Forgotten First Meeting
Gudako Hashimoto stared at the unconscious young man who had saved her and Mash during a mission in Orleans. The said young man had messy black hair with dark blue eyes, the most interesting part of all is that he is wearing the Chaldea Arctic Region Chaldea Uniform.
"So who is he?" Gudako asked to DaVinci who accompanied her as they observed the sleeping figure of the handsome young man before her. Earlier that day, Mash and Gudako went on a mission to acquire some Ascension Materials for their servants, but things went south very fast that could have ended their lives. But this man arrived with a Saber none other than Miyamoto Musashi, or rather an alternate universe of her, and saved the two. But the trip that sent him and Musashi there had exhausted him and as a result they ended up staying in Chaldea until the Master was able to recover.
"Not sure," DaVinci replied as she put her glasses on. "We can't seem to find any info on this man, but somehow…he's somewhat familiar…."
"Did you meet him somewhere?" Gudako asked.
"Probably…" DaVinci trailed off unable to find the right words to explain. Eventually the young man finally woke up, in what seemed to be from a nightmare as he woke up screaming and his face was covered in cold sweat.
"Calm down it's alright," Gudako said with a reassuring smile, the Young man turned towards her for a minute with a confused look and slowly his breathing started to calm down and looked around. "I want to thank you for earlier for saving us, we couldn't have been able to escape that mess without you and your Saber."
"It's fine," He nodded as he rubbed the back of his hand, which showed only one command seal left. "I take it this is Chaldea?"
Both Gudako and DaVinci had been taken by surprise by his question.
"How did you know?" DaVinci narrowed her eyes at him.
"You can say I'm from another Chaldea in an alternate timeline." He said as he slowly got up.
"Hey, you need to rest first!" Gudako said trying to stop him.
"It's fine," He said and stretched his arms for a moment. "I needed a walk anyway."
"Who are you anyway?" DaVinci asked.
"Ritsuka," He said facing both of them. "Ritsuka Fujimaru."
"Your Chaldea is a pretty nice place," he said as he and Gudako walked alongside the hallways. As it turns out Ritsuka is from an Alternate Chaldea from the Future, and that he received a somewhat distress signal in the same time period that Gudako were in and so without hesitation Ritsuka ventured in with Musashi without hesitation effectively saving them, but the travel had drained him and caused him to collapse after the mission.
"What's yours like?" Gudako asked.
"It's kind of mess," Ritsuka said, despite DaVinci and Mash's protests, Gudako went along with him to give a brief tour into Chaldea.
"Well this is kind of a mess too," Gudako answered with a nervous laugh.
"Glad to see our visitor is now awake," Romani said as he spotted the two who were quietly laughing on their jokes.
"Oh hey Doctor," Gudako waved at him who was walking towards them, unbeknownst to her, Ritsuka suddenly froze in surprise.
"Gudako," he nodded and then towards Ritsuka. "Ah do apologies, I am—"
"Doctor Romani Archiman," Ritsuka said as he stared at him in utter shock.
"Oh yeah you mentioned that you're from another Chaldea in another world right?" Gudako said looking at Ritsuka. "That would mean there's a Dr. Roman there too right?"
"He—He was already dead by the time I got into Chaldea," Ritsuka said, for a moment Gudako noticed his voice started to crack as if he was holding back his tears. "But I heard a lot of great things about him."
"What's he like in your world?" He asked curiously.
"He was a great man, intelligent and cared greatly towards others," Ritsuka said explaining, but more and more Gudako noticed cracks in his voice. "And uh…did everything he could to save us…"
"He does sound like a great man," Dr. Roman chuckled nervously. "That kinda gives me some big shoes to fill even more."
"I never got the chance to meet him but…it's an honor to meet you, even if it's from another world." Ritsuka said letting out a sigh.
"Do you want to see the Café?" Gudako asked, trying to change the subject. To her, and Roman's shock, Ritsuka had went and suddenly hugged Roman, He quickly pulled away.
"Sorry I needed that out my system," Ritsuka said letting go but it looked like he was holding back his tears. "Thank you for everything…you've done here."
"I uh thank you?" Dr. Roman said as Ritsuka walked away with Gudako followed after him. As soon as they were out of earshot Gudako walked towards Ritsuka with a worried look.
"Are you alright?" Gudako asked worriedly. "You looked sick earlier."
"Its fine," Ritsuka answered. "Just…trauma…that's all."
"Is your Chaldea that bad?"
"To be honest, yes," Ritsuka answered as he looked at his hands that suddenly shook.
"I want to ask 'have you tried getting help' but both of your hands answered for me." Gudako said looking at his hands worriedly. "Does that always happen?"
"Yeah," Ritsuka answered as he clenched both fists trying to calm them down and took a deep breath. "It started two years ago and well it hasn't stopped since."
Gudako went and grabbed both of his hands and looked at him with a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, I'm sure things will be better eventually."
"I-I want to believe that," Ritsuka said with a dry laugh. "But after what I've been through I'm starting to doubt if that's possible."
"I promise," Gudako gave both hands a squeeze as they started to shake again. "It will."
Ritsuka looked at her with a look and was about to speak once more but DaVinci arrived and cleared her throat. Gudako suddenly pulled away and with a slight blush on her face, the two turned and saw DaVinci with a teasing smile.
"Say I saw a Karna and Arjuna fighting earlier," She said. "You may want to check that."
"Again?" Gudako's shoulders slumped and turned to Ritsuka with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry but I'll be back!"
And with that she sprinted off, Ritsuka tried to follow after her but DaVinci's staff stopped him from going after.
"Let's go for a chat for a bit Ritsuka Fujimaru," She smiled.
Gudako found Ritsuka already in the Café enjoying a nice cup of tea waiting, as resolving that matter was more or less comedic as it started from a simple fight between Karna and Arjuna and escalated into a brawl, which then escalated into a free for all between servants that forced Gudako to use two Command Seals to pacify them for good measure.
"Sorry about that," Gudako said as she sat in front of him. "It took way longer than expected."
"Its fine," Ritsuka shook his head. "I was just enjoying the tea."
The two eventually continued their conversation, it was there Gudako discovered that Ritsuka Fujimaru. Despite at first coming off as a mildly traumatized man, likely the result of their missions getting worse, he is actually a dork as in his own Chaldea as he has had his share of craziness.
"And that's how a theme park managed to stack up in that pile," Ritsuka said, he was telling her of this time where he was sent to investigate Csejte Castle, again according to Ritsuka, and each time he had returned it would be much more insane than before. The second caused a giant Pyramid cashed onto the, and the third being the iconic Himeji Castle Built upon it, and the Fourth being a giant amusement park called Oniland.
"God that must have been annoying," Gudako shuddered the idea of coming back there multiple times somewhat annoyed her. "I sure hope I don't end up going through that nonsense."
"What Singularity did you recently dealt with again?"
"Orleans why?"
"….You'll do just fine."
"Wait tell me!"
"There's even a possibility that it might not happen on your timeline so it'll be fine," Ritsuka said reassuringly while avoiding her gaze altogether, the two continued to bicker further until Musashi arrived.
"Master?" She said giving him a somewhat apologetic look on her face.
"It's time isn't it?" Ritsuka said making a somewhat depressed sigh.
"Sadly yes," Musashi nodded. Gudako realizing what was happening quickly looked at Ritsuka with a surprised look.
"You're leaving?" She asked standing up.
"This was inevitable sadly but yes," Ritsuka stood up as well giving her a sad smile. "We've overstayed here in your Chaldea, should we stay longer things might go from bad to worse in my Chaldea."
"I-I wish you could stay here a little longer," Gudako said slightly saddened. Despite the short period they've met, Gudako can't help but want to spend time with him longer.
"Don't worry," Ritsuka smiled reassuringly as he ran his hand across Gudako's cheek. "We'll see each other again soon."
But before she continue, Ritsuka leaned in and kissed Gudako taking her by surprise. And as soon as he pulled away he gave the now blushing Gudako a smile.
"See you later."
And with that He left alongside Musashi, meanwhile, DaVinci, who saw the whole thing unfold, approached Gudako.
"I'll explain later, but right now one of the other Masters woke up."
"Wait really?!" Gudako asked standing up. "Let's go meet that master then."
"You already did," DaVinci smiled as she watched as Gudako sprinted off, unaware that Ritsuka Fujimaru is not from a different Chaldea, but rather from a Chaldea from the future of the same Chaldea she is in. And that as she made her way to the Medical Bay where they're being held, the Ritsuka Fujimaru of her timeline had just woken up.