TW: Chapter two is NSFW, Flux!Nano

At least the timing had been on her side. Autumn had been drawing in when it happened. Nano didn't like to think about the moment she fell. The weird noises and the way her vision swam when she tumbled into the flux orb. She'd left Lalna's castle after that. She couldn't trust the reckless scientist and she couldn't stay near that place. She'd ran to Lomadia. Her best friend had comforted her and reassured her she'd be fine. And she believed her.

The next day Nano had felt no different. It was a completely normal day. She had said goodbye to Lom in the morning and set off to find her own place. A small wooden house in a cherry wood forest suited her perfectly. It was quiet and lonely without Lalna, but safe. A chance to relax without the clanging of machinery or lasers whizzing past her ear.

The second day was no stranger than the first. Nano worked on her witchery, making poppets just in case. She barely noticed the tingling in her fingers. It was probably just the cold.

It was on the fifth day that the rash started. Just a tint of purple on her finger tips and the soles of her feet. Like tiny bruises. She had covered the markings with gloves and carried on. Hoping they were just the result of landing on the jagged crystals. The marks began to spread. Within a week the purple was crawling glistening trails around her wrists and ankles. It didn't hurt. It didn't itch. It just spread. Occasionally tingling like there was electricity just beneath her skin.

By the time the last leaf fell the flux had reached past Nano's elbow. Tendrils crept up to wrap around her shoulder blade. There was no way to ignore it now. She stopped going outside, stopped talking to anyone. What if this was contagious? What if it was fatal? It was hard to suppress the ever-growing fear, especially now the tingling had left her hand, leaving her with no feeling to the tainted skin.

Lom didn't really notice the change in Nano. The other girl was so petite it made sense for her to wrap up warm. She hadn't questioned the troubled looks on Nano's face when she thought no one could see her. She was there if she needed to talk, always, but saw no reason to pry. Leaving Lalna's castle had been a big change, she could understand her friend's trepidation. It wasn't until lateer, when Nilesy commented about not seeing Nano around for a while, that she started worry.

All attempts to reach Nano went unanswered. Asking others about her whereabouts met only blank faces. It was only when knocks on her door went ignored that Hannah took action. She picked the lock on the wooden door and let herself in. She heard a door slam at the far end of the hall, instantly recognizing the entrance to Nano's bedroom.

"Nano! I've been trying to talk you for bloody ages! What's going on?"

" It's-it's nothing, I'm fine Lom. Just really busy you know..."

Lom pushed the bedroom door. It didn't budge.

"No, no no. I'm fine! Seriously! I'm just *cough* really sick *cough*. You don't want to come in here. I'll come by when I'm better okay?"

"Nano."

"Lom?"

"You know I'm not leaving right? Not until you tell me what's really going on."

"But...Lom...Please..."

Lomadia didn't reply. She could almost hear Nano trying desperately to decide what to do. Nano was aware of how stubborn her friend could be. The door opened a crack and half of Nano's face peaked through the gap.

"See, I'm fine. Now go home before I give you the plague."

She tried to sound light hearted.

"Nano..."

Lomadia lifted her hand to the door and pushed gently. Nano looked her in the eye. Silently pleading, just leave. Just go home. Forget about me. With a sigh, she stepped back into the dim room.

Chapter Two:

TW: kinks

The door swung open freely while Lomadia tried to adjust to the darkness. She looked at Nano, head hung low, fidgeting in the low light. She started to make out the strange marks on her face. A black eye? What on earth had been going on?

"What happened to your eye? Are you hurt?"

She approached with open hand to get a better look at Nano's eye, reaching out to take her cheek but Nano pulled away violently.

"NO! You mustn't touch it. It's dangerous!"

"What do you mean its dang..."

That was when Lom noticed it was much more than a black eye. Where Nano had pulled back she was now standing square in the light from the open doorway. The mark covered half of Nano's face. It stretched over her cheek bone and sent swirling patterns towards her lips. The eye itself had started to change, the iris was almost entirely purple with only a thin ring of the original chestnut around the pupil.

"I-I don't know how. I mean it spreads. It... tingles."

"Oh Nano, you should have told me."

"I didn't want you to get hurt."

Lom put her hand up to Nano's face, she turned her head away but didn't resist when Lom stepped forward and cupped the other girls chin with her hand. Lom tilted her wrist so that the weird markings were clear in the light. She examined the mottled skin, the way it spiralled outwards in intricate patterns. There was an almost iridescent shimmer to it, like something was moving beneath.

As much as Nano had wanted Lom to stay away, she couldn't deny it felt good to have her friend back. It had been so lonely without her. Nano watched her as she scrutinised the taint. She saw the way her brow furrowed beneath the strands of golden hair falling on her face and the way she pouted while turning Nano's head lightly to get a look at her neck. The purple trailed under the collar of her dress out of view.

"How far does it go?"

The sudden question bought Nano back to the room with a jolt.

"Hm? Oh right, it's kinda all up this leg and this arm and it comes to about... ahem..."

Nano ran and hand up her leg and paused with her fingertips lightly on her chest, close to the fastening of her cheongsam over her right breast.

"C'mon then, let's have a look."

Nano blushed, hoping the purple would cover her embarrassment.

"Oh come on Nano. If only you were this shy normally! You nearly traumatised Nilesy after that shower incident."

They both sniggered at the memory of the Scottish man's shocked face after she had walked out of Lom's bathroom in her birthday suit and head first into the bewildered housemate. He hadn't spoken to her for a while after that.

"Yeah, yeah. He loved it."

"I'm sure he did!"

Fingers working nimbly over the fastening Nano shrugged the dress from shoulder letting it crumple to the ground. She saw Lom scan up her body, taking in the extent of the spread.

"There's something else..."

"Hm..."

Replied Lom absently, distracted by the swirling patterns creeping under Nano's bra.

"I can't feel my hand or foot Lom."

Head snapping up instantly, she looked Nano directly in the eyes.

"What? What do you mean?"

"The places it started. I can't feel them anymore. It's just numb."

Lomadia took her friends hand in hers and used her other to trace her fingers gently over the tainted skin.

"There. I can feel you now."

Her fingers were nearly at Nano's elbow. She hummed lightly, trying not to show any emotion or fear at her friend's condition. She continued to trace a finger up Nano's neck and over her cheekbones while Nano's described to her what she could feel. She began to trace further out, following the tendrils reaching over the smaller girl's collar bone or creeping across her stomach.

Nano tried not to flinch as the long finger moved gracefully over her skin. It had been bearable until Lom had started to branch out, following the patterns snaking over her naval. The touches were almost teasing, making Nano's heart flutter in her chest. She looked up from the hand to see Lomadia staring down into her eyes.

The taller girl dipped her head to meet Nano's lips. Lomadia's kisses started calm and methodical, toatally contradicted Nano's impulsive, hungry movements. It took a few moments for them to find a rhythm between the two, Nano's tongue dancing along her own. She carried on swirling her fingers around Nano's belly button and running them up over the petite girls ribs to the black silk of her bra.

Slipping her hands under faded blue material, Nano felt the heat emanating from Lom's body. She tugged gently at the hem and broke kisses just long enough for the taller girl to lift the shirt over her head. Lom's stomach was toned with the faint outline of muscles showing through pale skin as she moved. She was athletic and powerful compared to Nano's soft silhouette and a head taller. She felt herself being pushed backwards until she felt the bed against her thighs. She sat down, breaking away from Lom. She watched as her friend slipped off her weather-beaten boots and fiddled with the buckle of her belt, eventually letting the trousers slip down her legs and kicking them to the side.

Finally free of her clothes, Lom placed a knee carefully on either side of her friend, straddling her lap. She pushed firmly against her shoulders, laying her down on the bedspread and shuffling her backwards slightly so they were comfortably in the centre. She couldn't help but caress her friend, running her hands over the pattern again and again. Applying firm pressure to some points and then moving so lightly she could barely feel it herself.

A moan slipped from Nano's lips as Lom moved her mouth to the girl's neck. Gently licking and nibbling the sensitive area. She lay a trail of kisses along Nano's collarbone, always focusing on the glistening purple. Hooking her thumbs under the band of Nano's bra, she slipped it over her head. The purple carried on over Nano's breast, stopping just before the dark skin of her nipple. She ran her tongue along the longest swirl before taking the bud between her teeth and sucking lightly. Nano moaned louder this time, her hands running up the back of Lom's thigh and over the thin material of her underwear. She dug her fingers into Lom's buttocks when she applied more pressure, swirling her tongue around the bud a few times before pulling back to look into Nano's darkened eyes.

She slipped her hand below the lace waistline of Nano's underwear, pausing momentarily;

"Is this ok?"

"Mmm-hmm."

Nano replied while running a hand through her golden hair and pulling her into a deliberate kiss. It was swiftly broken with a moan as Lom's fingers ran over Nano's clit. Her hips bucked upwards towards the delicious pressure. She pressed haphazard kisses to Lom's shoulders while the taller girl started slowly, tracing the same swirling patterns as before in Nano underwear.

The smaller girl arched her back, trying to get closer to the goddess above her. Pleasure building up in the pit of her stomach. Lom began to pick up the pace tracing two fingers around and over Nano's arousal. Reacting to her moans and heavy breathing she found hit the perfect rhythm. She felt the smaller girl digging her fingers into her hips. Nano tipped her head back, unable to contain the praise falling from her tongue.

"Oh gods, Lom... I'm so... I'm close..."

With a gasp, Nano felt the waves of pleasure spread across her body, muscles contracting and lights bursting behind her eyes. She let herself fall limp on the bed. Trying to catch her breath, she looked over at Lom now lying at her side. Both of them with eyes still dark from lust and kiss reddened lips. A few minutes passed before either of them spoke.

"Well... I definitely felt that."

Nano whispered, grinning at her friend. Lom pulled her close and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"You'll be okay you know."

And Nano believed her. Smiling contentedly she nuzzled into Lom's shoulder and they held each other close.

It wasn't until later that night, with Nano's breathing steady against her chest, that Lom started to notice the tingling in her fingers. Like electricity just below her skin.