Ritsuka, Olga, and Mash walk towards the bridge. It was a short ways away from their base camp. By their estimates, they should arrive at the bridge in less than an hour. There was still a sullen atmosphere between them after Dr. Roman passed the news that Chaldea was absolutely decimated. Ritsuka's mind remembered what Dr. Romani said earlier.
'This was no accident. It was sabotage.'
Who or what could have sabotaged Chaldea was a different story, and logic dictates that they will come face to face with its cause later, but right now they have to deal with the news that no more than 20 staff survived the attack, and as Director, all of the responsibility lies on Olga Marie Animusphere's shoulders.
"By the way," Olga asked while walking, "...don't you think there's something you should say to me, Ritsuka Fujimaru?"
"Um…" Ritsuka stammered.
Mash tapped him on the shoulder. "Senpai, it's probably that time in the Command Room. You know, when you dozed off."
"Ohhhhh." Ritsuka remembered then. "Yeah. I'm sorry about that, Director."
Olga stopped walking. "Well… I guess I can't blame you." She pulled up his credentials on a holopad and resumed walking. "Master Candidate number 48: Ritsuka Fujimaru. Homeland… Education status… Wait, you're just a college student? I see."
"College? Senpai, how old are you?" Masha asked curiously.
"Uh… eighteen."
"Wait, do you even remember what I said during the mission briefing, Fujimaru?"
Ritsuka could tell where this was going. "You don't, do you? Ok, listen up-"
"Oh please god no." The young man recognized this pattern from the few college lectures he was able to attend, this was a lecture that was beginning now and will not end soon.
"Now, now, Ritsuka." The doctor chimed in. "The director's ramblings can be useful."
Olga began to recite her whole spiel in the command room nearly word for word. She discussed what Singularities are and the main mission that they were going to be sent for. Then Ritsuka remembers being kicked out of the command room for being an amateur with no experience which, despite his hurt feelings, he completely agreed with. Lev escorted him outside and Mash was ordered to bring him to his room.
"Now do you remember how much of a mess you caused back there? Thanks to your disruption, I wasn't able to change into my suit!"
"Um… Director," Mash interjected. "You weren't expecting to dive, so I'm sure you didn't need to get into your suit."
Olga sighed. "Mash, we need to teach you some etiquette. Right, of course I needed to change into my suit. I have a special Mystic Code made just for this occasion!"
They passed through a group of enemies that Mash made quick work of. While Mash was fighting, Olga stood next to Ritsuka. "So, do you have any idea what these Heroic Spirits are?"
He nodded. "I have some basic ideas. I did read about them in the archives when I arrived."
"Oh? Someone immediately going to the archives? There's only one ever who did that aside from you. But no matter, that means I don't have to explain them to you. That's good." She says, but she looks a bit disappointed.
"Uh… Do you want to explain anyway?"
She did so very lengthily until a stray skeleton rapidly approached their position. Ritsuka blocked its attack with a piece of rubble and ran away, letting Mash finish it off. With the area clear, they resumed their walk, but it was clear that Olga was disappointed she was not able to finish her explanation.
Dr. Roman's hologram appeared next to Ritsuka. "Sheeeesh, I can feel the tension from across the screen, Ritsuka. I see the Director is back to her usual grumpy self."
"Is she always like this?" He asked.
Mash chimed into the conversation. "Well, I can feel sympathy for the Director. There's many things that happen in Chaldea that you haven't seen yet."
Ritsuka nodded. "That's true. I came here completely clueless. I feel like I've stepped into a world that I was never supposed to enter."
The girl bearing the shield nodded as well. "I'm not that different, to be honest. It's been two years since I started as a researcher in Chaldea but I still don't get it. I was like an alligator, I kind of sneaked in."
"I-I see?" He spoke, but in his mind, he thought, 'Alligator?'
"Yes, but I've done the best I could to learn from the database." Mash breathed deeply. "The Chaldea Security Organization is a research observatory composed of the world's best mages, scholars, and engineers, in order to protect Humanity's future."
"That sounds like something you would find in a brochure."
"Fou!" The small creature jumped onto Mash's shoulder again.
"That's pretty much it." Mash continued. "While Chaldea is funded by international groups, most of our funding comes from the Mages' Association in London… Specifically from the Animusphere Family, Director Olga Marie's family."
"And these families are important?" Ritsuka asked. Dr. Romani popped in.
"Yeah, mage families are a huge deal. While most of the world has advanced from aristocracy, at least superficially, the mage world has not."
"So the older the lineage, the more important they are?"
"That's right. Magecraft is basically treated like science, and each family has a very specific branch of magecraft they practice. So the longer the bloodline goes…"
"The more honed the magecraft becomes." Ritsuka completed. "Yeah, that makes sense."
"Oh, I need to do another update. Be careful, you three." The doctor waved before disappearing again.
Mash continued her explanation of Chaldea. "So there you have it, Senpai. Chaldea is first and foremost a research facility, but it operates on a military level. There are extremely strict rules and regulations, so the Director is actually quite reserved."
"That sounds rough."
"The Director isn't a villain, but she is evil. She'll get rid of any staff she doesn't like." Mash stopped. "Although perhaps calling someone with an unsavory attitude evil is incorrect."
Ritsuka nodded and looked at Olga. Her shoulders were tense, her legs were shaking, but she kept walking. "I don't think she's evil. I think… she just needs a little help."
"Is that so, Senpai?"
He nodded. "She reminds me of this one classmate I had in Senior Year High School. She was talented, did everything she could, and was an extremely hard worker." He sighed. "But even someone so gifted couldn't handle the burden she was carrying. So she snapped at everyone, making her unpopular."
Mash nodded. "She sounds like Director Olga."
"Then one day she stopped going to school. It was fine, she got the credits to graduate anyway, but it was sudden." Ritsuka recounted the young woman's black hair and shining brown eyes. He couldn't tell if they were friends back then, but maybe they were. "So I went to her house and she decided to begin working since her family couldn't support her anymore. I never saw her again after that."
"What happened?" The young girl listened intently.
"Last I heard, she worked abroad." He sighed. "I wonder where she is now."
"Fou! Kyuu!" Fou jumped on Mash's shoulder once more.
Olga turned around and started shouting at them. "Hey! Hey!". She was a fair ways away so they couldn't hear her. She started running towards them. "BEHIND YOU!"
But she was too late. An enemy swiped at Ritsuka from behind, but Mash protected him just in time with her arm, the bony fingers of the skeleton digging into the girl's skin and flesh, drawing blood. "Gah!" Mash winced in pain as she summoned her shield to engage.
"Mash!" Ritsuka evaded another skeleton, this one tore his uniform, mere centimeters from his skin. He grabbed rubble off of the ground and threw it at the enemy, stunning it, allowing Mash to crush its head. Olga caught up back with them.
"What were you doing?!" She shouted at him.
"I…" Ritsuka was left stunned. Suddenly, he felt a slap.
"Snap out of it!" She screamed. "Focus! Understand? Focus on your Servant right now."
He shook his head to clear it. "Right. Sorry." He turned to Mash and focused on giving her his magical energy.
"This is a hostile environment. Even if Servants are strong, even if Mash is strong, it doesn't matter if you, the Master, die." She continued. "So you have to stay vigilant in situations like this. Understand me, Ritsuka Fujimaru?"
"Right."
Mash finished the fight cleanly, but her wound still has not closed. The white-haired director ran towards the Demi-Servant. "Let me see that. I can heal this wound, but first, let's find a safe place."
The three of them walked towards another abandoned building. Olga sat Mash down where she could lean and cast healing magic on her arm. Ritsuka looked in awe at how Olga was handling the situation. She was high-strung, yes, but she was effective. "I need you to be more careful, Mash. You're a Demi-Servant but that doesn't mean you're an actual Servant. Your body is still human."
"R-right. Sorry, Director. Thank you." Mash answered.
While the young Master looked on, Dr. Roman appeared beside him. "The Director can be extremely helpful when she's calm."
"Dr. Roman…"
"Ritsuka, I'm not sure if you can already tell, but Olga Marie Animusphere's situation is very complicated." The doctor began. "Initially, Director Olga was a Master candidate just like you. However, three years ago, her father died."
Ritsuka drew a sharp breath.
"You can imagine the emotional burden that single event could bring, but that was only the beginning. As the sole heir, she had to take the role as the head of the Animusphere family. This meant inheriting all the responsibilities that come with that title. She was just a student by then." Dr. Roman continued. "She did all she could to keep Chaldea running. However, around that time, we discovered an anomaly in Chaldeas."
"An anomaly? Chaldeas is that giant globe, right?" He asked.
"Yes. Suddenly, we could not observe the future 100 years from now. She was forced by our sponsors, the Mages' Association and the UNited Nations, to fix it."
Ritsuka's eyes widened. "That's unfair."
The doctor nodded. "Correct. It was unfair. Not only that but they also found out that she had no aptitude to be a Master, so they got blackmail material on top of that. Can you imagine the scandal that would arise when people know that the head of the Animusphere family was not a suitable Master candidate? I'm sure the rumors reached Olga too."
The more he heard of her situation, the more Ritsuka felt angry. Angry at how unfair Olga's situation is. Angry at the people who put her in such a situation. Angry at how she's just taking it all herself even though she's clearly suffering. Even as she heals Mash, her hands shook, her knees shook, the crease on her forehead ever present. And worst of all, he felt angry at the world… and at Olga. Angry at how powerless she is in all of this. Angry that she's still standing. Why? Why is she still standing? It's ok to give up. It's ok to say that she's not strong enough for this. So why?
"Even so… She did her best as Director. This past year, she's been barely holding on." Dr. Roman looked crestfallen. He has seen her struggle, and try as he and Lev might to lighten her load, it was still too much for one human to bear. "She's worked so hard, she's running herself ragged. I want to take her in for counseling, but I never found the time. I should have forced myself into her schedule. Lev would have allowed it."
Ritsuka snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Dr. Roman slammed his fist. "Doctor…"
"She just needs a little help, Ritsuka. I could have been that help."
"It's not your fault, Doctor. Neither is it hers."
The doctor breathed out his frustrations. "There you have it. So please, don't take anything she does against her. She had to grow up too fast, with the weight of the world on her shoulders. She speaks her mind and has no tact about it. But even so, please deal kindly with her."
Ritsuka nodded. "I know. Director Olga Marie Animusphere… is not an evil person."
Dr. Roman nodded and smiled. "I'm glad you think so. Evil is subjective, based on perspective, but from the little I know of you, to think she is not evil is high praise. She would be glad to hear that from you."
"Really?"
"I'm sure of it."
Ritsuka sighed. Mash said something that earned a knuckle to the head from Olga. "Then maybe I'll compliment her when we come back. She's strong. The strongest person I've ever met."
"You might be right about that. You three are the only ones I can trust for this mission. Please continue searching for the cause of the Singularity and make it back… all three of you."
The young Master nodded. "I'll do my best."
Author's Note:
Hello. I guess I should introduce myself. I'm Blank Slate2356, otherwise known as Suspicious-Drummer in other circles. I'm an avid fan of FGO. I started this sort of rewrite of FGO's story from my hand because someone inspired me to do it on a whim and I just thought it would be fun. the story is the best part of FGO, and although I know it won't happen, I wish they would go back and tweak the earlier singularities a little bit to match the quality of the stories we have now. So I took it upon myself to rewrite them in a manner that I saw fit. Fair warning though: I am not that good of a writer.
Even so, I wanted to do my best. If you want to see how far I can go, let's embark on this familiar yet different journey together.
This is a work from my own heart, so needless to say I will give it my best.
With that, I bid you adieu. Have a wonderful day!
-BlankSlate2356