Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha Fan Fiction ❯ Movements ❯ 05 - Pawn at the End ( Chapter 5 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Words contain power.

Magical words contain magical power.

In a library that contains million of magical books, each one filled with pages after pages of magical words, it is inevitable that eventually, space gets distorted. Your magical libraries tend to be named 'Infinite' or something like that because they are. There is no constrain in space due to the distortion in time-space continuum. Every single magical library gets linked to each other, through time, space and dimension. All the books in the world -some not even written yet, some never will be written, others still merely an idea in the authors mind- all of them could be found in the library; IF you know where to look.

And that's how I came here.Through L-space.

The concept of L-space, translated from 'Ook, ook, ook.'

All he could remember about his father was that he had blond hair.

That was where he got his own blond hair from. Other than that, he never left anything else for Gabriel. Not even a stitch of memory. His mother would occasionally talk about his father in fond terms, calling him the best husband in the world or some other goosebump-inducing terms. However he never did a very good job in being a husband or a father. Soon after Gabriel was brought into the world, he died.

As far as Gabriel remembered, it was just him and his mother. His mother who taught him the A, B and Cs. His mother who punished him for stealing the lollipop from the store. His mother who worked day in, day out to support both of them. His mother who received the letter that informed him of his latent magical abilities and admission into Merdiana..

His mother who ended up suffering from illness. First it was a couple of days in the hospital. Then it became weeks. Months. The doctors tried to explain everything to him in simple terms, hiding the terrible truth from him. When it became too obvious, his mother brought him aside to tell him the truth directly.

That she will die in a year.

Of course, when the year past and nothing happened except for the pain, the doctors predicted another year. Mother was transferred to the hospice where she would live there, receiving the best treatment the hospital could provide. It was where people go to live the rest of their life in peace. Occasionally the patients would be allowed to return home for a couple of weeks to spend some time with their family. If the doctor had encouraged the patient to return home despite the evidence otherwise, it was signal that the end was near and they should spend as much time they have left with their closed ones.

Gabriel was never one to wait. He had after all, actually attempted to leap through the window to escape getting grounded. He is a wizard, or at least a wizard-in-training. If medicine cannot cure, magic will. If magic did not work either, he will find something that will. So he searched the library. When that did not yield any results, he searched deeper.

Until one day, when Professor Dante caught him reading in the forbidden section.

“How can I help you?” she had said.

“I want to save my mother,” he had replied directly without fear.

The elderly professor laughed with a glint in her eyes. Then she told him about the Philosopher's Stone. Showed him the book described what the stone can do. Explained that she knew how to make one and that she needed the 'ingredients'.

“These are not your usual iron ore, mercury or sulphur, my young, talented student. I need pure magic; there are not many things in the world that had pure magic in them.”

“I will do it,” he volunteered without a thought, “Then you will save my mother.”

After which, the professor brought him back into her office and consulted that three-dimensional map of the city. She scribbled the address onto it and then gave it to him along with instructions. Look out for whatever looked important or jewelry like, she said. Those were magical artifacts that would provide the components of the alchemic reaction. He would be going after magical forces he did not know of. There would be times when he would have to fight for the artifacts. For that, she would give him extra tuitions to teach him everything he needed to know about magic so that he could fight back. If there was a fight, the thing to go after would be the weapons of the mages.

The first fight was easy enough. The mage never knew what hit him.

Now when he was so close to creating the stone...

“Divine Buster!”

Gabriel swung just in time to avoid the pink beam of energy from the enemy mage. Another girl, this time an Asian. She looked the same age as his hostage, Fate as she called herself ironically. Probably this time he was facing this 'Nanoha'.

The auburn-haired girl in the white, frilly costume pointed her staff towards him again. Several balls of magic hovered around her in preparation of another wave of attack. Her face was cold and hard as she asked the same question she had repeated again and again.

“Where is Fate?”

“Beats me!” Gabriel shouted back while he prepared his own spells. They just get tougher and tougher as he approached his goal. These Bureau mages were getting desperate with one of their own missing. With their desperation, the battle had also taken on a whole new frenzy. Perhaps he should use this against them.

“Liar!” came the retort, loud, fierce and angry. The magical orbs behind her vibrated briefly, then with the command, “Accel Shooter!”, they went directly after Gabriel.

Damn! Gabriel was forced to fly away in top speed, dodging the speeding balls of magic trailing him. They just keep coming... Looked like it would not be a good idea to inform about their Fate in his hands. They were mad enough.

He let his staff drop slightly to avoid an incoming attack, making his turn gradually to return to where the Bureau mage was. The girl glared at him, threads of magical symbol forming around the head of her staff, the ball of magical energy growing at the tip ready for fire.

It looked powerful. He had no desire to find out if her attacks could go stronger than that “Divine Buster”. Once was more than enough. Gabriel directed the staff to swerve sharply to avoid another attack while he turned back, aiming his wand towards the girl.

The girl sped forward with those tiny wings on her shoes with the staff leveled at him. He was starting to regret not trying to reason first. It was probably too late by now. From her speed and the look of the gathering magic at her staff, if the magic did not kill him, that pointy head of the staff will. The girl drew her holding hand back -wait for it, the timing must be exact. If it failed, he would die and their only hope would be- and trusted it forward. Gabriel could hear the mechanical voice from the staff rang out, “Divine-

Now. “Sagita Magica Una Fulguralis!”

A single streak of lightning shot from his wand towards his target, the very tip of the enemy's staff. It hit, producing a blast of static, just enough to force the staff upwards. The blast of magic was directed upwards instead, producing a beacon of pink light into the night sky. A small success that only resulted in making the mage even more determined to take him down.

That was when he was hit at the side by a ball of magic. Not careful enough. He had not taken care of all the stray balls of magic that he had dodged previously. It felt been punched by a heavy-weight boxer many times over. Losing his grip on the staff, Gabriel catapulted forward and downwards.

The good thing about fighting in midair was that, if he fell, there was no ground below. The bad thing was that if he fell, there was no ground below.

Wand out. Calling for the return of his staff. Another ball of magic coming towards him from below. Too late. At least, the hit propelled him upwards, buying him some more time away from the ground that will definitely kill him. The girl sped forward to land him another midair blow.

“Where is Fate?”

“Killing me won't help you,” Gabriel rejoined, concentrating on the returning staff. In times like this, the stupid staff just seemed to take its time. The girl brought the end of her staff to his stomach, sending him flying away like a rag doll. Then before he knew it, she flew behind him, ready for another blow.

“Where is Fate?”

“Everywhere,” he shouted as his staff came within reach. He reached out his hand and grabbed the hovering wooden staff, just in time to suffer another blow. This time, there was his staff to prevent him from dropping out of control.

Damn! Too tough! Fueled by anger and anxiety, the girl was a loose cannon. He had to lose her before he break any more bones. Healing spells tended not to work very well on bones and broken bones made even holding the staff hurt like mad. Scrolling his mind for the useful spell to use against her, he dodged another attack, trying to maintain his grip while swinging wildly on the speeding staff.

The staff turned again to face the incoming enemy. Gabriel could see the girl readying her magical staff for another attack; magical symbols were glowing faintly as a thread around the tip while the magical force grew. As he approached, he smirked faintly as a spell came to mind. It had better work.

The girl brought her staff up as long, slender wings puffed themselves from the head of the staff. Multiple magical circles materialized before her, locking on on Gabriel as the target. He had to do it fast.

Gabriel urged the staff forward, closer to the girl while he recalled the spell he had in mind. Close enough for him to hear the countdown of the blast.

“Last chance. Where is Fate?”

No time to answer. The moment he closed in, he turned sharply, reaching the unprotected side of the girl. With a flick of his wand, he called upon the winds.

"Flet une vente, Flans saltatio Pulverea!"

The girl raised her free hand throwing out a protective shield before her. It would have worked for his magical arrows. However, it could not do much against the strong blast of wind that swept her balance away, shield and all.

Chance! Gabriel swung himself back onto his staff and accelerated ahead. The force of the push had broke the girl's concentration and spell for just enough time for him to do his tricks. With a quick jingle, he loosened the bracelet Professor Dante had given him from his wrist. The pendent on it was a symbol that would allow him to manipulate the surrounding air through alchemic reactions.

The girl had finally stabilized herself, preparing another spell. Gabriel lunged to her side, bringing his wand before her. Her eyes widened in surprise.

“Practe Bigi Nar Ardescat!”

It was one of their most elementary spells. A single, small spark of flames appeared just at the tip of his wand. He then concentrated on the pendent. The symbol glowed faintly while he altered the chemical contents of the surrounding air, exponentially concentrating all the oxygen and hydrogen around the little ball of fire.

The fire flared, then exploded, the back draft knocking the girl off the air with a scream. She would survive without permanent damage, but her grip on her staff should have weakened just enough for him... Gabriel then sped ahead, raising a hand, not to help but to snatch her magical artifact, his hope for the stone away from her hands. He got closer, closer...

He did not noticed the blur of dark blue coming towards him as something rammed into him from above and pushed him away from the falling girl. Holding on to his staff tightly, he swung out of control across the air until the closest wall stopped his spinning descend. As Gabriel grimaced in pain and the newly acquired sore back, he watched the dark-haired boy in officer black uniform hovered coolly in midair over him. Behind him, the girl had regained control over her fall and was approaching with care, her staff aimed directly at him. The boy seemed to be communicating with the girl mentally as she halted, keeping her distance though maintaining her aim and readiness. The boy brought his attention back to Gabriel before speaking in cold, official, somewhat accented English.

“You are under the arrest of the Time-Space Administration Bureau for violation of Code-

Screw him. He did not know what this arrogant looking boy was about to go on about, but anything that involved him being unable to complete the stone seemed like a lousy deal. He raised his wand, ready to fire off a spell at the officer.

Without a word, the officer flicked a card from his pocket, transformed it into an emotionless white spear-like equipment and directed it at Gabriel's head. For a while, Gabriel was impressed by the coolness of the action and thought briefly about incorporating some moves that involved flicking cards out of his sleeves when he was interrupted by the officer's words.

“Don't. Try. We will not harm you. We need your co-operation in the matters. If you try to do anything funny, Nanoha behind me would be most willing to fire off her most powerful Starlight Breaker at you immediately,” he brought his face closer with a grim grin, “And you do NOT want to feel a direct hit of Starlight Breaker. Not when she is as angry and worried as she is now.”

Gabriel took a glance at the girl behind. A term came to mind, upon looking at her seething rage. White devil. He felt a single drop of sweat of fear dripped down his temple as he turned back to the calmer boy.

“So what do you say?” the officer asked, “You put down that wand, I lower my device. Look. Trust me, she even shoots that at her friends and you are definitely no friend of hers.”

Gabriel took another cursory glance at the girl and her staff and made his calculations. The stone, he needed the stone. He could not afford capture now, not when he was only a few days away from completion. Professor Dante had told him that.

He grinned brightly in return to the opposing boy, “I'll take my chances.” He focused on the pendent in his other hand, condensing the moisture in the air, then forcing it towards the officer in high velocity. The force of the pushing air forced the officer back, enough for Gabriel to make his escape.

There was loud cranking sounds akin to the loading of many shotguns as he sped ahead, further shoving the other boy out of the way while he made his escape. He could hear the officer shout, “Nanoha, no!”, followed by a loud, shrill “Starlight Breaker... EX!” That did not sound good at all.

The hair at the back of his head bristle in fear as he quickly swerved by instinct. The force of multi-millions thaums of magic blasted past him in ironically cute pink color, the resulting back draft knocking him out of his desired direction of escape. White devil. Gabriel gritted his teeth as he struggled to maintain control over his staff, for the first time fearing for his life rather than capture. Cute-looking, cooties-inducing, uniform-clad girl but really a devil in angelic white disguise. And he thought his battle with Fate was bad enough.

The young officer closed in onto Gabriel swiftly. “Struggle bind,” he raised a hand and summoned the many magical thread intended on binding the thief. Gabriel quickly retaliated with his wand, casting “Deflectio!”, deflecting part of the incoming binding magic. He was not going to get captured by that kind of spell again. The rest, he twisted and turned in the air, trying to shake them off while he mumbled the incarnation of another spell. Gabriel could see the warehouse now. He could to hide there for now, as long as he could lose his pursuers.

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way!” the officer shouted as he readied his spear for another spell, “You should just surrender now while I still have some control over Nanoha's surging emotions.”

Lacking a wisecrack retort, Gabriel simply replied in action, firing off multiple dark arrows towards both the remaining binding threads and the officer. Then he continued speeding towards his destination, searching his pockets for the two smoke-producing test tubes.

The officer emerged from the barrage unscathed, dusting his uniform lightly before continuing the pursuit. Behind him, Gabriel could feel the incredible power of the white devil coming closer on him. If she was emotional now, he would never want to fight her when she was calm and in control.

Found it! He removed his most trusted equipments from his pocket and threw them into the air. These had nothing to do with magic, just simple science, but they worked wonders. They worked the day before for his fight with Fate, hopefully it would work again.

As to the formula, the test tubes broke upon contact with each other; the chemicals within met and reacted with each other, producing the thick, billowing smoke that Gabriel counted on to hid his direction. He then slowed down his flight to avoid making any sound or disturbing the smoke.

He could feel his pursuers coming closer, the choking smoke not putting a dent in their determination to get him. It was time for the backup. Raising his wand, he gave it a little twist and whispered,

“Aeriocardio Valkyriam! Contbelaria Gladibaria! Age Capiav!”

Several wispy clones of Gabriel appeared beside him. After receiving their commands mentally, they scattered, each one speeding off in a different direction, leaving behind a trail of parting smoke. On his part, Gabriel quietly floated across the slowly thinning smoke towards the warehouse. Spying an open window, he squeezed his small frame through it and looked for the darkest corner where he could hide.

There were shouts outside as his pursuers realized they had fallen for his diversion. Gabriel silently crept towards the corner of the empty building casted in shadows, dragging his staff with him, feeling all the aches and pains catching up on him. Letting himself down on the floor, he took up his staff to prepare the healing spell. It was yet another fruitless night with him fighting more than stealing. Sometimes he wonder if it was all a deliberate ploy by the professor to just train him on fighting and running rather than stealing more magical artifacts for the Philosopher's Stone.

A sound. Someone was coming. Gabriel froze in his position, hoping that the shadows would be enough to hide his presence from the intruder. He could already see the disarming white uniform of his white devil standing out of the darkness of the warehouse.

She stepped forward, step by step, scanning the surroundings with squinted eyes. Step. Step. Step. She stopped, staring into the darkness where Gabriel was. She did not move, just stared at the shadows.

More footsteps as the young boy officer stepped in. He strode towards the white devil and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Nanoha. You need to calm down before you actually kill someone. That Starlight Breaker EX would have killed the only source of information about Fate's whereabouts. If your emotions get the better of you, it might be better to take you out of the mission before your wanton actions jeopardize the mission and everyone else's safety.”

“How can you do that when Fate is missing? She could be in pain,” the white devil jerked her head back to face the cool boy. The boy shook his head disappointedly and spoke softly, “I know that you are taking Fate's disappearance badly but so is everyone. Mother just called in three hundred shock troopers into the city for a search party. That is not a rational decision, neither is your rampage going to do us good. Too much had been put at risk here.”

“Remember the mission,” he patted her shoulder once, “we came to capture, not to kill. A “Struggle bind” would worked better than any other offensive spells.”

He turned to walk out of the warehouse, “Oh, and Admiral Lindy,” he switched back to his cold, officer voice, “just ordered us to return for a briefing session with the rest of the three hundred.”

The white devil stared back into the darkness for a brief moment before following the boy. Only when the footsteps got softer did Gabriel feel his heart start beating again. That was too close. And three hundred shock trooper?! That was overkill for a thief like him. They must be more desperate than he thought.

Bringing his staff closer, he casted the healing spell on himself, feeling the accelerated healing of any bruises and sores he had acquired in the battle. It would be too risky to go outside now. Since Fate would not be able to escape, there should not be too much of a risk. She could always prepare her own breakfast. It would even be better for her.

Mother had specifically instructed him not to visit her the next day. Perhaps it was because it would be the occasional body check up period. She probably did not want him to see her deteriorating away with each new check up, the countdown timer to the end drawing closer for her. It did not matter now. Soon everything would be solved with the creation of the Philosopher's Stone.

Mother would be saved.

Removing a chalk from his pocket, he drew an alchemic symbol on the floor before touching it with trembling fingers. The circle glowed before the concrete floor rose with a long, tired groan to form a wall in front of him, hiding him from outside, prying eyes. Tucking his legs in, Gabriel started to consider his options.

---------------------------------------------

The day before had been a fruitless day for Arisa and Suzuka... Okay, perhaps not that fruitless. They certainly had had quite a bit of fun sightseeing the various tourist attractions of the city. Arisa had actually taken notes during their journey, mostly about places that they could visit again along with their magical friends.

On the other hand, they had achieved absolutely nothing on finding the thief. That was to be expected given their total lack of information about the situation they barely knew. If their friends had any information, they were not telling. No one picked up their hand phones despite the many calls. There was not even a single text message to say that they were too busy to pick up the call!

It also managed to put Arisa in a foul mood. She had traveled half way across the globe to be with her friends and now, they were not even replying to phone calls. Fine! Just what were friends for? Then she would also give them the cold shoulders treatment.

Of course, there was their promise with Ms. Testarossa. That would be something to look forward to for the day as Arisa and Suzuka took the cab from her summer home to the hospital. All the while Arisa looked out of the window sulkily as Suzuka kept silence. She knew when to keep her distance and let Arisa think for herself. She may be hot-tempered and easy to hold a grudge, but Arisa was also one who drop grudges and forgives easily. She would be fine, once she cooled down. Sure enough, as the hospital approaches, Arisa started talking enthusiastically about how they could help Ms. Testarossa spring her surprise homecoming on her son. Suzuka quietly smiled to herself at her easily-read friend.

By the time Arisa and Suzuka entered the hospital ward with Arisa's usual energetic, cheerful “Good afternoon, Ms. Testarossa!”, the addressee was already packing her luggage with the aid of a kind nurse.

“Thank you for coming at the unworthy request of a frail woman,” Precious Testarossa broke into that familiar warm, friendly smile and bowed gratefully. Instead of the sterilized blue patient's gown, she was dressed in a lush, mystical, deep purple dress that reached her knees. “What do you think of the dress?” she gave the girls a little twirl, “It is the best dress I've got in my wardrobe. I have not worn it for a long time.”

“It is beautiful, ma'am,” Suzuka clapped her hands in agreement. Arisa nodded enthusiastically in agreement. Even the neglected nurse clapped politely at the side while she placed the last change of clothing into the large luggage.

“Ms. Testarossa,” The nurse said, “We will send your belongings over to your apartment later. You may leave at any time you like now.” Then she added with a tinge of regret in her voice, “Please enjoy yourself as much as you can.”

“Oh, I will,” Ms. Testarossa answered carefreely as she took a sun hat from the edge of the bed and wore it, shielding her face from direct sunlight.

“Shall we go?” Arisa asked, admiring Ms. Testarossa' outfit. The dress might have been somewhat old-fashioned in her opinion, but Ms. Testarossa had fit it perfectly, looking exactly like a beautiful English governess from a children fantasy book.

“Girls,” Ms. Testarossa came closer and shepherded the girls together, “My son will not be back for quite some time. His school tends to end somewhat late. Then, there are many things I would like to do first and I would love it if you are willing to come along with me.”

Arisa could not help notice a change in Ms. Testarossa other than her change of clothing. She seemed brighter, healthier. With the removal of the patient's gown, Ms. Testarossa seemed to have shed the solemn atmosphere of the hospital along with it. Perhaps her illness had come under control. Or the prospect of returning home had brought the illness under rein for now. Regardless, it was good to see her feeling and acting so much better.

It was almost enough to push the issues of them and their magical friends aside for now. At the back of her mind, she could not help but worry about Nanoha and Fate's progress with their mission.

“We would be honored, ma'am,” Suzuka spoke for them, “But where do you have in mind?”

“Well...” Ms. Testarossa spoke softly, “Firstly, there is always this shop which supposedly serves wonderful ice cream down the road...”

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A light kick to his ankles woke Gabriel up. On well-honed instinct, he grabbed his staff with one hand and extracted his wand from his robe with the other, pointing it before him as the sleep-induced daze cleared. It was already noon... he was beyond late for magic classes. He might as well be a truant.

The strong, penetrating smell of lilies gave the identity of the assailant away. Even outside of her office, Professor Dante wore a thick layer of lily-scented perfume on her. However, unlike her usual dark witching robes in the academy, the Professor was dressed in a blood-red, regal dress that covered most of her body., supporting herself with a lady's cane.

“You did not come today,” she stated as she strode away from Gabriel, surveying the interior of the warehouse with her bright, eagle-sharp eyes, “I figured that I come around here to take a look first. You have chosen well, I quite liked it.”

“They were too tough,” Gabriel said as he lifted himself to his feet, “I could not get anything this time. Please give me some new co-ordinates!” Two more artifacts to go and the stone could be made. Two more... if need be, he would go out right now to get them.

“No need,” The professor waved her hands uncaringly while she continued to examine the place, “This will do. Did you learn anything new about them yesterday night?”

The young boy thought for a while before blurting out, “They mentioned that there were reinforcements! Three hundred of their best soldiers! That's overkill!”

The professor laughed raspingly in reply, her eyes narrowing in glee. “I know. That will work wonders, yes it will! Can you imagine three hundred magical vessels?!” She stepped towards the center of the mostly empty hall and raised her hands, as if to embrace everything she saw before her. “This is wonderful... Everything is going just as planned.”

“I will set a trap here,” she snapped, pointing repeatedly towards where she stood, “I can deal with all those soldiers, all three hundred, preferably more, of them. You,” she turned towards Gabriel, “got something special to do.”

“Yes!” he answered immediately, feeling hope coming back to him. The professor's confidence must be contagious, “I will not fail again.”

“Fine!” The professor acknowledged, “Then I shall prepare our little surprise for them.” She raised both her hands and clapped them together loudly. Then with hands trembling with old age and excitement, she took up her cane, lifted it up slowly and slammed it down onto the concrete ground. The loud, sharp crack of the tip of the cane hitting ground echoed across the vast, empty hall.

Gabriel stumbled back in surprise as streaks of magical energy flowed from Professor Dante's cane towards the ground, dancing wildly across it and taking shape around the creator. They encircled the Professor in circles, then lines, then symbols. They were, Gabriel realized, forming another transmutation circle. The ground shook, cracked, groaned and moved apart where the magic streaked across, arranging itself in accordance to the Professor's wishes.

Unlike other practitioners of alchemy, or elemental transmutation as the official name goes, Professor Dante never needed to actually draw any symbols to get the transmutation going. Gabriel had observed that all she had to do was to clap her hands together and things happened. They said that she was the first; the first to introduce alchemy as a new form of magic into the coven decades ago. From the looks of it, Gabriel was inclined to agree with the rumors. Professor Dante certainly had the age and expertise to look the part.

With a final shudder, the ground ceased its change, having achieved what the Professor had wanted. A perfect alchemic symbol of shapes and symbols Gabriel had never learnt before were etched in cervices across the concrete floor. The Professor stood calmly in the epicenter with her eyes closed in concentration and palms held upright as though she was receiving divine instructions.

With a deep breath, she clapped her hands once again, took her cane and brought it down on the ground once more. When the cane struck ground, the earth trembled again as from the different corners of the transmutation circle; concrete gave way for cylindrical objects rising painfully from the ground. The cylinders rose taller than Gabriel, acting like guardian pillars to the symbol on the floor.

On closer observation, Gabriel realized that they were really glass tanks, each one filled to the brim with diluted-red liquid. Warily, he approached one of the containers, reaching out with his hand to touch it. He could sense the aura around it; every single drop of the liquid was concentrated with magic power. Any form of magic would be greatly enhanced merely by being in its presence. However, something did not feel right about it; Gabriel tried to control his uneasy stomach, to stop the urge to hurl. Whatever the liquid was, it just did not feel right, it was a monstrosity.

“Control yourself!” Professor Dante shouted from within the transmutation circle, surrounded by the tanks of foul liquid, “Ignore it! It will pass!”

Gabriel stumbled away from the liquid, falling to the ground in disorientation. The liquid. They spoke to him. Of course, he could not really hear it but he could sense something in there drawing on him. They seemed to reach for his very soul. It felt, Evil. He lifted himself from the ground before with an unbearable moan, he vomited.

Slowly, Gabriel returned to his senses, clutching his queasy stomach in a pained expression. He took another glance towards the liquid tanks. The feel was getting weaker; He was getting used to it. The puke helped too. If such was the ordeal he had to endure to acquire the Philosopher's Stone, so be it. If would be nothing compared to what Mother had when through.

“Good, fight the feel!” the Professor boomed as she walked out of the circle, passing the tanks without even a twitch of discomfort, “Control it!”

Gabriel placed his hand on the nearby crate for support, breathing raggedly from fighting back the nausea and dizziness from the red liquid. “There, there,” he could feel Professor Dante's firm hand patting his back, soothing the horrible feel.

“What is that... thing?” the boy wizard gasped. The effects were mostly gone, leaving behind much distaste and an uneasy sense of fear.

“Nothing important,” his professor answered as she walked towards one of the tanks and placed her palm on it. Professor Dante's face was lightly reflected on the glass surface leering in immense anticipation and satisfaction, “Just part of the formula for creating the stone. Now, regarding your role for the trap tomorrow...”

Gabriel listened intensely at the professor's instructions. Then he nodded in acknowledgment. Soon, he was reminded, soon all the necessary parts to make the Philosopher's Stone would be at hand. Soon Mother would be saved. They would take the rest of the day and night to prepare everything. There would be no rest.

“I will return to the academy tomorrow to get the artifacts from my office. The trap will be sprung tomorrow night. Do you understand what you had to do for now?” Professor Dante questioned her student, “Much of our success lies in what you need to do. Make me proud.”

“Yes,” he replied, “I will not fail again.”

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“Ook.” (Helo.)

Yuuno tried to imitate the sound the great ape before him made. He had been practicing for some time now, and he was fairly confident of it.

“Ook? Oo- Ook!” (Helo? No. Hello.)

It had started a couple of weeks ago, before Nanoha's London mission and all. Yuuno Scrya, as the chief librarian of the Infinity Library was doing his usual job of keeping the massive collection of books in order, not to mention doing his personal reading at the same time. It was not the most exciting job, and it could get extremely tedious at times, especially when it involves Chrono's usually unreasonable demands; but for the chance to read some of the rarest books in existence, it was worth it.

It was the quieter moments at that time with little activities. There was little ongoing missions, thus little requests for immediate information for him to attend to. While it was always enjoyable for the girls, especially Nanoha to drop by the library to visit him, help him out or invite him over for some fun, they were having their papers then and had to study. With little needs to see to, it was quiet enough for him to allow the rest of the library staff a couple of days off. This short, precious moment of peace would allow him some valuable personal time to catch up on his readings.

So there he was floating in the infinite space of the library, enriching himself with a couple of books hovering around him, their pages flipping slowly as he digest the words from it when it appeared.

The great, red ape just appeared and strolled easily down those shelfs to help himself with some books.

For a while, Yuuno could not believed his eyes. While he was used to familiars of humanoid form,for a real animal in a library, his Infinite Library for that matter, to just appear and wander around was just... weird.

He raised a single finger trembling in surprise and pointed towards the ape. “You!”

The ape turned around and stared back with its large, sunken eyes. Beneath all those red fur that covered most of its body, Yuuno could just make out flabs, just a lot of flabs. Unfortunately, they were all flabs of muscles.

“You, monk-” he paused as he recalled a picture book he saw at Nanoha's home in the past, “You, orangutan!”

The orangutan did not speak before it gave a wide grin, showing off a full set of its yellowish teeth. They looked nasty and in severe need of a good brush.

“Ook.” it said in approval and moved towards where Yuuno was. Somehow, it managed to lumber through all those spaces toward him, instead of floating. Then, it placed a banana, which it took from nowhere, into Yuuno's hand. Using its rough hands, it took hold of the chief librarian's hands and guided it back to his chest.

“Ook.” it repeated again, nodding its large, overgrown head sagely.

It then lumbered back towards the bookshelf, look around and wandered to the back of the bookshelf. It was minutes later when Yuuno finally recovered from the shock and surprise to take a look at the banana. It still look edible, even if somewhat squashed. Gathering his courage to soothe his curiosity, Yuuno made his way to behind the bookshelf.

The ape had disappeared, just like that.

Later, he learnt from the more veteran of his staffs that the great ape was a regular, if somewhat strange visitor to the Infinity Library. They have learnt to either ignore or get along with him. At least unlike their own officers of the bureau, the ape generally returned the books intact, sometimes even thicker than it was originally. Whatever you do, and this, the staff with two missing front teeth warned very solemnly while jabbing intensively at the 'Children's Guide to Animals': Never, ever call him a monkey. He hated that. They refused to explain why they knew that even when Yuuno tried to probe further.

The lull period ended soon after that. However Yuuno would occasionally spy the orangutan return to his library in his calm, lazy fashion, returning the books he had taken and removing other books from their shelves unapologetically. As the chief librarian of the library and curious young mage, he once approached the great ape to ask how he managed to make his way into his library without setting off the security alarm. The reply came as, “Ook, ook, ook.”

Eventually like two soul brothers connected by their passion for books and dislike for demanding requests, overdue returns, loud small talk and the worst of all library sins, downloaded mobile ring tones, they came to acquaintance themselves with each other, enough for Yuuno to attempt to pick up orangutan speak.

So far it was not too difficult. The entire language consisted of only one syllable. Everything else was all in the tone and diction.

Yuuno was about to try it again when the familiar large holographic screen appeared to his side. All the action around him stopped. He could almost hear all his staffs running up and down the library groan in unison of the expectant eleventh hour workload increase. A familiar (if not necessary welcomed) face graced the screen with its usual serious, no-nonsense look.

“Ferretboy, this is an emergency,” Chrono said his famous opening line. More groans could be heard all around at the confirmation of their worst fears. The last time Chrono made an emergency call to the library resulted in days of frantic searching for some long lost tome that suddenly someone at the top was interested in. It was by Yuuno's talent for scanning magic that they managed to locate information on it before the deadline.

“Yes, Chrono,” the chief librarian faced the bearer of overtime wearily, “How may the library serve you?”

Chrono's eyes widened in surprise as he stared at the orangutan beside Yuuno. Then he returned his deadpan stare to his chief librarian, “I don't know what is with you and animals but I'm going to pretend I never saw a monkey behind you.”

There was an outburst of outraged 'Ook's from beside Yuuno accompanied with furious swinging of lean, muscular arms. Fortunately for Chrono, he was only present holographically to experience physically the wrath of an ape called a monkey.

“There has been a situation in our current mission. We need your immediate presence,” the officer said, ignoring the orangutan's melee challenge.

“You mean, no new requests?” Yuuno asked suspiciously. Much breath was held all around as they anticipated their desired answer.

“No. All we need is your immediate presence,” came the reply. There were sighs of relief, and perhaps a cheer or two from the rest of the Infinity Library staffs.

“Wait! Your current mission is the one Nanoha had told me about! That robber in London thing,” realization dawned to Yuuno, “What happened? Did Nanoha get hurt?”

“Not really,” Chrono answered coolly, “We will be teleporting you to our location now if you don't mind.”

Yuuno looked down at his attire. As a civilian, he was not required to wear the bureau uniform. Instead, he was decked in sweater and jeans. The sweater was not exactly clean either...

“Wait,” Yuuno said, “Give me some time to- There was a blurring of his surroundings, accompanied by the swishing sound of high speed travel and the glow of the teleportation spell circle. Before he knew it, he was standing somewhat disorientated in the middle of a crowd of tough, masculine, uniformed soldiers. -I hate it when you do that,” he growled at Chrono who was standing in front of him.

“I did tell you that we will be teleporting you,” Chrono stated without a bit of remorse before pointing towards his allocated seat in the front of the briefing room. Yuuno sighed defeatedly as he snapped his fingers, activating his barrier jacket. His pale brown magical armor materialized on him, followed by his cloak on his back within seconds. If he was to attend a military briefing, he should at least look ready. He then took up seat at where Chrono had directed him to.

“Hi, Yuuno-kun,” Nanoha greeted him dully from beside. She had been seated in her uniform-inspired barrier jacket, head down in dejection while still tightly gripping Raising Heart's staff. She had been gripping her intelligent device so hard that her knuckles had gone white. Back when they were working as a team, collecting the jewel seeds, even at the worst of times, she had remained so cheerful and optimistic. Yuuno had never seen her so tense up, so grim before. Something had gone very, very wrong.

“Nanoha, are you alright?” Yuuno placed his hand gently on her shoulder and asked. Nanoha merely nodded her head weakly while still maintaining her posture. “Are you sure?” he continued, very unconvinced by her physical reply. Nanoha shook her head tiredly.

He looked around to see if there was anybody that could give him a better answer. Fate would know what went wrong. However, everywhere around the room, there was only TSAB troopers mingling among each other. There was no blond, twin-pony tailed girl in black barrier jacket in sight.

“Nanoha, where is Fate?” Yuuno asked innocently. No answer. Then the girl's shoulders started to tremble while she stuttered incoherently for an answer.

“Nanoha?” he asked anxiously, “What's wrong?” The trembling got worse as loud sobs could be heard coming from Nanoha. “Nanoha?!” Yuuno turned the girl to face him directly. His action faced no resistance from the tearing mage. Her eyes were already bloodshot and puffy from continuous crying as she struggled to speak the words to her friend.

“Nanoha, please tell me. What happened?” Yuuno asked again, gently and firmly against her anguished sobs. She had only just sent him that traditionally cheerful message full of life and jest about her mission in this foreign land two days ago. What could have caused such a large change in her?

“Fate... I... Fate is missing... It was my fault,” she finally found her tongue and wailed, pouring her heart out as she buried herself in Yuuno's chest, “It was my fault,” she repeated softly again and again, sobbing in guilt and helplessness, “It was my fault... I shouldn- shouldn't have allowed her to...” Her sobs increased in volume, drowning out her speech.

For a while, Yuuno was caught off guard by Nanoha's outburst. He blushed sheepishly as he realized that the two of them had attracted annoyed and amused looks from around. Hesitantly, the boy wrapped his arms around her and patted his girl friend's back gently. “Don't worry,” he soothed the girl, trying his best to console her, unaware that he was repeating words that many others had said to her, “Fate is a strong girl. They will be able to find her. It will be fine...” he struggled for more words, trying to recall what heroes tend to say to heroines in those fantasy books he occasionally read, “Everything will be okay... Remember that time with the Tome of Darkness? Fate disappeared then too. She turned out fine in the end... everything will be alright...”

He was starting to understand why Chrono had pulled him out of the library without his consent. If they had to search the whole city for Fate, he might come in useful... “I will help you find her,” Yuuno said softly, “I promise.”

The sobbing stopped abruptly as Nanoha raised her head, looking forlornly directly into his eyes. “You promise?” she confirmed softly.

“Yes, I pro- “ Yuuno was interrupted when Admiral Lindy stepped grimly into the room followed by Amy and Arf. Silence fell as the crowd shuffled themselves back into their seats. She nodded in acknowledgment of Yuuno's presence and started to address the room in a hoarse voice.

Yuuno watched as the Admiral briefed those present about the situation. One of our best agents was missing. Our objective was to find her. That was what she kept emphasizing during the briefing. In many ways, Admiral Lindy had suffered as much as Nanoha did from Fate's disappearance, if not more. The tell tale signs of sleeplessness and tears. Her weary actions and occasional misjudgments. She was pushing herself too hard in this search.

“Now you know why I got you here?” Chrono sat himself down heavily with his arms crossed beside Yuuno and leaned back, “I am concerned about Fate too but this is getting out of hand. Too much is at stake to catch a thief. This would only put Fate in even more danger than before. You are the best person to watch her back.” He jerked his finger to indicate the girl in Yuuno's arms.

“Don't worry, I will,” Yuuno replied, patting Nanoha's head to calm her down.

“I mean... You will know,” the officer said calmly, “On my side, I will try to bring some rationality on the team before Mother hurts herself and everyone else. That would not be what Fate wanted.” He added quietly as he looked at his mother's forced actions with worried eyes.

“Your side? Aren't we on the same team?”

“Not really. You'll know,” came the enigmatic reply.

“Nanoha,” Admiral Lindy raised her voice to get the girl's attention, “With the recommendation of Officer Chrono, I'm officially reassigning you out of the mission. You are getting too emotional in the matters. It will be better for you to take a break. You will be helping Yuuno in the Infinity Library from now onwards.”

“What?!” Yuuno turned towards Admiral Lindy in surprise. The girl in question remained silent, having already been aware of her transfer and fought unsuccessfully against it.

“Yuuno, please take care of Nanoha,” she sighed wearily as she closed her own eyes for a second in exhaustion, “Make her rest. She had barely slept recently. We will keep you informed about the situation.”

“Everyone else, you know your orders. Spread out!” the admiral stood up and commanded, fighting back the exhaustion of her protesting body, “Find my girl now!”

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