managed to convince you to fight a losing battle, Signum? What was it?” Shamal asked, looking at her closely.

Signum was quiet for a long time, which would have caused Shamal to worry if she hadn’t felt the taller woman’s grip wrapped around her own, as strong as ever. Eventually, she spoke again. “The 14th Uninhabited World. They called it Haven. She killed them. Every last one. She admitted as much. And it was for no reason at all.”

Shamal felt Signum’s hand tighten at the words, though it wasn’t enough to be physically uncomfortable, given how weak she was. “Signum...that’s...”

“She has to pay. I can’t rest knowing she’s out there. That she’d do it again, if the mood took her.”

“Then take some time and come up with a plan. Talk with Hayate. Wait for the others. Charging straight at her and trying to kill her was stupid. You almost died!” Shamal said, her expression clouded.

“It’s all I can do,” Signum said softly. “I am a Knight. I destroy the enemy before me. Get in close and cut them to pieces. It’s always been this way.”

“That’s not-”
“I can’t,” she said softly, cutting her off. “I can’t give that up, Shamal. It’s what I am. I don’t fit into this world like you and Vita and Zafira do. I can’t help people like you do. All I can do is destroy things.Things that need to be destroyed, like that woman.”

“You’re wrong. There’s more to you than that,” Shamal protested. “I know there is.”

“Maybe a little, but not much. I’m...not like you. I wish I was. I wish I could be.”

Shamal scowled at her for a long moment, before changing tactics. “Fine, but the least you can do is fight smarter. She goaded you, Signum. She knew it’d get you to charge in. And she wasn’t going to fight fair. You can’t just charge in.”

“I..”“It’s all you know. I know. It’s all you’ve ever had to know. But now it’s not enough. And as much as I know the Knight’s Code glorifies that sort of thing, dying gloriously in battle is unacceptable. You swore to protect Hayate, just like all of us. You can’t do that if you’re dead.”

Signum was silent again, but she didn’t protest. Her eyes looked troubled as Shamal grasped the opening. “And it would tear Hayate apart to lose you. You know as well as I do that she...she still misses Reinforce. Still mourns her. Would you want to put her through that again? She couldn’t stand to lose you... I couldn’t stand to lose you,” she said, the last nothing but a whisper.

But the last caused Signum’s hooded eyes to open fully, glancing at her. “Shamal..”

Shamal looked up at her, and knew that Signum knew. Her perception was sharp...and Shamal wasn’t doing a good job of being inconspicuous. “Is it so strange?” she admitted. “You’re strong...and you’ve always protected us.”

“I...”

“Are a horribly literal dummy when you’re not paying attention,” Shamal smiled, brushing her hair. “So, yes. I’d be very disappointed if you died,” she said, managing a slight joke despite the situation.

Signum sighed faintly, but didn’t say anything back for a moment. “...okay.”

“Really?” Shamal said, despite herself.

“Yes...though I suppose I’ll be in here a bit longer.”

“Yes, well, we’ll try to shorten that as much as we can,” Shamal beamed.

“Mmm. Just no home cooking, okay? I almost died once already,” Signum said, closing her eyes and relaxing.

“Signum!”
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

[OpMegs]

Zaphira/Arf?

***
It was just a tiny little trickle. Fate barely noticed it at all to start, because it was so small. A lifetime ago, when she'd been younger, the drain would've been a noticeable impairment of her capability. But she was older, and much more efficient with her magic these days. She'd learned other ways to accomplish things than raw power, and her own capacity had naturally developed as she grew older. She wasn't the same little girl she had been back then.
Thus it was that it was only when she was noticeably winded after a particular training session that Fate glanced at her magical output to see where the extra drain was coming from.
And when she figured it out, she had to smile slightly.
***
"Oi, Zafira! Where are you?" Vita called out, looking around the house. "You were supposed to be helping with training!"
She blinked at the large, dusky skinned man who walked out of one of the hallways to meet her. Zafira'd been in his wolf form a lot lately, and truth be told, Vita had started to wonder if the old dog had forgotten he had a human form. "Oi. Where were you?"
"Stuck," he answered simply, walking on by her. "Is the training already over?"
"Yeah, it is. We managed to handle without you, even if Subaru had to be our test barrier rather than you. It's good for the kid. And stuck where?"
"None of your business," he said, just as simply, before walking upstairs, tail wagging lazily.
"...none of my business? What the heck is that supposed to mean?" Vita wondered, before glancing over at the hallway he'd walked out of as Arf walked through, yawning....and using one of Hayate's robes that was, to say the least, not fitted for her current figure. "Mornin', Vita."
Vita's brain took in Arf's current figure, at least part of her brain marked "Repressed Issues With Physical Template" growling something uncharitable about over-endowed bitches. "...wha?"
"Oh, I guess it's mid-afternoon, isn't it?" Arf said, looking at the clock and stretching. The robe, had it been belted, would probably have been engaged in a colossal and Herculean task of trying to keep Arf's endowments in the areas demarcated by public decency. As Arf had neglected to bother with the belt, she simply flashed Vita without really meaning to.
"Bwha?" Vita replied, eloquently, as her brain began to catch up with the sequence of events that was going on and put them in proper sequence. "You..."
"Mmm?" the familiar asked, ear twitching curiously. "Whazzit?" she asked, turning around with a dog biscuit currently halfway through being snacked upon. Zafira chose this particular moment to come back down the stairs, having apparently finished whatever bizarrely quick shower he'd taken. Vita looked between the two, her brain popping as several years of pre-conceptions about her comrade and fellow Wolkenritter came down around her, not even noticing as the door opened behind her.
"Uh, Hayate? I think Vita broke," Arf said curiously, as Hayate looked at the two of them much as Vita had. Later, she'd make a mental note to chastise Fate for letting Arf suppress such a natural wonder, and ask if she still had any of her mother's notes on creation of familiars. For the moment, however, only one line came to mind as she looked over at Zafira, who was slightly worried by the amusement dancing in his master's eyes.
"Zafira, you dog!"
***
A little more humor, since the last two have been more serious/WAFF-laden. And really, given the stuff we see Fate up to in previous seasons when Arf's operating at full power, Loli-Arf is just a horrible waste for the explanation given.
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

[SCM Writer of 2814]

Lindy/Precia?

Shinobu/Miyuki/Kyouya?

Please? I'll be your best friend!
--------------------------------------
I am the LORD OF THE CRACK!
Check out said crack:
Takamachi Nanoha of 2814- Green Lantern Nanoha. To START! Now with a TvTropes page!
FATE/Holy Grail War of 2814- The Fifth Holy Grail War with Magical Girl Prisma Illya, in the DCAU, from the above story.
Magical Girl Magistra Erebea Molly- the world's first Dresden Files/TvTropes Crossover.
VENGEANCE! The Musical! The Story of Uchiha Sasuke

[OpMegs]

Lindy/Precia?

Oh man...this has such potential for crack, but come to think of it....

***

The voices were somewhere beyond the spotlights, but she didn't look up at them. Even if she could have seen them, there was no point.

"Precia Testarossa, it is the decision of this court that your experiments were in gross violation of the Dimensional Boundary Act, the TSAB Founding Accords, Lost Logia Regulation Acts 2 through 14, and guilty of gross parental misconduct and abuse. However, in spite of your crimes, your main surviving victim has refrained from pressing additional punitive charges, and you are hereby sentenced to 30 years imprisonment at a high security facility to be determined by a separate evaluation panel. This court is adjourned."

She didn't look up as others began filing out. Even if she'd cared to acknowledge that her case was hopeless, and that the public defender assigned to her had done the best he could to get her sentence mitigated to something she could conceivably serve in her lifetime, she wouldn't have looked at him. None of this mattered. She'd failed. Everything else was dust and ashes in the ruins of her unaccomplished goal, and she would never be able to attempt it again.

Nothing ever returned from beyond the boundary. Instinctually and intellectually she knew this. Knew that the last sight of seeing Alicia's stasis tube tumble out of control as...that girl....had prevented her from following was the last time she would see her daughter. That any hope of reviving her was now gone, the very molecules that had comprised her torn apart by the forces that lay between the dimensional riptides.

Not even Al Hazred could bring that back.

If she'd looked up, she might have seen a familiar blonde girl looking at her as she was led out of the courtroom, crimson eyes hoping for some spark of recognition or acknowledgement. Or possibly the teal haired woman standing beside her, her own eyes filled with faint hint of pity.

***

Looking across at the woman on the other side of the barrier spell, Precia gave one Admiral Harlaown a flat stare.

"You're asking me...what, again?" she said, trying to grasp what the woman had just asked.

"Fate is too young to be legally emancipated, and so I volunteered to be her legal guardian. However, as you're her mother, it's required to inform you and ask if you approve of the choice," Lindy said again, clearly.

Precia looked at her again, the confusion clear. "I imagine so, not that I particularly care. She's not my daughter, after all. If you want to keep her, be my guest."

Lindy frowned slightly at that. "You know that she still considers you her mother..."

"My daughter is dead," Precia hissed. "Your overzealous TSAB saw to that. If you think you can hurt me further with Fate, you are sadly mistaken and more cruel than I thought to try such a thing. I have nothing left, so threatening to take away something that worthless from me is hardly a threat. Good day."

With that, she stood up, striding away from the barrier. Lindy sat there for a moment, then sighed, standing up and leaving the room.

***

"Why do you keep coming back?" Precia asked, looking up as the other woman sat down across from her. “She’s your daughter. She has been for years. Why would I care? Why do you care about my being here?”

“If I try to explain, will you listen?” Lindy asked after a moment, getting a puzzled look from Precia, before the other woman nodded faintly.

Lindy sat back, her eyes closing in thought. “When I got married, it was the happiest day of my life. My husband, Clyde, was everything anyone could want in a husband. Caring. Sensitive. Strong. And he was stubborn, hard-headed, and loyal to a fault because of it,” she said. “I never had to worry about him cheating on me or leaving with another woman. The concept of being without him was some far off thing, like a dream. Eventually we’d grow old and die, but it wasn’t real to me. It felt like we’d be happy together forever.”
Precia blinked at the recitation as Lindy opened her eyes, looking at her. “The day I lost him, it felt like my heart had stopped. I wasn’t even there at the time. I got a letter brought by a pair of men in suits. They read it off, almost as if hoping I wouldn’t break down at the fact that the love of my life was gone due to some...cosmic accident. I disappointed them, I’m afraid. I wailed. I raged. I cursed the TSAB and everything it stood for. I hated Gil Graham for not trying to save him. I almost hated him for his stubborn devotion to duty that’d gotten him killed. At the time, it felt like my world....was just gone. Empty. Without him, there wasn’t any reason to carry on. There wasn’t any hope he’d come back somehow. Nothing survives a l’Arc en Ciel blast. And....I almost did. I almost considered it worth it to just...stop...and go find him, wherever he was, beyond. But I didn’t,” she said softly.

“...why?” Precia asked, despite herself. The emotions felt....too similar to ignore entirely. She knew that kind of pain. If it weren’t for the fact that she had no way to do so herself, she’d had nights she would’ve given anything to do exactly what Lindy had admitted considering.

“Because there was something left. It wasn’t Clyde. Nothing could bring him back or replace him. But there was something he’d left behind. Something that I knew he’d want me to take care of....our son, Chrono,” Lindy said. “He was barely three when Clyde died. Despite how much it hurt, I had to consider, could I face him, in the end, admitting that I’d abandoned the child we’d vowed to raise together just because it hurt too much to be without him? Could I force Chrono to deal with that loss twice over because his mother felt the need to die as well? No....I had to carry on. Because that’s what he would’ve wanted me to do.”
Precia started to ask what this had to do with her, before the cursedly logical part of her mind latched onto the similarities. What she’d done to Fate....would she have done that in front of Alicia? What would Alicia have said? They were...genetically, at least...sisters. If she’d succeeded, would Alicia have run up to hug the woman that had done that sort of thing?

Lindy nodded. “They’re different shades, but you and Fate have that same look in your eyes, occasionally. It’s impossible to hide. That hint of pain in the background that you’re trying so stoically to hide. You don’t want to feel it. It hurts so bad that you think feeling nothing at all has to be better....but it’s there every time you turn around.”

Precia looked away. She didn’t want to see what she saw in the other woman’s eyes. This woman had taken in Fate. She had to have known of what Precia had done. Of the scars that she’d likely left. Of the things she’d said. Lindy had adopted Fate as her daughter. Yet how could she look at Precia, who’d done such things, and not hate her? How could she not hate what Precia represented?

“I know, when I lost Clyde, that it felt like I was all alone. Like the people that said they understood how bad I must feel were just saying words. That they couldn’t possibly understand. How I’d wished so much for someone who really could understand. Who knew what I felt. How I wished that somehow, someone could come in and, if not make the pain go away, at least help carry it,” Lindy continued, standing up to put her hand on her shoulders. “And then I met you. And I knew that, if I had any chance at all, I had to try. Because I could be there when no one was there for me. Because like Nanoha did for your daughter, I couldn’t stand by while someone was so obviously in pain. And because it’d help Fate as well.”Precia blinked, looking up at Lindy with watering eyes. “...Fate? How?”

Lindy smiled faintly. “She keeps your picture around. She’s shown it to her daughter, when she explained to her that she has two mommies just like Vivio does. Vivio wants to know why her other grandmommy doesn’t come visit her. And Fate always says that she will when she’s ready....that something very bad happened a long time ago, and Grandmommy’s still feeling bad about it.”

Precia blinked back tears again at that. She had a granddaughter? And Fate still...still told her about her. It had been ten years since that day, yet Fate hadn’t cut her out of her life. She still cared about Precia, despite it all. Still wanted her back.

Lindy held out a hand to her. “You haven’t caused a problem since the day you came in here. Your sentence was commuted for good behavior months ago....and it’s over this weekend. Do you think you’re ready to meet your daughter again?”

Precia looked at her. “I....I was never a mother to her. I don’t deserve to be her mother. She’s yours more than that. Far more than from anything I ever did.”

Lindy smiled softly. “If you like, we could fix that as well,” she said.

Precia, standing up with Lindy’s help, looked at her again. Lindy smiled faintly, brushing some of the tear tracks from her face. “Even if she had stopped being your daughter, which she hasn’t, there would possibly be a way you could be her mother again. A way I could help with.”Precia frowned at her. “I don’t quite understand what you mean.”

Lindy’s smile widened a touch, warming. “When I lost my husband, I thought I wouldn’t ever meet anyone that could come close to bringing the feelings I felt back. I felt I’d be alone forever....but I know now that I could possibly have been wrong. I’m willing to start looking again....starting with a woman that I’ve come, over the years, to respect and understand. I think that I could possibly love her as well, and have her be the mother of my children. But in the end, whether she feels willing to try as well...is up to her.”

Precia stared at her as the pieces finally fell into place. It didn’t make any sense. Even if they’d talked regularly over the years, whether Precia had truly wanted to or not in the beginning. Even if they’d shared feelings that Precia had thought herself the lone owner of....this was completely unexpected. It couldn’t be. After what she’d done, she couldn’t deserve anything like this.

And yet...

And yet...

***

“So Grandmommy Lindy is getting married?” Vivio said. “Is it to Grandmomma Precia?”

“Yes, Vivio,” Fate said with a smile, tousling her hair. “Now you have two mommas and two grandmomma’s.”
“Momma, I already had two grandmomma’s,” Vivio pointed out, the fourteen year old saying it with a tone that suggested this was obvious.

“....yes, I suppose you did,” Fate said, smiling warmly. “But I think now your grandmomma Precia finally thinks that too.”

“Well, it’s about time,” Vivio said firmly. “I thought they were gonna be dating forever!”

“Like you and Einhart?” Fate teased, laughing gently as her daughter went bright red.

“Th-that’s different, Momma! Einhart’s um...um...she’s...she’s got pretty eyes! ...what?! Why are you laughing so hard, Momma?! It’s not funny!”
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

[robkelk]

Shinobu/Miyuki/Kyouya?

That one's already been done... http://www.animesuki.com/series.php/221.html]and it's canon.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Sweno]

I really need to catch up on the more recent Nanoha manga. Cause these stories are making me itch for the background I'm missing.

Good work
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy

[Berk]

The guy who was translating Vivid seems to have stopped.

Due to an insufficient level of lesbians.
- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead

[Black Aeronaut]

The guy who was translating Vivid seems to have stopped.
Due to an insufficient level of lesbians.

HAH!  But really, are you serious?
  

[robkelk]

The last translated chapter was #12, and that was out months ago. (I don't know whether "lack of lesbians" had anything to do with the stoppage...)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Berk]

With the translator in question, it's a possibility. The raws for the other issues are out there, they just haven't been touched.

Said translator continued other translation projects in the meantime.
- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead

[OpMegs]

From the looks of the translator's website, it seems the constant fighting, fanservice, and "lack of plot" is what caused him to quit, as it "wasn't the manga I enjoyed anymore".

Girls In Boxes, who does Force, has declined to translate it.

However, if anyone in particular is up for a ScanlationOfAScanlation and speaks Spanish, there's a spanish subbing group doing it here: http://www.mcanime.net/fo...=0&postorder=asc&start=0
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

[Morganite]

Gyah. I hate it when translation of something just abruptly stops for dubious and vague reasons. (Well, any reason at all doesn't make me happy, but.)

I remember seeing some episodes of a series at a con that cut off at a troubling point... it was a couple years before anyone translated the next episode! x.x

-Morgan.

[OpMegs]

So, in  a bizarre case, I appear to have gotten recommended on TVTropes. If we suddenly see a giant influx of people popping in here to request things, you now know why. I'm just...kinda shocked, myself. :lol:
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

[SCM Writer of 2814]

Congratulations! BTW, any chance of more? Like, say Materiel-S/Nanoha? Materiel-L/Fate?
--------------------------------------
I am the LORD OF THE CRACK!
Check out said crack:
Takamachi Nanoha of 2814- Green Lantern Nanoha. To START! Now with a TvTropes page!
FATE/Holy Grail War of 2814- The Fifth Holy Grail War with Magical Girl Prisma Illya, in the DCAU, from the above story.
Magical Girl Magistra Erebea Molly- the world's first Dresden Files/TvTropes Crossover.
VENGEANCE! The Musical! The Story of Uchiha Sasuke

[OpMegs]

Current plans are looking towards Shamal/Hayate, Shamal/Yuuno, and Nove/People Who've Kicked Nove's Ass.
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."