trans_9 | Rewind [Semi-Open]

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Rewind [Semi-Open]

Nanoha loved sleeping next to Fate. She loved the way she could snuggle up against the taller girl with her fiancee's arms around her and feel warm and comfortable and like she belonged there. Cuddling with the blonde Enforcer was one of her favorite pastimes, and it was something they did every night.

Which is why Nanoha stirred uncomfortably, noticing in her sleep that the figure in her arms was most definitely not her Fate. And one dark eye cracked open...

...and Nanoha sat upright in her bed with a loud yelp. This couldn't be happening.

(ooc: Beginning of Fate's time-rewind. Feel free to tag either Nanoha or Fate after they split. Castmates can just come in at any time, otherwise ping us on AIM).

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That's not entirely untrue. The figure in bed with her was Fate! Just... Fate eight years younger than she should be.

She didn't seem that disturbed over Nanoha freaking out. Instead, all she did was curl up, burying her face in her pillow with a groan. After all, what seemed like only earlier today for her was spent taking (and failing) a very important exam, and sitting patiently by the bedside of a certain comatose friend until the nurses had to kick her out... she needed her sleep right now!

"Nnn... five more minutes..."

...there was no mistaking the girl. That was Fate, but Fate hadn't looked like that in almost a decade.

What was going on?

She reached out, very hesitantly, to tap the girl on the shoulder. "Fate-chan...?" For some reason, Nanoha suddenly felt very glad that they hadn't slept together the previous night.

That voice... that voice! Nanoha was awake!? Fate instantly bolted up, mentally kicking herself; she must have fallen asleep at the other girl's bedside, and oh man, she missed her waking up after several weeks!? What kind of best friend was she--

... Waaaait a minute. What was going on? "Nanoha...?"

Okay, don't panic, Nanoha. This sort of thing had happened before, hadn't it? It was the magic, in the city, and Fate had reverted to her younger body, but...

...she felt vaguely unclean for cuddling her like this, now. "Fate-chan, what's happened?" She blurted out. "You look like you're a child again!"

"I don't know what you're talking about..." Fate asked, frowning a little. "You're the one who looks different."

But... there was an odd sense of deja vu hitting her. Something like this had happened before, but... that couldn't be real, could it? It was probably a made-up memory created by her sleep deprived mind.

She shook her head, auburn hair going back and forth. "I don't look different, do I?" She glanced down at her body - no, it was her body in her pajamas. "But you..."

Okay, they could figure this out. "Do you remember anything happening in the night?"

"No..." She did remember something out of place... but it couldn't be true. She was older, probably the same age as Nanoha, and they were cuddling as they got ready for bed....

Y-Yeah, that definitely couldn't have been real, right? Even so, Fate's cheeks turned a little red.

"Just a lot of really weird dreams. I guess I've been working myself too hard lately..."

Nanoha couldn't help the momentarily crushed expression on her friend's face. "You don't... remember any of it? Fate-chan, what's the last thing you do remember?"

Any traces of a smile quickly faded from the young girl's face as she recalled the events from (what she thought was) the last week or so. Pushing aside the strange memory-like dreams, the last big thing that happened was...

"You were in the hospital..." Fate said, worry and hurt clear in her voice. "An enemy snuck up on you when you were on a mission with Vita, and I wasn't there to help..."

Nanoha's eyes turned into saucers, they were so wide. "W, what?! Fate-chan, that was almost ten years ago!"

It wasn't like she could have forgotten That Incident, after all. But now the pieces were falling into place... "You really don't remember anything else?"

Ten years? That couldn't be possible... Fate was sure there were probably Lost Logia out there that could manipulate time, but... that long?

The thought of missing out on ten years of (what she assumed were) wonderful memories with Nanoha and her other friends was a bit unsettling to poor Fate, but before she could start fretting, Nanoha's question brought those weird dreams to mind. She looked the same age as Nanoha in all of them... so was it possible they weren't just dreams?

"There are other things, but... I don't know if they're real or not."

After all, her memories of a time when Precia was her normal, kind self weren't her own. Who's to say these possible memories aren't made up?

Edited 2011-05-03 02:45 (UTC)

Nanoha shifted in their bed, moving so that she could take one of those small hands in hers, hoping against hope that Fate might understand. "I-- I promise they're real, Fate-chan. Please, believe me! Whatever's made you like this... I'm sure we'll have you back to normal in no time."

"If they're real..." Fate hesitated. She was still trying to sift through all these new (old?) memories, but one thing stuck out like a flame in the dark; the sight of her mother standing amongst a crowd of people dressed in the strange suits she vaguely remembered wearing once. The uncertainty that gripped her heart then clamped around her now, and her hand tightened around Nanoha's.

"Then that means... mother is here, isn't she?"

The mage tried to keep her expression even at the question, but she couldn't hide the flicker of mistrust - of genuine sadness that passed over her face.

"She is," Nanoha answered quietly, fingers lacing with Fate's. Had they really been this small? "Precia Testarossa is on board this ship."

"...but you can't go to her, Fate-chan. Not like this."

"Why not?" The hurt, nearly as bad as when she was recalling the aftermath of That Incident, was quite clear in the young girl's voice. "Mother... she didn't say or do anything bad the times I talked to her here. That means she changed... right?"

She would probably be afraid to confront her mother any other time, but those encounters... they had to be proof that whatever insanity that had taken over Precia was gone.

It broke Nanoha's heart to have to tell Fate this, to hear that pain in her voice, but she couldn't let the young, impressionable girl fall into the clutches of her mother again. Her grip tightened on Fate's hand as she shook her head. "I... I really wish it did, but I can't believe that."

"She didn't say or do anything bad because you were a grownup, Fate-chan. You're stronger now than she could have ever imagined. If she saw you like this, then..."

"That... that can't be the only reason..." She was different. She had to be! There wasn't a trace of the utter loathing in her voice or expression when they spoke. That had to be a good sign.

Fate knew Nanoha was just looking out for her. But her mother was alive, on the same ship as her, and probably of somewhat sounder mind than the last time they had seen each other. She couldn't just ignore her...

"It is," she insisted, her voice momentarily breaking. "Fate-chan, you have to believe me!"

"...please."

The young girl is silent for a few moments, but eventually she sighs. She loves her mother, and she would do anything to try to repair the bridges she burned... but she can't upset her precious friend, could she?

"Okay. I believe you..."

Not a hundred percent, but that's better than nothing at all.

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Rewind [Semi-Open]

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