Apart from being able to use magic, the first real thing Nanoha noted about Shirou Emiya was that he was a terribly bad liar. He couldn't quite keep his face straight, nor could he come up with something believable. She supposed the notion of a pro-golfer's club may (she used this term lightly here) have had worked on her if she didn't have prior knowledge from Allen, but she still would have been doubtful.

As it was, what was the best way to deal with liars? She could have opted to call him out on his bullshit, but that was too easy. There wouldn't be much of a lesson learned aside from 'lie better,' for next time. By playing along, it would force the liar to either cave or try to maintain the ruse. The question now, was what kind of answer Shirou would choose. Prolonged suffering? Or ending the ridiculous notion now?

In case she wasn't clear of her stance on liars yet, Nanoha had never liked liars, not a lot of people did. This was especially so when you know that you're being lied to. The hidden magic institution known as the Mages Association that Allen had briefed her on was a far cry from the golfer's club Shirou described.

Nanoha wished to give Shirou the benefit of the doubt, as she'd seen the type of person that he was to risk his life to save others. In which case, surely, he wouldn't just blatantly lie for no reason?

Now that Nanoha thought about it, even Allen seemed somewhat subdued when he spoke of the Mages Association. There was something that she was missing here, but the prospect of an entire society of exceptional earthlings hidden on the planet was mind opening. There were so many good things that could be done with earth having its own magic users. Mid-Childa and the TSAB could employ many of them to help maintain peace and order throughout the parallel worlds.

Take it this way, the Nanoha of the past was ignorant to magic, but she'd still turned out strong in the end. What more could it mean for trained magic users? They could do so much good alongside the TSAB. So, why then was Shirou being secretive about it? Allen was the same.

Nanoha gave Allen a skeptical look while Shirou remained scrambling for an answer to Nanoha's previous statement about meal gauntlet Lorelei.

Were the two of them just nervous about making the existence of magic known? The possibility was certainly there, but Nanoha couldn't understand it. There were dozens of magically inclined worlds with the knowledge of magic made public. What was the big deal?

The TSAB had warned her to keep the existence of magic secret from earthlings, yet this was with the assumption that magic didn't exist enmass for humans on earth to begin with. If a Mages Association existed, then when she relayed this information to TSAB Command Center, Earth would no longer be treated as a magicless civilization and instead by treated as a magical one.

Knowing the higher ups of the TSAB, they'd soon send envoys and delegates to broach the subject of cooperation to maintain the stability of the realms. Fate may be sent as a delegate as she's been on earth multiple times and is experienced as a mage, but there was no definite answer yet. Earth fell under the jurisdiction of the TSAB, so someone higher up may be sent to handle negations and explanations.

Nanoha wasn't familiar with it, but the TSAB had some sort of protocol to deal with unknown magical worlds under their supervision. The protocol seemed to be divided into two categories, one in the case of cooperation, and the other something Nanoha wasn't quite privy to. In any case, she had faith in the TSAB, so she'd let them deal with it.

For the time being, Nanoha found it best to gather more information before compiling a report. This report would also account for the fact that Shirou seemed to be in possession of a Jewel Seed. He'd probably be brought in to the TSAB eventually to examine his current status. Well, these were thoughts and considerations for later.

"Sooo," Nanoha drawled, her eyes rolling exasperatedly as Shirou had yet to admit to his lie. "What do you know of golf?"

Shirou's lip twitched, and Allen curtly excused himself due to the way Shirou's eyes were boring a hole into his back and disrupting his gun maintenance. By this point, Allen seemed to infer just why Shirou would be staring at him in accusation. It was fairly obvious to Nanoha, as the both of them gave entirely different explanations of the Mages Association.

"Even if we're friends Emiya, this one's your problem," Allen nodded once towards Shirou and soon left. "I apologize if I wasn't supposed to say anything about the Mages Association, but I didn't know that talking about it was off limits. In any case, call me if it actually gets bad. For now, I have things to do."

Nanoha took careful note of the way Shirou sighed at Allen's departure. 'There goes my backup,' Nanoha could almost hear what Shirou must have been thinking, but hey? Why was she being treated as a hassle?

Maybe because she was. Fine. She had to admit that even she'd be annoyed if she met a random person who was drilling her for an answer that she was reluctant to give. She eased up her stance and let out a long breath before giving Shirou an unimpressed stare.

"Alright, there's no need to play dumb," Nanoha folded her arms over her chest and tilted her head up to stare Shirou in the face. "Your friend already told me details about the Mages Association that have nothing to do with golfing." The edges of her cheeks nearly perked upwards in amusement for just how bad the lie was, but she held strong to give the desired monotone effect.

Shirou's shoulders hunched over and he scratched the back of his head with his right hand. He looked sheepish, more than likely understanding that he himself didn't believe his own lie. "You couldn't happen to just conveniently forget about everything that happened, can you?"

She pondered over the suggestion, but soon came up with a legitimate counter.

"Firstly, lets start with introductions again," she began with a radiant grin. "I'm Nanoha Takamachi, a member of an interdimensional force known as the Time-Space Administrative Bureau. I'm originally from this world, and have returned to it after detecting fluctuations of a missing fragment of a lost magical civilization known as a Jewel Seed. This was the main purpose of my mission and you've somehow gotten yourself involved by picking it up."

Shirou hummed. "This Jewel Seed, will you go away if I just give it back to you somehow?"

"You sound like you can actually do that?" Nanoha was skeptical. "For some reason, this particular Jewel Seed seems fused to you somehow."

"Well about that." Frowning, Nanoha watched as Shirou created a twisted and jagged ritual dagger from out of the air and placed its tip over his chest. One look at the dagger, and Nanoha quickly realised it wasn't ordinary. "What if I can fix that problem?"

Fix the problem? How could it actually be that easy? However, Nanoha hesitated. The look in Shirou's eyes were genuine in their confidence. She felt like her tongue was tied. After retrieving the Jewel Seed, she had been instructed in her mission briefing to head back to Midchilda to minimize interaction with Earth's inhabitant and the TSAB.

The issue was, if she complied strictly to mission parameters, she wouldn't get the chance to verify the existence of the Mages Association. Well, regardless, she'd still have to mention it on her report.

"If you can give it me know, then I'll head back to TSAB, return the Jewel Seed, and then file my report." A look of relief flashed across Shirou's face as Nanoha spoke, but the relief was short lived. "The TSAB will probably send an investigatory team afterwards to look into this Mages Association and the presence of magic users on earth."

Beads of sweat seemed to form over Shirou's brow as he wiped them and looked Nanoha dead in the eyes. "About that, can you not mention other magic users and a Mages Association on earth?"

"Why?" Came the prompt reply. Besides, it was already too late not to report. Her mission feed and radio magic allowed the TSAB to keep tabs with their agents. Nanoha was no different and the TSAB had become aware of magic on earth at the same Nanoha did, or at least Fate did from the intercom.

Besides, was magic being public knowledge such a bad thing? Nanoha couldn't understand why Shirou was making things so difficult.

Seemingly realising that lying would get him nowhere, Shirou opted for bluntness in his answer. "There will be repercussions. Ones that may take many lives."

Repercussions? The word echoed in Nanoha's mind.

Rather than explain, Shirou shook his head and decided on a course of action. "It's better to see what you're up against. You wanted to see the Mages Association, so fine, I'll show you."

Shirou dismissed his conjured weapon after getting confirmation that it wouldn't matter if he removed the Jewel Seed from him or not. For the time being, he might as well make use of it.

Turning his back to her, Shirou gestured for her to stay close to him.

"Follow me."

This situation between the TSAB and the Mages Association was a delicate one. Shirou knew that he was not proficient enough to handle it, as he was always more of a battle-oriented magus. However, even he understood that he needed to get Nanoha on his side. Rather than keep her ignorant, it was better to convince her to keep the matter under wraps.

Hopefully Rin could better elaborate on what kind individuals Magi were in order to prove a point to Nanoha. It wasn't just about their ethics that Nanoha had to be wary of, some magi were just monsters.

Nanoha needed to understand this before she ended up rubbing any Magus the wrong way.

For such a means, the moment Shirou reached the Clock Tower, he didn't give Nanoha the time to marvel at the buildings nor ask much in the way of questions. Instead, he escorted her towards the dormitories that studying magi could use as temporary magic workshops and lodging during their terms.

In this case, he marched himself and Nanoha towards a particular individual's room and workshop, Rin Tohsaka. She was a long-time friend who shared something of an ambiguous relationship with him. While others spread rumours about their relationship, she was too prideful to ever admit to anything romantic in light of public scrutiny. Romance was frowned upon by magi, and unless it was for political marriage, romance was always secondary compared to the pursuit of the Akashic Root.

Anyways, Rin was a demure spitfire when pushed over the edge. She was short in stature, liked to wear skirts that bordered on too revealing, and posed herself as a model student. She had black hair tied up into pigtails but had opted to wear her hair long in the Clock Tower. Her love for red blouses hadn't changed since high-school with only minor adjustment till the present date. Red was fierce and refined. In case it wasn't already clear, Rin prided herself on appearance as the Tohsaka family heir. She wouldn't allow her reputation to be tarnished if she could help it.

The difference between Rin and most other magi was that she actually had a soft heart. She wasn't one to let atrocities stand even in the name of research. Most of all, she was someone Shirou trusted to always have his back.

So, when Rin ended up opening the door of her room, and saw Shirou standing next to Nanoha, she didn't immediately drive him away in irritation. Instead, she crossed her arms, and smiled the smile she used when her annoyance was getting the better of her.

Rin said only a single word. "Explain."

Somehow, Shirou felt that a majority of Rin's irritation wasn't about whatever situation he'd involved himself in, and more about what relationship he had with Nanoha. Honestly speaking, this wasn't the first time another woman had gotten tangled up with him in the Clock Tower. That honour belonged to Luvia Edelfelt, and Rin detested Luvia because it was like looking at a mirror. The two's personalities were destined to clash. Unbeknownst to him, but the situation between them had only been made worse when Luvia declared her intention to recruit Shirou into house Edelfelt.

In any case, this wasn't like last time. Before Rin herself could start questioning him about an unrelated topic, he made a gesture to be discreet. "It's one of those times, Rin."

Ah yes, one of those times.

The way Rin pinched the bridge of her nose and leveled him with a resigned look was enough to guilt him into realizing just how much trouble he regularly got her involved in. It was to the point that he didn't even need to explain too much anymore.

Rin ushered everyone in before activating a silencing and detection ward outside her dorm room.

Well, here we go again, and this time it involves the Second Magic and different dimensions.

Rin was not going to be pleased.

"Please wait here for the time being and make yourself at home. I hope Shirou hasn't been making too much of a fool of himself while bringing you here."

For some reason, Nanoha felt that Rin's smile was deceptively fake despite looking entirely genuine. Regardless, she still gave Rin the benefit of the doubt and replied back in earnest, shooting Shirou with an admiring gaze.

"Thank you very much, but Shirou's actually been very kind and helpful. I just met him a couple days ago, but I think he's a good and selfless man worth getting close with," she said honestly. It was her evaluation of him and the respect she had for his heroic qualities. She gave a cheerful smile while scratching her cheek with an index finger and glancing at the floor. She did not notice the way Rin was stomping on Shirou's foot in frustration.

"…I-Is that so?" Rin turned to Shirou with a sharp look before returning her attention to Nanoha and smiling gently. "Then please excuse us for a moment. We have a lot to talk about."

Shirou and Rin left soon after. Nanoha may have been imagining it, but Shirou looked hesitant to enter the same room as Rin whose smile had abruptly faded as she looked one last time between Shirou and Nanoha. Just because Rin's pride often got in the way of her personal feelings did not mean that she had none, nor an opinion.

"Talk. Emiya. Now," was all Nanoha managed to hear before Rin shut the door of the room the two entered behind her and trapped Shirou inside.

While Rin and Shirou were discussing in private, Nanoha soon found herself perusing through the living area Rin had told her to feel at home at. At first, she had seated herself on a recliner and patiently waited, but the time had stretched from five minutes to thirty with not a sound to be heard.

On one hand, Nanoha was not ignorant to courtesy and knew not to snoop around someone else's home, but something about this place was giving her a feeling of wariness. It felt kind of like being too close to an oven. The energy of the heat that the oven exuded would make one feel uncomfortable and could be dangerous is one drew too close.

Aside from the oppressive feeling, this place was fascinating. Ancient looking tomes, magic circles, and archaic inscriptions were laid all around the room. Moreover, everything exuded the distinct energy of magic and the supernatural.

Different from the TSAB, there didn't seem to be any scientifical components to the magic. Raising Heart for example could double as a magic gun and looked entirely mechanical. In comparison, everything here was made of parchment or earthly material, belying a magic system Nanoha was not familiar with.

Was it strong? What does it do to help people? Could she learn it too?

She felt like a child learning magic again for the first time. Still, her childish curiosity was outweighed by the oppressive feeling of something possessing an overwhelming amount of magic energy. It was difficult to think straight in this atmosphere and as an exceptional earthling, her senses were more in-tuned with the various nuances of magical wavelength.

She felt the need to verify if she should be wary or not.

From what she'd heard Shirou say, the Clock Tower was some sort of school of magics that incorporated various magical fields of research. It wouldn't be much of stretch for the association to carry items of potent magical energy, but this was only in the room of a student. If the student possessed something so strong, then how strong was the Clock Tower?

The magic energy became stronger as she moved through the room to investigate. Whatever object was, she concluded that it possessed so much magical power that if it were ever unleashed at once, the results would be catastrophic.

Perhaps it was a Lost Logia of the highest rank?

She didn't know, for sure, but one thing was clear as she soon found the source in an adjacent study room, it was a weapon. A crystal sword to be specific that wasn't really there but whose image and presence was being projected through some sort of magic mirror. Perhaps it was for reference? Regardless, Nanoha shuddered when she thought of what the real sword was capable off.

The image of the sword was floating above a desk with detailed blueprints laid out in a manner Nanoha couldn't comprehend. No, more than that, the fact that the sword had blueprints meant that a method for production of the sword existed.

Wasn't this dangerous?

The blueprint was a jumble of words and diagrams that she had no clue about, but the name of the sword itself was simple to make out.

Jewelled Sword Zelretch.

Suddenly, this Mages Association, a school of magic in the pursuit of 'research,' didn't appear to be as simple as it seemed.

Thanks for reading! Sorry for smaller update. Work took longer than normal and I have to sleep early for a morning shift. I still wanted to get this out as it's simply the prologue for the next arc.

Next update: Fate-In time

P a treon. com (slash) Parcasious

Book link: Fatedlegacydark. ca

Summary of book:

Death. Grief. Ruin. Nothing was left unchanged after an unexplained tragedy led to the loss of millions across the world in key locations. Cities were reduced to wastelands of steel and concrete, and many were forced into migration. When events leading to the prior tragedy occur once more, Kevin Black was going to have to learn that sometimes mysteries were better left unsolved. Trapped with his friends in the world of a ruined city filled with monsters, the journey out would be far more perilous than the journey in.

Fiction Press: Survivor's Log: Reflections