It was the end of another doomed campaign that had its fate determined even before it started; with the latest victims being the Noble Fencer, and her other party members of adventurous and bombastic individuals. The Dungeon Master who had been pulling the strings that led up to the campaign's tragic ending let out a cynical chuckle, as he sat the tablet down onto the table; right beside the latest invention to come out of the decade so far: the "TRS-80 Model 100" portable computer. Although the portable computer was millennials behind the sort of technological inventions that his father and uncle had created in top secrecy, Dungeon Master found the clunky computer to be quite innovating on its own merit; especially considering that unlike the secret magus organization that his friends and family were associated with, the world's first portable computer was available to the public.
"Bloody fantastic work, lads; another successful ending, and another check mark I get to put onto the list," Dungeon Master said with a smirk across his lips, as he began typing away at the mechanical keyboard infront of him; navigating through the green text and black background of the small LCD monitor that was a part of the rectangular computer itself.
With everyone equipped with their own matted-black VR headsets that covered their ears with headphones taking them off one-by-one, the friends of Dungeon Master were trembling in their seats; some of them like the Fujimaru twins were able to laugh off the traumatic experience of being literal seconds away from being tortured and raped through the characters they were controlling, while others like Emiya and Rin were needing to catch their breaths.
Like usual, Sakura was left hyperventilating in her seat; her violet eyes widened and the color drained from her face, as every muscle in her body was tensed up. Even though the sight was one that he and everyone else had grown used to seeing after their campaign ended seconds away from them experiencing either painful deaths or sexual assaults, Emiya immediately got up from his seat to turn toward Sakura; kneeling down on one knee, and making sure not to touch the panicked teenager as he swiveled her chair over to his. "Matou-Chan… You're safe now; this isn't Zemuria anymore… It's okay; it's going to be okay," Emiya consoled in a calming voice; looking up reassuringly into Sakura's terrified eyes, which slowly relaxed, like the rest of her posture, the longer she focused on his face.
"S… Shirou-Kun…" The lavender-haired girl uttered out in a hoarse whisper; swallowing the lump in her throat, before slowly exhaling a breath through her now slightly-trembling lips. "Th… That was… H-Horrible… I… I'm not sure if going through all of this is… R-Really worth a two letters of r-recommendation," Sakura muttered out quietly, before sinking back into her sink as she slowly looked up towards the direction of the ceiling.
Although she admittedly was just as shaken up as her sister was over experiencing the mutilating fate of Half-Elf Warrior— the character she had the unfortunate task of controlling— Rin was able to mask her feelings better than Sakura, thus she sought to comfort her sibling. "W… What's temporary and non-lasting pain, in comparison to the endless opportunities that'll await us all, once we've secured ourselves those letters from Dr. Ashta, and Dr. Kishinami?" Rin asked openly as she looked around the table at her classmates, even though the question had been directed toward her younger sister.
Furrowing her thin eyebrows while squinting her eyelids, Sakura's lips tightened into a frustrated frown as she slowly turned her head toward the direction of Dungeon Master, who in turn was preoccupied with typing away an email. "I… I suppose you're right, Onee-Chan… Although, it would be wonderful if we didn't need to subjugate ourselves to such terrible experiences, just to get a lesser span of fortune as him and his siblings…" Sakura said quietly with spitefulness in her voice, as both Emiya and Rin turned their heads to look at the seventeen year-old who was too wrapped up in his own tasks to spare them any of his attention.
Feeling the tension in the air and looking to strike up his own conversation to help distract himself from his own trauma, Ritosuko combed his fingers through his black strands of hair before turning to look at Dungeon Master's younger brother, who was sitting down at his seat softly crying with his head hung down in deep thought. Leaning over the oak table with a friendly smile across his lips, Ritsuko waited until the brown eyes of the ten year-old finally noticed him, before finally speaking. "Goddamn, that sucked balls, huh Chris? Or as you Brits say: "bullocks"," Ritsuko said playfully, which earned him a reluctant smile from the brown-haired boy.
"Yeah… Yeah, that was rather terrible; like always," Chris replied back in a slightly choked-up voice, while needing to reach toward the center of the table to retrieve a tissue from the dispenser box that was set in the middle of the table. Taking a moment to wipe the tears from his cheeks before blowing his nose on the tissue, Chris let out a soft sigh as he began absent-mindfully balling up the used tissue in his hands. "I truly wish these things had happier endings; it always ends for those poor adventurers in such nightmarish circumstances."
Nodding his head with an agreeing expression on his face, Ritsuko momentarily turned his head away from the distraught child to exchange glances with his twin sister, before looking back at Chris. "Yeah, no kidding, huh? Say… If it were up to you, how would things have ended up panning out for those adventurers?" Ritsuko inquired, while feeling his heart warming up the moment he saw Chris' brown eyes lit up upon hearing his hypothetical question.
"W-Well…! If it were up to me… Noble Fencer would have crossed paths with a powerful and heroic mage, capable of using magecraft to solve all of their problems! Why, he would have gone up with Noble Fencer, and meet up with her party members, BEFORE those nasty goblins got their chance to overrun those poor souls," Chris replied, while speaking with more confidence as he got lost in his storytelling; something that both Fujimaru twins found to be cute, as it was uplifting for them to hear. "They would have build a bunch of defenses using the same technology Father and Uncle Kishinami use, and wipe out all of those vile creatures within the cavern without anyone getting hurt; saving all those captured women, and securing themselves a whole bloody bunch of loot in the process! Then, they would all go to their lake home, and spend a day relaxing before going back out on more adventures together; just like one big happy family, who fight to protect others from the evils of their world!"
Being just as inspired and lifted as almost everyone else around the table who had listened to Chris' alternative events that he would have set in motion had he been in charge of that specific campaign, Ritsuka smiled sweetly at Dungeon Master's younger brother, before turning her attention over to his younger sister, who was only fourteen years-old, and had long orange hair that went all the way down the middle of her back. "Hey Abby, what about you? What would you've differently from your asshole brother?" The red-headed teenager with pig-tails asked, while flashing a sassy glare over at Dungeon Master, who was still face-deep in the monitor of his computer.
Rolling his eyes while letting out a scoff, Dungeon Master looked up from the paragraph he had been drafting in his email to meet Ritsuka's slightly judgemental brown-eyes. "Not quite sure how many bloody times I've told you before, Ritsuka: I'm not the fuckin' one who's deciding these endings; that would be my father, not me. I'm just the poor bastard who's in charge of this fuckin' miserable project," Dungon Master explained in his Cockney accent, which differed from the proper accent that his younger siblings spoke with.
Resisting the urge to get up from her chair to punch the other teenager in his face, Ritsuka was glaring daggers at Dungeon Master, as she took a moment to recompose herself before speaking. "You know… Until you're the one who's having to wear the headset, I'd kindly suggest that you shut the hell up about whatever "suffering" you're going through; because I guarantee that it's nothing compared to what we go through," Ritsuka rebutted with a fake smile across her lips; one that didn't phase Dungeon Master, as he simply lowered his eyelids annoyingly at her, before reading his own rebuttal.
"This isn't easy for me either, Ritsuka. And besides, you're not the one who receives hateful stares, and gets treated like a self-centered sod who derives pleasure from being seen as the villian," Dungeon Master shot back; making the five other teenagers feel a bit uncomfortable, as he began looking at each and every one of them around the table. "Don't assume that I'm bloody blind to the fuckin' way you lot gob at me, and don't assume either that I'm deaf to the spiteful way you all speak about me amongst yourselves," Dungon Mastered said with a cynical tone in his voice; revealing to everyone that he wasn't as oblivious while behind his monitor as they assumed.
And before anyone could speak to defend themselves, the most unaffected one out of all of them who actually enjoyed playing the roles she would be given spoke up to her older brother. "Lorenzo, Daddy only tasked you with ensuring that our party would be defeated by goblins, with Noble Fencer surviving the whole ordeal. Daddy nor Uncle Kishinami never ever specified that the adventurers had to be mutilated and sexually assaulted; that was entirely your own decision to make, not theirs," Abby pointed out factually, with an almost indifferent tone in her voice as she stared eerily into Dungeon Master's blue eyes.
Even though everyone else at the table had already known about what the fourteen year-old had stated, Dungeon Master became defensive as he scowled back at his younger sister's emerald-green eyes. "… Father wanted this world to be immersive, and for the world building to be as realistic as it could be for a fuckin' "Dungons and Dragons" fantasy setting. Present and past, last I bloody fuckin' checked, this whole world's a burning shithole that's chalk-full of fucked up shit," Dungon Master stated with a angered undertone to the way he spoke to his own sister, who in turned didn't seem phased from the way her brother was speaking vulgarly with her. "There are no happy fuckin' endings in this world, mates; spoiler alert, you're all going to bloody die alone, afraid, and in pain… So why shouldn't these make-believe little fuckin' muppets be spared of that? It's bloody daft, innit Chris?" Dungeon Master asked in a dark voice, as he focused his glaring eyes upon his timid younger brother.
Unable to speak up directly against his older brother, Chris averted his teary gaze away from the way Dungeon Master was staring daggers down at him. Only once he wasn't feeling hated underneath his resentful brother's eyes did the softly crying child begin to speak hoarsely once again. "That's… That's not true… N-None of that's true," Chris spoke in a barely audible voice, while unable to hold back the fresh teardrops that were trickling down his cheeks. "These aren't… Imaginary people, Ren; Dad said that they're real; that they're from another universe… They don't deserve to suffer because of you; it's… It's not fair…"
Scoffing once again as a spiteful and humorless laugh escaped his throat, Dungeon Master rolled his eyes at Chris before suddenly scaring the child by quickly getting up out of his seat and stepping toward him; looking over the crying child, and taking pleasure from the way his younger brother was too frightened of him to continue arguing his point to him. "You're fuckin' retarded if you actually believe that bullshit story Father pulled out of his ass, about this being anything more than just some bloody fuckin' video game!" Dungeon Master managed to scream at his younger brother, before suddenly being blind-sided by the sucker punch that was delivered to him by Ritsuka, who had enough of the way he was treating his own little brother.
Stumbling back while regaining his balance, Dungeon Master scowled back at the furious expression that Ritsuka was giving him; the red-headed teen's teeth bared and her eyes widened, as she fumed with enough anger to begin tearing up slightly. "I don't give a damn about whether or not your Dr. Ashta's eldest child; you don't ever speak that way to Chris-Kun, or any of us for that matter! You try that bullshit again, and I'll fuck you up, HARD!" The fiery hot-headed teen screamed out, as she cocked her fist with the intention of delivering a right-hook to back up her words.
That's when Ritsuko stepped in, and was forced to restrain his sister's arms behind her back; gritting his teeth, as she proved her resilience with the way she fought to break free out of his hold. "Easy there, Killer; easy! You got your point across, sis; I think he's got the message. Right, Ren?" The black-haired teen asked with a challenging and stressed out smile across his face; as though he was fully prepared to join his sister, if Dungeon Master had the nerve to wrong his own sister.
While Emiya didn't think Dungeon Master would strike back at Ritsuka— especially when he was outnumbered by the five of them— the teenager still felt it necessary to further de-escalate the situation by moving around the round table to place himself between the twins, and the light-brown haired teenager. Giving Dungeon Master a stern yet empathic look, Emiya could feel everyone's eyes on him as he stood silently before the enraged teen. "… Let's go upstairs, Ren; we'll get something for that eye, and cool off with a walk outside, or something else to take your mind off all of this." Emiya insisted firmly behind a calm demeanor, as he reached up with one hand to firmly grasp Dungeon Master's left shoulder.
Feeling unwanted in his own home, as well as stripped of whatever dignity and control he felt as the curator of their latest campaign, Dungeon Master fumed with frustration as he smacked Emiya hand away from his shoulder, before turning around to storm up the staircase leading out from the basement, and into the living room on the surface level of his father's manor. Already hearing multiple footsteps following behind him, Dungeon Master was trying his damndest to bottle up his repressed emotions by focusing on the trip up the next flight of stairs that led up to his bedroom on the fifth level of his family's massive home.
By the time that he walked through his bedroom door and slammed it shut behind him, Dungeon Master's pale cheeks were ridden with tears as his breathing became rapid and shallow. Locking the door handle just in time before it began to rattle, Dungeon Master stumbled over to his bed before throwing himself face-first into the comforter sheet, muffling his sobs, as he began to hear the sounds of his friends speaking from the otherside of his bedroom door. Filled with agony and despair, and an overwhelming sense of sadness stemming from a sense of loss that all started to flood into his head, Dungeon Master lost track of time as the voices of his friends and siblings became deafed by his own misery.
It wasn't until he heard the sound of heavy footsteps coming down the hallway outside did Dungeon Master become aware once more of his surroundings; his panicked mind snapping out of his own pit of despair. No longer hearing his friends or siblings attempting to reach out to him from outside his bedroom, all Dungeon Master could hear was the sound of the door handle being unlocked before it was turned and pulled open; the teenager's racing heart dropping into the bottom of his chest, the moment he felt himself shrinking underneath the enigmatic stare his father was giving him.
"… Abigail," the tall athletic-man called out in a deep-gravelly voice; his piercing stare never straying away from his eldest son, who was now sitting up at the edge of the bed with his hands raised up to wipe his relentless tears from his face.
"Yes, Daddy?" Abby replied with an amorous smile and sparkling eyes, as she stared happily at her father while standing directly by his side; eager to follow his command.
"Be a doll, and have Christopher help you with bringing Lorenzo's little mates downstairs; they're free to stay if they desire, but I must have privacy with your brother," Father said, while carrying an intimidating aura about him that made everyone but his daughter feel uneasy.
Nodding her excitingly, Abby wrapped her arms around her father's waist and began nuzzling her blushing cheek against the side of his arm as she replied, "Yes, Daddy! Anything for you!"
Using his other hand to pat his daughter on the top of her head, all without still taking his eyes off of his own son, Father replied to Abby, "Good girl… Now go on; Lorenzo and I are about to have a "man-to-man" discussion."
Satisfied with her father's approval, Abby perked up as she reluctantly let go of him to begin having Chris walking behind her as she started to relay her father's orders to the five teenagers; taking charge of the situation, and beginning to usher her brother's friends downstairs as Father closes the bedroom door behind him. From there, the exhausted and mentally drained man in his late-thirties with his baggy eyes and clean-shaven face sighed heavily; his all-black formal attire and well-groomed long-hair contrasted with the gray undershirt and blue-denim shorts that his eldest son wore.
"… I've read over your latest email, and managed to get an overview of the latest campaign you, your siblings, and your mates completed. Well done, Lorenzo; you and your team are doing a superbious job in ensuring that "Project Zero" is becoming more-and-more developed and fleshed out by the day," Father congratulated in his usual stoic and uncaring voice; letting out a yawn afterward, before proceeding to rub his tired eyes with his thumb and finger. "Look… I've always been more than aware of your little dark-twisted fantasies that you've been plugging into Project Zero. Not that I care much about the doomed individuals who you've been subjecting to rape and torture, but your cynical take on nihilism is starting to affect your ability to administer these sessions; and I simply can't have you going about, and ruining this project up for me, Lorenzo… You wouldn't want your dear brother or sister to have to take on the strenuous burden of having to inflict such misery and pain onto the people your friends possess remotely, right son?"
Cringing at the thought of someone as sensitive as Chris, or susceptible Abby was having to create life-ending traps, summon the most disgusting and monstrous creatures to inflict suffering onto his own friend, and having to carry that burden while dealing with their own personal demons, Dungeon Master felt immensely sickened the longer his mind lingered on what his own father was reluctant to do as a last resort. Lowering his head and gripping his fingers tightly into the edge of the mattress, "… No Father; I wouldn't want such a thing," Dungeon Master said in a shaky voice, all while fighting back the tears that were threatening to leak out of the corners of his watery eyes.
Satisfied with how short the conversation ended up being, thanks to his own threat that he was fully prepared to make good on if his son continued to disobey his expectations, Father smirked slightly at his eldest son as he stuck his hands into the sides of his expensive black-slacks. "Excellent; I'm glad you and I understand one another, and have come to an agreement… Now clean yourself off, Lorenzo; crying is reserved for boys, not men," Father said in a disapproving voice; feeling irritated with how much his two sons would cry their eyes out regularly, while his star daughter was exactly how he wanted her to be: obedient, and useful.
"Get a move on; if your friends are still waiting for you downstairs, I'll entertain them and buy you all some pizzas, and some sodas as well to help you all prepare for the next campaign. I'll be taking Abby and Chris with me to visit Uncle Kishinami and his daughter at the new psyche ward she's been relocated to… Maybe you'll visit her yourself, one day," Father said with his usual disappointed and almost exhaustingly-indifferent tone of voice, making his eldest son feel like absolute shit. And before taking his leave, Father remained standing with his back turned toward Dungeon Master, creating tension that made the hairs in the back of his son's neck stand up.
That's when Father let out a deep sigh, before slowly turning his head toward his shoulder to stare back at Dungeon Master from the corner of his tired blue-eye. "… It's been seven years, Lorenzo; what happened to her was beyond your control. You're lucky you're still alive after what those little-fuckers did to you, before they…" Father trailed off; finding it incredibly hard to bring up the horrid fate that had been brought upon his goddaughter. Raising his hand up to rub his palm slowly down against his face, Father regained his composure quickly; giving Dungeon Master one last empathetic and disappointed glance, before turning his head forward and away from his direction.
"… This world is twisted, Lorenzo. Never forget that, but don't allow yourself to be consumed by it. Fate and destiny are the excuses of those who can't take control of their own lives; you're not that helpless ten-year old that you were back then, so enough with this self-pity and self-loathing that you've grown to find comfort in. It's sad, and downright pathetic to see in someone who's got so much potential, such as yourself," Father said as his departing words; closing the door shut behind him.