Chapter 58: Wet Feet.

Bushes parted quickly as the armoured figure burst through them, sprinting as fast as they could through the greenery with little regard for whatever was in front of them. The shrubs he passed through were upturned when the second figure – much slower than the first – passed through in their wake, looking over their shoulder while breathing heavily.

The pair continued their mad sprint through the woods, the first man released a grunt of exertion as they threw themselves down an embankment. Their feet touched the ground first with a heavy thud before they kicked off and resumed their run, the second man jumped down and slammed into the ground hard, losing their footing and rolling over. Heaving themselves up, they cast a single glance over their shoulder towards the top of the drop before they scrambled back to their feet and took off after the other one.

Bursting into the open, the first armoured man passed through the edge of the forest and into the sunlight. Sliding to a halt and kicking up a small cloud of sand as they stopped. Casting their sight across the expanse of water before them as they slowly turned their head until they caught sight of it on the shoreline. The sail ship still ashore when it was departed.

Spinning around at the sound of rustling bushes, they caught sight of the second man part through the tree's, panting heavily as they looked over their shoulder.

"D-do…" They exhaled "Do you think we lost them?"

"No." The first one remarked darkly "They can still sense me...they won't stop."

"T-then...then we will have to make a stand." The second man affirmed, sounding nervous about the prospect, their hand resting on the pommel of the straight sword sheathed on their hip and their grip on the shield in their left arm tightening.

"I will." The figure corrected, moving towards them and reaching towards the small box mounted on their side, flipping the lid up and holding their hand above the chest "You will have to get this away from them."

They instantly shook their head "I cannot." holding up their hand "You are more fit for such a task and a far more worthy defender of it than I, you should go."

Shaking their head, they pulled their hand away from the box as the golden light began to coalesce into a shape "I can try and stop them, but I will most certainly not survive and if I die there is nothing to stop them getting their hands on this." they raised the item and forced it into the man's arms, their helmet hid their expression but the feeling of reluctance was obvious "You once set me on a quest. Allow me to do this for you."

"It was a quest I myself could not complete." They argued back "I have not the strength that you hold, should you fall-"

"Should I fall. They will be far too injured to maintain a chase." Cutting him off, they released their hold on the object and allowed it to fall completely into their hands, the armoured figure clutched it tight to their chest to avoid dropping it. Their head looked over his shoulder and towards the edge of the forest "Now you must go. Quickly, I will delay them as long as I can."

"...I...I will do as you ask." The man sullenly replied, moving past them and towards the ship "But I confess...I do wish I had the confidence in myself that you seem to have in me."

"I have confidence in the man who braved an asylum guarded by demons on the word of an ancient prophecy."

"An ancient prophecy which turned out to be missing key details." Came the mirthless chuckle "I could not even pass on the correct message."

"You did enough." Their head darted back to the forest as bushes began to rustle "Now go. Quickly now and do not look back. You hold the fate of all of us in your hands Oscar, I wish you ever fortunate blessing that you will succeed."

"...I wish you fortune as well, Lord Bedric." Oscar replied with a respectful nod.

"I'm not a Lord." Bedric chuckled in response, pulling out a great sword made of chiselled obsidian stone-like material, the top of the blade jutted backwards in a slight hook. "Just one who was in the right place at the right time."

Oscar silently turned away and sprinted towards the boat, waving his hands towards the other figures atop as ran, jumping off the beach an onto the boat before they leapt back and began to push from the front, digging their feet into the ground and letting out a cry of exertion as they gradually freed the boat from the grip of the sand, pushing it back into the water before they climbed up the side of the ship and boarded it.

Bedric let out a sigh of relief as he watched the sails of the boat turn and the ship begin to break away from the shoreline, still far too close for his comfort but the choice appeared to have been taken out of his hands. The bushes behind him rustled as the sound of thump against the sand indicated the arrival of their pursuer.

"I would ask if your compatriots had abandoned you…" They called out in a cordial tone of voice "But that would be insulting towards them, I assume you sent them away so they would not be harmed in the clash."

"Quite so." Bedric nodded, turning around and facing his soon to be opponent "I know not why you want it….but what you seek is beyond your reach."

"For now." They dismissed with a lazy wave of their hand "Claiming it from you now or from them makes no difference to me, all that really changes is the time I have to put into it. Although I imagine you will try to stop me here and now, why else would you forgo the only escape route available to you?"

"You suppose I require an escape." Bedric replied fiercely, their grip on their sword tightening as they moved their other hand towards the talisman on their waist. "What makes you so confident that I will not slay you here and now?"

"Truthfully?" They titled their head in response and let out a mild chuckle "There are few who can actually kill me anymore Bedric, Lord of Cinder."

Raising an eyebrow behind their helmet, Bedric tilted their head slightly "I have no recollection of gifting you my name. So how do you know of it"

"Haha…" A knowing laugh escaped their throat as the white orbs shone from beyond the visor of his helmet "We'll just say that I am uniquely qualified to understand my opponents as of late. Still...you all took off the moment you saw me, that was quite rude. I admit I didn't make the most grand of entrances-"

"You think I would parry words with one who so frolics in the Abyss?" Bedric scoffed "You are either a mad man or a fool." narrowing his eyes, they levelled their sword at the figure "Either that, or you are corrupted."

The figure remained silent for a few moments before they replied in a warm voice "Poor child...they really sunk their claws so deeply into you. As if linking with our denied nature was somehow the ugliest sin you could commit. It is like saying a fish who swims has been corrupted by water." shaking their head, their hand flipped open the lid of their own box as it materialised on their waist "The Dark Soul has been treated so poorly...is it any wonder it lashes out? To see its true warmth, you need only hold out a hand of friendship."

They paused and looked up at them "I could hold out than hand to you, if you wanted."

"And I would swat it away." Bedric fired back instantly, not even taking a moment to consider the offer and grimacing behind their helmet "You offer a hand of friendship coated in poison and your words are as appealing. The sun too is grossly incandescent for those who find beauty in it, but even they would not gaze upon it forever."

"...A shame." The man replied with a shrug "Although that does not change my opinion of you in the least. Perhaps you believed that throwing yourself onto a pyre was the best way to save humanity because you knew no alternative-"

"Kaathe spoke similar words of choice." Bedric scoffed "The Kings of New Londo paid heed and their city is lost to ruin, I will hear no more of your delusions."

"So be it." Their hand pulled away from their box as a sword began to form in their grasp, the shape twisted and coiled around itself before it elongated to form the shape which had Bedric widen his eyes.

"That is-" Their head snapped back to the man "What have you done?" they whispered in a hushed voice of horror.

"I opened up the door for a new humanity." They replied "A better humanity." the sword burst into life with brilliant white flames which danced across the blackened metal of the sword "But I suppose we have bantered long enough. Come then, Bedric of Lordran. Let us see the strength of the first human Lord of Cinder."

Its not that I didn't understand who I was to begin with. Even without my memories I knew who I was. I knew what I was.

Even before he said it, I could understand. It was like there was inscription on my soul itself.

"We unkindled are Worthless."

Hawkwood was crestfallen, he was just waiting until the flame faded away. I figured that out quick but…

But I can't say he was wrong. No...Perhaps he was right?

I had my duty to fulfil, but how does one kill a God?

I didn't even know that, I had expectations piled atop me from the very beginning and I all knew was that I was worthless from the beginning. It doesn't matter how many time I fight, how many times I win, how many times I kill. I understand it from the very beginning.

We Unkindled are Worthless.

Maybe I'm not worthless in the way that Hawkwood thought of.

But perhaps there are other ways of having no value.

How can you say your life is valuable to anyone-

-when you only exist only to die?

Ritsuka groaned as they rubbed their eyes, sitting up in their bed and letting out a yawn. His dreams were really starting to get weird now, first with visions of being in a class room and now to...wherever he was. It looked like a graveyard.

He grimaced as he blinked repeatedly, focusing his vision and looking around his room. Yep, definitely back in his room. His eyes drifted towards his side, looking down the right hand side of the bed they let out a slight breath of relief as they noticed that there was no sign of Kiyohime this time, perhaps she had forgotten.

…

'Probably got stopped by someone.' He decided was the more likely scenario 'Like she would forget.' she'd been quite determined.

"Fou!"

"Hey Fou." Ritsuka nodded to the small creature curled up on the end of his bed, the animal stretched itself out and let out a wide yawn before shaking itself and scratching behind the ear. He still had no idea whether Fou was some kind of magical cat or magical dog…

Unless…

"Hey, Fou?"

"Kyu?"

"Are you some kind of magic fox?"

"...Fou."

Ritsuka shrugged "Take that as a 'no' then." he sighed, throwing his legs over the side of his bed and stretching his arms backwards and forwards "...Think the Director is gonna have me doing more punishment duties today?" he asked the small animal.

"Foufou." The white squirrel creature replied, before letting out a mocking "Kyu!"

Ritsuka narrowed his eyes at the response, that had all the hallmarks of being a 'That's what you get for being stupid' type of reply. He could see it in the little beady eyes of the animal. "Laugh it up." he rolled his eyes, pushing himself to his feat "I...I didn't really want him to go without giving him a chance it...it just doesn't feel right."

"Kyu kyu!"

"I'm going to assume you're agreeing with me and call it a day." Ritsuka chuckled to himself as he made his way towards his drawers "I wonder if Da Vinci can make an animal translator or something just so we can understand what you're saying?" he pondered to himself before he turned and looked over his shoulder at the small animal as it hopped off his bed "Would you like that?"

"Fou." They gave him a dismissive look and he could swear there was a hint of an eye roll from them.

"Hm." Ritsuka shrugged "Suppose if she could, she would have done so earlier." he heard a knock of his door, both he and Fou looked towards it and then back to eachother. Fou staring at him expectantly. "I'm in my boxers Fou...I'm not going to answer the door like that."

"Do you think Senpai is awake?" Mash asked, looking up towards the Unkindled stood next to her with their arms crossed.

"I am not entirely sure." Ash replied with a shrug "We could always enter."

"That seems as though it would be a breach of privacy." The girl replied with an uncertain frown "But if he is still asleep then the Director might get mad that he missed the briefing...again." she bit her lip, debating whether or not she should open up the door or try and knock again.

The choice was taken out of her hands when the door slid open, Ritsuka appeared in a pair of shorts and a black top, leaning through the door with his arms bracing on either side as he stared at the two of them "...I didn't oversleep, did I?" his voice containing a hint of anxiety.

Mash shook her head, somewhat relieved she didn't have to risk embarrassing the Master "No, Senpai. It's just about the right time for you to get up, Doctor Roman says we've located another Singularity."

Ritsuka's eyes widened "Better get changed proper then, eh?" he chuckled wryly "Any idea where?"

"So...its the ocean." Ritsuka bluntly put as they stared at the map "Just...the ocean."

"Yeah…" Romani scratched the back of his neck and have a hollow chuckle "I-it's not really all that precise. It's just a place we can say is 'here' and that's about it. We've got several islands scattered about the location so its not as if its all ocean." he gestured to the small readings "But it's not all that specific."

"That's because the Geography of the islands continually shifts." Olga explained as she stared at the map "It is corresponding with a singularity and the changes in magical energy, so it cannot be said to be a natural phenomena."

"So...Go in to the ocean, find out what we're supposed to solve and then leave?" Ritsuka surmised with a hopeful smile "It can't go that wrong...what year is it by the way?"

"1573." Romani provided helpfully before a slight frown came to his face "Do you happen to get seasick?"

"I mean…" Ritsuka shrugged "I don't really know? I haven't been on the ocean all that much."

"I'm still confused on the difference between an ocean and a lake." Ash remarked with a slightly bewildered expression "Is there a difference?" he looked around the room to see the blank faces of everyone else, save Mash who seemed to be staring at him in some veiled form of kinship.

"An ocean is much larger than a lake, Ash-san." Mash explained "According to data, Seventy-One percent of the Earth's surface is covered in water."

"...Is that a lot?"

"Yes." Mash nodded then furrowed her brows "You said that the first time you ever saw a beach was when we chased after the missing supplies, yes?" Ash nodded his head "Was...was that also the first time you ever saw the ocean?"

Ash nodded his head with an innocent look on his face "We didn't really get much water in Lothric...there was the river than ran outside of Irithyll but that was up to my knee's at its height…" he paused and tilted his head "Is an ocean deeper than that?"

"...It is, Ash-san." Mash nodded her head "I haven't been on the ocean either, so it will be a new experience for both of us!" she cheered with a small amount of enthusiasm which had Romani give a faint smile and Ritsuka look around the room with a slightly confused expression, taking note of the way the Director pointedly avoided looking at Mash.

"We ca discuss your Saber's lack of experience in bodies of water later." Olga interrupted with a slight edge in her voice, wanting to also get away from the subject of Mash's ignorance as well "For now, you would be best heading down to the Rayshift chamber along with whatever Servants you intended to bring with you while Romani inputs the co-ordinates."

"...You're not gonna drop us into the sea, are you?" Ritsuka joked which caused Romani to let out a squawk of indignation and which turned into a pitiful whine at the glare he received from Olga – who was still bitter about materialising hundreds of feet in the air – while Da Vinci rolled her eyes.

"That was one time!" Roman argued "We were trying to fight through interference, you can't blame me for Singularity mischief!" Da Vinci pat him on the back with a faint smile.

"There, there Romani." The way in which she sounded as though she was reassuring a child only earned a whimper from the man. Still smiling, she looked to the trio "In any case, I've made something especially for the you!"

"A Da Vinci patented present?" Ritsuka asked with a raised eyebrow, earning an enthusiastic nod from the woman. Reaching into one of her pockets, she proceeded to whip out a small grey tube and thrust it into the boy's hands.

"Ta Da!" She grinned "It's a floaty!"

"...This isn't inspiring a lot of confidence in me right now." Ritsuka remarked as he stared at it, then shrugged and gave a grateful smile to the genius "Still, better to have it and nod need it, right?"

"That's the idea!"

Mash frowned "I still have several concerns…" she looked to see the Director now looking impatient and nodded her head in resignation "But I don't think we have the time to address all of them." turning to Ritsuka and Ash she put on a determined face "Let us prepare to depart, Master, Ash-san!"

"...Well there were a couple errands I wanted to-" Ritsuka spoke before Mash placed her hands on her hips and cut him off.

"You can leave the errands until we get back, Senpai!"

"Ha!" Romani laughed "Mash really is the type to take charge, Fujimaru-kun is getting henpecked!"

"E-eh?" Mash froze on the spot and widened her eyes "W-wait, that was-"

"Shut up Roman." Olga sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose "Just get moving the lot of you."

"Alright." Ash nodded his head, turning around and taking a single step forwards before he noticed the small ball of white fluff sat near the entrance to the room, the two stared at eachother for a second before Ash turned around and pointed at Fou "Are we taking them with us as well?"

"...May as well." Ritsuka shrugged and walked towards the animal "Come on Fou." he held out his arms expectantly, Fou looked at him as if he were an idiot before they jumped over him and landed on Mash's chest, the girl let out a small 'eep' of surprise before the animal scrambled up and made itself comfortable on her shoulder.

Ritsuka stood frozen for a few seconds before he slowly lowered his arms, staring ahead with an emotionless look on his face. "Alright then." was all he said before he quickly departed the room, Mash stared at his retreating figure before she took after him.

"Wait, Senpai! I'm sure Fou was just being a little picky! Don't be too sad about it!"

Ash watched her leave before a cough had him look over his shoulder, the Director stared at him with a slightly raised eyebrow. "Yes?"

"I shall assume you are incapable of swimming."

"What's swimming?"

"Oh my Goodness." Romani muttered as his head fell into his hands, Da Vinci bit her lip and looked away from the unkindled while struggling to decide whether to laugh at what he said or outright feel bad about his obvious lack of knowledge.

"...Fine." Olga sighed "Avoid falling in the water then, if Fujimaru has to use a command seal to drag you out of a watery grave I will be most displeased."

"Oh." Ash nodded his head "Yes, Drowning is a terrible way to die."

Olga gave him a slightly hesitant look "Spoken from experience?"

"Oh, yes." He nodded his head "...I was curious how far the Irithyll river went...I wasn't expecting the drop." without even waiting to see the reaction his words had, he turned around and made his way out of the room, closing the door behind him.

"...Seem's a very runabout way of telling someone to be careful, doesn't it?" Da Vinci pondered aloud while sending the Director a tiny smirk, the pale haired woman responded with a flat look and a huff.

"We're going to the ocean, I don't know how much experience you guys have with that kind of stuff." He explained as he looked around the Servants gathered in the Rayshift chamber "Just for..you know...a warning." he very pointedly looked towards the rather tall Servant stood at the far end of the line up.

Havel didn't respond, save a grunt.

"Okay." Ritsuka whispered to himself before clapping his hands and facing the other two "So? Any questions?"

Archer and Boudica regarded him with blank stares in response.

"Cool." Ritsuka nodded "Um...See you in a moment." he made his way over to his coffin while the other Servants all looked at eachother.

Ash looked up at Havel while the latter looked down at the much smaller Saber.

"...I'm a Pyromancer." Ash began "...I assume there is no problem?"

"...No." Havel grunted in response, shifting his club on his shoulder and tightening his grasp on his shield "Ha..te….wa...ter…"

"Have you ever seen an ocean before?"

"Y...es…" He paused "Y...ou…?"

"Not until recently." Ash shrugged "...Still an odd thing to contemplate...all that water just lying there."

"...Ge..t….used….to...it…." Was all Havel offered as they waited patiently for the Rayshifting procedure to begin "No...thi...ng…..spe….cia….l…."

"Would it be alright if I questioned the wisdom of having one of the heaviest Servants near water?" Boudica whispered to Archer, the tanned servant gave a faint snort in response "Because it seems like a bad idea."

"You could raise it but I doubt he'd listen." Archer responded with a quiet sigh and a small shake of his head "Regardless, I suspect it relates in some part to whatever agreement those two managed to reach. Anything short of a command seal probably wouldn't deter them."

"Unsummon Programme, Start." The announcement boomed across the chamber, cutting short whatever else they had to say as Ritsuka and Mash entered their coffins, the other Servants stood around outside in a small group "Spiritron Conversion, Start."

The lights above their head began to flicker and intensify in power as the start up sequence completed itself "Counting down to Rayshift in Three, two, one…" a brilliant light engulfed the room and disappeared just as quickly, leaving the entire room empty.

"They're on their way now." Kerry tapped away at her monitor "Vitals are looking good, they'll materialise in ten seconds." spinning around, the woman offered a slight shrug and a half smile "Never Rayshifted into an ocean before but, hey! What could go wrong?"

"Well. They're doomed." Meuniere remarked almost instantly, shaking his head and releasing a sigh "Whenever you say something like that, its always bound to go wrong."

"That's superstition." Kerry waved her hand dismissively, turning back to her monitor "They'll be fine." a smirk came to her face "See? Vitals are all good and they materialised safe and sound."

"...Hey." Maxwell squinted his eyes at his own monitor "Is the altitude measurement supposed to be that high?"

"...Oh shit."

"Alright." Romani spoke up with a slightly anxious voice "New plan. We don't tell the Director."

"Don't tell me what?" The door behind him opened up as the woman entered the room with a resigned frown on her face "How have you managed to bungle the situation this time?"

"Bungle? Who? Me?" Romani nervously laughed, looking away and scratching the back his neck "N-never. Right guys?" he looked around the room for support, the others knew that if Romani got in trouble, they would be quick to follow considering it was a team effort.

"Yeah/Absolutely/No problems." Were the three uniform replies, Olga narrowed her eyes suspiciously at them before she allowed a pleased smile to come onto her face.

"Finally. Some competence around here." She puffed out her chest with a smile "I was beginning to worry that we were becoming too lax when it came to procedures given our recent string of problems, but I am glad to know that we're still able to operate with a degree of professionalism."

The other Coffin officers made it a point not to look her in the eyes.

It was crisp blue sky, barely a cloud in sight.

The only true noises to be heard were the gentle lapping of waves disturbing the surface of the water and the gentle whistling of the breeze-

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Completely offset in a single instant as a half a dozen figures plummeted through the sky towards the surface of the water at breakneck speeds, the Rayshift having somehow deposited them – yet again – hundreds of feet in the air.

Ritsuka and Mash were the closest to the ocean – although still a good hundred metres away – with the young boy screaming as best he could and flailing his arms through the air in an almost comical sight of attempted flight. Unfortunately for Ritsuka, he couldn't really see the humour in the situation all that much.

Archer and Boudica came next, the latter having a slightly panicked look on her while the former held only mild surprise which quickly fizzled out into one of resignation.

Then came Ash and Havel, the Bishop fell in silence while the Saber was merely experiencing an odd sense of deja vu. It wasn't difficult for him though, considering he had died this way more times than he could count, although he did feel a great reluctance to die in this manner again.

Havel was more concerned with the landing.

Mash streamlined her body into an arrow, earlier experience of this situation with Patches had given her some small idea of how to handle this type of situation, and aimed herself at Ritsuka. Accelerating towards him – only just noticing Fou clinging to his back with their claws embedded in the fabric of their shirt – she reached out with her hands and tackled him mid-air.

"Hang on, Senpai!" Mash clutched Ritsuka tight against her body as she held out her hand in front of her, shield springing into being as they fell towards the ocean. Only just noticing the distant figure of a ship near their landing sight.

"Hey?"

"Yeah?"

"Ya ever wonder why we're out here?"

The man took in a single sniff of the air before he answered "Compass broke, Pete." he shrugged "S'why we're out here."

"Right, right." Pete nodded along "I get that...but...what were we lookin' for anyway?"

"Treasure?" Bombe shrugged "I don't know, Boss just said it was out there, ya know?"

"You're the one with the map." Pete shrugged "Also Boss is just good at findin' stuff."

"That's why they're the Boss." Bombe waved his hand, then paused and frowned "Ya hear somethin'?"

"What?" Pete titled his head "Nah, I don't hear nothin'."

"It's I don't hear anythin'." Bombe corrected "Sayin' you don't hear nothin' means you heard somethin' double negative or so the Boss says."

"...Boss is surprisingly articulate, ain't they?"

"See how come you can say somethin' like that-"

"aaaaaaaaAAAAAAAHHHHHHH-" Bombe was cut off by a scream and then a rather loud splash of water, everyone else on the deck of the ship paused in their duties and turned their head in the direction of the sound. Bombe and Pete shared a look before they rushed over to the starboard side of the ship and peered over the edge of the railings.

They then noticed the rather large disturbance on the water where something had fallen into it.

"What in the hells-" Bombe began, only to catch sight of another blur of something crash into the water, swiftly followed by another blur of a red colouration. "It rain' men or somethin'?" he looked up and caught sight of two more vague shapes in the sky accelerating towards them.

The closest one came into proper form, the men on the ship managed to gleam out a man in steel armour wearing blue fabric around his body falling through the air towards their boat.

"Hey." Pete squinted his eyes "Is it me, or does it look like they're gonna-" he sucked in air through his teeth when the armoured man slammed face first into the upper support of the sail and bounce off it, flipping through the air and then face planting the water with a meaty thud before they sank into the murky blue.

"Oof!" Bombe and several other crew members displayed similar reactions before their eyes fell on the final figure. Bombe himself blinked incomprehensively "That a statue?"

The 'statue' itself crashed into the water just off the port bow of the ship with an enormous explosion of water which kicked up a nearly four metre tall blast over the railings and onto the deck.

"...Think this ever happened to the Boss?" Pete asked Bombe, the slightly tanned man wearing a red bandanna around his head and a black patch over his left eye rolled his jaw before he gave a shrug.

"Don't know...that whole mess with that big guy recently ain't all that good." He turned back to Pete "...Still weird."

The water rippled violently before a large inflatable raft burst through and into the open, expanding out rapidly and revealing the rather wet forms of Ritsuka, Mash and Fou the former coughing up and looking rather miserable while Mash held a slight grimace on her face.

"What…" Ritsuka spat out another mouthful of salt water before they continued on "What the heck was that?" he darkly remarked, Mash was likewise troubled by their materialisation in the middle of the air and above the ocean.

"I don't know, Senpai." She offered, rubbing his back as he continued to cough up his guts "Another problem with the Rayshift perhaps?" she tried to explain away, although this would have marked the second time someone materialised in the air. Still rubbing the Master's back, she looked up and froze at the sight of a ship full of poorly dressed individuals staring at them from above "S-senpai?" she began to push him slightly to get his attention.

"Y-yeah?" He turned around to face, seeing the slightly concerned expression on her face as she raised her other hand and pointed.

"Look!"

Ritsuka turned his head to see the ship full of what he could only describe as pirates being a captive audience to him.

"Well." Ritsuka sniffed "Think they'll give us a ride...wait." he paused and looked around "Where's everyone else?"

Mash similarly froze before her eyes went wide "Ash-san can't swim!"

Ritsuka widened his eyes as that train of thought "Havel won't even be able to float!"

"The hell." Bombe squinted at the pair in some manner of yellow thing, the boy was dressed in some odd white outfit that looked quiet expensive while the girl was wearing steel armour. It wasn't exactly the most normal of pairs. "What is this?"

"Don't know." Pete shrugged and turned to Bombe "What do ya wanna do?"

"Well...may as well steal their valuables." Bombe answered with a nod of his head "They're bound to have somethi-Whoah!?" the man stumbled as the ship abruptly jerked and began to heavily lean to the port side. The wooden planks near the anchor drop began to creak dangerously as the metal chains began to pull downwards and cause the ship to roll.

"What the-!?" Bombe righted himself and turned around "What's happenin'?"

"Something's caught the anchor!" One of the crewmembers shouted back "Can't reel it in-" the man paused and trailed off, blood leaving his face and causing his expression turn into one of pale horror as he seemingly stared at something. Bombe pushed his way towards the port bow, he got to within a few metres before the man let out a panicked gasp and scrambled away from the side.

The ship jerked back to its original position causing several crewmembers to fall flat on their faces or onto their backs. Before Bombe could even question what the hell had caused that he heard a meaty thud and a creaking of wood. He paused when he saw the entire crew began to freeze and slowly trail their heads over to the railings at the port bow where the Anchor was.

Bombe followed their gazes and found himself similarly frozen stiff at the rather large hand which was currently wrapped around the railings. The grip tightened and caused the wood to crack and splinter before it began to exert itself and pull the owner up. The pirates watched with rapt attention as the stony visage of Havel dragged themselves onto the deck with a heavy thud which caused the whole ship to rock.

Once the ship finally settled, the Berserker looked around the crew and let out a low menacing growl as they stomped away from the spot they had boarded and over to the other edge of the ship.

The pirates all unanimously – and silently – agreed to the idea that getting in the stone armoured giants way wasn't the best idea they could come up with and was probably best to leave them be.

"He...lp…." Havel pointed towards the duo in the water and turned to the pirates "...abo...ard…."

"Oi!" Pete stepped forwards with a heavy scowl "Who do you think you're the boss o-" Havel lashed out and clamped a heavy gauntlet around the man's shirt and dragged him across the deck, boost scraping against the surface with a whine before hoisting him up to be eye level with the helmet. Pete stared into the blackened ports of the Berserker and suddenly found his sense of courage abandon him.

"I would very much like to apologise for my disrespectful tone and would be happy to carry out your orders to the best of my abilities, Master Stone man." Pete rattled off without missing a beat, his eyes wide and his face ashen "It would be a great comfort to me if you did not also see fit to crush my head."

Havel released a scoff and threw the man to the side, noticing how everyone else was still stationary he let out a menacing growl.

It was like a chain reaction had gone off with all the pirates now sprinting about the deck shouting about getting a line out for the duo.

Ritsuka squinted their eyes as a new figure emerged at the railings "Is that Havel?"

"I believe it is, Senpai." Mash nodded her head, the Berserker's appearance was quite distinctive and it was a small relief to know that they wouldn't have to use a command spell to try and rescue him from drowning. It also mean that they would probably be able to get off this dingy.

"Well...at least we know where he is." Ritsuka chuckled nervously and looked around "All that's missing is Archer and Rider."

"Here." Ritsuka let out a slight squeal as Archer's dull voice called out behind him, the pair span around to see the tanned man with his head just above the surface of the water and a flat expression on his face, Boudica was floating next to him with her hair soaking and draped over her face like seaweed.

"Right then…" Ritsuka nodded to them "...Where's Ash?"

"By the power of my Command Spell!" Ritsuka intoned as the pattern on the back of his hand glowed "Ash, come to my position at once!"

There was a brief flash of light before the Saber rematerialised just above the deck of the ship and then crashed into the wooden surface.

Remaining flat on their back for a few moments, they abruptly jerked up and climbed to their feet, ignoring the looks of concern he was being show, Ash made his way to the port side and then clasped his hands on the railings.

Then proceeded to do a remarkably good impression of a water tap as he vomited up a great deal of the clear liquid into the ocean, Ritsuka and Mash grimaced at the display and looked away. Most of the pirates remained stone faced – considering they had seen such things before – and were still trying to wrap their heads around the literal sudden appearance of a man out of thin air.

After thirty more seconds the Saber had managed to expel the last of the water from his lungs, coughing a few more times to be sure and then turned around to face the audience "...I hate the ocean."

Ritsuka couldn't fault him for that, looking around he noticed that all of the crewmembers of the pirate ship they had 'commandeered' were all keeping their distance from them while looking rather nervous. Occasionally they directed worried glances towards the rather large form of Havel stood off to the side with their arms crossed, Ritsuka looked at the Berserker and then back to them before he scratched his neck.

"S-so." He clapped his hands once, earning the attention of everyone on the boat "I'm Fujimaru Ritsuka and um...thanks for the rescue there." nodding his head once, he tried his best to give a reassuring smile "Really appreciate it. Sorry for the whole...um…" he waved his hand around "Borrowing your boat."

"...S'fine." The pirate with the red cap stepped forwards, still looking nervous although he visibly held his composure better than the other men around him "Y-you're...uh...not gonna kill us now...are ya?"

"No!" Ritsuka denied instantly, eyes wide "No, no! We're not here to kill you!"

"Oh thank God." The man let out a heavy sigh and visibly relaxed "...Don't suppose we could convince you to...um...go then?" he asked, already looking as though he knew what the answer to that question was going to be.

"Yeah...we kinda need a ship." Ritsuka replied with a slight shrug and a hapless look "This is kinda the only one we've seen...so…"

"S'fine." The man sighed "Knew that would be the answer anyway."

"Excuse me?" Mash called out and walked forwards "Do you happen to know the current situation here?"

"Nah." He answered immediately "Got no clue. 'Bout as lost as you look. Were trying to get back to pirate island when our compasses stopped workin'."

Ritsuka gave a single blink "Pirate island." he repeated in a flat tone of voice, the man nodded his head.

"S'what we've been callin' it." He explained with a giddy expression "Good name, right?"

"...Sh...it…" Havel grunted from where he was stood, the man visibly deflated at the dismissal. A thud attracted everyones attention as Boudica swatted his arm with a frown on her face.

"There's no need to be rude about it." She scolded him, the Berserker grunted and looked away. She sighed and looked back towards the pirates "Don't mind him, he's a bit grumpy is all."

"No problem, Miss." One of the other Pirates nodded their head, their eyes struggling to keep themselves fixed on her face and not slightly lower "Used to that sort of talk, right lads?"

He got murmurs of affirmation across the deck.

"Slightly tacky names aside." Ritsuka exhaled, crossing his arms and looking to the other Servants, he gave a slight shrug to them "Good a place as any, right?"

Archer raised an eyebrow at him "It's your decision, Master." looking away he pursed his lips "Although it isn't much of a choice right now."

"Pirate island." Boudica parroted and shook her head, crossing her arms with a raising her eyebrows in bewilderment – despite what she had said to Havel, she would admit it wasn't exactly a very good name either – then looking towards Ash, the unkindled still with their back leaning against the railings "Suppose we can expect a certain type of company, right?"

"Don't know what a Pirate is." Ash replied sullenly, staring at their sopping wet armour "...This is uncomfortable." Boudica snorted as she rang her hair, still looking as though she had just had a bucket of water poured over her person. Not that anyone surrounding her was complaining with none of the pirates even making an attempt to hide their leers.

Not that Boudica cared all that much, she'd been looked at far worse and it was a similar case with the Iceni tribe. All you really had to do was establish a small hierarchy to follow.

It inevitably meant that someone was going to get kicked somewhere unfortunate but that was life.

"It'll dry out." She assured him with an amused pat on the shoulder, despite not being able to see his expression through the helmet, Boudica was able to tell that he was pouting at her much like a child would.

"So, Pirate Island then." Ritsuka shrugged "Let's set sail…"

"Well, if ya ain't gonna have yer giant kill us." The pirate shrugged "I'm Bombe...First Officer of the Boss."

"Where's the Boss?" Mash asked hopefully.

"Pirate Island."

"Well, guess our goals align, kind of." Ritsuka helpfully supplied with an optimistic tone of voice "How far away are we?"

"Still no clue." Bombe answered before they put on a thoughtful face "Probably a couple hours, half a day."

"I'll call Chaldea." Ritsuka whispered to Mash "You keep an eye on them."

"Why?" Mash whispered back "Didn't they said they'd help?" Ritsuka stared at her with a blank face for a few moments before he replied.

"Mash. They're pirates. I'm a trusting kind of guy but its Pirates." He answered as if it was obvious "Their whole thing is stealing stuff, although they haven't tried yet so they might not try at all. Just a precaution I suppose."

"Alright, then." Mash nodded her head and turned to look at the other Servants, all of whom were in various states of idleness as they waited for new orders.

"Roman? Director?" Ritsuka tapped his communicator, the button on his wrist flashed and the blue screen popped into life "Anyone?"

"Hey...Fujimaru-kun." Romani's face popped up on the communicator, a forced smile was present upon it as the Director stood just behind him with a mask of professionalism "S-so...Rayshift successful then? No issues at all, right?" the way he phrased it was less like a question and more like cry for help. No doubt Roman was aware that they had manifested in a rather unfortunate situation and was looking to give himself an out by relying on Ritsuka.

While Ritsuka would have been more than willing to try and at least attempt to cover for the Doctor, Mash wasn't quite as forgiving.

"Ash-san nearly drowned." She appeared over Ritsuka's shoulder with a clear look of disapproval on her face "If I had not protected Senpai when we hit the water, he would have been seriously injured."

Romani bit his lip and clenched his eyes shut as the Director's head slowly turned and aimed a blank look at the back of his head. Her arms slowly uncrossed themselves from in front of her and fell at her sides, the only indication of anything being wrong was the twitch of her brow.

"Romani." Her voice was cold enough that Ritsuka got shivers and he wasn't even in the room "How high did they materialise."

"...Are we talking the average or the-"

"There was a difference?"

Romani looked like he was about to be fed to a woodchipper, the expression on the Directors face slowly morphed into one that looked as though it was actually beginning to humour the idea. "W-well...Fujimaru-kun and Mash materialised around two hundred metres above sea level….Havel was...three hundred metres…"

"Romani."

"Y-yes?"

"It is only the lack of other medical personnel in Chaldea that is currently keeping me from turning you into a patient." Her threat was toneless and yet that somehow made it all the more horrifying "If I discover that this is user error and not a glitch in the Rayshift system...then I will rescind that courtesy and simply have Siegward heal people with his magic. Do you understand?"

"...yes." Romani squeaked.

"Good." Her eyes flickered back over to Ritsuka "Idiocy aside-" Romani flinched "-what is your current situation?"

"We landed near a boat." Ritsuka explained "We're currently borrowing it from the pirates-"

"Pirates."

"Yes."

"I see." She flatly remarked "What else?"

Ritsuka wet his lips and did his best to compose himself, he knew exactly how this next sentence was going to sound to anyone "The pirates are taking us to Pirate Island."

"Snrk." Romani barely managed to prevent himself from giving a full laugh before the Director glare fell on him, the Doctor looked away and bit their lip to prevent any more sound from coming out before she slowly turned her head back towards Ritsuka and Mash, a flash of incredulity swept across her face.

"Pirate. Island."

"I-if it makes you feel better-" Mash was desperately sending a pleading look at Ritsuka to get him to stop, unfortunately he missed it considering she wasn't directly in front of him at the time "-I think its a tacky name too."

"It doesn't." Olga responded "Is there something to expect at the destination."

"Pirate Island." Romani supplied, Olga now looked very tempted to punch him.

"...The Destination." She went on "Is there something there, yes or no?"

"Well, Bombe has a boss there so he just wanted to get back and its land so we figured there would be someone we could ask." Ritsuka shrugged, turning around "Hey, Bombe!"

"Yeah?" The pirate called back from the wheel, looking somewhat uncaring at being called out.

"What's your Boss called anyway?"

"Francis Drake!" Bombe boasted "Best pirate ever!"

"Huh." Ritsuka turned back to the screen "There you have it, we're going to…" he paused and looked over his shoulder "Wait. THE Francis Drake?"

"I don't think they had a 'The' in front of their name, last I checked." Bombe scratched his chin "Doesn't sound like somethin' they'd have."

Ritsuka turned back to see Olga and Romani staring with wide eyes "Would they be a Servant?"

"No." Romani answered immediately "Francis Drake shouldn't be dead for another twenty or so years, that means this is the real, living Francis Drake!" he excitedly went on "They've got to be one of the most famous sea fairing captains in History!"

"And it seems far too telling for them to be present in a Singularity." Olga carried on with a nod of her head, cupping her chin "It seems as though your objective is obvious for now, allowing the real Francis Drake to die would be a catastrophe and certainly worthy of a Singularity. For now I would recommend you meet up with them."

"Alright." Ritsuka nodded and looked over his shoulder "Hey, Bombe!"

"Yeah?" The man called back.

"Can we meet them?"

"Sure!" He replied with a shrug "If the Boss don't like you, they'll just sort ya out anyway."

Ritsuka figured he'd rather not be 'sort out' but it was something.

"You seem to be taking this quite well." Archer dryly remarked from behind the pirate, the man shrugged his shoulders in response.

"Eh, when ya've seen giant sea monsters and a whole island blow up ya tend to stop bein' surprised by things fallin' from the sky." Bombe chuckled with a shake of their head "Besides...still scared shitless of the big guy." eyes flickering over to Havel near the centre of the ship, stood still like a statue and just glaring at anyone who came close.

"Hmph." Archer huffed and walked away.

"By the way." Bombe called out to him, Archer paused and looked over his shoulder at the man "You ain't one of them Afrikaans I've been hearnin' about right? Heard they had dark skin an all."

Archer blinked once "No. I'm not."

"Figured." Bombe shrugged "Just looks like a good tan. Pete once had one-a-those when he fell asleep in the crows nest." he sniffed once "Well...don't sick yer giant on us and we'll be cordial enough."

Archer raised a single eyebrow at him, regarding the man with thin lips before he turned away and made his way back onto the main deck and towards his Master. He passed a glance with Ash as he walked across the deck in the direction of the nearest door.

He wasn't the only once as the red haired Rider also spied his retreating form.

"Where are you going, by the way?" Boudica called out to Ash as she noticed him moving towards one of the doors into the ships interior, Ash paused and turned around.

"Armour's wet...changin' it up." He answered, Boudica gave him an amused smile as she crossed her arms "What? It's wet."

"You know you could just turn into Spirit form an-" Ash shut the door behind him, cutting off whatever she was going to say and leaving her there with her mouth slightly agape. Boudica let out a sigh, shaking her head in exasperation "Children. Never any patience to them."

Archer paid the conversation little mind as he continued on his way towards his Master, the boy looked as though they were finishing up a conversation with Chaldea, likely relating to the little titbit that they were dealing with Francis Drake as well. Of course if it was 1573 then this would be the living Francis Drake rather than a Heroic Spirit, which likely made their survival a priority.

It also made determining the centre of the Singularity a little bit easier.

"-ink I'd look quite good in a Pirate hat though." His features instantly faltered as he managed to capture the tail-end of the conversation "Also help me blend in, you know?" Ritsuka argued with a slightly hopeful tone to his voice.

"Yes." The Director's dry voice would have made a desert envious "Because nothing screams subtly like wearing a bright white mystic code in conjunction with a stupid hat." the way in which Ritsuka flinched made it obvious that he was a bit saddened by the answer. "If you want to embarrass yourself, fine. But do not do so under the pretence that you're making a smarter decision than you are." a sigh was audible as Archer came to a stop behind them "Was there anything else?"

"It seems as though they're missing an island." Archer picked that moment to speak up, Ritsuka and Mash turned to face him with Fou tilting their head in questioning "The one called Bombe made mention of sea monsters as well."

"Any idea why they're missing an island?" Ritsuka asked with visible intrigue.

"They said it blew up."

The intrigue was gone and replaced with puzzlement "Blew up? You mean like a Volcano?"

"Possibly." Romani replied in a thoughtful tone of voice "With the rampant mana in the air as a result of the Holy Grail, it could have caused some destabilisation in the Leylines." he offered "Could also have been some other phenomena."

"Or it could have been a battle between Servants." Archer pointed out the other alternative "Strong ones too, if there is an entire island missing."

Olga pursed her lips and nodded grimly "There is that possibility to consider. It would be best that you remain on guard, although it is entirely possible that the destruction of an entire island led to the elimination of both attacking parties."

"Or the other is wounded." Archer carried on "Regardless, there is the issue of sea monsters."

"Likely a similar case to the Wyverns." Romani answered that time with a frown "Summoned via the power of the Holy Grail or attracted to the singularity itself, although with so many different types of sea monsters you'll be hard pressed for choice which ones you're dealing with."

"What, like the Kraken?" Ritsuka joked, then noticed the way in which both Romani and the Director remained silent "W-wait...that's real too?"

"It was one of the last Monstrous Beasts still until the late eighteen century." Romani dismissed "Although it was hunted down pretty soon after it came to the associations notice, the fact loads of people still believed in the superstition meant it was allowed an existence. The discovery of the Giant squid kind of helped curb that."

"...That's a heck of a bombshell to just drop on me like that." Ritsuka blinked, then paled as they turned their head towards the ocean "Um...I'm not gonna have to...you know…"

"Huh?" Romani blinked and then shook his head "Oh, no. The Kraken wouldn't be anywhere near you. So you're fine." he paused before continuing on "Also it really was just a large squid, unlike something like the Hydra which was said to have a terrible poison and immense regenerative properties."

"S-so...No Kraken then?" Ritsuka let out an audible sigh of relief "Thank goodness for that...Suppose I'll have to worry about Sea monsters later then?"

"Maybe?" Romani shrugged "Hard to say, you haven't been here all that long so I wouldn't be able to comment on it. Probably best to keep a look out all the same though, right?"

"Alright." Ritsuka nodded "...I'll focus on getting to Pirate island then." he paused and shook his head "No that just sounds really tacky, doesn't it?"

"Kind of endearing though." Romani pointed out with a wry smile "Like a story book for children." Ritsuka looked around at the individuals on the boat and then back to Romani with a raised eyebrow, the Doctor let out a small breath "I know that there really aren't any children but you're young, right?"

"I'm Seventeen Roman. I'm not that young."

"If you're quite finished." Olga cut in sharply "It would be best you focus yourself entirely onto your mission, be sure to contact Chaldea again when you have rendezvoused with Francis Drake."

"Understood, Director." Mash nodded her head as the communicator shut off.

Ritsuka looked over to Havel, the Berserker was still silently stood far enough away from everyone else that he wasn't in any position to be approached. This was as much about solving the Singularity as it was proving to the Berserker that he wasn't some crazy Sorcerer like Havel suspected him to be.

In that regard he figured he had his work cut out for him.

AN: Small Prologue before we begin. Also go rid of the top bar stuff because I figured it would be kind of obvious when I change POV and what not.

Anyway...We're off on our third Singularity!

And Chosen Undead and Oscar make an appearance while running from someone! Spooky!

Also if anyone is wondering about the Chapter 58 Part the By the Bonfire part and the Dumplings count as the 14 chapters in-between.

So By the Bonfire Chapters I-VII and the Dumplings takes place in-between Septem and Okeanos.