Fate/Kyon's Order: The Return
A Haruhi Suzumiya & Fate/Grand Order Crossover
by Derald Snyder
Part 3: Master Candidates
The SOS Brigade, along with Da Vinci, Mash, and a few mages from the Clock Tower waited with mild anticipation for Ritsuka Fujimaru's return... fortunately they didn't have to wait long, as the young Master appeared in the chamber, along with a dapper British man that had several magnifying glasses attached to his waist, along with Jeanne Alter with her hair undone and long, wearing a purple strapless gown with black opera gloves.
"Wow... looking sexy, Joan!" Haruhi said with a whistle. "Your milkshake'll bring all the boys to the yard!"
"Heh heh, of course it will!" Joan smiled... before realizing how many people were in the room. "GAH! What the hell?! D-don't you all stare at me like that! Perverts!" She promptly reverted to her battle attire, rushing out of the chamber in red-faced embarrassment.
"That's the twisted form of Jeanne D'Arc?" one of the mages commented. "She's nothing like your file described her..."
"She's a... unique case," Da Vinci sighed. "Oh, I see a familiar face! Is that you, Sherlock Holmes?"
"Indeed, I have arrived! ...albeit with my ego badly bruised. To think that Moriarty actually got the better of me..." the famous detective lamented. "How fortunate that Shakespeare and Andersen were able to cover for my blunder. But at least the case is solved now."
"Sherlock Holmes?" Haruhi raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, I'll take that with a grain of salt. There's no way a literary fictional character has been recorded to the Throne of Heroes..."
"How do you know he wasn't real?!" Mash protested.
"Now, now, Miss Kyrielight, I'm more than capable of speaking for myself," Holmes interjected. "So then, young lady, if you think I'm not Holmes, then who do you think I am?"
"That's simple," Haruhi responded without missing a beat. "You're obviously the real-life person that served as the inspiration for Doyle's stories... Dr. Joseph Bell."
"...How intriguing. Clearly, you've done your homework," Holmes raised an eyebrow. "For the sake of argument, let us assume that you are correct. However, Joseph Bell is not a man who is very well known in history, while Sherlock Holmes is famous the world over. Even if I am who you say I am, would it not make sense that I would be summoned in the form of the world's most famous literary detective? Hypothetically speaking, that is."
"He does make a valid point, Suzumiya-san," Koizumi said with a subtle nod.
"...I guess," Haruhi admitted. "What do you think, Yuki?"
"I have no comment," Yuki said bluntly. "However, on a related note, I have read all of Doyle's stories about you, Holmes-san... While many seem to attribute an aura of near-infallibility with you, there were indeed times that you met with failure. Given that James Moriarty was your equal in deductive reasoning, does it not follow that he would eventually deduce a way to get the better of you, even if he failed in the end?"
"I suppose so, Miss Nagato," Holmes conceded. "If I didn't know any better, I would think you were trying to console me, in your own way... You're quite the interesting character, even setting aside your supposed extraterrestrial origin. Ah, but listen to me ramble on! I should make haste to procure living arrangements for myself here. If you'll excuse me..." With that, Holmes swept past the crowds and out of the room.
"Anyway, it's good to see you again, Fujimaru-san," Kyon spoke to the young Master.
"Oh, hello, John Smith, Nagato," Ritsuka greeted them, a Grail in one hand. He got a puzzled expression, however, when he looked over Haruhi, slightly taller and more mature than he remembered... "Uh, Suzumiya...?"
"The servant Suzumiya returned to the throne," Nagato spoke up. "This is her direct descendant."
"Right, I'm Haruhi Suzumiya, Kyon's fiancee and founder of the SOS Brigade. Nice to finally meet you in person, Ritsuka. I got all the servant Suzumiya's memories before she passed, so you don't need to explain anything to me."
"Um, right..." Ritsuka grunted, looking more confused than before.
"Director Da Vinci will explain everything to you later," Yuki explained.
"Indeed I will!" Da Vinci affirmed. "Good work, Ritsuka. I'm glad you were able to manage without Mash at your side this time."
"Wait, you didn't deploy with him, Kyrielight-san?" Kyon asked quizzically.
"I... I seem to have lost my Demi-Servant powers," Mash lamented. "All I can do now is support Senpai from Mission Control..."
"That's too bad," Haruhi bit her lip. "But hey, at least there's all these other servants now to pick up the slack, right?"
"What I don't understand is why so many had to be summoned in the first place!" one of the mages from the Clock Tower spoke up. "If half of what you said about human history being erased is true, I could overlook the fact that you broke the usual limit of seven servants, but you have enough to practically fill a city here!"
"I believe I've explained this to you before, but due to sabotage from one of our own, Chaldea was practically running on a skeleton crew," Da Vinci countered. "To be blunt, we needed all the help we could get... and even then, it almost wasn't enough."
"And this was the only Master who survived?" another mage pointed at Ritsuka.
"The only one who survived to the end," Da Vinci said carefully. "The only reason Solomon- or rather, Goetia- didn't finish him in London was because he didn't believe Ritsuka to be worthy of his time, being a young, inexperienced mage and all." She and all the other employees had agreed they should try to downplay Ritsuka's role somewhat, by letting the mages think that a few other Masters had survived at first...
"Is that right..." the mage muttered, not looking entirely convinced.
"On another note," the first mage spoke up, "Employee... Kyon, was it? Even if your fiancee is a direct descendant from a familiar that was summoned here, that doesn't give you the right to just bring her to this top-secret facility willy-nilly! Or this one, for that matter!" he indicated Koizumi.
"It wasn't willy-nilly!" Kyon reflexively snapped back. "I had good reason to bring them here!"
"And what reasons would those be, employee?" the mage raised his eyebrow.
Thinking fast, Kyon said, "Well... like we were just saying, Fujimaru-san is the only Master Chaldea has left. It's not a good idea to just rely on him all the time, even though we didn't have a choice back then. But now, I figured Koizumi-san and Haruhi might make viable Master candidates themselves!"
"Ah, so that's why you insisted on bringing me along," Koizumi quickly said without missing a beat.
"Wait a minute, you never said anything about this!" Haruhi turned on her lover.
Kyon just crossed his arms in response. "Well, you were so hung-ho about meeting all these historical figures, you wouldn't let me get a word in edgewise!"
"You were rather excited about this opportunity, Suzumiya-san," Koizumi piled on, causing Haruhi to scoff in disbelief.
"Master candidates... I see," the mage nodded thoughtfully. "Well, I suppose your intentions were noble, though I wish we would have had the chance to look into their backgrounds first."
"It is fine, Lord Mage," Yuki said in a respectful tone. "They are close friends of mine as well. I will tell you what you need to know."
"...Acting Director, are you certain this... alien can be trusted?" the mage inquired critically.
"This specific alien, yes, without question," Kyon answered for her. "Any other aliens, hell no."
"Emiri Kimidori has no malevolent intentions," Yuki countered.
"...okay, her, you're probably safe," Kyon ceded. "She's more of an obstructive bureaucrat than anything, like many from the Association."
"Watch your tongue, boy," the second mage snapped.
"Sorry, snark is his defense mechanism," Haruhi deadpanned. "Anyway, as soon as you get that fake Grail safely stored, we should have Koizumi-kun and myself tested, right?"
"Absolutely, Suzumiya," Da Vinci nodded with a smile.
*And so, a short time later...*
"Hmm... 60%. Sorry, Koizumi, not good enough," Da Vinci commented as she looked the scanner over.
"Really? I thought that was rather respectable," the esper mused.
"To be fair, it would be enough for a normal Holy Grail War..." one of the mages spoke up.
"Yes, but the main issue for Chaldea is the Rayshift technology," Da Vinci explained. "Anything below the one hundred percent compatibility rating that Ritsuka possesses is a chance for instant death upon shifting..."
"Time travel's still pretty primitive, huh?" Haruhi commented. "One in a hundred chance..."
"Actually, according to our dearly departed Dr. Roman..." the caster's expression turned sad, "There were over ten thousand compatibility checks before we got to forty-eight masters, and most of those were lost to Lev Lainur's sabotage... Olga Marie herself didn't even reach ten percent, despite her family's strong heritage. Anyway, it's your turn, Suzumiya."
"Right, let's get this over with," Haruhi nodded in agreement, walking over and taking her seat. Of course, with her powers, she was more than capable of time-traveling on her own, though she'd only done so to see what her friend Mikuru's time period was like... though she'd been sworn to secrecy by her grown-up former mascot, what she'd seen made her determined to help ensure that future came about, which was one of the reason's she'd jumped at the chance to assist Chaldea-
A gasp from Da Vinci snapped her out of her reverie. The mages from the Clock Tower were muttering in disbelief as her gaze adjusted to focus on the three-digit number the scanner currently displayed. "Miss Haruhi Suzumiya... it seems you meet the greatest requirement to become the forty-ninth Master of Chaldea."
"No way," Haruhi reflexively responded. She turned to look over at her friends and fiancee...
"Ah, congratulations, Suzumiya-san," Koizumi said with his ever-present smile. Yuki looked as stoic as ever, while Kyon's expression just screamed 'you seriously didn't see this coming?'
'No, no I didn't,' Haruhi's expression reflected back to her betrothed. Aloud she spoke, "Well, I was still trying to figure out which career path I wanted to take... I guess the decision's been made for me."
"It seems bringing your fiancee here was fortuitous after all, employee Kyon," the mage from earlier spoke up.
"Um, you realize that's just a nickname..." Kyon ducked his head in mild embarrassment.
"Not like your real name suits you very well, though," Haruhi sighed. "Well, I guess it's time to get a uniform and some of those command seal thingies, right?" A few of the mages grumbled at her casual tone, but she didn't care. After all, if she was going to be a Master, she would be able to summon a historical legend of her very own!
(...just as long as it's not that corrupted King Arthur I supposedly controlled in that one singularity...)
*To be continued...*
