Magic, of a Sort

[Adyen]

A surprise fanfic, celebrating something that I will mention in the author's note below. Enjoy, but don't expect anything quick since anyone who knows my writing habit knows that I only write when I feel like it.
The air above the shoreline of Uminari City was a beautiful blue, with distant clouds floating aimlessly in the sky. The natural beauty of view was disrupted by sudden flashes of yellow and pink lights, clashing against each other in a symphony of speed and power.
Loud explosions could be heard across the shoreline, but luckily for those creating those sounds, nobody but a ferret and a large dog was near. Nobody, that is, until a cloaked young man approached the spot where the ferret and dog was worrying about their respective charges.
“Let’s see if you take this variation of my Divine Buster…” A young girl in white said, as her staff called out the name of the attack: Starlight Breaker.
Motes of pink energy started to converge in front of the young brunet in white, a intricate design of magic appearing between her and her opponent. She lifted her staff and looked at her opposite: A young blond dressed in a shredded black robe and tight-fitting combat outfit, staring at the attack in half shock and half fear.
As the ball of energy continued to collect, the blond tried to move, but quickly found herself in a bind, almost the same as the one she had just used on her brunette opponent. She only had time to state the obvious before her the white-clothed mage spoke again.
“This is everything that I have…” she declared before bringing down her staff, calling the attack’s name: “Starlight.. BREAKER!”
All the observers of the fight could only watch wide-eyed as the attack seem to exploded forwards in a overwhelming wave of energy, completely overcoming any defenses her opponent had and consuming her entire form within the pink energy. The blast shot into the ocean, causing a huge wave that seemed almost as tall as a skyscraper from the shockwave caused by the attack. Even then, the light from the explosion was powerful enough to pierce through the curtain of water, creating a scene terrifyingly beautiful to the viewers.
“Holy shit.” The young man said, watching the explosion of water and magical energies. The phrase seemed to have startled the ferret and dog-like creature out of their astonished glares, as they quickly… well, growled would be a good word to describe their actions.
“Who are you?” The ferret asked, the dog(?) barred her teeth at the young man.
“Whoa. Calm down.” The young man, lowering his hood to reveal sandy-brown hair that was almost red in bright lights, quickly said, not wanting to provoke whatever those two animal-beings. “I was just passing by when I felt a huge spike of magical energy… Though I really didn’t expect this.”
The ferret looked uncertainly at him, but decided that since he wasn’t acting hostile, they could trust him for now. “Well, hopefully this is the end and Fate will be alright. I’m Yuno Scrya, and this is Arf. You?”
The young man gave a roguish grin and his brown eyes seemed to twinkle in mirth. “Me? I’m called Nagi Springfield, at your service.”
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AN: To celebrate that Nahoha StrikeS is coming out in 2007, I have decided to write this fic! Rejoice, as this was originally an original character idea (with some obscure character that had tampered with Linker Core Expansion tests and messed up), but I decided that I needed a bit more ideas so I figured, ‘Why not add someone who nobody has any idea of, yet has a lot of ideas on?’. Thus, I decided to try to add Nagi into it, since what fun would it be if I started messing around with someone with a… light personality as Nagi Springfield?
A little review on what people think about this idea would apperciated. Obviously, there's not enough to comment about the entire thing, but I'd like to know how people feel about this before I consider the next steps.
Note: I'd just like to say that this fic, Magic, of a Sort, will not be featuring Nagi much until nearly the end of MLNanoha, as this starts at the middle of episode 11. The things that happen during 11 to the end of 12 is a very short time (dispite taking two episodes), so I'll probably start at the lull of the beginning of episode 13, and then jump right into A's, with a few flashbacks to show what happens during that time.
Needless to say, A's with Nagi is going to be quite interesting... Afterwards, well, there's still the reason why Nagi is wandering the multi-verse, and what's happening with Negi... (for those wondering, this is happening approx. around the same time Negi first arrived at Mahora).

[Ahye]

“Let’s see if you take this variation of my Divine Buster…” A young girl in white said, as her staff called out the name of the attack: Starlight Breaker.

The staff called out the name of the attack? A talking weapon would certainly startle me.

[Adyen]

Yup. Raging Heart is an Intellegent Device, which, as the name implies, has the capability to speak (somewhat).
And thanks for reminding me that italics did not carry over from Word. *goes fix that*

[Adyen]

Ok, here's a part of the chapter 1 that I've started on. Should I just go all the way to the point of Fate and Nanoha's 6-month seperation, or should I leave that for the beginning of chapter 2?
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It was with the knowledge that her battle with Fate Testarossa had finished that Takamachi Nanoha returned to her home in Nakaoka town. She had left early in the morning to visit her family before going to her school, wishing to meet her friends as soon as possible.
As she sat in class, she glanced out to the bright sky and wondered how Fate was doing, and when will they meet again. Nanoha believed that they were friends now, and hoped to introduce her to Alisa and Suzuka in the near future.
Even though a lot of things has happened, and there were many changes in her life, Nanoha can’t help but feel that her adventures as a magical girl seemed to have happened in a blink of an eye.
But, even if things change, some things will remain the same. Right now, she didn’t have to worry about Lost Logia or magic or anything else, as she’s just living her normal life. She can talk with her friends, catch up with school work, and when she gets home, have a home-made meal from her mother before going to bed.
Though honestly, she's looking forwards to sleeping at home most. She just realized that she hasn’t slept in her own bed for a while.
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Magic, of a Sort
Chapter 1: Enter Nagi Springfield
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The first sound that greeted Nanoha when she entered the Takamachi household was her father’s laughter. A loud “I’m Home!” broke whatever conversation was happening inside, and had Yuno scrambling out from the living room and on to Nanoha’s shoulder.
“Nanoha! We got a little problem…” The ferret started before shutting up due to the rest of the family coming out, as well as an additional person she barely remember seeing after her final fight with Fate.
The young man, Nanoha guessed his age to be around mid to high twenties, had a weird hair-style that had his almost reddish hair spiking out from both sides of his head. He was wearing a simple black T-Shirt and had a rather amused look as he studied Nanoha and Yuno, clearly remembering their encounter two days ago.
“Nanoha! Welcome home!” Her mother Momoko greeted as she gave her daughter a hug. “Your father has an old friend who’s visiting us today.”
“Nanoha, meet Nagi Springfield. Nagi, this is my daughter Nanoha.” Takamachi Shiro said with a proud grin.
While Nanoha stuttered to figure out what she should say in a situation like this, Nagi swept forwards and kneeled down to kiss the girl’s hand with the elegance of a knight kissing his lady’s fingers.
“I see that Shiro did not over-exaggerate your beauty.” He said with a smooth voice, his amusement easily heard and seen on his face.
“Nagi! Don’t you dare!” Shiro laughed as he pulled the young man up. “I know you’re a lady killer, but I didn’t know you were a cradle robber as well!”
Nanoha blushed while Nagi just laughed and stood back up. “Well, I can’t help it if the ladies just fall for me naturally.” He joked as Nanoha’s family returned to the kitchen with Nagi in tow.
Nanoha stood in shock for a moment before grabbing Yuno-Ferret and asking (quietly), “Yuno? What’s going on? Do they know…” She pointed at Raising Heart with her free hand while glancing towards the direction everyone went.
The ferret shook its head (or tried to anyways). “No, that Nagi person hasn’t said anything, but…”
“Nanoha? How long are you going to stand by the doorway?” Nanoha’s older sister asked in an amused tone of voice.
“I’m coming!” Nanoha quickly replied before taking off her shoes and quickly entering the kitchen/dining room area.
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The rest of the afternoon passed excruciating slow for both Yuno and Nanoha. Nagi seemed to take delight in pretending to start about Nanoha’s magical abilities, before changing the subject completely. With him staying for dinner, Nanoha suffered through nearly four hours of on and off shock from Nagi’s joking tone of voice.
She did learn quite a bit about him, though. Nagi Springfield seemed to have been a friend of her father’s from his body-guarding days, and had saved him from a tight-spot that could have really ended badly for him. She learned that he’s been traveling the world and generally enjoying himself on different sights and sounds.
“He might be a dimensional traveler.” Yuno had whispered to her.
Whatever the case, Nagi was going to spend the night in the guest room and that gave her the chance to talk with him alone.
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After a few hesitant starts, Nanoha finally managed to ask, “So, you’re not going to tell my family about Yuno and.. uh… other things?”
Nagi lifted an eyebrow in amusement as he repeated, “’Other things’? You mean, you pouring out enough magical energy to level a few skyscrapers or Yuno here able to speak?”
Nanoha blushed before nodding.
“You mean, your family doesn’t know you’re a mage?” Nagi curiously asked.
Nanoha shook her head. “I… well, Yuno’s the one who gave me Raising Heart. It’s really not that long ago since I started using magic to seal the Jewel Seeds. How about you, Nagi? Are you a mage?”
Laughing lightly, and thinking back at the ridiculously over-powered blast of energy he saw a few days ago, he nodded. “Well, I don’t see any harm admitting it. How long do you mean by ‘not that long ago’?” He asked curiously.
Nanoha placed a finger to her lips and thought hard about it. “Ummm… Two months ago?” She half-thought, half-asked Yuno, trying to pin-point exactly when she received Raising Heart. “Even though it’s been a short time, I feel like it’s been forever since I had Raising Heart.”

Nagi blinked in semi shock. Two months and she could throw spells of that magnitude? While still trying to digest the news, he asked, “What’s Raising Heart?” He had a sneaking suspicion that it may be something he’s been looking for…
Yuno spoke up at that. “Raising Heart is Nanoha’s staff.” The ferret placed a paw on the red gem hanging that hung from a chain around Nanoha’s neck.
“Yuno gave it to me, and it allowed me to become a magical girl.” Nanoha added with a smile as she lifted the gem in her palm. The red gem gleamed lightly at Nanoha’s mention, but didn’t make any sound.
“Is that an Intelligent Device?” Nagi asked curiously, moving his head closer to get a better look. Too bad it was in its resting mode and thus looked like a normal red gem.
“Yes, it is. Why?” Yuno asked, rather curious himself about Nagi’s interest.
“I’ve been looking all around for one of those!” Nagi exclaimed. “I’ve heard that they make spell-casting a cinch, compared to using wands and other devices. Especially if you like making spells up on the fly or like something flexible to reinforce your own abilities. It seems like there’s at least SOME truth in it, or else someone without any spell-casting experience like Nanoha here wouldn’t be able to throw something like that last spell by the sea in two months!”
Nagi laughed to himself while Nanoha, who didn’t quite know whether that’s true or not, and Yuno, who couldn’t cast a spell like the Starlight Breaker anyways, just sweat-dropped and tried to figure out what kind of person Nagi is.
“So, Yuno,” Nagi asked, suddenly quite serious, “do you know where I can find an intelligent device that’s unclaimed? I’ve been looking for one for quite a while now.”
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NA: From what I could figure, dates in Nanoha are completely messed up. You can actually see some part of the date on the blackboard for episode 3, which seem to hint that it’s the 5th or 6th month. However, episode 5 mentions consecutive holidays, and since it was not snowing, it’s most likely the Golden Week (near the end of April to the beginning of May).
However, episode 7 gives a specific date of April 27, which makes it impossible for that having been the Golden Week. Assuming that they take around two weeks to finish off the rest of the first series (10 days after going up to the Asura, 2 for the fight over the ocean and consiquences, then 2 more for Nanoha/Fate’s fight plus the end of the ‘flying fotress’ and cleanup), that would end the series at May 12th plus a few days for Fate and Nanoha to say goodbye.
Hayate’s Book of Darkness activated on the night of June 3rd, though it wasn’t until December 1st that the events of A’s actually started – that leaves a gap of nearly 6 months, as mentioned from a comment made by Nanoha’s family that it’s been nearly half a year since Nanoha first met Fate. I’m not inclined to cut into Negi’s storyline without Fate (nor would I think Nanoha be willing to leave Fate alone…), so we’ll see what happens with someone taught by Nagi for 6 months on and off.