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Hey folks! Just a reminder before the story - there's one day left on the suggestions for next month's story poll window, so make sure to get yours in in time!

This piece is a commission from a friend who shares a fondness for the Nanoha, and I was really happy to work on such a fun idea - hope you enjoy!

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Across the wide dimensional sea, many wonders awaited. Some big, some small, and all special in their own way. Even the great TSAB didn’t know them all – its reach across the oceans only extended as far as their knowledge allowed, and new discoveries were happening every day.

But just as massive wonders existed out there in the cosmos, so too did great threats. The stars could be a very dangerous place, with worlds or civilisations that were rather hostile to the incautious. And there was always the chance of a remnant of a forgotten civilisation causing chaos – a Lost Logia, as they were known, magical or technological artifacts of great power which could surface randomly in the universe, and generally cause quite a big mess when they did so.

Which was why the TSAB had specific units for tracking down Lost Logia and containing them – preferably before they went crazy, but putting a stop to their rampages if they had to. Lost Logia Hunters, as the teams were called, were usually the best of the best – fast, strong, and experienced, the top agents of the TSAB.

So was it any wonder that two of their brightest Aces were assigned together as one such team?

Nanoha Takamichi and Fate T. Harlaown certainly weren’t going to complain about it. Both of them had their reasons for disliking Lost Logia – but they had even more reasons to want to be in one another’s company all of the time. It was not exactly a secret that the Ace of the air force and the Ace of the navy were the very best of friends, if you know what I mean. And Lost Logia Hunters sometimes spent months or years in the field tracking down their targets, often at the very fringes of civilisation or beyond, with no one but each other for company.

So yes, that had gone great. One again, the two had exceeded all expectations, and had quickly recovered a record-breaking number of Logia. Fate’s inquisitive mind, and Nanoha’s near addiction to her work, made a relentless and invincible hunting machine. They hardly needed supervision at this point, merely checking in every month to pick up the latest leads, before returning to the hunt. All in all, this was just another posting that the two excelled in.

Which led them now to planet G52.87. It was a small life supporting planet – almost earth-like in its biosphere, though so far no sentient life had been discovered on it. Located near the edges of TSAB space, it was a place of little note… Until a survey team had returned from it citing some odd readings from the northern continent. Readings that flagged up on the computer network as very similar to the Jewel Seeds that had been uncovered some ten years previously…

Well, naturally such a case immediately caught the eyes of Nanoha and Fate. They recalled that incident all too well, and obviously they were invested in making sure history couldn’t repeat. Thus, they snagged the investigation, and headed straight in. The faster they took care of it, the less risk was involved for everyone.

G52.87 was a hospitable place, at least, and the pair’s arrival was a simple affair. Together, the two teleported down from their ship, having confirmed that the atmosphere was breathable, and they’d begun their preliminary search. They’d landed in a forested area, green and lush, with the sound of the wind rushing through the trees a simple accompaniment to the ever-present birdsong.

“Heh… I haven’t used a search spell like this in a while,” Nanoha giggled, planting Raising Heart’s staff form in the ground and summoning up a complicated spell weave. Even as she spoke, orbs of light were appearing around her and shooting out through the surrounding scenery, disappearing out into the trees. And such was her level of skill that the spell didn’t waver, even when she reached out to catch her blonde partner’s hand. “Are you sure you’re okay with this?”

Her hand was accepted and squeezed gently, the blonde giving her a comforting smile. “I’m fine, Nanoha. Really. The Jewel Seed case was a long time ago. I’ve made my peace with what happened.”

“I know…” The Ace of Aces sighed. “This just brings back all those memories...” Around them, scouting lights continued to fly, slowly forming a search pattern that would begin to sweep the area. “But I guess they’re not all bad. That was how I met you, right, Fate-chan?”

“Yeah.” Fate nodded, her thumb rubbing along the back of Nanoha’s palm. “In a way, it’s because of the Jewel Seeds that we first met. So…” She leaned in and pressed a soft kiss against her beloved’s cheek. “Let’s not worry about the past. This time, we’ll make sure none of these Lost Logia get the chance to endanger anyone, alright?”

“Alright.” The brunette nodded, her nerves soothed by her partner’s words. “And this time we’re not some rookies in over their heads, either. I’ve already got a lock on one reading to the south, and one to the east!”

“Perfect.” The blonde’s feet lifted off the ground, the white cape of her barrier jacket fluttering in the air. “That’s two down. I’ll conduct a sweep from the air, see if there’s any obvious anomalies from up there. Let me know if you sense anything unusual.”

“Mm.” Nanoha agreed, releasing Fate’s hand and returning her full focus to her spell. “And the same to you if you notice anything weird.”

“Heh. Will do.” With that, the Enforcer ascended up into the heavens, high above the tree tops, ready to scan the world around them. It wasn’t like she would be all that far from her partner, after all – the two of them had a mental connection better than about 90% of the senior agents of the TSAB. Even at this distance, the two could easily feel the other’s thoughts next to their own if they tried. They were just that close.

And the view really was stunning. Between the two, Nanoha was the one who loved flying the most, while Fate was more about speed – but even she could appreciate the sight of a sprawling forest in the sunlight, a cacophony of greens and reds and blues as tress and flowers and rivers tangled together into an almost paradise-like display. All filled with alien life and predators and whatnots, so it wasn’t really as wonderous as it looked, but a lovely sight, none the less.

A lovely sight with one slight fault. Fate’s eyes narrowed. To the north, a fair distance away, though not too terribly far for her, there was an unusual blot on the skyline. A tree – a massive, massive tree, one that might dwarf even a small mountain if one were in the area – stood, alone, towering above all of its companions. There weren’t any other trees like it to be seen for miles and miles. Indeed, despite all of her missions across the dimensional sea, Fate had never seen anything quite like it before.

A potential anomaly? Maybe. It was definitely worth investigating.

‘I think I see something’, her thoughts told Nanoha. ‘I’m going to check it out.’

‘Be safe’ was the response. Fate nodded, and took off, shooting across the sky like a golden bolt of lightning. A few alien birds fluttered in surprise, squawking in alarm as she shot over their heads, but other than that nothing was disturbed against the picturesque landscape, and before long the Enforcer had arrived at her destination – the base of the giant tree.

It was gigantic. Indeed, from ground level you could hardly hope to see the edges of the apparently natural structure – the bark walls just stretched off into the distance in either direction. For a moment, the blonde wondered if perhaps the entire TSAB headquarters might fit inside the thing with room to spare – before shaking the thought off as unimportant. Bardiche could track the details like that – she needed to figure out if this thing was natural, or the result of a Jewel Seed. It certainly seemed impossible that magic wasn’t involved here somehow, but one had to be careful not to jump to conclusions on strange new planets.

A simple scanning spell didn’t reveal much – which could mean that there was nothing here to find, or it could mean that a tree with bark this thick was difficult to get an accurate read on. Hm. The blonde considered her options. Her best bet would be to get a scan where the skin was a bit thinner – up amongst the branches at the tree top, perhaps.

As the thought occurred to her, she looked up, shielding her red eyes with her hand. The tree top was a long way up… But obviously, that was no great obstacle for her. From down here she could see any number of branches, all entangled together beneath the thick green leaf canopy. Selecting one that seemed to have broken free of those knots enough for her to investigate properly, she lifted into the air, and then shot upwards, climbing the length of the skyscraper sized plant in moments.

Stepping onto that branch was like slipping into another world. Down below it had been grass, tress and sky for as far as the eye could see – but up here, the leaves obscured the sun, forming an impenetrable dome that trapped the heat and made the air swim with humidity. All around were branches stretching around like tangled staircases, vines dangling thicker than curtains, and flowers dotted around the place that were larger than her. It was like she’d moved from a forest to a tree top jungle.

“Right…” Fate took a breath, and immediately found her senses flooded with a sweet scent. Up here, the perfume of the flowers was thick and powerful – and yet, decisively pleasant, none the less. The blonde sniffed the air, sampling the palette gently, and being reminded of warm fruits and Nanoha’s perfume. It was nice, and she wondered what kind of flower was responsible for it.

Another sniff and the thought occurred to her that maybe the best way for her to conduct a scan would be by using a complex part of the tree’s structure that entirely lacked bark – like, for instance, a flower. Yes, surely by scanning something like that she’d be able to ascertain once and for all whether magic was responsible for all of this. Heh, and it might let her get a sample – if it smelled this nice, maybe Nanoha might like one for the garden back home… As long as it was safe, of course.

Decided, the blonde enforcer began to wander through the garden of branches, picking her way through clusters of leaves and growths of moss, trying to locate the source of the scent. The world up here was practically its own ecosystem, with birds fluttering and climbing animals scampering away from her – a beautiful sight in its own right. But that line of thought soon lost its fascination as the smell of fruit and love grew thicker and thicker, and stole more and more of Fate’s attention. Soon, her pace quickened, speeding up from a cautious wander, to a steady march, to even an eager hunt. Concerns and observations began to leak from her brain, coated and dissolved away by the power of that heady scent, as finding the source of it became more and more important, and she steadily drove herself further and further in pursuit of her goal.

Until at last, she parted a veil of vines, in the heart of a green grove amongst the branches, and found herself standing before a truly massive flower. It dwarfed her, an open bulb the size of a small truck at the very least – she felt like she could stand on the seedbed, the golden centre of the whole thing, with ease - it was just so large. The petals were spread around it in an almost hypnotic array of colours, reds and greens and blues, each single petal a different colour or shade, some of them even taller than her.

The scent here was overpowering, filling her lungs with every blissful breath. This was the place.

“Bardiche,” she commanded, breathing deep, “initiate scan.”

“Scanning,” her device acknowledged, light sweeping out from his position near her collar. Soon she’d know for sure what was going on here. All she had to do was wait, and smell the roses, as it were. Although honestly, this flower’s scent was better than any rose she’d ever encountered…

There was a rustle as the wind blew through the leaves, sweeping through the flower grove, and Fate found herself looking around at this small environment. The area was rather private – wedged in the space between two giant branches, one above and one below, leaves and tendrils from the base of the flower had climbed over everything, hungering for more sunlight. The effect was to make this little niche incredibly green, with walls of vines and a ceiling of bark that the flower’s stretching gold stamens wove around. And amongst that weave…

The blonde found herself staring, peering up into the waving inner limbs of the flower, trying to make out what she was seeing. Hanging from the bark roof was another flower… or was it the same flower? It looked the same, with similar petals and golden insides, and it was even connected to the flower below by golden lines that she had thought were just normal, if large, stamens. It was hanging upside down though, and only about a third of the size, if that. If the flower below was slightly larger than a person, the flower above was a little larger than a melon. It was secured to the ceiling by a thick green stalk – and there was one other difference. In the centre of it, nestled in a bed of gold, was what looked like an orb – like a glass orb, filled with all the bright colours of the flower’s petals, condensed and in eternal swirling motion, red flowing around green swimming with purple tangling with yellow fading into blue…

She wasn’t entirely up to date on her flower biology, but she didn’t recall anything like that in her classes back on earth. Something unique to this alien world, perhaps? Whatever it was, it was beautiful. The twisting depths that the orb seemed to reflect felt so powerful, the display of colour just truly dazzling in ways Fate couldn’t quite describe.

Another breath. Her head spun a little as the sweet scent filled her nose, and the colourful swirl captivated her eyes – her thoughts had a pleasant lightness to them, a gentle softness, as though she had just opened her eyes in bed, and she hadn’t quite woken up from her dreams just yet. The sounds of the tree top jungle faded into the background, the birdsong quieting and the rustle of the wind vanishing from her awareness. Everything else seemed to flow away, leaving just the colourful lights dancing in front of her, and the sweet smell all around her.

A thought emerged in her head, rising out of the thick cloud of scent that had filled her. Didn’t she want to take a closer look? Why not step forward, and get an even better view of those lovely colours? Yes… Yes, that sounded wonderful, didn’t it…?

A small, vacant smile touched the enforcer’s lips, her device still obliviously scanning away on her chest. Yes. She couldn’t think of any reason not to do just that. Without hesitation – though her movements were a touch woozy and unbalanced, as though she’d just been drinking heavily – she raised a foot, and stepped forward, walking across the giant colourful petals without concern. In moments, she was stood in the centre of the seedbed, staring up at the brilliant bright colours that swirled and spiralled directly over her head, her smile growing wider by the second.

She didn’t notice as her feet began to sink, slowly becoming ensnared in the deceptively sappy seed bed upon which she stood – her mind was too captivated by the display above. Nor did she notice as around her the petals which she had noted for their giant size began to rise up, wrapping around her from the shoulders down, containing her body in a solid bulb of colour. Indeed, as the bindings around her grew tighter – as her arms and legs were wrapped in golden stamen threads that were far stronger than they looked – she didn’t even try to resist, her mind entirely oblivious to what was happening, until…

“Scan complete. Jewel Seed detected.” Bardiche’s voice cut straight through her empty headed haze, and the enforcer blinked, the dazzling colours half burned into her retinas and flashing against the inside of her eyelids.

“I… What…?” She mumbled, her brain beginning to boot back up. What had happened? She remembered finding the flower and beginning the scan, and then seeing something bright and colourful above her… Then her memory got hazy. But now she found herself tied up and… What? Her eyes blinked open again, catching a flash of colour…

“No!” She looked away quickly, refusing the hypnotic lights any purchase on her. It had to be the light that had dazed her, that her lured her into this trap somehow. But alright, she was a strong mage, she could break out of this. She just needed to summon her power, and…

She took a deep breath to prepare, and then almost forgot what she was preparing for as sweet pollen filled her lungs, that light headed dizziness flooding her mind again. Only sheer persistence and alarm allowed her to resist, kept her from falling under its sway once more. Power… She needed to summon her power and break free, right now!

But that wasn’t so easy. The instant she started to build magical power within her body, a strange feeling filled her, most strongly in her arms and legs. A feeling of weakness, as if all of her strength was being drained from her muscles – which, to her shock, she realised that it was. She couldn’t see what was happening beneath her petal prison, but she could see a golden glow leaking through, and she could feel her magic slipping from her grip, being sucked away from her by the bindings wrapped around her limbs. This plant could drain her magic?!

This was bad. She had to do something, quickly! And as her mind raced, her panic stirred a reaction from the one bound to her…

‘Fate?’ Nanoha’s voice echoed in her thoughts. ‘Is something wrong?’

‘Nanoha!’ Of course, she could still contact her! She had to warn her about what was happening. ‘You have to-!‘

And then suddenly the connection cut, and everything went dark. Fate blinked, alarmed. What-?

But then her eyes adjusted to the darkness, and she realised what had happened. The flower below had closed to wrap around her body… And now the flower above had closed to wrap around her head. She could feel its petals coiled around her neck, just above the original set, and she could just about make out light shining faintly through the leaves. Could it be that even parts as thin as petals could block her telepathy?

The scent was so thick in here, the smell of fruit so potent she could practically chew it. Every breath, no matter how calm and composed, made her head spin. But she needed to find a way out of this, quickly! She had to-Mmph!

Whatever plan she had been about to come up with was rudely interrupted as, unseen in the low light until it was too late, a green tendril lowered itself down in front of Fate’s face, its tip glistening with sap. Before she could notice the danger, it moved with unexpected speed and strength, forcing itself between her lips. The sweet smell grew even more intense, her tongue suddenly overpowered by the flavour of it as a rich, sweet, sticky nectar began to drip into her mouth.

The enforcer struggled, of course, but it was no good. Bound and drained as she was, she couldn’t do much more than move her head from side to side, and that did little to dislodge the stem from her mouth. And the more she tried, the more nectar seemed to pour from the tendril, a steady stream of it soon filling her mouth completely, small rivulets of it starting to leak out from the edges of her lips – but not enough that she could spit the rest out. Despite herself, she found herself swallowing the mouthful down automatically before she drowned.

The instant she felt the substance hit her stomach, though, she knew she’d made a mistake. A wave of weakness rolled through her, the constant struggles she’d been making to break free faltering to a stop, as her body just started to relax of its own accord. A sedative? But no, she could feel it was more than that. Something else was spreading out through her system, a strange, tingling feeling rolling out from her chest outwards…

She had to fight – she knew that clearly, even though her head was still spinning, and her thoughts were so hard to string together now. Each gulp of the sweet liquid made the feeling of weakness coursing through her a thousand times worse… But she couldn’t stop herself now, her body was just too relaxed. It was hard to even keep her eyes away from the colourful lights above her now, her head rolling back to stare upwards of its own accord, forcing her to shut her eyes tightly. But if she could hold on, if she could just hold on, she was sure that Nanoha would find her. Yes, if she waited, Nanoha would rescue her. It would be embarrassing, and she’d be teased about it for years, but her love would save her if she could just hold out long enough…

There was a soft itching from her temples.

She just had to… She just had to… W-wait, what had she been thinking? Suddenly the thought which had been giving her comfort was nowhere to be found in her head. Ugh, her brain was so tangled with all this nectar – if only she could stop it pouring into her, then she’d be able to think! Maybe she could-

That soft itching feeling washed over her scalp again, accompanied by the strangest sucking sensation…

She could… she could… Uh… Huh? What… What had she just been thinking, again? It was so odd – she shouldn’t have been this scatter-brained. Even with these… these drugs pumping into her body, she-

Itch itch itch. Suck suck suck.

- She… She…

Fate’s eyes fluttered and almost opened, slamming shut again at the last moment. What was going on? Her thoughts were just disappearing from her head as she thought them! Desperately she tried to think, tried to rally her willpower and force herself through whatever strange haze had settled upon her mind… But as she did so, the itching, sucking feeling seemed to intensify…

It… It couldn’t be, could it? It couldn’t be this plant was trying to suck the very thoughts from her head, like it had drained her mana from her limbs? That was ridiculous – it was impossible!

And yet…

Suck… Suck…

… And yet it was impossible for her to deny the pressure she was feeling on her thoughts. She had to grip on tightly to the things she was thinking at this very moment, or she knew they would slip away from her. She could feel other things being pulled from her, sucked out by this mysterious power. Childhood memories, half-forgotten lessons and faded concepts, just getting hoovered up out of her head.

She twitched and tried to pull away from whatever force had entangled her – and felt something odd – a slight weight resting on her head, thin and silky. Immediately the image of a crown of thread-like stamens woven around her temples, each one glowing gold as they drained away her thoughts, popped into her head. Could it be that-

Suck. Suck.

- That… That… Ugh, she couldn’t think! The pressure was growing stronger now, sucking at more and more of her. She had to do something. She had to resist!

Suck. Suck.

She had to… Um… She had to… ah…

Suck. Suck.

No… She could… She could feel the pressure growing in her mind, the drain sucking away everything, like her thoughts were water in a sink and someone had pulled the plug. It was getting so hard now, so hard to even pull these words together, but she couldn’t let it… She couldn’t let it…

Suck.

She… She could see the colours of the orb above her through her eyelids now. She knew she couldn’t let them in. She knew she had to keep her eyes closed. But she couldn’t remember why. Was it important…?

Suck.

She had to keep her eyes closed. She had to keep her eyes closed. She to…

Suck.

She had to…

Suck.

She…

Suck. Suck. Suck.

… Why were her eyes closed, again…?

Fate swallowed another mouthful of nectar, the sweet syrup sinking into her stomach as her eyes finally fluttered open and immediately locked onto the colourful, hypnotic display floating just above her. There was no hope of resistance. The colours swallowed what was left of her mind completely, the swirling spirals dominating her empty head, while the golden crown threaded through her hair drained away anything left, sucking freely now that her stubborn will had been melted away.

Slowly, the enforcer’s lips began to slip back into an empty smile, still wrapped around the thick stem that pumped that delicious nectar into her without cease, while the crown above pumped delicious thoughts out of her without delay… And her body continued to tingle, hidden beneath a prison of petals…

-

“Fate? Fate-Chan! Answer me! Where are you?” A voice echoed through the tress. A familiar voice… A warm voice. A voice she wanted near her at all times.

Fate… was that her name? It felt right, though she couldn’t remember where it had come from or who had given it to her. Mmm… Oh well. Who cared about silly stuff like that~? The voice sounded fun, and she wanted to play with her!

Green eyes fluttered open as green lips parted to giggle. A creature in the shape of a woman rose from her flower bed, quite heedless of her nudity, and looked around. She didn’t think very deeply or with much in the way of complication. Ah, this was home, wasn’t it? The great tree, of which she was but a simple part, like any leaf or branch. Yeah, that was right~

She giggled again, and stretched, her green arms, decorated with vines and flowers that almost looked like clothing to the untrained eye, reaching for the sky. Long, light green hair fell from her shoulders down to her perfect green heart-shaped ass. Her large chest, just as green as the rest of her, bounced in the air, the breeze feeling oh so nice against her bare skin. Ah, just the feeling of that alone made her feel horny, and her hands dropped from their stretch to the sky down to a much more earthly target, nestled between her legs and dripping with nectar…

“Fate? Fate!”

Only for that lovely voice to catch her attention again before she could really indulge. Huh… Oh yeah! The nice voice lady. Yeah, Fate wanted to play with her. Maybe she’d be up for some fun? That’d be way nicer than just playing with herself all day~

With another giggle, the dim little Alraune bounced out of her flower and slipped through the vine curtain, her sweet scent carried along with her like perfume. And the secluded flower grove settled, for the time being. Soon, the flower knew, it’s new guardian would return – and with her, would come a new target to convert, and drain for the nourishment of the tree.

It was rather looking forward to the feast.

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