So, after Roman had left Da Vinci had quickly popped her head out and said, she was happy to see that Kiyohime was awake.
After that, the two headed up to the dining hall to eat, to get Mash, for he needed her to able to summon and to get some food.
There they had met some the other Servants with Andrew giving them all a quick good morning and saying that Kiyohime was okay now.
Now after eating they were down in the Summoning Room, with Kiyohime accompanying Andrew and Mash, as she wanted to see a summoning happen.
"Kouhai, do the thing," Andrew said dramatically, putting on a bit of a spectacle for Kiyohime.
"Yes, Senpai," Mash said as she prepared the shield and circle for Andrew to use.
"Alright, let's hope we get someone good," Andrew said to himself as he channeled his Prana through the Saint Quartz into the circle.
And what has now become a usual thing to witness the circle lit up and created the usual smoke to conceal the Servant from being immediately seen.
"Servant Saber Arturia Pendragon, the Tyrant of Knight's, have answered your call Master, but you can just call me Alter it seems fitting." Announced Saber Alter.
"...You know, I really should have seen this coming." Andrew said, upon reflecting how he'd already summoned two enemy Servants from France; it made sense he'd be able to summon ones from Fuyuki. He hadn't really held any ill will towards Alter in Fuyuki beyond wanting her to die, so it was easy to put aside the remaining embers of anger. "Welcome to Chaldea, Alter, where we will be working to prevent the exact thing you had been trying to do back in Fuyuki." He said to gauge her reaction.
"Sorry Master, but I Have no clue of what you speak of the name of the city sounds familiar, must have been unrelated to this version of myself, perhaps you met the King after being doused in the mud of that damned Grail." She spoke the last bit with bitter hatred. "Yes, Fuyuki I remember now, took part of Grail war there in another world another time. But that has nothing to do with the current situation. And I see you have summoned other Servants. It is nice to meet a fellow dragon, and… I must apologize girl to carry the power of that idiot." Alter spoke.
"Nice to meet you Alter, as a fellow dragon I greet you as Kiyohime." Kiyohime greeted Alter.
"And I'm Mash Kyrielight, but are you talking about the Servant that gave me his powers? Do you know who that is?" Mash asked.
"Oh? You don't know? Sorry for speaking out of turn a Hero's Journey should not be derailed by one such as I. Now Master what is your name?" Alter asked.
"Ah, yes, right, I am Andrew Murphy, Master of Chaldea." He said almost absentmindedly. The fact that Alter recognized the Heroic Spirit giving Mash her power made him rethink interactions Lily had had with Mash. They knew, but that adherence to the damn 'hero's journey' bullshit was keeping them from spilling the beans. Chaldea needed all the power boosts it could get in this struggle. He considered using a Command Seal for just a moment before realizing he would probably have to use another afterward to prevent himself from dying and thought best to continue to sleuth out the details. But the biggest hint was that the spirit was most like from Arthurian legend, and that did actually narrow it down immensely. There were only so many famously shield wielding heroes after all.
"Greetings to you Andrew Murphy, I shall help you in your mission to save humanity. Now one more thing I have to ask if I'm sensing Caliburn right now?" Alter asked.
"...Yes. You're younger incarnation has also been summoned here." Andrew said after a moment, deciding there was no way to beat around the bush with this one.
"Ah yes, her younger form not my own, our paths diverged greatly now, where is she located I wish to speak to her?"
"I'll only tell you such a thing if you swear not to fight her," Andrew said.
"Why should, she might know the legend but her mentality should still of a much more innocent time. Besides if I wished to fight her, I would challenge her to a duel to see what the difference between then and now is."
Andrew let out a short sigh. "Sorry, it's just that when we fought the other you, she was really insistent on trying to break Lily."
"Really? Then you just confirmed it for me that had been the King of Knights drowned in that mud, and not a version of me summoned."
At that, Andrew decided to use his Stat-o-Vision on her to see how different this incarnation was from the one in Fuyuki.
True Name: Arturia Pendragon
Class: Saber
Master: Andrew Murphy
Parameters:
Strength: A
Endurance: A
Agility: D
Mana: A++
Luck: C
Noble Phantasm: A++
Class Skills:
Magic Resistance: B
Personal Skills:
Charisma: E
Instinct: B
Mana Burst: A
Noble Phantasm:
Excalibur Morgan: The Sword of Promised Victory(Anti-Fortress): A++
"Pardon me asking, but what does your Charisma skill do?" Andrew asked Alter. It was the only thing he didn't know the usage of, and the low rank was odd.
"It serves as to show one's leadership skills. I wasn't one for speeches to rally the people I let my action and sword do the talking. Though it's also useful for intimidation." She answered smiling showing off her teeth, and they looked like they would fit on sharks. No, more like they belonged in a dragon's maw.
"A-ah. Hopefully, your skills will prove useful in our endeavors to save human history." Andrew said a tad nervously. He'd never seen a real person with teeth like that; it was a bit unnerving, but at the same time pretty cool. If it were anyone but Alter he would have said as much, but he felt saying such a thing might not be the best idea.
"And as I can see it still works, now when where is that version of me located?"
"Here Miss Alter I've got a self-updating map of Chaldea for you to use. It shows which rooms are occupied and by whom if you wish to know." Mash said, taking out the map for the Saber.
"Thank you, young lady. Now I will be off. Unless you wish to join Master, I saw your face before, and I guess you wish to know?" She didn't have to say what Andrew wanted to know.
"Yeah, there needs to be a talk about that," Andrew said aloud. Telepathically, he sent out a message to Lily. 'Lily, we just summoned an alternate version of the Altered 'you' we fought in Fuyuki, and she wants to talk. Is that okay?'
"Of course Master, so it was Excalibur that I sensed. Great bring her up would you, and do you wish to sit in Master?"
'Yeah. There was something the four of us need to discuss.' He replied.
"Wait? Four?"
'Yes, me, you, and the two other Servants from your legend.' He said.
"Oh, okay but only if Mash wants to know!" There was a stern tone in her mental voice.
'Alright, alright.' He responded telepathically before 'switching channels,' as it were. 'Mash, do you want to know about the Heroic Spirit you've got? Lily and Alter know, and it seems like they're willing to talk, but only if you want to.'
"If-if it helps you Senpai then I will."
He looked her in the eyes. 'But do you want to? Be selfish for a moment, think about it as if I didn't exist. Do it if you want to know for yourself, not for me.' He replied. Andrew very much so wanted to power boost, but what he didn't want was Mash making her decisions based on him. This was about Mash, not him.
Mash returned her look, and Andrew saw her biting the bottom of her lips. "I-." She began to speak out loud. "I want to discover who it is by myself, Senpai. Sorry."
"That's quite alright, Kouhai. There's no need to apologize; there is nothing wrong with wanting to explore an unknown part of yourself, for yourself." He chuckled. "I'd be pretty hypocritical to say otherwise."
"Thank you, Senpai, hearing those words already makes me feel better. But Alter, you can still tell Senpai if he wants to hear. I can wait." Mash said directly to the newly summoned Saber.
"If my Master wishes to?" She responded and asked.
Andrew shook his head. "Nah, that wouldn't be right, knowing something about you that you don't. I won't ask, but I will try and help you with figuring it out on your own, if you'll let me. I know a bit about the weapons-turned-Noble Phantasms of yore, so I can probably help figure out who uses a shield at the very least."
"If that is what you choose Master. Very well I shall inform the younger version of her, that you won't joining our conversation when if what I'm hearing is correct." Alter said.
"Alright then," Andrew said.
"Then I shall speak to you all later." Said, Alter, as she left the summoning room.
"Well, glad that is over certainly felt awkward for standing here, being ignored," Kiyohime commented.
"Oh, right, Kiyohime, sorry about that." Andrew apologized to the Berserker-turned-Lancer.
"It's fine Master, anyway you two probably going to talk now," Kiyohime said pointing fingers at Andrew and Mash. "So, I'm just going to go bug Uncle Vlad. See Yeah." She said running out of the room.
"She certainly has changed Senpai, hard to believe she is still Kiyohime," Mash said as she looked at the door.
"Yeah, but I think in the long term having a superpowered dragon teenager is probably better than having a superpowered dragon yandere. The former is likely to burn down Chaldea by accident, but the latter was likely to burn down Chaldea on purpose." Andrew said.
"I see the comparison Senpai, and it does not comfort me. I rather not have my home being on fire at all." Mash answered.
"I mean, this Kiyo won't want to do that and will actively avoid it, you know? A yandere would do anything if they thought it would help them get their 'beloved.' Really it's no worse than having a wild card like Gilgamesh, except Command Seals will actually work if they need to be used."
"When hopefully you won't summon anymore Senpai," Mash said. "Kiyohime seemed bad enough, but she seemed rather tame to what you're describing."
"I think that's why we were able to 'fix' it in that dream thing; it was a part of her, but not her, her you know?"
"Yes, like something that was added to her, but didn't come from her?"
"Sort of? It may have actually helped that she died soon afterward- its part of her legend, but not part of her real personality, I'd say. If there was someone like that who was like that for years and years, I doubt it would be that easy to fix it."
"Ah, I see what you're talking about Senpai, but perhaps you could use Command Seals to make Berserkers like her sane within the walls of Chaldea." She suggested.
"...I have no idea if that would work, and no way to test it until Da Vinci finishes that summoning thing she was working on, but that does sound like a good suggestion." Andrew said after a moment. "Since Mad Enhancement directly increases a Servant's parameters, I might be able to get away with at least lessening it out of combat? ...Regardless, that's a great suggestion Kouhai, thank you."
"You welcome Senpai. Now we should get going it's time for me to go to the Gym." Mash said.
"Right, sorry, don't let me hold you up."
"Do, you want to join Senpai?"
"I mean I obviously won't be able to do anything like what you can, but sure. It would probably be worth it to at least work on my speed and stamina a bit so I can get the heck out of dodge and to one of my Servants."
"That's sound like great places to improve Senpai, let's get going."
Xxx
When Mash had said Gym, he had expected something more for Servants not an actual gym with weights, thread mills and still standing bikes.
Andrew was now in more appropriate workout clothes along with Mash. In the gym itself three Chaldea Workers were training, and to his surprise was in what was probably a boxing ring was Cu and Gilgamesh wrestling with each other.
"Did, not expect those two to be here Senpai. Thought they would be down in the Training Room duking out against the Shadow Servants." Mash said in surprise.
"It's probably because they know the difference in sheer damage potential, so they went for a skill based fight instead," Andrew concluded after mentally comparing the firepower the two possessed.
"I agree with you on that Sir they have going on for the last hour, and they haven't even scratched the ringing." Said one of the workers a British man that looked to be in his thirties.
"I see," Andrew said before registering the full of what was said. "Please, call me Andrew, Mr…"
"Sure thing Andrew, the name is Peter, Third Generation Magus." He greeted.
"It's nice to meet you, Peter. So you're part of the magic-based staff?" Andrew asked, curious about the other humans in Chaldea.
"Yeah, I'm a part of the night shift working on keeping the systems running, along with Frederick and Mariah over there." He pointed at the two other workers. The male was running and female kicking against a post.
"Hey, Andrew." They greeted though he wasn't quite sure on their accents, so he could only really guess where they were from.
Andrew waved at them with a short "Hello" before he had a thought. "Thank you, all three of you, for keeping everything running." He said sincerely. "It's the people like you three that make sure there was a Chaldea to come back to after the singularities, so thank you."
"Don't praise us like that boy, we were just doing our jobs. You just do yours, and we all be back home at some point." Peter said.
"You're right, but regardless, thank you for your hard work," Andrew said.
"Now Andrew, Mash you came here to work out didn't you. Now boy how about I show you the ropes, we got some great machines, to keep yourself in shape, especially a tall Yankee like yourself, what do they feed you over in the states?"
"Oh, this is mostly genetic. My family's been getting taller over the years sure, but my grandad is only a few inches shorter than me. Heck, my great-great grandad on the other side was taller than I am now." Andrew said.
"Bloody hell mate, did your family breed with giants or something in the past?" Peter asked in a way that it sounded like a legitimate question.
Andrew was about to rebut the idea before realizing that him being here meant something magic was involved with his world. "I... don't think so? How would you check that kind of thing?" He asked. If he was here, that meant something could have gone the other way to his world, if they were separate worlds in the first place.
"You really can't unless it's recent and the blood is still thick, like with those Demon hunting families of Japan. So, it's just probably a remnant of some old dealings with the best of old that persists." Peter said. "I should know the flow of blood is my families specialty due to our Sorcery Trait," Peter explained
"Sorcery Trait?" Andrew asked.
"Right first generation aren't you. It's like a genetic cheat code towards certain Magecraft or abilities. The Einzbern have their Wishcraft, and the Vice-Director's family have their Blue Blood."
"Vice-Director? I didn't even know we had one of those."
"Oh, noo Chaldea doesn't I'm talking about the Clock Tower's down in London the Barthomeloi Family, the current head has always been the Vice-Director since the founding almost two thousand years ago," Peter answered.
"Oh." Andrew paused a moment as the sentence fully processed. "Wait, 2000 years ago?"
"Give or take a few hundred years. Nobody really knows how old it really is, but we do know the Director is 2000 himself."
"...I thought only vampires lived that long?"
"That is true, but nobody knows who he is only that he exists. He is a complete mystery. For he isn't human a Magus can live for three hundred and a little more, but that is when the Soul Rot sets in."
"I'm guessing that term is rather literal?"
"Yes, everything has an expiration date son, even the Soul, it's not meant to stay in the world for so long. That's why Magi seek the Third Magic as that eliminates it or so they say."
"Oh yeah, didn't the founder guy build Chaldea and stuff with that?"
"Nah, if the Old Man had gotten The Third he wouldn't have created this place. Just a lot of money went into this." Peter said. "And he wouldn't be dead if he had, it kinda makes you immortal."
Andrew frowned. "Isn't the Third Magic Heaven's Feel, the wish-granting thing? Maybe he just wished for something different than immortality or the Root?"
"Nah, the wish-granting part if correct is just the Grail's doing, wish-granting has little to do with The Third. It's more like ultimate soul power more than anything."
"Oh okay," Andrew said, before realizing he had just been chatting with Peter instead of working out like he had intended. "Hey, uhm, sorry but I should probably start actually doing some exercising. Thanks for the chat though it was nice to meet you."
"Ah, yes we got a little sidetracked there, didn't we. Now I think Mash is getting impatient waiting for you."
Andrew saw her tapping her foot.
"A-ah, yeah right. Thanks for the chat, Peter." Andrew said before turning to Mash. "Sorry about keeping you waiting for Kouhai."
"It's fine Senpai, it sounded like you were enjoying yourself talking to others. Now we can start by doing some warm-ups, and get our muscles lose." Mash said.
Xxx
Finally!
That was the word that rang in Andrew's mind after days of waiting he had gotten the summoning ticket from Da Vinci.
He held the golden ticket in his hand, standing over the prepared Summoning Circle which Mash had made in the Summoning Room for him to use like usual, while she stood diligently in the corner of the room.
The corner is the wall as the room was circular, and so had no actual corners.
"Alright, I've got the winning lottery ticket tonight!" Andrew said as he pushed his Prana through the ticket into the circle. He may have used a bit more than needed, but he had been getting a bit stir crazy, and it wasn't like there was much else he had been using his Prana for this week.
As it lit up and created the smoke, Andrew was starting to think that the ritual had been designed to be as dramatic as possible.
"Servant Lancer Cu Chulainn at your service Master, is there battles to be had?" Cu Chulainn announced.
"...Two dogs are better than one?" Andrew said, saying the first thing that came to mind, which he most definitely did not mean to say aloud.
"So am I dog Master?" And Andrew found a red spear at his throat. And Cu found a shield at his.
The air was tense as the stand of between Mash and Cu happened.
"You're chosen name is literally dog, Setanta," Andrew said, as calmly as he possibly could.
Cu's grimace turned into a grin as he pulled his spear away from Andrew's throat. "I like you, Master, got balls of steel. So, I guess I'm your Servant now, but what did you mean when you said two dogs?" Lancer Cu asked. "And little lady put the shield down I'm not going to hurt our Master." It took a few before Mash removed her shield from Cu's neck.
Andrew rubbed his throat where the Child of Light had almost impaled him. "You're actually the second Cu Chulainn we've summoned, the other being a Caster. That incarnation, plus what I know about your history, were how I knew you wouldn't kill me." Andrew explained.
"Still, excellent poker face. And I wouldn't have killed you, Master, even if you had broken down crying. I would have gotten the boot immediately if I did. And I really want to fight some strong people before I do." The Hound said confidently. "And me without a spear, what crap luck does he have."
Andrew used his Stat-o-Vision on the Lancer Cu to confirm it.
True Name: Cu Chulainn
Class: Lancer
Master: Andrew Murphy
Parameters:
Strength: B
Endurance: C
Agility: A
Mana: C
Luck: E
Noble Phantasm: B+
Class Skills:
Magic Resistance: C
Personal Skills:
Rune Magic: B
Disengage: C
Battle Continuation: A
Protection from Arrows: B
Noble Phantasm:
Gae Bolg: Barbed Spear that Pierces with Death(Anti-Unit): B
Gae Bolg: Soaring Spear that Strikes with Death(Anti-Army): B+
"His luck is higher, actually. He was even the last Servant standing from a Grail War in the Singularity we found him in." Andrew said. "Oh, and you can do Runes too. Neat."
"Really? Damn, I feel ripped off by that priest even more now. And yes I can do runes, but only some of the more basic stuff and my more well-known technique with them." He explained.
"What a fucking minute! When you say the priest, do you mean Kirei Kotomine?" Andrew asked, nay, demanded. "In the Fifth Holy Grail War in Fuyuki?"
"Yep, died when I saved the idiot redhead from Gilgamesh." He explained. "But how do you know about that Master?"
"Hmm, Senpai was an apprentice to Lord Zelretch for a bit, and he told him about the various Holy Grail Wars that happened in different timelines." Mash came to Andrew's rescue with a quick explanation for Andrew's knowledge.
"Oh, the dude with the Second True Magic, that explains it. Damn kid your lucky to have been picked up by a Magician, if the knowledge from the FATE system here is true."
"Yeah, the FATE system's stuff is accurate. But more importantly." Andrew said as he put some pieces together. "I think I need to have a talk with a few of my Servants."
xxx
A/N:
Donate to my P A Treon. com (slash) TheBlacklightProjekt if you want to help me as a creator. And now take commissions, which is you paying for me to write any one-shot you want. Price depends on the length of One-Shot