Servants of Remnant
Chaldea is gone, but the memories remain. A world, filled with fairy tales, monsters and men. A history unlike any other. Sometimes… a hero is needed. From another world, from another time. Not all of them are great, not all of them are 'good'. But when the world needs a hero, these Servants answer the call. Perhaps only one, perhaps many do. These are the tales of many timelines. The 'Servants of Chaldea' who come to Remnant.
EMIYA
The past few days had been an experience to say the least. Walking across miles of hellish landscape with only Irisviel by his side… he'd seen worse, but this was up there. The demonic beasts were still everywhere, but they'd become far more passive after his great escape from the crystal castle.
"Kiri? How much longer?" Irisviel complained, swaying from side to side as she walked, eyes closed and almost crying. He knew she was mostly fine… in terms of prana, she'd already made back what he had expended and then some. Being the lesser grail had its perks it seemed, especially when it came to the, now far more limited, resource of strength that was prana.
"I don't know," he stated bluntly, and she whined, leaping onto his back, and he just wrapped his arms around her legs to keep her from falling as she laid her chin on his head.
"Aw…" she muttered, and he just sighed before taking a running leap, jumping towards the next rocky outcropping, and from there to the next. Contemplating what he had already figured out.
Mentally, he already had classified around thirty different species of these Demonic Beasts, as well as their common traits shared amongst them. The black fur or skin, the white masks, their method of creation… and generally animalistic traits, but he'd seen a few that broke the mold. There was one type that reminded him of the Ugallu, but with wings. Another, more similar to a Bicorn, but also with wings.
And then there was the massive mammoth ones that were still smaller than Ivan the Terrible's mammoth… he frowned. What had the enemy Ivan been up to, they'd already broken the ranks of the Crypters, Russia was gone, and yet… it was that damned singularity. He knew it was a bad idea to even attempt the rayshift when it had appeared so unstable… and yet he'd said nothing. And now… he and everyone else had paid the price for his silence.
"This place kinda reminds me of Uruk… at least during the more… well they weren't peaceful days were they?" Irisviel pondered, and he stopped on the next cliff to contemplate her words… he supposed that was actually a good analogy for this place. The demonic beasts everywhere, born from those lakes and ponds of what might have well been primordial mud? And that woman… she was so similar to these creatures, and she hadn't died despite his, admittedly for the circumstances, only satisfactory attempt with an Origin Round to the brain. Clearly that wasn't enough.
"Perhaps…" He started, and Iri hummed, getting off his back, and watching as he walked over to the edge of the cliff they were currently on, overlooking the monsters that wandered this dark land, and she stood behind him, joining his in that same contemplation… for as hellish as it was, there was a strange beauty to the landscape… at least everything wasn't on fire. "Perhaps we've encountered a Beast."
"It does seem to tick the boxes doesn't it? So far, it seems like Tiamat but…" he turned to her, watching as she held her thumb to her mouth, and bit her nail. "I'm not sure… she didn't exactly seem the whole 'loving humanity' type. She kinda just seemed like a magus," she concluded, which made some amount of sense. But that proved nothing… in fact, the more he thought of it, the lack of the Counter Force or Gaia meant that there couldn't be a 'Beast' in the usual sense...
It said a lot about Chaldea and his experience since being summoned that he could speak about different types of world ending monsters as 'in the usual sense', or that such a thing could even be considered normal. Even his would as a Counter Guardian hadn't been half as hectic as Chaldean life… that actually reminded him.
"Do you suppose he's here?" he questioned, looking towards Iri, who hummed and paced back and forth behind him, looking towards the sky.
"Knowing him, he's probably out being a good little hero of justice already!" she concluded, smacking one hand into the palm of her other with a massive smile on her face. Kiritsugu just returned the smile softly, before getting up. Well, whatever that woman was, she was a threat, one that had to be dealt with eventually. But going directly for her was likely to end badly, surprise had worked once, and he'd given up that advantage… so it was time for the long game. And the first order of business was getting off this rock.
Walking over to Iri, he picked her up again, bridal style, and she giggled before he broke into a run, the Assassin leaping once more towards the next plateau, and continuing for several hours, Iri providing him the prana necessary to allow him such mobility. And it was when the smell of the sea entered his nose that he finally came to a halt.
He landed on a small hill, looking out towards the ocean from atop it with Iri gasping at the sight. He could see what had her attention, the sky above, where it split between the red bloody sky, and the deep blue of night, the stars and the broken moon hanging in the sky beyond… but that wasn't the most interesting thing.
Standing on the beach, staring out towards the sea, was a familiar, massive figure… Ivan, his massive cape waving in the wind. "He's here…" but was it theirs? Was it the enemy? Or a completely different Ivan?
"Ivan! Come on Kiri!" Irisviel shouted in glee, pointing towards the beach, and urging him forward. She was more sensitive to the flow of mana than he was, maybe she could tell if this was 'their' Ivan. And thus he leapt forward, jumping across several hills and to the edge of the beach… it was notably clear of Demonic Beasts. Likely Ivan had either killed them, or they'd been driven away by his presence.
Iri got down from his arms, running towards Ivan across the blood red beach. "Ivan!" she shouted, waving as the Rider's form slowly turned, only barely, but enough so that Kiritsugu could barely see the hole that was Ivan's face. He ran after her, just in case this was the enemy Ivan.
He slowly turned, his massive frame barely capable of self-movement as he turned to try and face both him and Irisviel. "Kiritsugu… Irisviel…" Ivan rumbled… that confirmed it, this was their Ivan. He had to actually hold in the sigh of relief as Iri ran in front of him as he was still turning, just so that he wouldn't have to go the full way around.
"You're alive!" She cheered, Kiritsugu walking up beside her and looking up at the massive Servant as he spoke.
"The same to you both. I was afraid… that I had been the only one to survive, besides…" he turned, his head at least, back out towards the sea.
"Besides who Ivan?" Kiritsugu asked, and Ivan looked back towards him and Iri.
"Besides my counterpart… I can feel him…" he turned, looking towards the ocean again. "Across the sea… somewhere, he slumbers… how he had come to our home… I do not know…"
"...Maybe it was the botched Rayshift?" Kiritsugu suggested, both Iri and Ivan looked at him again. "Instead of send us into the Singularity, perhaps it brought him to us?"
"You weren't in the control room Kiritsugu… neither Master, or Mashu, were anywhere near their pods," Ivan stated, and suddenly his entire theory just went out the window.
"Then how did that other Ivan get into…" Iri started, saying exactly what he had been thinking, and Ivan just shook his head.
"I do not know… one moment, Master and Mashu were being prepared for the Rayshift… the next, they were everywhere… and there was another Servant there, in the control room."
"Besides the ones going with her?" Kiritsugu asked, hoping, really hoping, that Ivan could provide an identity, give him a lead to pursue… And he shook his head.
"I do not know… Their features… are a mystery," He started, and Kiristugu picked up on it.
"Information Erasure, dammit." He swore, he knew several Servants capable of it, but that meant nothing when it came to the problem. Irisviel just looked to him with fear on her face… right, if they were here, when they'd been nowhere near the actual explosion… That meant this mystery Servant was here as well.
"Are you holding up alright Ivan?" Iri asked, and Ivan just let out a long, guttural sigh.
"I fear not… my presence alone…" he turned his head towards the sea again. "I fear… if I leave this land, I may kill our master… I have avoided using any skills. I have not moved from this spot… these demonic beasts have tried, and failed to harm me, yet I slew them with my hands alone… I can feel her pain…" he claimed, Kiritsugu closing his eyes as Iri held her hand to Ivan's leg.
"Hey, I'm here now, you can move Ivan, I'll just keep you going!" she said with a smile, and Ivan continued.
"Nay… I will not be able to cross the sea. And you cannot supply me forever, lady Irisviel. I must remain here…" Ivan said quietly, and Kiritsugu walked up to look out to sea with him.
"There's a woman here… a monster, who will likely try to kill you if she finds you, if not worse," he revealed. And Ivan just lowered his head.
"I had contemplated letting myself die… but hearing that… knowing that there are these monsters that plague a land… that she still may need us… so many things… it has kept me from moving…" he went silent for a second, before looking at both him and Iri again. "Might I ask for your aid?"
"What do you need Ivan?" Iri said, holding one hand to her chest as Ivan started to slowly turn again, before pointing his staff at a nearby cliff.
"I ask… that you grant me the power to create a tunnel into that mountain… then seal me within, freeze me in time until the day I am needed comes. I know you are capable of time alteration, EMIYA… I will not be a liability. If I must slumber without sleep, if I must wait for the time our Master, or this world needs a hero, even if it must be me," Ivan started, and Kiristugu closed his eyes. Ivan was one of the worst prana eaters in Chaldea… Iri would likely object, but if Ivan wanted to remove himself, that was his call… and probably for the best. If he was locked in time, that meant he would be cut off from the Master until he was unfrozen, but he wouldn't die either. He wouldn't be sleeping, so his Noble Phantasm wouldn't be active either. He would just be… probably a block of ice in a sealed cave, waiting for the day to be released back into the world. A day that might never come.
"Ivan that's terrible there has to be-" Kiritsugu put a hand on her shoulder, and shook his head. Slowly her shoulders drooped, and Ivan lowered his own head. "Is this the only option?"
"It's the only one that keeps him alive," Kiritsugu muttered to her, and slowly she looked up again, her eyes snapping open as she floated over the sand, before sitting on Ivan's massive shoulders, Kiritsugu waited as Ivan raised his staff, before he and Iri vanished in a bolt of lightning, and then he ran towards where the second one appeared further down the shoreline, just at the edge of mountain, looking out towards the sea.
He got there just as Ivan was raising his hand, an orb of electrical energy coming from it, that he pushed into the stone, before snapping his head back, his horns driving the orb into the mountain before it exploded, a large hole being left behind, as Ivan began his slow walk into slumber.
"Seal the cave… and commit this to memory… Find her, find our Master for me. Find whoever destroyed Chaldea… and perhaps, one day bring this world peace," Ivan stated, slowly turning around as he reached the back of the cave, he barely fit inside, and that was him making himself as small as possible, ducking as he was walking into it. Iri put her hand on his shoulder, Kiritsugu looked towards the tears on her face. Ivan had been a valuable ally since his summoning, and despite his name, and his deeds… he still tried, like many at Chaldea, to build a better tomorrow.
Raising his hand, Kiritsugu began chanting, Iri pouring prana into him as Ivan looked out to sea one last time… before he froze, time in a bubble around he ceasing to move as Iri started panting. She'd need time, but she'd recover what he'd just expended. He looked towards the roof of the cave, and pulled out all the grenades he had, jumping up and sticking them to the ceiling before pulling the pins, grabbing Iri and leaping away as they exploded, part of the mountain collapsing, sealing Ivan inside his bubble, and inside the cave. They both looked back.
"We'll return Ivan… I promise…" Iri whispered, before Kirisugu looked out to sea himself. They needed to find a way to cross it, the head towards where Ivan had been pointing. Mentally, he had the entire layout of his beach in his head already, and he would make sure to write it down if he had to… but first he had to solve this problem of the ocean between them and their goal.
"Do you think we could try and build a boat?" Iri suggested, and Kiritsugu just sighed… of course she would. He wondered if he'd be able to run across water if he let Iri regain her prana for a time and then let him run. That might get them somewhere.
"I have a different idea…" he muttered, leaving Iri to stare at him with confusion before setting her down. "Let's wait," he added, sitting down and staring out to sea… and towards the stars.
Irisviel looked to him, before sitting down herself, joining him in his stargazing. Slowly, he smiled, life hadn't been easy… the days where he'd hated being followed, mistaken for another Kiritsugu Emiya, were behind him. It had taken time, and perhaps luck, and a rather strange tropical retreat to Hawaii… to finally understand what he had been missing. What had made him a Counter Guardian. Slowly, he wrapped his arm around her shoulder.
Perhaps one day he could fulfill that dream Ivan had just asked for. To actually be a hero of justice, and to save the world.
"It's beautiful…" Iri muttered, laying her head on his shoulder. He simply smiled… and hoped. One day Chaldea would be together again… and so would his family. His reason to fight. But here, in this monster infested land, this world that needed saving… at this very moment… he was at peace.
The fight would come later, today was coming to an end… and tomorrow, the future was straight ahead of them. He just wished he knew where in the world everyone was… and who was even here. Perhaps fate, or luck, would bring them all together once more.
AN: Yep, I saw we have a TV tropes page now! Wasn't actually expecting that, but I can safely say, pleasantlysurprised. Here's yet another chapter for all of you, and perhaps the biggest reveal after the last bombshell earlier today. Speculate as you want, and see what comes of it all. I hope to hear from many of you soon in the reviews section.