AN: Hey everyone! Yeah I know this chapter is late. I apologize. For once I wasn't held up with League. I was on vacation and had gone out of town but ended up burning myself out on my trip so I spent my last two vacation days trying to recover from not sleeping for two days since my friend and I thought it would be a good idea to drive to San Francisco and not sleep until we got there. It was a brutal drive, but we still had fun none the less. Anyway, enough about my life, I'm sure you all want to read the chapter.

Before that though, I want to thank the following people for reviewing:

Kiruchi, kari, Aka Chibi-chan, StEpHyGrOcK3107, priest1drago, devilhamster, FrostyAsian, Spikesagitta, trumm12345, kay, Romanica, yurifans21, LunarMiko07, Spica75, Hyuuga-Sword, The Last Poison Apple, brenodrama and all the guest reviews.

It's always good to know what you guys think of the story and I do try to respond to everyone if a response is needed. So don't think your reviews are just overlooked. I read all of them and keep in mind what you guys say. Anyways, on with the story!

Safe and Sound

"You want us to teach you?" Fate asked confused.

"Yes!" the two girls answered.

Alicia and Fate looked at each other wondering why them. They still weren't exactly the most liked people in the school. Sure they'd gained a few friends and had earned the respect of others so things were at least getting better for them.

"Are you sure?" Fate asked again, trying to give them an out.

"We wouldn't be asking if we weren't." Tea insisted.

"Why us though?" Alicia was curious to know if only because there were less controversial choices they could have made. Carim and Suzuka were right up on that list along with Vita and Reinforce. They were far more approachable than the twins considering how scary the blondes could be when they wanted to keep people away from them. Well, maybe not so much Vita and Reinforce since they seemed to be good at keeping everyone at a distance too, but Carim and Suzuka were definitely not in the same category.

"Because, out of everyone at this school, you guys know what it's really like out there." Subaru answered. "Plus I learned so much from you with what little time we had in class today that I'd like for you to continue teaching me."

"Well, I don't know how efficient we'll be at teaching you." Alicia began.

"Since we just turned in our employment applications for bodyguard positions." Fate finished.

"Whatever time you can make we'll take!" Teana quickly added. She didn't want to lose any chance of being taught by these two. She knew that if they could learn from them, she and Subaru would stand a better chance at landing jobs in the future. She was painfully aware how much they lacked in skill but after class today, she saw a bit of hope for them.

"You'll have to let us see how these jobs will work out first. After we know what we have to work with, we can decide how and if we'll be able to teach you." Alicia decided to not completely shoot down their hopes. She was under no illusion that she'd have much free time once they got hired, but at the same time, she wanted to gain a bit more favor with some of her classmates. Making more friends wouldn't be a bad thing and so far it'd done nothing but improve their social interaction with others.

"Great! We'll keep in touch." Subaru quickly took out her notebook and ripped a page out. She scribbled something on it before handing it to Alicia. "The number on top is mine and the one below if Tea's. Thanks for not completely turning us down."

"We better go now." Tea began to walk away.

"See you guys tomorrow!" Subaru waved.

Alicia took out her phone and added the two new numbers before handing it to Fate so she could do the same. It was odd to see so many numbers in their phones now. They'd been so used to just having four numbers in them that actually having to scroll through names was odd sometimes. The two girls quickly made their way to the front of the school, Lindy would surely be waiting for them by now.

xxx

The next day…

Lindy walked into her office only to cringe at the mess she'd acquired throughout her investigation. She never really took the time to look at her mess with all the work she'd added for herself. Actually staring it in the face though made her realize that she was leaving too much of a trail of paper work into what she was doing. It would probably be a good idea to put back the files that proved useless to her. It'd make finding the important files she needed easier. This would also be a good opportunity to look for new files while she returned the ones she had. Maybe, with the new information Precia had given her, she'd find something she missed on her first run. Lindy glanced around the room trying to find a good place to start. With a sigh, she chose the right side. She exited the room to retrieve a dolly. It would make transporting the boxes infinitely easier; better than carrying them all one by one.

She quickly stacked the a few boxes into a neat pile so she could begin moving them back into the archives room. She was thankful that no one would question why she had so many files. It helped that Lindy sometimes needed to inventory items to make sure all was in order. This was no different and it had been awhile since anyone had done so. The green haired woman arrived in the archives room and began to put the boxes back where they belonged. As she put the last box back, she got a call on her phone. Vice was out on their most recent case: a bombing. Not just one bombing though, when she got in that morning she'd been given three random break ins to work on as well. Lindy was confused as to why they were even being given these cases at all. There was no indication that they were anything other than random crimes. The bombing was the only one that really seemed serious so she had most of her agents working on that one while she sent a team to each break in location to work on those. Perhaps it was from a disgruntled ex-employee? It wasn't unheard of for something like that to happen. Either way, these weren't typical cases for them to take on, but her superior had made it very clear that she and her team needed to work on them. There was nothing else for her to do but follow orders.

"What have you got for me?"

"We couldn't find anything. Other than the fact that a bomb was clearly set off, there's nothing else for us to go by."

"What about the possibility of an ex-employee being the culprit?"

"Well we interviewed all the employees, but the odd thing is, they just opened up their office in this building last week. No one has been fired yet."

That was indeed odd. Maybe there was something more to this after all.

"Hmm, this case is turning out to be anything but normal."

"We'll bring back what we can and I'll try to get a name of whoever owns this building for you."

"At least that should be easy enough."

"I would hope so anyway."

"Alright, see you soon."

Lindy hung up and returned to her office to continue her cleaning. With these new cases on her hands, she wouldn't have the time she'd wanted to continue to dig around the archives on the Assassin's Guild and Jail. Still, she'd try to use whatever free time she had to continue her investigation. After a few more trips, her office was almost cleaned out of everything. Now she'd be able to work on these cases more efficiently with all her distractions gone. A knock at her door brought her out of her thought.

"Come in."

"I see you've been busy." Vice walked through the door.

"It was time to clean up for our new cases. What do you have?"

"Not a lot honestly. We got witness reports from everyone we could find. Most of the stories are similar. Everyone suddenly heard an explosion, people tried to run away as fast as they could from the scene. There were some injured and people trapped in the building, but no casualties."

"None?"

"I was just as surprised as you."

"Something is definitely wrong here. A bomb doesn't just go off without at least killing a few people, especially considering where it was set off."

"I have all the information for you to look over here." Vice held out a manila folder for Lindy. "I figured you'd want to look through it before we meet up with the rest of the team."

"Thanks. I will look this over after I put these back." She gestured towards the boxes on the dolly.

"Want me to take those back for you?"

"No, it's alright. I've got it."

"Alright, I'll go get everyone ready for the meeting after delivering lunch to our guest."

"That isn't usually your job."

"Yeah, it's not but with all the new cases we have to work on, all available hands are hard at work trying to figure out what's going on."

Lindy sighed. "It's times like these that make it woefully evident how understaffed we are."

"We all just have to do our part and then some. Nothing we can't handle."

"I'm glad I have such a good team then. Alright, enough chit chat. We need to get back to work."

"See you in an hour." Vice waved as he left Lindy's office.

Lindy waved as well before turning back to the last few boxes. She'd have plenty of time to review the files Vice left before the meeting. It'd turned out to be a good thing she started her clean up job as early as she had. The walk to the archive room didn't take very long. She entered the room and put away the last of her boxes. Her fingers had just left the box when suddenly, the alarms went off. Lindy quickly withdrew her hands and turned on her blue tooth ear piece.

"Vice come in."

Static.

"Vice!"

Nothing.

"Anyone! Come in! What is going on!"

With no response, Lindy made a dash for the door, but the door wouldn't budge. She tried again and again, putting all her weight into it, but the door was unwilling to budge. Something must be blocking the door or it jammed somehow.

"Damn it." Lindy punched the wall. "What the hell is happening?"

As if to give her more questions, the lights suddenly turned off. Luckily for her, the emergency red lights began to blink, giving her a bit of light to work with. She had to get out and find out what was going on. For some reason, she had a feeling it had something to do with a certain assassin in their custody.

xxx

Precia smiled at her handiwork. Two Riot Force 6 agents lay unconscious at her feet.

"Light on security today." Precia commented.

"I was surprised as well."

"Must be my Lindy's doing." Precia smirked. "She didn't want anyone interrupting any alone time we might have."

Vice said nothing and handed her a bag. In truth he hadn't expected there to only be two guards on duty for Precia. Lindy had been right when she said they were really short staffed. Thanks to that though, it'd been easy enough to lure the two under the pretense that he'd somehow been hurt in the cell when he went in to give her food. The two guards didn't even hesitate to run in to help. They walked in and were immediately drawn to Vice who was slumped against the far wall. That moment of distraction was all Precia needed to take both of them out. It hadn't been much of a challenge. Now all they needed to do was make it look like Precia took all three of them out without it looking suspicious.

"Everything you need is in there."

Precia nodded, taking the bag from him.

"Well then, I better get going."

Before Vice could say anything, Precia kicked him back against the wall. Vice had just enough time to look up for his face to get up close and personal with Precia's fist. It was followed by a few shots at his ribs before he was allowed to just prop himself up against the wall. Precia was not pulling her punches at all. He understood that this needed to look real, but did she have to crack his ribs?

"No hard feelings, right?" Precia asked

Vice had no time to reply since he soon found himself unable to say anything with a knife stuck in his gut. The things he did for his job. The dark haired assassin pulled the knife out and walked away as Vice slumped to the floor, holding the wound in his stomach. It hurt like hell, but this had been necessary. So far, he'd done his job and kept his cover for the last few years. He couldn't afford to blow it now. They still had much to do and him staying in Riot Force 6 was vital to the Guild.

"I'll get her back for this." Vice grunted. Just because he had to take this attack didn't mean he was happy about it. Precia owed him.

Precia quickly made her way to the power room. Escaping from Riot Force 6 wasn't going to be easy, but it helped that she had an informant to give her all she needed to make her escape easier. Before she could proceed any further, she needed to cut the power. It would send everyone into a frenzy and give her more time to make her escape. No one would notice she was gone until it was too late. Ducking into a room, Precia locked it and changed into something more comfortable. Some form fitting pants and shirt were much better than her prison clothes. Satisfied with her outfit, she looked up to the ceiling and sure enough, there was an air vent. She grabbed a chair in order to reach the vent. Pulling it out, she quietly placed it on a nearby desk before pulling herself up through the opening. According to Vice, the air ducts would easily lead her to the power room. All she had to do was be careful as she moved through the ducts.

She could already hear some of the agents mobilizing through the different areas she traveled. They must've found Vice already. Her suspicions were confirmed when the alarm blared through the hallways. That was certainly not part of her plan. The wound she'd given him definitely wouldn't kill the undercover assassin which was why she was counting on him being found much later. Preferably once she'd found her exit route. Things may not be proceeding as planned, but it wasn't a total loss. She could still get out before anyone could find her. Reaching her destination, she kicked out the vent and landed gracefully on her feet. The power room was surprisingly empty. Perhaps everyone was gathering to begin hunting for her.

"Hey! What are you doing here!"

"I spoke too soon."

Two agents entered Precia's line of sight with their guns drawn. Precia smile and cracked her neck. It'd been awhile since she had a good fight. She couldn't remember the last time she even held a weapon, but for this little skirmish, she definitely wouldn't need it. She'd have to reserve that for some other fun time.

"Get down on the ground! Now!" one of the agents took a step closer to Precia.

Precia smiled at the two agents. They immediately felt a sense of dread, however they continued to hold their ground. It was two of them versus one. How could they lose?

"Do as he says!" the other agent yelled.

The dark haired assassin slowly lowered herself to her knees and held her hands in the air. This gave the agents a bit more bravado to move close to her. One of the agents put his gun back into its holster in order to ready his hand cuffs to restrain Precia. He'd never get a chance to do so. The moment her got close enough to her, Precia immediately grabbed hold of the agents and easily took the handcuff from the agent. Then with a simple twist, she turned the agent back to face his partner. With a click, the agent found himself with his hands behind his back and a hostage to their escapee.

Without giving the other one a chance to react, Precia shoved the handcuffed agent towards his partner, forcing him to take that one moment to catch him. That was all Precia needed in order for her to punch the still armed agent to knock him out. The handcuffed agent tried his best to crawl away from Precia as the assassin picked up the gun the knocked out agent had dropped.

"P-Please, don't kill me!" He begged, no longer even trying to crawl away. He knew there was no escaping this woman. No one ever lived through an encounter with her. He was sure that once she killed him, she'd finish off his partner. It was over for them.

Instead of shooting him though, Precia smacked him across the face with the gun, effectively knocking him out in the process. She relieved the two agents of any more weapons and ammo they might have before proceeding to the power console. Pulling an ax out of her bag, she went straight to work on severing all the wire and destroying whatever she could of the control panels. She was quite satisfied when the room went dark a moment later. She wasn't surprised when the red emergency lights began to blink. So far, her plan was moving along quite well. On her way back to the air vent, she looked at the two agents unconscious bodies.

"Pathetic. You should consider yourselves lucky that I don't want to leave my Lindy even more shorthanded from all this."

Slipping herself back into the vent, Precia continued on her way through the air vents knowing that the confusion she caused was enough to give her an easy escape.

xxx

Lindy landed with a grunt. She was grateful that the air duct was big enough for her to fit through because otherwise, she'd been out of options for escape routes. She looked back towards the door to see why she wasn't able to open it. Much to her surprise, a pallet with boxes of paper sat right in front of the door. When did that happen? She hadn't even been in there that long. She had no time to try to figure out why she got trapped in the room. She needed to get to Precia's cell. Whatever was happening right now had something to do with her. There was no doubt in Lindy's mind about that. As she approached the hallway that housed Precia's cell, she could see her staff already gathered around trying to maintain some sort of order within the chaos.

"What's our status?" Lindy wasted no time in asking.

"Communication is compromised. We have three agents down and one badly wounded."

"Who?"

"Vice."

"Damn it." Lindy was afraid of that. Even Vice, one of their best, fell against Precia. Then again, it'd taken a whole group of them to take her out to begin with. How was she going to get her back? She had a skeleton crew compared to what she normally had to work with. "Alright, our main priority is to secure the exits. No one gets in or out. You and you," Lindy pointed to two others. "Go to the power room and get the power back on if you can. The rest of you, gather whoever you can and begin sweeping through the floors. There has to be a jammer somewhere here. Find it and we restore our communication. Of course, keep an eye out for Precia. We cannot let her escape. If you run into her do not try to take her out on her own. Understood?"

"Ma'am!"

The agents quickly scrambled to carry out Lindy's orders. Lindy wasted no time in heading towards the stair case. She needed to spread the word to as many of her agents as she could. Having the jammers made her life a lot harder but not impossible. Half way down the stairs she had an idea. If Precia was trying to escape, she wouldn't take the conventional route. Even if they blocked off all the normal exits, that didn't mean she'd escape through them. She was almost positive Precia was too smart to be that predictable. So where was she? She looked up towards the side of the wall. There was an air vent.

"It couldn't be…" Lindy quickly ran went back up the stairs to the top most floor of their underground base. "She's escaping through the vents!"

She'd been able to fit just fine and even maneuvered well enough through them. No doubt Precia would have no problem either. Upon reaching the floor, she saw a few agents dutifully guarding the elevators even if they weren't functioning at the moment.

"You four! Shoot the vent!" The four looked confused at her orders, but Lindy had no time to explain. She pulled out her own gun and shot. The other four followed suit seeing as she had not been joking with her orders. Suddenly, the vent opening at the opposite end of the lobby came off its hinges. Two cans flew out of the opening, filling the room with smoke. Tear gas quickly filled the lobby; obscuring their vision.

"Damn it!" Lindy covered her nose trying to keep herself from falling victim to the smoke. Her agents were attempting to do the same for themselves.

"Ugh!"

Lindy cursed again. One by one, she heard the cries of her agents around her. She tried not to imagine the worst, but it was hard to think anyone would be left alive by Precia.

"Well, well, I must say, I wasn't expecting to see you during this little escape."

"I can't let you get away." Lindy coughed.

"I admire your dedication to your work, but I'm afraid I can't let myself get caught."

"I'm going to catch you even if it costs me my life."

Precia said nothing. Lindy tensed; getting ready for any sort of attack on her. Instead though, she found herself suddenly having clearer vision. The smoke was disappearing. Wiping her eyes she tried her best to assess her situation. Precia though didn't give her the time she wanted. Lindy found herself on her back with some noticeable weight on top of her.

"You….!"

"Don't ever say that again."

To say she was confused was an understatement. Lindy was sure not expecting to still be conscious, much less alive, in a confrontation with Precia.

"I don't under…"

"Your life is worth more than that."

Lindy was incredibly confused now. Whatever she'd planned to do once she had Precia within her reach went out the window.

"My girls need you and I….I will not let you die. So until we meet again, stay alive my Lindy." Precia lowered her lips to Lindy's in a chaste kiss.

The green haired agent found herself unable to move or think for that matter. What was happening? The moment soon passed. Precia left the stunned agent on the floor, hastily making her way to the elevator doors. Prying the doors open, she slipped through and began her climb up to her freedom. Lindy snapped back to reality. She attempted to stand up hoping to still stop the assassin, but found herself unable to move. No matter how hard she tried, none of her muscles responded. Frustrated at her failure, but unable to do anything, Lindy resigned herself to her fate. They'd failed. Precia got away and they didn't even put up a decent fight against her.

The emergency lights stopped blinking and a moment later, the power returned. The backup generators must've finally been turned on. At least they managed to get the power back. It was little consolation for her.

xxx

Alicia checked her phone for the third time in the last fifteen minutes. She and Fate were trying not to worry, but this was unlike their adopted mother. Lindy wasn't ever late to pick them up and if she was, she always called or sent a text letting them know.

"You should just call her." Hayate suggested.

Hayate tried her best to look over Alicia's shoulder at the phone. Alicia sighed. She really wanted to, but had held back so far and instead settled for waiting patiently with her sister. Hayate and Nanoha though had been keeping the twins company. Nanoha's siblings were also with them since Shiro usually picked them and Shinobu up. Unlike them though, they knew their rides were running late. Shiro got caught up with work, while Signum and the others had a teachers meeting. Reinforce and Vita were around as well keeping a close eye on Hayate.

Fate took out her own phone and checked it for anything. Much to her disappointment, her phone showed nothing.

"Maybe she got caught up with work?" Nanoha suggested.

"We should just call." Fate told Alicia.

Nodding, Alicia speed dialed Lindy's number. It rang a few times before the call was sent to voicemail. Frowning, Alicia ended the call.

"She didn't pick up."

Fate now sported an identical frown as her sister. "That's not like her."

"Something happened."

"Do you think it has something to do with her?"

Nanoha and Hayate quickly noticed how the mood between the two blondes suddenly took a turn for the dark, but what could they do? Clearly they'd come up with some really bad reason for Lindy not answering.

"Come on now guys, she could've just forgotten her phone at home or something." Hayate tried to bring them out of their dark thoughts.

Alicia however shook her head.

"Even if she had, she'd call from work and leave a message on either of our phones."

Nanoha wished there was something she could say to ease their worries, but she knew that at this point, only a call from Lindy would make it fade. The girls were momentarily distracted when Shiro pulled up. The Takamachi siblings were about to get into the car when they were surprised to see Shiro turn it off and climb out. The look on his face was serious as his eyes landed on the twins.

"I need to speak with you two. In private."

Nodding, the two walked off a bit down the path to the school in order to speak with Shiro. Hayate and Nanoha became anxious at the seriousness Shiro showed. Did something really bad happen after all? If so, what was it? The three didn't take long before heading back toward the group.

"The girls will be spending the night with us." Shiro explained to his clearly confused kids. "Lindy is unable to leave work at the moment."

Normally, Nanoha would be beyond ecstatic that Fate would be spending the night in her home, but considering the circumstances, she wasn't able to feel that same joy.

"Did Lindy ask you?" Hayate pinned with a rather intimidating stare. It reminded Shiro of the look Gil would give to someone when he was trying to grill them for information. Hayate must've picked it up from the older man. As great as that was for her though, it didn't help his situation. He couldn't answer right away due to the fact that even though she asked a seemingly simple question, he'd be saying a lot more depending on whether he said yes or no. The last thing he wanted to do was give away just how serious the situation was. After all, the only reason he knew something was going on was because Vice got ahold of him a few minutes ago to ask him to watch the girls. He didn't elaborate on why, just that he couldn't say anything at the moment but to please keep an eye on the twins in the meantime.

"Would it be okay if I stayed with Hayate?" Alicia suddenly asked.

"Eh?" Hayate attention was immediately diverted to Alicia.

"Would that be alright, Shiro-san?" Alicia asked again.

"I don't see why not. I'm sure your mother wouldn't be opposed to the idea." Shiro was relieved that he wasn't forced to answer. Until he could find out himself what was going on, the less people knew the better.

"Fate." Alicia turned her attention to her sister. For the first time in their lives, they were willingly parting from each other. They didn't think this would happen so soon, but the situation called for it and they would not back down from this. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you then."

Fate allowed the Takamachi siblings and Shinobu to climb into the car first. She spared one last look to her twin. The two nodded to each other before Fate jumped into the car as well. They both knew they had to be careful from now on. Things were moving around them in the shadows; eventually they would be pulled into that conflict. They could just feel it. The normalcy they'd lived in up until now was something they would not be able to enjoy for long. They just hoped, when the time came, they wouldn't fall so far that they couldn't return to it.

Later that night, Fate found herself unable to sleep. Too many questions were floating through her mind. After tossing and turning for a few more minutes, she resigned herself to her insomnia and rolled out of bed. Maybe some fresh air would do her some good. Making her way down the hall, she looked for the balcony. During their first visit, she distinctly remembered there was a balcony somewhere. After taking a few wrong turns, she finally found her way to her destination. There were already two lounging chairs for her to relax on. She picked one and laid back. Looking at the night sky, she tried to occupy her mind by finding all the different constellations she knew. It wasn't easy seeing as the city lights made it too bright to see most stars. It was probably one of the only things she missed from living on the lam with her mother. She and Alicia were able to watch stars together, in part, thanks to Linith. She taught them all about constellations and how to use the stars to find their way back in case they ever got lost.

"Fate-chan?"

Fate immediately sat up. She hadn't even heard her open the door. How was Nanoha always able to sneak up on her so easily?

"Nanoha?"

The auburn haired girl smiled shyly at the blonde before taking a seat on the other chair.

"Couldn't sleep?" she asked.

Fate shook her head and went back to star gazing. Nanoha said nothing and looked up at the sky along with Fate. Nanoha didn't know much about the constellations, but she loved to just lose herself in the vast expanse of the sky. Sometimes, she imagined herself flying though the sky, free of all life's restraints. It was one of the things she looked forward to when she dreamt of her magical girl self.

"Do you ever wonder if there's something out there?" Nanoha suddenly asked.

"Out there?"

Nanoha pointed to the sky.

"Well, you know they say everyone one of those stars is actually a galaxy, millions of light years away." Nanoha lowered her arm. "Do you think there are others out there?"

Fate had never thought about it. Her life didn't leave her room to think about anything but her own survival or completing whatever job her mother had for them. Even after coming to live with Lindy, most of her time was spent trying to fit in with everyone else while knowing she'd never truly be normal.

"I can't say I've ever thought about it."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

The two fell into a comfortable silence, just enjoying this quiet moment in their lives. Nanoha though, knew she couldn't stay silent forever. She'd wanted to talk to Fate about something important for a while now but hadn't found the perfect chance to do so. What better time than now when they were all alone?

"Can I ask you something Fate-chan?"

"I don't see why not."

"Promise you won't get mad?"

Fate turned away from the sky to look at Nanoha. The auburn haired girl didn't look as comfortable as before. She couldn't help but wonder why Nanoha had suddenly gotten nervous about whatever she was going to ask.

"I won't get mad."

"Okay." Nanoha took a deep breathe. "Back at the mall, when we got ambushed…. Did you… feel anything when you killed those men?"

Fate wasn't sure how to react to that question. It almost reminded her of the daily counseling sessions she had to take with Alicia before they were allowed to even be considered for release from Riot Force 6. They had to make sure they weren't about to lose it at any moment and just kill everyone around them. Fate always found this to be a bit silly. It wasn't like they ever lost it and went on some killing spree for the sake of killing. As bad as it sounded, she and Alicia only did it as a job. If it wasn't a job then they had no reason to kill anyone. Shaking her head from those thoughts, she contemplated how to answer Nanoha's question. Would being honest be too much for Nanoha to handle? If necessary she could lie to the auburn haired girl. Lying to her would probably be the best thing to do, but did she want to?

Fate looked into Nanoha's eyes. Something about the way Nanoha looked at her told her that lying wasn't the way to go and truthfully, she didn't think she could lie to her without regretting her decision later.

Honesty it was then, even if Nanoha wouldn't like her response.

"I felt nothing."

"Nothing?"

Fate could practically hear the disappointment in her voice but she pressed on.

"They were just obstacles that needed to be eliminated."

"But what about their families? Did they ever cross your mind?"

Fate shook her head. "All I cared about was getting to you."

Nanoha took a shaky breathe. She appreciated that Fate was being so honest with her, but the answer she got wasn't what she'd hoped for.

"I don't like it." Nanoha looked down at her lap. "I mean, I'm grateful that you and Alicia-chan saved us. I don't know what would have happened to us otherwise, but I don't like that you so easily fell back on that." She looked back up at Fate. "Please, promise me you won't kill anyone again."

"Nanoha…."

"Please!"

Fate abruptly stood up and pulled Nanoha into her arms; hugging her close.

"Fate-chan?"

"I'm sorry." Fate tightened her grip on her. "I can't make that promise." The blonde pulled away slightly to look Nanoha directly in the eyes. "If I have no other option, I'll do what I must to protect you; even if that means you come to hate me."

Fate said no more and walked back into the house; leaving Nanoha with her thoughts. As she closed the door behind her, Fate clutched her chest. Why did she suddenly feel so heavy at the thought of Nanoha hating her? Fate made her way back to her room, hoping that somehow, she'd be able to get some sleep. If she was lucky, her dreams wouldn't bother her tonight.

On the balcony, Nanoha sat back down on the chair; hugging her legs to her chest. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew Fate wouldn't blindly agree with her request, but she couldn't help but feel disappointed at the results. If they lived in an idealistic world, maybe they wouldn't need to resort to killing, but this was the real world and sometimes unimaginable things had to be done. She didn't blame Fate nor did she resent her for her answer. Fate was just being realistic. She just wished there was a way to keep her from needing to do something so horrible again.

AN: And that's the end of chapter 12. Thank you for reading and if possible, leave a review. In the next chapter, Hayate and Alicia get a chance to have a talk, and Lindy deals with the aftermath of failing to stop Precia from escaping. Also, Precia pays a visit to Linith. For what? You'll just have to wait to find out. Until next time!