These past couple weeks were the worst. I accidentally spilled coffee on my computer, killing it, so I had to retype up everything once I got a new computer. Good thing I wrote down notes. This is why handwritten stuff is great. Also, I should probably start typing this in a google doc instead.

Well, Olympus is coming out in the next two weeks as of writing this. Hope everyone who's playing gets prepped up.

Chapter 18

Heart to Heart

Chaldea Base, France

Night Time.

A splendid log house had been built in the center.

"Tell me more! Oh dear, your stories are so fascinating! I can scarcely believe that so much detail of your story was lost." exclaimed Marie.

Jeanne had a bashful look as Marie kept singing her praises.

"Um...I would like it if you didn't praise me so much...I was just a village girl who happened to be chosen by God. Honestly, the most I did in those battles was just try my best to give hope, and I did nothing that would earn me the title of saint."

Cocking her head, Marie blinked. "Hm? Well Jeanne, I think you are putting yourself down too much. You did much good in your life, never hated your enemies despite everything done to you, and even after all that understanding you still remain so humble. If anything, I am surprised that some would deny you the title of saint. Besides…"

Pushing her fingers together she blushed. "I, um...idolized you quite a bit."

Mozart suddenly let off a cackle. "Hahaha! Oh I remember that. You always praised her as being perfect while we were going here and there in this era. I remember you grinning with joy the moment you realized that you were in the era where Jeanne D'Arc existed."

"Pl-please don't make fun of me, Mozart."

"Well, I-"

*VRRRRRRMMMMM*

A sound like the scream of an engine echoed through the night sky.

"Oh my, they really are going at it." said Patchouli, who was sitting on the porch, sipping a cup of tea and reading a book.

Several kilometers from the base, two figures were battling in the air.

Love Sign: Master Saber!

A pillar of rainbow light burst into the air before being swept down in a vertical motion.

Sumireko grunted and clenched her fists. Flames burst from her right fist.

(Condense and focus my barrier into my right arm, and…)

"Falcon Punch!"

She smashed her fist into the beam of light, stopping it in its track. A giant bird made of fire suddenly exploded from the collision point, pushing back the beam.

A figure flew from the point and slammed into the ground, creating a massive crater. Sumireko fixed her glasses which were somehow still intact and clicked her tongue.

"That's a new one. Got that from Tenshi's spell card?"

"Hell yeah I did ze. She fires so many beams in her attacks it'd be a disappointment if I couldn't copy all of those. Beams are my thing after all. And you probably got yours from Moukou-chan, right daze?"

Sumireko shook her head. "Nah, got it from a video game."

"A what game?"

"Only one of the greatest things invented in the last couple decades! Now that we can maybe bring you to the outside world, I'll show you everything I can!...If Chaldea has any video games." Said Sumireko, who pushed up her glasses.

Magical energy began to pour out of her as she prepared an attack. She licked her lips which had dried up due to the heat, and cracking her knuckles, she waved her hands up.

A sudden rumble occurred. Thousands of trees were suddenly uprooted and flew to her side. All of the trees spun at an extraordinary speed, tearing off the leaves and branches, leaving only the trunk. A slight glow left the trunks as every single one of them was reinforced with a barrier.

"In any case, I can't afford to lose this match."

Tipping her hat, Marisa nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you're right. I can't either."

She snapped her fingers, causing a dozen orbs of light to appear and surround her. A stream of a thousand magical bullets appeared alongside them, warping like tendrils of a galaxy.

""After all, that last bowl of Mama Emiya's soup is on the line!""

And of course, their fight was over something small. That was how those who had lived and integrated with Gensokyo settled things.

""I Declare My Spellcard!""

Psychokinesis Sign: "Deforestation Barrage"!

Love Sign "Non-directional Laser"!

"We're back! Oh dang, where'd the house come fro-"

A massive explosion rocked the air, causing a massive gust of wind to

Ritsuka fell on her butt as she gazed at the scene, a weary laugh escaping her lips.

"Haha…man it's been a long time since she's gone all out…what happened?"

"Your father's soup." said Patchouli, who closed her book due to losing her place from the resulting shockwave.

"...oh. Yeah, that makes sense."

"Wait my soup?! Why?!" shouted Emiya.

Ritsuka and the two Artoria both smirked.

"Dad…actually never mind. If you hadn't realized since the past couple centuries as a counter guardian than…"

"I thought he wouldn't be that dense but I see he really is that dense." muttered Tamamo.

Tracing a flashbang, Ritsuka threw it into the air, causing it to emit a bright light. The battle in the skies suddenly stopped.

"Shit they're back already!"

"Wait wait wait, we have an explanation for this daze!"

Sumireko and Marisa both floated down with expressionless faces. Then, in perfect unison, they both performed the famed Japanese apology, the dogeza. Knees on the ground, head bowing down, forehead on the ground, arms stretched out at right angles. It was so perfect that Ritsuka instinctively snapped a picture.

""I'm sorry! Please don't take away my meal!""

"Relax, just wanted to stop you two from fighting too much. It's kinda Da Vinci's fault for transporting us randomly…and my fault for staying there for so long. So uh, yeah, we're back."

*Sip*

Ritsuka drank from a bowl of soup at the dinner table. In her hands was a tablet displaying a picture of a handsome with long blond hair along with various statistical data.

Currently, after calming down Marisa and Sumireko, Emiya has gone and cooked up a meal for everyone. While he was cooking, everyone had taken the time to get acquainted with the new cabin. It was…well, extremely modern to say the least.

Using the ambient mana as fuel, it managed to reproduce all the functions of a modern day house. Not only that, it also had a kitchen with all the necessary tools, as well as flushable toilets, though no one really knew where all the waste went. Patchouli apparently installed all these functions due to her weak body.

In any case it was comforting knowing that there was a place to at least call home in this singularity.

Mash sat next to her and glanced at what she was reading.

"Are those…files from team A?"

Ritsuka blinked. "Yup. Oh right, you were part of it, right? Apparently it was entirely composed of geniuses or irregular people in some way. Like this guy named Kadoc who's pretty bad at magecraft, worse than me actually, but has a rayshifting and master potential that's just as high as mine."

Mash tilted her head. "Why…are you reading about them?"

Ritsuka laughed. "Nothing, just…curious about what type of magecraft they use. Also, they were the cream of the crop after all so I was seeing if any of them had anything that could help me and everyone else out. No info on that though, except the team leader Kirschtaria Wodime. Only thing I know is that he excelled at basically every magecraft he learned but specialized in the Animusphere family's magecraft."

Mash nodded. "Correct, he was considered to be a closer candidate to being the former director's successor than even Former Director Olga marie, if it were not for him being part of Team A or joining Chaldea, it's likely he could have risen far in Mage Society.."

"Seriously?! No wonder Olga was always so pissed…Anyways, how were they? I know a couple of them were nutjobs 'cause they were that way in my world but…"

Mash thought for a moment. "I…did not have much interaction with them. Some invited me to talk like Ophelia and Peperonchino, but otherwise…"

Ritsuka choked on her soup. "*Cough* Wait wait wait, that guy was named Peperonchino?! I thought that was a nickname…god, team A really was full of weirdos. No wonder you never interacted with them."

"No that's not…actually, now that I think about it, many of them did have strange tendencies… I think only Ophelia and Kadoc were normal."

Ritsuka giggled. "Huh, I guess you do tend to meet weirdos. I mean, just look at everyone! A girl from another world, an esper with unmatched powers, mages from a secret world that not even the mage association is aware of! Then again I guess you're a bit special yourself, being a demiservent and all."

Mash nodded. "That's true. Though I have to ask, why Team A specifically? I would assume that knowing how extraordinary they are they would be a bit unorthodox compared to what you need."

After all, geniuses had their own way of doing things. It was a common fact, one that was especially apparent within Chaldea's resident caster.

Ritsuka scratched her cheek. "Well…uh, ya know, I just wanted to learn from my senpais…"

"You never took the time back then though senpai. Though, I guess you were researching different types of magecraft from everyone else…"

She paused, and glanced at her master. Ritsuka gulped down the rest of her soup. Wiping her mouth, she began to talk.

"...So, I was just browsing around, then I actually realized that I knew the name Wodime, or rather the last name Kirschtaria. It's um…"

She began to furiously scratch her head, her face turning as red as a tomato.

"Um…"

"Senpai, are you okay? If you don't want to talk about it…"

"No no! It's totally fine! Just…a bit embarrassing I guess."

Her gaze turned serious. "Kirschtaria…is the last name of the biggest power couple in my world's clock tower."

Mash widened her eyes, before cocking her head in confusion.

"Power…couple?"

"Oh yeah, He and his…well, wife, were well known for getting married out of love for each other, something extremely rare in mage society. His wife was also extremely powerful in her own right, though the specifics weren't clear. I only saw her once, and if I had to guess it was due to a mystic eye."

"What was his wife's name?"

"Ophelia. Coincidentally has the same name as one of team A's members. I haven't seen her file yet, but if I had to guess…"

She flipped through several pages. A rather bland looking woman with long brown hair appeared. The only thing that seemed to stick out was the large eyepatch covering her right eye. "Yup, that's her. Don't know about the eye patch though. Say, were these two in a relationship?"

Mash shook her head. "Not that I know of. Wodime was…a bit distant from everyone, but also somehow close. It's not like he actively avoided everyone, rather he always tried to approach everyone, including me. He would try to throw parties or have team bonding events. Everyone just…didn't want to I guess. I was not that understanding of humans at that time, so I rejected most of his invitations because I thought it was unnecessary…After meeting you, I'm starting to realize why he wanted to do so."

*Pat*

Ritsuka rubbed Mash on the head.

"Well, once this is over and we manage to heal everyone in the coffins, apologize and make up with him, okay?" Said Ritsuka.

Mash did a small nod.

Ritsuka stretched. "Anyways, it's getting late. We're going over what our next step is, so sleep earlier."

"By the way, we've been talking about me, but…honestly I don't know much about your history Marie." said Jeanne.

"Ahaha, my story is nothing that spectacular." she said with an embarrassed look. "I tried to help people, made some foolish decisions, and died."

Mozart sipped some tea. "...She was executed by her people."

"Mozart!"

"Oh…I'm sorry…" said Jeanne with a sad look

"Oh no no no don't apologize!" Marie replied while rapidly waving her hands "It wasn't that terrible."

"...how did it feel? I honestly can't imagine how much pain you felt."

Marie's expression softened. "...I suppose I did hold some grudges, though that was a period of my life unfamiliar to this form. After all, I am only a human. It's part of the reason why I admire you Jeanne. You didn't hold any grudges, while I held enough that I honestly can classify for the avenger special class, though I doubt that version of me will ever be summoned."

"But I can also proudly say that, while I did hold a grudge, I also held much love and hope for my people. I might not have died bearing the best reputation, but I'm certain that there are those who were saved by myself. And that is enough for me. So, even if they hate me, I will still love them. Though, if I could wish one thing, it's that if I die once more, I wish I could be the most dazzling upon my death." she said.

"Really now, if it were up to me I would have burned everyone to death." said Kiyohime from the side.

"Eh?" Muttered Jeanne in shock. "You, uh..."

"Her character is quite different when she's not with the master, isn't she?" said Mozart with a chuckle. "But this is her true personality."

"Well, it's not my fault your Master is so charming! I can only suspect that this sudden attraction is due to her being the reincarnation of my dear Anshin-sama!" shouted Kiyohime. "Also, I just...you know, get a tad bit shy when near them. Also, she's taken by a good friend of mine, and I'm not one to lay my hands on someone else's prey, even if they are the reincarnation of my love."

"Apologies but didn't Anshin in your leg-"

"Shhh, we don't talk about that in front of her. Last time we did it, she nearly got branded the dragon witch."

Batch coming through.