Chapter 15: Anastasia - In the Dark of the Night
Two pods opened up. Pods that belonged to none other than the near dead A-Team who had been put there since day 1 of the Grand Order. Kinda sad really, but life was never fair. And yet now, thanks to the divine(?) power of this kind (hell no) host, two of A-Team were now awakened. Everyone, especially those who knew of them, watching as a moan is heard, and from it a white haired boy stumbled out.
"Bluh!" Then throwing up instantly, as he never felt sicker. What an impression for the first time.
"That's Kadoc!" Mash says as she recognizes that pitiful young man who's now on his knees and vomiting whatever he ate a year ago. "He looks fine."
"Uh…" Ritsuka just watches with some nausea of the boy spitting what he believed was chicken. "He doesn't look fine."
"But it is." Da Vinci comments. "After all, him doing that means he's physically fine somewhat. So a win-win."
"Sure." Guadako shrugs as she then looks at the other pod. "Oh, neat." She then says. "Looks like we got a fine girl there."
"Ah yes, girl." Da Vinci nods, knowing it must be one of the two only female members of the team. "Indeed, the next one is," She then looks at the person and blinks. "...Eh? Who is that!?" Where the girl in question was also white haired, was dressed in beautiful clothes that made her appear like royalty, and held some weird little doll.
"Where...am I." The strange girl says with the doll then creepingly moving and looking at the girl. "Is this Purgatory?"
"Hello there you two." the voice then gets their attention, where the duo then looks up and sees them surrounded by many, with the voice calling them out. Kadoc panicking a bit as he realized many were Servants, and the girl worried this was some kind of trap. "No need to fear," Suddenly, information was being put in their heads. An understanding of the situation now making themselves known as a second later, they were teleported and soon sitting with the current Masters of Chaldea together. "You bobble heads are in no danger. Cake?"
Some cake then appeared and landed on both their laps.
"Bluh!" The sweet smell made Kadoc throw up on it, the teleportation making his tummy queasy, and the girl screamed at the surprise with the cake falling onto the ground making a big mess.
"What a waste." Saber Alter moans.
"Uh. Viv, are you feeling alright?" The girls asks with the doll nodding. "Good. Now then, other worlds, right?"
"Yep. Glad the knowledge I implanted in you helped you out. Both of you." Otherwise, he'd have to kick these dummies out since they'd be useless.
"Great." Kadoc himself mutters, finally composing himself while putting the ruined cake onto the floor. Feeling bad he didn't even have a chance to eat it. "So first I was put on a team of elites, then nearly killed, put on ice for a year, now kidnapped by some maniac to make us watch other worlds, and me feeling sick? What are you, someone who sues the Second Magic?"
"Ha!" The Voice laughs. "I'm not like that loser vampire Zel-what-his name. Unlike that idiot, I can go through and see multiple worlds, not just parallels. Making me better than that fool!" Unless it was a world (fanfic) where he gained the power to go to or send those (like Shirou mainly) to other worlds apparently. But canon version, a total wimp.
"Hold on a second." Holmes then speaks up, as he still looks at the pods. "Now, I understand Kadoc was freed, and this girl here is some Servant whom we don't know." The girl huffed and turned away. "But, that Coffin should have held a member of A-Team."
"That's right!" Da Vinci now realized it too. "That Coffin, it held-!"
"Oh, that bastard." The Voice says nonchalantly. "Yeah. I sent that freak with the teethy somewhere else. I'm sure a certain 'Hero of Justice' can handle him."
"HAHAHAHAHA!" Beryl Gut laughs as a tortured Shirou could only cry slowly with his limbs ripped off. "You thought you could enter this Holy Grail war and win because of some stupid justice." Nearby, a dead Sakura with no eyes lied on the ground, with a shivering Shinji peeing his pants. "Thought you could even win!?"
Nearby, Rin is impaled and none other than EMIYA Archer could only gasp as he had been utterly defeated by the terrifying Servant that had ripped his lower half like nothing. His thousands of years of technique and skill having done NOTHING against the enemy he faced and now has lossed just like that.
"And now," Beryl held the Holy Grail, where a near dead Kotomine watches in rage and regret that the Grail he sought was taken from him. The King of Heroes himself watching from afar with a smirk, waiting to see Angra be unleashed. "It's time to make a wish."
"Moving on," The Voice then said. "So nobody gets confused, the girl there is none other than Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova. A girl who died tragically and got the bull$hit power of getting to be a Heroic Spirit because of convenience!"
"What was that!?" the now revealed Servant says in anger, with a few being surprised.
"Anastasia?" Guadako tilts her head. Looking at the pretty girl, but also feeling lost a bit. "Who's that?"
"She's a girl that is the youngest daughter of Nikolay II, the last Tsar of the Russian Empire. Swallowed by the turbulence of the Russian Revolutions, she was murdered at the Ipatiev House along with her family, servants and pet animals." Holmes tells them what he knew. "And while our host was rather rude, he wasn't wrong."
"Wrong about what?" Ritsuka looks at him.
"That this fine girl shouldn't be a Heroic Spirit." Moriaty finishes for Holmes. "She's just a girl with no real tale and is closer to a regular person, like you." Sure she lived a sweet life, and supposedly rumors of her family involved in Magecraft, but such things would never earn this girl a spot on the Throne of Heroes.
"It's because of that dumb doll." The Voice then tells everyone the real reason Anastasia, the Caster Class Servant, is here. "Thanks to it, she got a one-way ticket on the Throne." Too bad that when she was summoned, she was all messed up. Ouchies.
The girl herself clicked her tongue in annoyance, with Viv wishing it could freeze the bully that mocked them. It was then Caster felt someone looked at her and saw Kadoc, who rubbed the back of his head. "Um...I think you're okay."
"...Thanks." Anastasia says, taking the compliment.
"Moving on," The Voice then says. "The next world actually involves her." Now that got Anastasia interested, along with the others. "To explain, basically put, in this world, she has an enemy. An enemy that wants her dead."
"What else is new?" Cu calls out, feeling that isn't any different from other battles. Others think the same.
"So just another boring plot." Shakespeare sighs in disappointment.
"I believe the kids of this era called it, LOL?" Hans says. Guadako giggles, as that's totally the wrong phrase.
"I wouldn't say boring entirely." The Voice tells them. "Because here, there's going to be a twist. So shut up and get ready to listen, and no talking as well." Tape then covers everybody who's surprised by this action. "Because now, it's gonna be lights, camera, and MUSIC!"
"Music?' Everyone thought.
There they were, three humans and a dog. Each of them getting ready to go somewhere, Paris to be more precise. All of them wishing to go their to find the truth of the brown haired girl's origins and who she truly may be. Though unknown to them, someone was watching.
Up above is a small white bat, with a rather ominous glowing green object, who stared down at these people. Listing to their conversation when he then heard a name that got him very interested. "Anastasia?"
'Me?' The white haired Caster thought. But that was impossible. She was dead. Unless…
The bat then smiled as he looked down at the humans. "Yeah, just one problem there fella. Anastasia is dead." The object then began glowing more and more, to the bat's blind spot who didn't realize it. "All the Romanovs are dead. They're dead. Dead, dead, dead." The objects skeleton top then leaked out a strange green mist which took the form of a green 'demon', where it then looked down at the bat who said, "Am I right my friend? I mean, how could that be Ana-"
The creature hissed as at last the bat noticed in horror. Screaming, he jumped away only to realize the small but deadly object leaked more mist where more of these demons started popping out. Though as he looked, he was now confused once he accidentally fell down and hooked his leg under a raft and stared at the misty creature.
"Oh, come on." He begins. "Am I supposed to believe that thing woke up after all these years...Just because some guy claims she's a Romanov?" He then climbs up only to be hissed at once more, with the small bat looking towards the object while covering his head. "Okay, okay, I get the message. Enough already with the glowing and the smoke people."
Sighing, the bat just holds his hands before suddenly, realization starts hitting him. "If that thing's come back to life, it must mean Anastasia's alive."
'I'm...alive…' Anastasia thought.
"In this world, yes." Anastasia yelped as she heard the Voice in her head. Looking around to see nobody heard what she heard with a chuckle in her. "Telepathy, neat power. And yeah, here in this world, you lived."
'But I look...different.' She pointed out. Unknown to her, a few Servants also saw the brown haired girl and gazed at her having the same thought, as neither girls who were of the same name and person looked even remotely alike.
"I checked google and the real you looks nothing like you." Chalk it up to both different dimensions and Type-Moon loving to make their women look exotic. "Just think of it as different dimensions and appearance at work."
"Just leave the dog." Dimitri then says to Anastasia as the bat listens to them.
"I am not leaving the dog." She declares with the bat surprised.
"And that's her!"
"We've got a train to catch." vlad says as all three humans and the dog start going. Then, behind the bat the vial starts floating up with the bat screaming. "Woah! Oh!" He then groans as a small bit of the vials rope attaches to his leg and soon, he's dragged off.
"Mayday! Mayday! Hey!" he yells for help knowing this couldn't end well. The vial dragging him into water where he's forced to hold his breath. If that wasn't enough, the vial takes him deeper and deeper until he exits and goes through mud, then into some deep tunnel. Dragged further and further into the world, the bat is then slammed into a rock full of electricity, then screams in pain as he enters a small magna field that burns a bit of his bottom.
The journey of course soon ends as at last he's taken to some unknown area where there is some floating rock of sorts where he then hits it. The bat moaning in pain at how far he went along with his bottom.
"Oh, boy!" He then says rubbing himself and his little nose. "Ow. I tell you what. Ow."
'This isn't good.' Medea narrows her eyes as she sees the vial is now gone. 'That vial, it had a form of sentience in it. Objects like that usually mean trouble.'
'Oh yeah.' Hans thought. 'Anything with a skull is usually a representation of evil. So cliche it makes me sick.'
'Hm. The object is indeed troubling.' Da Vinci started making some theories of its purpose. Especially with the demons. 'But such items are useless unless they have a Master.'
As the bat just wondered what to do, suddenly he heard a noise, followed by an appearance of a strange man.
'Isn't that…' he looked different, and yet all the same Anastasia knew him.
"Who dares intrude on my solitude?" A man with a long beard and robes asks. "Get out!" He then kicks a rock formation away. "Get out!" He then sees the bat and grips him tight. But as the bat is chocked, the man recognizes him in surprise. "Bartok?" He reveals the bat's name. "Is that you?"
He releases his grip and Bartok falls down and hits the rocky table. Where the man looks at him with the bat also just as surprised.
"Master? You're alive?"
'Was he dead or did people assume he was dead.' EMIYA thought.
"The latter." the Voice then tells him, easily going through his mental defenses to tell him what the Voice knew. 'But for good reason, since most people usually die when they drown."
'And yet he's alive despite that.' EMIYA could tell something was up.
The man then chuckled saying, "Yeah, in a manner of speaking." He then grows angry as suddenly, an eyeball pops out.
Mash shivered in disgust.
"Woah." Bartok looks at the eye he holds. "That fell out tight there, sir."
The man just growled as Bartok balanced himself on the man's beard while saying, "Something happened?"
"Yeah." The man grabs the eye and places it back on. "Whoopsie."
"I knew it." the man then says. "I could feel the dark forces stirring."
"I'm not surprised because I saw her-" Bartok then decides to reveal what he knew. "Anastasia."
"Anastasia?" The man speaks in surprise, even as his mouth slides down his beard. "Alive?"
"Uhm sir, you lips-they're uh-" The man didn't care, too angry now as he realized what this meant.
"That Romanov brat." He hisses.
"Yeah, ain't that a kick in the head?" Bartok tells him. "I guess a curse just ain't what it used to be, huh, sir?" He then grabs his masters lips and places it back on.
The curse, the curse meant to kill all the Romanovs.
"That's why I'm stuck here in limbo." The man states. "My curse is unfulfilled." He bemoans as his hand then flies off with Bartok in it who slams into a pillar made of bone. The man then moaning and sobbing at his missing hand. "Look at me." he cries out. "I'm falling apart."
Bartok goes to him with his missing hand as his master sobs.
"I'm a wreck!" The man states.
'Interesting.' Holmes begins his analytical skills. 'So this man, likely Rasputin if I'm guessing correctly, tried killing the Romanovs. With a curse that should have killed them.' But something must have went wrong, and this man ended up in limbo somehow, and must be related to the curse.
'But what kind of curse.' Circe asks herself. The Voice naturally made itself known.
"To kill all the Romanovs so long as he lives."
'Of course.' Circe figures it out, knowing a thing or two about curses. 'The girl is alive, making his curse unfulfilled. And he's now immortal because of it.' Though clearly it was unintentional and became immortal by accident. Hehehe, how funny.
So many Magus try to be immortal, and yet here in this world, this man became immortal simply by accident. That would piss a lot of those prickly magus off.
'Curse my family…' Anastasia thought angrily. While she knew the actual Rasputin of her time, who also held no actual powers, this version, she was starting to dislike.
"Actually, considering how long you've been dead, you look pretty good." Bartok tries complimenting his Master, Rasputin.
"Bah." Rasputin doesn't believe it.
"Sir, you do." He tries again. "You do!"
"Really?"
"Sir, is this the face of a bat who would lie to you?" Bartok tells him. "Come on! For a minute there you had your old spark back."
Rasputin gets up, but still isn't entirely happy. "If only I hadn't lost the gift from the dark forces-" Rasputin grips his handless arm and grumbled. "The key to my powers."
"What, you mean this reliquary?" Bartok then reveals the vial next to Rasputin's hand who is shocked at seeing the now fully glowing Reliquary."
"I'm no Magus, but even I can say this won't end well.' Ritsuak thinks as this is about to go full villain style.
Rasputin gasps in joy. "Where did you get that?"
"Oh, I found-" Before Bartok could even finish it, Rasputin grabs it and interrupts him.
"Give it to me!"
"All right, all right. Don't get so grabby." Rasputin then grabs his missing hand and places it back on. Then hugging his long last item of the dark forces close to him all while chuckling. "My old friend. Together again."
"Now my dark purpose will be fulfilled." Rasputin stood up straight, gazing at his glowing reliquary. "And the last of the Romanovs will die."
Anastasia shivered a bit. She knew the Rasputin in her time, and while eccentric, was friends with him. But the version here, she felt no forms of friendship at all. Able to tell that he wasn't an ally of her family like the old days, and was much worse. Despite being a Servant, she didn't wish to dare face him as he was definitely a darker take of her friend.
"Now then folks." The Voice then spoke up. "Music time!"
'And yet he taped us before the actual song.' Mash thought.
"Yep. Did it too soon." Not that the Voice cared.
Green lightning emerged from the reliquary, and the wind blew as Rasputin began...Singing?!
"In the dark of the night I was tossing and turning."
Bugs came out and chattered in tune with Rasputin's song to Bartok's surprise.
"And the nightmare I had was as bad as can be."
The bugs then angrily went up to Bartok who just looked scared at the angry bugs. The rest then looking towards Rasputin who kept singing.
"It scared me out of my wits." He was lifted by the bugs and was then brought down and falling apart into many pieces of bone and flesh. "A corpse falling to bits."
His head and bones then moved where Bartok was who then got stuck riding his Masters head.
"Then I opened my eyes and the nightmare was me!"
Lights same on and a spotlight came onto him as Rasputin put himself together.
'It's catchy.' Shakespear though.
'In tune with a rhyme.' Cu shrugs but liking it a bit.
'Kinda weird.' Guadako herself thinks. Also shivering at how he fell apart.
"I was once the most mystical man in all Russia!" He slams his reliquary down with the bugs singing in tune with him with a mini spotlight on them.
(Ooh ah ooh)
"When the royal betrayed me they made a mistake!"
Rasputin angrily states as mist comes around them. And starts making things green.
(Ooh ah ooh)
"My curse made each of them pay." The mist then shows Anastasia. "But one little girl got away!" Rasputin grins. "Little Anya beware Rasputin's awake!"
Anastasia then felt Kadoc grab her hand, and for a bit, felt a bit calm as she saw her friend descend to clear madness. Kadoc understood a bit. Must be tough for her, even a newly born Servant, to see her friend act like this.
Suddenly, everybody began singing in a chorus as the light turns red.
"In the dark of the night evil will find her."
'Creepy as hell!' Ritsuka thinks this.
"In the dark of the night, just before dawn!' the bugs toss Bartok around.
'So during the first light.' Mash has goosebumps on her just from watching this.
"Revenge will be sweet!" Rasputin sings. "When the curse is complete!"
'Where she then dies.' Kadoc doesn't like that for some reason. Yet it felt more than just seeing an innocent girl die.
"In the dark of the night," The bugs sing with Rasputin turning and saying.
"She'll be gone!"
"Oooh, ooh, ohh." Some female bugs move Bartok who's forced to move with them.
"Hi, ladies. Listen-" They ignored him.
"I can feel that my powers are slowly returning!" Some bugs bring him a wig where another nearly bites Bartok's face off. "Tie my sash add a dash of cologne for that smell." He grabs the wig.
'They had cologne back then?' Billy didn't think that time had it. Then again, he ignored such products in his time.
"As the pieces fall into place," Rasputin brushes his wig before turning in anticipation. "I'll see her crawl into place!"
"So ugly!" Da Vinci didn't like that look.
"Do Svidaniya, Anya your grace." Rasputin takes off the wig and throws it and starts walking. "Farewell."
"In the dark of the night terror will strike her." The bugs sing with Rasputin stating.
"Terror's the least I can do!"
"In the dark of the night evil will brew." The bugs sing with the female bugs oohing.
"Soon she will feel that her nightmares are real!" Rasputin tells the bugs in his hands.
'That convictions the real deal.' Medea can tell he would do it.
"In the dark of the night." Rasputin then grips all the bugs in his hand and throws them while declaring.
"She'll be through!"
'As all villains say into silly loons.' Hans rolls his eyes.
"In the dark of the night evil will find her." The bugs sing as they go deeper into the pit with a big one singing, "Find her."
"In the dark of the night terror comes through," Others sing while Rasputin kicks some bugs off the reliquary while another bug says, "Doom her."
"My dear, here's a sign," Rasputin declares. "It's the end of the line!"
'As all stories go through.' Shakespear nods.
"In the dark of the night." The reliquary glows more dangerously as mist starts leaking out when Rasputin puts it down. Where from it creatures burst out with Rasputin happy and sings;
"Come, my minions. Rise for your master. Let your evil shine!" Creatures surround them all while the bugs say;
(In the dark of the night, in the dark of the night.)
"Find her now, yes fly ever faster!" The creatures soar above while Bartok runs away with some bugs in fear of the creatures.
(In the dark of the night, in the dark of the night, in the dark of the night)
"She'll be mine!" Rasputin declares as all the creatures leave to find Anastasia to fulfill the curse and ready to kill her. Something Rasputin will enjoy, so much. For the night will be her doom!
The screen then goes dark, and the tapes are magically ripped off.
"Ow!" Chloe says with the kid Servants and a few adult Servants rubbing their hurt lips. Yeah, it was pulled off roughly.
"Now wasn't that a good song." The Voice sighs. "Well, be my standards anyway."
"I've heard better." Guadako states before a pan appears over her head and slams into her skull.
"Senpai!" Mash says worryingly.
"Rasputin, huh." Kadoc leans back while Ritsuka and Mash check on the red head who feels a bump forming under her skull. "In life, he was unlikable. But he wasn't that evil."
"Not to mention he didn't have actual powers." Anastasia says, having known the dude. "But I guess in this world it was different." Along with the relationship between her family and him.
"Oh yeah. You've seen that already with other worlds." The Voice tells the Grand Order cast here. Many recall those like One Punch and MHA, where the humans of those worlds were actually capable of fighting and not being killed off easily like their own world.
"Still though, that man was creepy." Ritsuka definitely felt off seeing a dude who's body fell into numerous pieces and moving them. That was just plain wrong. And he's seen real dead people!
"He's definitely interesting, but not that powerful." Circe comments. "He has adequate magic, and it was interesting how he retained immortality. But that's about all he has."
"Indeed." Medea agrees with her aunt. "He's at best, a second-rate Magus by our standards. Though I suppose it might be harsh since we don't know his actual powers or full strength."
"Regardless, may the girl find peace from this man who dared make a deal with what may as well be the devil." Jeanne angrily says at how such a man made a dark deal.
"If it helps, then as a spoiler, that version of Anastasia gets a lover." The Voice says with the Anastasia of Fate Grand Order coughing in surprise.
"A-KU-LOVER!" Anastasia yells with Kadoc not liking that for some reason.
"Uh-hu." The Voice wiggles those non-existent eyebrows. "It's a tough relationship at first, but you and the other dude Dimitri get together and elope happily ever after."
"That seems nice." Miyu says.
"How sweet." Medea wishes she could have done that with Souichi.
"Elope…" While Anastasia wasn't sure how to feel about this, a part of her did feel happy another version not only lived through that horrible debacle of her death, but found love. 'I wonder if I could have that one day?' She thought.
"Anyhow," the Voice moves on as the screen changes. "We'll be going to the next world. One that is totally abridged from the main world it comes and originates from."
"That sounds horrible!" Guadako yells, knowing full well of what abridged means and those stupid youtube videos she's seen videos on them.
"Too bad!" The Voice shuts her out. "I'm doing it!" Two swords appear on the screen as it then glitches to show the artsyle with the next world going to be rather online and junk.
The next one will feature an abridged series. And yeah, Beryl is a total jerk as always, and has killed Shirou and EMIYA and others with his own Servant like the a$$hole he is. Good always wins...until a greater evil takes over. Move aside Kotomine, your time is up! Until Next Time.