Discard, Draw, Three of a Kind? [Multi-SI/Nanoha/Yu-Yu]

[Nero200]

SoundStage 1.4: Wake Up

---

The steak smells delicious at least. Good signs so far, and I found peppercorn sauce in that corner shop so I should be able to directly compare.

Today is a day off from the training schedule me, Bardiche and Reinforce have been pushing hard since… basically since the fight against the trio of Vertex. Mental exhaustion has been setting in and since the urge to try out the Plasma class spells on the off chance I'll miraculously grasp them grows the more frustrated I get at my rate of progress, I'm having steak.

Physical training can fuck off for today as well, not like this body is going to suffer from missing a day. Bardiche is… disconnected is the wrong word, but not actively connected to give my brain a chance to let what I've been learning settle into long term memory. Feels odd not to have him right there, but also makes me feel more like 'Nero' than 'Alicia'.

Which leads to me cooking delicious steak while Daze and Mizu are off doing Mab knows what.

I poke it with the spatula, listening to the hiss. Nearly done now, and I prefer rare anyway.
Snagging the knife next to the pan, I start trimming the fat off the chunk of meat, tossing them onto the plate the raw meat had sat on while the pan heated up.

Hmm. About two minutes left on the steak, should be enough time.

"Lily?" I crack open the door, looking down the hall. That's weird, normally the little ball of shadows and fluff would have been waiting right outside the door.

"Lily lily lilith?" Where the hell is that cat? I have steak for her.

...Who is 'Lily', Sir?

"My cat, silly. That reminds me, we still need to figure out a new form of address, 'Sir' feels awkward….

My cat. Lily. My cat. Who is back on Earth. Where everyone else is, too. And everything.

"L-Lily?"

Lily isn't here. None… None of them are here...

. . .

"Thunder Bullet." The spell forms at the end of my finger, triggers the conversion affinity and fires in under half a second, vaporizing the door's lock and breaking the upper hinge.

I hear a voice from within the house, but it's so distant-fake-new. "Alicia?"

Bardiche supplies my Jacket and fires up the flight spell as I slowly walk out, before vanishing in a surge of rough Blitz Action.

I land in the middle of a wooded area, a Defenser eating my momentum from the fall.

"'Diche, where is Lily? Where is my cat?" I can feel my mind slip even as I ask. The layers of denial-avoidance-runaway cracking when I put weight on them. Part of the illusion to answer the question of reality?

...no 'Lily' found, Sir. I am con-

The equation flares to life, golden power surging to fill it. "Photon Lancer!"

The crackling bolt of energy rips through the trunk of a thirty foot tall tree as Bardiche shifts to Scythe Mode at my mental push. "Where is Lily. Where is my fucking cat!" It's all gone. I'm making no progress on this damn Dimensional Transfer and I died-

"Arc Saber!" Three more trees die before the blade of yellow light explodes, taking another half a dozen of the decade old trees down. "Arc Saber." Another dozen. "Photon Lancer Multishot." A barrage of explosions tearing into the fallen wood. "Thunder Bolt." "Thunder Bolt." "Thunder Bolt." "Thunder Bolt!" My fingers are twitching from the overflow static when I finally slump to the ground, watching but not seeing the line of broken trees, a tunnel of smoke, burnt wood and electrical scorch marks marking the whole way to the shore.

Sir.

I pull the scythe into a hug, closing stinging eyes as he shifts back to axe mode. "It's… It's all gone. Lily, my family, friends… Is this real? Or am I just about fifty times too deep in a dream as I die in that crash? A coma?"

Suddenly all I can feel is drained, the sadness and terror and grief fading away, the emotions I had shoved down burned out in a fit of magic-fueled destruction.

Sir.

I 'look' to the right, at the data Bardiche had gently pushed into my awareness.

Sprite Zanber, a spell designed to break illusions, traps and lotus eaters. What Fate had used to escape the Book of Darkness.

"You mean…" If I am in a coma, this wouldn't do anything. But…

If this is my reality, then casting this won't change anything. It shouldn't anyway. But it will make the point that I tried. A mental shortcut that uses the dream's own logic to break it.

Zanber Form

The Full Drive drinks deeply of my Linker Core, a small alert pinging to let me know that the cartridge system had unlocked.

"Blaze Form, if you would 'Diche."

The Jacket flickers, the upgraded form shimmering into existence.

Sprite Zanber is a surprisingly easy equation to manage, with its ritualised form and slow cast. I tint the spell with every principle of lucid dreaming I can drag from memory.
Practice, symbolism and mental focus meeting in an edge that blazes in my hands.

Purple and Gold illuminates the clearing as I bring the Device down, lightning lashing out from both the blade and the projected circle.

Crack-crack-crash!

And the world cracks, the God-Tree's reality marble failing into the rainbow and void of the Vertex.

...fuck.

---

I'm still a little shaken when I get back to the house, having rapidly Blitz Actio- Blitz Rush'ed thank you cartridge system- out of the clearing before the cracks in the world had slowly restitched themselves.

That was a, let's say, rather effective way of breaking up my little pity party. A few thousand hungry rogue gods looking at you have a way of doing that.

And it had proven my, well, Bardiche's point.

This is my reality now, for any value I can read. Lily will have to deal with my sister feeding her. Spoilt cat. She'll live fondly in my memories.

But now…

Alicia Testarossa, eh? I've been called worse. And none of those names came with hilarious magical powers and a kickass partner, with friends along for the ride.

"Pull up Dimensional Transfer and the records of our arrival again 'Diche, if we can reverse that, we'll at least have a last resort 'get-the-fuck-out-of-tree-land' card."

Yes Sir.

"And… Thank you. I needed that."

You know, I think he's smiling.

 

[Mizu]

Masquerades (or 'having fun cosplaying')

"Alicia!" I cheer, slamming open the door to the room she'd commandeered as her place of sleep and general private-time. "Alicia, Alicia, Al– man, your name is hard to say quickly in repeat. Can I shorten it to Ali? Alice? Al… something?"

I'm greeted by a yell. "Don't step inside the circle!" The blonde is on the floor, surrounded by a glowing circle and floating… computer parts?

"Uhh…" I blink. "What ya doing? And why is stepping in the circle bad? It isn't green and solid, so it evidently isn't one of those 'teleport' ones, and going by the floaty it's either going to just make me bob in the air a bit or reconstitute myself into some other form. Like a guy! Wait, are you trying to make a genderbend spell?"

She blinks, a few sparks crackling off her raised hands. "Umm, not at the moment?" Gesturing to the parts she continues, "I'm working on a new form for Bardiche, since going through the process should help me understand the ones Fate built." The various parts start moving towards her hands where Bardiche's gem is clasped, the circle shrinking. "And Ali is fine, just not Al."

The components flash gold, before vanishing along with the circle.

"Aww, they vanished. Did you make a mistake?"

She hops up from the ground, dusting herself off. "Nope, just canceled the editor, couldn't really think of anything to build other than a gauntlet and I don't have anything to base that kind of form off."

"I vote anime! Most of the time the weapons and armour designs vary from 'impractical' to 'only works due to Rule Of Cool' to plain fanservice, like chainmail bikini or plate mail with boob sculpting, but sometimes it can give neat insights!" Oh yeah, that reminds me. "Speaking of, looky at this! What do you think of my new hairpin?"

Surprisingly enough, the first generation of Pokémon still exists here despite being in a different world entirely. Or at least, someone can make stuff based off rough memory drawings of the badge shapes, and occasionally a few pictures of the supernatural critters drawn on scrap paper. Thanks to this great luck, (And to Reinforce!) I am now the proud owner of a number of coloured metal pins shaped like pokéball, pokémon and the Kanto badge collection. The Cascade Badge is currently pulling duty, mainly as a call-back to my username none but my fellow universe-travellers are ever likely to recognize.

Seeing the bill, I'm also glad I don't have to pay. It's like the shopping trip, but with more zeroes attached!

Alicia steps closer, peering at the hairpin before smiling. "Cute, Cascade fits well. And fits you." She taps the badge then my head with a grin before stepping back, adjusting her necklace.

"Mm, yeah, I think so too!" I nod agreement. "Think I should invest in blue clothing to match? Well, kinda want to do that anyway considering blue's one of my favourite colours, and Misty did go about in a bathing suit in the games. Are one-piece bikini practical anywhere but at a beach, though?"

She shakes her head, still smiling. "I don't think so, but we do have Barrier Jacket to test outfits? Could just use that and then practicality sort of goes out the window." A white cloak appears around her with a flourish. "Tada~! As warm as winter clothing, and it can take anti-tank weapons."

"Take as in 'survive', or take as in 'survive without passing the momentum onto the user'?" I inquire, sceptical. "As only one of those answers results in a person who isn't reduced to squishy meat chunks." Said second one should also violate the laws of physics, as I understand it, but magic introduces a few wild cards into the mix – the fact we can fly without visible and/or noticeable propulsion comes to mind.

"Lets us survive it? And can be any shape we want it to be, so long as it can be loosely defined as clothing? It's magic..."

"Option two, with additional 'breaks-physics' attachment. Got ya." See. Magic changes all kinds of universal beliefs about how stuff works. "Seems more suited for stuff like cosplay over combat, if you ask me, as I can think of at least five outfit off the top of my head which defy the law of gravity in how it stays attached to the wearer. If it could mold hair into particular styles, the argument's even more valid."

...Can you mould hair into particular styles using magic? You can argue everything is a mathematical formula, or something which can be converted into code, I guess, so maybe?

Alicia blinks. "It amazes me how much of a ditz you can be. I already told you, that's how I handle all all this." She tilts her head to show the ribbon holding her hair in a ponytail. "I don't know the first thing about hairstyles." She thinks for a moment. "...It would be kinda useful for cosplay, now that you mention it."

"Well, yes, I did just say that." Heh. "As to the hair comment, I just never thought about it. My own's short enough I don't need to bother, much like before this entire body-change occurred, and–"

Hmm.

"Wonder what I could have as a cosplay outfit? Think we could pass ourselves off as guys presently?" I peer at Alicia's chest, then at my own. "We don't seem to be that developed yet…"

"Oi!" She stops for a second, looking down. "...point, but still- Oh." Alicia seems to have had an epiphany. "What you were saying earlier, about using fantasy weapons as a base. I think I might have an idea. Bardiche?" The Device in question chimes, probably talking to her mentally.

"Meet back here in ten with costumes? Shouldn't take long to customise a Jacket but I need to look at some notes for 'Diche's part in this~."

"In this?" I echo.

"Of course, can't leave him out, best Device is best Device, no slight intended to Rein." She stops there, looking at me.

Why is she- Oh, this is her room!

0––––––––––––––––––––––-0​

"You done?" I creak open the door slowly, stepping into the room, which has undergone a drastic change from it's prior state of glowy. Mainly in that it's so dark I can barely see my hand before my face, light seeming to just halt at the entrance and refuse to move any further.

Something glimmers in the depths, glass glinting as I inch my way further inside, and I wave a hand gently through the air to guide my way. "Alicia? It's been ten minutes?"

The only thing I hear in response is silence. Silence, and then a faint, almost-inaudible breathing sound that reminds me of something I can't quite put my finger on.

Krisshhhh…. Hhhwoo

"Don't just breathe creepily, you jerk, respond!" I huff, stepping further inside, and the door swings shut suddenly with a slam. Light promptly decides to vacate even more than it already had, and dark upgrades from 'pitch' to 'light, what's light?' in intensity. Suddenly getting a feeling I shouldn't have left Rein in the living room…

The breathing sound gets a little louder, before-

Fffkrrshhzzzwooom

-Beam of light! Sharp light!

Purple light swings down at me from above, a buzzing noise accompanying it, and carves a deep furrow into the wood as I desperately roll to the left. It swings again, thrust forwards after me, and in my half-blinded state I roll straight into a wall instead of anywhere that isn't a dead end. Blinking tears free I scrabble at the ground, trying to climb to my feet as the blade arcs overhead for a single, overpowering blow before–

"Yo- What the fuck."

Light floods the room as the blade pauses a foot above my head.

Looking up at the figure holding the blade of light, I blink. Clad in a black cloak over black armour, gas mask helmet upon their head, little rectangular machine blink green in time with their breathing. Their armour is bulky and reflective, shiny sections on the chestpiece and legs, a bigger machine on their chest flashing red and blue in time with their raspy, throaty breaths. All told the figure cut a rather imposing and intimidating figure... or they would've if they weren't roughly the same height as me and slumping in disappointment.

"Damn it Daze." Alicia? The shiny black armor vanishes, leaving Alicia holding the weapon, pouting at Nanoha.

"I... what?" The brown haired girl asked confused, "I just- what?"

"I'm feeling much the same." Climbing to my feet, I pat myself down, brushing dust and wood remnants free from my mad scramble just moments ago. "Why, exactly, did you decide it was a good idea to come at me with a lightsaber? A lightsaber which is visibly capable of cutting me in two, as shown by the floor there? What possible purpose did it serve, beyond scaring me half to death?"

Alicia pauses for a second, the glowing blade vanishing with a kshp. "Well. It was set to just zap you a bit if it actually hit you." She pauses, before continuing as my expression fails to change. "I thought you were gonna have a Jacket up as well? So we could have a cool play-fight?"

"This fact fails to reassure me." I frown, crossing my arms, and sum up all the might my tiny kid frame can collect. "Alicia, you're the only one who wears their Jacket all the time. Nanoha doesn't, I don't, Rein–"

"I did say to meet back here in ten with costumes…"

Pausing, I blink, before making a low, small cough. If a tomato was in the room right now, you'd be hard pressed to compare which was redder, it or my face. "So you did. Oops."

"Can someone please explain this madness?!" Nanoha growled, "I don't know what's worse, the fact that Nero somehow made a lightsaber or the fact that there was apparently going to be some sort of costume party."

"Bardiche is best Device. And Mizu wanted to see how the Jackets could be used for cosplay, and I had the idea of 'Lightsabers are obviously the best weapons' so I tried to make one. And if you have a lightsaber and are dressing up, are you really going to choose anyone other than Vader?"

"...Alright I'll bite. How."

Alicia grins. "Well, I used the Knight's Armor spell as the base for the outfit, pretty easy changes there from base, but for the saber I-"

And thus, that's how I ended up learning to cosplay with magic.

[Barrier Jacket: Cosplay Edition] Acquired!

 

[Nero200]

SoundStage 1.6: Breathe

---

"I can't believe you actually agreed to this."

I blink, looking over at the brunette. Huh, I don't actually know what color Daze's hair was before our transmigration. "Agreed to what? I like cats, why wouldn't I want to go see them? I'm not that bad about training."

"Could've fooled me." She replies back, petting an orange cat that had walked up to us. "You ever see what you're like at night? Just, staring unblinking into the space ahead of you as you practice in your mind. It's creepy."

I made a face at her, hugging the fluffy black cat closer. He looked a bit like Lily, but short-haired so he can't pull off the 'ball of fluff with eyes' thing that she can. "Image Training is basically the best video game I have ever played, with literal thought speed responsiveness. I'd be addicted even if it wasn't a massive help in learning magic." The cat jumps out of my arms as I stand up, stretching my legs.

"Perimeter?"
Clear Sir.

Daze shrugs. "I just kind of use it to practice beating things up. Sadly Raising Heart won't create good enemies. They just don't produce boss battles like they used to be."

"Huh? That's odd, me and 'Diche have been building boss fights from Bloodborne for the last while. Cleric Beast is a satisfying fight, so long as we disable flight and lower the weapon damage to match." So many cats. Leaning down, I scratch one of their ears, looking about at the near-swarm. I'm surprised the YuYu world is large enough for this kind of place but I guess cats are a species pretty easy to bring into the apocalypse with you, and are cute enough people will always set up places for them.

The brunette blinks before looking at the red orb on her chest. "Raising Heart...."

"Unproductive." The device announces loudly, the words flashing pink on the orb's surface.

"A-Are you jealous that I don't use you for magic that much?"

"...Negative." Since when was Raising Heart tsun?

"You hesitated."

"Negative."

I stifle a chuckle, averting my gaze to one of the younger cats who keeps headbutting my hand, lifting him up. "You should get along with your Device Daze, she's the one providing you with spells."

"We get along just fine." The neo-girl claims. "I'm... just not a very magical person."

"ONE TWO THREE FOUR I DECLARE A THUMB WAR!" Daze's voice blares from her device. "FIVE SIX SEVEN EIGHT HURRY UP OR YOU'LL BE LATE! NINE TEN 'LEVEN TWELVE 'CAUSE I'M DRAGING YOU TO HELL!"

In a blur the owner of said device's hand moved to cover up it up in a vain attempt to block the sound but the effect had been done, scaring away some of the younger kittens. "Raising Heart goddammit it!"

"Getting along real well there Daze, eh?" I try and calm down the small tabby whose tail is swishing rapidly after the loud playback. "Strangely, I think me and 'Diche might have a slightly better working relationship." That is to say, Bardiche is best Device and I actually try in training.

"The difference between you and me is that I don't have a 'working relationship' with my device. We're more like friends." She paused for a moment before continuing. "....I'd say it's better than Mizu's but that's not even a low bar, it's on the fucking ground."

Too right. "Poor Rein, seriously. I'd offer her a chance to jump ship, but if she's anything like the canon version…" Wait, friends? "And hey! Me and 'Diche are friends! We just happen to get along well in a working sense as well." "Don't listen to her you wonderful triangle of explosive lightning and magic weaponry."

"Got anything to say to that Bardiche?"

"Sir Alicia is a fine wielder, well on her way to being on par with my previous master."

"A-ah." That's… "Thank you 'Diche. That means quite a bit."

"Previous- nope. Nu-uh, not touching that plot point with a ten foot pole. Save it for the character arcs." Daze said as she lazily waved her hand around. She went silent for a bit as she stopped petting the cat. "Though speaking of... How did you cope with.... This."

I bite my lower lip, looking over at her. "Honestly? Not sure I am. I thought I was fine after evaluating the changes, but then I had a little breakdown about my cat a few days after we fought those three Vertex." Letting the cat down, I flick Bardiche out of my glove and hold him up to the light, looking at the gold triangle. "The best spell 'Diche had for breaking illusions didn't do anything. I could still be in a coma, or dreaming as I die." Smiling, I let a trickle of mana infuse my Device as I slot him back into place.

"But in the end, this is reality now, according to every test I can make besides dying. Fate's body and powers, along with Bardiche as my partner. Can't say I would have one hundred percent made that trade, but it's a hell of a lot better than what I expected when I closed my eyes back on our world. I'll live it, because there isn't another option and because this one isn't all that bad."

"This is reality huh?" The girl sighed. "Hey Raising Heart, can you stop listening until I tell you to stop? I want to talk with Nero one on one. Please tell Bardiche to stop as well, makes me feel uncomfortable."

Huh. Back to Nero are we? "'Diche." "Alert me if anyone who looks like Taisha or one of the Hero Club shows up."

"Yes Sir." I can feel him pull back mentally as well, the passive programs dimming.
I gesture to Daze. "There you go."

"Right, um. Thanks." She mumbles, looking around her to make sure no one was listening in. "H-Have you ever looked in the mirror for a long period of time? Like, you just kinda found yourself staring into the mirror in wonderment of your face?"

"Once or twice? I guess?" I'm not sure she means the same way though. "Not so much at the face itself, but…" I gesture to Fate's, my, body. "All this. New height, reflexes, senses. This isn't Nero. This was Fate's, and is now Alicia's. I usually end up trying to compare them, to try and convince myself again that it's, well, worth it." I sigh.

"It's not like it's an actual choice. I, Nero, died. This is the only one I have now and honestly? I would have made the trade. Lifespan, better health, magic. I would have made it in a heartbeat if it was offered." Whether or not that's just me rewriting history to cope, doesn't really matter at this point.

"I get what you're saying," the brunette sighed, "But for me it's... a little bit different. While yes, the feeling of my new body just makes me feel uncomfortable at times, sometimes unbearably so, you know, it's the little things. The lack of body hair, the length of my hair, how utterly fucking flat it is down there and how not flat it is up here... you know, the small things."

She waved her hand and leaned back, letting the cat go and run free. "But then I stop and think about it. It's my face yes, but this also means back home there's porn with my body on it. 2D porn but still. If I ever do get home... would I be the same person I was when I died? And... you remember the void right? I've been thinking... maybe there was a choice. Maybe I could've ended up in Fate or Hayate's body just as easily as I ended up in Nanoha's. It's... something I do to try and keep the differences out of my mind. You don't want to know the other."

"First, was trying not to think of the porn angle. Mildly disturbing." And secondly..
"And for the second thing, if we ever do? I don't think we will be. But at the same time, we never would have been." And that isn't at all helpful or supportive.

"In the same way no one is really the same person from one day to the next really. Everyone changes, constantly. We just changed a bit faster all of a sudden. As much as I said Nero died, it's more he became Alicia. I still know everything he did. I'm still acting like I think he would have." I gesture to the cats, before crouching down and scratching the long haired tabby behind the ears.

"If I was Fate, if I had changed that much beyond just growing, I wouldn't be here I think. Too many memories of Linith and I would be far more worried over my lack of comparative magical skill." I grin up at Daze. "Nero on the other hand? Me? I failed a college test because I didn't want to move my cat when she curled up on my back. This is me, flaws and particularities. You're still you, still Daze, you just grew up a bit faster for a bit."

"In more ways than one." The girl smirked back, gesturing to her chest. "Well, I guess all that is true, but to be perfectly honest... I can't really remember anything from Daze's life, my old life, anyway. I know facts, general knowledge... yet somehow faces and even people, people who I was good friends with.... They just kind of faded away. Hell, I still don't even know how I died. But... well... I guess being a girl has it's perks, especially one created as a token moe character."

She turned to face me before tilting her head and smiling. "I look so much cuter, don't you think?"

"...No matter what you're saying, you are still definitely Daze." And if I'm saying that with more exasperated fondness than actual complaint? Eh.

"Aw, I thought I did the cute girl character right but you didn't react at all." She pouted. Actually pouted. "Though I'm sure if you tried it yourself it'd be super effective~"

"This body is thirteen! I have enough issues showering as it is!" Why must you make everything weird.

"Come on, at least try. And haven't you heard of Legal Loli's?" Oh. Of course. Because it's Daze.

I turn away from the suddenly peppy neo-girl with a only mostly put-on shudder to pick up a ginger cat that reminds me of the cat my family had when I was younger.

"Not happening."

"Tactic 21o4 of the modern day magical girl handbook, third edition, states that if you can't fight an enemy, distract them with cute yuri as you come up with a plan." The girl said in a matter of fact voice. "It just goes to show that if you can't think of anything, baffle 'em with bullshit until you do."

…

I sigh slowly, hiding my face in the cat's fur. "Why Daze. Why must you make even an outing to see cats awkward and weird?"

"You mean you haven't figured it out yet?"

"I was assuming coping mechanism, but at this point I think you might enjoy it a little too much for that" Might my arse.

"I see you haven't understood the true purpose of this yet." The brunette nodded sagely before leaning in closer just to whisper in my ear. "This date is fun~"

…

I blink slowly, processing that calmly.

Date.

That. Absolute. Daze.

"Date?"

"Yeah you know? That thing that young couples do before they're married." Daze said nonchalantly, backing off. "I mean, it's a thing on date's where we're supposed to get intimate with each other but I understand. You're probably the kind of girl who considers hand holding lewd and was too pure to recognize the true meaning of this. There there, I like you the way you are."

I am going to count to ten, then explain everything wrong with that to this idiot of a teammate the multiverse has saddled me with. And no, I don't mean the ditz.

"1, 2, 3- Oh look, Bardiche has an interjection. An energy scythe you say Bardiche? Why yes, I can see exactly where you are coming from. -Run!"

"Right so you prefer to be on top! Well, I don't want to get ass raped so- RAISING HEART SET UP AND FUCKING FLASH MOVE FLASH MOVE FLASH MOVE!!!"

Sir?

"I figure it will be funnier to see how far she runs before realising we live in the same house. Besides, kittens."

For all that she's a pain in the arse, I probably needed this.

---

AN: Breather episode. Also Daze being weird.