Disclaimer: You know the drill; these two franchises belong to their respective owners.
When I first met those two, it had only been a couple of months since that day. By that point, most of the major cities in Japan had been taken over and the only place safe from them was the countryside.
When the end came, people left me behind because they knew who I was. What my name was. They made me stay back, unable to see anything besides someone who helped bring an end to the world.
But those two were different. Well, Ophelia was different, Kadoc was the same as the others at first.
"This is no time for humans to be fighting with each other," I remember her saying, mostly to Kadoc than me really, "Even so, he's just a kid. What happened was not his fault."
Kadoc begrudgingly let me come along with them and they brought me to a small town outside of Tokyo. The three of us became a part of the community that had set itself up there and somehow managed to survive for 13 years.
Eventually, the other people here forgot or ignored who I was and accepted me. Most of them had even started calling me boss because I'm usually the one who ran things around the camp.
But… I know that a small part of them hasn't forgiven me... forgiven what my family did…
Section 2: Last of Humanity
"Kadoc, Ophelia?" Mash could barely say anything above a whisper. Standing before them were two people who shouldn't be here. Two people that couldn't be there.
But they were.
"Yeah?" From the way the other Kadoc was glaring at her, it was obvious that he didn't know who she was. Other than the patchwork military fatigues he was wearing, this Kadoc looked identical to the one that was currently in Novum Chaldea, "And who are you? Ow!"
"Do we know you? I've never seen you around the camp before." Likewise, the other Ophelia looked at her like she was a complete stranger. Unlike Kadoc, she wasn't a complete doppelganger to the Ophelia they had known. This Ophelia didn't have a Mystic Eye.
"What?" Ritsuka was just as stunned as Mash was, "Why are you two here?"
"That's our line!" Kadoc suddenly shouted at him, "What are you doing out here?! You were supposed to stay back home!"
"Home?!" What was he talking about?
"...Vulcan, calm down." Ophelia was giving Ritsuka an indecipherable look, "We have other matters to worry about first."
"Vulcan?" Okay… Now, what was she talking about?
"Guys! We need...to..." As if things couldn't get any more complicated, Hologram Da Vinci appeared in between them trying to tell them something. However, she trailed off like Ritsuka had earlier when she saw who exactly they had rescued, "...There better be a good explanation for this."
"What the hell are you?!" "Vulcan, calm down. They're not our enemies." "Ow!" To make sure the message came across clearly enough, Ophelia had slapped the back of Kadoc's head, "What do you need us to do?"
"At least somebody has manners around here. I knew there was a reason I always liked you, Ophelia," A smirk briefly appeared on Da Vinci's face before being replaced by a frown, "Head up front, it's better to talk there."
"Here, let me help you," Mash said as she tried to wrap Ophelia's arm around her shoulders, "We'll take you there."
"Thank you…"
Elsewhere…
"Hey," Decade grumbled as he stepped through his dimensional wall, "This wasn't the plan."
"I apologize," The person he met up with bowed, "Unfortunately if there is a chance to further push humanity towards extinction, they won't listen to anything I have to say."
"At least tell me you have what I needed," That was all that mattered.
"I do," The person nodded as they took out a black, silver, and yellow belt buckle from within their coat, "Before I give you this, I must warn you; this Driver is not meant for human use."
"That doesn't matter to me. I won't be the one using it anyway," Decade dismissed the warning as he swiped the Driver out of their hand, "Besides, that guy has used this before. He knows what he's getting into."
"'bout time you got here!" When they entered the Command Room, Hologram Da Vinci was in front of the Paper Moon, "We've got good news and bad news."
"Good news is we managed to get away from all those HumaGears or whatever they're called," Da Vinci informed them, "Because all of them were gathered back in that place, there's none of them around to stop us. We're on our way out of the city as we speak."
"And the bad news…?"
"Those two we ran over ended up doing a ton more damage to the underside than really should be possible," Da Vinci stated, a more serious look on her face, "Unless we find a place to repair the Border, we won't be able to leave this Lostbelt."
While Da Vinci was talking, the de-facto leader of Novum Chaldea had his mind focused on other matters.
"...Fujimaru, Kyrielight," Goredolf slowly said, eyes trained on the two people with them, "Do my eyes deceive me, or are there two Crypters currently hanging onto the two of you?"
"Hey, fatty!" Kadoc snapped back at Goredolf, pushing Ritsuka away before stomping towards the Director of Chaldea, "I don't know what you mean by 'Crypter' but I don't like the sound of it! Ow!"
"Stop moving so much, Vulcan," Ophelia sighed in exhaustion as she scolded Kadoc, who was now grumpily covering his wound again, "You're just making it worse for yourself."
"As if it could get any worse than this!" Kadoc retorted angrily, "Robin and Michael are dead, we didn't manage to get the supplies, and that pink bastard is missing!"
"I assure you, Mr. Zemlupus," Despite the dire situation they were in, Holmes was still as calm as always, "We've faced worse odds than this and survived."
"And that's another thing! Who are all of you?! That-" Kadoc pointed at Ritsuka, "-is not the Ritsuka we know!"
"We can say the same thing to you," Holmes shot back at the silver-haired man, "You two are not the Kadoc Zemlupus and Ophelia Phamrsolone we know."
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
"Vulcan! Stand down!" Ophelia ordered him, sick and tired of his current attitude towards their saviors, "Whoever they are is not important!"
"...Fine," Kadoc quietly growled, "I'll leave it be for now."
"Good," Ophelia sighed in relief before turning to Mash, "I'm sorry for imposing on all of you any further but do you have a first aid kit?"
"It's fine," Mash smiled at her, "We can patch you two up in the Medical Bay."
"Hold on one moment!" Goredolf, however, interjected on that plan, "We can't just let two Crypters onboard the Shadow Border."
"Again, I have no idea what a 'Crypter' is!"
"Vulcan!"
"What?!"
"It'll be fine, Director. I doubt the two of them will be causing any trouble here," Holmes said to Goredolf before turning to Ritsuka and Mash, "You two go on and take care of our guest. We can take care of things from here."
"Thank you, Holmes. Come on Kadoc, let me help you up."
10 minutes later, Shadow Border Medical Bay…
"There. That should just about do it." Ritsuka took a step away from the bed, having just finished helping Kadoc.
While the two had stayed in the Medical Bay, both Mash and the other Ophelia left after taking some medical supplies, saying that Kadoc would need the room more than her. Well, that was after shoving a sleeping Merlin off the Medical Bay bed.
"Thanks…" Kadoc quietly said as he put his shirt back on and covered up the bandage wrapped around his waist.
"It's fine Kadoc. You don't need to thank me for anything." Ritsuka waved his hand at that, not accepting the thanks.
"...You're just like him, aren't you? Kind to a fault." Kadoc huffed before getting off the medical bed.
"Wait! You shouldn't-!" "Stop worrying about it. I'll get better. Ow!" Kadoc cut him off before Ritsuka could finish talking. However, he immediately started wincing pain again and had to sit back down onto the bed again.
"My, my, he's certainly the same as the Kadoc from Proper Human History," Merlin commented from the corner of the room, "He's just as stubborn as the real one."
"Hey!" Kadoc couldn't tell whether or not that was supposed to be an insult, but he didn't like the sound of it either way, "And what do you mean 'the real one'?!"
"Ignore Merlin, he likes to get on people's nerves," Ritsuka said as he shot the wizard a frustrated look, "So, can I ask you something?"
"What?" Maybe it was just him, but Kadoc seemed to calm down when Ritsuka talked to him.
"You mentioned that someone pink was missing?" It was probably just a coincidence.
"Yeah, Pinky was supposed to fight with us but he ran off somewhere." It was probably not just a coincidence.
"Let me guess," Merlin spoke up from his corner, "He had a pink camera and a pink belt."
"So you guys know that annoying bastard too." It was not a coincidence.
"How did Decade get here before me?!" Without any warning, Hologram Da Vinci appeared right next to them looking absolutely furious, "I prepared the Border as fast as I can and he got here before me?!"
"Uh… Da Vinci? I don't think that's the part we should be focused on." Ritsuka sweatdropped as he nervously laughed at Da Vinci's reaction.
"How long has he been here?! How many minutes did he beat me by?!" If she was physically there, it went without question that she would be grabbing Kadoc's shirt.
"Not minutes, he's been here for two weeks now," Kadoc frowned as he answered her.
"Two weeks?!" Da Vinci screamed before suddenly remembering something, "Damn you Decade! How did you manage to get here before me?!"
"Da Vinci? Since when were you rivals with Decade?" Ritsuka sweatdropped again.
"Since he beat me in my workshop! I'm Level 90 and he was supposed to be Level 1! I was supposed to be the one laughing over his dead body!" Da Vinci complained.
Kadoc (who was still in the room) looked at them, confusion clear on his face, "What are any of you talking about?"
"You'll get used to it." Merlin comforted the confused not-Crypter.
Sometime later…
While Kadoc was resting in the Medical Bay with Ritsuka (and Merlin) accompanying him, the cockpit of the Shadow Border was full of people.
"And... we're out of the city!" Meuniere exclaimed as they finally left the city of Tokyo, "Which way do we go now?"
"Just follow this road," Ophelia instructed him, having gotten her injuries taken care of in one of the other rooms in the Border, "Once we reach the camp, you'll be able to repair your vehicle there."
"Got it."
"Try not to drive too fast, Meuniere," Hologram Da Vinci warned him, "We don't want to push the Border beyond its current limits."
"That reminds me," Goredolf chimed in, "How is it that a couple of what I assumed to be people damage the Shadow Border's chassis? Isn't it supposed to be resistant to normal weaponry, let alone normal people?"
"You're not wrong, Goredolf. It shouldn't be possible for that to happen. Although I doubt those two were 'normal'."
"Then?"
"...How am I supposed to know? I'm just as much in the dark as you are!"
While Goredolf and Da Vinci were busy arguing with each other, Mash decided to ask Ophelia about something.
"Ophelia," The Demi-Servant turned to face the person in question, "You mentioned the camp twice now. What is it?"
"I'm curious about that too," Holmes joined in on the conversation, "We're not exactly from around here."
"By 'around here', I assume you meant you're not from this World either, just like Decade is," Ophelia revealed, "Although he wasn't as ignorant as you all are to the nature of this World."
"Decade is here too?" Mash had a look of surprise on her face. Holmes, meanwhile, only raised an eyebrow at that but otherwise remained silent.
"Oh yeah, forgot to tell you guys that Pinky is here too," Da Vinci broke away from her argument with Goredolf to say that, "According to Kadoc, he's been here for about two weeks."
"Two weeks and four days to be exact," Ophelia nodded at Da Vinci's statement, "He helped us with fending off a HumaGear attack and had been staying at the camp since then."
"That simplifies matters somewhat. You don't need an explanation as to why we don't know anything," While Holmes was curious about what a HumaGear was, he and Mash had asked about the camp first and shouldn't change the subject yet, "Now what exactly is the camp?"
"The camp… To put it as simply as possible, the camp is the last human settlement in Japan," Ophelia revealed, a somber expression appearing on her face, "Everywhere else in the country had been taken over by HumaGears."
"The...last?" Mash stuttered, to which Ophelia nodded.
"What about other countries?" Holmes asked, "Is it just Japan or the whole planet?"
"The entire planet," Ophelia answered, "Every single country, city, and town on Earth are either destroyed or controlled by HumaGears."
"And humanity?"
"Humanity here… is nearly extinct. The camp has only 127 people living there," Ophelia stated before she looked down sadly, "Well… 125 now."
"So that's why this Lostbelt was pruned," Holmes muttered to himself, "I apologize for troubling you any further but what is a HumaGear?"
"A HumaGear is-" "I'm back." Ritsuka said as he entered the cockpit and unintentionally interrupting Ophelia, "Kadoc's asleep, and Merlin's looking after him."
"..."
"...what's wrong?" He asked, noticing the grim look everyone had.
"That's…horrible." That was a massive understatement but Ritsuka was too shocked to think of another word, "I'm...sorry for what happened."
"I told you already, it's no-" Ophelia tried to say something but stopped herself from doing so, "...Can I ask something?"
"Of course, Ophelia," Mash nodded.
"What is your World like? Is it better than this one?"
"...It's…" None of them knew how to tell her the truth about their own World. However, the fact that they couldn't answer was all Ophelia needed.
"I see… Then I should tell you what I told Decade," A more serious expression appeared on her face, "Just pass through this world… As much as I can't bear the thought, there's nothing left for humanity here. Once you repair your vehicle, you all should leave. Staying here will only get you killed."
"Ophelia…"
"I'm sorry but is there somewhere I can rest for a bit?" Ophelia asked, "I want to rest my eyes."
"Of course, you can sleep in the room we were in just now," Mash told her.
"Thank you," Ophelia bowed her head in gratitude, "I can get there by myself, you don't need to follow."
With that, the Lostbelt version of Ophelia Phamrsolone left the room, leaving the Chaldeans by themselves.
"...I know this is a Lostbelt and should've expected something like this but…" Mash trailed off.
"You don't need to say it, Mash," Da Vinci said, "We know…"
"Kadoc Zemlupus and Ophelia Phamrsolone…" Holmes muttered, deep in thought about something, "And also…"
"Holmes?"
"Hmm?"
"I'm pretty sure you have the same ideas as me," Da Vinci stated, "Do you want to say it or should I?"
"You do it. I'm still unsure about several matters."
"Say what?" Ritsuka asked, "Don't leave us in the dark here."
"Firstly, we can be sure of one thing; the reason for this Lostbelt being pruned," Da Vinci elaborated.
"Right…" It goes without saying that the HumaGears were the reason for that.
"One I'm, and Holmes probably, iffy about is when the history of this Lostbelt diverged from ours."
"What's there to be confused about?" Goredolf asked, "It should be recent if those two Crypters exist."
"You're not completely wrong," Da Vinci hummed, "But the issue is Ophelia, or to be more specific, what she's currently lacking."
"Her Mystic Eye," Ritsuka stated, having noticed it early with Mash.
"Correct. Because this Ophelia doesn't have a Mystic Eye, her entire childhood must be different than the one we know. Either that means that the HumaGears took over a long time ago, or they took over recently and her childhood had always been different here."
"I doubt something as simple as someone not having a Mystic Eye would be enough to prune a timeline."
"That's true, Goredolf, but remember; just because this history doesn't quite line up with ours isn't the reason why it was pruned. So long as humanity exists and could continue evolving and moving forward, their history wouldn't be pruned away. So Ophelia simply having a different childhood is possible."
"So if those HumaGears or whatever they're called didn't take control of the planet, this Lostbelt wouldn't have been pruned away?"
"That should be the case, Mash." Da Vinci nodded, "And now there's the third thing we should talk about."
"Just be out with it already," Goredolf was starting to get a little bit impatient, "Or are you going to disappear on us again?"
"Hey! I had a legitimate reason for doing that earlier!"
"You don't need to say it, Da Vinci," Ritsuka, however, had already figured out what Da Vinci wanted to say, "I'm sure all of us already know."
"Yes," Mash nodded slowly, having her own thoughts on the matter, "That makes me wonder…"
"What is it? I don't know!" Goredolf complained, "How did you already figure it out?!"
"Haven't you been paying attention, Director?" Holmes smirked at the Director of Chaldea, "It should be rather obvious."
"...All of you will have your pay deducted."
"We're getting paid?"
About 1 hour later…
After driving for some time, the paved road the Shadow Border became more and more damaged before, eventually, it was replaced with a dirt path. In addition to that, the landscape changed from green grass to empty, dead fields that stretched for miles. Despite losing any way to tell where they were, the Chaldeans knew which way they were supposed to go. Even from a great distance away, they were able to see the sole building standing in the middle of the wasteland.
"That's it then…" Ritsuka muttered, "The last human settlement."
"A giant warehouse in the middle of a wasteland. Sounds like an apocalypse movie," Meuniere was mostly talking to himself, but that was enough to make Ritsuka pause.
'That dream…' It had already been something he had been thinking about but Ritsuka had put it in the back of his mind for the most part. Now, however, he couldn't help but think about the previous night, 'But what was he doing here?'
Before Ritsuka could think about it further, the door of the Command Room opened and Ophelia walked back in, "We're getting close to the camp, right?"
"Oh, Ophelia, I was just about to call you," Holo-Da Vinci said, "That's the place, right?"
"Yes. That's it," She nodded after taking a glance out of the windshield, "Is Vulcan alright? He would want to be up when we arrive."
"'Vulcan'?" Ritsuka asked confusedly before realizing who she was referring to, "Right, Da Vinci? Can you check if Kadoc's up yet?"
"Sure, wait a moment… Yup, he's awake… and arguing with Merlin."
"Damnit Merlin," Ritsuka sighed as, once again, Merlin was being a pest to everyone he met.
Ophelia, meanwhile, looked confused at what the Chaldeans had said, "Eh...Da Vinci?"
"Yup?" Holo-Da Vinci turned to Ophelia upon hearing her name being called, "What is it?"
"...Da Vinci as in Leonardo Da Vinci?" Ophelia questioned, staring at the Rider-Class Servant.
"The one and only! Well, not the only one. My old body was completely different from this current one." Da Vinci went off on a tangent for a brief second, "But yes, I am the great and wonderful genius, Leonardo Da Vinci."
"...Excuse me?" Needless to say, Ophelia was having a hard time processing what she thought was a little girl said, "And by Merlin, you mean the one you pushed off that bed earlier? That's Merlin? As in, that Merlin?"
"Yeah…" Mash avoided eye contact with Ophelia, "That's Merlin…"
"Seeing as we're currently on the topic of Servants, let me introduce myself," Holmes said as he smoked his pipe that he pulled out from nowhere, "I am Sherlock Holmes."
"...I'm still sleeping, aren't I?" Ophelia rubbed her temples, feeling a headache coming.
"Master!" And to make her headache worse, a certain pink-haired Servant decided that now was the best time to enter the Command Room, "The others want to know- Oh, hi!"
"Uh… hi?" Ophelia hesitantly waved back at the Servant, "Who are you?"
"Oh, I'm the Valkyrie Hildr," The Lancer introduced herself, "Have we met before? I feel like I know you from somewhere."
"Va-Valkyrie?!" For the first time, Ophelia raised her voice at someone other than Kadoc.
"What's wrong?" Hildr innocently asked.
"N-nothing. Everything's fine. How close are we to the camp? The gatekeepers will open it up if they see me. I'll wait by the exit. It's this way right?" Ophelia said rapidly without breathing and just as quickly ran out of the room, leaving Hildr confused.
"Master, what was that about?"
"Eh… She'll get used to it." Ritsuka shrugged it off, thinking Ophelia was just overwhelmed with meeting famous figures. He, however, did not know that there was another reason why she had reacted weirdly to the Valkyrie.
The camp…
"What is that?" He couldn't help but wonder as he watched the large, armored vehicle get closer to their settlement through the binoculars.
"We're not sure either," The lookout that was on duty told him, "Do you think it's theirs?"
"Hmm…" Passing the binoculars back to the lookout, he had a thoughtful look on his face before he remembered something, "Kadoc and Ophelia should be back soon with the supplies, right?"
"If everything went according to plan," The lookout replied, "But if it is them, where and how did they manage to grab that thing?"
"Not sure…" He said, "I'm heading down, keep an eye on that thing."
"Of course, boss."
"Don't call me that," Despite correcting the lookout, he had a smile on his face, "I am...not anyone's boss."
Shadow Border, Entrance Bay…
"Valkyrie…" Ophelia muttered as she leaned against the wall next to the door.
"...That was embarrassing," The woman sighed before facepalming as she realized how she must have looked when she dashed out of the room. All because of a name.
Before she could dwell on it any further, Ophelia heard footsteps coming her way. Not from the Command Room, but from the opposite direction. If she remembered correctly, that would be the way to the Medical Bay.
Was it just her or was this 'Shadow Border', as they had called it, bigger on the inside?
"Damn that stupid man," She heard a familiar voice echoed through the dark, metal hall, "Obviously, wolves are better than lions."
"Kadoc?" Ophelia called out.
"Hmm? Oh, it's you." Her old friend stepped into the light, "What are you doing waiting out here?"
"Once we stop, I need to step out and get Hideo and Ricky to open the gate," She told him.
"Right, that's probably important." Kadoc nodded as he leaned on the other side of the door. For a few seconds, there was only silence between the two.
"...They called him by a different name." Ophelia broke the short silence between them.
Kadoc nodded at that, already knowing who she was referring to, "Yeah, I noticed. Fujimaru, was it?"
"Yes." Ophelia nodded, "But everything else about him seems the same."
"I know that too."
"..."
"..."
Another moment of silence fell on the two.
"...Hey," Kadoc broke the silence this time.
"Yes?"
"What do you think the world would be like if things had gone differently that day?"
"...Better."
"That's vague."
"What do you want me to say?" Ophelia frowned, "That we wouldn't be constantly fighting for our survival? For humanity's survival?"
"..."
"...Why are we even talking about this?"
"Because what that pink bastard said to us that day is still stuck in my head."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"...He's magenta, not pink."
"Whatever."
A few moments later, they felt the Shadow Border slow down before coming to a stop.
"Okay, we're outside the gates and a bunch of guys are pointing guns at us." The hologram of Leonardo Da Vinci appeared before them, "Get out there and show them that we mean no harm."
"Well, it's not ramming the gate. That's a good sign," He noted as the vehicle stopped right in front of the fence.
"Boss, what should we do?" One of the guards asked as they aimed their weapons at the unknown vehicle.
"Hold your fire," Ignoring that he was called boss again, he gave the order to the guards. He wanted to wait for whoever was in the vehicle to make the first move.
Fortunately, he didn't have to wait long. Seconds later, a door in the side of the vehicle opened up and a familiar face peeked out.
"Ophelia!" "Captain!" Cries from the guards could be heard as they saw the face of one of their own.
"It's fine!" Ophelia shouted at them, "Open the gate!"
"Do it." He nodded to the two gatekeepers after they looked at him for orders.
Quickly, the two slid the gate open to give way for the vehicle to get in. As soon as the large vehicle made it into the compounds, Hideo and Ricky closed and locked it.
"Ophelia!" He called out as the vehicle stopped in the middle of the square, "Where did you get this?"
"It's…a long story," Ophelia said as she stepped out of the vehicle. Shortly thereafter, Kadoc stepped out of it too.
"Kadoc, are you okay?" He asked. Normally, it was Kadoc who came back injured after a supply run.
"Yeah, I'm fine," The man answered, "We've got a problem."
"What is it?" He quickly asked. However, he had already noticed that two people weren't with them, "...Where's Robin and Michael?"
"...Horobi and Ikazuchi got there before us," Ophelia revealed, having a downcasted look, "There wasn't anything we could do to sa-"
"It's fine." He knew it wasn't fine. Two more of them are dead, it shouldn't be fine but they had to mourn later. Right now, the camp needed the supplies first.
"There's something else you should know," Kadoc said, "Pinky is missing."
"That's fine," he said again. This time, however, he knew it was fine. While he obviously preferred that all five of them came back alive together, he knew that Decade was doing his part of the plan. He just hoped that Decade would return unharmed.
"There's...another thing you should know." That's odd. Ophelia doesn't usually hesitate when saying something.
"What?" He asked, expecting an answer from the two.
What he didn't expect, however, was someone stepping out of the vehicle. Several someones, actually. But there was one person who he was focused on.
"Ha! I was right!" The young girl carrying a big staff with them shouted in excitement.
"You are…" The lilac-haired girl muttered as she looked at him and the third person of their group. The same person he was looking at.
"Another…" The both of them said simultaneously, "...me?"
Standing before Hiden Ritsuka was his doppelganger, Fujimaru Ritsuka…
A/N: Yup… I went there. A.R. Ritsuka is Hiden, which means y'know…
I say this is supposed to be crack but then I dropped a mostly serious chapter like this one. So is this supposed to be crack or serious? The answer is… it can swing either way at a moment's notice. At least it's accurate to FGO (Lostbelt 4 to GUDAGUDA 4). Besides, this is a Lostbelt, it's supposed to be serious with humor sprinkled in between character deaths.
Before anybody mentions the first part of C8, remember, I've been planning this since before Xross Saber's debut. I know what I'm doing for the most part.
So now that new episodes are here, we can talk about that. First, RIP Kamen Rider Sushiman, you will both be and not be missed at the same, the true final boss is shaping up to be Storious who got seriously cooler looking as soon as stole Omniforce from Sushiman. Nice.
In FGO news, it's not really news per se but… Damn it, Kagetora! Why do you need so much stuff for Skill Upgrades?! Rant over. Also, why are Maou Nobu and Mori so cool?! I'm trying to save up SQ here! Rant #2 over.
Finally, please leave a review and all that stuff.