A/N: Well, here's the last chapter, the big sha-bang. Enjoy. :) Please do read the note at the end.
Reviews:
L4a: Who's Zafira? ...Joke, joke. xD And... zomg! It's the LAST CHAPTER!
Riddly: :D! I'm so glad you're enjoying it. I've actually never read the Nanoha manga, I just saw that caption once. But I do desperately want to read it. Know of any place I can get it? xD Anyway, I hope you like fic overall! I'll be writing more stories soon! 8D
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Chapter Four
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The clock on Vita's nightstand started ringing, as it did everyday at 5:30 A.M. And like every other day, the red-haired knight groaned. She lazily shifted her arm around, eventually finding the clock and slamming down the button.
Slowly, she got out of bed, and dressed herself in her brown TSAB uniform. The day started out like every other for her, but for Nanoha, there was no real difference between the afternoon of yesterday and today. She was just laying on the hospital bed, waiting for what would happen to her. How much of a coma is she actually in? Vita wondered to herself. Can she hear at all? Can she think? Or is it just like sleeping? And if it's like sleeping, I wonder if she can dream...
Vita shook off her thoughts and headed out of her room, walking the long distance between her quarters and the intensive care unit. When she got there, there were already a doctor and two nurses.
"Ah, you're Vita, right?" One of the nurses asked. "We were just about to call you."
"Why? Is Nanoha awake?" Vita said, excitement welling up inside her.
"...No. My apologies..."
Vita's little balloon of hope popped. "Then what's up?"
"We'll explain in a minute. We called her other friends."
"Is she okay?"
The nurse opened her mouth to speak, when Fate, Hayate, and the rest of the Wolkenritter entered the room.
"Guys," Vita said, walking over to them, "what's going on?"
Shamal hugged her. "Vita, I'm sorry," she said, her voice shaking.
Vita looked around. "Why? Shamal, what's going on?"
The doctor turned to the group. "This is the part I hate about being a doctor." He sighed. "Miss Takamachi... isn't going to get better. She isn't going to wake up."
The group was shocked into silence, so he continued. "We consulted many others about this, all professionals... she just doesn't have the strength to pull out of this. Therefore, instead of just keeping her on this life support..."
"No!" Vita said, realizing what he was getting at. "No! You can't do that! She'll die!" She turned to Shamal. "Shamal! Shamal, please, do something! You're a doctor!"
Shamal was crying. "I tried everything I could Vita, I'm so sorry..."
"Please don't do this!" Vita said to the doctor. "Just keep her alive! She'll wake up, I know it!"
The doctor looked down, clearly not pleased with this result either. "Miss, I truly am sorry, but –"
It occurred to Vita that not only were she and Shamal crying, but so were Fate and Hayate. "But we need her! And I'm sure Nanoha would want to stay here! She'll wake up, please!" She ran over to Nanoha's bed. "Nanoha! Nanoha, come on, wake up!"
Fate and Hayate followed her over. The blonde took Nanoha's hand, and Hayate placed her hand on Vita's shoulder, kneeling next to her.
Nanoha... It's my fault this is happening, I didn't come with you...
Nanoha, this is all my fault, I wish I had been a stronger person...
Nanoha... I'm so sorry... it was my mistake. I didn't protect you...
"Is... is everyone ready?" One of the nurses said, her hand on the plug.
Vita buried her face in the covers, and Hayate hugged her. Fate squeezed harder on Nanoha's hand, closing her eyes. They just couldn't watch.
They heard a small gasp, then sounds of everything shutting down.
"...Come on, you guys can't look like that if you were about to see a friend off... right...?"
Three heads instantly turned their direction of the voice, and found two blue eyes looking at them with a small smile.
"N... Nanoha, Nanoha!" The girls hugged her immediately, forgetting she had bandages and bruises and cuts all over her. Nanoha's face brightened, and the tears of sadness from seconds ago turned into those of joy.
"Nanoha..." they all said her name a few more times, others crowding around the bed. "Nanoha, how did you do it?" Fate asked.
Nanoha smiled. "It was simple."
They all stared at her, waiting for an answer.
"I have people here I need to stay with. People that I love and care about. I just couldn't let myself leave all that behind, could I?"
She was embraced once more. "Oh, Nanoha!"
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"It's truly amazing."
"About Nanoha?"
Signum nodded, walking down the hall. "How many thought she wouldn't make it again?"
"Every doctor we asked," Shamal replied. "Everyone who had knowledge about this."
"What about her mobility? Will she walk or fly, do you think?"
"We thought definitely no for both of those, but with that will of hers, who knows? If she was able to pull out of that coma, I'd think probably."
Signum gave one of her rare smiles. "I think she'll get it into the girls' heads that they shouldn't blame themselves."
Shamal smiled back. "I sure hope so."
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Fate sat next to Nanoha, supporting her up.
"Grab onto the bars, please," the nurse said holding onto the end of the walker."
Nanoha took some deep breathes. Even with Fate's help, just sitting up took a lot out of her. She could move her legs alright (even thought it hurt), but who knows if they'd support her? She took hold of the bars.
"Now pull yourself up."
Nanoha did so, Fate still holding her up. She stood with Fate's support, not yet trying to get her legs to stand her up.
"Please let go of her."
Fate looked nervously at Nanoha, who managed a smile back. "It's okay. Let go."
Fate did so, and Nanoha instantly fell on the floor.
"Nanoha!" The blonde said, kneeling next to her. She took her arms to pull her up.
"No!" Nanoha said suddenly, surprising Fate. "I'm fine. Let me do it."
She slowly let go of her and stood. Vita and Hayate watched from the other side of the room.
Nanoha raised her arms to the lower bars of the walker, grabbing onto them. Very slowly, she pulled her torso up. She shifted her legs under her, and pushed up with her feet. She managed to get herself up a little more, then gasped and gave out because of the pain.
"Nanoha!" Fate said again, kneeling to her side once more. "Nanoha..."
Nanoha breathed heavily, and looked at Fate. "Let me try once more."
Fate pulled away once again, and Nanoha took hold of the bars. Very slowly she pulled herself up into a sort of bent standing position. Shutting her eyes from the pain, she attempted to straighten out her knees and put more of the weight on her legs rather than her walker, and managed to almost stand up completely straight for a second, before crying out in the pain once more and falling onto the bed behind her.
"That's excellent, you can stand up," The nurse said.
Nanoha opened her eyes. "Heh... you think so...?" She said between deep breathes.
"Things can only get better from here." She smiled. "I'll leave this in here in case you want to try again. But don't do it without someone around, alright?"
Nanoha nodded. "Okay. Thank you."
The nurse smiled again and left.
"Nanoha... do you think..." Hayate began to say.
Nanoha nodded. "Yeah. I'll walk again."
The four girls all smiled. "How do you feel other than that?" Fate asked.
"A little sore," Nanoha said. Okay, maybe more than "a little..." "I guess it'll take a while, but I'll get better."
The other three looked down, silently blaming themselves once again.
"Hey, hey, don't feel bad about it," Nanoha said, almost reading their thoughts. "It's my fault anyway."
They looked at her, surprised.
"I... I need to learn to take it easy," Nanoha continued. "I just overdid it too much, for too long."
"Nanoha..." Fate began.
"Fate, it's not because you didn't come with me. You couldn't have known it was that bad. It was supposed to be a five-minute thing. And Hayate," Nanoha said, looking at her, "don't ever blame yourself over the Book of Darkness. I had to use the Excelion mode to hold up against the old Reinforce, and there's nothing you could have done about that."
Everyone was silent.
"...And Vita."
Vita looked up at her suddenly.
"This wasn't your fault either.
"B-but, I –"
"That bot that stabbed me was under an invisibility spell!" Nanoha said. "And you had gone to get another that was coming up to us, right?"
The red-haired girl just stared at her.
"I just didn't react fast enough." She paused. "Come here."
Vita blinked, but did so.
"Promise me you'll stop blaming yourself for this." Nanoha said, putting her hand on Vita's shoulder.
"I... I promise."
Nanoha smiled and hugged her. "Thank you."
Vita hugged her back, and the two broke away when the door opened.
"I'm sorry to bother you all," Shamal said, "but the higher-ups wanted to have a meeting about the whole incident, and I came to get you..."
"Oh, alright," Fate said. She gave Nanoha a hug. "I'll come once this is done, okay?"
"Me too," Hayate added.
Nanoha smiled. "Okay."
And with that, the three girls left, leaving Nanoha alone.
She sighed, picking up the red jewel from her bedside table. "I guess I really messed up... huh, Raising Heart...?"
There was no response from the gem.
"That's okay though. I'm going to get better, and we'll be back in action in no time."
"Alright, my master."
She tied the device around her neck, and smiled. It was nice to have it back there.
In spite of what the nurse said earlier, Nanoha grabbed the bars and pulled herself up. This time, she stood up completely straight, before falling back onto the bed again.
After a couple breathes, she took hold of the bars once again. I've got to keep trying. For Fate... for Hayate... and for Vita.
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The four walked to the meeting. "You're all going to see Nanoha again after this, right?" Shamal asked.
Hayate smiled. "Yeah."
"Even though the nurse told her not to, I bet she's in there trying to stand up again," Fate said.
Shamal nodded. "Knowing her, yes. I just hope she doesn't work herself too hard."
Vita was silent, lost in her own thoughts. It might not be my fault... but never again. I won't let something like that happen to you ever again, Nanoha. I promise.
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"I will always be by your side, I will stay by you whenever it may be.
Even if everything in this world is your enemy, I will be a shield to only you.
Before I knew it, my tears light up tomorrow, towards the sun of miracles.
I have already gone, because there is something I can protect."
- "Pray," Nana Mizuki
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The end.
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A/N: The end! Yay! Well, I hope you all enjoyed. Definitely more Nanoha stories to come. I'm surprised this fic ended up being focused on Vita a lot of the time, because I hadn't intended that from the beginning. I still loved writing this, and I hope you loved reading it just as much! So until next time,
- Medli