Episode 11 - Memories Beyond Time
As she prepares to face Nanoha, Fate considers what she's fighting for. She closes her eyes to remember Precia as she once was — a kind, loving mother who would smile and fawn over her, calling her "my lovely Alicia". Fate hesitates, not understanding what that name signifies, but opens her eyes and decides it's not important.
As Fate and Nanoha begin their battle, the Arthra's crew watch from afar. Amy asks why Chrono supported this gamble of Nanoha's; he replies that even if Fate wins, they've made preparations to track her back to Precia's base. Amy wonders if they should have told Nanoha what they've just discovered about Precia's family, but Chrono says he didn't want to distract her before the duel.
As their battle escalates, Fate manages to briefly restrain Nanoha, and unleashes her most powerful magic attack against her. However, Nanoha manages to withstand the blast, and responds with a fully-powered Divine Buster. Fate barely endures it — but Nanoha isn't finished. Drawing in the scattered energy from around the battlefield, she unveils a massive convergence bombardment which she calls Starlight Breaker. This attack obliterates Fate's remaining defences and knocks her into the ocean, senseless.
After pulling Fate and Bardiche from the water, Nanoha apologizes for beating them. Honouring their deal, Bardiche releases Fate's nine Jewel Seeds, and Chrono starts to order everyone back to the Arthra. At that moment, however, purple lightning erupts from the sky above Earth's ocean — Precia's rage, which blasts Fate unconscious and smashes Bardiche to pieces. Before the others can do anything, Fate's Jewel Seeds are pulled back through a dimensional breach and disappear. But the Arthra's crew was ready: tracking the breach, Amy successfully locates the Garden of Time. Lindy immediately orders several squads of armed enforcers to transit there and arrest Precia.
In the Garden, Precia is well aware of the imminent TSAB assault. Coughing up blood, she mutters that Fate was a waste of time, and says it's time to set things in motion.
Arf and Fate are taken to the Arthra's bridge. Lindy greets Fate kindly, then suggests that Nanoha take her to another room so she doesn't have to watch her mother's arrest. Before she can do so, the bridge receives a live broadcast from the Garden of Time, where the enforcers are confronting Precia.
When informed she's under arrest, Precia just regards the enforcers with amused contempt. As they fan out, one squad finds a passage into an adjoining room — inside which they discover a stasis pod containing a lifeless young girl who looks exactly like Fate. Precia screams at them to stay away from "her Alicia" and attacks in a fury, blasting every enforcer in the Garden unconscious. Then she caresses the stasis pod, saying nine Jewel Seeds might not be enough to reach Alhazard, but that it's time to put an end to everything regardless.
As those on the Arthra watch in shock, Precia turns to the still-active communications feed, and addresses Fate as "the doll I created to play my daughter". At this, Amy reveals what her research uncovered: that Precia Testarossa's daughter Alicia was killed during the disaster that led to her exile. "Fate" was actually the name of an illegal research project into artificial reincarnation — human cloning and memory transfer.
Precia confirms that she created Fate after Alicia's death, but says the experiment was a failure: Fate has Alicia's memories but not her personality. Saying she doesn't need Fate anymore, Precia tells her to vanish — calling her a pathetic imitation whom she has always hated. On hearing this, Fate collapses to the floor, insensible.
The Arthra abruptly detects multiple magical reactions occurring throughout the Garden of Time. Precia raises the fortress's defenses and activates the nine Jewel Seeds. Laughing madly, she proclaims that she and Alicia will travel to the long-lost world of Alhazard, land of forbidden magic, and reclaim the past that was stolen from them...
Tropes
- Awful Truth: It turns out Fate's memories of a happy childhood with her mother aren't her own. Worse, Precia reveals she's always despised Fate, seeing her as nothing more than a tool, and a failed one at that.
- Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: Fate acquires these when Precia says she's always hated her.
- Heroic BSoD: When Precia reveals the truth, Fate goes completely catatonic.
- Kick the Dog: Precia goes out of her way to twist the knife into Fate, saying she's a fake and a failure, then announcing that she's always hated her and wishes she would vanish.
- Laughing Mad: Precia starts cackling madly as she activates her plans.
- Signature Move: Nanoha's Starlight Breaker is introduced.
- Theme Music Power-Up: Nanoha last two attacks are heralded by an epic instrumental track which will be used throughout the franchise to indicate incipient ass-kicking.
- The Reveal: Fate is actually a clone of Precia's original daughter Alicia, and her happy childhood memories are Alicia's, not her own.
- Theres No Kill Like Over Kill: Nanoha's Starlight Breaker doesn't just defeat Fate, it utterly flattens her. This is, in fact, the very scene which gives birth to her famous 'befriending' meme.
- Xanatos Gambit: Nanoha and Fate's final battle is one for the TSAB. If Nanoha wins, they simply arrest Fate and capture her Jewel Seeds. If Fate wins, she'll be worn out and easy for Chrono to deal with. And if she flees, or Precia intervenes, they'll use the opportunity to track her back to her base.
