OverReactionGuy
Verified Sanity
Jail has ties to the TSAB through the brain assholes and the fat ground force g. I don't think he gone rogue yet.
-edit-
Even then he throughly infiltrated them with Uno.
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Pathfinding for Beginners (Pathfinder/Nanoha)
- Thread starter Mizu
- Start date
Jail has ties to the TSAB through the brain assholes and the fat ground force g. I don't think he gone rogue yet.
-edit-
Even then he throughly infiltrated them with Uno.
InfiniteDaze
Too lazy to leave the house
- Location
- I wish I could stay
Current on going nicknames/taunts:
Goldfish.
Birdbrain.
Clefairy.
Fucking idiot.
Sixball.
Mizu
Software Developer
- Location
- Victoria, Australia
This one seems new. When have you used it?
And as ORG says, Jail has spies and ties with the TSAB. The sheer breadth of abilities a Pathfinder mage can use would be attention-grabbing, I suspect, even if the 'use any magic item' thing doesn't occur. I just mentioned it as a counterpoint to Baughn though, nothing more.
OverReactionGuy
Verified Sanity
I always name my Clefairy Kefka. Not sure why that is relevant, but it may effect how I see Mizu everytime he is called one.
My poor Kefka died to a rat though. *sniff* Damn you nuzlock challenge.
Now I'm imagining FF6 as played out by pokemon... I'm really not sure what to make of Clefairy Kefka.
Well, other than "OHGODWHYMETRONOME!!!!????"
InfiniteDaze
Too lazy to leave the house
- Location
- I wish I could stay
Like.... since last year.
It's rarely ever used and it's mostly when I don't feel like saying Birdbrain.
Chapter 3
Mizu
Software Developer
- Location
- Victoria, Australia
I stare at the planet floating outside the window, all green and speckled with blue as you'd expect something verdant and human-life-supporting to be. Judging by the fact it isn't the size of a marble we aren't past satellite-orbit range, but space mechanics have never been my strong point.
"So…" I start, turning back to face my rescuer as I do. Then my bandage shifts, slipping off for a moment, and I abruptly abort whatever I was about to say next due to a sudden onset of intense pain and attempted organ escape. A low keen whines in my ears, like a tiny animal, and it takes me a few moments to realize the floor's shifted position to in front of my nose for some reason.
"-to the teleporter room! I repeat, get your ass in here Jeanne, this kid's bleeding out and I'm barely holding them together with Physical Heal!"
Was the floor always red and shiny? When did Brown Shoes get here?
"Here, here, he-Ooh, that's bad." "No shit!"
Hands grip my head, turning it upwards, and a face swims before me. It's blurry, smoke irritation in the eyes mustn't have worn off yet, but going by the orange spheres tied to either side of their head I'm fairly confident they're a girl. Or wearing a really funny hat.
"This is gonna hurt a bit, sorry." What's going to hurt? What do you mean, funny hat? The hands shift to my waist, tickling in how cold they feel, and I giggle a bit from the sensation. It comes out oddly bubbly for the second or two that I keep it up, before I find out what exactly Funny Hat meant by 'hurt a bit'.
It hurts more than a bit.
Black spots fill my vision as the hands grip and lift me up, that odd keen echoing in my ears again in the process. I hear squishy, slippery, drippy sounds alongside rapid footsteps, each jolt up and down changing the keen some way or another. Like a musical, up and down and soft and loud; I try to join in, adding a bar whenever it stops for a moment, but it stops exactly and precisely whenever I take a breath. Rude.
"-class four hemorrhage, intestinal tract is literally halfway across the operating table, and they're still conscious somehow."
"Genetic modification?" "Could be, could be something else. Tad too busy keeping them alive to really ponder the question here!"
Everything's going dark. Shadows are less dancing at the edges and more swallowing sight entirely now, bar faint differences in the depth which shift and dance about. Did we move behind the planet? Is it nighttime now, and that's why everything went black and fuzzy?
"Amy, toss me another IV bag, now!" "R-Right!"
There's a drum beating somewhere. Bam. Ba-dum. Bam. Ba-dum ba-dum. Bam. Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Silence. Silence. Silence. Badum.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit. Inducing a medical coma, kid's bleeding out too quick. Caduceus!" "By your command."
I cough, stumbling and reaching an arm out for stability, only to snatch it back as the tree sets alight ahead of me. The fire is unending, always just a few seconds behind no matter which direction I head, smoke so billowy and obscuring waving my hand in front of my face is nearly invisible.
Limping faster, I move around the latest burning plant with one hand pressed to my side, blood squelching between my fingers as I do. Fire-owls squawk and flutter through the branches overhead, brightly glowing shapes in the onyx smoke, perching on flaming branches to roost with no regard to the hungry elemental maw that consumes them once they do; my right socket throbs as I spot them again.
Tried to chase them away earlier, keep the flames from spreading by at least one vector, but that only seemed to trigger Cucco Syndrome in the Freyja–damned animals and a prompt swarming by synchronized masses of beaks and claws.
One of them caws at me, snapping its beak. Remnants of my eyeball slip free of the crack between my fingers and splatter on the ground below, hissing as the sacrifice is accepted. I smell bacon constantly.
Wind whistles sharply as a knife dances by my ear, dodged at the last second so it clattered to the ground metres ahead instead of piercing my skull. The Doll's found me again, so the House can't be far behind. They're always like that, after all.
"Flare!" As the shining ball materializes in my hands I toss it behind me, ducking around a collapsed trunk and closing my eye as the magic gets to work. Light paints across my lid, even shut tight and shielded by a log, and I see a stark outline of the grass and rocks beneath me through the skin. Moments later there's a thunk as wood crunches from another dagger toss, but coming from my right, followed by footsteps rustling the grass as Doll moves that way.
Seems that it worked. Lucky.
And then the log shatters behind me as House leaps down from above, cratering the ground on impact with its bloody, stained wooden weight. His door-mouth swings open and shut menacingly, clacking and crunching as it shatters small remnants of my Ray of Frost left from our last encounter; scorched wood blackens and crumbles from the one before that, where I learned lightning does squat to something with no nerve endings to fry.
House snarls, wood chunks spraying free of the doorframe and peppering the ground ahead of it. Some spray onto me, just adding more tiny pinpricks to the injury canvas I resemble. It sways, leaning back as I scramble to my feet and start dashing for safety, but I feel like I'm moving through treacle–
Arrows fall from the sky above us, sharp-tipped metal glinting in the firelight as they whistle through the air, before impacting House's surface in a cascade of shattering wood and glass. The monster roars, screaming outrage to the sky in a symphony of door-slams, but moments later the second wave come down and carve him into hundreds of chunks of firewood. There's a loud crash in the same instant, something speeding behind my sprawled form staring in shock, and as I turn to look find a headless Doll impaled through the chest by a shining silver sword.
"Phew! Close one, yes?"
Held by a soft, dainty hand attached to a wrist of the same, covered by leather gauntlets and breastplate worn by quite possibly the most beautiful woman I've ever encountered. Golden curls bounce on her shoulders as she tugs the blade free of Doll, brown recurve bow holstered across her back alongside a quiver of arrows. Her skin is pale and completely free of imperfections, neither wrinkles, scars or warts marring the supple, muscled skin of her youthful warrior frame.
She peers at me, staring slack-jawed in her direction, and snorts in amusement. "The Odin Look really isn't you, dear. No matter the similar interest in the mystic arts."
"Who… You… How…?" I stutter, glancing from her to my dead chasers rapidly in succession. My socket twinges again, followed by all the other wounds accumulated in this hell – the various cuts and scratches from dashing through thorny bushes, gashes from fire-owl talon, my slit waist from a lucky hit Doll scored, burns from when I didn't escape the flame quickly enough, wood chunks pinpricked into my flesh from House's latest assault – I glance at the mangled remains of the House, and feel my remaining eye watering as I struggle not to burst into relieved tears. "Why didn't you come sooooner?!"
The woman starts, stepping backwards for a second, as the floodgates break and I let myself go now all the danger is out of immediate reach. Big bawling sobs tear their way free of my throat, body shuddering from a mix of relaxing muscles and pain tensing them up again, and little droplets pool and shine as they drip down my cheeks. Snot clogs my nose and I cough, phlegm trying to slide down instead of up my throat, before a soft pair of arms encircle and tug me tightly into their embrace.
"There, there…" The woman murmurs, holding me softly as I bawl away all the stress and exhaustion of my trials. "It's OK, you're safe, nothing else is going to hurt you now. You're safe, little one, you're safe."
Sometime later, when I'd cried myself out, she let go and moved back a bit so I could still see her clearly. Something warm sat around my shoulders, draping down my back and waist, and when I glanced down saw it to be a bright white cloak, fluffy snow-shaded fur lining the edges.
It also had a number of snot marks on it, courtesy of me.
"All better now?" She checks softly, and upon getting a cautious nod in reply smiles warmly. "Good. Now, as for introductions my name is Freyja, goddess of fertility and love. Also life, death, the coming harvest, sexuality and procreation – the jobs kinda got piled on after a while. Recognize me?"
I blink, my eye widening at the name, and memories rush through my mind. Depictions of the Norse goddess under numerous spelling variations of the name, featured in videogames, books, films and other media. I remember praying to her shrine every morning, wishing fortune on Dad as he hunts the week's meats, the village farmers presenting offerings for a bountiful harvest and eating the slaughtered ewe as part of the rite, nervous boys and girls muttering quick prayers to snag their sweetheart, pregnant women requesting her aid in ensuring a safe birth...
"Freya, ma'am!" I force my wounded body to kneel, unable to look her in the eye. "What can this humble follower assist you with?"
"Oh, no, don't go all serious and formal now! We were being casual!" The goddess is whining. Freyja is whining. This...is not what I expected meeting her to be like. "Quit it, you hear me! Quit it! You can't be formal after bawling your eyes out against me, it's impossible!"
I feel myself blushing.
"I, uh...Freyja." I pause, and she nods at me encouragingly. This is so weird. "What compelled one such as yourself to intervene here, and rescue me from my pursuers? I admit I was quite likely to die without your aid, but why assist me specifically and not any number of other followers?"
"Got bored, decided to help." My vision of the goddess is being crushed more every minute. "Plus, you're actually really interesting right now – where you are presently you're the only person worshipping me in the entire world, and I never even knew your location existed before I noticed you there. Do you have any idea how rare that is, to find something really, truly new after a few thousand years of existence?
"...Rare?"
"You bet it's rare! Super, ultra, legendary awesomesauce rare!" She declares, shooting a fist into the air for emphasis. "Even better, none of the other gods have any worshippers as interesting as you; I'm getting jealous looks from everyone from Arete to Tsathogga presently, although for the more...ill-disposed ones it's less jealousy and more annoyance they can't wreck stuff where you are too."
Visions of Orcus and other evil and/or chaotic deities dance in my mind, and I gulp. "How soon can I expect Orcus to manifest and begin the destruction of civilization, presuming your accord has no standing here? Just so I know my life expectancy."
Freyja laughs, a high pearly echo dancing in my ears. "Him? Ah, you're safe, none of us can even scry, let alone travel to where you are; the only reason even I can reach you is our link as worshipper and goddess, and even then only in dreams like this. Actual manifestation is above us, although I can fiddle with a few minor things here and there when you're nearby."
"This… is a dream?" I blink, looking myself over, and become aware for the first time I haven't been feeling pain for awhile. Assumed it was just the nerves dying from extreme damage, or my brain numbing itself to protect me from signal bombardment, but it actually seems my injuries have vanished.
"Yeah!" Freyja nods with a grin, which falters into abashment as she takes in my expression. "You… didn't know that, right. Shit. I'm getting that 'Freyja mucked up' feeling again Odin tosses my way sometimes, the bastard."
"So, yeah, you're dreaming!" Freyja claps her hands, glancing about for a second before continuing. "Well, having a nightmare more like. Seems your first few days in this new world were really rough on you, which considering your feats to date isn't too surprising, and thus I've decided I'm gonna help you out!"
"...Did you just insult me?" Her face radiates innocence.
"Nope, totally not a thing that happened. Never, ever, nada." She spreads her arms wide, grasps my shoulders, and proceeds to pull me close to her. "Now, moving on! See, as a goddess I have some teeny, tiny little things I can do to tweak and prod my followers, even as far off as you currently are, and one of them's bestowing a boon or granting one special ability or another. In fact, ever since I draped my cloak over you, I've been doing it.
I blink and look down at the cloak enshrouding me. "You sure it's worked? I don't feel any different, and you did state you can't do much."
Her curls bounce as she nods, a small grin on her face as she looks me over. "Yep, it's worked. You're cuter already!"
What.
"Oh, but don't worry, that isn't all it does! You get a minor resistance to acid and cold temperature, low-light vision, resistance against mind-control magic and will ward off evil beings with your very presence. The mantle gets stronger as you adjust to it, too, and after a certain point you'll probably sprout wings."
"What."
"They're white? Fluffy, made of feathers?" She frowns, peering at my face, and hums a bit. "Actually, should probably visit you occasionally and help you out in the melee arts as well. You're so squishy and vulnerable at the moment, would hate for something to wipe you out because you ran out of Ranked spells or however it works for you mortals. Same reason I gave you the mantle."
"What." I'm so unsure of what I'm hearing the world's going dark. Can one faint in a dream? As I think I'm doing that.
"Aww, we're out of time. Guess they got you patched up enough to wake, so we'll have to chat again whenever you sleep next." Freyja's pouting, but gives me a little wave as the darkness thickens. "See ya soon, little follower, can barely wait for our next meetup. Been so long since I last trained a Valkyrie personally."
What?
"-any moment now, Captain Lindy. She might be a bit groggy for the first hour, but overall she's fine to move around without tearing open her wounds, so long as she's careful." That voice, it's funny hat. Who're they talking about? Everything's dark.
"Thank you for alerting me, Jeanne, I appreciate it. Both you and Amy did wonderful work these past few days."
Oh, wait, I see. The dark's because I've got my eyes shut.
"No thanks necessary, it's my job. Although I doubt Amy's gonna want to step foot inside my surgery for a while, to say the least." A seat creaks, someone shifting position, followed by a happy hum. "Ah, here we go, the sleeping beauty awakens. I'll expect you in a few minutes, Captain, and perhaps Enforcer Chrono as well?"
As I sit up and open my eyes, I'm treated to the sight of a sterile medbay, low bed-table thing that I'm resting on alongside a small desk the only noticeable furniture. Funny Hat, who is evidently known as Jeanette, has a holographic window interface open before them half-full of strange symbols and a few picture, with a second vanishing into the air moments after I spot it. The 'keyboard' appears to resemble nothing else other than solid light, symbols matching those on the report glowing softly as the keys.
Language barrier for the written word, but no issues understanding their dialogue? What gives?
"So, Ms. Doe," Jeanette begins, leaning back in her chair as she gazes at me. "We'll start off with simple questions while we're waiting for the important guests to arrive. Can you tell me your name? How about age? Name and occupation of your parents?"
"Mizuki." Score one for being good at lying. And, uh, crap, what should I do for the others. I don't know my current age! Uh… "I'm thirteen years old, and mum and dad are a seamstress and a hunter, respectively. Why do you want to know?"
Going good here, yep. Sure glad making stuff up is one of my specialties… wait. Crap, that's medieval, why did I say that? Why?!
"So we can contact them and get you back home, Mizuki. You were hurt really badly when we found you, you know." Jeanne pauses, tapping at a terminal for a second, before smiling. "Ah, so that's what they were. Hunters and seamstress, those who hunted wild animals for food and sewed clothing manually using thread and needle, right? You must be from an Unadministered world if those are your parents' professions."
"Unadministered?" That actually worked? I can't believe it worked. "What's that?"
"Unadministered worlds are those the TSAB – that is, the Time-Space Administration Bureau – doesn't govern as an administrative and peacekeeping force. As a requirement members operating there must keep a low profile and avoid meddling in local politics, so you wouldn't have heard of us." She looks at me, then blinks. "Uh, to dumb it down it's like places that aren't under the rule of a king, versus those that are. Do you understand?"
Before I can reply one way or the other, and perhaps ask the next question in my head like 'Then why do I seem to remember the acronym TSAB from somewhere', the door hisses open with an electronic hum and two more people walk inside. The first's a kid, black mop of hair on their head only matched by the all-encompassing uniform worn as clothing, while the second was a tall woman with turquoise hair and a unique pattern tattooed upon her forehead – two circles and triangles, each set at points opposite their mirror image to form a diamond.
More importantly, though? I recognized them. I realized where I remember the TSAB from. I recognize what that strange 'electronic-sounding' voice was earlier, when I was teleported off-planet onto this ship. I...don't recognize the doctor, but that's believable if this is reality and not fiction.
How I got into dumped into the Nanoha section of the multiverse, though, is a question for the ages. Kinda like what I'll be doing next, but with less mystery and more lying my ass off.
"Hello." Lindy smiles in greeting, warm and friendly in contrast to Chrono's more subdued and reserved nod. His posture is formal and somewhat stiff, an attempt to remain professional thoroughly wrecked by how casual his superior officer and mother is being in her interactions with me. "Glad to see you're awake, miss –?"
"Mizuki."
"Mizuki, right. I'm Lindy Harlaown, captain of the Arthra, and the young man next to me's my son, Chrono. We were really surprised when we found you on the planet below, our records and scans indicated it was uninhabited by anything but wild animals and ruins; do you happen to remember how you ended up there? How were you so badly hurt?"
"I…" Nope, nothing's coming to mind. "No, sorry, last I remember I was in bed asleep. As for the injuries, turns out the wildlife wherever I woke really didn't like me much, as I got attacked less than an hour after arrival – twice."
Even if I did trigger the first one. Stupid McRainbow.
"Amnesia?" Jeanne guesses, tapping on her hologram keyboard as she does. "Didn't notice any bruising on your skull or brain to indicate it, but you were touch and go for a while when operating. Going too long without oxygen to the brain could be the cause, but I was certain I prevented that…"
"Could be someone kidnapped and transported her there as well?" Chrono suggests. "If she was there for a day or two before we saw her, any dimensional trail left by the kidnapper would have dissolved almost entirely. We were more focused on keeping her alive than checking where she might have come from then, too."
"And I'm really, really grateful for that." Let's shift the topic away from my mystery past, methinks. Thing has more holes in it than swiss cheese, even if it's an unknown to me too. "That said, I really can't think of anything explaining how and why I woke up there."
The captain nods, turquoise ponytail bouncing from the movement. "It does seem like a very strange set of events you've gone through." She pauses for a second, "How.. are you, Mizuki? You've had a very trying experience."
"It's definitely surpassed home so far," I agree, before pausing and thinking it over. Actually, why aren't I more stressed? Panicked? Emotionally drained and exhausted from the past two days and all I experienced in them? My hands clench and unclench, slowly, and I stare down at my lap cluelessly. "I feel... safe, and calm, despite all signs saying that the other direction should be my response. It's a very odd experience."
Lindy bites her lip slightly, looking concerned. Why does that seem familiar? "That's a little worrying, though it's good to hear that you feel okay." She smiles softly, before seeming to straighten a little. "If you are feeling okay, then can I ask another question?"
"Sure? What's it about?"
She points to my hand. "We are just a little curious about that ring, and noticed it was giving off some unknown magical effect. Jeanne advised to leave it on when prepping you for healing, as for all we knew it was helping keep you alive."
Ring? I glance down, following her finger, and see a thin oval of dark, brown wood resting on my left hand's middle finger. Tiny symbols are scrawled across it, markings, and when I remove and raise the ring closer to my eyes see they're… probably letters. Enchantment. Kinda resemble how those cave-rune looked, actually, but with a few pictures mixed in.
A wizened old man reads from a crinkly book, pages yellow from age. Mountains of scrolls, reaching almost thrice my height in the air. Tiny pinpricks of light, shining in a rainbow of different colours. Shapes, glowing with an inner fire, as they're burned into thick oak and stone.
"Yeah, I… don't know. Definitely familiar, but that's about it." Placing the ring back down in my lap, I glance over to the others. Lindy's staring at me, confusion painted across her face, while Chrono looks like an annoying mystery just got solved. "Something wrong?"
Lindy's reply can best be described as 'gobbledygook'.
"Translation: 'I can't understand you'". And yet Chrono's was not. I put the ring back on.
"Well, this clears up my confusion as to our common language." I confess, Lindy no longer running headfirst into the language barrier of my words. A hand gestures to Jeanne's desk hologram. "The fact I could understand what you were all saying, but not those words there was kinda~ puzzling. I'm guessing you used a similar item to my ring when you replied to me, Chrono?"
He nods. "S2U, my Device. Captain Lindy is currently off-duty, and thus isn't carrying her own presently." Listening to him talk, it… well, there's the obvious 'not gobbledygook' element, but if I actually focus it also doesn't sound like English either. Nor is it Japanese, and for all its familiarity I can't put a name to it. "-magic from a few of your belongings, namely a book, necklace and – most puzzlingly – rock alongside the ring on your finger. Would you be able to identify their functions?"
I blink, forcing myself out of listen-to-voices mode, and realize Chrono's holding my spellbook towards me; atop are the Heatstone and pentagram necklace. Explain a system I only encountered a few days ago, he asks? This'll be fun.
"Well, first off the rock's a Heatstone." I begin, taking the items and placing them on my lap as I do so. "As the name suggests, it radiates heat, namely by whacking it against a hard surface slightly. Not enough for cooking unless you have a bucket's worth, but helpful for keeping warm without a fire."
"The book and necklace are my Spellbook and Bonded Object, respectively, and allow me to cast spells." I demonstrate using Mage Hand, levitating the rock above my lap slightly. Light was also used, until I found out making a glowing rock right in front of your face is a terrible idea and promptly hid it behind my back so everyone wasn't blinded. "I'm only a beginner Mage, Rank 1, but my Spellbook has information up to Rank 5 I noted down as I was learning. Spells use up mental 'slots' in my mind, which I need to refresh daily, and if I practice a spell long enough it becomes second-nature I can forego this limit entirely – all Mages are required to have achieved this with Rank 0 spells before being granted the title of Rank 1 or higher."
...You know, I should probably just expect random spouts of heretofore-unknown knowledge when it comes to 'how does my magic work' queries in future. It seems a plausible hunch.
"What sort of variety do these Rank of spells contain?" Chrono nods at my book. "We obviously couldn't see for ourselves while you were unconscious, after all. Are they all simple utility spell such as object levitation and imbuing light in something?"
"Nope, and thank Freyja for that, otherwise I wouldn't be living to meet you all." I grin, opening my book to Rank 1 spells as I do. "No, those are just the ones I showed which aren't going to end up hurting someone – I can cast acid, jolts of electricity, freezing rays of cold, magical armour plating, tracking projectiles which never miss within their range and even summoning." Although my first and last attempt in that field ended in nothing but bloodstains on rock.
"Summoning?" Lindy seems surprised, going by her quick glance at Chrono. "We've encountered magic users with that skill before, and they're generally extremely powerful. What sort of creature or objects can you summon – stone golem? Insects? Dragons?"
"Small snakes." I remember none of this. When did Nanoha involve summoning? Never featured in the original series or A's, that's for sure. Worrying. "Possibly more, but that's all I managed my first and only go at the skill thus far – it's newly learnt. If you've investigated where you picked me up, you may even have come across it; the bloodstain is likely rather attention-grabbing."
"Ah, speaking of that," Chrono starts, a number of screens popping up around him displaying the cavern they found me in. There's a few closeup shots of Doll, and I feel a rush of terror at the sight of House, until I spot the many giant holes through its form. A single image catches my eye, dull purple crystal spinning slowly in place as various readouts and comments spring up around it; the Soul Gem. "We found this amongst your belongings as well, and it's actually why we happened to be close enough to encounter you in the first place. Items such as this are known as Lost Logia to us, dangerous objects often full of immense magical power, yet this one is now inert and powerless. We discovered it once resided in the creation you defeated before meeting us, so would you know what effect it imbued while active?"
"Um." Does Nanoha-verse have souls? Don't remember the material ever mentioning it. Welp, if it doesn't this shall be an awkward reveal for them all. "It's a Soul Gem, I recognized it from my studies upon finding it. They're used as focus to animate golem with pieces of lifeforce, and some aren't that bothered by the moral issues around using people on occasion. Judging by how intelligent the doll seemed when I battled it, alongside its use of Mage Hand as well, odds are it used a human soul before I killed it."
Chrono frowns, face tightening as he stares at the dull crystal in the display. "Can it be reused?"
I shrug. "All I know is that it's a thing, and what it's commonly used for. Soul entrapment might be covered in my book later on, but I wouldn't have a clue where nor the details involved; stuff gets complex as you climb the Ranks. Thing's harmless without a soul in it, though, and even with provided it isn't stuck in some form of construct and given a set of commands."
With a gesture, Chrono vanishes the window and relaxes from his tensed expression. "Thank you, Mizuki, that's very helpful. I'll pass the knowledge along when we hand it over to the correct authorities later." He glances at Lindy. "Now that's done, guess all that's left is deciding what to do with you."
"...What to do with me?"
"That's right." Lindy smiles gently at me. "It's terrible that you're stranded far from home, Mizuki, and we're going to try and help you find your way back as soon as possible. That said, we're going to need as much information as possible about where you came from, to make it easier to find. The name of your people, and your planet if it has one. How long your records say you've existed, and how far back they go. Legends, before that. Any mysterious creatures or people yours might have encountered, either mythically or in the present day. That sort of thing…"
How could I possibly know?
"The—djinn, probably—"
The questions continued for a good, long time, as I did my best at answering and being helpful while not mentioning random Earth information at the same time. The fact that the 'random spouts of knowledge' kicked in for most of them helped immensely, although I question what good saying the planet name of Golarion shall do for them. They questioned me in-depth when I started mentioning Planes (such as the elemental ones, or those corresponding to what afterlife you ended up in) and how my teachers and powerful Mages were known to make pocket dimensions to live in, but eventually the queries slowed and stopped.
"Okay, think that's as good as we're going to get." Lindy stretches, shifting position in her seat. Jeanne had vanished a while ago, exiting somewhere else under pain of the munchies, and the remaining two changed spots so they weren't standing up for hours on end questioning me. "Anything else come to mind, Chrono?"
"Nothing we haven't already covered, captain." Chrono has a hologram floating in front of him, full of odd symbols as he records my words. "This will help with searching, no question of that, but it's going to take time. Longer than our patrol route, for certain. We'll need to forward the parameters to the Infinity Library."
Lindy sighs, turning to look at me. "Sorry Mizuki, seems getting you home will take a while. We'll find you a place to stay back home in Mid-Childa while you wait, people to look after you during your time with us, but I'm afraid you might not see your family again for some time."
She's looking at me with concern, as if expecting me to tear up or burst into tears. Not sure why, I've been pretty composed during all this discussion, and it isn't like I haven't been following along with where they've been going here. It'll be sad not seeing mum and dad for a while, not even letters like at the academy, but the chance to explore a high-magitech civilization seems like it balances out.
Not like I can do anything about it, either. Planeshift's so far up in the Ranks I don't even know what Rank it is. I'll have to make the best of my situation.
"Kinda figured that out upon waking in the wilderness a few days ago." I quip, forcing a small smile onto my face as I do. It doesn't seem to reassure her. "I'll be fine, miss Lindy, you'll get me home eventually. When will I be dropped off at Mid-Childa?"
"Anywhere from three days to a week." Chrono answers this time, closing up his notes as he does. "We found you on our patrol route when investigating some Lost Logia signals, but while you were asleep we detected some minor dimensional disturbances. It's unlikely to be related to your situation, honestly, so we're more checking this out as part of our jobs than anything else."
Dimensional signal investigation? Why does that sound familiar...Ah. Should I intervene? Mention something about the situation? What pros and cons do I have by giving up any foreknowledge relating to Nanoha seasons one and two, beyond the obvious 'cannot predict things due to interfering in them' which happens whenever one intervenes in general?
Well, there's saving Fate from her mum quicker to consider. Possibly keeping Alicia from dying in her comatose test tube as per canon as well, depending on how that base assault to capture Precia ends up turning out. I also know the rough locations of some Jewel Seeds, like the ones in the Pacific Ocean south of Japan and that hot springs amoeba. Or giant kitty cat.
I could also save Hayate from the Book of Darkness before it begins actively draining her, seeing as that only began six months after the resolution of Nanoha season one. If it's inactive still, maybe I can get the corrupt security program excised from the spellbook too, prevent Reinforce from dying or being frozen in an alternate dimension alongside her master. Unsure what to do about Graham, could think on it before taking action - like checking he exists.
Future-sight visions could help get me back home sooner, too. More attention and people searching, and all that. If not, I'll probably get a better place to stay than a random orphanage, as from the discussion thus far that seems like where I'm headed.
As for downsides, that'd be the questioning I'd be put under as to how I know this stuff in the first place. Which would be both annoying and awkward to wade through, especially the fact it's only valid for roughly a year; Bet Seer back home never had to deal with it.
There'd also be a bit of focus on my magic, perhaps people wanting to learn it, but this seems more of a mixed bonus and downside than a distinct disadvantage. Unless I'm targeted by someone for a skill or ability my magic grants the Nanoha-verse system doesn't? Don't know enough about their own to say, what with Summoning being a thing and all. Knowledge isn't 100% accurate to reality.
Finally, this is all operating under the assumption said disturbance is exactly what I think it is. If I'm wrong, and the combo of Chrono's age, Lindy being the Arthra's captain and them investigating a dimensional disturbance is set after or between seasons one or two...Well then. I'll have blown my knowledge for nothing, if so.
...Screw it.
"This disturbance, it wouldn't happen to be taking place on Unadministered Planet ninety-seven, would it? Known as Earth to the locals? As if so, I think I know some things which can help."
"So…" I start, turning back to face my rescuer as I do. Then my bandage shifts, slipping off for a moment, and I abruptly abort whatever I was about to say next due to a sudden onset of intense pain and attempted organ escape. A low keen whines in my ears, like a tiny animal, and it takes me a few moments to realize the floor's shifted position to in front of my nose for some reason.
"-to the teleporter room! I repeat, get your ass in here Jeanne, this kid's bleeding out and I'm barely holding them together with Physical Heal!"
Was the floor always red and shiny? When did Brown Shoes get here?
"Here, here, he-Ooh, that's bad." "No shit!"
Hands grip my head, turning it upwards, and a face swims before me. It's blurry, smoke irritation in the eyes mustn't have worn off yet, but going by the orange spheres tied to either side of their head I'm fairly confident they're a girl. Or wearing a really funny hat.
"This is gonna hurt a bit, sorry." What's going to hurt? What do you mean, funny hat? The hands shift to my waist, tickling in how cold they feel, and I giggle a bit from the sensation. It comes out oddly bubbly for the second or two that I keep it up, before I find out what exactly Funny Hat meant by 'hurt a bit'.
It hurts more than a bit.
Black spots fill my vision as the hands grip and lift me up, that odd keen echoing in my ears again in the process. I hear squishy, slippery, drippy sounds alongside rapid footsteps, each jolt up and down changing the keen some way or another. Like a musical, up and down and soft and loud; I try to join in, adding a bar whenever it stops for a moment, but it stops exactly and precisely whenever I take a breath. Rude.
"-class four hemorrhage, intestinal tract is literally halfway across the operating table, and they're still conscious somehow."
"Genetic modification?" "Could be, could be something else. Tad too busy keeping them alive to really ponder the question here!"
Everything's going dark. Shadows are less dancing at the edges and more swallowing sight entirely now, bar faint differences in the depth which shift and dance about. Did we move behind the planet? Is it nighttime now, and that's why everything went black and fuzzy?
"Amy, toss me another IV bag, now!" "R-Right!"
There's a drum beating somewhere. Bam. Ba-dum. Bam. Ba-dum ba-dum. Bam. Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Ba-dum. Silence. Silence. Silence. Badum.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit. Inducing a medical coma, kid's bleeding out too quick. Caduceus!" "By your command."
0 –––––––––––– 0
I cough, stumbling and reaching an arm out for stability, only to snatch it back as the tree sets alight ahead of me. The fire is unending, always just a few seconds behind no matter which direction I head, smoke so billowy and obscuring waving my hand in front of my face is nearly invisible.
Limping faster, I move around the latest burning plant with one hand pressed to my side, blood squelching between my fingers as I do. Fire-owls squawk and flutter through the branches overhead, brightly glowing shapes in the onyx smoke, perching on flaming branches to roost with no regard to the hungry elemental maw that consumes them once they do; my right socket throbs as I spot them again.
Tried to chase them away earlier, keep the flames from spreading by at least one vector, but that only seemed to trigger Cucco Syndrome in the Freyja–damned animals and a prompt swarming by synchronized masses of beaks and claws.
One of them caws at me, snapping its beak. Remnants of my eyeball slip free of the crack between my fingers and splatter on the ground below, hissing as the sacrifice is accepted. I smell bacon constantly.
Wind whistles sharply as a knife dances by my ear, dodged at the last second so it clattered to the ground metres ahead instead of piercing my skull. The Doll's found me again, so the House can't be far behind. They're always like that, after all.
"Flare!" As the shining ball materializes in my hands I toss it behind me, ducking around a collapsed trunk and closing my eye as the magic gets to work. Light paints across my lid, even shut tight and shielded by a log, and I see a stark outline of the grass and rocks beneath me through the skin. Moments later there's a thunk as wood crunches from another dagger toss, but coming from my right, followed by footsteps rustling the grass as Doll moves that way.
Seems that it worked. Lucky.
And then the log shatters behind me as House leaps down from above, cratering the ground on impact with its bloody, stained wooden weight. His door-mouth swings open and shut menacingly, clacking and crunching as it shatters small remnants of my Ray of Frost left from our last encounter; scorched wood blackens and crumbles from the one before that, where I learned lightning does squat to something with no nerve endings to fry.
House snarls, wood chunks spraying free of the doorframe and peppering the ground ahead of it. Some spray onto me, just adding more tiny pinpricks to the injury canvas I resemble. It sways, leaning back as I scramble to my feet and start dashing for safety, but I feel like I'm moving through treacle–
Arrows fall from the sky above us, sharp-tipped metal glinting in the firelight as they whistle through the air, before impacting House's surface in a cascade of shattering wood and glass. The monster roars, screaming outrage to the sky in a symphony of door-slams, but moments later the second wave come down and carve him into hundreds of chunks of firewood. There's a loud crash in the same instant, something speeding behind my sprawled form staring in shock, and as I turn to look find a headless Doll impaled through the chest by a shining silver sword.
"Phew! Close one, yes?"
Held by a soft, dainty hand attached to a wrist of the same, covered by leather gauntlets and breastplate worn by quite possibly the most beautiful woman I've ever encountered. Golden curls bounce on her shoulders as she tugs the blade free of Doll, brown recurve bow holstered across her back alongside a quiver of arrows. Her skin is pale and completely free of imperfections, neither wrinkles, scars or warts marring the supple, muscled skin of her youthful warrior frame.
She peers at me, staring slack-jawed in her direction, and snorts in amusement. "The Odin Look really isn't you, dear. No matter the similar interest in the mystic arts."
"Who… You… How…?" I stutter, glancing from her to my dead chasers rapidly in succession. My socket twinges again, followed by all the other wounds accumulated in this hell – the various cuts and scratches from dashing through thorny bushes, gashes from fire-owl talon, my slit waist from a lucky hit Doll scored, burns from when I didn't escape the flame quickly enough, wood chunks pinpricked into my flesh from House's latest assault – I glance at the mangled remains of the House, and feel my remaining eye watering as I struggle not to burst into relieved tears. "Why didn't you come sooooner?!"
The woman starts, stepping backwards for a second, as the floodgates break and I let myself go now all the danger is out of immediate reach. Big bawling sobs tear their way free of my throat, body shuddering from a mix of relaxing muscles and pain tensing them up again, and little droplets pool and shine as they drip down my cheeks. Snot clogs my nose and I cough, phlegm trying to slide down instead of up my throat, before a soft pair of arms encircle and tug me tightly into their embrace.
"There, there…" The woman murmurs, holding me softly as I bawl away all the stress and exhaustion of my trials. "It's OK, you're safe, nothing else is going to hurt you now. You're safe, little one, you're safe."
Sometime later, when I'd cried myself out, she let go and moved back a bit so I could still see her clearly. Something warm sat around my shoulders, draping down my back and waist, and when I glanced down saw it to be a bright white cloak, fluffy snow-shaded fur lining the edges.
It also had a number of snot marks on it, courtesy of me.
"All better now?" She checks softly, and upon getting a cautious nod in reply smiles warmly. "Good. Now, as for introductions my name is Freyja, goddess of fertility and love. Also life, death, the coming harvest, sexuality and procreation – the jobs kinda got piled on after a while. Recognize me?"
I blink, my eye widening at the name, and memories rush through my mind. Depictions of the Norse goddess under numerous spelling variations of the name, featured in videogames, books, films and other media. I remember praying to her shrine every morning, wishing fortune on Dad as he hunts the week's meats, the village farmers presenting offerings for a bountiful harvest and eating the slaughtered ewe as part of the rite, nervous boys and girls muttering quick prayers to snag their sweetheart, pregnant women requesting her aid in ensuring a safe birth...
"Freya, ma'am!" I force my wounded body to kneel, unable to look her in the eye. "What can this humble follower assist you with?"
"Oh, no, don't go all serious and formal now! We were being casual!" The goddess is whining. Freyja is whining. This...is not what I expected meeting her to be like. "Quit it, you hear me! Quit it! You can't be formal after bawling your eyes out against me, it's impossible!"
I feel myself blushing.
"I, uh...Freyja." I pause, and she nods at me encouragingly. This is so weird. "What compelled one such as yourself to intervene here, and rescue me from my pursuers? I admit I was quite likely to die without your aid, but why assist me specifically and not any number of other followers?"
"Got bored, decided to help." My vision of the goddess is being crushed more every minute. "Plus, you're actually really interesting right now – where you are presently you're the only person worshipping me in the entire world, and I never even knew your location existed before I noticed you there. Do you have any idea how rare that is, to find something really, truly new after a few thousand years of existence?
"...Rare?"
"You bet it's rare! Super, ultra, legendary awesomesauce rare!" She declares, shooting a fist into the air for emphasis. "Even better, none of the other gods have any worshippers as interesting as you; I'm getting jealous looks from everyone from Arete to Tsathogga presently, although for the more...ill-disposed ones it's less jealousy and more annoyance they can't wreck stuff where you are too."
Visions of Orcus and other evil and/or chaotic deities dance in my mind, and I gulp. "How soon can I expect Orcus to manifest and begin the destruction of civilization, presuming your accord has no standing here? Just so I know my life expectancy."
Freyja laughs, a high pearly echo dancing in my ears. "Him? Ah, you're safe, none of us can even scry, let alone travel to where you are; the only reason even I can reach you is our link as worshipper and goddess, and even then only in dreams like this. Actual manifestation is above us, although I can fiddle with a few minor things here and there when you're nearby."
"This… is a dream?" I blink, looking myself over, and become aware for the first time I haven't been feeling pain for awhile. Assumed it was just the nerves dying from extreme damage, or my brain numbing itself to protect me from signal bombardment, but it actually seems my injuries have vanished.
"Yeah!" Freyja nods with a grin, which falters into abashment as she takes in my expression. "You… didn't know that, right. Shit. I'm getting that 'Freyja mucked up' feeling again Odin tosses my way sometimes, the bastard."
"So, yeah, you're dreaming!" Freyja claps her hands, glancing about for a second before continuing. "Well, having a nightmare more like. Seems your first few days in this new world were really rough on you, which considering your feats to date isn't too surprising, and thus I've decided I'm gonna help you out!"
"...Did you just insult me?" Her face radiates innocence.
"Nope, totally not a thing that happened. Never, ever, nada." She spreads her arms wide, grasps my shoulders, and proceeds to pull me close to her. "Now, moving on! See, as a goddess I have some teeny, tiny little things I can do to tweak and prod my followers, even as far off as you currently are, and one of them's bestowing a boon or granting one special ability or another. In fact, ever since I draped my cloak over you, I've been doing it.
I blink and look down at the cloak enshrouding me. "You sure it's worked? I don't feel any different, and you did state you can't do much."
Her curls bounce as she nods, a small grin on her face as she looks me over. "Yep, it's worked. You're cuter already!"
What.
"Oh, but don't worry, that isn't all it does! You get a minor resistance to acid and cold temperature, low-light vision, resistance against mind-control magic and will ward off evil beings with your very presence. The mantle gets stronger as you adjust to it, too, and after a certain point you'll probably sprout wings."
"What."
"They're white? Fluffy, made of feathers?" She frowns, peering at my face, and hums a bit. "Actually, should probably visit you occasionally and help you out in the melee arts as well. You're so squishy and vulnerable at the moment, would hate for something to wipe you out because you ran out of Ranked spells or however it works for you mortals. Same reason I gave you the mantle."
"What." I'm so unsure of what I'm hearing the world's going dark. Can one faint in a dream? As I think I'm doing that.
"Aww, we're out of time. Guess they got you patched up enough to wake, so we'll have to chat again whenever you sleep next." Freyja's pouting, but gives me a little wave as the darkness thickens. "See ya soon, little follower, can barely wait for our next meetup. Been so long since I last trained a Valkyrie personally."
What?
0 –––––––––––– 0
"-any moment now, Captain Lindy. She might be a bit groggy for the first hour, but overall she's fine to move around without tearing open her wounds, so long as she's careful." That voice, it's funny hat. Who're they talking about? Everything's dark.
"Thank you for alerting me, Jeanne, I appreciate it. Both you and Amy did wonderful work these past few days."
Oh, wait, I see. The dark's because I've got my eyes shut.
"No thanks necessary, it's my job. Although I doubt Amy's gonna want to step foot inside my surgery for a while, to say the least." A seat creaks, someone shifting position, followed by a happy hum. "Ah, here we go, the sleeping beauty awakens. I'll expect you in a few minutes, Captain, and perhaps Enforcer Chrono as well?"
As I sit up and open my eyes, I'm treated to the sight of a sterile medbay, low bed-table thing that I'm resting on alongside a small desk the only noticeable furniture. Funny Hat, who is evidently known as Jeanette, has a holographic window interface open before them half-full of strange symbols and a few picture, with a second vanishing into the air moments after I spot it. The 'keyboard' appears to resemble nothing else other than solid light, symbols matching those on the report glowing softly as the keys.
Language barrier for the written word, but no issues understanding their dialogue? What gives?
"So, Ms. Doe," Jeanette begins, leaning back in her chair as she gazes at me. "We'll start off with simple questions while we're waiting for the important guests to arrive. Can you tell me your name? How about age? Name and occupation of your parents?"
"Mizuki." Score one for being good at lying. And, uh, crap, what should I do for the others. I don't know my current age! Uh… "I'm thirteen years old, and mum and dad are a seamstress and a hunter, respectively. Why do you want to know?"
Going good here, yep. Sure glad making stuff up is one of my specialties… wait. Crap, that's medieval, why did I say that? Why?!
"So we can contact them and get you back home, Mizuki. You were hurt really badly when we found you, you know." Jeanne pauses, tapping at a terminal for a second, before smiling. "Ah, so that's what they were. Hunters and seamstress, those who hunted wild animals for food and sewed clothing manually using thread and needle, right? You must be from an Unadministered world if those are your parents' professions."
"Unadministered?" That actually worked? I can't believe it worked. "What's that?"
"Unadministered worlds are those the TSAB – that is, the Time-Space Administration Bureau – doesn't govern as an administrative and peacekeeping force. As a requirement members operating there must keep a low profile and avoid meddling in local politics, so you wouldn't have heard of us." She looks at me, then blinks. "Uh, to dumb it down it's like places that aren't under the rule of a king, versus those that are. Do you understand?"
Before I can reply one way or the other, and perhaps ask the next question in my head like 'Then why do I seem to remember the acronym TSAB from somewhere', the door hisses open with an electronic hum and two more people walk inside. The first's a kid, black mop of hair on their head only matched by the all-encompassing uniform worn as clothing, while the second was a tall woman with turquoise hair and a unique pattern tattooed upon her forehead – two circles and triangles, each set at points opposite their mirror image to form a diamond.
More importantly, though? I recognized them. I realized where I remember the TSAB from. I recognize what that strange 'electronic-sounding' voice was earlier, when I was teleported off-planet onto this ship. I...don't recognize the doctor, but that's believable if this is reality and not fiction.
How I got into dumped into the Nanoha section of the multiverse, though, is a question for the ages. Kinda like what I'll be doing next, but with less mystery and more lying my ass off.
"Hello." Lindy smiles in greeting, warm and friendly in contrast to Chrono's more subdued and reserved nod. His posture is formal and somewhat stiff, an attempt to remain professional thoroughly wrecked by how casual his superior officer and mother is being in her interactions with me. "Glad to see you're awake, miss –?"
"Mizuki."
"Mizuki, right. I'm Lindy Harlaown, captain of the Arthra, and the young man next to me's my son, Chrono. We were really surprised when we found you on the planet below, our records and scans indicated it was uninhabited by anything but wild animals and ruins; do you happen to remember how you ended up there? How were you so badly hurt?"
"I…" Nope, nothing's coming to mind. "No, sorry, last I remember I was in bed asleep. As for the injuries, turns out the wildlife wherever I woke really didn't like me much, as I got attacked less than an hour after arrival – twice."
Even if I did trigger the first one. Stupid McRainbow.
"Amnesia?" Jeanne guesses, tapping on her hologram keyboard as she does. "Didn't notice any bruising on your skull or brain to indicate it, but you were touch and go for a while when operating. Going too long without oxygen to the brain could be the cause, but I was certain I prevented that…"
"Could be someone kidnapped and transported her there as well?" Chrono suggests. "If she was there for a day or two before we saw her, any dimensional trail left by the kidnapper would have dissolved almost entirely. We were more focused on keeping her alive than checking where she might have come from then, too."
"And I'm really, really grateful for that." Let's shift the topic away from my mystery past, methinks. Thing has more holes in it than swiss cheese, even if it's an unknown to me too. "That said, I really can't think of anything explaining how and why I woke up there."
The captain nods, turquoise ponytail bouncing from the movement. "It does seem like a very strange set of events you've gone through." She pauses for a second, "How.. are you, Mizuki? You've had a very trying experience."
"It's definitely surpassed home so far," I agree, before pausing and thinking it over. Actually, why aren't I more stressed? Panicked? Emotionally drained and exhausted from the past two days and all I experienced in them? My hands clench and unclench, slowly, and I stare down at my lap cluelessly. "I feel... safe, and calm, despite all signs saying that the other direction should be my response. It's a very odd experience."
Lindy bites her lip slightly, looking concerned. Why does that seem familiar? "That's a little worrying, though it's good to hear that you feel okay." She smiles softly, before seeming to straighten a little. "If you are feeling okay, then can I ask another question?"
"Sure? What's it about?"
She points to my hand. "We are just a little curious about that ring, and noticed it was giving off some unknown magical effect. Jeanne advised to leave it on when prepping you for healing, as for all we knew it was helping keep you alive."
Ring? I glance down, following her finger, and see a thin oval of dark, brown wood resting on my left hand's middle finger. Tiny symbols are scrawled across it, markings, and when I remove and raise the ring closer to my eyes see they're… probably letters. Enchantment. Kinda resemble how those cave-rune looked, actually, but with a few pictures mixed in.
A wizened old man reads from a crinkly book, pages yellow from age. Mountains of scrolls, reaching almost thrice my height in the air. Tiny pinpricks of light, shining in a rainbow of different colours. Shapes, glowing with an inner fire, as they're burned into thick oak and stone.
"Yeah, I… don't know. Definitely familiar, but that's about it." Placing the ring back down in my lap, I glance over to the others. Lindy's staring at me, confusion painted across her face, while Chrono looks like an annoying mystery just got solved. "Something wrong?"
Lindy's reply can best be described as 'gobbledygook'.
"Translation: 'I can't understand you'". And yet Chrono's was not. I put the ring back on.
"Well, this clears up my confusion as to our common language." I confess, Lindy no longer running headfirst into the language barrier of my words. A hand gestures to Jeanne's desk hologram. "The fact I could understand what you were all saying, but not those words there was kinda~ puzzling. I'm guessing you used a similar item to my ring when you replied to me, Chrono?"
He nods. "S2U, my Device. Captain Lindy is currently off-duty, and thus isn't carrying her own presently." Listening to him talk, it… well, there's the obvious 'not gobbledygook' element, but if I actually focus it also doesn't sound like English either. Nor is it Japanese, and for all its familiarity I can't put a name to it. "-magic from a few of your belongings, namely a book, necklace and – most puzzlingly – rock alongside the ring on your finger. Would you be able to identify their functions?"
I blink, forcing myself out of listen-to-voices mode, and realize Chrono's holding my spellbook towards me; atop are the Heatstone and pentagram necklace. Explain a system I only encountered a few days ago, he asks? This'll be fun.
"Well, first off the rock's a Heatstone." I begin, taking the items and placing them on my lap as I do so. "As the name suggests, it radiates heat, namely by whacking it against a hard surface slightly. Not enough for cooking unless you have a bucket's worth, but helpful for keeping warm without a fire."
"The book and necklace are my Spellbook and Bonded Object, respectively, and allow me to cast spells." I demonstrate using Mage Hand, levitating the rock above my lap slightly. Light was also used, until I found out making a glowing rock right in front of your face is a terrible idea and promptly hid it behind my back so everyone wasn't blinded. "I'm only a beginner Mage, Rank 1, but my Spellbook has information up to Rank 5 I noted down as I was learning. Spells use up mental 'slots' in my mind, which I need to refresh daily, and if I practice a spell long enough it becomes second-nature I can forego this limit entirely – all Mages are required to have achieved this with Rank 0 spells before being granted the title of Rank 1 or higher."
...You know, I should probably just expect random spouts of heretofore-unknown knowledge when it comes to 'how does my magic work' queries in future. It seems a plausible hunch.
"What sort of variety do these Rank of spells contain?" Chrono nods at my book. "We obviously couldn't see for ourselves while you were unconscious, after all. Are they all simple utility spell such as object levitation and imbuing light in something?"
"Nope, and thank Freyja for that, otherwise I wouldn't be living to meet you all." I grin, opening my book to Rank 1 spells as I do. "No, those are just the ones I showed which aren't going to end up hurting someone – I can cast acid, jolts of electricity, freezing rays of cold, magical armour plating, tracking projectiles which never miss within their range and even summoning." Although my first and last attempt in that field ended in nothing but bloodstains on rock.
"Summoning?" Lindy seems surprised, going by her quick glance at Chrono. "We've encountered magic users with that skill before, and they're generally extremely powerful. What sort of creature or objects can you summon – stone golem? Insects? Dragons?"
"Small snakes." I remember none of this. When did Nanoha involve summoning? Never featured in the original series or A's, that's for sure. Worrying. "Possibly more, but that's all I managed my first and only go at the skill thus far – it's newly learnt. If you've investigated where you picked me up, you may even have come across it; the bloodstain is likely rather attention-grabbing."
"Ah, speaking of that," Chrono starts, a number of screens popping up around him displaying the cavern they found me in. There's a few closeup shots of Doll, and I feel a rush of terror at the sight of House, until I spot the many giant holes through its form. A single image catches my eye, dull purple crystal spinning slowly in place as various readouts and comments spring up around it; the Soul Gem. "We found this amongst your belongings as well, and it's actually why we happened to be close enough to encounter you in the first place. Items such as this are known as Lost Logia to us, dangerous objects often full of immense magical power, yet this one is now inert and powerless. We discovered it once resided in the creation you defeated before meeting us, so would you know what effect it imbued while active?"
"Um." Does Nanoha-verse have souls? Don't remember the material ever mentioning it. Welp, if it doesn't this shall be an awkward reveal for them all. "It's a Soul Gem, I recognized it from my studies upon finding it. They're used as focus to animate golem with pieces of lifeforce, and some aren't that bothered by the moral issues around using people on occasion. Judging by how intelligent the doll seemed when I battled it, alongside its use of Mage Hand as well, odds are it used a human soul before I killed it."
Chrono frowns, face tightening as he stares at the dull crystal in the display. "Can it be reused?"
I shrug. "All I know is that it's a thing, and what it's commonly used for. Soul entrapment might be covered in my book later on, but I wouldn't have a clue where nor the details involved; stuff gets complex as you climb the Ranks. Thing's harmless without a soul in it, though, and even with provided it isn't stuck in some form of construct and given a set of commands."
With a gesture, Chrono vanishes the window and relaxes from his tensed expression. "Thank you, Mizuki, that's very helpful. I'll pass the knowledge along when we hand it over to the correct authorities later." He glances at Lindy. "Now that's done, guess all that's left is deciding what to do with you."
"...What to do with me?"
"That's right." Lindy smiles gently at me. "It's terrible that you're stranded far from home, Mizuki, and we're going to try and help you find your way back as soon as possible. That said, we're going to need as much information as possible about where you came from, to make it easier to find. The name of your people, and your planet if it has one. How long your records say you've existed, and how far back they go. Legends, before that. Any mysterious creatures or people yours might have encountered, either mythically or in the present day. That sort of thing…"
How could I possibly know?
"The—djinn, probably—"
The questions continued for a good, long time, as I did my best at answering and being helpful while not mentioning random Earth information at the same time. The fact that the 'random spouts of knowledge' kicked in for most of them helped immensely, although I question what good saying the planet name of Golarion shall do for them. They questioned me in-depth when I started mentioning Planes (such as the elemental ones, or those corresponding to what afterlife you ended up in) and how my teachers and powerful Mages were known to make pocket dimensions to live in, but eventually the queries slowed and stopped.
"Okay, think that's as good as we're going to get." Lindy stretches, shifting position in her seat. Jeanne had vanished a while ago, exiting somewhere else under pain of the munchies, and the remaining two changed spots so they weren't standing up for hours on end questioning me. "Anything else come to mind, Chrono?"
"Nothing we haven't already covered, captain." Chrono has a hologram floating in front of him, full of odd symbols as he records my words. "This will help with searching, no question of that, but it's going to take time. Longer than our patrol route, for certain. We'll need to forward the parameters to the Infinity Library."
Lindy sighs, turning to look at me. "Sorry Mizuki, seems getting you home will take a while. We'll find you a place to stay back home in Mid-Childa while you wait, people to look after you during your time with us, but I'm afraid you might not see your family again for some time."
She's looking at me with concern, as if expecting me to tear up or burst into tears. Not sure why, I've been pretty composed during all this discussion, and it isn't like I haven't been following along with where they've been going here. It'll be sad not seeing mum and dad for a while, not even letters like at the academy, but the chance to explore a high-magitech civilization seems like it balances out.
Not like I can do anything about it, either. Planeshift's so far up in the Ranks I don't even know what Rank it is. I'll have to make the best of my situation.
"Kinda figured that out upon waking in the wilderness a few days ago." I quip, forcing a small smile onto my face as I do. It doesn't seem to reassure her. "I'll be fine, miss Lindy, you'll get me home eventually. When will I be dropped off at Mid-Childa?"
"Anywhere from three days to a week." Chrono answers this time, closing up his notes as he does. "We found you on our patrol route when investigating some Lost Logia signals, but while you were asleep we detected some minor dimensional disturbances. It's unlikely to be related to your situation, honestly, so we're more checking this out as part of our jobs than anything else."
Dimensional signal investigation? Why does that sound familiar...Ah. Should I intervene? Mention something about the situation? What pros and cons do I have by giving up any foreknowledge relating to Nanoha seasons one and two, beyond the obvious 'cannot predict things due to interfering in them' which happens whenever one intervenes in general?
Well, there's saving Fate from her mum quicker to consider. Possibly keeping Alicia from dying in her comatose test tube as per canon as well, depending on how that base assault to capture Precia ends up turning out. I also know the rough locations of some Jewel Seeds, like the ones in the Pacific Ocean south of Japan and that hot springs amoeba. Or giant kitty cat.
I could also save Hayate from the Book of Darkness before it begins actively draining her, seeing as that only began six months after the resolution of Nanoha season one. If it's inactive still, maybe I can get the corrupt security program excised from the spellbook too, prevent Reinforce from dying or being frozen in an alternate dimension alongside her master. Unsure what to do about Graham, could think on it before taking action - like checking he exists.
Future-sight visions could help get me back home sooner, too. More attention and people searching, and all that. If not, I'll probably get a better place to stay than a random orphanage, as from the discussion thus far that seems like where I'm headed.
As for downsides, that'd be the questioning I'd be put under as to how I know this stuff in the first place. Which would be both annoying and awkward to wade through, especially the fact it's only valid for roughly a year; Bet Seer back home never had to deal with it.
There'd also be a bit of focus on my magic, perhaps people wanting to learn it, but this seems more of a mixed bonus and downside than a distinct disadvantage. Unless I'm targeted by someone for a skill or ability my magic grants the Nanoha-verse system doesn't? Don't know enough about their own to say, what with Summoning being a thing and all. Knowledge isn't 100% accurate to reality.
Finally, this is all operating under the assumption said disturbance is exactly what I think it is. If I'm wrong, and the combo of Chrono's age, Lindy being the Arthra's captain and them investigating a dimensional disturbance is set after or between seasons one or two...Well then. I'll have blown my knowledge for nothing, if so.
...Screw it.
"This disturbance, it wouldn't happen to be taking place on Unadministered Planet ninety-seven, would it? Known as Earth to the locals? As if so, I think I know some things which can help."
OverReactionGuy
Verified Sanity
Soon you shall have fluffy wings! And then you will be dotted over like a grandchild and then shipped relentlessly when your of age! Because Freya. Hehehehehe
Jail will adopt you! completely legally too! And you wouldn't even know he was a bad guy. xD
Jail will adopt you! completely legally too! And you wouldn't even know he was a bad guy. xD
InfiniteDaze
Too lazy to leave the house
- Location
- I wish I could stay
I swear whenever you get a Nanohaverse SI they always at least temporarily get wings.
Birdbrain.
It really wasn't when I first met you.
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
Like all humans, she's very good at lying to herself.
Mizuki is not so observant as to notice what's going on. I don't think she's noticed she's a female yet, either.
InfiniteDaze
Too lazy to leave the house
- Location
- I wish I could stay
... Welp. Mizuki's screwed. Fluffy Wing therapy for Fate, cosplay for Hayate, so cute she skips the friendship beams of doom with Nanoha. Saving the world with power of Cute, Moe, and Flaffing about... sounds like fun. Until she gets a building taking off half her body and gets up going "I'm fine!" and then it turns out she really is.
Mizuki for most adorable Eldritch Abomination 2016!
Mizuki for most adorable Eldritch Abomination 2016!
Mizu
Software Developer
- Location
- Victoria, Australia
This is my second Nanoha story ever. I'm not quite sure you have a valid argument, daze.
Cosplay for Hayate? Where did that come from?
She's a squishy wizard. Gonna take her a long while and a horcrux of sorts till she can shrug that off, methinks, if at all. Why's she Eldrich?Until she gets a building taking off half her body and gets up going "I'm fine!" and then it turns out she really is.
Mizuki for most adorable Eldritch Abomination 2016!
No idea if its canon, but popular fanon at least. She's likes seeing others in cosplay if you buy into it. If not, whatever. *Shrug*
Still, the things she/you can survive is rather... uhh... yeah. Which leads into the Eldritch comment basically being on how she's... kind of alien. Basically what would kill others you walk off with "Tis' but a flesh wound" and its horrifying in an alien way.
And then you go back to being perfectly nice and cute, so... *Shrug* Seems to fit to me. Not that I think many who are actually important will actually care. Lindy and Chrono are probably both used to alien biology on some level, Nanoha is getting dumped in the magical deep-end anyway so she might balk at it at first (and how much that must hurt for you) she'll probably roll with it fairly easily. Fate's not exactly stable or sane in the first place, so I'm not sure she'd care what you look like anyway. Hayate... kind of similar to Nanoha really, if in a shallower deep-end.
OverReactionGuy
Verified Sanity
It was popularized in a few comedy omakes of the manga. Don't think it's actually canon, but it could be safety treated as such.
Probably why it's popular in fanon.
-edit-
Same with the pairing of Subaru/Tea.
Doomreaver
Fluffy Tail Enthusiast
This incarnation of Freyja is adorable! Best goddess!
InfiniteDaze
Too lazy to leave the house
- Location
- I wish I could stay
- Three of a kind - Gets Decorative wings as per Unison Device fusion.
- This story - Literally becomes a Valkyrie and grows wings.
Mizu
Software Developer
- Location
- Victoria, Australia
There's a scene in ViVid where a character calls her up on the phone and she answers wearing a monkey mask. So it seems canon for the Vivid continuity, at least? Anything prior I suspect was from an fan-exaggerated trait due to her designing the Wolkenritter's armour when requested during A's - could also be from the Sound Stages, actually. Haven't read those, so can't say.
The scene during StrikerS where Subaru wakes up Tea via fondling her breasts probably didn't help dissuade such a pairing. Even if Tea reacted appropriately shocked and angry at the event.
Glad to hear it. She doesn't have much mention of her character from official sources, so I basically went with my gut when writing her scenes.
Darkgenerallord
Makes shitty respect threads
- Location
- California
She reminds me of Estelle from Neptunia, and Estelle is best girl. Good job, Mizu!
Chapter 4
Mizu
Software Developer
- Location
- Victoria, Australia
Chrono and Lindy, despite what the first would no doubt prefer, react roughly the same way when surprised. Widening eyes, slightly open mouth, the only difference Chrono had was the fact he tried to hide it a second or so later under a veneer of focused concentration.
"I, uh, Mizuki?" Lindy still beat him in response time. "How do you know that? Why do you know that? Why that and not where you came from?"
"Is it related to why you didn't seem surprised by the interface Jeanne and myself used?" Chrono joins in. "I noticed you almost seemed to recognize us when we came in too, but attributed it to grogginess from your operation making you confuse us for relatives or friends momentarily."
I lean back under their questions. Five seconds in and I'm already regretting my blunt charge forwards. And the fact I didn't think on how to handle this question barrage in more detail than 'wing it'.
"I'm not sure," I start, lying through my teeth in the same moment, "but it might be some form of prophetic vision. I never displayed such abilities before, so can't say why I've got this now, but when I met you guys I just...knew stuff about you. I didn't know the doctor, not sure about the person who rescued me, but you and Chrono featured quite prominently in my memories, Lindy." In a manner of speaking.
What followed was yet another period of playing question and answer, covering all I remembered of Nanoha both in the form of the individual and series as a whole. Yuuno's situation and stranded status was taken well enough, his decision to hand a Device off to a young child a bit more questionably, and revealing the situations both Fate and Hayate were in made Lindy start tearing up.
Although I doubt bringing up how her husband died to the Book of Darkness did any favours to her composure.
"-and that's all I know," I finish, feeling rather tired with all that talking I've been doing. "Kinda surprised you're taking it all on face value, though. I'm a random stranger you picked up off a heretofore uninhabited planet, the lack of suspicion or disbelief is rather weird."
Chrono types for a few more seconds, more notes in a file probably called 'Mystery Kid Mizuki', before looking up and answering. "Well, we do have precedent of such abilities before, so it isn't like your 'prophetic visions' are a complete unknown to our society. For example there's Carim Gracia, a member of the Saint Church on Midchilda, whose Rare Skill 'Prophetinschriften' gives visions of six months to several years the future, recorded as a poem in highly archaic Belkan."
"There's also the fact that the Bureau has records of Yuuno requesting transportation of Lost Logia from a dig-site back to Mid-Childa," Lindy starts, before her hands tighten from their position intertwined in her lap. "And I can personally vouch for accuracy regarding part of your claims about the Book. Coupled with the fact we're heading to 'Earth' exactly as you asked, and there's more reasons to believe you than not. Chances are good you've seen your own future."
Ah, yeah, that would have made sense. I approve. It's a better excuse than mine.
Nodding, I open my mouth to ask what next, only for it to devolve into a long yawn midway through the attempt. My eyes droop, proving resistant to the idea of going back up, and the various injuries and aching muscles dotting my form feel this is a fine time to twinge in complaint.
The world sways, going blurry, and moments later turns black.
0––––––––––––––0
"Yo! Welcome back."
I open my eyes to find myself staring up at the sky, a pale blue speckled with the occasional cloud in aesthetically pleasing shapes. Cat. Dog. Ewe. Hawk. Sword. House dying from impalement by sword.
Sitting up, I find that the rest of the world is distinctly less exotic than the clouds above, in that it's a normal riverbank with a burbling stream flowing through mountain valley. Nothing amiss in sight, bar the goddess clutching a rod loosely in one hand, leaning against the bank waiting for fish to bite; she's clad in a loose white sundress and straw hat.
Um.
"Glad to be...back?" I murmur cautiously, still eying Freya in disbelief. Does her rod even have bait? It's a chunk of thin wood with string attached, but nothing's bobbing in the river. "What are you doing?"
"Fishing, duh. What else?"
I look towards the river, calmly trickling as it flows along the mountain channel. Nothing catches my eye, the water empty of all but rocks, until with a shiver and tug the rod almost flies free of Freya's hands.
"Aha, got one! Quick, quick, help me pull!" Freya yells, tugging frantically as the rod jerks and bobs. She leans back, reeling in the line a step backwards at a time, before a particularly violent tug sends her stumbling forward and almost toppling. I quickly step in behind her and pull as hard as I can.
It isn't hard enough, and shortly afterwards we find ourselves sitting drenched on the riverbed as a silvery fishtail flicks out of sight in the distance.
"It got away."
Freya shrugs, unconcerned, and splashes her way to her feet. "It's fine, it's fine, plenty of fish in the sea. Let's move over to the sand and dry off."
She splashes back to shore with a few wavy steps, kicking off her sandals as she does, and flops down on a towel laid out underneath an umbrella. A few moments later a towel is chucked at my head, white fluffiness obscuring sight, and I stumble about trying to avoid a second dunking while fighting free of the cotton confines.
Rubbing my salty hair softly I plunk down next to her, leaning back against the towel with a stretch, wriggling my sandy toes gently in relaxation. The sun feels nice - just warm enough to be comfortable without starting to resemble a frying pan.
"This is nice." And so I state it.
"Yup." And the goddess agrees.
Quiet reigns for a while, interrupted by the occasional seagull swooping overhead and waves lapping against the shore, before Freya yawns. "Crap, starting to fall asleep - quick, tell me something interesting. What's your family like, Mizuki? Any funny stories and escapades?"
Stories...?
"Uh, well, my family's nice and caring. They love me." I start, Freya waving a hand lazily in a gesture of 'Yes, yes, get on with it'. "As far as stories go, I guess there'd be the time we-" Got a pet? Mum had an accident? First discovered my magic via setting the house aflame? My lips part, ready to continue where I left off, only to get an emergency update from the brain that 'everything's blank, skipper!' as they do.
I...did I ever have any family pets? How did we find out about my magic, anyway? Did my siblings ever get into trouble over something, have a series of unlucky events happen they look back on with chuckles and laughs? Mum and dad stay together happily, or divorce repeatedly due to marriage just not working out between them?
My mind buzzes, scraps of memory dancing at metaphorical fingertips, barely held for a keyword before fluttering out of reach. Mum's hair, was it brown or blonde? Was dad overweight and fond of fancy things, or sinewy and muscular as he prowled across the forest floor silently, without a trace? Were my siblings rambunctious little annoyances rarely seen since I departed to the Academy, or constant companions and bickering brethren as I grew up throughout my childhood?
"Mizuki?" Freya lifts her head up when I'm silent for a few moments, trying to remember, to recall anything from my life, and lets free a gasp while scrabbling to her knees. "Crap, Mizuki, what is it? Why're you crying?"
...Crying?
I touch my face and feel tears bead around my fingers, slipping down heretofore-unnoticed to pool in the hollow of my neck. My hands shake, trembling, and I turn a blurry gaze onto Freya moments later.
"I can't remember." The words whisper free of my throat, fighting past tears and shudders. "I can't remember anything! What my house looks like, funny stories from growing up, pets I raised, birthday gifts, school, friends, favourite foods, what my parents look like! I can't remember any of it!"
0––––––––––––––0
"I won't ask if you're okay, but do you feel better now?"
I give a jerky nod, and almost faceplant in the absurdly over-elaborate sugary confection I've been given, but Freyja catches me before I get too close. I'm sitting on her lap. We're in a cafe, surrounded by people. It feels nice, even if I still feel hollow, and almost familiar. I can't remember doing it, but the warmth against my back doesn't feel unusual.
Even if it probably isn't usually a goddess doing it. This is twice in two days, though. I never imagined Freyja would be so, so… nice.
I sigh, staring glumly at the table. At least I'm not crying anymore. I don't want her only impression of me to be that I'm a crybaby.
"I'll be fine," I mutter.
After all, it's only my memories. And if my next bite of the odd-looking, chilly confection is a bit forceful — cinnamon-chocolate ice-cream, something tells me — then at least it suffices to vanquish the painful lump in my throat.
Freyja gently massages my shoulders. She's making it hard to feel as bad as I think I probably should.
"If you feel up to it, I have some news," she says, and I look up. The unsure expression on my face probably doesn't look like I'm up to anything, but she continues anyway. "First off… I can put one worry to rest. You're definitely thirteen; your soul, that is. That's the correct set of memories."
My thoughts screech to a halt.
That can't be right. It can't be. I'm older than thirteen, I've got memories insisting it, even if the specifics of exactly how much continue to elude my grasp. Yet at the same time her words ring true, instinctively accepted as a fact of the universe, as constant as the sun rising every morning or gravity sending things down when they go up.
A groan leaves my mouth, my head throbbing with a headache, and I wish the world went back to making sense when it came to me in particular. "Are you sure? Like, really, really sure? You're not mistaken or anything?"
"Dear, I'm a goddess." Freya's voice is light and lilting, amused at the very idea. "Being able to look into one's soul and read the details hewn there is kinda~ a job requirement. When I say you're thirteen, you're thirteen, no ifs, buts or doubts about it."
"What was the second thing?" I burst out, taking another huge bite of the sweet in an attempt to bully past my mental contradiction. The headache worsens. "You said there was a couple of things, right? What's the rest of the news?"
She frowns, looking at me worriedly, as I repeatedly bite into the sugar concoction with huge gulps. My teeth are freezing, cold enveloping my brain, but it's numbing my thoughts so all's fine. "Ah...well, I was going to say that I'd be able to track down where you came from, exactly, if you remembered the name of the magic academy you attended; they're not exactly dotted all over the countryside, after all."
She doesn't know? Why wouldn't she? The place was infamous after that stunt Lily and her friends pulled with us first years, and-
"I remember!" I cry out, the sound coming out more as 'I 'mber!' from having a mouth full of frozen sweetness. Swallowing, I try again. "Something from my past! We were all practicing Dancing Lights in the academy grounds one winter's night, the only light what we made as a self-made test so we all improved and mastered the spell, and we got attacked by a demon!"
"A demon?"
"A demon! It had red glowing eyes, towered twenty feet into the air and must've been boiling to the touch, so much heat being given off when he was ten paces away. Like the worst summer day, but times ten! He enshrouded us in shadow at first, a big clump of darkness sweeping over our group and dimming light balls to just barely visible yellowish glows, and then roared in a horrible voice so loud our ears were left ringing."
I start gesturing as I get into the tale, curling my hands into claws and baring my teeth as I lean forward in mimicry. "And then, and then, the darkness blew back and vanished from the shock of his scream, and we finally got a good look at him. Everyone screamed, clumping together in fear, and it pointed one clawed finger at Jessie's face and shot a crimson beam at her! Then George, Albert, Micaela and Kim suffered the same fate, slumping to the ground bonelessly! As we struggled to lift them back up, still shaking in our boots, his hand reached out and snatched me into the air!"
I flinch, recoiling even from the memory, and Freya cracks a wry grin. "Ooh, this is getting good! What comes next, how did you escape?"
"I wriggled and struggled in its grip, but nothing I did managed to even loosen the hold it had on me. Demonic jaws slowly opened as it held me directly above its head, fiery tongues of flame licking out at me from its gullet, and the last thing I remember is screaming as I'm dropped into the maw. Next thing I know it's morning, we're all waking up in our beds, and a few older wizards are on punishment duty 'till further notice'." I throw my hands out wide, an abashed grin on my face. "We got pranked."
Freya blinks, taking it in, before bursting into a gale of laughter from my tale. I chuckle alongside her, the event long past now looked upon with amusement – the way they'd combined those spells alone was awesome! – before sighing and leaning back down against her lap. The sugary treat drips slowly onto the sand, rolling free of my fingers, and I close my eyes.
"Do ya think you can find my family now?" I whisper gently, a wave of tiredness sweeping over me as I do. Freya rubs small circles on my back, her hand a comforting warm spot as cold depression encroaches once more. "Figure out what's wrong, why I can't remember anything?"
"Mizuki, I–" The rest of her answer is cut off, as I fall into slumber.
0––––––––––––––0
I wake in a strange room, lying in a strange bed, someone having removed my clothes between falling asleep and now. My injuries twinge as I sit up and look around. There are bandages wrapped around my waist and stomach, but they don't hurt as much now. I'm still really sore.
The room's pretty small and compact, its white walls and cupboards reminding me of some fancy cruise ship cabin in style if not size. There's a bedside table with a glass of water on it I quickly appropriate, drinking to quench my parched throat while I inspect the rest of the room.
Door on one side, white with no handle; there's a small black square next to it instead. Chest-of-drawers in the corner, white again, with a small mirror reflecting my inquisitive gaze in its surface. The other corner has a table tucked into it, chair pushed in besides, with some clothes folded neatly atop its surface; I can see undies lying atop it, and something about it seems...off.
Crawling out of bed and standing up I wobble, blood rushing through my head at the act, before clutching the wall and using it as support while I slowly move over to the weird clothing pile. It seems to be a uniform, I realize as I approach, kinda like what that girl who rescued me was wearing – spare clothes mustn't be a thing they keep around for unexpected passengers.
I reach the pile and start sorting through it, trying to find out what's off. One jacket, royal blue with some sort of tie folded atop it, with a skirt of the same. One belt, brown with a golden clasp, two white socks, one pair of panties, one bra-
My hand pauses, hovering over the undies, and I blink. These are girl clothes. Why would they give me girl clothes?
...Oh.
I look at myself in the mirror. If I ignore the part of me that's saying, "That's just you"...
I look at the girl in the mirror. She's a hollow-eyed, bruised twig of a child, barely able to stand up and overall looks like she's seen better days, but...
My mind blanks, to be replaced with butterflies rushing up from my stomach. The thing is, this doesn't feel as surprising as it ought to have been. I think part of me already knew.
"I, uh, Mizuki?" Lindy still beat him in response time. "How do you know that? Why do you know that? Why that and not where you came from?"
"Is it related to why you didn't seem surprised by the interface Jeanne and myself used?" Chrono joins in. "I noticed you almost seemed to recognize us when we came in too, but attributed it to grogginess from your operation making you confuse us for relatives or friends momentarily."
I lean back under their questions. Five seconds in and I'm already regretting my blunt charge forwards. And the fact I didn't think on how to handle this question barrage in more detail than 'wing it'.
"I'm not sure," I start, lying through my teeth in the same moment, "but it might be some form of prophetic vision. I never displayed such abilities before, so can't say why I've got this now, but when I met you guys I just...knew stuff about you. I didn't know the doctor, not sure about the person who rescued me, but you and Chrono featured quite prominently in my memories, Lindy." In a manner of speaking.
What followed was yet another period of playing question and answer, covering all I remembered of Nanoha both in the form of the individual and series as a whole. Yuuno's situation and stranded status was taken well enough, his decision to hand a Device off to a young child a bit more questionably, and revealing the situations both Fate and Hayate were in made Lindy start tearing up.
Although I doubt bringing up how her husband died to the Book of Darkness did any favours to her composure.
"-and that's all I know," I finish, feeling rather tired with all that talking I've been doing. "Kinda surprised you're taking it all on face value, though. I'm a random stranger you picked up off a heretofore uninhabited planet, the lack of suspicion or disbelief is rather weird."
Chrono types for a few more seconds, more notes in a file probably called 'Mystery Kid Mizuki', before looking up and answering. "Well, we do have precedent of such abilities before, so it isn't like your 'prophetic visions' are a complete unknown to our society. For example there's Carim Gracia, a member of the Saint Church on Midchilda, whose Rare Skill 'Prophetinschriften' gives visions of six months to several years the future, recorded as a poem in highly archaic Belkan."
"There's also the fact that the Bureau has records of Yuuno requesting transportation of Lost Logia from a dig-site back to Mid-Childa," Lindy starts, before her hands tighten from their position intertwined in her lap. "And I can personally vouch for accuracy regarding part of your claims about the Book. Coupled with the fact we're heading to 'Earth' exactly as you asked, and there's more reasons to believe you than not. Chances are good you've seen your own future."
Ah, yeah, that would have made sense. I approve. It's a better excuse than mine.
Nodding, I open my mouth to ask what next, only for it to devolve into a long yawn midway through the attempt. My eyes droop, proving resistant to the idea of going back up, and the various injuries and aching muscles dotting my form feel this is a fine time to twinge in complaint.
The world sways, going blurry, and moments later turns black.
0––––––––––––––0
"Yo! Welcome back."
I open my eyes to find myself staring up at the sky, a pale blue speckled with the occasional cloud in aesthetically pleasing shapes. Cat. Dog. Ewe. Hawk. Sword. House dying from impalement by sword.
Sitting up, I find that the rest of the world is distinctly less exotic than the clouds above, in that it's a normal riverbank with a burbling stream flowing through mountain valley. Nothing amiss in sight, bar the goddess clutching a rod loosely in one hand, leaning against the bank waiting for fish to bite; she's clad in a loose white sundress and straw hat.
Um.
"Glad to be...back?" I murmur cautiously, still eying Freya in disbelief. Does her rod even have bait? It's a chunk of thin wood with string attached, but nothing's bobbing in the river. "What are you doing?"
"Fishing, duh. What else?"
I look towards the river, calmly trickling as it flows along the mountain channel. Nothing catches my eye, the water empty of all but rocks, until with a shiver and tug the rod almost flies free of Freya's hands.
"Aha, got one! Quick, quick, help me pull!" Freya yells, tugging frantically as the rod jerks and bobs. She leans back, reeling in the line a step backwards at a time, before a particularly violent tug sends her stumbling forward and almost toppling. I quickly step in behind her and pull as hard as I can.
It isn't hard enough, and shortly afterwards we find ourselves sitting drenched on the riverbed as a silvery fishtail flicks out of sight in the distance.
"It got away."
Freya shrugs, unconcerned, and splashes her way to her feet. "It's fine, it's fine, plenty of fish in the sea. Let's move over to the sand and dry off."
She splashes back to shore with a few wavy steps, kicking off her sandals as she does, and flops down on a towel laid out underneath an umbrella. A few moments later a towel is chucked at my head, white fluffiness obscuring sight, and I stumble about trying to avoid a second dunking while fighting free of the cotton confines.
Rubbing my salty hair softly I plunk down next to her, leaning back against the towel with a stretch, wriggling my sandy toes gently in relaxation. The sun feels nice - just warm enough to be comfortable without starting to resemble a frying pan.
"This is nice." And so I state it.
"Yup." And the goddess agrees.
Quiet reigns for a while, interrupted by the occasional seagull swooping overhead and waves lapping against the shore, before Freya yawns. "Crap, starting to fall asleep - quick, tell me something interesting. What's your family like, Mizuki? Any funny stories and escapades?"
Stories...?
"Uh, well, my family's nice and caring. They love me." I start, Freya waving a hand lazily in a gesture of 'Yes, yes, get on with it'. "As far as stories go, I guess there'd be the time we-" Got a pet? Mum had an accident? First discovered my magic via setting the house aflame? My lips part, ready to continue where I left off, only to get an emergency update from the brain that 'everything's blank, skipper!' as they do.
I...did I ever have any family pets? How did we find out about my magic, anyway? Did my siblings ever get into trouble over something, have a series of unlucky events happen they look back on with chuckles and laughs? Mum and dad stay together happily, or divorce repeatedly due to marriage just not working out between them?
My mind buzzes, scraps of memory dancing at metaphorical fingertips, barely held for a keyword before fluttering out of reach. Mum's hair, was it brown or blonde? Was dad overweight and fond of fancy things, or sinewy and muscular as he prowled across the forest floor silently, without a trace? Were my siblings rambunctious little annoyances rarely seen since I departed to the Academy, or constant companions and bickering brethren as I grew up throughout my childhood?
"Mizuki?" Freya lifts her head up when I'm silent for a few moments, trying to remember, to recall anything from my life, and lets free a gasp while scrabbling to her knees. "Crap, Mizuki, what is it? Why're you crying?"
...Crying?
I touch my face and feel tears bead around my fingers, slipping down heretofore-unnoticed to pool in the hollow of my neck. My hands shake, trembling, and I turn a blurry gaze onto Freya moments later.
"I can't remember." The words whisper free of my throat, fighting past tears and shudders. "I can't remember anything! What my house looks like, funny stories from growing up, pets I raised, birthday gifts, school, friends, favourite foods, what my parents look like! I can't remember any of it!"
0––––––––––––––0
"I won't ask if you're okay, but do you feel better now?"
I give a jerky nod, and almost faceplant in the absurdly over-elaborate sugary confection I've been given, but Freyja catches me before I get too close. I'm sitting on her lap. We're in a cafe, surrounded by people. It feels nice, even if I still feel hollow, and almost familiar. I can't remember doing it, but the warmth against my back doesn't feel unusual.
Even if it probably isn't usually a goddess doing it. This is twice in two days, though. I never imagined Freyja would be so, so… nice.
I sigh, staring glumly at the table. At least I'm not crying anymore. I don't want her only impression of me to be that I'm a crybaby.
"I'll be fine," I mutter.
After all, it's only my memories. And if my next bite of the odd-looking, chilly confection is a bit forceful — cinnamon-chocolate ice-cream, something tells me — then at least it suffices to vanquish the painful lump in my throat.
Freyja gently massages my shoulders. She's making it hard to feel as bad as I think I probably should.
"If you feel up to it, I have some news," she says, and I look up. The unsure expression on my face probably doesn't look like I'm up to anything, but she continues anyway. "First off… I can put one worry to rest. You're definitely thirteen; your soul, that is. That's the correct set of memories."
My thoughts screech to a halt.
That can't be right. It can't be. I'm older than thirteen, I've got memories insisting it, even if the specifics of exactly how much continue to elude my grasp. Yet at the same time her words ring true, instinctively accepted as a fact of the universe, as constant as the sun rising every morning or gravity sending things down when they go up.
A groan leaves my mouth, my head throbbing with a headache, and I wish the world went back to making sense when it came to me in particular. "Are you sure? Like, really, really sure? You're not mistaken or anything?"
"Dear, I'm a goddess." Freya's voice is light and lilting, amused at the very idea. "Being able to look into one's soul and read the details hewn there is kinda~ a job requirement. When I say you're thirteen, you're thirteen, no ifs, buts or doubts about it."
"What was the second thing?" I burst out, taking another huge bite of the sweet in an attempt to bully past my mental contradiction. The headache worsens. "You said there was a couple of things, right? What's the rest of the news?"
She frowns, looking at me worriedly, as I repeatedly bite into the sugar concoction with huge gulps. My teeth are freezing, cold enveloping my brain, but it's numbing my thoughts so all's fine. "Ah...well, I was going to say that I'd be able to track down where you came from, exactly, if you remembered the name of the magic academy you attended; they're not exactly dotted all over the countryside, after all."
She doesn't know? Why wouldn't she? The place was infamous after that stunt Lily and her friends pulled with us first years, and-
"I remember!" I cry out, the sound coming out more as 'I 'mber!' from having a mouth full of frozen sweetness. Swallowing, I try again. "Something from my past! We were all practicing Dancing Lights in the academy grounds one winter's night, the only light what we made as a self-made test so we all improved and mastered the spell, and we got attacked by a demon!"
"A demon?"
"A demon! It had red glowing eyes, towered twenty feet into the air and must've been boiling to the touch, so much heat being given off when he was ten paces away. Like the worst summer day, but times ten! He enshrouded us in shadow at first, a big clump of darkness sweeping over our group and dimming light balls to just barely visible yellowish glows, and then roared in a horrible voice so loud our ears were left ringing."
I start gesturing as I get into the tale, curling my hands into claws and baring my teeth as I lean forward in mimicry. "And then, and then, the darkness blew back and vanished from the shock of his scream, and we finally got a good look at him. Everyone screamed, clumping together in fear, and it pointed one clawed finger at Jessie's face and shot a crimson beam at her! Then George, Albert, Micaela and Kim suffered the same fate, slumping to the ground bonelessly! As we struggled to lift them back up, still shaking in our boots, his hand reached out and snatched me into the air!"
I flinch, recoiling even from the memory, and Freya cracks a wry grin. "Ooh, this is getting good! What comes next, how did you escape?"
"I wriggled and struggled in its grip, but nothing I did managed to even loosen the hold it had on me. Demonic jaws slowly opened as it held me directly above its head, fiery tongues of flame licking out at me from its gullet, and the last thing I remember is screaming as I'm dropped into the maw. Next thing I know it's morning, we're all waking up in our beds, and a few older wizards are on punishment duty 'till further notice'." I throw my hands out wide, an abashed grin on my face. "We got pranked."
Freya blinks, taking it in, before bursting into a gale of laughter from my tale. I chuckle alongside her, the event long past now looked upon with amusement – the way they'd combined those spells alone was awesome! – before sighing and leaning back down against her lap. The sugary treat drips slowly onto the sand, rolling free of my fingers, and I close my eyes.
"Do ya think you can find my family now?" I whisper gently, a wave of tiredness sweeping over me as I do. Freya rubs small circles on my back, her hand a comforting warm spot as cold depression encroaches once more. "Figure out what's wrong, why I can't remember anything?"
"Mizuki, I–" The rest of her answer is cut off, as I fall into slumber.
0––––––––––––––0
I wake in a strange room, lying in a strange bed, someone having removed my clothes between falling asleep and now. My injuries twinge as I sit up and look around. There are bandages wrapped around my waist and stomach, but they don't hurt as much now. I'm still really sore.
The room's pretty small and compact, its white walls and cupboards reminding me of some fancy cruise ship cabin in style if not size. There's a bedside table with a glass of water on it I quickly appropriate, drinking to quench my parched throat while I inspect the rest of the room.
Door on one side, white with no handle; there's a small black square next to it instead. Chest-of-drawers in the corner, white again, with a small mirror reflecting my inquisitive gaze in its surface. The other corner has a table tucked into it, chair pushed in besides, with some clothes folded neatly atop its surface; I can see undies lying atop it, and something about it seems...off.
Crawling out of bed and standing up I wobble, blood rushing through my head at the act, before clutching the wall and using it as support while I slowly move over to the weird clothing pile. It seems to be a uniform, I realize as I approach, kinda like what that girl who rescued me was wearing – spare clothes mustn't be a thing they keep around for unexpected passengers.
I reach the pile and start sorting through it, trying to find out what's off. One jacket, royal blue with some sort of tie folded atop it, with a skirt of the same. One belt, brown with a golden clasp, two white socks, one pair of panties, one bra-
My hand pauses, hovering over the undies, and I blink. These are girl clothes. Why would they give me girl clothes?
...Oh.
I look at myself in the mirror. If I ignore the part of me that's saying, "That's just you"...
I look at the girl in the mirror. She's a hollow-eyed, bruised twig of a child, barely able to stand up and overall looks like she's seen better days, but...
My mind blanks, to be replaced with butterflies rushing up from my stomach. The thing is, this doesn't feel as surprising as it ought to have been. I think part of me already knew.
Heh. I was thinking about this the other day. Glad to see it got updated.
So, its... how much of this character is real? I mean, Mizuki SI, but no memories save for those associated with Nanoha(?) and then a possibly fabricated, possibly stolen life of a magician/wizard/whatever? She seems... *Wobbles hand vaguely* I don't know.
So, its... how much of this character is real? I mean, Mizuki SI, but no memories save for those associated with Nanoha(?) and then a possibly fabricated, possibly stolen life of a magician/wizard/whatever? She seems... *Wobbles hand vaguely* I don't know.
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
That's for us to know, and you to speculate about.
It's a good question! In all honesty? There's a lot of hints in here. How much do you trust Freyja?
OverReactionGuy
Verified Sanity
Can't wait to see how many things just got butterflied away from telling them about the future. Or it sadly ends up like the I can see the future people in DBZ abridge and Bardock. With things that were saw coming happening anyway.
As far as I could throw her.
(Paranoid cat noises)
As far as I could throw her.
(Paranoid cat noises)
So far? Quite a bit. Gods always have an agenda, so... Eh on that. She's hiding stuff and/or has stuff she's reluctant to share with Mizuki. She seems to genuinely care to some degree at least, which is more than I can say for a lot of other gods. Even if its only "seems to" in the end... *Shrug*That's for us to know, and you to speculate about.
It's a good question! In all honesty? There's a lot of hints in here. How much do you trust Freyja?
If she does end up betraying Mizu at some point, well... Hopefully (s)he'll have others who care by then.
I can't see any reason for Vivid to not be canon for this story. Just with minor modifications - Belka was supposed to be way more advanced than Mid Childa, which is in turn already using (magic) future tech. So, those past scenes with Ye Olde Knight armies doesn't really mesh with the probable reality; doubly so since Belka apparently used a lot of kinetic weapons, so you can't even excuse the Knights for being magic. It's my head canon that those scenes are just visualizations by Vivio, characterized by the stuff happening hundreds of years ago - it probably doesn't occur to her that she's living in her civilization's dark ages right now, so of course the past must be lower tech - plus her knowledge of Belkan nomenclature since they actually included "knights" and other related titles.
For Force... well, the story execution was bad, and the plot felt a little gimmicky. I mean, the antagonists have to kill people to survive? Really? I liked the new main characters, but they couldn't cover for the other stuff. But that aside, I liked the more general, non-character-specific plot.
There's no reason you couldn't include elements from Force and just ignore the actual events. The anti-magic stuff, however that worked, would be a pretty cool problem if handled correctly and not automatically given the villain ball. No forced murderers, but maybe no super regen either. I also loved the magic to kinetic converters, assuming you used them like kinetic weapons and not like yet another magic device. I mean, I love Nanoha magic, but a kinetic weapon that works like magic defeats the point of kinetics.
The sound stages. It's very canon.
Be fair. The Nanoha mages might not be able to take those kinds of injuries, barring the Wolkenritter because they're magical constructs, but they can take excessive amounts of damage to the face without actually sustaining any injuries. Nanoha tanked a building to the back without becoming a pretty red splatter, and also a hammer to the face that caused the aforementioned building tanking. This was in A's, when she was nine years old. Later, in the sound stages, Subaru took an antitank shell to the face without even slowing down.... Welp. Mizuki's screwed. Fluffy Wing therapy for Fate, cosplay for Hayate, so cute she skips the friendship beams of doom with Nanoha. Saving the world with power of Cute, Moe, and Flaffing about... sounds like fun. Until she gets a building taking off half her body and gets up going "I'm fine!" and then it turns out she really is.
Mizuki for most adorable Eldritch Abomination 2016!
also low orbit feats, during the Saint Cradle event. Different kind of protection, but no less impressive.
Maybe they couldn't survive being cut in half or other technically survivable things from Pathfinder, but they far surpass even that durability in pure damage reduction. Barrier Jackets OP.