FATE/PARALLEL COLORS

Chapter 20: Influx of Counterparts

Back in Chaldea, Cuchulainn Lancer, Medb and the other Servants in that group hurried to the royal lounge to inform Ritsuka, Roman and everyone else what happened. Everyone was particularly stunned with Cuchulainn Alter's transformation into a Foreigner, aided by Van Gogh's Noble Phantasm, and subsequent disappearance into another dimension. They were at least relieved that the Hedrons were no longer attacking the facility, but now they had to worry about assessing the damage and repairing it as expediently as possible so they would be ready for the Seventh Singularity. There wasn't really much time to afford thinking about what happened with Connla and Alter, although there were plenty of people worried about what was going to happen with them.

Medb seemed particularly down as she sat on a plush chair in the royal suite. The Casters had already dismantled their Chaldea Workshop and allowed the evacuees to return to their work. This left the suite nearly abandoned save for herself and Gilgamesh, who stood over her with his arms crossed and typical arrogant glare in his eye.

"So that's what the Mad Mongrel's plan was," the Babylonian king remarked after listening to the Celtic queen's story. "I must admit, that kind of foolish strategy certainly lives up to my expectations that someone possessing such wildness would come up with."

"I had thought about stopping him, but Cu seemed insistent on going through with it," Medb said.

"Come now, what is with the forlorn gaze? You stomped the enemy beneath your heel as you said you would. As a queen, you should be more satisfied than that."

"Oh, believe me, I enjoyed every second of it. It's just… I don't know… things don't seem the same unless Cu and Connie are around to celebrate with me."

"Such sentimental prattling. I thought you were more resolute with your contradictory 'pure-hearted wickedness' character than that."

"Hmph. What would you know? Unlike me, you're terrible at making relationships with others. Whether they be slaves, lovers or vassals, at least I have the courtesy to repay those who shower me with their respects. How can I do that when those people disappear on me so suddenly?"

Gilgamesh smirked. "Me? Terrible with relationships? It's only natural that I am. I stand above all others as the link between the heavens and the earth."

"Ugh, just leave already," Medb scoffed and grumpily glared away. "I'm not in the mood to listen to another one of your self-absorbed spiels."

"Hm… I suppose your melancholy genuinely is at its lowest. Well, as much as I would like to make myself scarce from your toxic existence, I'm actually waiting for someone."

"Who? Everyone's already left. You should have followed them."

"Perhaps you should see for yourself. Even without my precognitive abilities, I can already guarantee that it will make you jump from your seat."

Medb stared at Gilgamesh, unsure of what to make of such a vague statement. Before she could ask him anything though, someone knocked on one of the locked doors leading into some extravagant private rooms. These doors could only be locked from the outside, and it was already confirmed that no one went inside when everyone departed. Medb immediately became confused when she heard the knocking, and was even more alarmed when she heard someone calling out.

"Hello? Can anyone hear me?" an unknown woman's muffled voice shouted from the other side. The knocking continued several times, and the doorknob jiggled a bit.

Luckily, Gilgamesh had all of the lounge's keys on him. With an irritated huff, he unlocked the proper door to allow a strange lavender-haired lady through. As Medb analyzed this girl's features, she quickly realized that she looked very much the same as someone else she knew, and her jaw dropped slightly as she exhaled a muted gasp.

"Good grief," Gilgamesh berated the newcomer. "What in Irkalla took you so long? I was starting to think you disobeyed my orders and abandoned me."

"Oh, cut me some slack," the girl rebuked. "Trying to pick out a specific world from millions of different timelines is no easy feat, not to mention that I had to make my other arrangements first before leaving."

"I don't want to hear excuses. When I summon my vassals, they are expected to answer within a margin of ten minutes at maximum. You have delayed me by twice that."

"Come off it already. What matters is that I'm finally here, isn't it?"

"Hmph. Well, as long as you heed my every command while providing any relevant information towards defeating the Outer God to the Chaldean mongrels, I will be gracious enough to overlook such a flagrant transgression."

"You might not be as strict as Scathach, but you're sure cutting a close second."

As the two bickered, Medb stood from her seat and uttered in a broken voice, "C… C-Co… nnie? I-Is that… you?"

The young woman glanced at her with a bewildered expression. She then asked Gilgamesh, "Um, who might this be, and why is she calling me Connie all of a sudden?"

"How peculiar. Do you not recognize another Heroic Spirit from the same Ulster Cycle as yourself?" he wondered. He then quickly realized, "Ah, yes. You two never met during your original lives, so you certainly would be strangers to each other. That slack-jawed mongrel is Medb, the self-styled Queen of Connacht who caused Ulster's greatest war, which subsequently made her rival Cuchulainn far more famous than she could ever dream of."

"Oh, so you're Queen Medb! I only heard rumors and stories about you, but I've never actually met you in person until now."

"Wh-What is the meaning of this!?" Medb exclaimed, unsure if she should be furious or excited. She was practically on the verge of hyperventilating as she shouted, "Why is Connie here!? And why in the world is she an adult all of a sudden!? I-I mean, wasn't she taken away by the Outer God!? I don't understand it! What's going on here!?"

"Hah hah hah hah! What did I tell you?" Gilgamesh laughed jubilantly. "I said you would jump out of your seat, and I was right, as always!"

"Enough with your idiotic boasting, Goldilocks!" the queen snapped, then pointed at the Connla lookalike. "Explain yourself at once!"

"Well… do you want the short version or the long version?" the girl asked.

"… Is this supposed to be some kind of joke? Perhaps I should introduce you to the blunt end of my riding crop."

Gilgamesh stopped chuckling and gestured for Medb to calm down. "Settle yourself, woman. She is my special guest. Say hello to an adult version of the runt from a parallel world. She goes by the nickname Aibi, similar to how ours goes by Geal."

"C-Connie… Aibi?"

"That's right," Aibi said. "I'm not the Child of Cuchulainn you're familiar with. For many, many reasons which I can't get into right now, I've ventured from my timeline and made contact with Lord Gilgamesh through our dreams. He's informed me of the situation here and asked that I come to provide some much-needed assistance in the fight against Daoloth."

"Wha-?" Medb stared at her in dumbfounded silence. "Th-That shouldn't be possible. No one should be able to just casually jump from one world to another…"

"Like I said, it's a long story. As much as I would love to explain my personal history, I need to focus my energy on telling Chaldea's superiors everything I can. With Geal missing, I need to take certain measures so that Daoloth can be defeated before he escapes with Aisling's Spirit Origin. You could say that if Geal actually does die, I'm stepping in to be her replacement."

"Um… okay… so then, you really, really are a different Connie?"

"Yes. Aside from yourself and Lord Gilgamesh, I'm a complete stranger to this world. I apologize for asking this after making you deal with such a bombshell entrance, but could you introduce me to your leaders? I have the feeling it would be extremely awkward for me to just show up out of nowhere after your base was under attack. I don't want anyone to mistake me for the enemy, after all."

Medb's forlorn mood quickly vanished as she took Aibi's hand and replied, "Why, of course! You might be an adult, but you truly are still Connie at heart, aren't you? Very well! Just leave the grand entrance to me – I love huge occasions like this! I may even think about throwing a big welcoming party for you! I bet Fergus and the Cus will be shocked to meet you! I should ask Georgios to photograph their expressions so I can enjoy a good laugh or two!"

"That's really not necessary…"

As the queen guided the new Servant out of the lounge, Gilgamesh scoffed to himself, "Sure, just leave me behind and go do your thing without my permission. I'll have to put you to work cleaning every millimeter of my chambers at the first moment you get, woman."

Within the eternally silent dimension of featureless yellow walls and brown carpet, heavy footsteps raced through the nonsensical hallways. Cuchulainn Alter's heart raced as he worked his way through the maze, guided only by the faintest connection he gained with Connla after consuming parts of the same Outer God she was affiliated with. Even though his Spirit Origin was forcibly adapted to cope with indescribable horrors such as this, there probably was some conflict with his original human side, which caused him to always feel nauseated. Or maybe the stench of old carpet was starting to drive him crazy. He didn't know, and he didn't really care.

After ambling about for who knew how long, he reached the huge chamber with the countless pillars surrounding him from all sides. He could detect Connla's Spirit Origin much better now, which meant he had to be getting really close. He mostly had to keep going straight toward the opposite end, which invigorated him to break into a run for a good distance. He wasn't sure how long it took for him to make the trek, but he eventually reached the other side and discovered the peculiar white door lined with party-themed decorations.

She has to be in here. I just know it.

Without hesitation, he grabbed the doorknob, twisted it open, and threw open the door to see what was inside.

Cuchulainn gasped and widened his eyes with shock. The room was completely dark, save for an old 1950s-era television that flickered colored static on the aged monitor. Although the walls were painted white, some odd splotches ruined the otherwise pristine paintwork. Several other odd items reminiscent of a child's birthday party that had been held decades ago could be found, such as a table with used plates and cutlery, colored streamers strewn all over the floor, the shriveled husks of spent balloons, and some chairs with dissected toys sitting atop. Sitting with her legs crisscrossed in the center of the room was Connla, her back facing Cuchulainn as she fixed her gaze on the television.

"Hey!" he yelped and rushed up to her, placing his hand on her shoulder as he implored, "What are you doing here!?"

No response. He might as well have been talking to a corpse. The strange sound of giggling children echoed in the far distance, spooking him so much that his goosebumps were visible to the naked eye. He really felt like he had walked into a J-horror film, except that this was reality, not some director's demented imagination being played on screen.

Son of a fucking bitch. Look at me, being scared by imaginary voices, Cuchulainn lambasted himself. He shook his head, then said to Connla, "Come on, we're getting the hell out of h-"

As he leaned in to look at her face, he stopped in mid-sentence. He was not expecting what he saw. The girl's eyes shone with a layer of shifting colors. That, he was used to due to the aftereffects of her Imbas Forosnai dreams. However, her lips curled into a peaceful, euphoric smile, and some blood trickled out of her blackened eyes, down her cheeks, and onto her lap. Whatever imaginary program she was watching on the television had a direct effect on her Spirit Origin, twisting and damaging it so horrendously that she was bleeding to death without realizing it. It was probably an enjoyable program too, since she made no notion to look away from the screen.

Cuchulainn wanted to claw his eyes out, vomit all of his innards, and scream as loud as he could. How the hell did he allow this to happen? Connla was so far gone, he was sure he could never bring her back. However, he wasn't going to give up. If he had to return to Chaldea with her in such a brutal state, then so be it. He was on a rescue mission, and he knew that once he was successful, Roman, Ritsuka and everyone else would be able to help Connla recover. He just needed a moment to regain his senses and not let her visage frighten him anymore.

"That's enough," he commanded, attempting to force her away from the television. "You know better than to run away from me like that. Let's go back home and get you cleaned up."

"… Lock over… spry…"

"Hm?"

"Arbitrary harboring… the frankincense tree weeps…"

He had no idea what she was talking about. Regardless, he wouldn't waste time worrying about her sanity. Her mind had slipped so far off the edge that he wasn't quite as surprised with her random babbling as he expected. Of course an Outer God's presence would make someone go mad. It was just common sense at this point. He was more worried about succumbing to a similar fate himself before he could find the way back to their home dimension.

"All right, that's enough fooling around. Time to go," Cuchulainn said as he picked Connla up and carried her on his arm. As he prepared to leave the room though, a sudden sound made him stop. He darted his eyes straight to the slightly ajar door. He took several small steps back and wielded Gae Bolg in his free hand while keeping his catatonic daughter close with the other. If she was aware of what was going on, she made no motion to indicate it.

Soon though, Cuchulainn heard someone's voice on the opposite side of the door. A young girl's voice murmured, (I thought I heard something here.)

"It can't be," a similarly young boy replied in a dismissive tone. "There shouldn't be anyone else here besides us."

To Cuchulainn's surprise, a translucent humanoid phased through the closed door and gently landed on the floor. The Berserker's throat went absolutely dry when he made eye contact with a girl who looked exactly the same as Connla. This one wore different clothes and did her hair up differently though, and carried a wooden druid's staff with a star-shaped lantern dangling from the top. Although the girl's eyes were colored pink, whereas Connla's were brown, their soft cadence remained the same as far as Cuchulainn was concerned. The most shocking difference was the burnt-out hole in her throat, which prevented her from talking normally.

(Ah…) the girl telepathically murmured in surprise, unable to tear her eyes away from his.

"No way!" the young male's voice blurted from inside the lantern. "There really is someone here! Look at that! He's carrying one of your counterparts as well!"

The mystery girl became clearly frightened as she asked Cuchulainn, (W-What are you… doing here? Y-Y-You're not going to… hurt me… are you?)

He quickly glanced at Gae Bolg and realized he was scaring her because of it. He made it vanish, then relaxed his posture and replied, "If you cooperate with me, then I promise that I won't."

(Oh… You must've thought I was an enemy then. There's nothing to worry about – there's no one else in this dimension besides us.)

"Maybe it was a bad idea to do the next leg of our training in this dimension," the lantern said. "Who would've thought we'd run into anyone else inside the many abandoned worlds Daoloth has been showing us?"

"Daoloth?" Cuchulainn glowered and narrowed his eyes. "You two know that conniving bastard?"

The girl tilted her head curiously, exactly the same way Connla would. (Conniving bastard? I don't understand what you mean. Daoloth wants to save us.)

"Save you? From what?"

(Our fates. Or rather, um… I mean, our destinies as unwanted denizens of our respective planets. We were both killed by our brethren, who refused to understand our suffering and foisted their cruelty upon us. We don't want anything to do with our home planets anymore, and Daoloth's giving us the chance to leave it all behind.)

Cuchulainn swallowed hard. This was starting to sound extremely familiar to him, and he wasn't liking it one bit. He widened his eyes as he asked in a shaky voice, "You wouldn't happen to be…"

(Ah, I didn't introduce us, did I?) the girl said.

"Now hold on a minute!" the lantern barked. "We have no reason to act so friendly towards someone from your planet! Furthermore, don't you recognize this guy!? He may look a little different, but he's the same man you envisioned would kill you!"

(It should be okay. He's obviously wandered here from a different timeline. That means he and I have nothing to do with each other.)

"Well yeah, but…"

(Besides, I get the feeling they're in some serious trouble. Seeing these alternate dimensions in our shared dream is one thing, but to actually be brought to one in person is tantamount to suicide.)

"Forget about it. If they came here on their own, that's their problem. If you help them escape, that'll seriously set back our training!"

The girl sighed despondently. (Even so… I just can't leave them like this. It may go against our training, but I can't forget that moment when I was completely and utterly abandoned by the world… When I tried to scream for help, and no one would come… It was just too scary… and… lonely…)

The lantern became silent as he listened to his partner's grievances. After a long pause, he finally said, "Oh well. As they say in your world, 'in for a penny, in for a pound', right? You aren't the type to turn away from those in need, even if it's to your own detriment. Just look at how well you treated me."

(I'm sorry for the trouble…)

"It's okay. Do whatever you feel is right. I might not like it, but you'll always have my support regardless."

The girl nodded, then faced Cuchulainn and said, (I should introduce us. This spirit living inside my lantern is Lochrann. I have a True Name of my own, but I've discarded it and am going by the name Aisling. Pleased to meet you, Guard Dog of another timeline's Ulster.)

Chaldea

Roman clearly looked fatigued beyond human tolerance. He rubbed his fingers beneath his baggy and weary eyes for what felt like the hundredth time. He wasn't sure if he had it in him to put together what exactly this new 'surprise' was that Medb showed him. He downed his fourth cup of coffee of the hour, then stared at the new Servant.

"Let me see if I've got this straight," the doctor muttered to Aibi. "You're another Connla who made contact with Gilgamesh some time ago. In exchange for being his retainer, you asked him to secretly keep an eye on our Connla so that she didn't get into any trouble with Aisling."

"That's right," she replied.

"Since neither of you wanted Aisling – or Daoloth, as we know it now – to find out about you two meeting, you both agreed to keep quiet about this from the rest of us until it was the appropriate time. I'm assuming that now is the time?"

"Considering that Daoloth's gone so far as to take Geal away from you, I really should have come here sooner than this. I'm sure I could have done something to protect her better than this."

"It's not your fault, Connie," Medb assured her, gently placing her hands on her shoulders. "We already knew that the Outer God was trying to kill her. We just never imagined that he would actually kidnap her from right under our noses. That kind of audacity just sickens me!"

Da Vinci chuckled and retorted, "You're one to talk, trying to snatch Donn Cuailgne from Ulster in practically the same manner."

"This is different! Stealing another's property is one thing, but to have your own family taken away like that is inexcusable!"

"Uh, Connla's not related to you."

"She's Cu's baby girl! That means she's my family by default!"

"Okay, that's enough," Roman stopped them. He sounded so frustrated that the two Servants immediately ceased arguing. He then asked Aibi, "What's the over/under on us getting Cu Alter and Connla back? Is there anything we can do to help them return to this dimension?"

Aibi grew worried as she admitted, "I don't know anything about your technology and capabilities. If I had to give my best guess though, I'd say it's impossible for us to do anything on our end."

"Are you sure?"

"You have to remember that I have my own methods of crossing the Kaleidoscope, so you'd think I would have the better shot at finding them myself. The fact that I can't perform such a search even with what I have at my disposal means it'd be impossible for anyone else, barring someone who can freely wield the Second Magic."

"You mean you don't possess the Second Magic yourself?"

"No. I have something like a 'substitute', if you want to call it that."

"A substitute?" Roman grew more and more curious with these mysterious hints she was giving.

"I'll explain at some other time. For now, all I can say is that it won't be able to help us deal with alien dimensions outside of Proper Human History's scope. I'm sure that's where Geal and Alter have disappeared to. The only hope they have is to somehow make it back here on their own, and to be perfectly honest with you… well… I'm not liking those chances."

"I see," the doctor murmured somberly. "That's unfortunate. But our primary objective is to halt the Singularities, not to fight against an Outer God. Ritsuka and Waver will not like it, but we may just have to accept the fact that they're lost to us."

"Ohhh…" Medb moaned in disappointment, feeling incredibly upset all of a sudden.

Aibi nodded. "I understand. Lord Gilgamesh has informed me of what Chaldea is and what you're fighting against. Aside from dealing with Daoloth, I'll offer my services as Geal's replacement for your crusade against the King of Mages."

Roman's mood seemed to improve as they made headway with making Aibi their newest ally. "That's good to hear. Da Vinci, why don't you take Aibi to your workshop and see about analyzing her Spirit Origin. I'm assuming she's another Lancer, and she might be a bit stronger than Connla due to her being an adult."

"I'm on it," the inventor said. "Come with me, Aibi. I'm going to run some tests on you. By the way, are you aware of what Embers are?"

"No, I'm afraid not. I never encountered any such thing back in my timeline."

"They're a special type of resource designed to strengthen Servants and unlock hidden skills. I think you could use a few."

"Well, as long as they don't hurt, I'll be fine with it."

As Da Vinci and Aibi were about to leave Roman's office, Medb suddenly hugged Aibi's arm and implored, "I'm coming with you!"

"Huh? Why?" the bewildered Servant wondered.

"I'm not leaving your side, and that's final!"

"Uh… Ms. Da Vinci?"

"Aw, what's the harm? It'll help to have at least one more Servant understand what your deal is so we can explain it to everyone else," Da Vinci said with a cheery smile. With that, the three women made their way to the workshop, and the inventor proceeded to analyze Aibi's Spirit Origin and update the database with her information. However, even right when she started her investigation, she could tell that something was wrong. Each time she tried to narrow down Aibi's class, each option kept being rejected… including the obvious one, Lancer!

"What the-? You're not a Lancer? Nor a Saber, nor even a Berserker or a Ruler?" Da Vinci murmured, growing unexpectedly perplexed. "I don't understand it! I've tried all of the seven regular classes plus the known Extra Classes! None of them are a match!"

"Um… well…" Aibi shuffled her hands together bashfully. "I used to be one…"

"Used to be? What are you supposed to be now?"

"…"

"Does it have something to do with your ability to cross through other dimensions?"

"…"

Medb nervously approached the mystery Servant and murmured, "Connie… No, Connla Aibi… just… what are you?"

? dimension…

Back in the abandoned party room, Cuchulainn's heart momentarily beat out of rhythm when he heard the girl's name. He clenched his teeth and asked in a guttural voice, "You're Aisling!?"

(Yes… um… Do you know me, by any chance?) she asked worriedly.

"Not personally. It's just that we've heard a lot about you in our world."

(How? I'm pretty sure my Spirit Origin's been fully cut off from Proper Human History.)

"Don't you know about your Imbas Forosnai ability? You know, to be able to see your counterparts from other dimensions in your dreams?"

Aisling tilted her head in confusion. (Yes, I know about my Imbas Forosnai. But to be able to observe alternate timelines through my counterparts' eyes? I can't say I've heard of that. All I see are visions of the future.)

"Then what have you been doing this whole time?"

(I already told you – Lochrann and I are training to become the Outer God's priests. We're doing that by exploring hundreds of abandoned dimensions to accomplish some sort of objective. Of course, we're both fast asleep and are exploring in a sort of 'out-of-body' state, like we're ghosts. If we were to actually go to these unknown realities in person, we would have disintegrated into so much dust a long time ago.)

Cuchulainn narrowed his eyes and frowned hard as he thought, Sounds a lot like what the kid told us earlier. If the real Aisling's soul is off and about like this, it would give Daoloth complete freedom to hijack her body and cause all sorts of trouble for us.

(To be honest with you, I'm surprised you're here to rescue Geal, rather than trying to kill yourself where no one will ever find you,) Aisling remarked.

"Oh? Why do you say that? Is this dimension particularly dangerous?"

Lochrann's color changed to a pearly white to express his surprise as he blurted, "It sure is! This isn't just some random world – it's actually a part of Daoloth's body!"

The Celtic warrior's skin practically turned several shades of white. "You're fucking with me, aren't you? There no way we're actually inside an Outer God right now!"

(He's not lying,) Aisling shook her head. (It's not just this world either. All of the alternate realities that Lochrann and I have been exploring are different parts of Daoloth's body.)

"Y-You're kidding, right?"

(Not at all. I'm sure you don't know what his real appearance is, but it's basically an incoherent mess of geometric shapes. Each one of those shapes is a container for various dimensions that he collects and stores into his body. There are so many alien dimensions out there that his mass keeps growing exponentially every time he adds a new one into himself. I don't really know why he does it, but apparently this makes him a bit of a recluse even among the other Outer Gods. If anyone tries to conjure Daoloth's power and they get sent to one of these worlds, all of their mana will be drained and they will die in obscurity.)

"Shit… Would the same thing happen to a Servant?"

(More or less. Sometimes, even just looking at Daoloth is enough to sap them dry. He does require a lot of mana to consume these other worlds and expand his physical form, after all.)

As Aisling explained this, Cuchulainn thought back to when Medea had her bout of illness after observing Daoloth lurking in the Andromeda Galaxy. Knowing that the Outer God was so close to Earth's proximity made the whole thing even more chilling, since he and Geal had essentially gone through the portal in Chaldea, fell through two galaxies' worth of distance within seconds, and were swallowed directly into Daoloth itself. Suddenly, he didn't feel so bad about being thoroughly spooked by the whole thing.

Aisling scratched her cheek and murmured, (But I'm digressing here. The fact of the matter is that you and Geal have no business being here, but you would never be able to find your way back home.)

"That's the gist of it," Cuchulainn said. His expression turned foul as he snarled, "I don't know about the 'no business being here' part though. Your precious god threatened Geal and forced her to be abducted to this godforsaken place. Not only that, he's been causing a lot of headaches for us in our timeline, as well as in a certain other parallel world we went to just recently. Do you have any idea how much damage he caused to that second timeline!? Not only did it cause a Beast to be created, it flat out no longer exists anymore!"

Aisling glanced at Lochrann in bewilderment, then asked, (What is he talking about?)

The bright white light surrounding the lantern immediately dimmed as he responded, "Beats me."

Cuchulainn kneeled in front of the confused girl and asked in a sharp yet sincere tone, "Do you really not know what Daoloth is doing while you're running around like this?"

She cast her eyes down, then murmured, (I don't know… To be honest with you, I kind of stopped caring.)

"Don't be ridiculous! You care enough to want to help Geal and me escape this dimension!"

(B-But that's…)

"Stop contradicting yourself! You still love Earth, don't you!? You still want to be a part of our world's history! But you don't know what to do to make things better for yourself, so you just run away and let someone else deal with the baggage! You think no one cares about you, so you just sleep your life away while allowing your god to use you as a vessel to completely destroy alternate timelines like that! What his motive is, I honestly don't know, but after seeing the horrors he wrought in the Akakor world, I'm never going to forgive him!"

(I… um…)

Cuchulainn got back on his feet and stood tall over the despondent girl as he declared, "Let me tell you something! There are still people who want to bring you back home to Earth! If you think I'm wrong, then you're completely out of your mind!"

Lochrann instantly changed to a bright red color, exuding an angry aura as he shouted, "What would you know!? Aisling saw a vision of you killing her! She wanted to escape that fate, and was finally able to! She thinks her death will just be a burden to you, so she decided to make it not happen in the first place! How is her disappearance going to affect your own history in any way!? Hell, to all of human history!? That kind of shitty story doesn't have any important lessons or a moral to it whatsoever! It's just a way to tap into humanity's sadistic nature by killing off an innocent child in some tragic tale! If you ask me, it'd actually make things better for everyone involved if she didn't exist!"

Cuchulainn was absolutely livid at this point. He unleashed a brutal snarl and grabbed the lantern directly, forcing Aisling to let go of the druid's staff as he screamed directly at the glowing light orb, "SHUT YOUR GODDAMN TRAP! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR THAT KIND OF SHIT!"

Aisling's jaw dropped as she watched their argument with a mortified expression. She wanted to stop them, but the Berserker's terrifyingly livid glare made her freeze in place. It wasn't just because it was scary… She actually didn't expect him to react so negatively to her plan to make his life a bit easier. In her mind, she always thought he would be happy to be rid of such unnecessary baggage. Her mother Aife certainly would have been glad to have her be killed off by Cuchulainn, and her teacher Scathach wouldn't have cared. Why wasn't her father reacting in that same callous manner? What made him so different from her mother and teacher?

"Gh… Don't touch me, you brute!" Lochrann shrieked and flashed so bright that it dazzled Cuchulainn's eyes for a moment, making him drop the staff and lantern. As Aisling picked him off the ground, the irate alien snapped, "You know I'm right, asshole. Hell, you should be glad that Aisling isn't asking Daoloth to use his power to change your world to make it a better place, or something delusional like that. If the world abandoned her, then it's only logical that she would abandon the world in turn. No harm done, right? What's the problem with it?

"Heh… heh heh heh…" Cuchulainn chuckled deeply. It wasn't because he saw any sort of humor in this. It was more his way of ridiculing Lochrann for being so ignorant. Once he exhausted his bout of mirth, he muttered, "A lot more than you think."

"In what way?"

He cast his eyes upon Aisling and asked, "Did the world really abandon you? Hell no. That's just a half-assed assumption you made in a moment of despair. The truth is, our world never forgets anyone. Many may come and go without being celebrated, but the planet remembers every single person that has ever lived on it. You might think I'm talking about the Throne of Heroes, but that's just so the cream of the crop can be summoned as Servants to protect Earth. I'm referring to everyone, remembered or forgotten, that the world holds on tightly to. That includes you."

Aisling shook her head and moaned, (That can't be right…)

"Furthermore," he added, then flashed her a wide grin to show off all of his sharpened teeth, "there's one person who's been desperately looking for you."

(Huh? Who?)

"The Cuchulainn from your timeline."

She paled and exclaimed, (That's impossible! I did everything I could to avoid meeting him! As long as he and I never encountered each other, all would be well!)

"As if he would ever let you go so easily. So long as the Heroic Spirits Cuchulainn and Connla have their blood lineage, their paths will always cross. Even when you tried to erase yourself from history, your Cuchulainn sensed that you were in peril and chased after you."

(Then I should've left him behind once Daoloth took my body out of that dimension.)

"He followed you."

Aisling was struck dumb when she heard this. (He… did?)

"Of course. If I was in his position, I would've done the same. Exactly as I'm doing for Geal here," he said as he glanced at the near-comatose Lancer perched on his arm. "Even as we speak, your Cuchulainn is wandering the Kaleidoscope looking for you. He won't stop for anyone or anything until he finds you. He doesn't care if it's a hopeless endeavor – he knows you're out there, and he won't give up until the two of you meet again."

She quickly turned away from him in disbelief, unable to think of any retort. Lochrann implored to her, "Don't listen to him. He's trying to trick you. Even if it's true, your Cuchulainn probably wants to punish you for running away. We should just leave them here to rot and be on our way."

(…)

"Are you listening to me?"

(… I… I'm not so sure…)

"What's wrong? Don't tell me you're actually going to buy into his drivel."

She didn't respond immediately. Something just felt 'off' about all of this, and she couldn't understand what it was. She hesitantly turned back toward Cuchulainn and asked, (Please tell me… if everything you said is true… then why would my father go after me the same way you went after Geal?)

His expression softened when he saw her looking so confused and pathetic. He sighed, then replied, "You already know why. The answer's so simple, you'd be stupid not to realize it by now."

(I… I guess so…)

"Well I'm not getting it," Lochrann said. "Why would he do that?"

"Heh. Of course an alien wouldn't understand," Cuchulainn smirked. He calmly walked past Aisling as he gave his reason:

"It's because he loves you."

With that settled, they made their way further into a much deeper region of the drab office-themed maze. They stopped when they realized it was a three-way intersection. Cuchulainn continued carrying Connla Geal as he followed Connla Aisling and Lochrann through the mind-numbing labyrinth. Although Geal was awake, she never said a word for the entire time. Cuchulainn purposely covered her face and upper body with his torn mantle so that she wouldn't go mad any further from the endless rows of monotonous yellow wallpaper.

At times, he wished he could protect his own eyes from this as well. An exceptionally strange sensation kept bothering him, as if some subconscious emotion that had no place in his conscious mind was inching its way into his thoughts and forcing him to be more and more aware of how insignificant he was. The surroundings certainly had no reason to be scary, yet there was some primal fear that gnawed at him. He had no idea how to explain this feeling to someone if they tried asking him. His best guess was that the concepts of the 'foreground' and the 'background' had been reversed in this world. Usually an office building like this would function as the backdrop for some scene, perhaps from an advertisement, a movie or a live show. Here though, the entire dimension was so unnecessarily huge and empty that the background itself seemed to take dominance over any living entities that dwelled within. It was a crushing feeling, making him feel like a tiny speck in some far-flung corner of the universe.

Cuchulainn thought he was going to join Geal in her descent into insanity. He didn't want to imagine what it would take to explore every nook and cranny of this place to gain any semblance of familiarity. He was getting sick of looking at the same wallpaper and carpets, smelling the same mildewy stench, and hearing the droning buzz of the fluorescent bulbs for hours and hours on end. The only hope he could cling to was Aisling's guidance as she led him further into the dimension. At this point, he lost any sense of time. Had they been here for only an hour? Two hours? A day? A month? A year? A decade? He didn't know anymore. Maybe it was pointless to apply the concept of time to this world.

Shit… I hope Chaldea still exists by the time we get back…

That would've been something. Imagine if Cuchulainn and Geal returned to their world, only to find out that many years passed since they disappeared. Maybe Ritsuka, Mash, Roman, Waver and the other staff would be elderly, or even dead from old age. Maybe all of the other Servants would have returned to the Throne of Heroes. Maybe the Incineration of Humanity was successful, and they would be returning to a timeline where humans were extinct.

Those crushing fears started to make Cuchulainn breathe hard and his heart race. Aisling heard his light gasps and asked, (Are you okay?)

"Yeah… I was just thinking too much…"

"You really shouldn't do that," Lochrann said. "I'd say you'd hurt your head, but I don't think you can break it any more than it already is."

"Ghh… You smarmy piece of-"

(Don't be rude, Lochrann,) Aisling chided her partner. (His Spirit Origin must be undergoing the very first phases of corrosion into a full-fledged Outer God of his own. If we don't hurry, he might wind up in the same condition as Geal.)

Cuchulainn rubbed his forehead to shake off the dizziness, then grumbled, "The first phases? My god, this is already driving me crazy enough as it is."

(I'm surprised you've been holding on for so long, considering what our circumstances are.)

"…"

(We should be okay though. We're almost close to the correct portal. Can you hold out a little longer?)

"Heh. I'm not stopping for anything now. We should be using our energy to keep moving, not to run our mouths off like this."

(Then let's keep going.)