Disclaimer: I do not own the Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha franchise. This story takes place during the ten year period between As and Strikers.

Classified

Suddenly I remember, how just yesterday
our shadows would overlap as we
walked back home

-"Evergreen," by Hitomi Takahashi

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Fate turns in her seat as the teacher dismisses her class, making eye contact with Nanoha. The brunette returns the kind gaze with a gentle smile and rises as the hustle and bustle of students running to after school activities overwhelms the class room. Arisa, Suzuka, and Hayate get to Fate's desk first though, surrounding her in a neat semi-circle.

"Ne, Fate-chan, you have to leave for a mission today, right?" asks Suzuka with curiosity as Fate slings her bag over her shoulder.

"Mm. Luckily it will be very short. I should only be missing two to three days of class."

Arisa blows out her cheeks in sympathy.

"Mou, you're gonna be digging yourself in an even deeper hole, Fate-chan. Hinamori-sensei is probably gonna give you a hard time when you get back. She is so unsympathetic about absent students-"

Her grumble is cut off as the teacher nonchalantly smacks Arisa in the back of her head with a folder as she walks out the door.

"One page essay due on Monday, Bannings-san. Make it about respect and honoring authority figures. Especially if they are young and have good hearing!"

As the teacher leaves, the group bursts into a fit of giggles as Arisa huffily crosses her arms over her chest in exasperation. Fate turns her head slightly and her gaze lingers just a little too long on Nanoha as the girl hides her laugh behind her hand, eyes closed in mirth. She swallows as her eyes lower for an instant, dropping down from the other girl's eyes to her mouth...

"Fate-chan, what're you staring at with such intensity, hmm?" Fate blinks at the playfully worded question and blushes as she stares at her desk.

"N-nothing, Hayate."

"Mou, don't embarrass Fate-chan, Hayate-chan!" Nanoha protests, wrapping her arms around Fate's neck from behind. Instantly her back is blanketed in a comforting warmth and a scent that is distinctly Nanoha's fills her nose. She relaxes into the touch and blushes for a different reason.

When she stands as the group begins to trickle out of the room, Nanoha shifts her grip on Fate to a loose hand hold. Fate smiles at the gesture and offers the girl a gentle squeeze. They trail behind their three friends as Arisa and Hayate get in an animated discussion about where they should hang out when all of them have free time.

"What exactly will you be doing during your mission?"

Fate frowns slightly at the words.

"Classified," she mumbles softly, glancing at Nanoha out of the corner of her eye. Of course the girl is not affronted by the word, merely shrugging in understanding.

"Oh okay. You'll be safe, won't you, Fate-chan?"

She nods fiercely at the question.

"Mm, I will. After I come back we can go do something."

"Like a date?" Nanoha teases, as she tangles their fingers playfully together. The blonde flushes at the words and bites her lip. She is trying to get over how embarrassed she feels whenever her burgeoning relationship with the brunette is mentioned. But still the thought of being with Nanoha makes her so happy that her chest could burst.

"Yeah. Maybe we can share a coffee in the park again?"

"And not have the Wolkenwritter, Hayate-chan, Arisa-chan, and Suzuka-chan spying on us?" Nanoha asks in exasperation. Fate chuckles quietly as she recalls their first date, barely two weeks ago. They had been just casually sharing a coffee and as Fate wrapped her new blue scarf securely around Nanoha's shivering neck she caught the unmistakable gleam of the lens of a camera. Needless to say Hayate had gotten an earful from Nanoha although Fate was more embarrassed than anything.

"Sure. But you should bring an extra scarf. I don't want you getting a cold," Fate murmurs worriedly. As they all change their shoes at their shoe lockers Nanoha lets go of her hand, balancing against a row of lockers as she slips on her outdoor shoes. However she sways a bit as if she's losing her balance and Fate is there in an instant, arm wrapped securely around her waist. Their eyes lock for a brief moment and Fate realizes their faces are so close she can see the flecks in Nanoha's slate blue eyes. She feels a panic rising in her as she worries about Nanoha, wondering if the incident from a few years ago is causing any problems in the girl's ability to balance properly.

"Oi, idiot couple, stop being so embarrassing in public!" hollers Arisa as she cups her hands around her mouth.

Nanoha merely laughs as she slings an arm around Fate's neck and finishes slipping her other shoe on.

"Thanks, Fate-chan."

"Always, Nanoha."

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Fate shifts from foot to foot as the elevator rises. She is dressed in her neat black enforcer uniform, having left Uminari a few hours ago. Her mind is now honed on the mission ahead as the elevator dings open and she strides forward with a clack of her shiny heels. Nodding to a few acquaintances in the hallways she arrives at her superior's office. She knocks twice on the door and enters when she hears a soft reply.

Head Enforcer Corolla Wells sits straight in her desk, her cropped blonde hair tucked neatly behind her ears. Her uniform is immaculate as is her work space, making Fate slightly nervous as she sits in the chair in front of the desk. She constantly worries that she'll make the room dirty just by breathing there.

Corolla gives Fate a thin smile as she folds her hands on the table.

"Fate-san, I am assuming you are saying yes to this extra work? I do understand if you wish to say no."

"No, ma'am. I really would like to help in this particular case."

The older woman purses her lips as she studies the teenager in front of her. She's too young to face so many burdens and demons.

"Very well. All necessary information has been sent to your device. You are dismissed Enforcer Harlaown." With a curt salute, Fate leaves the room eyes hardening in determination. She does not hear Corolla's sympathetic sigh.

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"Thank you so much for coming today, Enforcer."

"Mm, it's really no problem, ma'am."

The slim woman smiles weakly as they walk from the entrance of the TSAB's Special Child Care Center. Fate's hands tighten into fists as she observes the bland white hallways and painfully bright fluorescent lighting. It resembles a psychiatric ward more than a rehabilitation center for youth mages.

"He... has been rather uncooperative despite any sort of aid we have tried to provide. And because he was a ... product of the artificial mage project we are obligated to report any escalating problems to the bureau."

Fate's mouth tightens into a thin line as the woman pulls a card from her pocket, swiping it through a sensor. The enforcer begins to walk forward but is stopped by the woman's hand.

"Enforcer Harlaown, what we do here is for Erio-kun's best interest. We have done nothing but try to help him."

Straightening her shoulders Fate gazes calmly into the woman's sincere green eyes.

"I will keep that in mind, Dr. Kraz. Please let us continue."

And with that they walk forward. Fate frowns in confusion as they are met with another door in front of them as the door they had just opened closes.

"It's to make the room absolutely sound proof," explains Dr. Kraz as she swipes her card on the new door. And as the door opens Fate understands why. She instantly hears the moans and cries of a distinctly male boy. It is muffled but still very much audible. She grinds her teeth as she strides forward. To her right sealed by thick glass is a small red-headed boy thrashing and yelling as a swarm of doctors try to subdue him. She starts at his bright blue eyes which practically roll into the back of his head as he cries out. Fate turns sharply to Dr. Kraz who is staring at the boy with a concentration devoid of any sympathy or compassion.

"What are you doing to him that is causing him to act like this?"

"Absolutely nothing. All we have been trying to do is rehabilitate him. However he is... damaged. Some doctors argue that he is mentally damaged beyond repair."

Fate stiffens at the words as she watches the boy. Bits and pieces of the file she read on her way to the facility flit through her mind. Erio Mondial. Clone of a rich couple's dead son. Experimented on illegally. Uncooperative. Driven insane?

She feels herself drawn forward as she takes a few steps toward the glass. Something in her heart clenches as she raises her fingertips to the glass, pressing them against the cool surface. She was like this boy. Broken and abandoned. What makes her so different from him, she wonders as she observes his frightening display.

"I'm going to try to communicate with him," she murmurs calmly.

"W-what? Enforcer, that's too dangerous! He is a mage, he could seriously hurt you!"

Fate shakes her head at the words and gestures for her entrance into Erio's room. With a huff the doctor strides toward the side door made of fortified titanium. Pressing a button she accesses a keypad with which she types in a complicated code. A whirr and whoosh fills the room and then the door cracks open.

"Thank you," Fate says as she slides past the door. And she is in Erio's domain.

She winces at first as his screams pierce her ear drums without any glass or titanium door muffling the sharp sound. But his cries cease as his attention becomes honed on her. The four doctors stare at her in blatant disbelief.

"Who are you?!" he yells, teeth bared viciously. A doctor prevents him from lunging toward her but she doesn't flinch. She sees a crackle of electricity and she cannot help but think back to a nine year old blonde girl pressing a electrically charge scythe to a young brunette's throat.

Swallowing she gets down on one knee and solemnly gazes at Erio.

"My name is Fate Testarossa Harlaown. I am an enforcer working for the TSAB-"

"Get out! I don't wanna ever hear that name again!" He thrashes under the hold of the doctors again.

"Please Harlaown-san, this isn't safe," cries a doctor, his forehead creased in worry.

But Fate cannot abandon this child. As she stares at him her heart hurts. She was this boy.

"Erio, you can't get angry at people like that," she murmurs gently, smiling at him.

"Shut up," he screeched, eyes blazing with fury, "this has NOTHING to do with YOU!"

The rage she sees. The latent hatred he so clearly feels. It makes her feel such a wave of nausea. Because this is like a flashback to the past. As she gazes into his angry eyes she sees a bit of her old self. The old Fate Testarossa who was hated by her mother and could never amount to the memory of her dead sister. But she ignores the way her hands feel clammy and her head pounds. It's almost like she goes on autopilot as she speaks to boy. Even as she grips his hand as crackling electricity hits her body she still is numb. She still has a smile. Her words are true. Her voice is kind. And as she feels Erio sob weakly against her chest she realizes what she said must have gotten through to him. But her eyes darken as she grips his shoulder.

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She's sitting in her bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. It has been two days since her encounter with Erio. She finds the past few days like the fast forwarding of a movie. It's fast enough so that she cannot remember what happened in detail but slow enough so that she can see images and recollect generally what she did. She barely recalls asking Lindy to be Erio's guardian so that he could join the Harlaown family. She doesn't even really remember getting dismissed from Corolla's office.

Fate sighs and covers her face with her hands, wincing as rough bandages rub against her cheeks. The burns are still healing. But it's worth it because Erio is mentally in a better state. Right? He is better off being with someone who understand his situation.

And can fall back into such despair just as easily.

Yes but she overcame that. Nanoha gave her that hand of friendship and salvation, Lindy-san adopted her, Hayate and the Wolkenwritter befriended her-

But they only know her now. How truly do they all know her heart, so black and stained with the wrongness of her impossible creation.

She moans as she shifts to her side, facing the wall. Such thoughts have not plagued her for a long time. Honestly she had almost forgotten that she was a clone. A fake. An artificial mage. A failure.

Suddenly her thoughts are interrupted by the creak of her door opening. She continues to resolutely stare in front of her, tensing.

"Fate-chan?"

That voice does so much to her in the moment. Her eyes almost well up with tears. Shakily she rises, sitting up. She turns and sees Nanoha timidly standing in the doorway to her room. They watch each other for a long moment, haunted burgundy gazing forlornly into worried slate blue.

Finally Fate watches Nanoha's eyes drop to her hands bunched tightly in her sheets.

"Fate-chan." Her grip on the fabric lessens and she ducks her head. There is silence for a long moment before she feels Nanoha sit next to her on the bed, their shoulders pressed together warmly. A gentle hand touches her fingers that are now resting in her lap, lightly stroking the rough bandages with soft caresses.

"I was worried, when I heard you had come home yet you didn't come to see me."

Fate says nothing as her hand is flipped palm up and fingers trace over the bandages criss crossing the still charred skin.

"And then it concerned me even more when you didn't come to school today."

The words stir something in Fate and she frowns.

"School was today?" she asks quietly, turning slightly to face Nanoha. The other girl presses her lips together, eyes gleaming in clear worry.

"It was."

"Oh. I must have forgotten. Or maybe I told Kaa-san that I was not feeling well."

Nanoha sighs as she reaches forward, brushing a finger along Fate's cheek. However, the girl flinches at the contact. The action makes Nanoha bite her lip and look sharply away.

"Fate-chan, what exactly happened at the mission?"

"Classi-"

She is silenced by a shake of the head.

"Lindy-san told me about her new guardianship of Erio-kun."

Fate swallows and her gaze drops down to her lap.

"Then why are you asking me what happened if you already know?"

"Because I can't help you unless you tell me what's wrong."

The frustration is so palpable in Nanoha's voice that she winces. You can never satisfy her. You can never make her happy. You're just a failed clone. You're-

"Fate." She gazes up sharply at the urgently whispered word.

And it is with Nanoha's sincerity and loving persistence that she finally tries to describe what she feels.

"Did Lindy-san tell you Erio's history?"

"She said he was from the TSAB's Special Child Care unit. You wanted to adopt him but because you're only sixteen you asked her to take guardianship instead."

She nods in response to the factual statement. But Lindy had left out a key piece of information. Fate cannot help her slight trembling as her hands ball into fists.

"Erio Mondial is an artificial mage." When those words escape her lips it all feels like too much suddenly. She wraps her arms around herself, loathing how weak she is acting. She is absolutely overwhelmed by everything.

Nanoha's eyes widen in alarm and she bites her lip, uncertainty creasing her features. But she is silent and does not move forward to try to touch her. And Fate feels absolute shame because she does not deserve the kindness that Nanoha is giving her.

She hunches forward and covers her face with her hands. The emotions and thoughts that had been suppressed and glossed over the past few days hit her at full force.

"I saw myself in Erio. He was so angry and so sad and hurt. And even as I reassured him that he was a good person and deserved to be loved I wondered to myself how much of that I believed. Because we are not real people. We are just clones of real things. Just imperfect copies."

"Fate-chan."

"I wanted Mother to love me, Nanoha. But I couldn't because I wasn't Alicia. I wasn't what she wanted! So how do I know that I'm wanted? How do I know I deserve to be loved?" She looks up fiercely at Nanoha. The sight before her shocks her. Nanoha's eyes gleam with unshed tears. She looks so hurt that any words Fate was about to say are choked in her throat. She crawls forward and worriedly grips Nanoha's hands.

"Nanoha, why are you crying?"

The girl sniffs and gives her a watery smile.

"Fate-chan why are you so kind to everyone yet so harsh to yourself?"

She blanches at the question, confused. Nanoha gives her a long look before she leans forward, pressing their foreheads together.

"You love me so much yet you feel this way about yourself," she murmurs sadly, eyes framed with tears. Fate quickly wipes away the wetness, forehead creasing.

"Nanoha."

"It makes me so sad that you feel this way, Fate-chan. It hurts that you cannot see that everyone loves you and feels you are an irreplaceable and unique person deserving of happiness."

Fate blinks at the words and shakes her head slowly, starting to pull away. The action makes Nanoha place her hands on the other girl's cheeks, holding her in place.

"Just because you were originally someone's copy doesn't mean you can't live for yourself and be your own person."

And it's in that moment she breaks. She drops her head into the other girl's lap, wrapping her arms around Nanoha's waist as she tightly holds her close. The other girl's response is hands running through her long blonde hair, giving her the loving comfort she needs. She doesn't realize she's crying until she feels a dampness on the fabric of Nanoha's skirt that was not there before. And the whole while those hands do not cease running through her hair. The words of soft comfort and loving affirmation never stop. With the tender care of Nanoha her emotional wounds are stitched together once again.

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"Ne, Fate-chan?" They are tangled together on the bed, Nanoha curled into Fate's chest with the girl's arms wrapped securely around her.

"Mm?"

"In a way, isn't Erio-kun your child now?"

The thought causes Fate to pull back from the embrace and gaze into curious blue.

"I suppose. But Lindy-Kaa-san is the real guardian."

"In name."

Fate tilts her head in confusion, struggling to figure out where Nanoha is going with her questioning. As if reading her mind the other girl laughs softly at the puzzled look on the blonde's face and snuggles closer .

"It's just I think you would be a great mother."

Fate swallows at the words and tries not to hear the crack of a whip. Luckily the dark thought is eradicated by a soft kiss pressed against her collar bone.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Someday when we're older I would like..." the girl trails off and instead laughs weakly against the crook of Fate's neck.

"Like what?"

"To raise children with you. Someday." They gaze at each other and Fate smiles at the adorable blush coloring the brunette's cheeks.

"I would like to raise children with Nanoha, too. Someday."

And then they pull each other closer again, smiling at the warmth and comfort they share.

A/N Well it's been awhile! I have been playing with the idea of posting a nanofate fic since the new movie came out. I was debating whether to write a fic about Nanoha's accident or Fate's encounter with Erio. It seems my love for nanofate has only gotten stronger since I first started reading about them four years ago. I hope you enjoyed the fic!