Fate Grand Order: Ashen Night

It's been several years since the fifth Fuyuki Holy Grail War. After studying in the Clock Tower, Rin Tohsaka found herself among the Master candidates for Chaldea's Grand Order, and one of its few survivors. Now she must traverse the Seven Singularities to restore the foundation of humanity. Will she and her friends succeed or is humanity doomed to be incinerated?

Author's Note: This story is based off of a passing thought I had where Rin is in Fate Grand Order. Brief disclaimer, this is not the same Rin from the original Stay Night, where she was the Master of Archer Emiya. Instead, she's based off the one from my canceled Fate Dark Night fanfic, where she summoned a completely different Servant (and even then, that particular Servant has an entirely new class in a similar project). I don't know how much I'll invest in this story since I'm wanting to work on my Xenoblade stories, so we'll just see how it goes. Updates on this story might be slow because of it.

Btw, she's not the only Fuyuki Master who will be appearing in this story. There is another familiar face who will be joining Chaldea's ranks. As for who it is, you'll quickly find out. Enjoy!

P.S. This story is partially inspired by a similar story called Fate Sword Order. Go check it out if you get the chance. It's pretty good.

Chapter 1- New Beginnings

An endless field of pale blue flowers that gave off their own light. All under the frozen evening sky that was showered with countless stars, gleaming like the finest of gemstones. The gentle cool breeze caressing her cheek as it ruffled her long black hair. Just standing in this meadow brought a smile to her face, a natural response one would get while admiring this beautiful sight.

How long has it been since she last saw this place? Ah, yes. Back when he was still with her. Her most faithful partner. The strongest card she ever could have pulled for that event. Sure, he might not have been the easiest person to read at times, what with his cold demeaner and all, not to mention his occasional arrogance (which did infuriate her when it was directed at her), but that made him no less reliable.

Just thinking about him sent her heart aflutter. That confidence he exuded, his ability to remain level-headed even in the heat of battle. No wonder he was allowed to become a Heroic Spirit, even if he wasn't directly tied to the Throne of Heroes. What she wouldn't give to see his smile again, the genuine one that he shows only to people most dear to him.

But that can never happen. After their final battle alongside the Master of Saber, she parted ways with her Servant, his presence no longer required as he had fulfilled his mission. Just thinking about his departure threatened to bring tears to her eyes. No matter what she wished, she'll never be able to see him again. After all, the catalyst she used to summon him, the scabbard of his beloved demonic sword, disappeared alongside its owner that fateful day.

While it was sad, she couldn't help but treasure the short time she had with that Servant. She may never be able to see him again, to fight alongside him, but she'll live on for him. To watch over this world just like he would for his. That would be the best way to honor his memory. There would be no reward waiting for her at the end of this journey, but she was fine with it. After all, it reminded her of a certain someone who was going through a similar experience, but at least she had no desire to let this ideal consume her utterly.

Suddenly dark clouds began to gather in the sky. There was a strange malice in the air. It was no ordinary storm. That caused her to raise an eyebrow. That wasn't right. This place was a paradise, a land not bound by time and space. Such negative feelings had no place here.

The endless plain of flowers burst into flames with no warning, destroying the beauty of this place that she admired so much. There was nothing she could do to stop it. Her body refused to move. All she could do was watch the place go up in flames.

Soon a tsunami of black mud could be seen racing towards her. She had seen that mud before. It was the same mud she had seen come out of the corrupted Holy Grail, the same Holy Grail she and her friends fought so desperately to destroy.

How could that mud be here, in this sacred land? It just wasn't possible. The black mud began to swallow her, its dark curses burning her body and tearing her up from the inside. It hurt so much that she wanted to scream, but she held her tongue so that the mud won't get into her mouth.

As she struggled to keep her head above the mud, she looked up at the darkened sky. There she saw it.

A large band of white light that looked down at the world, its light threatening to incinerate all caught in its path.

Rin Tohsaka woke up in her quarters with a start. Her whole body was caked in sweat and her breathing was raggedy. She cradled her head in her palm as she took deep breaths to calm herself down. After a few long moments, she finally managed to collect herself.

Talk about a bad dream. It's been ages since she last dreamt of Ascalon, and she just had to turn it into a nightmare. Perhaps the stress of her new job was the cause of this. After all, she was among the chosen people to protect humanity. To think that she would end up working for Chaldea of all organizations while she was studying at the Clock Tower. The only reason she agreed to come was because a certain high ranking official in the Mage's Association recommended it, and it was practically impossible to say no to that man.

Honestly, she found it a little arrogant that this Chaldea would declare that they alone are capable of guaranteeing the preservation of humanity, but after taking advantage of her connections to learn more about the organization, she couldn't help but find some merit to their claims. After all, not just anyone can make a copy of the planet's soul and use it to observe if humanity will exist a century from now.

As for why she was recruited, it largely stemmed from her aptitude for Spiritron Diving and her aptitude for being a Master. The latter was no surprise to her since she was a Master from a previous Holy Grail War, but she chose to keep that part a secret during her recruitment, seeing no point in sharing that little bit of trivia. As for what Spiritron Diving was, it was a form of Rayshifting into abnormalities in a timeline, these abnormalities known as Singularities, by converting the body into spirit particles like that which constituted a Servant's body. The details of how the process worked were too boring to get into, but even Rin had to give praise to the people who came up with the concept. She did wish it didn't take such a toll on her when she did the simulation when she arrived yesterday. She just barely made it to her room before she passed out from the strain. According to the head doctor, that was actually a normal reaction to those not used to Spiritron Diving and should go away once she becomes accustomed to it, so it shouldn't be a regular occurrence.

"Maybe I'll be able to summon him again while I'm traversing these 'Singularities' that the director mentioned," she thought whimsically, taking a slight laugh at how impossible that was. She had long since made her peace that they will never cross paths again. There was no point in longing for things to be different. He taught her that after all.

Speaking of the director, she wanted all the Master candidates to report to Central Command for debriefing as the last candidate was supposed to arrive today. Chaldea was run by the Animusphere family, one of the highest-ranking families in the Mage's Association, and one of the oldest. It was a little irritating to work for a House that was far above her own, but that's just how it was in the world of magecraft. But that wasn't going to stop Rin from trying her best at rising through the ranks. She was a stubborn girl, as her partner liked to put it. She just saw this as a challenge to help her development as a mage.

Deciding not to waste any more time, she climbed out of bed and headed for the shower to freshen up. She was quite glad that Chaldea is able to produce warm water, despite the organization being located on a snowy mountain with a never-ending blizzard. You would never think that just outside headquarters, the temperature was far below zero (which wasn't much of a surprise considering that Chaldea was based in the center of Antarctica, arguably the coldest continent in the world).

After finishing with her shower, Rin changed into her usual outfit: a long-sleeved red shirt, a black skirt, along with matching color leggings and brown leather boots. Typically, a Chaldea staff member, especially one who was a Master candidate, had to wear the Chaldea uniform, but the Tohsaka heiress got special permission to wear her regular outfit. Those plain white uniforms just didn't suit her at all.

Once she was done changing, she questioned if she should put her hair up in twin tails, like she used to when she was younger. In the end, she chose not to and let her lovely brown hair flow down naturally. However, she did make sure to put on her pendant.

Now on the surface, this simple silver chain pendant with a single bloodred ruby decorating it seemed fairly ordinary. However, if a fairly competent mage were to take a closer look, they would be able to sense an incredible amount of magical energy hiding within the ruby. As someone who specializes in gem magic, Rin was all too aware of magical capabilities of this necklace, but that wasn't why it was so dear to her, something she absolutely couldn't leave behind by coming to Chaldea. It was a gift from her beloved partner, something he had given the gem mage during one of their dates back in the Holy Grail War. It was his magic that was infused within this gemstone, a parting gift if she was ever in trouble and needed the extra help. In a way, it reminded her of the same pendant that she used to revive a certain redhead at a certain school.

There was a knock on her door. Having an idea who it was, she quickly looked herself over in the mirror and determined that she was presentable. With her usual smirk, she trotted over to the mechanical door, which promptly slid open once she hit the button next to it. Sure enough, just outside the hall was a familiar young man with messy red-orange hair and bronze eyes. Just like her, he also wasn't wearing the Chaldean uniform and instead dressed in civilian clothes. His attire consisted of a green button-up sweater over a white long-sleeved shirt, faded black jeans and black sneakers.

The young man gave the brunette a friendly smile and a casual wave when he saw her. "Morning, Tohsaka," he greeted kindly. "Did you sleep well?"

Rin returned the smile with one of her own. At least she wasn't entirely alone in this isolated place. It brought her some comfort to know that one of her closest friends had also been chosen as a Master candidate for the Grand Order. "Morning, Emiya," she replied to the former Master of Saber. "I slept alright. What about you?"

The redhead simply shrugged. "Same. I tell you, those Spiritron Dives really take it out of you, even if it's just a simulator. Still, I'm wondering if I should even be here. I'm an average mage at best, even after all the help you and the others gave me. I'll never do anything spectacular. I feel like I'm just here because they needed to fill a quota."

Sadly, there was some truth in Shirou's words. Even with all the tutoring Rin, her partner and a certain other mage provided during the Fifth Holy Grail War (and even afterward in the Tohsaka mage's case), Shirou's skill as a mage was subpar. He struggled to use even the most basic of spells, with the only types of magecraft he could really do was Projection and Reinforcement magic. This unorthodox style largely stemmed from both his Origin and Elemental Affinity being Sword, which likely stemmed from him harboring Avalon within him since he was a child.

At first, even Rin dismissed Shirou's magecraft as pointless, but over the course of the Fifth Holy Grail War, she saw just how capable it could be under the right circumstances. Shirou's type of Projection magic was special, allowing him to create exact copies of whatever he sees, down to their very existence. This even applied to Noble Phantasms. His projections were so realistic, so authentic that unless you closely examined them, you might not notice they were fakes. Naturally, there were limits on what Shirou could reliably Trace, which were weapons and armor, with swords being the easiest for him to make. And of course, there was the fact that all his projections suffer through some degradation, making them not as strong as the original. There were a few other things regarding Shirou's magecraft as well, but that was a story for another day.

Rather than make light of her friend, Rin lightly slapped him on the back while maintaining her smirk. "I wouldn't worry about it if I were you, Emiya," she said honestly. "As a mage, you are hopelessly outclassed by some of your colleagues, but unlike them, you actually have experience as a Master. Most of these people haven't seen a Servant in all their lives. Not to mention you bring a human element to this place. I don't need to tell you how dark the world of mages can be at times."

Shirou let out a chuckle, looking more relaxed than before. "I guess that's true. So anyway, want to go grab breakfast? We've still got some time before we have to report to Command for briefing."

"Sure. I could go for a bite, especially if you're cooking. Let's go."

The two friends shared a laugh before they headed for the cafeteria together. There was quite a mesh of people gathered there. Not all of them were Master candidates of course. The majority were either engineers, technical staff, etc. Quite a few of them weren't even mages and instead regular people, once again showing just how different Chaldea was to the rest of the world of mages. Though this diversity largely stemmed from the fact that Chaldea was backed by both the Mage's Association and the United Nations rather than some progressive mentality.

Everyone was being rather chatty today as she and Shirou got their food and sat at an empty table, likely because today was the long awaited day for Chaldea's first Rayshift operation. About a month ago, the light in Chaldeas (the copied soul of the planet) started to go out. As long as Chaldeas was glowing, humanity's existence could be guaranteed for a hundred years. When this happened, the director of Chaldea, Olga Marie Animusphere petitioned both the Mage's Association and the United Nations to allow a Rayshift into the supposed anomaly that Sheba detected, which seemed to be the source of mankind's extinction. The anomaly… A Singularity located in a certain city in Japan, one that held special significance for both former Masters. Needless to say, Chaldea was given the go-ahead and was allowed to start recruiting candidates for the Rayshift program.

However, while lineage meant everything to mages, only a handful of them were actually compatible with Rayshifting, let alone possessing the aptitude for being a Master. Thus regular civilians were brought in, rather aggressively if Shirou's account was to be believed. It wouldn't be much of a surprise to Rin if some of the few mages within Chaldea's ranks took issue with this.

As for what Rin thought, she didn't really care. She knew firsthand not to underestimate someone just by looking at their background, the young man sitting in front her being a prime example. Although, she certainly couldn't deny that it would make her stand out more in the eyes of mages' if she managed to accomplish something grand, but she was getting ahead of herself. Right now she was more focused on figuring out what was the cause of that Singularity and how it related to humanity not existing in a hundred years.

That thought can wait till later though as she started to eat her food. It wasn't quite as good as Shirou's was (his cooking kind of spoiled the brunette during their time together, even at the Clock Tower where the redhead enrolled as her apprentice), but it was passable. At least it was way better than anything her old partner could produce. She had to stop herself from laughing as she recalled the memory of him trying to make a stir-fry, only to royally screw it up.

"Good morning, Rin-senpai, Shirou-senpai," a familiar voice spoke up in greeting.

The duo turned their heads and saw a young woman with bob-cut styled lilac hair and lavender eyes behind a pair of square-framed glasses. Her outfit consisted of a gray hoodie, a white collared shirt, a red tie, a black skirt and brown shoes. She looked to be around sixteen years old, making her three years younger than the veteran Masters. Right by her feet was strange white furred creature Rin could best describe as a dog of sorts.

"Morning Mash," Shirou said with that friendly smile of his, signaling the girl to take a seat, which she gladly did right next to the gem mage. "Today's the day. Are you excited?"

The pinkette looked a little nervous. Apparently, she wasn't used to interacting with people much, which made Rin question her upbringing, but that didn't stop her from befriending the younger girl. After all, she may not look it, but Mash Kyrielight was a member of Team A, which of all the best Master candidates in Chaldea. The Tohsaka heiress couldn't help but feel some envy for the pinkette as the highest she herself ranked was Team B. Still, it was a little weird to hear someone that outranked her in team placement call her "senpai", which reminded her of her younger sister, who was currently back in Fuyuki. Perhaps she should give Sakura a call after she returns from the mission.

"Not really," Mash answered softly, sounding unsure of herself. "I know this is what Chaldea was meant to do, but I can't help but feel some anxiety. After all, this is technically the first time the Spiritron Dive is being used outside the testing phase. I hope everything goes well with this mission."

"It'll be fine," Shirou assured. "With Wodime and everyone else from Team A, I'm sure everything will work out just fine. Not to mention that you'll have me and Tohsaka to back you up."

"Yep," the brunette added. "But I don't plan on staying on the B Team forever. It won't be long before I'm part of Team A as well."

Mash let out a giggle at that. "I look forward to that, Rin-senpai. And you're right, Shirou-senpai. Everything will be alright."

"Fou. Fou," the strange dog-like creature cried out as it jumped onto the table and trotted between the trio. Apparently it was called Fou (a real original name definitely did not come from the fact that that was the only thing the creature said) and it's been here in Chaldea for years. No one knows how it got here, even some of the senior staff were clueless, but it was harmless enough so no one had any issue with it. However, Fou was very particular about who he allowed to be near him. Previously, only Mash was the only one he approached and hovered around, he has been seen hanging around Rin and Shirou when they came to Chaldea.

"There was definitely more to this creature than meets the eye," Rin thought as she stroked Fou's head with one hand, to which he purred(?) in appreciation. His fur was very soft and well kept. Apparently, Mash gives him baths on occasion. "There's no way he's just an ordinary creature. A Phantasmal, perhaps?"

Whatever the answer to her question was, she wasn't likely to get it anytime soon. Breakfast went by pretty quickly after that, with Rin and Shirou telling Mash a bit about their lives outside Chaldea. She always seemed fascinated about the outside world, which made Rin even more suspicious of the pinkette's origins, but she kept those thoughts to herself.

Once they were done eating, Rin chose to head back to her room to inspect her gear, so she said her farewells to both Shirou and Mash. There was a limit to how much she could bring in the Rayshift, but that didn't mean she shouldn't make some preparations just in case. You can never fully know what might go down on the battlefield. That was the first thing her old partner taught her.

"Ah, Miss Tohsaka," a male voice spoke up. "It's a pleasure to see you again."

The voice came from an older man with long messy brown hair. He wore a green suit with a matching top hat (which kinda looked silly, but Rin knew better than to say that out loud). If she recalled right, his name was Lev Lainur, an older staff member from the previous director's administration. He was the one who created Sheba, the Near-Future Observation Lens that allowed Chaldea to get detailed observations from the information within Chaldeas's planetary projection. It would be no exaggeration to say that he was one of the pillars behind Chaldea as a whole.

Still, despite seeming like a nice guy, Rin just got a bad vibe from him. Something just didn't feel right so she was always on-guard when she was around him and warned Shirou to do the same. Still, it didn't change the fact that most of Chaldea's staff, including the current director, put a lot of trust in Lev, so she couldn't brush him off entirely.

Mentally, she braced herself, similar to what she did whenever she interacted with the useless Master who could never take a hint. "Good morning, Dr. Lev," she greeted with a fake smile, trying to look make it look as genuine as possible. "How are you today?"

The veteran staff member always kept a passive expression. It reminded her of her old partner, but in a more eerie way. Yet another reason why she was wary around the man. "Oh, I'm just fine. I was just about to go run some final tests on Sheba before the Rayshift. We can't have anything go wrong after all. Not when the preservation of humanity is at stake."

"I see. Well don't let me keep you. I was just about to head to my room to make some final preparations myself. If you'll excuse me…" She took a few steps past the older gentleman when the next words he said caused her to halt in her tracks.

"That's a beautiful necklace you have there," he said calmly, causing Rin to unconsciously grasp it in her palm. "Could I take a look at it for a second?"

Rin's heart was practically beating against her chest. For some reason, she had a feeling she shouldn't let this man examine her pendant. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, she turned towards the man and said, "Thank you, but I'm afraid I can't do that. This necklace was given to me by someone I held dear and I swore to never take it off. I hope you can understand."

For a brief moment, a flash of irritation could be seen on Lev's face, before it quickly regained its usual passive look. "I…see. Well I don't want to force you into doing something you're uncomfortable with. After all, you are one of our better Master candidates. Perhaps you'll permit me another look another time then. I must be going now. Farewell, Miss Tohsaka."

She gave her goodbye as well and watched the older man disappear down the hallway. Once he was out of sight, she released the breath that she had been holding. There was just something not quite right about that man, but she couldn't identify what. Perhaps she'll need to keep a closer eye on him from now on.

Rin finished her preparations with no issue and managed to make it on time for the mission briefing. The director, Olga Marie, really reminded her of what she was like in her younger years. Always putting up a mask to hide her insecurities. It couldn't have been easy for the poor girl since she only recently became the director after her father's sudden passing.

Although Olga was far more aggressive than Rin ever was, with her pretty much snapping at anyone making light of her. Heck, she kicked one of the Master candidates off the mission just because she caught them dozing during the briefing. Given than Rin didn't recognize the Master in question, they had likely just arrived and went through the Spiritron Dive simulator, which not even Rin could fully shake off when she used it. She couldn't blame the person for passing out since they never got a chance to fully recover, but the director wasn't having it.

Once the briefing was over, Rin and the other remaining Master candidates followed Olga to the central control room, where the Rayshift pods were located. Well they were technically called coffins, but that just made Rin feel nervous. She quickly got to her assigned pod and was about to enter when suddenly she felt a chill run down her spine.

Another thing her old partner taught her was how to sense the presence of others, right down to their intent to kill. Hypersense. This ability was a pain in the ass to learn, but it saved her life on more than one occasion. And now that same ability was warning her of danger.

It was coming from the coffins. No one else seemed to notice but there was a strange magical energy coming from the coffins. And it was getting stronger by the second. A bomb!

"Miss Tohsaka! What is the hold up?!" Olga snapped as she approached the brunette. "You're wasting time. Lev's already started the activation sequence so you need to get in your pod or you'll be left behind. That goes for you too, Emiya!"

Rin tossed a glance at her side and saw that she wasn't the only one who wasn't in their pod. Shirou wasn't either, and he had the exact same skeptical look as her. He knew that something was wrong.

There wasn't enough time to warn anyone. Reaching into her pocket to pull out a gemstone, she immediately crushed it in her palm and used the magical energy inside to form a protective barrier in front of her and the director. No sooner than that, the room shook from multiple explosions. Waves of fire and heat brushed past the gem mage, the force of the impact knocking both her and Olga to the ground.

After who knows how much time has passed, Rin managed to groggily open her eyes and find that the command room was covered in rubble and flames. All the coffins were largely intact, but none of the people inside were moving. Could they…no she shouldn't think like that. Surely there were others that survived.

Olga was lying behind her. She wasn't moving, but she was breathing. Rin quickly checked the unconscious director for any injuries, and after confirming that there were none, she moved the whitette to a place where she'll be safe from the fires before going to look for survivors.

Smoke was billowing from all the flames, making it difficult to breathe. Regardless, Rin was determined to find any survivors she could.

"Hello? Can anyone hear me?" she called out as loud as she could. "Is anyone else alright?"

"Tohsaka! Over here!"

"We need some help over here! Please hurry!"

That was Shirou's voice just now, and one that she didn't recognize. Not wasting a second, Rin hurried in the direction the voices came from and quickly found a relatively unharmed Shirou (much to her relief, with the worst just being his clothes getting a little singed from the fire) and a young man with short messy brown hair and blue eyes. It was the same Master that Olga had kicked out of the briefing for snoozing. He must have came to check on everyone after he heard the explosions. The two boys were hunched over a stone slab, with Fou right beside them. However, what she saw underneath made her heart stop.

It was Mash. She was alive, but her lower half was trapped beneath the large stone. Rin could tell immediately that pinkette's legs were crushed to the point that blood was coming anywhere. She looked really pale and her eyes were unfocused. It was clear that she was on death's door. Both Shirou and the unknown Master were trying to lift the rubble so they could get the younger girl out of there.

"Hang on!" Rin exclaimed as she hurried over to the trio. "Let me help."

Laplace's shifting protection established.

Singularity's additional factor slots established. Please start final judgements.

The announcements were completely oblivious to the disaster that was happening in the Command Room. Rin wasn't particularly keen on listening to them at the moment as she tried to help pull Mash out of the rubble. The stone was seriously hot, threatening to burn her hands, but neither she nor the boys cared. It seems that Shirou's selfless nature has rubbed off on her.

The stone was also really, really, really heavy. Even with using Reinforcement on her arms together with Shirou wouldn't cause the stone to budge even an inch. She would probably have better luck just blowing the thing up with some of her offensive spells, but that risked hurting Mash even more. Rin refused to be the one to cause the pinkette's death.

No longer able to verify the existence of humanity a hundred years into the future.

That single sentence caused the three Masters to stop in their tracks as they turned towards the globe that was Chaldeas, which was located in the center of the room. They watched in horror as the globe turned from a see-through blue to a molten red.

"Please tell me I misheard that," Shirou said fearfully.

"I don't think we're so lucky for that to happen," Rin replied, her tone filled with dread.

"Hurry!" the third master cried out. "We gotta get Mash out of here. She's bleeding out!"

The trio went back to trying to free Mash, ignoring her pleas for them to save themselves. Somehow they were able to pull her out of the rubble, but it was just as Rin feared. The pinkette's legs were totally ruined. It would be a miracle if she got out of this with just paralysis in her lower half. But the fact that she was still bleeding made even that unrealistic. Rin was capable of healing minor wounds, but there's no way she could heal wounds as severe as this.

"If only he was here," she said to herself in sorrow, keeping a tight hold on her pendant. "A wound like this would be nothing for him and his scabbard. He could save Mash if he was here."

But he wasn't here. He hasn't been in this world for years, not since the Fifth Holy Grail War ended. There was only one thing she could try, and it would be the same method she used to revive Shirou when his heart got skewered by Lancer that fateful day, where she used the pendant left behind by her late father. How ironic that history seems to be repeating itself.

Rayshift requirements not met. Searching for potential Masters.

The redhead seemed to have an idea on what the gem mage was going to do. "Wait, Tohsaka," he said quickly. "Are you sure you want to use that?! He gave you that to use in a last resort. We might be able to save her with another way."

Master candidates found. Candidates No. 45, 46, and 48, Rin Tohsaka, Shirou Emiya and Ritsuka Fugimaru reset as Masters. Director Olga Marie Animusphere also reset as a Master.

It was weird hearing Shirou telling her not to save someone, likely because he knew just how important this pendant was to her. To heal Mash's wounds, it would require her to use up all of the necklace's power, rendering it to just an ordinary piece of jewelry. She'll lose the last remnant of her old partner. It was foolish to waste it on a girl she barely knew, but the man she loved wouldn't think less of her for doing it. In fact, he'd be disappointed if she didn't use the energy to save Mash.

Bracing herself to do what she must, she reached behind her neck to unhook the pendant so she could get to work. However, right before she could even unhook the chain, everything just froze.

All procedures clear. Commencing operation of First Order.

And then, everything went dark.

With a heavy groan, Rin slowly opened her eyes, groggy and confused. Could that have just been a bad dream? However, once she sat up, she found that she was not in her bedroom, neither the one in her house nor her quarters in Chaldea. She was right in the middle of a city street, one that looked completely devastated.

There was debris everywhere. Buildings smashed in and out. Glass fragments scattered like powdered snow. Remains of what was once mighty skyscrapers now twisted and warped, their foundations eaten through by terrible flames.

There was no life to be found, no sign of any people nearby. Black clouds covered the sky, blocking out the sun and leaving the city in the dark. Only the light from the everburning flames illuminated this corpse of a city.

She knew immediately where she was. This was Fuyuki, her hometown. This was where the Fifth Holy Grail War was held and where Singularity F originated, set in the year 2015. The Rayshift must have brought her here and caused her to pass out. Olga mentioned something about Singularities being a divergence from the proper timeline, so it wasn't long before Rin figured out what must have happened here. The corrupted Grail must have been unleashed and laid waste to the city and its inhabitants. Still, there was no telling what other differences there might be in this place. Hopefully the Servants who are in this Holy Grail War are the same ones she encountered in hers.

"Does that mean he's here as well?" she found herself asking.

It wouldn't be much of a surprise if the Masters were the same in this Singularity, just like the Servants, which means there should be another Rin Tohsaka here, fighting alongside the same Servant that this Rin came to trust and love. Of course, that's assuming that the Rin in this timeline was even still alive. The more likely scenario was that all the Servants were roaming around with no Masters to restrain them.

She knew better than anyone that a human can't take on a Servant, if even they didn't have a Master to support them. She didn't see Shirou and the others anywhere, but figured they had to be somewhere nearby. She needed to find them as soon as possible. This was not the place to be alone.

Climbing to her feet and brushing off the dust from her skirt, she scanned the area to figure out which way to go. Eventually she heard the sounds of fighting to the north. Not having any better ideas, she dashed in that direction, unaware that a certain figure was watching her from the shadows.

After what felt like forever, Rin finally found Shirou and the others. They were locked in combat with a horde of skeletons. To no surprise, Shirou was on the front lines, fighting with traced copies of Kanshou and Bakuya (a certain mage showed him the mental image of the swords during the Fifth Holy Grail War, as it was impossible for Shirou to learn them otherwise due to certain circumstances that weren't entirely clear). Olga was there too, looking as though she was transferring mana to the redhead so that he could fight more easily. That other Master, Ritsuka, was right next to her with Fou sitting on his shoulder, only the brunette had a familiar red stigmata on his right hand, which resembled that of a shield. Command Spells. He had a Servant, but who was it?

She then noticed that Shirou wasn't the only one fighting off the skeletons. Mash was fighting alongside him, only she looked different. Instead wearing her hoodie and skirt, the pinkette was garbed in black armor that exposed her upper arms and naval, black gloves purple trimming, metallic heeled boots of the same color as well as black and purple socks that went up to her thighs. She was swinging around a massive black shield resembled that of a cross, and with one arm at that, which was pretty impressive.

"So Mash is a Servant?" Rin thought to herself as she watched the pinkette dispatch of more skeletons. "But that makes no sense. I didn't sense anything off about her this morning. She was clearly a human then."

That would have to wait until later though as right now she needed to focus on helping her friends. She hurried over to Ritsuka and Olga's position and proceeded to fire Gandr blasts at any skeletons that managed to slip past the storm that was Shirou and Mash. These things were really easy to kill, unable to take a single shot before crumbling to dust, but Rin knew better than to let down her guard. The situation would get a lot worse if an enemy Servant were to show up.

It didn't take long for the rest of the skeletons to be slain, allowing the Chaldeans to regroup.

"Glad to see you're alright, Tohsaka," Shirou said in relief, dismissing his swords.

"Same here, Emiya," she replied. "Is this everyone?"

"Looks that way," Ritsuka said. "Oh, I'm Ritsuka Fugimaru by the way. I never got a chance to introduce myself earlier."

"A pleasure to meet you, Fugimaru. My name is Rin Tohsaka. I see you're already familiar with Emiya and Mash."

The male brunette just scratched his head sheepishly. "Maybe. We just happened to have woken up at the same place before finding the director. Are we really in Singularity F?"

"Looks that way," Olga spoke up as she scanned the immediate area, looking for any potential threats. "We must have gotten caught in the Rayshift. Still, what could have happened here? I've never seen this kind of destruction before."

"A Holy Grail War," Rin and Shirou answered in sync.

That revelation caused the director to grimace. "I was afraid of that," she said grimly. "This Singularity takes place in 2014, during the Holy Grail War that took place in this city. But how did you two know about it?"

"Because Tohsaka and I used to live here," the redhead replied. "And we're both former Masters of the Fifth Holy Grail War. If anyone can tell if a Holy Grail War is happening here, it's us."

Rin nodded in agreement. Some events here seem to be different what she remembered, but there was no doubt in her mind that a Holy Grail War was happening here, one that has gotten way out of control. It was like this Singularity was a manifestation of what would have happened if they had failed to destroy the corrupted Grail. They needed to seek shelter. It won't be long until…

"Well, well, well. What do we have here. Some humans that are still alive. Must be my lucky day."

Rin let out an audible gasp. She could recognize that alluring voice anywhere. This was bad. Really bad.

As if to confirm her suspicions, a woman with long purple hair that flowed down to her ankles suddenly emerged out of thin air. She was wearing a form-fitting short black dress, long black boots and gloves that exposed her hands, as well as a pink choker that resembled a belt. On her forehead was a strange symbol that looked to be the color of blood. However, the thing that scared Rin the most about the woman was that her eyes uncovered, revealing them to be a pale gold. Not to mention that her skin was paler than usual, the traces of corruption scattered in places on her body.

This was a Servant that Rin encountered the least, though apparently Shirou had a more run-ins with her. Despite that, she couldn't help but feel dread running into this woman. Not only was she the former Servant of Sakura (which was a big shock to everyone) but also because she resembled a woman that was the older sister of her old partner.

The goddess from Greece that was persecuted as a monster. A goddess that was driven mad from constantly killing heroes that came for her head, the madness driving her to consume her own sisters. A woman who could turn anyone to stone just by making eye contact with them.

Medusa. But what Rin and Shirou know her as…

"Rider," the two former Masters said in disbelief, unaware of the terrified expressions of Ritsuka and Olga behind them. Mash, on the other hand, looked just as afraid, but got into a defensive position with her shield to protect her Master.

The bloodlust radiating from the Rider class Servant was intense, enough to make the Tohsaka mage flinch. She didn't resemble the quiet and reserved Servant Rin was familiar with at all. She must have been corrupted by the Grail. That was the only explanation. Did that mean the other Servants were in the same state? She prayed desperately that wasn't the case. The last thing she needed to see was a tainted version of the person she adored.

Suddenly all the fury coming off of Medusa dissipated when she saw Rin and Shirou among the group. For a brief second, her eyes softened, looking to be in pain.

"What the?" she said quietly. "But you two died. How can you be here?"

So there was a Rin Tohsaka in this world, one who participated in this Holy Grail War. However, if Rider's statement is to be believed, this world's Rin must have died, likely when the corrupted Grail was unleashed. If Rider was still around while Sakura was dead, then there was a chance that her Servant was still alive as well. But was he also driven insane by the black mud, or did he still retain his sanity?

That soft expression in Medusa's features were quickly overtaken by that same mad fury. She summoned her chains in her hands and got into a fighting stance.

"This is bad," Shirou said grimly.

"Yeah," Rin agreed in the same tone. "Really bad."

To be continued

Well that's certainly a grim way to end a chapter. Yeah this is a new project of mine, well more like a side project really. I'm a huge Fate fan and have wanted to try my hand at a Fate fanfic. This is technically my third attempt. The first was Fate Dark Night, which is canceled since it uses parts of my now deleted Dark Swordsman stories. The second one was a rewrite of Dark Night that used the new Ashen Wolf continuity, but I deleted because I don't know how I could avoid doing massive endgame spoilers of Ashen Wolf before their big moment in the main story. That's why I decided to rework it as an FGO story, which takes place after the Fifth Holy Grail War, allowing me to skim past most of a certain Servant's backstory and reveal the major parts when I'm good and ready.

And again, as mentioned previously, this is a story where Rin did not summon Archer Emiya and instead got a different Servant to use in the Fifth Holy Grail War. Before you ask, no I don't know if Emiya will appear in this story. If he does, he'll be the mellowed out one you see in FGO, not the one you see in UBW. I also mentioned that this story is partially inspired by the fanfic Fate Sword Order. Basically that story is a what if Shirou Emiya was one of the Master candidates in FGO. Quite a bit of things were altered in that story, some of which I did myself (mainly because there wasn't a way I could avoid it with what I was doing). Obviously I'm not going to copy everything that Sword Order does and instead try to do my own thing with this concept. Will there be more similarities, yeah, it's kinda unavoidable, but I'm gonna minimize them as much as possible.

Anyway, updates for this story will probably be a little sporadic since I want to put more focus on my Xenoblade stories. Well that's all I wanted to say. Next update will most likely be Xenoblade related. See you guys next time!

Edit: Changed it so Singularity F takes place in 2015 to align when the Fifth Holy Grail War takes place in this continuity. It just makes no sense otherwise.