There are infinite possibilities. For every choice made, there exists a universe where another path was taken. An infinitely branching web-work of possible universes, until one no longer resembles the other in the slightest.

But stop, cut away the dross, and focus here, a universe, a point in time and space, similar to one we're familiar with.

Watch Closely.
Things happen a little differently this time around

Matou Kariya knew it. He had failed. He had definitely failed. The circumstances didn't matter and there was no one who cared enough to hear why. So he had failed, without exception, mitigation, or excuse.

But.

Just because he had failed, just because he couldn't accomplish his goal, didn't mean he could be allowed to stop. He had lost everything to his own damn stupidity. He couldn't get what he wanted. But maybe he could stop himfrom getting what he wanted.

A spasm of pain stopped his faltering footsteps. The worms hadn't stopped, they didn't hurt, not so much as they should, as they had, but they hadn't stopped, as he had wished they would. The drain was gone. Even in this state he couldn't believe that he'd ever become used to the horrible, sucking drain Berserker had levied on him, but now that it was gone... like missing an arm. Not painful, but a lack of sensation, or interaction where part of him insisted there should be. Berserker had drained him dry in his last hours, and then just...gone. The worms should have stopped, it wasn't fairthat they hadn't stopped.

Gritting his teeth he began moving again. The worms hadn't stopped. It wasn't fair. He couldn't let that matter. He had lost everything he cared about, but he'd gained something small in return. Even in death Tokiomi had been a bastard, but what Kariya had found...it might buy him a few days at the outside. More likely a few hours. The jewel, liberated from the dead man's vest and brimming with the prana he needed, burned hot in his gut, the dissipating energy now filling his limbs not quite compatible with his own circuits, but the worms would have to make due, pain be damned. He wouldn't gutter out just yet. He could think again, clearer than he had in days.

So he tottered into the Matou household. And there she was. The little Tohsaka girl. He wanted to smile but... the boy. His nephew was with her. He had forgotten. He hadn't seen the child in ages. His brother's son, and so one he couldn't bring himself to love. He looked so like Byakuya as a child, Kariya couldn't help but see him as brushed with the same darkness that had caused him to leave in the first place. But right now he was talking animatedly to the girl with a book in his hand and a teasing grin on his face. And the girl was red-faced, but smiling.

"Sakura" he called out, half hidden in the shadows.

"Eh?" both children turned to look.

"Ah! Uncle Kariya" the girl cried out happily turning to run toward him. He went down on one knee to receive her, his left side stiff, not cooperating, but damn it some thing were important. The boy scowled as his new playmate ignored him. Kariya felt his heart drop when the girl slowed and stopped, looking at him with a hint of fear, and lot of confusion. Of course. His face. The war, and the worms had not been kind.

"It's okay Sakura. I just ran into a little...trouble, a while ago. But I'll be fine." Still a little scared, and confused. The boy had walked up to her, and had one hand possessively on her shoulder.

"Come here Sakura." he said gently "something bad has happened. We need to leave for a little while" It was the truth. For certain values of true. Something bad happened. She did need to a leave. And it would be just for a little while. Relative to the lifespan of a star if at all possible.

She took a hesitant step forward, but the boy stepped in front of her, one hand still gripping her arm.

"Oy, Uncle. Where are you going with Sakura?" he asked scowling harder than ever. The girl winced under his grip, but the boy didn't seem to notice, glaring at Kariya like... like Kariya was taking away a new toy. Of course. Damn it but he really didn't have time for this.

"Your uncle has made some mistakes." he said "The old ma- Zouken already knows." He nearly choked on the honorific. He hoped it wasn't true, but he'd be damn surprised if Zouken didn't know about the loss of Berserker. "But" he continued "Now your uncle needs to get you away Sakura" The boy's expression darkened and Kariya cursed to himself. Of course. It sounded like he was just leaving the boy to die.

"And you as well Shinji" he added, a little lamely. The child's face relaxed, just a little. "Now hurry, hurry." he ushered them towards the door. It would take a little adjusting, but his plan could account for two children as well as one. And besides he supposed, even this child didn't deserve Zouken. The child after all could after all merely look like Byakuya.

The children walked hesitantly at first, but some quiet admonitions to hurry had them out the door quickly. Down the street a car waited. The driver was that special sort of man who was afflicted with sudden cases of memory loss when exposed to large sums of money. The car drove them swiftly through the city, to an alley. They got out and trudged through it, to find another car, and a similar man on the other side. This had been hell to arrange on the quiet, and he had no doubt someone knew, but by the end of the night even he didn't know who was driving them. Hours later they were driving out of the city. Sakura was asleep, and Shinji was nodding off, interspersed with glares at Kariya, as if denying his sleepiness.

He'd found a foster house for Sakura, friends of old friends, from people he knew before the Grail had reared it's ugly head. Sakura wasn't going 'home'. Not unless Zouken found her. He'd almost laugh. His acquaintances were going to be expecting some serious explanations on his behalf in a few days. He honestly had none. He was kidnapping two young children from their homes, because their grandfather was an abusive monstrous vampire of a magi. It was fortunate perhaps, that he'd never be around to give those explanations, and with no leads on where Sakura should be...they'd be forced to either take her in, or put her up for adoption, or something. Anything better than what he had taken her from.

The boy though, he'd have to do something with. He couldn't ask them to take on two children instead of one. That was just too suspicious. Maybe... he clucked to himself. Why not? It's not like he'd be around long enough for it to really matter. He could just...kick about. For a few days, until it all ended. The boy could stay around. He was a child. When Kariya wasn't around...someone would take care of it. It was a fair bet the child wouldn't find his way home. Not so safe as Sakura, but...It was cruel perhaps, to expose a child to that, but Kariya could not bring himself to care. Not anymore.

Shinji glared at his freaky uncle. He wasn't tired. He wouldn't be. If his uncle could do this then Shinji wouldn't let himself be less. Besides, he looked...mean. That wasn't quite it, but he didn't know how to put it. His face was all messed up, and he had been nearly snarling and snappish when they were changing cars, and Shinji knew his father and grandfather didn't like his Uncle, though he wasn't sure why until tonight. It was obvious now that his uncle was a big jerk. But...he was trying to protect them? Maybe. It seemed fishy to Shinji, but then his family was full of magi, so maybe it was a magic thing? He didn't know enough yet to be sure. And...when Sakura had finally fallen asleep he'd been... gentle, in picking her up and carrying her to the next car.

She was a nuisance, and the family shouldn't have taken in an outsider in the first place. He was still unclear on why they had bothered. But then he'd read a lot about how being a magus could eat up your time. Maybe she was there to run the house and handle things like money while Shinji pursued his studies as a magus? It didn't seem quite right but...maybe. Either way she was hissister now, so it would have been wrong if Kariya had not been careful with her. And he'd squished himself into a corner to give Sakura room to sleep. So maybe Kariya could be nice, even if he was a jerk.

Shinji didn't notice when he dropped off to sleep. He woke up for a moment when he heard the car door open and close, but thought nothing off it, and sleep reclaimed him. He woke up again to Kariya shaking him by the shoulder.

"Wake up boy. We're here."

Blearily he looked around for a minute. The car had stopped in a little unlit street. Houses dotted the road. Sakura was-

Sakura wasn't there. He shook his head awake and glared at Kariya again. "Where's Sakura? What did you do?" he accused.

Kariya didn't bother to look at him. "Sakura's a girl Shinji, and we are in a bit of trouble. We only have one room here, so we couldn't ask a girl to sleep in a room with two boys right? Sakura's spending the night with some friends of mine. She'll be safe there. I can take you to see her tomorrow."

Shinji frowned. It didn't seem right. No, really that story was pretty lousy, but...he couldn't do anything about it for now. If Kariya really did bring Shinji to see her tomorrow maybe that would be okay. He wasn't happy but...Kariya dragged him by the hand to the house, and knocked on it. There was a brief moment before the door cracked open, and a hurried whispered conversation was held. After a few moments the door creaked open. Shinji looked up at the man behind the door, but there was nothing special about him. They were quickly led upstairs, into a small room with a large futon laid out on the floor. Shinji didn't really need any further instructions, and flopped down on it. He was asleep in seconds.

"Mmmnnn."

It was bright sunlight across his face, a clear herald of morning come. But he was warm, and comfortable, and still wrapped up in a delicious warm drowsiness, so he rolled over and tried to ignore it.

"Ah."

Shinji's eyes snapped open. He was in a strange bed in a strange room in a strange building in a strange place, and his strange uncle was curled up and twitching in the corner. He didn't know why. He scowled. That was the problem. Last night had been fear and running, and boredom and a prickling sense that if he hesitated once, just once, slowed down, or stopped to ask a question, he'd be trampled underfoot as his uncle escaped with his little sister. Who, it seemed was not here. And for all of it he didn't know why.

He didn't know why they were running. He didn't know why his father and grandfather had been left behind. He didn't know why Uncle Kariya had taken them instead of his father. He didn't know why Sakura had been left not in just a different room, but a different place entirely. He didn't know why they had left behind the house. Wasn't a magus' workshop supposed to be his greatest stronghold!? Wouldn't Grandfather have been able to pull them in and protect them?

And he didn't know why his strange uncle was huddled in one corner, his frame wracked with occasional shudders.

"Uncle...?"

The head snapped up, and Shinji recoiled. In alleys, in dimly lit cars, and in the shadows of the streets last night, not even once had he seen his uncle's face clearly. He had known it was...disfigured, but he wasn't prepared for the reality. His left eye was a milky white, and stared off slightly to the upper left. It bore more resemblance to the eyes of a corpse left to rot than the eye of a living human. The rest of his face was scarcely better. Rope-like tendons that had no business being in a face at all stood out in stark relief under his skin. His features were pulled and twisted into a mockery of human expression and his hair, what little he could see under the hood was a stark white. Only the right side of his face, and that distant, yet familiar voice he remembered would clue him in that this wretch was indeed his uncle.

And yet... That right side, that half-face which still looked human gave him the greater pause. The mouth was clenched in a grimace and the one remaining eye burned, with...passion? Anger? He couldn't place it, but from the moment he'd met it, it felt like he'd been pinned to the wall. Every part of him stripped and torn apart, laid bare in judgment and found wanting. It hurt. He didn't know how it hurt. He felt no pain. There was no injury, but something in him hurt to see that.

The silence stretched out for several long, uncomfortable moments before the look in Kariya's eye faded, his face schooled itself into a more passive expression and Shinji realized he'd stopped breathing.

"Ah- um" He hesitated. It was scary. His uncle was scary. Whatever had been in his mind was gone. He vaguely recalled wanting something. Now he mostly wanted out, but that would mean turning his back. "Where..." he started but his voice failed him.

Kariya, for his part reminded himself again that Shinji was a child. For all that he looked it, hell for all that he sounded like his brother in his childhood, the child was not his brother. He shouldn't react like that.

So, he ignored the pain that had flared up in the early hours of the morning, and had sent him gasping and quivering into a fetal position in the corner. It wasn't as hard as it should have been. Less pain than usual maybe. Or maybe he was just getting used to it after however many weeks.

"We're at the house of some friends." Sort of. Technically. He had no idea who these people actually were. Presumably they owed favors to people who owed favors to him. He'd cashed in every friend, every favor, every piece of cash he'd ever earned in this attempt. He'd lost track of who exactly would be doing what at some point. Just a list of safe houses to go to, and the desperate hope Zouken couldn't track them. "We'll go see Sakura soon."

He'd been thinking overnight. Shinji was unplanned for. He was never meant to be brought on this escape. Unlike Sakura, Shinji did not need to be saved. That said, he'd been thinking, and perhaps there could be some use for the boy after all. He'd originally planned to mostly move with Sakura, barring this first trip. But having another child...there were problems. There were loads of problems. But moving in two groups opened up the way for a degree of misinformation. Another layer of safety.

"Ah." The boys voice quavered. Kariya suspected he didn't know how obvious his fear was. He didn't like scaring a little boy. But fear could buy silence, and right now one word out of place could spell doom. Provided he didn't overplay it, and send him screaming.

"I-I want to know why." Shinji asked. Not quite what Kariya was expecting.

"I already told you. It's not safe at your house. We need to hide for a few days. You can go back home soon." Kariya replied.

The child glared at him again. Kariya briefly entertained the idea that the child's default facial expression was a glare; he seemed to do it so often, even while clearly frightened.

"No. I mean why do we need to hide? Couldn't grandfather protect us? He's supposed to be a really incredible magus! So...why do we need to run?"

Kariya's heart thawed towards the child for just a moment. The clear awe in his voice when he spoke of Zouken was in it's own way heart-wrenching. If he knew about Zouken and the family history as being Magi, he almost certainly thought he would be heir to that legacy. The blow dealt from discovering the truth about that would be harsh. Learning the truth about the monster he had for a grandfather would scarce be better. Telling the child about his heritage at all had been a cruelty.

Of course, that same awe meant he could not trust the child. Not nearly. Still, he needed an answer.

"Shinji" he sighed, flailing around for an answer. At last he settled on something passable. "You need to understand Shinji, that your grandfather is old. He knows many things, and can accomplish much, but what magi, real magi, do can never be called easy. Nor is your grandfather in good health. So, he can certainly protect himself, but if I left you and Sakura with him, I do not believe it would end happily."

He stared at the child for a few more moments, frustrated at the lack of understanding in his eyes. He needed something to make him understand how dangerous their situation was, without understanding why this was so. Maybe it was time to take a gamble.

"And...Shinji. You have a sister to take care of now." The boy opened his mouth to protest, but Kariya rolled right over him. "Do you know what happens when someone finds out about magecraft who shouldn't?" he asked quietly. The boy stiffened, before slowly nodding. "Good. It's good to remember what can happen when people are careless. Or pressed beyond their limits."

Ah. There it was. Not quite horror, not quite understanding, but something in the boys head had just taken a shift. It would do.

It was hours later, and Shinji was feeling...contemplative. Things had happened but it was all strange. Or maybe it was normal for hiding? The people in the house seemed to pretend they couldn't see him. Uncle Kariya promised if they could remain hidden for a few more days, things would change.

They'd gone to see Sakura earlier. She was quiet. Shinji thought she was scared, and had teased her about it, but she'd just gone all silent, and apologized. Teasing was no fun if the other person just clammed up, so he'd let it go. It was still weird having a sister. Everyone kept telling him he had to be a good older brother. He had to protect her. Or look out for her. Or...whatever big brothers did. And of course he would. He was the heir of Matou, so he couldn't let himself be less than an exemplary brother.

It's just...shouldn't he actually feel something about it? He wanted to be fond of her, if only because that's what a good brother did. As it was she was a chore. Not an unpleasant one per se, but there was no actual affection there. He knew this wasn't how siblings were supposed to be. He just didn't know how to make it right. So for the moment, Fulfill A Brother's Duties was just another item on the checklist in his head, along side Brush Your Teeth and Study For Tests.

In the end Uncle Kariya had said something about how they had to stay mobile. He'd dropped Shinji back off, and sped off somewhere with Sakura, with a comment about how he'd be back later tonight. Shinji supposed he should be more upset about that. As it was he was just annoyed, and bored. The people here avoided him, and ignored him, like they were pretending he didn't exist. It irritated him, but Uncle had said there was a reason for it, so he couldn't do anything.

So he was alone, with nothing to do, and a vague sense of unease anytime he tried to go anywhere in the house other than the one room he had spent the night before in. People looking past you like you weren't there, but obviously aware because they had just walked around you. Snorting at his own feelings of frustration and boredom, he cast about for something to do, feeling distinctly cooped up.

Hiding sucked he concluded. It was so boring. Well except for the bit with the running and clandestine meetings. But even those were mostly getting into strange cars, and going to odd places, and not really understanding why. The rest of the time it was just hanging around, and trying to stay out of sight.

He wished he'd thought to hold on to that book when Kariya had come for them. Some reading would at least pass the time, and truth be told he kept finding his thoughts drifting back to the dusty Matou library. He'd only just started in on it. He supposed he could read some of the books in this house, but after reading tomes of actual magic, other books just didn't seem to hold the same allure. It would be like sucking on the wrapper to recall the actual candy you didn't have anymore.

So he was bored, and he had nothing to do in the house, and he was tired of being cooped up, and technically no one had told him he couldn't leave...

Ten minutes later he had snuck out, and was wandering down the street, not quite sure what to do with himself. He hadn't thought as far as what to actually do, and in this suburban, residential neighborhood...well there didn't seem to be a lot todo. Just dark, empty streets. Still better than staring at the wall, but not that engaging. Maybe he could find an all night convenience store and get something to eat?

This thought in mind he found himself wandering down the streets. He wasn't, he admitted, particularly certain of where the nearest such store was, but it was largely an excuse in the first place. For the moment he just headed in whichever direction the horizon seemed brightest, figuring that way headed more towards the heart of the city as opposed to this semi-suburban area, and thus increased his chances of finding things like convenience stores. He nodded to himself, proud of coming up with such reasoning when he saw it. A quick, darting writhingshape in the darkness. It streaked towards him low to the ground, moving in a strange, fluid gait, bunching up, then springing forward, but never seeming to actually slow down. It was...was...

Was that a ferret? He squinted at it in the darkness. It was the right size and shape, but what was a ferret doing out here and what was it-
'Run away!'
Eh?
'Hurry! You have to run!'
Shinji blinked. Telepathy? There was no way. Besides what was he running fr-

It wasn't a roar. It wasn't a screech. The sudden, surging, formless mass that he had mistaken for shadows behind the ferret made not one single sound as it opened it's jaws in a silent pantomime of lesser beasts. But his bones reverberated to it. His heart immediately ratcheted up it's beat, and ice water coursed down his spine. His ears rang from the sound they didn't hear, and he staggered as the not-sound rippled out with a force that caused the street light overhead to shatter, sparking and sputtering before plunging the narrow street into a deeper gloom.

Deciding the disembodied voice had the right idea, Shinji scrambled backwards, trying desperately not to trip as he turned, and began lurching forward. This wasn't real. It couldn't be real. Monsters didn't just swarm out of the dark. Only he knew they did. That was the problem with being a Magi. Even untrained, with unawoken circuits, and having only studied enough to just barely understand the challenges that lay before him, Shinji knew now, that there weremonsters lurking in the dark. Most of them were other magi.

But this! What was this? It wasn't right. Monsters like this legitimately didn't lurk in the dark of random suburbs. Monsters like this were out of the way of cities and villages, or at least kept on a chain by whatever magi had it's service.

'Left!'

Shinji didn't bother to question it. He veered left down the side street. His eyes immediately transmitted pain. There was something painfully bright ahead of them, but in a choice between an oncoming car, and whatever was behind him...the car might stop. He knew in his gut the silently screaming horror behind them wouldn't.

As if thinking it brought it on again, the world pulsed in another exquisitely silent scream. His organs seemed to freeze up, his gut clenched, his vision blurred. For a moment he couldn't breathe, he couldn't remember where he was, what he was doing, his muscles seized up and he forgot everything. Then it was over, and he was Matou Shinji again. His legs weren't in the right positions anymore. His foot landed wrong, and he stumbled. He couldn't recover, his limbs responded sluggishly. His legs caught on each other, and his botched recovery turned into a wild scramble on all fours. The ferret overtook him, dashing off into the eye-searing light ahead.

He crawled forward. He couldn't stop. If he stopped he'd die. Well, as it was on arms and knees he'd die anyway, but he didn't want to. So he tried to rise to his legs without slowing down, and only ended up throwing himself to the ground again. He could all but feel that mass about to hit him. To crush him. To smash his bones and smear his organs across the street.

'Get down!'

He didn't need to try to obey. It happened on it's own as fear robbed him of his last hope of rising and he collapsed prone on the ground. Immediately the world was dyed an eye-searing pink. This time there was a sound. Not the vast roaring one would expect. No tremendous crackling, consumptive sound as one would expect. Just a sound of motion, implying power unopposed, the sound of a vast wind that would flatten all before it, blowing across an empty field with nothing to test it's might against.

Then there was sound, and fury. Whatever it was behind him was struck. It was seared and burned away, reduced to it's component energies and scattered beyond recollection. Shinji never saw the attack that did it. His eyes were screwed shut as it passed over him. He remained as such for a few moment after the light dimmed, and the sound faded.

"Sealing Mode! Seal!"

He immediately curled up into a little ball, and waited for the new light-show to end. When he raised his head again, his immediate fear prompted him to spin to look at his attacker, the shapeless monstrosity that had erupted from where shapeless monstrosities should not be. There was nothing. There was nothing at all, not even a smear on the ground or walls, for all that it had taken up the full width of the street.

No. Wait. There was something. So dark he had almost missed it in the gloom. A glimmering speck, smaller than the palm of his hand bobbed gently in mid-air. The glimmer increased, and Shinji crawled to his knees, prepared to run again, when it moved. Not the strange asynchronous movement the beast had displayed, it instead, with little fuss moved in a smooth arc over, and past Shinji, who whipped around to follow it's arc to...

What the hell?

It was a girl. About his age, dressed in white raiment, and with some sort of staff tipped with a red gem. The ferret was sitting on her shoulder. No way. No way. The first thing his father had done, when he had learned he was heir to a legacy of thaumaturgy was to sit him down and disabuse him of flights of fancy like magical girls or heroes from manga. Readings from the library had only supported this. Magic wasn't that generous. Such an existence couldn't be. So he couldn't be looking at any sort of magical girl.

He clambered to his feet, brain freewheeling. She couldn't be a magical girl (not that girls could not be magical. But the fantasies of manga and comic books were not an existence magecraft could support, nor was such undignified use something magi would have allowed), so what was she? He staggered as he got up, noting the dark speck disappear into the staff. Strange. She had used magic. So she had to be a magi. It was that simple.

Therefore, the dress and the staff and the ferret weren't the trappings of a manga heroine. Ceremonial garb, a mystic code, and a familiar, made more – No. She was young. There were geniuses in this world he knew, but to have their own familiar, their own mystic code at this age? There was no way. So she wasn't a magi. Not fully trained at least. She was an apprentice doing...something. Watched over by her master's familiar, with items crafted for the task by her master. Yes. That made more sense.

He wanted to talk to her.

He was the heir to Matou, even if he hadn't started his real training yet. He had read. When he had been told of his heritage, been allowed into Matou's hidden library he had devoured books, drank knowledge in like water. He couldn't say he retained it all, but it was something he had never seen before. A confirmation that his life would have more meaning than to be heir to a slowly decaying family of old money, which in truth, never seemed to have as much money laying around as the large house implied. But for all that he had been delighted, he soon found his delight tempered with frustration. His grandfather was tied up in his apparently delicate experiments, his father hadn't inherited his talent, and so could only speak second-hand. His uncle had the talent, but had left the house over...something. Shinji had never spoken with an actual magus before. He knew academically what it could and would involve, but he had no idea what it was like.

And now here was another magi, an apprentice in front of him. How could he not sate his curiosity?

Takamichi Nanoha was mortified. This wasn't supposed to happen. The barriers were supposed to keep people out. To keep them safe, while she and Yuuno could seal the Jewel Seeds. And tonight she'd almost hit a boy head on, just because she was jumpy, and knew she'd only have one shot. People shouldn't get hurt, just because she had a hair trigger!

'Nanoha!'

"Eeh? Yuuno! Is he alright? I mean I didn't want to hurt him but the Seed came around the corner so fast and I thought if I missed it thistime we'd never get it and then it would get out of the barrier and it could maybe hurt a lot of people and -"

'Nanoha!'

The telepathic reprimand cut her off mid-babble. Yuuno was right. She couldn't panic. If she were to panic here and now then there could be problems.

"Ah, uhm. What should we do Yuuno?" she whispered quietly. The boy was climbing to his feet, and had turned to look at her, but his eyes had gone out of focus. "Do you think he got hit on the head? He looks pretty woozy."

'Hmm. I don't think so. He might just be in shock. It's probably for the best if we leave. He'll probably write this whole thing off as his imagination if we don't leave him any proof.'

"Uhm, are you really supposed to leave someone in shock all alone like that?" she wondered quietly

'Normally no, but we can't risk word about magic getting out. Entire civilizations have torn themselves apart in the past from an untimely discovery. Besides if he can walk he should be able to make it back home, or at least find help.'

It didn't seem right to her, leaving a boy like that after what had just happened. But maybe Yuuno was right. He had told her more than once, about how advanced magic introduced into worlds with very little of it had resulted in the past. People who wanted power would try to grab all the good magic users, and fights would break out over them. Since there was nothing else like magic, people would do anything to get their hands on the new magic. Crimes and sometimes even wars broke out, and even without that all the cultural change would sometimes tear a society apart all by itself.

She didn't think it was likely one person using magic could trigger all that, but maybe it was best to be careful?

"I...I suppose so." she muttered at last. It still wasn't right to leave him staggering in the street. But it was the better option. That didn't mean she liked it.

'Un. Let's go then, Nanoha.'

She stepped back, away from the boy, and prepared to leap away. Magic had its perks, and at the very least it was good for quick exits.

"W-wait! Are you a magi as well!? You are! You have to be! That couldn't have been anything other than magecraft." The cry stopped her cold.

'Nanoha...'

"Yeah. He did." she answered, looking at Yuuno with wide eyes, answering the question he hadn't asked yet.

'...did he say "as well"? ' Yuuno completed the thought anyway.

There was a moment of silence between them, mutually hovering on the edge of indecision.

'Maybe we better hear what he has to say.' Yuuno suggested at last.

A/N: My first foray into fanfiction. There's some deviance from canon throughout, especially regarding details from Fate/Zero, but I think that's just part and parcel of the whole crossover thing.

I'm sure in the future I'll have more intelligible notes in the future, but for now I guess this is it.