Hello, everyone. Long time since this profile has been in use. This is my latest story project, Fate/Last Order. It is a fictional scenario set in an alternate universe of the Fate/Grand Order world. An AU of an AU. The Servants are all existing characters. The Masters and other "NPCs" are my own creations. Any existing Type-Moon content is property of... Type-Moon. I guess this is a disclaimer.
This story already has a few chapters, and is being posted here to test the waters and garner more feedback. It also has a very UNIQUE format. If you dislike the style of writing, then you probably won't like this fanfic. Save yourself some time.
Enjoy reading! Be sure to comment if you liked it... even more if you hated it, but preferably why you hated it.
EDIT 06/05/2016: Posting a Chapter Guide here for easier navigation when it comes to interludes. It will be updated with each release.
Chapter Guide
ACT I
Prologue
Chapter 0.5: Scheming Shades
Chapter 1: New Home (Interlude 1.1, Chapter 1.5)
Chapter 2: Stay-Night (Interlude 2.1)
Chapter 3: Rabbit Dance (Interlude 3.1)
Chapter 4: Respite (Interlude 0.8)
Chapter 4.5: Follow Me Home (Interlude 2.5)
Chapter 5: Lapse (Interlude 3.5)
Chapter 5.5: Point Negative
Chapter 6: New Phobos
Chapter 6.5: New Phobos Pt.2
Fate/Last Order
++Prologue++
"I dreamt myself on a field of war, and awoke to find myself upon it."
The clanging of clashing swords.
The crumpling of feet upon dirt.
The splattering of blood being shed.
The screams of people being slain.
This was a battlefield. A stage-play which tells its own, enclosed story. All who play a part in this play are separated from the world outside; all that matters are themselves within this battlefield.
Yet, it didn't feel like a simple battlefield at all. A war is when two sides escalate a disagreement over conflicting ideals, when one person declares their enmity of another. Such bitter feelings reciprocate easier than compassion, and the battle commences.
Lives are lost, as much as are the initial ideals that the fighters once thought they battled for. The ideals that drive them become the topic of the delusion the convince themselves of when the reality of war faces them truth, they imprint whatever they want on the base instinct to survive; to see a loved one again, to avenge the fallen, to protect their country, to become a hero of justice.
Yet, delusions are simply delusions, and only upon a mortal strike to their spirit, do they see the light of truth and realize what they innermost desire was all along... when it is too late to do anything but regret.
Such men and women,should never see this field of battle. The ones that hold ideals, the ones that can say that they love themselves and the world, they are not worthy warriors of battlefields like these.
They are the prey.
In such a time like this, a place such as the fields of conflict, ideals are nothing more than weak fuel for a raging inferno. For this battlefield, those are the rules of nature.
So... those without such ideals, such compassion, such a need for a motivation to fight... They are the ones who rule this place, they are the ones who thrive. The war itself, is their drive, their thirst to act.
They are the predators.
...snore
"...Ahem. Fubuki Endou. 19 years old. From a magus family of complete irrelevance to the Association, hand-selected by Chaldea because of her Average One capabilities... Her three sizes are-"
"I'm awake I'm awake! Jeez..."
I yelled that out so abruptly, though I didn't want him to go that far! If he hadn't made these private lessons so boring, I wouldn't have fallen asleep in the first place. What a bastard...
I bet he would've gotten them down to a tee, too. Creepy teacher probably spends his spare time reading over my report card...
"Falling asleep on me... Who the hell do you think you are, brat?"
This was my teacher, Renfried. A so-called big shot in the Mage's Association. As far as I know, I had never heard of him before coming out to this remote place. It irked me to no end, his high and mighty attitude. He was here to bring out the "best of my potential"... As far as I knew,that was only because the actual best person for the job was a very busy man.
"Maybe if you made your lessons just a teensy bit more... enthralling. Really try to captivate my mind, Teach."
A scowl grew on his face. This was the most enjoyment I could derive from this dull situation, and nothing was going to stop the grinning adorning my face.
"Ever since I manage to slip the fact that you can't be sent homewards, you've been quite a sassy handful... I suppose this is a reprimand for that fault."
Bitter as he was, he has been my only guide and company ever since coming to this facility. I had heard others like me were gathered. I was "special",however, and put on a solitary course... Honestly, it felt more like solitary confinement.
I was just a student at the Clock Tower, prior to... this. He calls me an Average One, that means a person with Elemental Affinity to all five groups of conventional Elements in Thaumaturgy. I never hear the end of how I am "one in a million". It gets vexing after a while... but , that's what made me special. An innate trait I had no say in, nor did my family. Luck of the draw.
Speaking of my family...
"Oi! Don't just put on a thoughtful expression like that! No doubt, you are thinking about pointless things again! Now pay attention, please..."
Am I really that noticeable when I think so much? I guess I did learn something least I could do in repayment is maybe... listen a bit and look like I'm working hard...
"This should interest you... Let's go over the theories behind the Sixth Imaginary Factor..."
...Eyes are heavy.
...Nope. IJN Fubuki is going down, mayday... mayday...
…snore
"Too fast!"
Evening.
Or, what constituted as evening for me. In this place, you lose your sense of day and night,considering all my time is spent surrounded by the whiteness of this place's walls.
The only other resident doesn't seem bothered by it at all, like he's used to it. We're satin his office, indulging in some home-cooked dinner. Honestly, I'll give him that merit. He was a damn good cook.
Why his office? Well,there isn't much else to do here. I have no devices to lose myself with, since they were mostly confiscated. I have read my books hundreds of times over already, though I blame my inhumane reading capabilities for that. Being a prodigy is actually suffering.
"...You're thinking again."
If I were to dwell here alone for too long, I fear for my sanity. A human can only go so long without some form of interaction with another of their kind, before they slowly start to shed off bits and pieces of their stable mind.
"Hey."
I wonder if any of the other students were as remarkable as me to receive this kind of treatment. To be honest, I should have my own suite and a collection of staff to serve my every whim. If I am so "special", can I not have simple luxuries like that?
"BRAT!"
"Uwah?!"
In quite the spectacle,I watched as I completely tipped a bowl of rice onto myself, having launched it from my own hands. I glanced at my rice-sodden lap, and then cast quite a dangerous glare upwards. I swear, I could've just Finn Shot his smug, spectacled face right now...
"How annoying. You ignore me even outside of lessons. Come on, leave the student-teacher animosity in the classroom. Friends are meant to talk to each other over a nice dinner."
As reluctant as I was to agree, he was right.
The only friend and foe I could have in this place was him, as heinous as that fact was a lot I just had to take in and accept during my time wasn't any bit pleasant.
I scooped up clumps of the sticky rice off my lap, heaping them back into the bowl and grimacing at my ruined skirt. As I did so, he started yammering away again.
"I suppose you didn't take anything away from today's lesson either. At this rate, we aren't going to progress at all... It is frustrating, such great talent such as yourself refusing to cooperate."
"If I am so great,why do I need to learn this in the first place? I've pretty much read all your books. You just reiterate stuff I have already stored within my personal database."
"How am I supposed to confirm that? By your word? You just want to go home."
"I want to see other people."
That was no lie. Maybe I did wish to go home, but most of all I just... wanted to see other people again. It's very unbecoming of a magus, surely, but I'm just a youth, aren't I? We run on social interactions, to be pulled out of a bustling environment and just dropped into this one is almost traumatic.
That being said, I didn't have many friends back at home. I mostly used my attractiveness, coupled with a kind facade, to use people. My mother praised my capability to manipulate people, it was "just like her".I should probably elaborate on that a bit.
My mother is Wakaba Endou. She is a magus not well-known to the public (in terms of magi), but is known by virtually every higher-up you can imagine. She is a powerful magus that earned a Sealing Designation because of her ways and business. That is how she slipped under the radar so easily... and left me behind.
Simply put, her way of life is to manipulate others completely, like puppets on strings, and thus she built a business upon that talent. There's definitely some form of Magecraft involved in the way she controls people, though I wanted nothing to do with it. Yet, apparently, I didn't need it in the first place. I don't know whether to feel flattered or disgusted by that fact.
My father? Doesn't exist to me. Never seen nor heard of him. Mother never spoke of him.I don't even think she would be opposed to mentioning him, I just...never found a reason to ask.
I'm not the brooding sort, I just don't think about such things. There are more important things to concern myself with, such as getting out of this , I haven't drawn that card yet.
My train of thought was interrupted as I heard Renfried sigh loudly.
"Animusphere doesn't pay me enough for this..."
Animusphere... I believe that was the family who ran this whole Chaldea , the execution could have been better. I know little to nothing about them either, other than the fact that the Director of the program was described as "young". To me, that translates into"unqualified". Yeah, I'm the last person that has the right to say that, I know.
"Listen, Fubuki. We need to make this work, otherwise the Director isn't going to be at all pleased."
"I don't even know the Director."
I frowned, because it was true. I hadn't even met her during my time here, I only know her freaking gender and stupid family name. How long has it been? A year?Least I've had time to form, review and finalize a well thought-out complaint to shove right in her face if I ever saw her.
"It doesn't have a purpose to fulfil for us, and I intend to get we resort to sparring each day for me to get the point across?"
Ugh. That was a dirty card to play, Renfried. The first time I contested him, I underestimated him greatly. As much of a pain in the ass he was, my teacher was undoubtedly leagues above me in that respect. Made sure I felt like shit after a good defeat too... great teaching method.
"Hmph. That's what I thought. You must realize through that result, that you are not perfect. You need to learn how to use the talents you possess."
I never said I was perfect, though he's trying to teach me what I already know. So intelligent, yet so dense. I guess he's working by the book, though that's not how you do it with me. It never has been.
"Then teach me something I don't know."
He suddenly looked deep in thought. Did that honestly need to be said for him to comprehend it? Unbelievable. Regardless, hearing what he has to say was surely going to be jovial.
"Do you know of the Holy Grail?"
Okay. I admit. That caught me off-guard. I raised my eyebrow. Though obviously, I knew the answer.
"I know what it is the vessel for the Third Magic, correct? The fabricator of miracles?"
"What a boring answer."
You're one to talk!What else did you expect? That's exactly what it is.
The Holy Grail.
An omnipotent miracle-granting artifact that became the basis of multiple conflicts between magi in the past. It is based on the holy Christian relic of the same name. It utilizes the Third Magic, known as the "Heaven's Feel", though this was pretty much common knowledge throughout the Mage's Association. That is what's spread around, anyway.
"If you answer it like that, it's wrong. Honestly, make an answer more becoming of your age... like "a wish granting treasure" or "fulfiller of dreams"."
"Nothing but suffering was brought upon by the Grail, though. If we observe the history of the Grail Wars, nothing good came out of any of maybe the removal of a few troublesome folks..."
"You blame that on the Grail itself?" He shook his head and re-adjusted his glasses,his face uncharacteristically stern. "That, is a fault of humanity that tried to use it for wrong."
I can understand that... Having seen the unsavory sides of humanity, I can certainly acknowledge that it was human error that caused such disaster.
"Then such power shouldn't exist."
"Yet such power does exist, because of our desire to achieve something we could not beforehand. That is the basis of the development of mankind!"
...Philosophy was the last thing I wanted to discuss at dinner. I ate away at my renewed bowl of rice, feigning interest as I supplemented my stomach with nourishment.
"Oi, oi... You're eating that unusually fast..."
I swallowed my mouthful and put the bowl down. Maybe I did eat that a bit fast, as I coughed a little to clear the throat.
"Why do you mention the Holy Grail, anyway?"
He seems to think for a bit.
"...No reason."
Well that was a colossal waste of time. I resumed eating, nothing more needed to be said. Seemed he agreed, as he silently continued with his meal.
This was how evenings usually went; talking in circles with each other and then eventually settling on how uneventful our debates were.
There was a certain type of peaceful comfort to this kind of pattern, though. One thing I felt grateful for down here, or perhaps the only thing, was a change in perspective. It definitely made me more appreciative of what I had before...
...badump
I clutched my head instinctively, setting the bowl down abruptly.
...badump
A field of war...
Blood being shed...
The predator's prey...
...badump
"Oi, you okay?"
His voice brought me back to my senses. That was the dream from class earlier... I finally going crazy from being cooped up down here?
"Yeah, yeah. Don't be so concerned."
"That's my job,though."
He looked serious. When you look so serious, I can't just play it off so easily.
"It's just headaches.I haven't been sleeping right. I'll take some paracetamol before I go to bed."
"...Very well."
I started eating headaches were very recent, though that was the first time I had that dream... and the first time it flashbacked into my mind during a headache. Very odd.
Like I always do,however, I chose not to think about it too much. Maybe they call that"escapism".
I finished the meal,bid my teacher a restful slumber, and then departed to my quarters. I changed my skirt, took my paracetamol without issues and threw myself onto the quaint bed, immediately succumbing to the sweet, sweet embrace of sleep...
To sleep...
…
Burning. The ground is burning.
Swords litter the ground, as numerous as the bodies.
Rain pounds onto the dirtied earth relentlessly, the roar of flames rebelling against the wroth of rain.
That was all that could be heard. It was like a realm of hell, recreated by sheer mortality.
A single figure stood amidst the flames, alone.
They wandered, aimlessly, their body a slave to their broken mind as it was dragged along.
They could not hear,for their ears had perished. They could not see, for heat had claimed their eyes. They could not speak, for their jaw had been mauled beyond recognition.
This poor, lonesome soul has had everything stripped from them by the fury of conflict.
Why did this happen? How did this happen?
These were the only lingering regrets and thoughts left in this shell of a human. It was the only thing that compelled them to shamble onward through the fire and flames of death and despair surrounding them.
This compulsion was but a spark of their former vigor, however. Soon, the body simply could not move on, and it shut down. Buckling their legs, they dropped to their knees on the damp soil, their head slowly lugging itself upwards.
They could not see, nor hear, nor speak. Yet, they knew someone else was there.
Someone who welcomed the pyres of woe that ravaged the scenery around them. Someone who thrived in the sheer bloodshed of this realm. Someone who was a predator by nature, since conception. It was the only thing they knew.
The crippled figure had no mental capacity to comprehend. Their end would be swift.
What seemed like a final act of mercy, as the predator raised their parched blade, was simply the natural course of the one born to war.
BOOM!
The ominous dream was suddenly seized from me, and I was thrust back into the material world like a wrecking ball thrusting into a wall.
Dazed and confused, I instinctively threw myself off the bed and crawled on the ground,gazing up to comprehend what was happening.
I wished my analogy wasn't so literal.
The wall opposite me had collapsed, completely. I could see the sparks flickering from severed conduits within the broken wall, and the debris that completely trashed my quarters. Everything was dyed in a flashing crimson.
That was when I realized that my ears were ringing. As my hearing recovered itself, I could hear alarms wailing throughout the facility.
Something was terribly wrong. No shit, I thought to myself. I shot up and bolted out the hole in the wall, my intended route blocked by a wall of flame.
I twisted on my heel and sprinted in the other direction, before taking a path towards my teacher's quarters. Remain calm.
Remain. Calm.
Once I rendevous with Renfried, we can formulate a course of action together. Two minds were better than one. That was the only thing keeping me so collected in this dilemma. Don't pay any mind to what's going on, just avoid the dangers.
I didn't even dare to try and think about what was causing this. If I did, I knew I would lose myself entirely to panic. Whenever new, unfamiliar, dangerous situations sprung themselves upon me, my defense mechanism was relying on the guidance of others, as craven as it was. Then again, I didn't face many such situations in my life.
As I arrived at the door to my teacher's office, I gulped. Somehow... I already knew. It was this ill feeling sitting in my stomach. Something was very I want to face the reality? Could I handle it? If I leave it up in the air, I could keep convincing myself with that fleeting hope...
BANG!
Something exploded nearby, just to pressurize me further.
I screamed and opened the door.
...badump
Blood.
...badump
As soon as I witnessed that sight, I dropped to my knees and allowed my emotions to dominate my senses.
My vision became cloudy as tears poured out uncontrollably. I lost all my strength and could barely hold myself up on all fours. Anger, fear, hatred, envy,confusion all boiled within my mind, like some seething concoction of horrible things.
Renfried's body lay there, face down. In a pool of blood. An open wound was present on his back, and was leaking profusely. He was completely still.
Even as I pounded the ground and called to him, he remained still. At this time, of all times, he dared to ignore me?!
...badump
...Who am I kidding.
He's dead.
I didn't love , I don't even think I liked him. Though, with his death apparent before me, it felt like everything had just been taken away from was... a strangely familiar feeling.
Time was at a stand-still as I simply sat there, staring at the corpse of my mentor.
You useless sack of trash... Teach... Why did you have to die...
...How am I supposed to act? When faced with such an unreasonable shock, tearing away the boring yet simple life I lived until now...
"What am I supposed to do now?"
I tried to talk myself out of it, though it just seasoned that anxiety. For the first time,my heart-felt plea for guidance extended to my teacher. Yet it went unanswered.
I curled up and hid my face in my hands. My chest felt like some burning hand had thrust itself in, and was ripping out my very heart, each and every heart-string snapping one-by-one as it was sundered from me.
"Why... why... what did I do wrong?..."
I was innocent. I was innocent. None of this was my fault.
"Teach... why are you dead..."
It wasn't my fault. I did nothing wrong. Why is this happening, when I did nothing wrong?
"WHY?!"
I screamed at the corpse again. It was a fruitless endeavour, yet the only course of action I could enact.
I cried and screamed and shrieked, until my throat became as barren as my depleted,swollen eyes. I panted, who knows how long I was crying out like that for...
Yet those damned alarms were still blaring at me, and Renfried's corpse still lay there before me...
Wrapped in disbelief, I took his outstretched hand...
Oh, Teach...
...badump
Something is here.
I wrenched his hand open, the rigor mortis seeming to settle in quickly as it was a bit of a struggle.
I managed, and took out...
A gemstone.
I had no idea what gemstone this was, but clearly it was infused with some form of Magecraft. It's deep orange hue was somewhat unnerving.
Whatever this was, he had left it behind for me... What on Earth was this? A Mystic Code?No, he would not leave me with something I couldn't use. He wasn't stupid. This couldn't be Tohsaka Gem Magic...
Unless...
Suddenly, I could hear movement. I swiveled around, retreating beyond Renfried's body,staring at the doorway. I could see blackness creeping in through,like an ooze spreading across both the ground and archway. Somehow,just observing it, I felt a mixture of burning disgust and woe.
It crawled across the ground, enveloping my teacher's body completely like some sick blanket as it seemed drawn to me. What the hell is this... thing?!The fear torturing me from the inside-out suddenly cranked up to eleven.
I screamed at the mysterious ooze, having been driven to wit's end. I couldn't even muster up the will to use the simplest of Magecraft. My mind and body screamed in unison to take immediate action; anger became an excuse to lash out defensively.
"G-Get away!"
I tried to threaten the ooze by priming my arm to throw the gem at it. Unsurprisingly, the ooze was unfazed by my threat and encroached upon my personal boundaries.
With a gulp, there was only one thing left to do.
I threw the gem into the oncoming flood of blackness as hard as I could, clenching my eyes shut.
I awaited the sound of a simple gemstone dropping into a puddle of disgusting filth, and waited for the dread to claim my hopes upon the realization that it was just an ordinary stone...
It never came. Instead-
I heard the sound of shattering stone as the gem exploded in mid-air.
I opened my eyes-
What I saw, at that very moment, was a glowing ball of magical energy sitting on top of the black mass. The ooze had frozen, seemingly petrified by the glimmering light.
There was no time to understand this phenomenon. The blackness shrieked inhumanely as the light got brighter and brighter...
I felt myself introduced to a more familiar darkness, as a heavy force pummelled the consciousness out of my body...
...
...badump
Bitter coldness.
There was no dream this time. Just, biting cold...
It was embracing my whole body. Is that what death felt like?
No...
I had the warmth of energy inside of me. Faint as it was... I could feel... the need to shift... from this place.
I could barely feel my arm as I moved it. I felt numbness all through it... or rather, it was the lack of feeling.
Yet, my senses were returning. The plain coldness started to escalate as my sense of pain returned, becoming a burn... getting greater and greater.
I weakly raised my head and powered my hands onto the frozen ground.
Crunch.
I raised myself up in some form of lame press-up, my body riddled with tremors as this simple action was taking every ounce of energy I had.
"...I ask of you, are you my Master?"
A voice... it struck like the snow around me did. It was cold. Void of any feeling. It hurt as much as this freezing temperature did. Although, at the same time, it was a beacon of hope. One that I could feel the burning radiance of... a solitary hope.
I struggled to tilt my head upwards, to try and behold the source of this hollow positivity. I could feel my energy waning despite it... my body straining.
My vision was , it was simple to make out that someone stood before ... no. Yes? It was difficult to tell.
A slender frame... dark skin... I see the breeze. The chill breeze, coursing through that rippling veil before my eyes. It was white as the snow I lay in.
"I ask of you, are you my Master?"
They repeated that same question. What... could it mean? I felt like I knew, I just didn't have the mental capacity to connect the dots.
In the face of such hope, however, my only hope... There was only one answer, one response I could provide.
"Y-yes..."
It was no use. I felt my body give out, growing unimaginably heavy. The frost welcomed meas I plunged back into it, back into the dreamless dark of unconsciousness...
"Very well, Master. I shall take care of you, from here on out."