On a certain morning, three weeks after the last mission completed, Ritsuka Fujimaru did not open her eyes. Sleep became coma and a new Singularity was born. To no one's surprise the girl was located there.
Chaldea's staff quickly discovered that contact with the Master was impossible. Giving they best work and effort, they also found almost impossible to Rayshift servants to assure her safety, and worry started to dominate everyone's minds.
Fortunately, on the third day of attempts, the Singularity seemed to lose some resilience of its defenses, and, without hesitation, the staff brought a way to send out servants.
Chaldea had certainly participated in enough strange events to drive anyone insane. A new enemy could emerge with Authority over underwear and being led by none other than Blackbeard, and even then the Chaldeans wouldn't be that surprised.
But they were surprised when the servants reported that the Singularity was a movie theater and had a happy-go-lucky Ritsuka running around with popcorn.
While for the staff it had been three days since Ritsuka had fallen into a coma, apparently for her it had been more days. Watching movies and anime. She was hungry, so Raikou who had bring food cried and almost killed the girl forcing vegetables in her mouth.
Atalanta described the Singularity being just a building with a movie theater. Not a big region or an island, just one closed place and impossible to leave, even after trying to destroy its walls or doors.
"There's probably nothing outside the building," Da Vinci guessed. "It's basically a minute Singularity. But it is a powerful and unique one."
"No enemies. No environmental danger. The only use is watching movies. How intriguing." Sherlock seemed captivated by that oddity.
"You too excited about all this, detective! In fact, you all seem to be!" Goredolf complained. "What about the girl's safety? She's our only available Master. If something happens to her, it's all over!"
"Calm down, Director. Our curiosity doesn't mean negligence." Sion replied calmly. "I can't speak with any authority on this, but the veterans here probably are witnessing something like this for the first time, right?"
"Exactly. We usually face waves of enemies and a villain at the end. But not in this case. There's nothing." Da Vinci sipped a cup of coffee, staring at the monitor with Ritsuka's vital signs. "At least we confirmed that there is a Holy Grail causing the distortion, so SOMEBODY has to be responsible."
"Maybe it's just one of our servants looking to cause trouble again?" Goredolf sincerely thought about making a poll to kick out this type of nuance, but he knew Ritsuka wouldn't allow it.
"It's possible, but we haven't found any traces of 'him' yet. If it's one of ours, he's pretty skilled."
"Ladies and gentleman, here's something to note about all of this. Whether it is one of us or not, does not change the fact that there are no physical threats present. One could say that it is another form of attack, but no communicable disease was detected." Sherlock moved his pipe from one corner of his mouth to the other. "One could say that trapping Ritsuka there until she dies of hunger or thirst would be another tactic, but the hunger she had when our team got there was for real food. On the days alone, she was eating popcorn, candy and soda."
Goredolf was beginning to understand how unique this case was. "Even so, stop smiling, detective."
Sherlock could not. "Sorry, Director, but what can I do? It looks like there's a new case. Let's enjoy ourselves, shall we?"
Ritsuka decided to call the Singularity as "World of Fragments".
Four viewing rooms, food hall with an empty box office, and an altar in the center where fragments were generated to become the content that would be displayed in the four screens at once. And with each new discovery, more stranger it became.
There were no projectors or film reels, no DVDs or BluRays. Movies, series or anime became possible to watch when Ritsuka walked up the altar and concentrated about what she wanted to watch, then in a few minutes a crystal would appear there and it would be ready to be watched.
The crystal or fragment could be considered the "film reel" of that theater.
It didn't take long for a servant to come up with the brilliant idea of using itself as a catalyst. But instead of thinking about a movie, series or anime, Ishtar overcame by curiosity thought only about herself or, specifically, her own memories.
Not one of them, inside the Singularity, believed that it would result in something. But it did. Ishtar laughed in triumph when a fragment was created, saying they would see her life story whether wanted it or not.
The goddess' joy died when the fragment started and instead of seeing her story, it showed the events of the Babylonia singularity.
"So it's possible to watch real events...?" Goredolf fell into his chair. "How...?"
"Just now they finished the twenty-one episodes telling the story of the Seventh Singularity." Sion was reading the reports they received since direct contact was impossible. "And here some things to notice: all the events are extremely faithful to reality, but for some reason Ritsuka was a boy. His personality was a little different, but his interactions with the servants resulted in the same friendship our Ritsuka made."
"What!?"
Da Vinci giggled. "There's more."
"They saw the actual events as if were filmed by a professional camera. It had soundtrack and everything." Sion smiled. "Makes you want to go watch too, right?"
Motivated by curiosity on how all that worked, other servants used themselves on the altar. Nero was the first and, as expected, Septem's fragment was created. Francis was second, but she pushed Mash there and they watched a movie about the events at the Grand Temple of Time.
"So servants can think of themselves, but as a catalyst they can only create a fragment that tells the story of something Ritsuka was present for?"
"Yes," Sherlock replied.
But that was proved wrong after Ritsuka got tired of seeing "herself" on screen and didn't want any more servants who participated in the singularities. Mash described the moment as stressful, "Senpai was very angry".
Astolfo seeing Master like this, offered himself as the next catalyst because he would like to see his own Holy Grail War again. Tamamo suggested that other servants who were in that war should follow Astolfo to the altar.
"Looks like our favorite fox idea worked." Da Vinci sighed. "They're watching this war now. Twenty-five episodes I believe. And it doesn't stop there. This fragment is more special than the previous ones. Instead of just watching these events on the screen, when it started EVERY room disappeared and was replaced by the world of the fragment."
"... What?"
"They're still sitting in the seats, but the walls and floors became part of the screen, showing the episodes like a 360-degree video," Sherlock explained.
Goredolf took a deep breath, processing all that. "What you are saying is that the viewing room became something like our training simulations, but without the free-walking-around-the-world part?"
"Yes. I believe it was reported that one of them got up from his chair and tested whether they could explore outside what was shown, but ultimately hit their face against the wall of the room."
"So the walls, floor and chair still exist even if they have been replaced by the fragment's images..." Goredolf stood up. "I'm going to sleep. Call me if you have any more updates."
Da Vinci chuckled. "He didn't even wait to hear the best part: for some reason the fragment started to simulate a faint feeling of the breeze of the wind, the smell of the forest or the wetness of the rain. Although no one actually got wet or anything like that."
"Or the fact that we've made good progress in our investigations into who's responsible for the singularity..."
Emiya had no desire to participate in that singularity. His interest in watching Ritsuka's past or other war was zero. But Da Vinci and Sherlock asked him to do it anyway, explaining why it was so important.
So he went.
"Emiya!" Mash waved her hands in the air to get his attention.
The Shielder was with a decent group of servants sitting at one of the tables.
"I didn't expect you here, Emiya!" Boudica spoke with a smile as she picked up empty plates from the tables.
It seems he had arrived right after everyone's lunch.
"Me either." Emiya sighed. "What happened to her?"
Jeanne was leaning on the table, whimpering. Artoria rubbed her back.
"She saw some painful things in the fragment we finished earlier today," Mash explained.
Emiya sighed again and pulled a chair beside the saint. "Let's get this over. Talk."
They were great friends. Initially the woman was hesitant to get close to him for all his cynical demeanor, but when she formed a great friendship with Artoria a bridge was created to improve their bond.
"Astolfo, Mordred, Atalanta and even Amakusa watched their past in this last fragment. But my case was different. That Jeanne is not me... or at least I don't have any of her memories. There is a lot for me to process after we watched it... How can I explain?" She leaned against the table again.
Artoria and the girls laughed uncomfortably.
"Jeanne in the fragment had a love story with the protagonist. It was very beautiful," Ritsuka explained for her. "They ended the war and searched for each other for hundreds of years. And they found each other at the end. Dokidoki, how beautiful!"
"It's sad." Mash wouldn't want to be in the saint's shoes. "I can't even imagine how Jeanne is feeling right now."
"It's a strange feeling, but it's common for us servants." Emiya shrugged. "Don't be so sad, Jeanne, think like a sister who found a happy ending. If you can accept your Alter, it won't be hard to accept this alternate version of you."
"Yeah, that's true," Jeanne replied with a sad smile.
"I can tell you one thing, this fragment was a thousand times better than the others about Chaldea!" Ritsuka pouted and crossed her arms. "I still can't believe the privilege my male version has! He's boring and shy. Charming? A little, but still bullshit!"
"Senpai..." Mash tried to calm her down.
"Senpai my ass! You and Ushiwakamaru were all thrown at him! Where's all this passion with me!? Is it because I'm a girl, Mash Kyrielight!?"
"No! I swear!"
Emiya wondered what the hell happened in those previous fragments.
"It's going to be nice watch a fragment about you, Emiya. I mean... when you were young. From the stories I heard from Artoria, you seemed to be quite cute." Jeanne chose to tease Archer now she was feeling a little better.
"Hmph. I would never offer myself as a catalyst. Such story should stay buried."
Emiya was many things, but he was not dumb. When he noticed that everyone was looking at him strangely, his question was short and simple:
"Someone already offered themselves at the altar, haven't they?"
"Hey, guys!" Cú Chulainn shouted. "The next fragment looks like it will be ready soon! Thanks, Sasaki! And Medusa too!"
"Damn you all...!" Emiya gritted his teeth. You both knew about this already didn't you, Da Vinci and Sherlock!
Rayshift to that Singularity was a one-way trip, few were willing to do that. So at least there weren't that many servants, most were not interested in the idea of sitting in a chair to watch something they had already seen or heard about. Not even Astolfo's war seemed to capture the interest of the great majority who remained in Chaldea.
But Emiya's luck was E. His lack of pride didn't help either because it made him ignorant of how famous he had became in Chaldea since he was first summoned; and also how little others knew about his life.
The place was filled up in a matter of seconds after their war reached the ears of the ones still in Chaldea. Everywhere Emiya looked had some servant waiting anxiously to watch this new fragment of Cú Chulainn war, where the famous Counter Guardian and the King of the Knights would also be present.
Emiya sighed for the third time and decided to go to the viewing room where Ritsuka would be. She and Mash were next to some Nemo clones that seemed to be organizing the queue. Looking around he saw the same clones doing something similar in the entrance of the others rooms.
"Emiya, we saved a place for you," Mash told.
"And I threw Jason out. His problem. It was a popular vote!" Ritsuka laughed. "Though Circe didn't like being in the same viewing room with him."
While the two girls were talking, the Nemo clone dressed like a movie theater employee started letting people into the room. Emiya decided to see who would accompany him on that fragment, he would remember their faces very well for the next time they ask him a favor.
First in line was exactly the reason he was there.
"Look on the bright side, you might rethink your actions in that war." Lancer had a good laugh as he escaped from Emiya who tried to cut him down.
Medusa stopped in front of Emiya as if was analyzing him. She looked like she wanted to say something but kept walking. The poor woman nearly crumbled to pieces when Stheno and Euryale sprang up on either side, guiding her to the seats they wanted.
Medea walked past him without hiding her pleasure at seeing him unhappy with that scenario.
"You better not embarrass yourself in this war, Archer." Artoria Alter threatened him. She had taken a liking to troubling him as soon as she knew about his relationship with Artoria, deciding that not only would he cook when she wanted, but he would also be her servant.
Master might like this whole thing about being submissive, but I don't... Emiya ignored Alter and looked at the next one... who had a sinister smile on her face.
"I hope you make yourself a fool or it's going to be a waste of time." Jeanne Alter laughed at Emiya's face and continued walking.
"Why the hell are you following me, mad dog!?"
"I'm not following you, there's only one way to the chairs, ice bitch!"
"These two never change..." Ritsuka shook her head.
Mash chuckled.
"Sorry, Emiya, those two are always saying unnecessary things." Jeanne put her hand on his shoulder. "I will prevent them from making any comments like that again, even after watching the fragment. I promise."
Emiya stared into her eyes, not even blinking.
"So, God sent, how about you not watching the fragment?"
"I'll see you guys in there!" Jeanne disappeared.
Scáthach and Chiron passed by, talking about their students, specifically who would win a fight: Cú Chulainn or Heracles. Neither of them hesitated to place whatever trust they had in their pupils. And that was enough for Emiya to discover that they had no idea what would happen in that war.
"Emiya, you have a scare smile on your face..." Mash observed.
"Oh, it's nothing, Mash, I just realized that someone has been lying to his own teacher about what happened in his Holy Grail War..."
Mordred snickered at his face like a hyena. He didn't say anything, he didn't have to. Jekyll followed behind with an invisible collar. Gareth was right behind the two, but stopped to greet Emiya with a wave of hand and an innocent smile before running to catch up.
Shirou Amakusa was the next one, accompanied by Siegfried and Astolfo, complaining to both about being divided from his usual companions and insisting that he was in the wrong queue. Right behind, Atalanta appeared accompanied by some little people.
"UNCLEE EMIYAAAA!" Jack and Nursery threw themselves at him. "Will there be snacks!?"
Emiya smiled.
"Yes, it will. Those boxes being carried by Nemo have snacks that will be distributed during the movie. And if you want, there will be more out here too, waiting for you."
Atalanta smiled at the children's shout of victory.
"Even though you're against the fragment you still strive to make the experience more enjoyable for everyone. An enigma as always, Emiya."
He shrugged. Seeing Emiya retreat to his comfort zone — called "being a tough guy" — made Atalanta giggle.
Robin Hood greeted Ritsuka and Mash, nodding to Emiya out of courtesy. The two didn't get along very well.
"Bedivere, come on, don't go in there. There won't be anything good to see." Emiya would try to make at least one person give up.
Bedivere, embarrassed, didn't answer, but this reaction was an answer itself. Emiya sighed and didn't even waste time with the other knights.
"I respect your position as someone important to my king, Emiya, but I wish for the sake of our relationship that you didn't hurt her during the war." Gawain puffed out his chest, showing all his grace as usual.
"They were opponents, Gawain, obviously they must have clashed at some point," Lancelot said.
"Yeah, that is true..."
"But for your sake, Archer, I hope neither you nor your younger self have taken advantage of my king's feelings..." Lancelot completed with a threat. For some reason that man didn't like Emiya, thinking that deep down maybe he was manipulating Artoria's feelings.
Sometimes, Archer forgot that people knew about him a little more than he felt comfortable telling. The information he was from modern times and a Counter Guardian was easily discovered, he often revealed such a thing himself without any problems. However, the fact that in the war he and others participated his younger self was Artoria's Master had reached everyone's ears in some way that even now he was trying to discover.
Tristan was the last of the Round Table and played a sad note to resonate with the feelings he believed were going through Emiya's head.
"You got it. Good guess."
"I thought so."
Once the Knight of Sorrow left, Emiya was faced with a betrayal: his sacred kitchen staff were next in line.
"Boudica! Tamamo! Raikou! Martha! You... you guys are not going in there, are you?"
Their sheepish smiles answered his question.
"Sorry, Emiya! I really want to see what you were like when you were young!" Boudica apologized by bowing several times. "Sorry! Sorry!"
"If you're this kind now, I can't wait to see how innocent and immature your younger version must be!" Raikou barely hid her mother's instincts showing.
Emiya snorted, hearing all these excuses.
"Come on, Boudica," Tamamo said, pulling the woman by the arm.
Martha just bowed too and followed.
The reason for Tamamo's haste came next.
"Umu! Looks like it's your turn to carry on the legacy of my beloved theater, Red Archer of infinite swords!" Nero appeared with hands on hips and chest puffed out. "Who knew we'd find out more about you, right? Double revelations in fact! As a servant and as a human! Fufu, it's going to be quite a show!"
Emiya looked around and turned to the girls.
"Mash. Master. I'm searching but I can't find anyone." Emiya then looked down. "Oh, that's where it's coming from."
"Y-Y-You damn fool!" Nero turned red as her dress. "That's why I don't waste my time with barbarians like you! Umu!"
Snorting, the emperor marched towards the room, but stopped at the entrance and pointed at him:
"My size doesn't matter, you misshapen-faced giant!" And she went in.
Ritsuka and Mash looked at him like he was the bad guy, and Emiya didn't regret a thing.
Ishtar and Ereshkigal were the next to appear. The two seemed to argue about something until they noticed his presence there.
"Is it true that our vessel was your master in this war, Archer?" They asked almost together.
"Yes..."
"See, I said it!" Ishtar exclaimed, victorious.
"Gilgamesh won't come?" Emiya remembered him because of the goddesses.
"I think Archer said he wasn't interested in seeing something starring you. Caster is busy as always," Ritsuka replied.
At least something good happened to me today, thought Emiya.
Sasaki Koujiro passed by paying his respects. He was a funny case. Of the six servants who knew him and had arrived in Chaldea, he was the only one other than Saber and Rider who wasn't hostile. Well, Heracles doesn't seem to have been either, but who knows... Emiya couldn't be sure.
"Hahaha! This is going to be fun. Hope to have good battles waiting for me in there, Archer!" Iskandar appeared carrying two barrels, one on each arm.
"Where are you going to put this stuff in there, dammit? There's no space for it," El-Melloi II complained, giving Emiya a random greeting.
Gray and Reines followed behind.
"Iskandar has the right mindset. One barrel is for all of you and the other is mine," Reines said. She not even looked at Emiya, unlike Gray who stopped and bowed to him before she ran to catch up.
"Those guys are something else."
Next in line was someone Emiya was genuinely curious about if he knew what was waiting inside.
"I'm curious to see this fragment, Archer, I heard that the King of Knights is goin' to be practically the main protagonist." Muramasa tried to befriend Archer despite always being uncomfortable with his presence for some reason.
"Yeah, something like that..." Emiya quickly understood that no, Muramasa had no idea what lay ahead.
"Good morning, Emiya." Parvati bowed to him when it was her turn.
"Good morning."
Without another word, the goddess went on her way. Once she was part of the kitchen staff, but it didn't last long, the goddess left without explaining why. He had a certain notion of the reason. If Emiya hadn't gained Fuyuki war's memories he would have been confused, but he still remembered the girl who practically lived together with Shirou Emiya. And, accordingly, he began to remember the same girl who once lived with him too, and was abandoned.
Parvati was smart to keep that distance between them. Emiya thought it would be best for both of them.
"Careeeful, you don't want to drown in your tears of frustration, A-r-c-h-e-r. Kukuku." Kama mocked the man, shaking her hair as she walked past him. She expected it to hit his face, but probably didn't realize she was in her child form. "And I'm looking forward to see how funny it'll be you trying to kill your younger self."
"How do you know that, woman!?"
The next group was the one he didn't want to see this fragment: the Emiya family stopped in front of him. He, of course, did not say anything, hoping they would understand that he just wanted them to pass quickly.
Ritsuka and Mash were always confused with Emiya being sometimes sympathetic and sometimes hostile towards these people. Irisviel once explained that, if she wasn't wrong, Emiya probably would be an adopted son to her...if she hadn't died so soon. None of the Emiyas looked for more details because they always tried to respect Archer's past.
"There won't be anything pleasant in there," Emiya warned.
Illya just looked at him sadly. Kuro stuck out her tongue. And Miyu stared in silence, showing regret that she tried to hide, but failed miserably.
"If anything in there hurts you, I'll always be here to listen..." Irisviel smiled. She was still trying to form a connection with him, even though he had never spared hostility towards her.
"I won't need it. And 'your daughters' are waiting for you."
Irisviel looked away and bit her lip. "I understand, but even so, I'll always be here..." And left.
"Emiya..." Mash looked at him, worried.
"Don't worry. I'm fine." Maybe his voice came out too cold since the two didn't seem convinced at all.
That family represented the worst part of Chaldea to Emiya: all those alternate versions of half the people he once met. Gods and Heroic Spirits simply inhabiting their body. He never liked that.
Seeing that Illya was like seeing a Shirou Emiya who didn't want to become a hero of justice (and Emiya tried to be better with her, but it was difficult). Irisviel was a woman playing a role that was not hers, making up for the lack of the real woman who was the mother of those girls. Kuro was an Illya mixed with his own look... and he simply preferred not to know how things got to that point.
Miyu was the only presence that was pleasant because it reminded him of a Shirou who abandoned his ideals. Sadly for that to happen it took a Shirou Emiya born in another city and a whole different world.
Unfortunately, it seemed impossible to abandon the ideal when Shirou Emiya was born and lived the same life as Archer, and the boy he fought.
The last group was the worst set of people in Chaldea for Archer, but the title of "the person he least wanted to meet" was held by another goddess. One who was smiling at him right now, a dark, gentle smile. Something only Illyasviel Von Einzbern could do so well.
"Big brother," Sitonai said, "you better not come in after the movie starts. People will be upset."
Luckily, that girl's room seemed to be another one, not his. Unlike Ishtar and Ereshkigal who only used Rin's body, the strongest personality in Sitonai was that of Illya. And not an Illya like the other who came from a completely different world than the one he knew, but an Illya who not only participated in a war similar to his, but seemed to have a relationship similar to the one he had with his Illya.
He would never admit it aloud, but at some point he got his hopes up that she was actually his Illya.
And that was all for the queue.
"What's it?" Emiya turned his attention to the girls behind him.
Mash lowered her head, afraid that they were hurting him.
"We'll see you inside, we're saving your seats after all!" Ritsuka took Mash's arm.
Master... Emiya stared at them for a few seconds, then looked at who was behind him for some time.
"You should have gone with your knights. You could choose a good seat..."
Artoria didn't seem to care where she would be sitting.
"Looks like she started talking to you again..."
"Yeah, looks like it..." Emiya didn't show any happiness at that fact.
"Forgive me, Emiya. But I really want to see them again..." Artoria felt guilty as she knew that everyone would see Archer's conflict with Shirou, a battle that would reveal so much about the man, probably information he never wanted to be known.
"Don't be a fool. You have as much at stake here as I do. Don't let it go to your head."
Artoria was surprised by that. Knowing him, she had judge that he would be bombarding the singularity with Noble Phantasms by now, but there he was, taking it like it was nothing. And worried about her.
"You never change, do you?" Artoria whispered with a sincere smile.