Foreword:
Hello there, or 'Nice to meet you,' in case we haven't met before.

My name is Zarosguth and I thank you for giving this story of mine a chance.

I have great (which is a relative term mind you) plans for this story. I have no idea how many of those I will be able to bring to fruition but I will do my best. The rating will be T, but might go M at some point should I want to add any content of a more mature nature.

I will try not to have too many Author's Notes. In a perfect world I would only have this foreword here and an afterword after the final chapter or epilogue but I'm sure there'll be a time when I will have to include an Author's Note somewhere to clarify something or otherwise.

Unfortunately I do not have the luxury of having a beta-reader. If you think you're up to the task feel free to shoot me a PM. Until I find someone I will proof-read this story myself so mistakes are bound to be made. If you see any mistakes, please point them out to me in a PM or review and I will fix them ASAP.

Oh yeah, final note: this story is the one that spawned from the poll I've had up a while ago. Just so you're aware.

Now then, with all of that out of the way, I hope you will enjoy this story.

Disclaimer:
I do not claim ownership of the Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha series or franchise. This is a non-profit fan-written story written exclusively for entertainment purposes.

{]-~*(X)*~-[}

My name is Nanoha Takamachi. I am twenty-seven years old and am between jobs at the moment.

I used to work in the military – specifically as fighter pilot in the air force – for five years. I nearly died in the line of duty when my plane got shot down. My survival was nothing short of a miracle and the scar that is left on my chest near my collarbone is a constant reminder of my near-meeting with death.

After my brush with death I retired from service; my friends insisted. I understood their fear of me losing my life; my family knows more than enough when it comes to death. I lost my parents and my siblings back when I was fourteen years old.

My parents – my mother Momoko and my father Shiro – used to own a humble coffee shop that also served as a bakery while my two older siblings – my brother Kyouya and sister Miyuki – were in charge of our family dojo. When I was younger I would occasionally join my siblings in their training and as a result, I am not too bad a martial artist myself.

We were a happy family… until that day.

It was right before the weekend and me and my two best friends – Arisa Bannings and Suzuka Tsukimura – were going to have a sleepover at Suzuka's. We already had our sleepover supplies with us to school so after school we went straight over to Suzuka's house, or should I say 'mansion'.

We had a great time, playing games and just hanging out when one of Suzuka's maids came rushing in, telling me I had an urgent phone call. It turned out to be the police. Time seemed to stop when they told me someone had attacked my parents' café in broad daylight. I instantly asked them what'd happened, if my parents were alright.

They weren't.

Then and there it felt like my world came crashing down. But it got worse; it turned out my siblings were helping at the café that day rather than being at the dojo.

I had no one left.

I was the only one that'd survived, the only Takamachi not at my parents' café – the Midori-ya – that day.

Had it not been for Arisa and Suzuka I don't think I would've made it through that phase of my life. I even attempted suicide that following week but I was lucky Arisa had been looking out for me as she'd prevented me from pulling through with taking my own life.

Their families were also more than happy to look after me financially, at least until I passed high school and could move on to college. After high school though I did not go to college. Instead, I enlisted to join the army where I served my country up until I got shot down.

So now I am looking for a job. I've been thinking of going back to college and earn a teacher's degree; being a teacher always seemed like something I would love to be doing. Arisa and Suzuka offered to pay for it all but I declined; I don't want to become dependent on anyone and I never liked owing people.

Yes, Arisa and Suzuka never separated. I'd always known they had something going on for each other. So it came as no surprise to me when Suzuka confessed to Arisa a few years back. The blush on Arisa's face was great, especially when Suzuka said the reason she confessed was because Arisa was just taking too damn long.

The two of them even went on vacation to Europe solely with the intention to get officially married.

That reminds me, I'm going to a bar with them tonight so that should be fun. I hope they're not going to get too lovey-dovey though. I have no problems with same-sex couples but I also don't need to have them constantly rubbing their happiness in my face. Especially considering I've never been in a relationship before.

I just never really cared for any of that stuff –romance, dating or heaven forbid, getting married– I suppose.

*~-{ Fallen Angel }-~*
*~-{ Written by Zarosguth }-~*
*~-{ Chapter I }-~*

The streets were mostly empty, only the occasional car sped by while Nanoha was walking home, leisurely strolling along while enjoying the calming atmosphere. The light of the full moon made up for the lack of streetlights in the area while a cool breeze caused the lop-sided ponytail on the left side of Nanoha's head to flutter as her auburn tresses were caught in it.

Clutching on to her long white coat to shield herself against the cold, Nanoha berated herself for her choice of clothing for that night. It'd gotten way too cold to wear her thin, blue-and-white horizontal striped shirt with matching blue, knee-high shorts. At least her long white socks covered her calves and managed to keep them somewhat warm. Around her neck she wore a necklace that held a single, blood-red, pearl-shaped jewel.

The brunette took a deep breath while her sky-blue eyes took in the sight of the moonlit streets. Nanoha couldn't help but giggle a little when remembering what happened at the bar her two best friends had taken her to.

A group of three guys came up to them and when one of them started making advances towards Suzuka, which the purple-haired woman tried to wave off as politely as she could. The green-eyed blonde that was Arisa was glaring at the Casanova. When the guy didn't show any signs of backing off Arisa grabbed Suzuka by the shoulders and kissed her full on the lips. A kiss that Suzuka had no problem returning.

The look on the guy's face had been priceless and it didn't take long for him and his two pals to make themselves scarce.

Nanoha remembered when her two friends first came out with their relationship; it'd happened during high school, during the school dance to be exact. She still thought it hilarious how Suzuka was crowned queen of the dance while Arisa had been crowned king of the dance. Arisa didn't know whether to be happy or offended. Of course, not everyone was understanding and some people saw it fit to harass Arisa and Suzuka. Nanoha was always one to stuck up for her friends though and it didn't take long for people to back off, lest they suffer the wrath of the 'White Devil', a nickname Nanoha picked up while telling a large number of bullies off all by herself. The fact that she'd been training at the Takamachi Family dojo since she was young had sure made her a force to be reckoned with.

Nanoha's walking suddenly came to a halt. What was that? she swore she heard something, a noise she couldn't quite place but it sounded strangely familiar. Curiosity got a hold of her as she started going in the direction where she thought the noise came from.

She was going in a normal pace at first, but hearing the noise again she increased her pace to a light jog. Hearing the noise a third time caused her to go in an all-out sprint as she recognized the noise as the sound of combat. The brunette wasn't sure what it meant, but she had the feeling that the quicker she got to the source of the noise, the better.

{]-~*(X)*~-[}

Feeling like she was getting real close to her destination, Nanoha stopped at the bottom of a flight of stairs that led up a small hill. At the top of the stairs stood a big stereotypical red shrine gate.

Is it here? the ex-fighter pilot thought as she started making her way up the stairs. Once at the top she looked over the grounds of the shrine at the top of the hill. Everything seemed peaceful and it didn't look like there was anyone there, much less anyone being in a fight.

Following the central path that led to the shrine's centre building where the offertory box stood Nanoha glanced around trying to find anything out of the ordinary. It was eerily quiet and the moonlight –which was still lighting up everything around her– encased everything in an eerie red glow.

Wait. Red? Nanoha suddenly realized. Looking up at the moon she found the heavenly body to indeed be red rather than the greenish silver colour it normally had.

Thoroughly creeped out, Nanoha took a deep breath and calmed herself down. Surely there was an explanation behind the strange colour the moon suddenly had.

A twinkle from the corner of her eye caught the brunette's attention. She looked down to see a small blue jewel, not much bigger than a lighter lying on the ground. More twinkles caught her eyes as she noticed more of the same jewels scattered about.

The sound of someone groaning in pain caught Nanoha's attention. She quickly turned towards the source and saw a large tree standing near the podium the offertory box stood on. A human figure was sitting below said tree.

How did I not notice that person before?! Nanoha wondered as she quickly made her way to the person sitting there. Upon closer inspection she could see it was a woman. she had long blonde hair which was bound near the end into a very low ponytail to prevent it from spreading everywhere. In the reddish moonlight Nanoha managed to make out her outfit.

She wore a white blouse with long sleeves under an open, black sleeve-less waistcoat. Around her neck she wore a crimson tie adorned with a gold-coloured tiepin. Her thighs were covered by a plain black miniskirt. Her anthracite stockings were just short enough to reveal a thin line of bare skin between her stockings and her skirt. Black gloves with flattened, golden studs on the knuckles covered her hands while black, high-heeled boots around her feet and a burgundy coloured belt around her waist –which it seemed she wore more as an accessory than out of necessity– as well as a choker she wore around her neck, all served to complete her outfit.

The choice of clothing made Nanoha believe the woman to have a job like waitress at a fancy restaurant or maybe she was a librarian.

The ex-fighter pilot did not have time to ponder about the blonde woman's job though as she noticed the woman's eyes were clenched shut while she was holding her stomach in a tight grip.

That's when Nanoha noticed the blood, this woman had to have a giant stomach wound. This was not good; she had to stop the bleeding and fast. Nanoha quickly took off her coat and used it to apply pressure to the blonde's wound. All the while she tried to calm the woman down but also to keep her conscious.

Damn it! I need to call for help! Nanoha quickly grabbed her cell phone from her pocket but to her dismay found the battery was dead. You've got to be kidding me! Why now of all times?! Nanoha was desperately trying to think of something she could do.

She was suddenly pulled out of her thoughts when she heard a hiss behind her. The sound caused Nanoha to tense up. She didn't understand why, but that particular sound instilled great fear in the brunette. Slowly, she turned around to see where that sound had come from. Nanoha couldn't believe what she saw.

Before her stood a small group of six black, shadow-like creatures that, while distinctly non-human, still were very much humanoid in shape. The black creatures had long, slender limbs. Their long toes and fingers ended in sharp claws and they had sharp looking spikes jutting out of their shoulders, knees and elbows.

Their most disturbing feature were their heads; they reminded Nanoha of some of the tribal masks she'd once seen in the office of Suzuka's mother. A large, flat shape that reminded Nanoha of the Greek letter 'omega' except if it were filled in. In the middle of the circular section of the face a single eye was visible. The iris and pupil were a solid black, like the rest of the creatures' bodies, but the sclera was a deep, cherry red. From the bottom of the creature's face, a small number of tentacle-like appendages –about five of them– were twisting and curling around wildly while the creatures otherwise stood perfectly still.

Nanoha held her breath; what the hell were these things? Where'd they come from? Were they the ones that had attacked the blonde woman?

The ex-fighter pilot managed to remain level-headed thanks to her military training. Her brain was working in overdrive as she tried looking for a way out of this situation. She didn't have to wonder if these… things… were hostile; they all but oozed murderous intent and their frequent hissing sent cold shivers up the brunette's spine.

She saw no potential way out of this mess.

{]-~*(X)*~-[}

Nanoha didn't know how long she'd been staring at the dark creatures while they just seemed to stand there, their only movement coming from the wild short tentacles that hung from their… mouths? Time seemed to have stopped, only a gentle breeze and the erratically moving tentacles betrayed that it hadn't.

Then, the breeze died down and an eerie silence fell.

Out of nowhere the black creatures lunged forward. Nanoha knew she had to move to evade but if she were to do that the monsters would be sure to hurt the unconscious blonde that lay against the tree. In a desperate attempt to defend herself Nanoha crossed her arms in front of her like a shield. She closed her eyes, bracing for impact.

Suddenly she heard a loud shrieking from the black creatures accompanied by the sickening sound of bones being crushed by heavy impact, as if someone had crashed headfirst into a wall at high speed.

Nanoha opened her eyes and saw a translucent, glowing wall of pink light had formed in front of her, blocking the creatures from getting to her.

As suddenly as the pink wall of light had appeared, it disappeared and while it did, Nanoha got a chance to see where it'd come from in the first place as the pink light flowed into the red jewel of her necklace.

Once the pink light was gone completely Nanoha looked back at the black creatures who were slowly coming back from their daze. As they recovered, they set their sights back on the brunette. Nanoha slowly stepped back, she doubted she'd get this lucky again so she had to do something. She had to get herself and the blonde out of here… now.

That was when a golden blur shot past the brunette from behind her. Suddenly the blonde that lay against the tree behind her unconscious just a second ago stood between Nanoha and the evil looking creatures.

Looking at her back Nanoha's eyes fell on the two gun holsters attached to the woman's burgundy belt. How'd she miss those?

The blonde grabbed the guns that were in the holsters with a single swift movement of her arms and aimed the twin guns at the threatening creatures. The distinct clicking sound of the hammer of a revolver being pulled back was heard before everything fell quiet again.

The monsters and the blonde woman had reached a standoff. Neither the creatures nor the two women moved. Nanoha held her breath. When the blonde had pulled her guns out of their holsters, Nanoha had recognized them as Colt Peacemakers, a type of revolver that was particularly popular in the old days of the Wild West. Something about the pistols was off though but Nanoha couldn't quite put her finger on it.

She didn't have any time to think about it however, as she saw one of the black creatures suddenly lunge at the blonde.

"Watch out!"

The dark creature lashed out with its sharp claw. The blonde quickly sidestepped to the right, evading the slash. In the same move she pressed the pistol in her right hand against the creatures head as its claw found nothing but air. The trigger has pulled and a loud bang was heard as the monster's head exploded in a yellow flash of light.

The now headless monster fell to its knees before its body suddenly burst into black and purple flames. As the flames died down, a small blue jewel emerged from them. Nanoha recognized it as the same type of jewel that she'd seen scattered all over the shrine before.

If those gems come from those monsters, then how many of them were there here before I arrived? Nanoha wondered, in awe of the blonde's combat ability.

The other creatures shrieked in what could only be described as pure, unadulterated rage.

The blonde pulled the hammer on the gun she'd just fired back again and aimed in the direction of the five remaining creatures. Two of them immediately rushed forward. Not giving them a chance to get close enough to attack the blonde fired both guns simultaneously. Two bright yellow projectiles shot forth from the guns' barrels. As these projectiles travelled they left behind a yellow trail that crackled like electricity.

The impact of the projectiles hitting the creatures right in their eyes knocked them back as they also burst into dark flames and disappeared, leaving two more blue jewels behind.

With three of them left the remaining monsters rushed to surround the two women. Nanoha and the blonde looked around to take in their situation and despite having seen the blonde already take out half of the creatures, Nanoha didn't like the fact they were surrounded. What she liked even less was that she didn't have a weapon.

A golden glow coming from the direction of the blonde woman caught Nanoha's attention. When she looked at her there was indeed a faint glow coming from the woman who'd brought her arms down to her sides. The glow that first enveloped the blonde's entire body started concentrating itself of the woman's back.

Nanoha's eyes went wide when the glow stretched out from the blonde's back and took the shape of a single wing, protruding from the right shoulder blade.

A flash of light forced Nanoha to close her eyes. She heard the distinct ripping sound of fabric being torn apart. When the light had subsided Nanoha reopened her eyes which went wide once more almost immediately.

Where the glowing wing of light had been not a second ago there was now an actual wing with jet black feathers. The wing was almost as big as the woman sporting it. The feathered limb stuck through a large rip in the woman's clothing.

What the hell is she?! Nanoha thought as she took in the woman's new appearance. With that dark yet angelic looking wing she felt like she was looking at a fallen angel. The red glow from the moon made her look even more otherworldly.

The woman brought her arms back up and aimed her revolvers at the two creatures off to the sides while keeping her gaze fixed on the third creature, right in front of her. Bright yellow lights appeared in front of the gun barrels and shaped themselves into a circular shape. Runic symbols adorned the circles and glowing orbs appeared at their centres.

"Thunder Rage." Nanoha barely heard the blonde whisper these words before a crackling sound preceded golden bolts of lightning flying from the glowing orbs of energy as the blonde pulled the triggers on her revolvers.

The lightning bolts were large enough to nearly engulf the entirety of the creatures that stood off to the sides of the pair of women. They were evaporated in seconds, leaving only more blue jewels behind.

Nanoha had felt the humongous amount of pure power radiating from the lightning bolts. The air had become heavy with static electricity as Nanoha stood stunned, having witnessed everything that'd happened so far. Her eyes were wide and her mouth hung open.

A loud, ear shattering shriek resounded from the last remaining monster. The blonde quickly brought both her guns to aim at it and fire in rapid succession. The creature turned out to be a lot smarter and more nimble than the others before it, as it evaded shot after shot of yellow energy the winged woman sent its way.

The monster let loose another shriek. The sound was so high in pitch it physically hurt, forcing both women to cover their ears.

The tendrils at the creature's 'mouth' suddenly shot in multiple directions. It took Nanoha a moment to realize the creature was trying to grab as many of the blue gems that were lying around as possible. The blue jewels glowed faintly before dissolving within the monster's tendrils. The same blue glow that'd come from the blue jewels just a moment earlier now enveloped the monster. Another deafening, high-pitched shriek escaped the monster as it started growing in size.

{]-~*(X)*~-[}

The crackling sound of electricity caused Nanoha to tear her eyes away from the monster that was now at least a good five meters tall and look at the blonde, winged woman standing in-between the black monster and herself.

Golden sparks of electricity were running along the black feathers of the blonde woman's wing. The woman's body visibly tensed as gloved hands tightened their grip on the two revolvers.

Another crackle of lightning was heard but this time it came from lower. The woman's feet sparked like her wings before she launched of the ground and all but flew towards the monster's head, leaving a trail of golden lightning in her wake.

The blonde crashed into the monster's face, to which it responded by clawing in her direction with its massive black talons, trying to swat her off its face like an annoying bug.

The winged woman jumped back to evade the huge claws swiping at her. With her body in a perfect horizontal line, her feet towards the creature's face, she aimed both her revolvers at the dark beast. The runic circles appeared in front of the guns' barrels once more, energy collecting at their centres.

Two bolts of golden lightning erupted from the central orbs of collected energy and crashed into the monster's blood-red eye with tremendous force.

The resulting explosion threw up a black smoke cloud. The winged woman ended her manoeuvre with a backflip before landing back on the ground with a certain elegance.

The atmosphere was tense as both Nanoha and the blonde fixed their attention on the black smoke enveloping the creature's head.

Nanoha gasped when black tendril shot out of the smoke towards the blonde woman. Being caught off guard, the blonde couldn't react in time before she found the black tentacles wrapped around her arms lifting her up in the air. The cloud of smoke dissipated revealing the dark creature was completely unharmed. The powerful lightning attack apparently only serving to piss it off.

The blonde tried desperately to get out of the monster's strong grip but it was in vain; the beast had no interest in letting its prey escape.

Nanoha stared, half in shock at everything that was going on. I have to help her! she mentally screamed at herself.

She suddenly remembered the pink light that'd saved her life before the blonde woman jumped in. She looked down and let her eyes fall on the circular red jewel around her neck.

Maybe…?

The brunette wrapped her left hand around the red gem and yanked it off her neck. Realizing just now she'd collapsed to her knees at some point Nanoha scrambled to stand back on her feet as she pointed the hand holding the red jewel in the huge monster's direction.

Please, please let this work! She prayed to the red gem with all her might; this had to work!

Nanoha's eyes widened in surprise when a runic circle similar to the one that'd appeared at the barrels of the blonde's twin revolvers appeared at her outstretched hand. The one notable difference between hers and the one belonging to the other woman was the colour; hers was cherry blossom pink while the blonde's was golden yellow.

Nanoha felt a power she'd never felt before –yet at the same time it felt so familiar, so right– flow from her arm and toward the centre of the runic circle where it started to concentrate into a pink orb of raw energy.

The words came to her so naturally and left the brunette's mouth before she could stop and wonder about them.

"Divine Buster!" she yelled. The orb of power burst forth in the shape of a singular pink beam.

The pink beam of energy cut straight through the tendrils holding the blonde woman in place, allowing her to move freely again.

Once back on the ground the golden blonde kept her focus on the monster and took aim again. Nanoha did the same, trying to once more get that feeling of strange yet familiar energy flowing through her.

Capturing that feeling of control a second time, the ex-fighter pilot managed to create the runic circle again, focusing the energy to its centre.

Next to her, the winged woman stood, having created her own runic circles, which seemed to fuse together into a single, much larger circle, gathering energy to its centre as well.

"Divine Buster!" Nanoha fired another large pink laser beam.

"Plasma Smasher!" The blonde fired a large energy beam as well. Hers being a golden yellow and crackling with electricity.

The two beams hit the big dark creature dead-on in the middle of its single red eye and immediately pierced right through the beast's head. Its body spontaneously burst into purple flames as it collapsed to its knees.

The moment the flames dissipated and six blue jewels –one from the creature itself and the five it had absorbed– emerged from the flames, the moon reverted back to its regular silver sheen. Relief washed over Nanoha; the threat had subsided. She glanced over at the blonde woman, a smile gracing her features.

The blonde turned to Nanoha as well and that was when Nanoha caught sight of the other woman's eyes for the first time.

And the moment she did, she could not look away; the blonde's eyes were a beautiful burgundy that almost seemed to glow in the silvery light of the moon.

Even as the single black feathered wing protruding from the red-eyed woman's shoulder blade folded in on her back and faded away as if it had never been there, Nanoha could not draw her eyes away from those wine-red eyes; they were hypnotizing-ly beautiful; vibrant, strong.

Yet, at the same time, they held a sadness Nanoha felt like she'd seen only once before in her life. In her own eyes, shortly after her family was killed.

Nanoha was forced out of her stunned state however as those hypnotizing orbs slowly closed and the blonde woman started falling forwards.

By quickly dashing forward and ducking down Nanoha managed to prevent the blonde from hitting the ground face first. It was then that she remembered the state she'd found the blonde in. By all accounts it was a miracle she'd even been able to fight like she had done.

Nanoha felt a warm liquid staining her coat as she held the bleeding woman who'd managed to save the ex-fighter pilot with a huge laceration across her stomach.

Nanoha quickly laid the woman down on the ground on her back and took off her now blood-stained coat. She put it over the wound and started applying pressure in an attempt at first-aid.

She knew that that wouldn't help much however; this woman needed medical attention, and fast!

*~-{ End of Chapter I }-~*

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*~-{ May we meet again, fare thee well! }-~*