Chaldea's Faithful

TheBoredBoot

Chaldea one month after his summon

"So Morven, how are your classes with DaVinci going?"

Looking up from his book Morven found Ritsuka standing by his seat in the common area holding two drinks in his hands, a good-natured smile on his face as he greeted his new friend.

"I've heard you've been working rather hard so I figured you wouldn't mind taking a break and having a drink," Ritsuka said cheerfully taking the seat across from him and handing him chilled coffee.

"Thank you, though truth be told I never minded classwork all that much." Setting down his book and accepting the drink Morven gave an appreciative nod before taking a sip, a look of nostalgia crossing his face as he reminisced. "I used to spend weeks on end back home pouring over the tomes in my family library; learning about the battles and history of the kingdom, it's not too different from the history I've learned on earth, though your world seems much more... Diverse in terms of religious pantheon."

Ritsuka caught Morven's slight change in tone at the mention of gods, and thinking back to what he heard about Morvens meeting with Stheno he started putting together a theory. After a moment of thinking he asked. "Did something happen with the gods from Remnant?"

"I can't really remember," Morven replied softly, his expression darkening again. "Since I've been summoned my memories have been all over the place, there's been some flashes here and there but some of the things I don't even recognize. There was a young man. I remember him above me screaming my name telling me to wake up, then there was another of a girl with golden hair covered in flames fighting alongside me." Morven stopped talking and sipped his drink, breaking eye contact.

Ritsuka awkwardly fell silent too, his eyes instead now going to the book Morven was reading. "The Epic of Gilgamesh, you know he's humanity's oldest recorded hero. Part man, part god and one of the greatest kings to ever live."

"So I can assume he's able to be summoned as a heroic spirit then?"

"Yeah though we haven't been that lucky when it comes to summoning, in fact you're the first to have been summoned in awhile, but with you we have another Master which means we will be able to summon you a Servant. Or if that doesn't work we can discuss the option of having one of our current ones form a contract with you."

"Do you have any idea when we can attempt a summon for me?"

Ritsuka shrugged, "that's something we'll have to ask Dr. Roman and DaVinci, but don't worry I think it's all going to work out. We're going to summon a powerful Servant and then once my sister gets back head to the next singularity."

"Your sister, where is she right now?" Morven asked, noticing across the room that Stheno had entered and was slowly approaching them.

"Well she's currently in one of the already cleared singularities right now gathering materials for us. Items with mystical power which can be used to ascend and strengthen our Servants." Smiling and pointing to himself he added, "my Servants are all almost at their third ascension which aside from my sisters Saber who is at her max ascension, mine are the strongest Servants we have."

Before Ritsuka could say more Stheno interrupted him, shooting a glare at Morven. "Dr. Roman and DaVinci would like to speak with you so come with me," not even waiting for a response before she turned and left.

"We'll talk more later," Morven replied, giving him a nod and a clap on the back before following Stheno in silence. Aside from their first interaction after his awakening he had only seen her from time to time in passing, the fact her eyes now avoided him whenever they were in the same room somewhat annoyed him, especially after all her grandstanding. Speeding up slightly he reached out and grabbed her shoulder gently spinning her around to face him.

"Hey let go of me, and know your place mortal!" She shouted, smacking his hand away, her face looking a little pinker than he remembered.

"I'm sorry but I need to know what's wrong, I know we didn't meet on the best of terms but if we are all going to be working together I'd like to apologize and clear the air, so to speak."

Stheno stiffened at his words and veered around, opening her mouth to tell him off when she abruptly stopped herself, seeing his calm somber face. Morven genuinely seemed to want her forgiveness, seeing this Stheno bit her lip and turned away momentarily before answering still unwilling to look into his eyes. "Hmph fine; I accept your apology, but don't expect that to make us friends. Learn your place and you won't have to worry about offending me again."

"Even though my place is as a Master while you are a Servant," Morven commented with a teasing smirk.

"You may be a Master but you certainly aren't my Master, and even if you were you'd still be beneath me!" Stheno exploded wheeling around again. Jabbing a finger into his chest she glared at him, "While I am a heroic spirit remember I am also a Goddess so don't you forget…" Stheno fell silent realizing that Morven was still smirking as if he was making fun of her.

Watching her purse her lips and turn away from him again Morven couldn't help but chuckle, following her the rest of the way in heated silence till they arrived at the Chaldea command center where Dr. Roman and DaVinci were waiting.

"Hello Morven, I hope you're doing well today. Sorry again for calling you here out of the blue." Roman apologized shaking his head, "but DaVinci finished tinkering with your scroll and found something very odd."

"This might explain the strange signature we picked up when you arrived as well as why your memories are fragmented." DaVinci was staring at Morven as if trying to gauge his reaction to her words before continuing on. "The data is partially corrupt because it's overwritten, but not in the normal sense, it wouldn't be that strange except for that fact that the date stamps for the data are so far apart it doesn't make sense."

Morven raised an eyebrow at this but remained silent thinking to himself. "If the data is corrupted how would that explain the strange signal? Something isn't adding up here."

"There's something you should know about the dates, Morven." DaVinci continued her voice wavering slightly. "The overlap that we're talking about isn't a couple hours, let alone a couple days. It was well over a decades worth of time, meaning you have data from your future, or in another case from the point you were summoned from in your time, which would be…"

"After my death," Morven finished, his face not betraying his shock. From what he had learned about heroic spirits he had already had the suspicion, but to have it confirmed was like a punch to the gut. "It's only logical that I died, I was summoned like a heroic spirit after all. But what happened? Was it an accident? Did I die on a mission? DaVinci said it was over a decade so I would've graduated already, if so then what about..." Unbidden to Morvens mind a hazy image swam before him, a robed woman with red eyes and a sad expression, her lips moving but the word she kept repeating did not make a sound, yet still Morven knew what it was as he opened his mouth to repeat it.

"Lösen."

DaVinci spotted the command seals on his arm begin to glow and reacted immediately backing up and shouting, "Roman get away from him!"

The glow from the bands on his arm spread till it covered his entire body, the blinding light similar to when he had first appeared but lasted only a few moments before it stopped and faded away. Everyone present who had covered their eyes and waited for a moment longer before uncovering their eyes, all of them turning to look at Morven who stood before them.

Looking at him the group could see he had aged with this transformation, despite seeing the change in his face and height they could still tell that it was Morven. His eyes were still that strange brown flecked with gold, but the expression behind them and on his face was tired, almost sorrowful. Like someone who had been fighting for a long time and lost people along the way.

The sudden beeping from the monitors in the control center seemed to snap everyone out of their daze as the techs began looking over the readings, Dr. Roman and DaVinci looked over Morven who still remained silent under their gaze.

While the others stared at him in surprise, the look on Stheno's face was almost akin to horror, her eyes able to clearly see now what she couldn't make out before. His Servants Saint Graph.

"A five-star Ruler and his name…"

"Morven, is that you?" DaVinci asked, reaching a hand out she tentatively pressed it against his chest before giving a sigh of relief. "So this is the Servant that possesed your body, I guess that would qualify you as being labeled as a Demi-Servant."

"NO he's not!"

Everyone including Morven turned to look at Stheno, her normally pink tone now a shade paler as she looked in almost terror at Morven. "He's not a Demi-Servant because he is the Servant, all this time he's been in his younger body which was hiding his Saint Graph, but something happened which caused him to take the form of when he was taken into the throne of heroes."

"You mean this is why he is older now," Dr. Roman was taken aback a moment, the reason for this transformation was unknown but now that it had happened they could get some more answers. "DaVinci what are the details of his graph?"

"Servant class Ruler, rating five-star and his name," DaVinci scoffed slightly, her eyes meeting her subject who wordlessly stared back. "I'll be damned, Morven Kenrich. It looks like you had more secrets then you were letting on, care to explain yourself?"

After a moment Morven finally spoke, his voice a bit deeper and measured from what it was before yet still it had the familiarity they had grown used to from his company.

"I honestly don't know what happened, I was struggling to try and recall anything about my past, but now that I'm like this I remember, everything…"

DaVinci could hear the in edge his voice when he said that and decided it would be better if she didn't ask, instead she turned to one of the technicians who had walked up with a handheld control screen and gave it to her. Looking over the screen quickly she whistled quietly to herself, comparing the readings now to the ones from before. The difference in the two were staggering causing her to turn back to Morven with an impressed smile.

"Well let's not waste an opportunity then Morven, in the name of research and helping us understand what's happening to you, how would you like to spar with Mordred again? I'm sure you'll be able to get a better understanding with her after another round of crossing blades, don't you agree?"

Letting a faint smile play across his lips Morven gave a small nod, "I think she'd like that."

Ten minutes later

Mordred and Morven stood across from each other once again in the open field of the training dome. Since their first little bout several weeks ago the two had reached an understanding through their fight, and while they were on decent terms Mordred couldn't help but feel unsatisfied from the end result. While their fight was enjoyable, when her Master had intervened and stopped her from using her Noble Phantasm it had irritated her to no end afterward. The following days she'd come across Morven at random times and he'd just greet her like normal unaware of how close to death he had been.

Or so she thought anyway.

"Whatever I guess now that he's turned into a full Servant we can fight without holding back now." Mordred thought to herself looking at him over again. While DaVinci had given her a quick explanation on what had happened and how he was an awakened Servant now Mordred couldn't wait to cross blades again.

When she had first seen him again she was only a little surprised by the change, she knew it was still Morven, she just couldn't quite put her finger on what exactly it was about him that gave such a different vibe this time. Without so much as a second glance she knew that this fight was going to be much different.

On the edge of the room Mash, Chiron, and Ritsuka sat quietly waiting for the action to start, while Roman, DaVinci, and Stheno observed from the control room. Everyone was waiting to see who would make the first move as both combatants drew their swords and assumed a fighting stance.

As expected Mordred again made the first move, dashing towards her opponent she waited till she was right in front of him, baiting his attack she jammed her blade into the ground and halted her movement making Morvens blade come short. His attack was a lightning fast slash that she missed completely but apparently so did he.

"Now I got you…" Mordred's voice suddenly broke as she was hit with a crashing wave of disorientation, her armor shattered from shoulder to waist and pain shot through her body knocking the breath out of her. Nearly collapsing she used her sword and braced herself gasping out again, the stinging sensation mixed with the shock of how fast it had happened was messing with her head making everything seem so fuzzy as she fell sideways into Morven who swiftly moved to catch her.

"Mordred! Master!"

The voices of the others sounded distant, overshadowed by a numbing ringing in her head. Looking up into Morvens eyes as he held her, his lips moved but his words were muffled and faint. Unconsciously she reached up to feel her head and after a moment checked her hands to find they were slick with blood coming from her ears.

"Wh-what did you do-do to me, bast…"

Mordred turned away from him suddenly and vomited, the disoriented sensation she was feeling finally getting to her and making her sick. Dry heaving for a moment longer, Mordred finally stopped and turned back to Morven, the world still spinning, making her grab onto his arm tightly, trying hard to steady herself without throwing up again.

"I'm sorry Mordred, I honestly didn't expect you to take that hit. Maybe I should've taken your title a bit more seriously rather than expecting subtly and strategy from you." Closing his eyes he began focusing his aura sharing it with Mordred, attempting to ease the sense of vertigo she was experiencing.

Up in the observation room it was chaos, several technicians were collapsed and disoriented while others only had slight ear and nose bleeds from the feedback. Across the consoles there were varying readings but DaVinci was looking at one in particular. The real-time scan of the room currently showing Morven holding Mordred. When she switched it to mana view though she could see clearly that Morven was releasing his own mana and sharing it with his injured opponent.

"DaVinci, please tell me that you were expecting that?"

Dr. Roman was sitting down against the wall, only a small nose bleed and a little ruffled from the events but no more worse for wear as he nursed his almost spilled coffee. Taking a sip he shot DaVinci an annoyed look before asking, "what exactly was that? Did the tracker catch everything? What about Mordred and Ritsuka and the others, I saw them all go down."

"It looks like Morven is helping Mordred recover, though I don't know the method he's employing," Stheno answered looking down through the window. "As for my Master he's just unconscious. It seems Mash shielded them from the worst of it."

"Speaking of the worst of it, let's find out exactly what it was that Morven did." Pulling up on one of the screens DaVinci began the breakdown of what happened, "in that split-second when Morven had slashed at Mordred there was a release of condensed mana in the form of a subsonic shockwave," she explained taking notes of her own. "The initial release of this focused mana, if it wasn't for Mordred's magic resistance she would've taken substantially more damage."

"That shockwave is what caused Ritsuka to fall unconscious, and why myself and the others have this pounding headache now." Shooting DaVinci and Stheno an annoyed glare he added quietly, "must be nice to have all that resistance."

"Furthermore whatever happened to Morven that caused his transformation seems to be over," DaVinci observed moving beside her assistant, completely ignoring Romans comment. "With the command seal fading it seems that his transformation maybe is limited to a certain amount of time, or perhaps it also has to do with him sharing mana with Mordred to treat her. I'd say after all this, now we have some very valuable data. Now all we need, if it's possible; is to have him summon a Servant and make a contract. With the amount of mana he seems to have there should be no problem with maybe having multiple servants actually."

"How soon till we can try and conduct a summoning for him then," Roman asked, downing the rest of his coffee. "I know we haven't had a great run of luck in our current situation, but I have a good feeling about this."

"If we go at the end of this week I think that'll be the best time, plus doing a summon on a friday is bound to give us some good luck," DaVinci smiled at the idea before turning and motioning for Stheno to follow. "But we can discuss that more later, right now Stheno and I are going to head down to help take care of her Master, so you go have fun dealing with the other two."

"Tch of course you leave me to deal with the inevitable fallout," with a strained smile Roman nodded watching them leave, waiting till the door closed behind them before giving a tired sigh. Looking up from where he was sitting he met the gaze of one of the technicians, the man paused in his work and gave him a sympathetic nod before resuming, but for Roman even the acknowledgment of his suffering was enough to bring a tear to his eye. Sighing once again he got up and went to the console he was working at.

"Morven, Mordred. I see your injuries are treated already so when you get the chance as soon as possible, please come to my office for an evaluation. I also have some information I'd like to share as well so it won't be a waste of your time."

Back in the training dome after Dr. Romans message to them Morven turned again to Mordred who was now unsteadily on her feet. Slightly red in the face he rubbed the back of his head in a bashful fashion avoiding her eyes. "Well we should hurry up and meet with Roman, if he has answers or ideas I'd like to hear them, but first you should take care of your… apparel."

Mordred looked down at herself and turned an even darker shade of red. From her right hip to her left shoulder the armor was torn asunder, the normally pale skin beneath now a light red color like when one takes too hot of a bath, the only indication besides the dried blood that she had even been injured. Gritting her teeth and covering what little modesty she had left Mordred turned and slapped Morven, her face red with both anger and embarrassment at her treatment.

"You bastard, how dare you look at me like that!" Waving her hand the rest of her armor vanished and was replaced with a set of undamaged casual clothes. Now fully dressed again she warily looked back at Morven, still angry but more than anything embarrassed now.

After a moment of silence Morven gave a confused shrug and made to walk off when Mordred called out to him, "hey where do you think you're going?"

"I'm going to meet with Dr. Roman like he asked," Morven replied, still looking confused and a little red in the face. "You can come with me or go on your own later, either way I'm getting some answers."

Biting her tongue, Mordred dropped the subject, watching him leave in silence. Waiting a bit longer till she was sure he was a ways ahead before sighing and following after him. Keeping her distance until they arrived at Dr. Romans office.

"First thing I want to say, Mordred I'm sorry we couldn't warn you about his mana output, with the clock ticking and us not fully understanding what event caused his Servant transformation I'll admit we rushed into that situation." Roman said bowing his head in sincerity. "And for you Morven I'm sorry if we caused you any pain bringing up any of those memories and it pains me to say, with your cooperation we may have to try again so that way we can get more data."

"I understand, and I am at your disposal Doctor," Morvan answered immediately, glancing down at his command seals at the one faded ring.

"First things first, right before you turned into your Servant form you said something, I think the word was lösen?"

"That is correct. From Remnant in the language of a tribe in the desert of Menagerie it means release. Though I can't really remember the exact details again I believe that I've used it before."

"Interesting," Roman muttered, thoughtfully rubbing his chin. "For us lösen has Germanic origins. To loose; to loosen; to detach; to remove. There are many translations and meanings for it, but honestly I'm more surprised that a different world has a similar base language from the sound of it." Looking off blankly into the distance out his window he added in a strange tone, "I wonder if the span between worlds really is as far as it seems."

"Perhaps it isn't," Morven replied, thoughts drifting again to the barely remembered memories of his past life. "If so maybe you'll be able to tell me if I can return home."

Roman gave Morven a sympathetic nod, his understanding of their guest growing with each new interaction and yet he still felt he knew next to nothing about him. But it didn't matter, for Morven had agreed to help them, and trusting in him they could only hope that in return Morven would trust them. Now the final trial would be getting Morven a Servant, and while outwardly Roman was optimistic he couldn't help but notice the feeling of dread that more trouble or at least a new headache was on its way.

"Not till Friday," Roman reminded himself shaking his head. "It's just one more Servant summoned, honestly what trouble could that cause."

Friday

After waiting for several days it was finally time, and yet Morven couldn't help but shift impatiently from one foot to the other. Now back in the same chamber from when he had first appeared before the Chaldea staff he stood again waiting. Going over again the basics of using the Fate system Morven sighed, hesitating again.

"It's going to be fine Morven," Ritsuka reassured, patting him on the back. "For us to use this ticket you are almost guaranteed to get a decent Servant, and we can use all the help we can get, so don't hold back."

Mash, who was also in the center of the room with her shield lying on the ground quietly nodded in agreement.

"Master Morven please use your ticket and conduct your summoning," she said with a friendly smile. "All of us here in the foundation have faith in you. After all you agreed to help us out of your own volition. Just from that we can tell what kind of person you are and if anything you alone will be an asset in helping us save our world."

"Nicely said Mash," DaVinci commented to herself, watching them from the control center with Roman. For some reason she too felt restless, as though they were on the precipice of a great change.

"Alright here I go," Morven muttered holding out his hand over Mash's shield. Closing his eyes he focused his aura, pushing outward through the Fate system.

"I summon you, heroic spirit from the past. Legend who transcends time to fight alongside me to secure humanity's future."

Snapping his eyes open he shouted at the top of his lungs, surging his aura outward.

"Now come forth, my servant!"

As soon as the words escaped his lips a fog giving off a heavy pressure filled the room, it's weight causing Morvens lungs to strain as he tried to breathe in.

"What's going on down there? We've lost our visual of you," Roman cried out tapping his console worriedly. "DaVinci can you tell what's going on down there?"

"Something coming," she responded tensely, the feeling that permeating the area was different from when Morven appeared had put her even more on edge. As if on cue a majority of the main set of lights flickered and went out plunging the room into darkness.

Mash shuddered and knelt down abruptly, her eyes widening in pain and shock. Beside her Ritsuka also dropped to his knees, his face turning deathly pale as the fog slowly began to clear and a spiteful voice came hissing from the shadows.

"Pathetic humans, how dare you summon me."

Mash tensed up at the sound of the venomous voice that echoed throughout the room, a heavy scraping across the ground suddenly followed by a dark shape, lashing out hitting her and her Master sending them flying across the room into the opposite wall with a heavy thud.

Morven who was frozen in place snapped out of his daze, swiftly drawing his blade he blocked a large clawed hand that came from the fading fog, the purple and gold scaled hand tightly gripped his blade and pushed him back slightly, and the dark shape of the summoned Servant towering over him sending an strange thrill through him.

"Oh? You seem to be a different sort of trash, does this mean you are supposed to be my Master?" The woman's words were sharp and the spite behind them when she called him Master caused Morven to bristle in irritation.

Releasing her hold on Morvens sword, the Servant backed up slightly and stared at him, the fog concealing her now finally cleared up exposing her to him.

At the sight of her Morven froze again, the various emotions unexpectedly coursing through his mind only confusing him further. She was a tall woman with long purple hair and elegant features, her face hidden by a strange mask yet despite that her beauty was captivating to him. Feeling his stare her lips twisted into a snarl of anger, rearing up Morven realized he had missed something about her.

The Servant was even taller now, balancing on a thick tail she glared down at him from behind her mask, teeth bared in a feral leer as she laughed out loud while in the shadows behind her hissing and movement could be heard.

"You called me then? Foolish mortal, you know you are opening up Pandora's box; and in doing so shall lead you not to your goal, but to your demise." Like lightning a tendril of black lashed out from her shadow and latched onto Morvens sword arm, biting into him and dragging him into the air as several others also latched onto him causing him to grunt in pain.

Mash shaking of the disorientation of getting knocked across the room hesitantly climbed back to her feet, silently checking on her master who laid beside her while at the same time keeping her eyes on the Servant attacking Morven. Opening his eyes Ritsuka groaned and struggled to sit up, his lips were busted and bleeding from whatever had hit them from the shadows but aside from that he was unharmed.

Back up in the control room Roman was busy rerouting the power back to the Fate chamber while DaVinci tried to get a visual on what was going on below them, the two working silently but still on edge as the summoned Servants' malice spread throughout the facility.

"Alright that should do it," Roman announced, wiping his brow. "We should have a visual of the Fate chamber right now." Tapping the screen one last time, the lights that had gone out flickered once and turned back on revealing Morven in the grip of a masked monster, multiple snakes coming from her hair and biting into his limbs holding him up so that they were face to face.

"Do you understand the situation you are in now human?" The Servant hissed, her snakes biting harder into Morven who only grunted again dropping his sword, his eyes narrowing as he glared up at her.

"No. I think it's you who doesn't understand." Struggling for a moment, Morven tore his right arm from the jaws of a snake and held it out before him towards the Servant, the command seals on his arm beginning to glow. "I called out and you answered."

The Servant fell silent at his words, her snakes loosening their hold and dropping Morven who landed on his feet and continued to stare her down unflinchingly. His gaze angering her yet at the same time impressing her as he looked at her with not a trace of fear or disgust.

"Hmmm perhaps you don't understand the position you are in… But no matter, if you summoned me does that mean you require me for something then?" Her voice was still spiteful, yet there was a hint of curiosity as she stared at the lionhearted young man before her.

"I require your strength. As a Servant you will be bound to my will, become my blade and help me secure the protection and the future of humanity." The glow from Morvens' command seals intensified as he took a step closer to the Servant, reaching his hand out towards her a strange look crossed his face.

As if mirroring him the Servant also had a strange expression as she reached her hand out, expecting him to flinch away at her approach. "What is your name, one who would become my Master?"

"My name is Morven Kenrich, and if you'll have me then I will be your Master."

"You're asking me for my... Permission?" The venom in her voice faded as she faltered with her words. Morvens statement had confused her for a moment but she quickly recovered and bared her fangs again. "If you are asking for my permission you are more of a fool than I thought, that being said though if I were to accept you as my Master know that I don't tolerate weakness."

"Well then we shouldn't have a problem." Morven replied sternly, still watching her reaction. "I swear to you now that I will give my all and show no weakness, even in the face of death. If you agree with these terms tell me your name and be bound by our contract."

"Hmph very well. I am Gorgon, Avenger class. Use me as you will Master, I will crush any enemy before me on your orders, but know that if I detect weakness from you." Like a flash the snakes in her hair were once again around him, inches away hissing and snapping as a dark look crossed Gorgons face behind her mask. "Then I will feast upon you, my foolish contractor."

"I understand," Morven replied still holding his hand out towards her, the command seals on his forearm flashing one last time before shifting back to their normal black color signifying that the contract was formed.

The two of them were now bound together, unaware that destiny has its own plans for them.

Meanwhile up in the control room undisturbed by the commotion, and deaf to Roman and DaVinci speaking, Stheno looked down into the Fate chamber with a sly smile. "Well if it isn't my big little sister, how unexpected. I'll have to keep a close eye on you, you and your new Master…"

AN: Once again I'd like to thank all of you for taking the time to read this latest chapter of Chaldea's Faithful. With this story being my first attempt about writing a crossover for the Nasuverse it's greatly appreciated if I receive any constructive feedback. If you enjoyed the chapter please leave a review and follow that way you can know when the next chapter is out. I hope all of you are staying safe during this Corvid-19 outbreak and hopefully with this extra bit of off time I'll be able to continue posting chapters more often.

Till next time,

TheBoredBoot