From some of the reviewers, I received some questions about the timeline. Yes, this Shirou is from the Fate route of Fate Stay Night. He won the 5th Holy Grail War (although I suppose we should call it the Corrupted Grail Wars, unless you want to call Angra Mainyu holy). How that works in with Chaldea's existence, well, RAFO (Read And Find Out).
For people wondering how the timeline of Fate Grand Order could mesh with Fate Stay Night, it will come out as the story progresses. It will come out faster than it does in Fate Grand Order since Shirou is familiar with Grail Wars and will be wondering about that but it won't be discovered or explained all at once. It is a journey of discovery (that I am still on. Just finished the Fourth Singularity in my game) for the protagonists.
Check List Item 4: Report in on Time
Chaldea, Antartica
As Shirou reconnected, removed and replaced wires on the middle level in the dark, 3-tiered command center, keeping an eye on the terminal it was connected to, he listened to the conversation of the coworkers around him. The lights weren't on yet so they had to work by the light of the reddened Chaldeas in the large room that the command center observed.
Dr. Roman, who had not told Shirou yesterday that he was the most senior officer left alive, was in charge of the entire facility including rebuilding efforts, dealing with the attack, managing day to day efforts, and figuring out who to put in command of the various sections in addition to being the busier in the medical office than he had ever been. No wonder the poor guy overworked himself yesterday.
As for Shirou, after a quick check-up, he was declared to be of good health but he wasn't allowed to do anything difficult, any magecraft, or any heavy lifting of any kind. Fortunately, Leonard had used her magecraft to remove most of the debris in the command center and on the platform containing CHALDEA so they didn't have to cart away all the fallen stone and twisted metal. If she hadn't, they could not be trying to restore functionality right now.
Leonardo da Vinci, apparently very few people felt comfortable calling a pretty girl 'Leonard' even if she was a Heroic Spirit, was performing the work of three people put together. Which made sense as Shirou thought about it. Servants didn't need to eat, they didn't to sleep, they didn't even need to take bathroom breaks. Add in that even the weakest Servant had physical abilities far greater than that of a human and you had someone capable of outworking any human any day.
Leonardo had also been placed as the Head of the Technology Development Division. The previous holder of the job had died in the command center's explosion.
"So, is she any good at the job? I mean, if Director Animusphere didn't put her in charge, then old Soukup must have been better."
"Back when the switch over from Director Marisbury Animusphere to Olga Marie Animusphere, I heard that there was an issue of trust between the new director and her. Director Animusphere didn't trust her at all so she gave her position to old man Soukup."
"Really, what for?"
"I don't know. It might have been that Leonardo da Vinci is the Leonardo da Vinci."
"Ha! That's a good one."
"No, seriously. Leonardo da Vinci is the Heroic Spirit Leonardo da Vinci."
"Heroic Spirits, eh? Aren't they those hero guys on the Throne of Heroes somewhere?"
"Yeah. Don't know how they summoned her here though. It is a very costly ritual."
That was true. Shirou thought. It takes either a Holy Grail, a super-magus like Illya, or a group of magi to summon a Servant. He had looked into Servants to see if he could summon Saber back to him again. No such luck in having an easy way to get Saber back. The world just hated him.
"You can't actually believe that do you? Everyone knows that da Vinci was a guy and that he never did anything actually heroic. She can't possibly be a Heroic Spirit."
Unless Leonardo da Vinci was secretly a woman all along and history just recorded her gender wrong. Arturia was like that, and some of the swords he saw through Saber's past indicated that a few of her knights were secretly female too like Gareth or Mordred.
"No, you can summon a Heroic Spirit that isn't a hero. They just have to be famous enough and they are on the Throne of Heroes when they die."
"Right and I'm a monkey's uncle."
"You'll have to introduce me to your nephew then. I'll get him a banana."
No, don't. You don't want to see what a mage-craft enhanced monkey can do with a banana.
"Oh, come on. Even if the Throne of Heroes takes anyone that is famous enough, Leonardo da Vinci is a MALE. Clearly our da Vinci is not a guy."
"If he is, I'll date him!"
"Oi! What about your fiancé?"
"What he doesn't know, won't hurt him. Besides, he doesn't like our engagement any more than I do."
So do you hate each other enough that you can't even stand being on the same side of the world as him? Is that why you are working here in Antarctica? May I recommend seeking another fiancé?
"Ooh, Ooh, I heard, that Leonardo used the portrait of Mona Lisa to craft a puppet body for himself and is inhabiting it. That is why he is a girl."
Okay. So Leonardo da Vinci is a transvestite. And is a good enough Caster to actually change his gender. Shirou will never be able to understand the people who end up on the Throne of Heroes.
"So, Leonardo da Vinci is not only a cross-dresser but is also transgender and a crafter of puppets."
"He is from the Renaissance Era. You know that magecraft was stronger back in those days. Not to mention Leonardo da Vinci is a genius among geniuses. Why wouldn't he be able to craft a body molded after the Mona Lisa and inhabit it? He is, after all, a spirit right now."
"I don't believe it. You can dress it up in as many words as you like but Leonardo da Vinci is dead. Dead means that they can't come back."
"Funny coming from a guy who is helping to get our spiritron control room back in operation. We're going to be seeing a lot of dead soon if anyone managed to make it back to the Singularity."
As Shirou eavesdropped, Shirou heard a familiar word from another worker. Following the speaker's voice, Shirou tuned out the three's conversation and turned his head to a conversation between a female analyst and a male control staff worker down at the level below his.
"What do you know about Fuyuki? What could a backwater nation like Japan possibly have that could cause a singularity."
If we exclude Fuyuki's Holy Grail War, the demon-hunters, the demon-hybrid clans, the families of magi, the Blue, the Fifth Magic, and some of the spiritually richest lands in the world? Maybe Gilgamesh for the decade he lived between the 4th and 5th Holy Grail Wars. The jerk was so arrogant that history probably couldn't handle him.
"Not sure. The director and department heads were really quiet about it. It might be something secret."
"Wasn't the Blue from Japan?"
Yes, she is.
"SHHH! Don't jinx us!"
"Sorry, sorry."
"Don't mention the Blue. I was once in the same airport as her. Most frightening day of my life."
Try facing Berserker.
"You crossed paths with the Blue and survived?!"
"No, never even saw her. That was what was so frightening. I didn't know if she would just pop out of nowhere and decide to blow me up for the heck of it."
"Must have been terrifying."
"Oh, it was, it was."
Really, try facing Berserker. If you nearly being in the same place as the Blue was the scariest day in your life, try having Berserker charging to kill you. You'll never be afraid again.
"Getting back to the Singularity, what happened in 2004?"
2004? Wasn't it in February of that year that the Holy Grail War started? Tch. There goes the hope that we were going to go kill Gilgamesh.
"There was a massive earthquake in the Indian ocean. Perhaps it was caused by an Dead Apostle and we are going to have stop it?"
"Glad I'm not one of the Masters then. Even if I did manage to survive the explosion, I'd hate to go up against one of them. Even with a team."
The guy working a level above Shirou's cut in. "That was in December. We're going in at around January - February of 2004."
Shirou's blood ran cold even as hope bloomed in his heart. That was when the Grail War happened. He might see Saber! But how could he save the Masters if they ended up running into any of the Servants?
Shirou drew in a breath and calmed himself. There were other islands in Japan. And Singularities are anomalies in history so it could be possible that Chaldea was going somewhere else.
"Hmm. I heard that Shipman died around then. Some magus tried to steal his research but accidently killed him instead."
"That was England, not Japan. We're visiting a small island just south of Japan."
"Isn't the island part of Japan?"
"Really? But I thought that Japan was an island nation?"
Yes. It is. Surrounded on all directions by ocean. We even have straights between the islands too.
"Yeah, it is an island nation. Japan is only islands. It doesn't have any land on the continent."
"Oh. I thought that island nation meant that the entire nation was just on one island."
Where did you learn your English? Aren't you from Britain?
"Nope, Japan is made of four big islands all together. We're going to the southernmost one."
I don't like where this is going...
"Really? Any idea what happened there that could be so important?"
"I think there was some Grand Ritual that was shut down."
Please don't let this be the Grail War. I want to see Saber again but not if the 48 Masters end up fighting against Gilgamesh. They'll die.
"No, that was 2006 when it was brought up to the Clock Tower Directors. I remember because my cousin got killed by some ancient magus that objected to dismantling the Grand Ritual."
"No, it was February 2004 when the 5th Holy Grail War commenced and ended." Shirou cut in.
"Holy Grail War?"
"Do you know what it is?"
"Some Grand Ritual obviously."
"The Holy Grail War was a series of battles between 7 Heroic Spirits and their Master. At the end, the winner gets to make any wish they want." Shirou summarized.
"Any wish? Like if I wished to become an Average One or get a pair of Mystic Eyes?"
Thinking that small would have been acceptable before the Grail was corrupted but not after they found out. "Any wish." he answered.
"In that case, wouldn't the wish be the cause of the Singularity? Which means that we have to deal with a wish that someone made on the Grail and stop it from endangering the future?"
Shirou shook his head, "Can't be that."
"Why not?"
"Because I never made a wish."
The guy a level below him called out skeptically, "Are you saying that you won the Holy Grail War?"
"Yeah." Shirou nodded. "It turned out that the Grail had been contaminated by a previous Heroic Spirit. if you make any wish on the Holy Grail, it would turn into a cursed wish that caused as much destruction as possible. So, Saber and I decided to destroy the Grail instead."
"Maybe that is what the singularity is. There was supposed to be a wish but instead you got the Holy –"
The entire room lightened up and the janitor a level above Shirou whooped. "Yes! I got it. I got it! It finally works!"
"Good job Boris! Now call Dr. Roman and we can get this room over with!"
"Master Candidate #38, Ulrich von Finke, do you copy? I repeat, are you there?" Dr. Roman spoke into his microphone as he sat in the chair that he had brought in, while he looked over the panel showing the communication screen into the singularity.
"So, you're the one that claims that he won the 5th Holy Grail War."
Shirou turned from the panel of sensors where he was replacing burnt-out light projectors.
Behind him, stood an imposingly tall, buff Polish Magus named Tom Nawakowski. With thick brown hair and a sharp face, he was almost average except for his physique. His crossed arms were corded thick with muscles and he was no lean, skinny dude despite his face carrying age lines. Brown eyes were locked intently on Shirou and his eyes burned with strong emotion. Shirou remembered that the guy was a somewhat friendly person who had been working at Chaldea for over two decades.
"Yes, that is right." Shirou answered as he stood up to his full height of 187 centimeters. He was tall especially for a Japanese man which, he noted with amusement, meant that the Polish magus had to look up while trying to intimidate him. "I was the Master of Saber and we won the Grail War."
Nawakowski looked at him and grunted, "Not possible. You are a first-generation magus and your potential is rather weak. There is no way you could have summoned a servant strong enough to beat the other masters."
"Hello, #39, are you there? I'm getting bored here and I really hope that someone picks up soon. If Boba Brown picks up it would be great." Dr. Roman addressed the screen.
"Unless," the man slowly nodded his head to himself. "You took someone else's Servant. You found a Servant wandering around after losing its Master, didn't ya."
Shirou scowled. Nawakowski was trying to intimidate him, probably for some stupid reason like making himself look good. But he didn't like the way the man implied that he stole Saber. "Obviously I did. I only accidentally wandered into a summoning circle and found a lost Saber there while being chased by Lancer."
"Hello, #40 Josselin Thevenet. Judging by the silence, I guess that you are not there too." Roman sighed and massaged the sides of his head.
Tom's eyes narrowed as he took a step forward. "You patronizing me? I was here when we decided to get involved in the Fifth War. We intervened and lost one of our best. Roch is dead because of you and your war."
Shirou's mind raced. Roch? Who was that? The master of Berserker was his own sister Illya, Lancer obeyed Kotomine. Caster killed her own Master while Assassin guarded the temple. Rider obeyed Shinji until she died and Archer was Rin's just like Saber was his. Who was Roch then? Was she the magus holed up in Ryuudou Temple commanding Assassin or was she the Master that Caster murdered?
"I am sorry." Shirou apologized. "I didn't meet anyone named Roch. Do you know who her servant was?"
Nawakowski scowled. "Roch was a man. And he was the master of Enkidu."
Shirou shook his head. "Enkidu never appeared in the Grail War. I met all the Servants and Enkidu was not one of them. Unless Enkidu decided to masquerade as Gilgamesh, you have a Servant that never appeared for your friend."
"Shut your mouth!" Nawakowski snarled. "Roch landed in Fuyuki before he went silent. He had the catalyst for Enkidu with him and he knew the summoning Ritual and the importance for getting Enkidu to neutralize Archer! There was no way a man like Roch would ever abandon anything as important as the Fifth Holy Grail War!"
Shirou paused. Apparently, he had struck a nerve. Roch and Nawakowski must have been good friends for Nawakowski to be acting like this. Maybe his last comment was a little insensitive. But he and Saber had fought against all seven Servants. None of them were Enkidu unless Enkidu was Rin's Archer. But Rin had summoned Archer, not whoever Roch was. What had happened? Had there been a Ninth Servant in the Holy Grail War?
"Hello, #41, Baek Seung-Hee. And I'm guessing that like the last 40, you are not picking up." Dr. Roman sighed as another master turned out to be not Rayshifted.
"Look, Nawakowski," Shirou said. If you can't argue against them, then join them. In an argument, total capitulation sometimes helped. Rin, Illya, and Taiga were very successful teachers. "I am sorry that your friend died. One of my best friends also died in the Holy Grail War. I wish that the Grail didn't exist so that all the people who died due to it would still be alive."
Nawakowski's eyes flared with anger and he swung one powerful arm at Shirou causing Shirou to sway to just out of reach. He prepared himself to open his circuits even as Nawakowski yelled "If Roch had won that war, he would have used the wish prepared by Leonardo da Vinci herself to destroy only the infection! You idiot! You –"
His yells devolved into Polish curses, a few of which Shirou recognized from the few times that Illya had thrown a temper tantrum. Hmm. If Illya was alive, he would have to chastise her for swearing in foreign languages. She told him that they were rhetorical statements.
Attention recaptured by Nawakowski's flailing arms as he gestured in time with his curses, Shirou backed off, wincing. Years of experience with interacting with Rin had not done much to solve his problem of offending people. At least it wasn't a woman this time. They could be vicious until he had paid in blood.
"Hey, calm down you two!" Dr. Roman stopped his calls and came down to where they were arguing. "We have plenty to get done and we don't have time to argue. Tom, why don't you get a fix on our paging system? Shirou, could you help with fixing the Sheba monitors? You are our last technician that worked with Lev."
Nawakowski calmed down and nodded briefly. Before walking away, he glared one last time at Shirou, twitched his hand as if he would like to grab Shirou and just twist. If he did, then the mess might be annoying to clean up.
"Shirou, I know that I asked you to work up here since you came from Fuyuki and thus could help with directions or information but it doesn't look like we have anyone in the Singularity. However, we can't have you causing trouble. We need everyone to work together to get this place up as soon as possible and that won't happen if you antagonize others."
Shirou nodded. Nawakowski's issue was a personal one stemming from grief. He could give the man time to grieve. It wasn't like he hurt anyone after all.
"Now, if there is anyone who actually is in Fuyuki, I still want you up here so that we can have you give directions and advise. But if there is no one or if we can get the microphone feed working again, then I want you to take care of the main generators." Dr. Roman continued.
"But the generator is wrecked. I can get it working by using projection, alteration and reinforcement for a bit but it won't last for long, not even an hour." Shirou protested. The geothermal generator alone was broken and containment of the steam was impossible. He wasn't sure as to the petroleum generator, much less the French nuclear reactor.
"Then use the 3D printers or the workshops then. Just get the main generators working again. We need them, and we don't have anyone else who knows how to operate the generators. When Boris finishes his current task, I'll have him sent down to help you. If you teach him what you know, then it will be a huge load off my hands." Dr. Roman answered.
Shirou nodded. "Yeah, I'll get the Sheba monitors next."
Dr. Roman smiled and nodded, giving a slap on the shoulder. "Thanks, Emiya. I don't know where we would be without you."
Dr. Roman turned around and went back to his big fancy seat. Selecting the next Master, Dr. Roman paged the next one, "Hello! You seem to be … not picking up, that's for sure."
Shirou returned to the lightbulbs that he was replacing. He still had a few more to go before he could get down to the Sheba monitors on the first level.
As Shirou continued, to work, he listened to the quiet. The workers here right now were quieter than earlier. It made Chaldea seem like it was haunted by ghosts. Or that Dr. Roman had told them all to be quiet for the purpose of reconnecting to the Chaldea Masters.
"#43, I guess that you are like all the others." Roman sighed. He was getting tired of the non-responses. The power draw by Evocation-Invocation system indicated that there had to be someone who was Rayshifted during the chaos and there were 48 Masters but now it looked like any Masters who had been Rayshifted were killed in the Singularity.
Shirou finished with the last projector and walked up to the second tier. Dr. Roman sat in of the row, in the big chair that he had brought out of the storage panel. Shirou turned to the right and bent down to place a hand on the panel covering the wires.
"Trace On." Shirou whispered. Information flooded his mind as he focused on any hazards such as live wires or shrapnel ready to burst out if he removed the panel.
A few wires were sparking so Shirou grabbed a pair of plastic gloves and put them on before grabbing his toolbox. Oh sure, he could project a screwdriver easily enough, but it felt right to use a physical screwdriver when fixing things. Also, prana wastage was only done by people with more prana than they knew what to do with.
Dr. Roman went on to the 44th Master and said, "Nhamoinesu Jokonya please pick up. I am starting to feel like I am talking to myself out here." Roman twirled a little in his seat. Apparently, the boredom of waiting for a response that hadn't come was getting to him.
Shirou didn't blame him. Swivel chairs were cool, as Big Sis Fuji said when she tried to bring one into the house. Shirou had held firm. Until Illya pouted and demanded one as her computer seat. He thinks Illya spent more time spinning in that chair than she did on the computer. Unless Rin was over. Then Illya couldn't go five minutes without using the computer or miss an opportunity to show off her ability to use one.
Shirou tore off some insulation tape and stuck it on the exposed wires. He wanted to take care of the exposed wires before dealing with the wires that had been severed in the explosion.
As he physically wrapped the braided gold wire strands around the other end before wrapping the formerly live wire with insulation tape, he listened to Dr. Roman switch to the next Master.
"#45, Viorela Musat, are you there? Hi Viorela, this is your non-automated Chaldeas supervisor just wanting to check base with you. Give us a call if you get a chance," Roman parodied an answering machine as yet another master didn't pick up.
A minute passed as Roman waited before moving onto the next Master.
"Hello, #46, Roger MacCrawe. This is the Chaldea Command Room. We are worried that you are not picking up." Roman spoke semi-seriously. Apparently, the worry was starting to set in now.
48 Masters and not one of them responding. And if not them, then who Rayshifted? Could it have been the person who planted the bomb that caused the explosion in the central powerplant?
Shirou pondered on who could have done such a thing. Chaldea wasn't exactly a secret organization, just a classified one. The entire UN General Assembly knew about it. And if they knew, then so did their aides, supporters, and anyone else who had bought out or blackmailed a member.
There was also the Magus Association or the Clock Tower. Some magus might have sought to sabotage the Animuspheres and then use the sabotage to discredit them. Or if they sought to kill Marie Olga Animusphere, then they had succeeded. But then why hit the powerplant too? It didn't make any sense.
Shirou knew about his father's history as the Magus Killer. However, even his father never went for overkill like this. He took out the target and whatever else was necessary to guarantee the kill but he didn't go out of his way to kill targets that weren't on his list. If the saboteur had sought to kill the entire organization, then destroying the entrance or the lifts and the food and the oxygen pumps and the broadcast room would have worked much better than attacking only the command room and the powerplant and leaving everything else alone.
This, this just meant that someone wanted to get caught. Having most of the base get destroyed just before they saved humanity, meant that they wanted every detective and secret service to chase after them. Enough survivors to get the word out but able to cripple or kill off the senior staff and the Masters. And then what? Ah, someone wanted to swoop in and take credit. Make everyone desperate and then issue demands that if not met would doom the world. Whoever it was probably had their own team of Masters ready.
Shirou lips silently curled into a snarl. A hostage situation. Hostage situations really didn't make his day. And this one had the entire human race as its hostage.
"Hello, hello, is there anyone still here? #47, Polunin Vladimirovich, I think you're the last one left." Dr. Roman slumped back into his chair, rubbing his eyes.
A few moments passed and Roman sighed, planting his head onto the panel in front of him. "No Masters in the Singularity. We have no Masters left awake here. Mash is injured by the debris and non-responsive to everything. Same with Ritsuka Fujimaru. Humanity is about to go extinct and there is nothing we can do."
Shirou paused at this. Nothing. They had nothing. Here he was, a spell-caster who wanted to be a hero for justice, and he couldn't even try to save the world. If they couldn't find another Master Candidate, maybe he could bring up his outlier results. And if he was erased by Gaia, oh well, it was better than the extinction of humanity. He straightened up and turned around to go and talk to-
"Wait, Ritsuka!" Dr. Roman straightened up "After the explosion, Ritsuka Fujimaru collapsed in there. There might be a possibility that he Rayshifted. Although without a Spiritron Coffin, it could be dangerous to him. If Gaia catches on and attempts to erase him, then there is no way to call him back in time."
Roman's fingers flew over the virtual keyboard as he started the process of paging the 48th Master Candidate. A pleasant ring sung through the air and Roman's eyes widened in surprise and happiness as a screen into what looked like either hell or a destroyed city on fire popped open in front of him.
"Right, I finally got through! Hello? This is Chaldea Command Room? Do you read me?" Roman excitedly chattered into the microphone.
Shirou sighed in relief. There was a survivor. Hope is not lost. Chaldea can still save humanity.
Thanks to Eiskralle1 for betaing this chapter.
This omake was inspired by a reader, Death to Original Naming.
Mash had woken up, walked to her room, taken a shower, and gotten dressed before she realized that she had woken up in the infirmary and that she was a demi-Servant.
Embarrassed, the girl shifted out of Servant form and into her normal body, with her possession reappearing on her. Including her glasses and communicator.
Her communicator was flashing, indicating that she had a message on it. Bringing up the screen, Mash hit the icon for messages and then the virtual button for replaying missed calls.
The communicator started.
"Saved Messages: 3 missed messages from Doctor Roman."
"First Message from Doctor Roman."
"MASH! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?! Your body was found under a ton, A LITERAL TON! of concrete! You better pick-up right now young lady or you will be grounded for an entire month!"
"End message. "
Mash bit her lip. Looks like she managed to dodge a bullet there. She didn't want to be grounded! But that wasn't all that was in her saved messages.
"2nd Message from Doctor Roman."
"MASH! Why haven't you called back yet! I even waited for half a minute! I can still detect your heartbeat, even with the pint of blood on the ground around your body! You better be alive young lady or you will be in big trouble!"
"End message. "
Mash winced. She remembered how she felt when Ritsuka-senpai had tried to help her as she lay buried beneath the rubble. But if Doctor Roman had saw her… She felt sympathy for her father figure. That must have been horrible.
"3rd message from Doctor Roman."
"Mash, it has been an entire minute! Why aren't you answering me? You- OUCH! What are you doing Leornardo?"
"You are the only remaining officer in Chaldea and are now the commanding officer of Chaldea. You need to be assigning people to the best places for them."
"But Mash is-"
"No "buts". Get to work."
"But- OW! Stop pulling on my ear!"
"You can worry about Mash later. She is stabilized so you need to make sure that Chaldea is in condition for rescuers and other medical personnel to come here."
"Let go of my ear! Let go of my ear!"
"End message."
Mash buried her face in her hands, embarrassment evident in her cheeks.
"Doctor Roman…" She whined.