Grand Order, Part 2

"Hmm, aren't you a good boy. Do you prefer nuts? Or perhaps fish?"

"Fou, kyu, kyu…"

"I'm not sure whether you're a cat or a rabbit but in any case, you are quite cute!"

Naughty heard a lovely, but unfamiliar voice guide him out of the land of dreams. He had a weird one recently, where he landed in hell with some people and had to battle a bunch of skeletons. Oh, but he had a cute eggplant girl as a partner! She had the softest chest ever… and her outfit was revealing, but super hot! And it turned out the final boss, King Arthur, was a beautiful blonde woman...and then some actual demon came over to ruin the battle...and then it all went black. But now, he could feel the softness of a bed underneath him. Naughty stirred awake slowly, barely making out a figure above him.

"Hm? Ah, the hero has awakened. There, that's how a main character should be."

Main Character? Was he in one of those Isekai anime shows? Was he actually dead? He blinked a few times to adjust to the bright light and a gorgeous sight greeted him. Observing the lucky guy was a woman with sparkling blue eyes and silky locks of brown hair that framed her face, much like a fancy border on a painting. There was a knowing smile on her face, a subtle hint of smugness, but not quite a full on smirk.

Naughty felt blessed to be in this woman's presence. If this was heaven, then he was all in for it! She looked just like a certain portrait, but in the flesh. The one that came to mind was-

"The Mona Lisa…"

The woman suppressed a laugh, but her eyes twinkled. "Good morning Naughty. Are you conscious now?"

"The Mona Lisa is talking to me…che bella vista." The words slipped out of Naughty's mouth without hesitation, he was still not fully awake yet.

"Oho! Well, I see you aren't thinking straight. Are you shocked at the sight of such a beauty?" Naughty mumbled something in Italian, and again the woman made that smile. "I see, I'm used to it. But how interesting, to meet someone who hails from the same country as me!"

She made that charming smile again. "My name is Da Vinci, a collaborator of Chaldea. I am also the third Heroic Spirit summoned here."

Naughty stared at Da Vinci. He knew his history, but to think the acclaimed Renaissance artist was actually a woman? Something was definitely not historically accurate, but at the same time something was definitely right with the world.

"Oh, is Naughty awake? Finally!" Chiaki's voice suddenly interrupted the two, coming from the doorway. Her head peeked into the room, followed by two others. Naughty internally cursed their presence. He was finally alone with a beautiful woman and these nitwits had the audacity to interrupt his moment!

Da Vinci turned to face the newcomers. "Well then, now that everyone is awake, let's all head to the Command Room. There are people waiting, after all."

…

Upon entering, Mash, Gareth, and Dr. Roman were waiting inside. Everyone sat down on the floor, now cleaner since the horrific explosion that had taken place some time ago. Instead of the alarming red color, the room was now a calm, deep blue.

"Good morning, everyone." Mash said with a small smile. "I'm glad to see that everyone's ok."

"I'm glad to see you are well, Master!" said Gareth, looking chipper as always. She scooted next to Ryuuto, who had a tight smile on his face. "Nice to see you too, Gareth."

"Ahem." Everyone turned to face Dr. Roman, who was motioning everyone to come closer. "I hate to interrupt the reunions, but there are some things we need to discuss first."

"First of all, I want to congratulate you all for completing the mission and surviving. You all were thrust into the situation by surprise, but bravely faced the challenges. I truly respect that. Thanks to your actions, Mash and Chaldea were saved."

"But what about the Director? If we survived, maybe she..." Chiaki's voice trailed off into silence. No one else dared to speak lest they remember the tragedy.

It was like that for a while until the Doctor spoke again. "Listen. We must defend Humanity in her stead. That is how we will pay her tribute."

"I got a report from Mash about the crystal, and what Lev said. It's bad news, but it's all true: Chaldea has been isolated from the rest of humanity's timeline, much like a colony floating in space. As such, we can't contact the outside world."

Chiaki put her hands to her mouth while Ryuuto looked perplexed. "So we can't even call someone outside?" asked Ryuuto.

"That's right." said Da Vinci, a sad smile on her face. Chiaki looked crestfallen as she lowered her hands. "I can't even call my parents." She shakily exhaled. "They're all gone…" Gareth came over and put a hand on her shoulder, a silent gesture of sympathy. Chiaki tried not to cry.

"Wait, so is there any good news that came out of this?" Alpha looked skeptical, as if he already had an idea of what the answer would be.

"The good news is you all took down the Singularity located on Chaldeas, and survived. Roman's smile turned grim. "But there are more of them. We're working on locating the irregular points, so it's in your best interest to rest before we track the next one."

"That's not exactly good news then. We basically opened a new can of worms." Alpha mumbled.

"So is there something we can do about this?" Despite everything, Ryuuto looked for hope in the faces of the Chaldea employees.

"There has to be something, si? If you look at our status, we're basically the only survivors." Naughty quipped, but he was looking more at the beautiful Renaissance woman. If worst came to worst, he could always flirt and go out with a bang...

Dr. Roman looked at each of the rookies. They were definitely not the team anyone was planning on sending for these missions. But nobody more capable was left.

"So here's the deal. You all will Rayshift into these singularities and get history back on track. It's the only way to save humanity."

He took a deep breath. "However we are still powerless. All other Master candidates are frozen, so you novices are all that's left. I realize you're being forced into this situation. Even so, I'll still say it."

"Master Candidates. If you wish to save humanity… If you wish to have a future beyond 2018. Then you all must go and face these singularities in human history. Are you prepared to do this? Can you shoulder the burden of Chaldea and humanity's future?"

"Of course." said Ryuuto with no hesitation.

"If it's something I can do…" Naughty said, with a hint of sleaziness to it.

"Why not?" Alpha shrugged, finding this as the perfect opportunity to go big or die trying.

"Chiaki?" inquired Mash, who looked at the girl with gentle concern.

Though tears glistened in her eyes and threatened to spill, Chiaki gave a silent, slow nod.

The Doctor gave a tiny smile of gratitude before he got serious. "With that, our fate has been decided. We will now carry out the Preservation of Humanity as laid out by Olga Marie Animusphere, former director of Chaldea."

"Our objective is the protection and recovery of human history. Our search target will be each era's relic and Grail. Our opponent is history itself. Many great Heroic Spirits and legends will stand against you. Challenging them is an act of blasphemy against the past. To save humanity, we must defy human history. But this is the only way to survive. No, the only way to take back the future...No matter what sort of end awaits us. To reflect our determination, we shall abandon the original mission name, First Order."

"This is now Chaldea's last yet original mission: The Grand Order! In the name of the magical world's highest order..."

"We will take back the future!"

...

After a few hours of rest, the group of rookies found themselves huddled around Chaldea's summoning circle. Da Vinci explained how the circle worked exactly like the makeshift one in Fuyuki, only that this one had a pretty low level of success.

"Although it's true this summoning circle hasn't been very successful, each of you are going to try it. After all, the more allies we get, the better." She said with a wink. "Now then...Naughty. You're up first!"

The Italian Master grinned, and quickly stepped up to the circle. "So how do I start this thing?"

"Just focus your attention on the circle, and think about something you want. Concentration is all that's needed, so don't try to overthink things." Da Vinci said with an instructive tone.

Well, that was simple enough. Naughty closed his eyes and began to think. A beautiful woman, a powerful woman, someone who could probably both scare and arouse him. Yeah, that was all he needed…

The circle began to spin with a faint golden glow. It grew brighter, and soon the whole room was enveloped in a flash of blinding light.

"I am the Demon Archer Nobunaga, the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven!"

The light dimmed, and a petite lady dressed in black militaristic clothes emerged from the circle, crimson cape fluttering behind her. Her red eyes blazed like embers and she had a sheathed katana at her hip. With a cocky smile, she bore down her gaze at her Master.

Naughty raised his eyebrows and his mouth fell open. "Whooooaaaa…"

The little warlord gave a hearty laugh. "Mwahahaha! You must be so overwhelmed by my majestic presence that you had no words to say!"

"Oh, I do." Naughty composed himself, and gave Nobunaga his best smirk. "I look forward to working with you, O Great Demon Archer." He held out a hand to the Heroic Spirit.

"Very well…if only because you have given me the praise I deserve." The Demon Archer graced Naughty with an equally devious grin. "I will allow you to be my Master!"

They aggressively shook hands, and began to have an intense staring contest. Neither one backed down, a silent fight between two forces of confidence.

"No frickin' way! Is that the Japanese warlord Oda Nobunaga?! The one from the Bakumatsu period?" Chiaki whispered in disbelief. "Nuh uh, no way. You were a woman as well? I'm gonna fall over…"

Alpha looked at her in confusion. "How do you know this stuff?"

Chiaki grinned sheepishly. "I read a lot of things for fun. Y'know, novels, newspapers, magazines, textbooks, manga, recipes, Wikipedia articles, Terms and Conditions, warning labels on boxes…"

"The telephone book?"

Chiaki pouted. "No, anything but that."

And that's when Da Vinci stepped in."Alright you two, step aside. It's time for someone else." The woman looked at the remaining three Masters. "Who's next?"

"I'll go." said Ryuuto, and he made his way to the circle.

When the brunette stepped towards the summoning platform, he thought back to the burning city. That dark swordsman was surely a hero too, right? Someone like her by his side would be ideal. So he concentrated, picturing that swordswoman with the stone-cold face, those pale eyes, and the blond hair.

The circle lit up in a flash of bright rainbow light and started to spin.

"Whoa! So many pretty colors...I got a good feeling about this one!" Chiaki chirped.

"Too bright, too bright!" Ryuuto backed up, only to fall backwards and land on his butt.

The light finally dimmed, and a figure emerged from the circle. It was a woman with blonde hair tied with a black bow. She had pink clothes that looked of asian design and a katana by her side.

"I've arrived! The Shinsengumi's First Unit Captain, Okita Souji!" She looked down at Ryuuto, a stern yet earnest look in her eyes.

"Are you my Master?"

From the ground, Ryuuto gaped in awe and nodded. This is totally happening! It's not a dream at all!

But wait!

Ryuuto recovered from his moment of shock and narrowed his eyes, looking at the swordswoman closely. "You said you were Okita Souji? The famous Japanese swordsma-ster of the Shinsengumi?" He had to stop himself from accidentally calling her a man.

"Where's your haori?" He asked.

Okita made a faint blush. "My haori? I must have misplaced it somewhere..."

I can't believe it, Ryuuto thought to himself. It's the real deal.

"So I take it you're of the Saber class?" he inquired, smiling at his new partner.

"That's right! I, Okita, am most definitely of the-" all of a sudden she coughed violently, blood coming out of her mouth. Ryuuto came closer, showing concern, but the Saber gave him a look of reassurance.

"That's right…" Chiaki sighed. "Okita Souji was also known for having tuberculosis. How unfortunate! But I guess history is right in some things."

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the Manslayer herself." Nobunaga stepped forward to size up the bloody Saber. "I see your Master already took a liking to you." She suddenly materialized a rifle. "Would be a shame if I blew off that pretty little head of his!"

Okita wiped off blood from her mouth and got into an offensive stance. "As if I'd let you just do that!"

The Demon Archer gave a hearty laugh. "We shall soon see!"

"Ah, Master! Stay back from those two!" Gareth popped out of nowhere, placing herself in front of Ryuuto to defend him from being hit.

"Are they going to fight right here?" Alpha asked, a tiny concern in his head that he may end up as collateral damage.

"They will not." Da Vinci swung down her staff to the ground, alerting the fighting party of five. "If you are going to fight, at least wait until we are done here. This room isn't fit for any more damage."

The Renaissance woman had a point. Though the magic circle looked fine, the surrounding walls still bore the scars from the bombing.

"Um Alpha, you can go ahead." Chiaki stared intensely at the swordswoman, then to Naughty's new partner, and finally to Alpha. "But I swear, if you happen to bring out another historical figure and he...or she...isn't historically accurate, I think I'm going to lose my head!"

Alpha sighed. "You need to chill, mate." But deep inside, he wondered who would answer a nobody like him.

"I can't! My entire understanding of the world is at stake!" the exasperated Master said, waving her hands in the air wildly.

Alpha stepped forward and the circle immediately began to spin. The light flashed, and a tiny figure cloaked in black emerged from the circle.

"Assassin, Jack the Ripper."

It was a child. Her eyes were a lifeless green, and her snow-white hair framed a scarred face. She stepped quietly towards Alpha, who did not know how to react to summoning a child.

"Are you Mommy?"

"Yes." Alpha responded gently, actually showing some...emotion? The other Masters shared a look of confusion. Their looks grew even more baffled when he scooped up the little girl, who clinged onto him like a life preserver. "Please take care of us, Mommy." Jack murmured, snuggling up to him.

Alpha gave a look to the people watching him. It was the face of someone who had won the lottery, the world, and everything in it.

"Ehh?! That little girl is a serial killer?" Chiaki looked at the pair with huge concern. "But can serial killers be heroes?"

"I think the bigger problem is that face he's giving the little ragazza. He looks way too happy to have her in his arms." Naughty said.

Nobunaga scoffed. "If the Manslayer is here, it's perfectly possible to summon serial killers!"

"Hey! You're not exactly clean-handed either!" Okita pouted and gave the warlord a look.

"Assassin is what we classify as an anti-hero. They are people who left marks on history, but instead of heroic feats that people would cherish as legends and stories, they left fear and a sense of dread." Da Vinci explained.

"So heroes and anti-heroes are like two sides of a coin. I see." Ryuuto said thoughtfully.

"Okay! We are just about done, so Chiaki, it's time for you to use the summoning circle!" The Renaissance woman motioned for the girl to step onto the platform.

With fear and nervous energy, Chiaki shuffled to the magic circle. Suddenly random inspiration struck her, and a thought popped into her head. A thought for someone strong, someone fast, somebody larger than life.

I need a hero!

She cursed herself for thinking of that stupid song and shook her head, but the circle was already spinning and the light was golden and blinding and oh god oh fu-

"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!"

A loud yell rang through Chiaki's ears, accompanied by some horrific shrieking. It took a while for the young woman to register that the screaming was coming from her. Chiaki gradually calmed herself down, opened her eyes, and stared at the figure who answered her calling.

He was large, dark, and humanoid. Chiaki all of a sudden felt very conscious about her short height. He was clad in some armor and furs, and wielded a sword that looked like it came straight from a rock. But the most eye-catching feature was his hair. It fluidly moved, putting models from hair product commercials to shame.

Chiaki felt mental static in trying to come up with a greeting and settled with awkwardly waving hello.

"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅!"

"Uhuh…" Chiaki nodded, then turned to face the group with a look of confusion and "help me!".

"I see. You somehow summoned a Berserker, Chiaki. As for his true name…" Da Vinci inspected the tall Heroic Spirit. "I would say it is Heracles, the Greek Hero of the Twelve Labors."

Chiaki started to look pale. "THAT Heracles?!" She looked at the Berserker, who was now silent. "That's...amazing! Finally, a hero who isn't too far off from what I imagined!" She laughed cheerfully, but she started to feel a little weak.

The young lady dizzily stepped out of the magic circle, her enormous partner following her down. "Are summoning rituals…" she huffed. "Supposed to be this draining?"

"Not exactly, but I suppose it's due to the strain of summoning a Berserker." The Renaissance woman helped Chiaki stand properly. "The FATE system does most of the heavy lifting, but for a newbie like you, the initial activation of magical circuits might cause you to feel more tired than usual."

"Huh...figures…" Chiaki leaned on Heracles for support.

"Don't worry. Give yourself some rest and you'll be back on your feet in no time!"

Suddenly, Chiaki's stomach grumbled. "Hey...I've been meaning to ask, but is there a cafeteria here?"

Mash's face lit up. "We do! I'll show you all right away."

And so everyone big and small left the summoning circle. Along the way, there was bickering and a fight almost broke out between the japanese servants and their Masters. Chiaki sighed and threatened to stop them with Heracles, which earned some remarks from Nobunaga but they ultimately calmed down. As for Alpha, he contentedly held onto the tiny Assassin. He may have only known her for a few minutes, but she was all that mattered.

A random staff member watched the group walk by, and wondered if he was seeing things. After all, he was only here to do some technical work in the facility, and wasn't expecting to actually run into the people directly associated with the mission. Although, that little girl who was holding onto the blonde guy's hand was simply adorable, if a little creepy. Were children allowed here? He shrugged and kept to himself.

…

"I don't believe it. First there was a bombing, then an evacuation, the kitchen is in shambles, and I'm still expected to do my job?!"

The man behind the counter gave a disappointed look at his new clients. He wore typical Chaldea staff attire and a chef's hat over his black hair, so he must be the cook.

Da Vinci had left for another area, saying she had some business to attend to. So with that, Mash, the Masters, and their Servants had to deal with the cafeteria themselves.

"Well fine. I've never seen such a sorry band of misfits in this place since I've been hired."

"Hey Mash, is this guy usually this cranky?" whispered Ryuuto.

"Well...the rest of the staff usually complains about his lack of variety. He is really into pasta dishes, and not much else." Mash explained, sighing.

"My lack of variety means my specific area of expertise is top-notch!" shouted the chef.

"Well...beggars can't be choosers. You must have spaghetti, right? Or macaroni?" Chiaki said with a weak smile. Really, all she wanted was a hot meal and she'd be on her merry way. "Macaroni spaghetti! With extra sauce!"

Alpha and Jack looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"Hey Mommy, did that girl lose her head? She sounds crazy."

"Wh- using the most basic dishes together? How plain!" But despite that remark, the chef scribbled the order on a notepad. "Did you want anything, Ms. Kyrielight?"

Mash smiled. "I'm fine, thank you. I'll just have some tea."

"Uh, I'll just have a chicken pasta bake," Alpha said, hoping to get this over with. "For me and Jack."

With a scribble, the chef looked at the remaining customers.

Ryuuto frowned. He wasn't a big fan of pasta, but this guy wasn't going to give him much choice. "Any pasta dish, right? Well, uh, pasta...bolognese."

The chef gave him a look of annoyance and took his order. "And for the lady?"

Okita smiled. "I would enjoy it much if there was something sweet!"

"Uhuh...I'll think of something."

"Alright, step aside. It's our turn now." Naughty and Nobu pushed their way to the front, to the annoyance of Ryuuto and Okita. "Get me an authentic carbonara. None of that weird sauce crap."

The chef smiled and closed his eyes. "Ah, I see you are a man of culture as well."

Nobu smirked. "I will also have what my retainer is having. And it better be good."

The chef looked at the petite warlord. "Trust me lady, it will be." He gave everyone a quick glance. "Drinks are over there, and we only have some kinds of juice, water, and tea packs at the moment. Don't hoard anything."

Everyone went for drinks and settled on one big table. Heracles loomed menacingly over them all, but he was a strangely comforting presence to everyone.

Alpha sighed. It was going to be a long day, week, or month, maybe a whole year. But as he poured himself another hot cup of tea, he wondered about the future. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad with his new partner, who was playing with the pasta noodles.

Maybe signing up for this job wasn't a bad idea...yet.

Author's note: Heya, just wanted to let y'all know that last chapter I had an error. "Magus of Flowers" refers to another certain Caster, but game text had it written in there, so I kept it. Whoops!