WHAT MASKS?

Hayate has stayed up all night, thinking about what to do. She is finally allowed to fight, but she is afraid of the possibility of two hundred thousand clone army coming over to Vaizen as a response to Hayate's hard offensive.

The potential threat of reinforcement coming from Al Hazard must be taken out of the equation either before or at the same time Hayate clears Vaizen. The only alternative is to take the fight to Al Hazard, which will rapidly erode the public support in a matter of days, especially because the war objective is so… vague.

For Hayate, the objective of the war is not about holding the enemy off. Battles may be won or lost today, but her ultimate goal as the defending side is to ensure there is no battle to fight tomorrow. She has to make it so that people can return to their daily lives without having to worry about soldiers and clone girls killing each other a few blocks down the street.

War should end when it is no longer worth the trouble. Often it is so because one side has lost too many resources to justify whatever the value the initial war goals offered. Hayate knows such resources given to her are not limited to lives and materials committed as war efforts. They could be anything; The capacity to train soldiers and procure materials, the public support backing the wartime administration, the faith placed upon her command, the collective will of the society to keep fighting, and the tolerance towards sons and daughters coming back home either in pieces or in coffins, etc., etc. All those things add up to form a giant pool which the soldiers like Hayate herself drain each and every day. Unless rallied anew, the pool will eventually be depleted.

If she does really take the fight to Al Hazard, the fighting in Vaizen would eventually die down. But how many worlds in the Bureau's territory would welcome the idea of having their men and women die for Vaizen's cause, invading a never-heard-before place on the other side of the multiverse? If Hayate is really going to do it, she would have to quickly deliver a decisive blow to Precia Testarossa. Otherwise, the conflict will drag on and the rest of the Bureau members will eventually start to think maybe giving up on Vaizen would have been the better option.

But then, what is her counterpart, Precia Testarossa, draining? Hayate grimaces. Testarossa wants something in Midchilda but is fighting in Vaizen. For what?

'What the fuck does she want and at what cost?'

What kind of a loss would it take to convince Testarossa it no longer is worth the trouble? Hayate is frustrated for not knowing.

So, unless the situation changes, she is stuck with holding Vaizen ground as best as she can. Hayate knows she has to rely on everyone doing their job right. The Bureau has to muster up the promised reinforcement in time. Executive Office has to get Vaizen people out of harm's way before it is too late. Even Sail Force, who's not really doing much at this point, has to keep their eyes on the Al Hazard-Vaizen path. And Fate, who has been completely outside Hayate's control up to this point 'Oh god, Fate, why are you doing this to me?', Fate better behave herself and stop causing any more troubles. And her soldiers, the men and women and puppies on the front line, have to trust her judgment and do their job right. The entire Bureau system has to work as a team; like a clockwork.

.

Precia has just returned from her morning brief at the portal. Sitting in her throne room on the top floor of the Ziggurat, she leans back and closes her eyes to go over what she has heard from her girls in Vaizen.

The clone girls have reported a victory that secured some free space westwards. That was pleasing news.

However, the soldiers attacking the portal was worrisome news. Not because she is worried about it being destroyed. She has made sure such is not possible. What worries her is that the attack has reminded her the portal was opened by the Bureau, not her. That means they know the coordinate, which she should have realized days ago. If push comes to shove they might be tempted to bring the fight over here by invading her home, trying to distract her from Vaizen. She will have to be on alert and thwart any such attempts.

She was also a little surprised to hear the girls took care of the food problem themselves. On one hand, she is slightly relieved the girls are acting autonomously over there in Vaizen. That means she does not have to spare a second or two thinking about the matter. On the other hand, she is equally worried. What next would the girls decide on their own? She makes a mental note. When this is all done and over, she'd have to dilute the new traits the girls in Vaizen bring back home. The last thing she wants is the clone sisters getting funny ideas in their heads-

'Hang on…'

When this is over she would no longer need the clone girls. 'Why am I thinking about what to do with them afterward?'

She opens her eyes and stands up. Walking out of her throne room, she makes her way down to the Curing chamber deep inside the Ziggurat; a vast space filled with rows of sleeping clone girls encapsulated in magical lights. The masked girls working there greet her with polite bows. Precia walks across the room, checking on the works in progress, trying to avoid looking at the yet to be masked sleeping faces.

Each batch of the clones undergoes the accelerated aging and curing process at a different condition to ensure they come out with varying ages. Precia has long ago realized homogeneity is detrimental to advancement. The variation in maturity and growth brings progress within the clone sisters' peer learning process and prevent it from going stale. The younger ones would provide refreshing views on how things are and should be done, whereas the elders would provide tried and tested guidance. Overall it results in the girls getting more autonomous, more productive, and more efficient in a controlled manner. The purpose; serving their mother.

She is sure the Bureau should have by now realized they are dealing with an army of clones. She can imagine the soldiers, curious, unmasking dead girls after a battle.

'No matter.' She smirks. Even if they saw the faces, they would not have the faintest idea whose clones the girls are. After all, nobody has seen Alicia for nearly four decades. There is not a single soul other than herself who'd recognize Alicia's face. Actually, yes, there indeed is one. However judging by the violent way it was caught red-handed hunting lost Logia, that good for nothing useless brat is rotting in a maximum-security prison, forgotten by the rest of the worlds. This leads her to conclude the Bureau most likely does not know they are dealing with Precia Testarossa. And this is important, she thinks to herself. Once they learn about her identity they would put two and two together and ruin her plan. A simple relocation of the goalpost would make all her efforts go to waste.

In this sense, the Bureau soldiers absolutely must not learn that her goal is to reach Midchilda. Thankfully she is sure she got that worry covered. As much as she hates the fake abominations, she is confident the girls will never allow themselves to be captured and interrogated. She has spent a long enough time with the clones to know that the sisterhood is the only thing they have. Each and every single one of them would rather die fighting than to be dragged away from her sisters.

This, on the other hand, infuriates the mother and makes her loathe her girls even more. The fake monsters have their sisters as a big family. What does she have? She is angry at herself for feeling lonely and isolated. The clones should not have any place in her heart, yet she has realized the deeply buried feeling inside is her envious longing. She, too, wishes to be a part. Precia is smart and rational enough to recognize this emotion as is and she won't deny it. She has just decided to reject it. She had given it a try a long time ago, and it just hurt her even more because that dumb idiot brat just was not the real thing. All that matters to her, in the end, is not the fakes but her own real daughter, Alicia.

.

Fate waits outside the perimeter of the ruined Staging Dock, craning her neck over the scattered debris to see the senior girls returning from the gate. It is still very early in the morning and the low sun casts long shadows as the girls pass her by. Fate casually joins the group for a chat.

"What did mother say?"

She asks a senior clone, whom she had beforehand noted to be somewhat talkative. This girl seems to be in a good mood.

"Mother is very pleased we made good progress." The senior girl is cheerful. Fate can tell this one is beaming a smile behind the mask.

"I think she was surprised we found foods on our own."

"That's nice." Fate nods with a smile. "What else?"

"Hmm…" The senior Alicia clone goes over this morning's reporting session in her head. "Just the usual. We need to reach Midchilda." She shrugs.

'Good, good.' Fate thinks to herself. So far, the conversation has gone according to her steering. Now she has to get to the point. Fate scratches her unkempt head.

"Just… what exactly do we do in Midchilda?"

The senior clone stops, and blinks, staring at Fate who tries to remain calm. 'Was I suspicious?'

"There is this… "The girl tries to think of the word. "What's it called?" She turns to the Red Ribbon who has been walking behind them in silence.

"Library. We go to the library." The red ribbon girl answers.

"Library? Why?" asks Fate, trying to hide her confusion. 'What the hell? Library in Midchilda?' Her heart is thumping hard.

"And what's a library?" Fate adds, trying to appear dumb.

The first senior clone shrugs.

"It's a place filled with books. Lots of books." She extends her arms both sides as if to show Fate 'this many'. The girl continues. "Mother wants it, so we go get it. But-"

"But?" Fate gulps. This sounds important.

"But I don't know what we'd do with the books? I mean none of us-"

"Let's get going." The red ribbon girl interrupts in a sharp tone. "We have to move the rest of the cans from that soup place."

Fate, of course, wants to continue talking, but there is something cautious about Red Ribbon. She decides to let it go for now.

The ladies resume walking. Fate spots the tiny spec of Zafira far ahead, waiting for her return. She has to get on the comm as soon as possible.

#

.

Naval Intelligence's deputy director Chrono Harlaown is still asleep on the floor by the wall of the large hangar. He is woken up by Yuuno shaking him vigorously. He yawns and checks the time. It's still god-awful early in the morning, which makes him annoyed.

"What's the matter, Yuuno?"

Professor Scrya points at Signum approaching with two steaming mugs in her hands, careful not to spill the contents.

"Signum wants to talk to us. You and me."

Signum hands over the mugs to the two gentlemen and brings a nearby stool over to sit on. Her eyes have dark circles and are bloodshot from the fatigue, but wide and a tiny bit crazy from whatever stimulants she has been pumping in to keep herself awake. Despite the appearance, her manners remain calm and composed as expected of the leader of the Wolkenritters.

.

"Good morning. Let's talk here. It's quieter." Signum starts the session, settling down.

"What gives?" Chrono sits up on the floor, looking up at the major general. Yuuno is squatting beside him enjoying the strong coffee.

"A message from your sister relayed through Zafira. Precia Testarossa wants Infinity Library." Signum gets straight to the point. "Any idea why?"

Yuuno chokes and coughs up coffee all over the place. It takes a moment before he can talk again. The Chief Librarian is obviously in shock.

"My library?"

"Why the hell?" Chrono, too, is confused.

"That's what I'm asking." Signum shrugs. "You are the analysts here."

Yuuno is still in disbelief. Never once in his life as the head of Infinity Library has he imagined his rows of bookshelves would be a war objective. The idea is so absurd it is impossible to believe.

"Let me get this straight. She's bruteforced the multiverse, and invaded Vaizen, just to visit Infinity Library? My library in Midchilda?" Yuuno tries to get his head around this piece of information. "If she's looking for a book, she could have just sent a query!"

"It's unlikely the library is the final objective." Signum offers a more realistic assessment. "Maybe she really needs a book or two for something else."

Chrono, the third best expert on the topic of Precia Testarossa next to his adopted sister Fate and Fate's familiar Alph, thinks about it. When it comes to Testarossa…

"We are talking about Precia Testarossa. Her goal always has been, and always will be the revival of dead Alicia." He nudges Yuuno by his side. "Don't tell me you have a book on that."

"Nope." Yuuno shakes his head. "There is no such book as 'How to revive my dead daughter'…" He takes out his datapad and pulls out an index display. He quickly goes through the rows and rows of entries.

"Welp, OK, there are some early-stage research papers from a long time ago." He admits with a grimace. "Guess who wrote them? Dr. Testarossa herself."

It is unlikely Testarossa wants the library to retrieve her own academic papers. There must be something else she wants.

"Those papers must be from shortly after Alicia died." Chrono leans over Yuuno's shoulder to have a look at the index but gives up at the sight of the incomprehensible interface. "What else did she write?" He asks.

Yuuno does a query and browses through the results.

"Lots of works on Project F… before it was banned, of course. Well, after all, she is the one who completed Scaglietti's theoretical framework."

Signum winces at the mention of the Project Fate and Dr. Jail Scaglietti. No good has ever come out of the works of that evil scientist. Except Fate, of course.

"What do you think?" Signum asks. "Is Testarossa going to try the Project Fate approach once again?"

"Nah~" Chrono doesn't think so. "She knows it doesn't work. Otherwise, she wouldn't be pumping out the clones like some cheap products. They are made for some other purpose."

"To subdue the Bureau's resistance, perhaps? For when she does reach Midchilda and my library?" Yuuno suggests.

"Makes sense." Signum nods. "She likely thought we won't let her have whatever she's seeking."

Chrono, too, nods in agreement. The three remain silent for a while, thinking and waiting. Chrono exchanges glance with Signum and finally breaks the silence.

"Yuuno? We are kinda waiting for you to confess. What you are hiding in the library?"

The Chief Librarian looks offended. Chrono continues before Yuuno has a chance to protest the accusation.

"Something so important, Testarossa is sure we will use force to prevent her from getting it. So, she builds a whole fucking army. What is in the library?"

"And something to do with her dead daughter. What's Infinity Library to her?" Signum chimes in.

"I'm telling you! It's just a library! With books!" Yuuno rages. "Infinite number of books…" He trails off. A look of realization dawns on the Professor's face. Then shock. Then disbelief.

"Oh, god. She can't be serious."

Professor Yuuno Scrya has realized what Precia Testarossa wants. The idea, once again, is horrendous.

"Spill it out, man." Chrono urges the Chief Librarian to continue.

Yuuno is shaken, concerned and disgusted at what Testarossa plans to do with his library.

"There is a reason it's called Infinity Library. The library itself is a Logia."

Chrono is lost. The library is a Logia? OK. That sort of makes sense because… well, the infinite capacity of knowledge. But so, what? It is not like Testarossa needs a Logia like the Jewel Seeds to reach Al Hazard. She IS already in Al Hazard.

"Look, Testarossa went to Al Hazard." Yuuno explains. "To lay her hands on the magic source, right? She has all the magic she needs, but Alicia is still dead. Why?"

Yuuno looks back and forth between Signum and Chrono. They shrug.

"She doesn't know! That's why she wants the knowledge! She's gonna consume my library!"

He presents his right hand, its palm facing up.

"Unlimited magic source; Al Hazard."

He does the same with his left hand.

"Infinite knowledge; Infinity Library."

Yuuno clasps his two hands together.

"Alicia Testarossa."

"What?!" Signum is stunned. "So, you can really bring a dead person back to life?"

Yuuno and Chrono answer at the same time.

"No."

#

.

"-and think of it as an equation."

Chrono takes out a datapad and writes. It's late morning just before noon and he is in Teana's office in Midchilda after having spent the good bit of the morning traveling from Vaizen. Yuuno accompanied him up to the Midchilda's gate but went on to do his own stuff at the library. Chrono is sure Yuuno is busy packing 'good books' right now… just in case.

Teana leans over her desk to see Chrono writing an equation on his pad.

"Dead Alicia plus Al Hazard plus Infinity Library equals undead Alicia."

"I don't know…' Teana says reluctantly. "'Undead' is a bit… Let's call it revived Alicia."

Chrono gives her a 'are you for real?' look, then shakes his head.

"Whatever, Teana. The equation is already set in Testarossa's head." The whole point of the invasion, according to Chrono, is to plug in the missing variable into the equation; Infinity Library.

Teana leans back on her seat deep in thought.

"Shouldn't you be talking this to Hayate? Or your mom?"

"I will, after I'm done with you."

Teana drums her fingers on the desk. She sighs.

"You came all the way, so it hurts me to say this, but there isn't much the Office can do about those variables."

There really isn't much the Office can do. Al Hazard is out of reach. Alicia is in Testarossa's hand.

"Best we can do is to recommend to the Management that the library be relocated to a safer location."

"And how do we even tell her the library is no longer in Midchilda? And will she give up?" Chrono shakes his head. "The fundamental issue here is that she truly believes the equation is valid."

Reviving Alicia is impossible. Period. But Precia Testarossa sincerely believes once she plugs in all the necessary variables into the equation it will work. It is insane, to say the least, but had Testarossa any sanity left in her the whole Jewel Seed incident wouldn't have happened in the first place. Her entire life is built upon her desperate hope out of grievance; something that makes even Chrono sad. He continues, feeling depressed. He wants to go home and hug his twin kids.

"If we move the library out of her reach, she will continue to seek it. That leaves us with an everlasting danger of another invasion."

.

Teana and Chrono are sitting on stools next to the Senior Laboratory Operator, looking at the holo-displays she has brought up.

"It was a cute idea from Chief, but no, it's not as simple as that." The lab operator feels sorry to disappoint her two guests.

"Are you saying we can't neutralize the linker cores?" asks Chrono, an ex-Enforcer and the brother of the head of Executive Office.

"In theory, sir, it can be done. In theory."

"And in practice?" Teana asks this time.

The Office's scientist shrugs.

"The technical side is not the problem here. You have a magic source; An input." She puts up a hand. She wiggles the fingers as she goes on. "You modulate it, gate it, shape it, phase invert it...then somehow let it interact with the clones-"

"Some form of an area effect magic-" Chrono butts in but is ignored.

"It's a very difficult manipulation." Apparently, only a handful of people are known to be capable of doing such complex manipulation solo, and one of them is currently invading Vaizen.

"But we can do it if we throw in enough computational power." The operator adds.

Teana and Chrono look at each other. 'So, what's the problem?'

The lab operator puts on sunglasses. Before her two guests realize what is happening, she brings up the unfiltered version of the blindingly bright magic pattern.

"God damn it!" Teana covers her eyes in pain. Chrono doubles down with his hands on his face.

"That was Al Hazard." She puts away the offending image and takes sunglasses off. "A tiny fraction of the actual Al Hazard to be exact, but still an enormous magic power is locked in those linker cores."

"Is that why there are so strong?" Asks Teana. Her friend shakes the head.

"No. They are just born strong." She continues to the topic of mass neutralization. To nullify the clone girls' linker cores, they have to interact with something equivalent in amplitude, the operator in charge of Executive Office's Investigation Lab explains.

"In simpler terms, please." Teana pleads.

"OK. Let's say, in terms of the power scale, what's locked in a clone's linker core is a 10. We want to reduce that 10 to a 0. Are you following me?"

The two guests slowly nod, processing the information in their heads.

"So Chief Enforcer's idea is that we introduce a -10 to the equation, and the result is a 0 like we wanted."

The operator explains. With enough computational resources thrown in, they can turn a 10 to a -10. But the core problem is;

"Where do we get our 10 from?"

The two guests now understand what the problem is.

"How much do we need? Do we even have that kinda power source?" Teana asks with a bit of hope in her voice. Her friend sighs.

"We are talking about neutralizing more than thousands of these linker cores. The power requirement would be equivalent to Commander Yagami going Bookworm."

"Aw, fuck!" Chrono cusses.

"Exactly, sir." The senior operator nods. "We nuke Vaizen to generate enough power source to pacify the clone army? Great! Wait, oh well, they are all dead."

Teana's shoulders sag. 'This sucks.'

"It's a cute idea, really." The operator comments. According to her, the only time it will result in something sensible is if it was done in Al Hazard, using Al Hazard's magic as the input source. Otherwise, it would make more sense to just nuke the clone army in Vaizen.

"I mean… I'm not a war strategist, but just saying…" She adds sheepishly.

.

Teana and Chrono leave the laboratory and are on their way down to the lobby. Chrono has an appointment with Hayate and needs to leave shortly. They stop at the main entrance before saying goodbye.

"So, do we scrap boss's idea?" asks Teana, rather upset.

"I still see the potential. Remember we gotta deal with Al Hazard anyway." Says Chrono.

"Yea, but how are we going to pull it off?"

Chrono is deep in thought, muttering to himself thinking out aloud. Do it in Al Hazard using AL Hazard magic…

"It could work."

"You sound like you have a plan?" Teana senses he is up to something. Chrono hesitates but then decides to share the idea with Teana. If it is to be carried out, somebody from the Office has to help anyway.

"I do. I think I have an idea how to convince Precia Testarossa this invasion is pointless."

"What, get rid of Infinity Library?" Says Teana half-jokingly.

"No." Chrono shakes his head. "Listen, I need you to promise me you keep this secret from my sister."

"Fate? Why?"

"One. Because the idea kinda branched out from her original plan to neutralize the linker cores. She will not forgive herself when she learns of it." He then takes a deep breath. "Two. What I'm about to propose is… if she finds out, she's going to be so upset she will never forgive me nor you." His face is serious. "In fact, she'd wish both of us burnt to death."

Teana raises her eyebrows. What is this man thinking?

"So basically, you want me to go against Fate's wishes and do something very dreadful." She asks to confirm.

"Yes, sorry I'm asking you of all people. I know you are very loyal to her… but this will free her from the past once and for all."

Teana thinks about it for a while. For Fate's sake…

"For boss, I do anything. What can I do for you?"

Chrono looks around to see if anyone is listening. He lowers his voice.

"There is certain someone in your maximum-security prison. I need you to convince him to help us."

Teana takes a step back, frowning in disbelief.

"Jail fucking Scaglietti. It's him, isn't it?"

#

.

Colonel Nakajima's Regiment has been under attack this whole afternoon. The invaders are pressing hard but are not making much progress.

Captain Ru Lusche's 2nd squadron is providing anti-ground air support. Riding on the back of her dragon Friedrich, she skims over the ground; the white dragon belting fire down, sweeping what's still standing with its mighty forearms. The rest of her squadron follows in the trail, raining death from above.

Some brave clones rise up in the air to challenge the dragon, only to be swatted down by Nanoha's 1st squadron, or what's left of it, providing escort to their colleagues.

.

Nanoha dives solo through a group of Fates from their high and behind. She wants to confirm something. When she zips past the surprised girls, she quickly taps one on the face. As suspected the contact makes a satisfying 'tonk' instead of a meaty 'whack' or a 'thud'. The surprised face explodes to a bloody mist. Nanoha gets away from the angry Fates and finishes them off from a safe distance.

She is confused. At first, she suspected the Fate girls are hard clay dolls. But that does not explain the blood and organs she has seen. These Fates are definitely humans. But no matter how thick-skinned they are, nobody has such hard faces capable of making that sound on impact. She is confused. Nanoha shakes her head. Worrying about the physiology of the enemy isn't really her job. She has other things to do.

A man belonging to her squadron approaches her.

"Madam, you are flying a bit too up close and personal today."

"I just wanted to check something." Nanoha shrugs him off, surveying the air for the next target.

.

The masked girls are panicking as Caro steers the dragon deep and low above the mass of Alicia clones, leaving a long strip of charred ground and bodies below.

"It's coming this way!"

A little sister yells in fear. The girls are scared; screaming, they try to scatter. The little girl, her eyes behind the mask wild with fear, tries to get away from the coming dragon but a tall sister grabs her from running.

"Don't run! Stay close to me!"

Fate shouts to the girls running past her.

"Stay on me!"

The little girl desperately tries to free herself and get away from Friedrich's path. Fate pushes her down hard with one hand and gives an assuring smile.

"I keep you safe."

Holding the whimpering little sister down with one hand, Fate stands tall and looks straight at the incoming dragon. When Friedrich belts out his incendiary breath, she raises her free hand high. At the same time, the red ribbon girl runs in with her barrier fully deployed. She tries to shield the little sister from the deadly flame with her own body.

.

A sudden magical discharge from the ground completely blocks Friedrich's fire. Not only that, but a pulsing wavefront hits so hard Caro and her 2nd squadron are repelled as if bouncing off an invisible dome.

"What the-"

Caro is annoyed at having her attack bounce off just like that. She turns her dragon for another try.

"Oh, no! No, no, no! Why are you here!"

Nanoha is suddenly going mental on the comm much to everyone's confusion. Caro looks around the sky to see whom Nanoha is referring to. She finds nothing out of ordinary; just the Bureau flight mages and some airborne enemies. She brushes it off and guides her dragon for another run at the problematic spot, this time belting white-hot flame even harder than before. The attack is accompanied by her squadron throwing their own death magic down. Yet again, a barrier even thicker than before completely negates the impressive firepower thrown at the spot. Caro is about to cuss when from down below electric yellow beams shoot up into the air; forming a symbol of lines, curves, and dots arranged in a gabbled pattern. Caro calls her wingman immediately.

"That must be an order signal! It's a command post! Send the coordinate. Call for a cannon strike!"

Her wingman initiates the comm to Ginga's regiment, while Captain Ru Lusche makes another attempt at obliterating the particular spot, but to no avail. Frustrated, Caro bites her lips. Suddenly Nanoha's angry voice fills her comm.

"Dragonling, disengage!"

"But madam, that's a command post!" Caro protests. Just what is up with the White Devil today?

"Shut the fuck up! Disengage immediately!"

Caro is taken aback by this sudden outburst, visibly upset. Nanoha has never yelled at her let alone use the f-word directed at Caro. Something is definitely not right.

Nanoha flies over the particular spot on the battlefield. She releases a pink flare as she passes by. Her menacing voice fills the local communication channel.

"Anyone shoots anything in this sector, I'll fucking kill you!"

"White Devil, what the hell-" Bug Boy tries to reason with the White Devil, but is drowned by Nanoha screaming into the comm.

"Fate is down there, you fuckwits!" The White Devil has made a turn and comes to a stop mid-air, hovering high above the alleged position, with her arms outstretched.

"It was in Kanji! she was saying 'I'm here'"

'How am I supposed to know Kanji?' Caro grumbles, but then she remembers the cannon strike. She quickly calls her wingman.

"Quick! Call off the strike!"

.

Ginga panics. She yells at her staff to abort the fire mission, but it is too late. She hears her howitzer battery firing from their position far behind the command post. She counts three rounds, then the battery abruptly comes to silence as the message finally goes through.

"Shit…" Ginga gets on the comm. "Three rounds on the way!"

.

Flying fast in the intercept course of the shell's trajectory, Nanoha shoots down an incoming cannon round from afar. But the magical projectiles are too fast. She manages to down one more before the last round is about to fly past just meters away from her. Desperate, she reaches out and strikes the passing shell; the resulting mid-air explosion swallows the White Devil much to everyone's horror.

"No!"

Caro is horrified. She throws a hateful look down at the clone enemy who is cheering loudly, but then she sees her wingman pointing at the smoke cloud with his mouth agape. Captain Ru Lusche, shocked, shivers in raw fear at the sight of her group leader flying out of the smoke unhurt, as if nothing happened.

"That's fucking impossible!" Bug Boy utters in the comm in disbelief. Caro is sure she heard the girls on the ground groan collectively in disappointment. She turns her eyes to Nanoha again. The White Devil is circling over the hostile area, her shape illuminated by the pink flare. Nanoha is all alone above the enemy, but nobody dares to challenge her in the air. Caro feels a chill run down her spine. She has known Nanoha for over a decade. Yet, it has never occurred to her to wonder; just what kind of a monster is this woman?

.

Fate watches her friend circling in the air. She can tell Nanoha is pissed. Seriously pissed. A loud enraged voice, magically amplified, fills the area and echoes around the plain.

"What are you doing on the front line?!"

Fate winces at the tone of the voice. She is sure to get some hands-on-waist and frowning-face scolding session when this is all over. 'Better brush up on my endearing expression just in case.'

The clones start to retreat. As bodies run past her, Fate looks down. Red Ribbon is on her knees, hugging the little sister in her arms, looking up. The eyes behind the mask are fixed on the undercover Enforcer.

The little sister is crying. Having Friedrich breath fire down on her face three times in a row is bad enough of an experience requiring a new pair of pants. And the much-feared flying devil hovering high above her head isn't helping either. Fate gets down on her knees and hugs her two sisters. She ruffles the little one's head.

"I told you I keep you safe."

.

Nanoha is hovering high in the air, searching the ground using optics magic. Her 1st squadron keeps the distance and leaves her alone, thinking 'she's a bit cranky today.' One of them suggests maybe it's the day of the month, and they just accept it as is. They understand. If the White Devil, oops… If White Wing says Chief Enforcer, her lesb-, oops… her special friend is down there somewhere, then yeah, she has every right to be angry at people throwing shits down there.

Nanoha combs the ground trying to locate Fate, but she can't. There simply are too many Fate-chan running on the ground. She has spotted a trio of them bundled up together, hugging, apparently comforting a little Fate aged around nine or ten crying her eyes out.

"Good girls, she said." Nanoha talks to herself. She moves her eyes to another area in search of her dear Fate.

#

.

Signum's call to report today's battle has actually interrupted Hayate in the middle of talking to Chrono. The Rapid Response division's commander apologized profusely, but Hayate and Chrono didn't mind so Signum was allowed to make her report while Chrono sat there across Hayate's desk listening silently.

"Very well done. Tell Ginga she's done a good job." Says Hayate to Signum's hologram face. "But now let's get ready to pull back a little. Draw them out slowly."

"Understood." Signum nods. "Sorry to have interrupted your meeting."

Chrono didn't mind so he tells her so.

"Are you and Professor coming back?" the Wolkenritter general in Vaizen asks. The two intelligence analysts are always welcome to help her out.

"I'd love to, but the Directorate needs me in the office. I think it's the same for Yuuno. We've been away for too long. Thanks for everything, Signum."

Signum nods then salutes her boss.

.

Hayate ends the comm and gets back on the topic, thinking.

"Consume Infinity Library, you say? Then what the hell is she doing in Vaizen? Why not just make a jump?"

By now everyone knows Testarossa has been actively searching for Midchilda before invading Vaizen. Chrono grimaces.

"And we've accidentally led her to Vaizen. One thing for sure is Testarossa still does not have the fix on Midchilda."

"OK. So, she can't make a direct jump to Midchilda from Al Hazard." Hayate is a little confused. Why fight in Vaizen at all? "And it looks like she can't make the jump from Vaizen either. Why not just withdraw? Why not go back to the multiverses bruteforcing thing again?"

In all rational sense that would have been the logical choice for Testarossa, but Chrono knows the woman is not rational.

"I think Vaizen is too close to Midchilda for her to give up. She's this close. Hard to back down." He leans in on the desk. "Tell me about her maneuvers. Has she gone any other directions than straight towards inland westward?"

Hayate has to think about it for a second. Now that he mentions it…

"Some of them did go south to raid a soup factory or something, but other than that no other significant movement." That has been puzzling many tacticians and strategists in the Bureau's armed forces. The heart of Vaizen's economy is right there, but the invaders are not doing anything about it. Not that the Bureau would let them take it unopposed, but still…

"In general, they are just charging along a straight line. To the west."

"And why do you think is that?" Asks Chrono. He has his own explanation but wants to hear Hayate's first.

"We think they are heading straight to the capital city." The veteran soldier answers matter of factly. What other explanation is there? "Capture and bargain. Demand we surrender… or access to Midchilda, perhaps?"

Chrono shakes his head.

"Again, you are viewing things from a general's perspective." He points to the map of Vaizen floating above a corner of Hayate's desk. "To you, it's a war. To Testarossa, it's just getting you guys out of her way."

"I give up." Hayate throws her hands in defeat. "Just tell me already."

Chrono manipulates his device and pulls out a display showing rows and rows of tabulated records.

"Before that… disaster in her life, she had made many trips around the multiverse." He highlights some entries in the record table. "Lectures, conferences, seminars, holidays, etc."

Hayate leans in to read the records. As a prominent scientist, Dr. Testarossa had indeed traveled a lot. But what's that got to do with the war in Vaizen?

"Precia Testarossa was a civilian. A damn good scientist, but still a civilian. Not a trained transdimensional navigator." Chrono pulls out Testarossa's profile and highlights her academic and career records. "She doesn't know how to navigate to Midchilda from Al Hazard, but what she knows is-" He again points at the Vaizen map. "She knows there is a transdimensional pathways switch controlling the region's teleportation network. That's where she is heading."

Hayate slams on the desk.

"God damned Interworld Terminal!"

Chrono nods and puts his finger on the map; the Terminal.

"Yeah. She wants to hook the Vaizen-Al Hazard path onto the switchboard here. Once done, she can route the path to Midchilda."

Hayate face-palms. She has hoped that once the evacuation is complete there wouldn't be the need to station her forces at the Terminal any longer. That would have allowed her to bring the base more to the east and relieve Signum from having to operate her division in some 100km depth. But if the Terminal is the objective… Hayate is stuck there until she gets plenty of divisions to spare. She grits her teeth and throws a hateful look at the Vaizen map. 'Wait a moment-'

"Hang on." She realizes something. "Didn't you have one at the Staging Dock?"

Chrono chuckles and makes a gesture; 'kaboom!'

"Helios blowing up brought down the entire network on the coast side." He grins. Precia Testarossa most likely doesn't even know how unlucky she is. "See, Naval Intelligence does something useful every now and then."

#

.

Teana takes a seat at a small table placed in the middle of an equally small room. Across the table sits Dr. Jail Scaglietti. The man has aged well, Teana notes. Shaved clean, hair trimmed and combed neatly, and more importantly a hint of inner-peace on his face, except for the occasional glimmer of madness in his eyes.

"Long time no see, Enforcer Lanster. You look very tired."

Teana rubs her eyes.

"I don't get much sleep these days. There is a war going on in Vaizen."

Besides, coming all the way to Gruen High-Security Orbital Prison is a really taxing journey. She first had to take the long-distance jump to this uninhabited world, with the associated vomiting, of course. As an Enforcer Teana comes to this world often enough she has the Agents store a bottle of mouthwash for her at the gate. However, this time she came to find the bottle empty. Somebody had forgotten to restock.

From the teleportation gate in the grassland middle of nowhere, it then took her a thirty-minute drive along a large lake to the launchpad. At least the scenery was beautiful; the lake water glistening under the late afternoon sun, surrounded by the plain of grassland rolling all the way to the horizon. From the launchpad, Teana was then launched into the orbit through a very very VERY long tube connected to the orbital structure. The idea was; hard to get in, harder to get out.

Scaglietti looks amused.

"Really? A war in Vaizen?"

"Don't you have access to the news?" Teana stands up, approaching the door to give a talking to the guards outside. "Don't tell me they don't let you. You have the right to-"

"No, no, it's not like that! I just don't exercise that right." Scaglietti motions for Teana to sit back down. He waits for the lady to settle down at the table.

"So, what brings you here during this busy wartime?"

.

Teana brings out several holo-displays showing charts and tables and magic patterns. She gets to the point straight away.

"I need you to write an academic paper." She consults her notepad. "On the procedure to bring a deceased person back to life-"

Dr. Scaglietti bursts out laughing.

"Ahahaha! You must be joking."

But Teana continues.

"-is the pretense. In reality, when the procedure is replicated to the letter it should result in something unexpected."

"Such as?" The genius across the table is still smiling wide. He is not taking this seriously at all, but the smile gradually fades as Teana explains what she wants as the result. When Teana is done, Scaglietti's face is rigid and a bit terrified.

"You must be joking."

The lady Enforcer does not answer but looks straight into his eyes.

"OK, you are not joking." Dr. Scaglietti begins to take the request seriously. "But who in their right mind would follow such procedure?"

"Someone who is convinced." Teana answers matter of factly.

The prisoner rolls his eyes. 'Someone convinced of reviving a dead person?'

"What idiot believes a dead can be brought back?"

At this Teana sighs. Dr. Testarossa isn't an idiot after all.

"Unfortunately, that someone is not an idiot. If she was, I wouldn't be here asking YOU to write the paper."

That seems to have pressed the right button. The mad scientist shows an interest.

"So, you are setting me up for an intellectual duel? Is that right?"

"Well put, doctor. You worded it perfectly."

Dr. Scaglietti leans over the desk to have a closer look at the holo-displays Teana has laid out.

"These are your ingredients." Teana enlarges one particular display. "It's the signature pattern from the dead body-"

Scaglietti interrupts her, examining the pattern.

"I can tell this is a linker core, but this one is just developing… No clear definitions formed within the pattern? And this… this is a child. A little girl!" He looks at Teana with disgust. "A little girl!"

"Are you done complaining, doctor?"

Dr. Scaglietti throws hands in the air, then gestures for the Enforcer to continue. Teana enlarges another display; the Al Hazard magic pattern. The toned-down version of it. She explains it to be the magic source that absolutely has to be the key component of the procedure.

"We had to extrapolate some data points, and made some assumptions, so there is a margin of error." She produces a datapad and hands it over. "Everything is in there."

The evil genius who once threatened the Bureau takes the datapad from Teana. This Enforcer played a role in a series of events that put him in this prison. But once settled down, he let it go and held no grudge. It is not the first time he is helping her, but this is a bit… pushing the boundary. He has to know. 'Is it really worth stepping over the line?'

"This is a dreadful thing you are asking me to do" He summarizes the task given to him in one sentence. Teana nods. Scaglietti leans in. He absolutely has to know.

"Who exactly am I fooling?"

"Precia Testarossa."

"Ahahahahahahahahaha!" He abruptly stops laughing. "When do you need it? What do I get in return?"

"Two weeks. And you get a family house in Vaizen. With enough rooms for the Numbers." Teana adds with a smile. "Living under our surveillance, of course."

Scaglietti taps on the table.

"So, in two weeks I write a fake academic paper credible enough to fool Testarossa. Do you even realize what you are asking?"

"Do you need more time, doctor?"

Dr. Scaglietti leans back and thinks about his options. This is once in a lifetime chance to duel and make a fool of that Testarossa woman. He simply cannot let it pass. Besides, a house in Vaizen? For him and the Numbers?

"Didn't you say there's a war in Vaizen?"

Teana reaches across and taps on the datapad.

"This will end the war. You help save Vaizen, you get to enjoy the rest of your life in Vaizen. Bit of a sense of accomplishment for you, too, I expect."

The prisoner waves it off.

"Succeeding to fool Testarossa alone is good enough of an accomplishment… but a family house; that is something." He makes his mind up. "Alright, come back in a week for the first draft."

Teana thanks the man and gets ready to leave. Scaglietti leans over the table.

"I've been meaning to ask; Pardon my rudeness, but-" He sniffs. "-have you vomited recently?"

Teana loses her cool and turns bright red.

#

.

The Midchilda flight mages come down from the evening sky and land right outside the hangar used by Signum as her HQ.

Nanoha is the last to come down. She lands very hard, almost crashing. As soon as she is on the ground, she retches, gets on all fours, and throws up. The concerned flight mages gather around to see if their group leader is OK.

A Rapid Response soldier has witnessed the scene and promptly reports to major general Signum, who in turn rushes out of the hangar with a worried expression.

"Is she hurt? What's wrong?"

Caro, who's been patting on Nanoha's back, quickly stands to attention and salutes the general.

"I don't know. She just-"

"I'm OK. I'm not hurt-" says Nanoha, still on the ground. She retches and throws up again, moaning.

Signum lets out a sigh of relief at the news Nanoha is not hurt. Then she becomes angry. She puts her hands on her waist like an angry mom.

"See? This is what happens. You don't rest. You don't eat. You don't wash. You probably caught a germ or something."

"But she was fine this morning." Caro observes.

Nanoha, still on all her fours on the ground, head hung low, grumbles.

"I'm not fine."

Signum and Caro exchange glances. Nanoha continues.

"How can I be fine?! Fate is out there trying to save them! And I'm killing them like- oh god!" Nanoha buries her head and starts to cry. She is upset Fate was down there risking her life saving the girls from Nanoha. She is upset she could not find Fate even though she tried so hard. She is upset the girls all look the same and sound the same. She is upset the girls are good girls.

The Midchilda Air Wing's flight mages watch their group leader in awkward silence. Much to everyone's discomfort Nanoha's head is so low and dangerously close to what little lunch she ate earlier today.

Signum is at a loss what to say. She turns to captain Ru Lusche for help, but it seems the young lady also doesn't know what to do.

"Let's… let's just give her some space." Signum suggests. "Knowing how close she is with Fate… maybe this is natural." Then Signum realizes Caro is close to Fate as well. Fate was indeed the legal guardian of this young captain for years.

"How are you coping, Caro?"

"Hmm…" Caro searches through her emotions. "At first I thought it would feel terrible fighting people who look exactly like Fate-" Then she adds rather cheerfully. "But the masks helped. I don't see their-"

Nanoha is still on her fours but has stopped crying. Staring at her half-digested lunch, she interrupts Caro.

"What masks?"

"You know, madam? The face masks they are wearing?" Caro is puzzled. "Bid red X?"

Nanoha stands up, not looking at Caro.

"What are you talking about, Caro? They aren't wearing such things." She starts walking into the hangar. "Get your head straight, captain."

Caro and the flight mages stand there dumbfounded with their mouths open. Signum shuts her eyes hard and grimaces. Something is definitely wrong with the White Devil.

#

.

It is the next morning in Vaizen's Interworld Teleportation Terminal. Hayate, accompanied by her staff, steps out of the teleportation gate from Midchilda. Thanks to the clone girls not doing much after the afternoon's battle yesterday, the soldiers had a relatively peaceful night. Hayate on the other did not get much sleep and it is showing on her face.

"Once you exit to the lobby, there will be a brief reception ceremony arranged by Vaizen people." Reinforce goes over the schedule, hovering over Hayate's shoulder as the commander gets ready to face the public. "Then a greeting with the Head of Vaizen Executive Office, Commander of Vaizen Defense Corps, and the group representing the evacuee-"

"Do I give a speech? I'm not prepared!" Hayate panics.

"No, no. No speech." Reinforce calms Hayate down. "Just smile nicely and shake some hands, OK?" She tries a model smile herself as if to demonstrate. Hayate practices as Reinforce rearranges her tie and straightens the wrinkles on the uniform. The tiny girl takes a floating step back and examines her commander's appearance.

"Can't help with the tired look, but I think it's OK. Gives off the impression you are working hard."

"I am working hard!"

Reinforce shushes the Princess and combs Hayate's hair. Hayate takes a deep breath, exhaling with puffed cheeks, bobbing up and down, trying to pump herself up.

"OK, let's do this."

The martial law commander enters the lobby and is met by a loud cheer and applause. A band starts playing marching music which she instantly recognizes.

Head of Vaizen Executive Office, Commander of Vaizen Defense Corps, and major general Signum are standing in attention. They salute. Hayate returns salute and shakes hands, greeting each of them.

Signum guides her boss to a group of civilians in their best dress for another series of handshakes and greetings. Having spent enough boring days at the Terminal waiting for their turn to be evacuated, the civilians seem to enjoy this little uplifting mood. Thus, not many people notice the commander's smile becoming more and more forced as the marching music goes on.

.

Half an hour later Signum points at a crowded corner of the hangar.

"For now, I've moved my HQ to that corner." She moves her finger towards another corner. "That's the flight mages." then to another. "2nd division can set up there if he wants. You will be at the center." After a brief pause Signum sighs.

Initially, Signum had no intention of ever letting Hayate come to Vaizen. She had a series of excuses ready and rehearsed and coordinated with Reinforce to make sure the Princess does not set a foot in Vaizen until the war is over. No way was Signum going to allow Hayate to come anywhere close to a war zone, Vaizen be damned. There is nothing wrong with the Capital Defense Commander sitting in her office in the Capital; Hayate could be excused even if she spent the entire duration of the war sitting in her office in Midchilda. That was Signum's plan. But then the freaking Vaizen people made Hayate their Martial Law Command. Of Vaizen. There were no more excuses Signum could provide. Hayate has to be in Vaizen. So Signum called Ginga and snatched a company out of the colonel's regiment. They are now tasked with nothing but everything to do with the Princess's safety. Hidden from Hayate's view, of course. Hiding these facts from showing on her face, Signum turns to her Princess.

"Once things get in motion I intend to move out closer to the front where my units are."

"Good." Hayate nods. She is somewhat uneasy. "Signum, a word, please?"

They excuse themselves from the others and find a quiet section of the hangar.

"Who picked the music?" Hayate asks in a hushed voice.

Signum is visibly surprised by this totally irrelevant and petty question.

"Come again?"

"The march they played." Hayate notices Reinforce coming over. She gestures for the tiny friend to join in the conversation. "What's up with the band? Why did they play that piece?"

"Oh, that? You are an Earthborn, but also the protector of Midchilda, and now the savior of Vaizen." Reinforce explains. "They wanted to show their appreciation by playing something from your homeworld, so they called me earlier, and-"

"And YOU gave them the Imperial March?" Hayate glares at Reinforce.

"What's wrong with it? I liked it." Signum shrugs. Reinforce nods in agreement.

Hayate is not very pleased.

"It's the theme music for a galactic evil overlord. It paints me as the-"

"Galactic overlord…" Signum ponders. "Now, that's befitting the master of Book of Darkness."

With an 'Argh!' Hayate throws her hands in defeat.

.

They are interrupted by a series of laughter and joyful greetings coming from the hangar gate. A bald barrel-like middle-aged man in Ground Armament Service uniform is entering the hangar, already chatting with Signum's staff. The man is the commander of Capital Defense's 2nd division, Signum's peer. The man notices the ladies and approaches with a large smile and his arms open.

"Good morning, ladies. Sorry I got held up at the gate." He salutes the corps commander.

"2nd division reporting for duty, madam." Hayate salutes back and gives him a big hug. With a friendly smile, Signum shakes hands with the man.

"OK, now you are here, we can get started." Hayate announces and leads her division commanders to the center of the hangar. Reinforce pulls out a massive holo-map, and the JTF staff meeting commences.

.

Nanoha is also attending the meeting. She is sitting on a stool, hunched forward with the elbows resting on the knees, hands clasped together. She hears Hayate's voice as if submerged underwater. Her face expressionless, eyes vacant.

#

.

Nanoha rises up into the morning sky. A hood extends over her head from the nape of her insulated windbreaker combat jacket. A transparent visor extrudes from the hood, keeping her vision clear from the wind as well as displaying various status and data. Down below, columns and columns of armored vehicles are moving out of the Terminal complex into the open, heading east.

She reaches high altitude and speeds towards the front line, trailing the drag-reducing tails extended from her waist. Flying fast alongside her left are the remaining flight mages of her 1st squadron. Several hundred meters below is Captain Ru Lusche's 2nd squadron flying in a formation.

Nanoha has lost the track of the time. She does not remember the staff meeting ending. In fact, all she vaguely remembers is that Hayate came and talked about something that in essence could be summarized into Nanoha continuing to kill a whole lot of the invaders.

The Midchilda flight mages pass over colonel Nakajima's regiment, already engaged in a massive firefight with the advancing attackers. Countless colorful lines zigzag across the field like crazy, resulting in explosions and dead bodies as both sides throw fatal means of destruction at each other.

"Good morning, White Devil. Say hello to our 2nd squadron." Bug Boy's voice fills the comm. Nanoha sees a squadron of sixteen flight mages swing around wide, forming up on Nanoha's right about a kilometer away. Below, Bug Boy leads Vaizen's 1st squadron and forms up with Caro's. They dive down to engage the enemy on the ground.

Straight up ahead, a big swarm of airborne invaders is flying in at high speed. The air erupts in explosions and magical discharges as both sides exchange ranged attacks.

Nanoha dodges the attacks, cuts through the swarm of Fate Testarossas. She gets behind a young Fate and shoots. The attack connects, cutting the target in half at the waist level. The young Fate falls, dying, horror-filled eyes locked onto the White Devil. Another Fate, this time about 20 years old, fills Nanoha's field of view, blade ready to swing. She explodes to pieces immediately.

Nanoha quickly looks around. The air is full of Fate Harlaowns of various ages. White Devil keeps fighting because that will end the war quickly.

Nanoha has lost the track of the time. Apparently, it's now evening; she is still fighting, weaving through million streams of glowing javelins hurled at her. And then she is on all her fours again, vomiting in the rainy afternoon with Hayate yelling at her from behind. And then it's a dark night and she's fighting again. Then the early morning she's strafing ground targets. She's on all fours again, vomiting again. What day is it today? She wonders. Regardless, she keeps killing Fates again and again until she can't see anything anymore. She is so sure she is hallucinating because she is experiencing things in montages and hearing voices.

"They are like me" Says Fate's voice.

Millions of lives. She is doing the right thing.

For some reason, Nanoha is surrounded by Fates in varying stages of life. They are enraged as Raising Heart whacks them one by one in a flurry of attack maneuvers. It hurts her to see her dear Fates swinging scythes down on her.

"I met you and I was given a chance!" Nanoha remembers this one. It was Fate who said that to her, and it is again Fate telling her the same thing.

Protect Vaizen people, end the war. This is right.

"We just want Alicia back!"

Nanoha stops and wonders about this. Does Fate really want Alicia back? She shakes her head; Right, I'm hallucinating and hearing things. Look, I'm talking to myself again.

Stop that mad woman. This is right.

"Would you give up on Vivio?"

"Leave Vivio the fuck out of this!" Nanoha screams. Caro jumps up, startled.

"Sorry, madam. Were you talking to me?" Says the baby-faced captain. Nanoha looks around and sees the concerned faces of her flight mages. For some reason, it's a moonlit night. Wasn't it the morning moments ago? Frustrated, Nanoha pushes past her colleagues, onto the field, to the angry Fates.

"You do realize there is potentially an infinite number of them?" It's her own voice! What the heck? Nanoha is confused. Hearing things is one thing, but my own voice… Isn't that what they call crazy?

"At some point, you would have killed more of them than the Vaizen population."

But it doesn't matter, Nanoha thinks to herself. She needs the war to end and Fate back home with her.

"White Devil, what are you doing? We are retreating. Get out!" Says Ginga's voice.

Nanoha keeps going.

"White Wing! Ascend!" Oh, it's Caro. Caro sounds distressed. The Fates are now dying en masse.

"Ascend! Get out of there!" Caro is screaming, but Raising Heart is spinning.

"Nanoha!" Fate calls her out and Nanoha finally comes to her senses. For some reason it's a late afternoon, cloudy, raining. Everything is in extremely slow motion, but Nanoha blames it on her dulled senses. Raising Heart is in its staff mode, in her view, held in an extended arm. Nanoha, for a reason unknown to herself, is on the ground in the thick of multiple Fates. She is in a pirouetting motion; surrounded by droplets of blood and destroyed body parts suspended twirling in the air as if caught inside a tornado.

A kid Fate's face comes into view. This is the one she met for the first time in Uminari. Then and when all this started. Nanoha stops her carnage and smiles.

"Oh, Fate-chan, it's you. Thank god, you are not hurt!"

The kid Fate lunges forward, screaming.

"Die, you monster!"

Nanoha points her staff and blasts her dear Fate to pieces. I'm the one killing her so why am I the one screaming noooooo?

"Noooooo!"

.

Eyes bloodshot, hair messy and matted, uniform stained, sweating and panting, she comes to her senses. Raising Heart is in the shooting mode, glowing pink. The soldiers in the hangar are hugging the floor, weapons drawn and pointed at Nanoha. They have wild eyes and shocked expressions. The hangar ceiling has a big hole; smoking and debris falling. The cool starry night sky can be seen through the hole. Nanoha looks around with wild eyes. Her flight mages are half standing half sitting, mouths open, stopped in whatever they were doing.

In the center of the hangar is a heap of bodies on top of each other. An angry muffled voice comes from the bottom.

"I'm OK! I'm OK! Get off me! Hey, that's my boob!"

One by one the layers of soldiers stand up to reveal Signum protectively covering on top of Hayate. The two ladies are clearly distressed by the experience.

"Nanoha, what the fuck?"

Hayate glares at Nanoha. She looks around. Her soldiers are still hugging the floor, their weapons ready to fire at the White Devil. Something falls on Hayate's head and she looks up at the ceiling.

"It's alright, people. Stand down. Stand down!" She motions for the people to put their guns away. "She shot the ceiling, not us. Must have been some crazy nightmare, ahahaha." Hayate forces out halfhearted laughter. No one laughs with her. She stops abruptly.

"Stand the fuck down!"

The soldiers slowly stand up, reluctantly putting their weapons away.

.

Hayate drags Nanoha out of the hangar into the night. She pushes the disheveled ace of the aces to the hangar's exterior wall.

"What the fuck, Nanoha? What are you doing?"

Hayate does not get an answer. She is furious.

"You've been acting weird lately. Going off on your own! Ignoring all the doctrines! What are you doing?"

"I'm fighting the war." Nanoha whispers. Hayate pulls her hair in frustration.

"You are not fighting the war, you are endangering everyone!" Hayate stomps on the ground. "They've been telling me you are losing your mind!"

"No! I'm perfectly fine!" Nanoha insists.

"Oh, yeah? Caro told me you don't see the masks." That fact alone sounded crazy enough to Hayate.

"What masks?" Nanoha doesn't help herself either. Hayate's jaw drops. Clearly, obviously, Nanoha has lost her mind. Hayate tries to calm herself down. She needs to do some simple checks first.

"OK, Nanoha. When did I come to Vaizen?"

"This morning."

Hayate, defeated, loses all her strength. She shrivels up and sighs.

"That's it. You are grounded. I can't let you go out like this."

"But I need to save them!" Nanoha protests, suddenly forceful.

"Save who?"

"Fate's girls!"

Hayate is mad. She stomps on the ground some more, face red, screaming on top of her lungs.

"But you've been killing them like crazy!"

"Because that ends the war quicker!" Nanoha is screaming, stomping her feet, too.

Hayate tries to match the volume.

"How the fuck do you save them when you go kill them like eating popcorns!" She points east. "Has it ever occurred to you Fate is among them?"

"I know! But Vivio-"

"What! The! Fuck! What! Vivio?!" Hayate has had enough. Screaming, with all her might she shoves Nanoha, who doesn't budge at all. Hayate slips and falls face-first to the ground, muddy from the last rain. Panting, she flips over, looking up at her troubled friend. Hayate tries to catch her breath after all that yelling.

"You know what? Forget it, no need to talk. You are grounded." Hayate stands up, her chest heaving up and down. "Stay put and coordinate your wing from here. That's final."

Nanoha does not answer but glares at the small friend.

"I wouldn't ask for a salute, but 'Yes, madam commander!' would be nice." Hayate wipes the mud off her face. "Do you understand, lieutenant colonel?"

Nanoha snaps a defiant salute, and storms into the hangar stomping each step. Hayate tries to get the mud off her as best as she can but soon gives up. She leans on the hangar wall and lights a cigarette. After a long puff, she cusses.

"Aw, fuck." There really isn't anything else for her to utter at this moment.

#

.

Alicia clone is sleeping on the couch. After a series of whimpering and thrashing around, the girl wakes up screaming.

Red Ribbon and Fate, who have been sleeping on the living room floor, jump up immediately; the former brandishing her blade, on guard.

"What's wrong? Are you alright?" Fate tries to comfort the little one.

"I tried to run, but she was-" The little girl, panting and sweating, looks around, and realizes she is safe here with her sisters. "I was so scared." The girl sobs into Fate's embrace. Red Ribbon puts the blade away and watches silently.

"Shh… It's alright. Did you have a nightmare? It's OK now." Fate runs her hand over the girls back, whispering into the ears. The little one clings on.

"I ran from the big monster, but wherever I hid the flying devil came from above." She shivers. "And she kept killing me again and again and again-"

"Oh boy…" Fate sighs. This one must be talking about Nanoha. Yes, the White Devil has been extra violent the past week and Fate had to put in extra efforts to drive the sisters our of Nanoha's path of destruction, but Fate didn't think much of it. When Nanoha goes ham she goes ham. Apparently, however, the sisters are now having nightmares about the flying devil… that's on top of the already common nightmares involving Friedrich, who, when you get to know him, is actually very cute and friendly.

"She's quite relentless, isn't she? But you know what?" Fate runs a hand over the girl's head "She isn't that scary. Do you know why?"

The little girl looks up. The red ribbon girl sits down, too, all ears. Fate continues.

"Because I'm sure… deep inside… she, too, is scared of you." Fate hugs the little one tight. "And vampires!" She pretends to bite the girl's neck. The little girl lets out hiccups of laughter, squirming this and that way. The red ribbon girl smiles, too, setting aside the question whatever the heck a vampire is.