Chaldea

2015

30 minutes before the explosion

"Meaning he has a new caretaker," a smooth voice rang out.

Ritsuka and Gudako turned their heads in sync. Their eyes fell upon a man in green. The man had long messy hair and a green top hat lying on top of it. Gudako looked at him with a strange and curious look. Mash -who stood in front of the twins- had a somewhat surprised look on her face. The man looked at the three with a calm, nice smile.

"Anyway, Mash, I finally found you! You know the doctor's rule about wandering off like that," Lev scolded while maintaining his happy and cheerful tone. His gaze changed to the twins, "At the very least you made some new friends. I'm Lev Lainur, a technician here at Chaldea. You two must be the last recruits."

Gudako and Ritsuka looked at each other briefly. They were slightly put off by Lev's cheerful persona. Ritsuka let out a small cough, clearing his throat. "I'm Ritsuka Fujimaru, and this is my sister Gudako Fujimaru," the young boy greeted.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Gudako added, somewhat awkwardly.

"The pleasure is mine," Lev quickly replied with a tip of his hat. "If you don't mind me asking, how long was your training?"

"How about we leave that to your imagination," Ritsuka replied nervously.

"We were supposed to train?" Gudako asked, which earned a small glare from her brother.

Mash raised her eyebrow slightly as Lev laughed. The twins felt conflicting feelings from his laugh, one of comfort and one of unease. Lev looked at them with a slight smile.

"You know Ms. Fujimaru, you should follow your brother's example. This is a very competitive place, it's best to keep your cards close to your chest,' Lev explained to the redhead who merely nodded her head in acknowledgment. "Though I'm surprised they allowed complete amateurs here."

"Hey!? We are not amateurs," Gudako huffed, crossing her arms.

Ritsuka's face-palmed himself, as Lev chuckled. "That doesn't matter now, all we need is to fill up slots, You shouldn't need to do much."

"Thank you?" Ritsuka thanked, which sounded more like a question.

"I do apologize if I sound quite rude, I meant nothing by it," Lev apologized with a smile before looking down at a watch, which hung from his wrist. "Well look at the time we should head off to your Orientation!"

The twins looked at each other, both raising an eyebrow. Mash spoke up to explain to the two recruits. "Orientation is when the director greets all new candidates and informs them on the going about of Chaldea."

"Thank you for the explanation," Gudako chirped.

"You're welcome Senpai," Mash responded.

Gudako said nothing in response, not even sure if she was older than Mash, but she liked the small sense of superior feeling it gave her. Gudako had a rather wide smile on her face which was noticeable by all. Mash leaned toward Ritsuka, her eyes glancing at Gudako.

"Is she ok?" Mash asked, concerned for the redhead's health.

"To be honest, I'm not sure," Ritsuka whispered back. Mash's face turned to one of worry, which caused the boy to chuckle a bit. "Don't worry, she'll be fine."

Lev laughed at their antics before his lips thinned slightly. "We should be off now, If we're late the director might skin us all," he told them with a nervous chuckle.

Fuyuki City, Japan

2014

The hologram of Romani was visibly shaking as Olga chewed him out like a ravenous dog. Ari, Ritsuka, and Gudako watched nervously, while Ghost was speaking with Mash.

"By the Traveler, she's terrifying," Ari noted leaning against her glaive.

"Remind me to never get on her bad side," Gudako gulped, wiping away the sweat on her forehead.

"Me too," Ritsuka responded.

There was a brief moment of silence between the three, with the only major sounds coming from the director ranting. Ari looked about, with a few thoughts running through her mind. The first thought was why was everything burning, the second was where is she, more specifically when was she? Everything seemed quite primitive to what she was used to.

"Quick question: what is the place?' Ari asked the two teens who looked at each other.

Ritsuka rubbed his chin entering deep in thought, as Gudaki tapped her head. "Fuyuki, I believe," Ritsuk answered.

"Never heard of it," Ari started before some rammed into her mind like a rocket. "Wait a second, the name is starting to sound somewhat familiar; how curious."

Mash was explaining to Ghost what a Servant was. Servants are dead heroes and villains brought back by an item called a Holy Grail, with supernatural or as Ghost put it paracausal

Ghost looked at Mash, his blue eye looking at her curiously. "So what is a Demi-servant?"

"It's a person with the powers of a Servant, Ghost-san," Mash explained kindly.

"Then it must be a wonderful honor," Ghost chirped with an invisible smile.

"I suppose, but I don't feel I earned it," Mash sighed sadly.

"Everyone gets that feeling, it's just a matter of how you use your abilities in the present, not whether you earned it or not," Ghost explained, looking at Mash with his single blue eyes. "I've seen some questionable people get the gifts of the Light, some I would now consider friends."

"What do you mean," Mash asked.

"Simple, you recently got your powers right? Well then, now all you can do is use it for good," Ghost started bluntly.

There was a moment of silence. Mash was thinking to herself while Ghost flew over to Ari who was watching Olga yell at the terrified Romani. Olga was going off on him like a rabid dog.

"What happened the Lev!?" Olga screamed at the man.

"He didn't make-" Roman began before Olga quickly cut the doctor off.

"No, you had to overlook something, there's no way he's gone," Olga exclaimed, her voice beginning to break.

Memories entered Olga's head of the hours before all this. Tears swelled in her eyes, though she tried to hide them. The memories of the black flames filled her head.

Chaldea

2015

25 minutes before the explosion

Olga stared at SHEBA, a usually blue projection of earth, covered in a mysterious black flame with a white center starting back like an eye. She stood in the control room, where a plethora of people moved about working like ants. Olga was scared, though her stern rather mean persona hid it rather well. She looked down below to see the 50 or so chairs being filled. She turned to someone sitting at a computer screen.

"What is the progress of the singularity?" Olga asked her employee who was typing away on a small keypad.

"It seems the singularity is maintaining its C ranking ma'am," they said matter-of-factly.

"That's good for now, has anyone made contact with the outside world?" Olga asked.

No one answered causing Olga to glare at them. They shuddered as Olga sighed, leaving the room with an irritated sigh. She entered a small elevated heading downward to meet with the candidates. Within a few minutes, she made it to the candidates in front of SHEBA. Almost all seats were filled minus two, though she failed to notice. With a single cough, she began to speak

15 minutes before the explosion

Ritsuka was following Gudako and Mash, with Lev behind him. He felt extremely drowsy for some strange reason. Gudako on the other hand was bored, they'd been walking for 15 minutes in this maze of a facility. When they enter the large room they see the black eye staring down at them. Lev leaned toward the twins with a smile.

"I recommend you three don't draw attention to yourselves," Lev said in a nervous tone as the twins and Mash sat down.

Olga was talking about how singularities work before she noticed Lev. The man in green gave her a kind smile, to which she responded with a small sigh of relief.

"Singularities are altered parts of human history that can be devastating to human history. It's our job to ensure humanity's survival for the next hundred years. We discovered our largest Singularity yet, located in Fuyuki City. Most of you are the best young mages in the world, so all we ask is to get ready too," Olga explained until a sudden snore filled the air, interrupting her mid-sentence.

Ritsuka laid motionlessly in his chair, toward the back. He snored like a pig, while asleep. Gudako shook him violently in a fruitless attempt to wake him. Olga marched toward them, with Mash -who stood by Lev near the door- growing a nervous look.

Olga aggressively cleared her throat, with Ritsuka not paying any mind. "DO YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY!," she screamed.

That screech caused Ritsuka to shoot up, falling out of his chair. Ritsuka rubbed the back of his head, staring at the angry director. Gudako had a nervous smile as Olga's eyes twitched.

"I recommend you two leave before you die," Lev called out.

"Sorry, we're going to go ahead and bench ourselves," Gudako said before running off like a cheetah.

"What she said," Ritsuka said following suit.

The twins ran through the door leaving Olga in the dust. Lev was holding in a laugh, while Mash gulped.

"Should we help Senpais," Mash squeaked.

"No, they'll learn," Lev smiled walking away.

10 minutes before the explosion

Roman sat on a super comfortable bed, eating a nice vanilla cake like Marie Antoinette during the French Revolution. Roman was putting a piece in his mouth with the door suddenly opened revealing Ritsuka and Gudako.

"We are going to get fired on our first day, aren't we," Ritsuka exclaimed, panting heavily.

"Maybe don't sleep next time," Gudako scolded.

"Too little too late," Ritsuka sighed.

The twins noticed Roman who looked at them wide-eyed, mouth open with a fork holding cake just outside of his lips. The twins went pale before Roman finished his bite. Roman gave them a wave.

"I'm assuming you two got benched," Roman stated.

"Let's say that," Ritsuka responded with a coy smile.

Gudako looked at Roman's pink hair, finding it rather pretty. "You're hair is pretty."

"Thank you?" Roman thanked, raising an eyebrow.

Ritsuka gave him a shrug. "Anyway who are you?"

"Oh, I'm Romani Archman, the head doctor here, but you can just call me Roman," He greeted.

Ritsuka and Gudako observed the room, which looked more like a bedroom than a clinic. "Are you sure," Ritsuka asked.

"Yes, I'm just on break," Roman clarified to the two.

"Eating cake," Ritsuka added with a raised eyebrow.

"Cake is good, Ritsuka," Gudako huffed earning the eye roll of the male twin.

"Anyway, I'm Ritsuka Fujimaru and this is my sister Gudako," Ritsuka greeted gesturing to his sister.

"Hi," Gudako chirped with a wave.

Roman gave a wave to the two, and then a hologram of one Lev Lainur appeared, sitting in a chair. He had his usual kind eerie smile, though his eyes held a nervous.

"Romani, I need you in the control room," Lev ordered in his usual kind tone.

Roman quickly hid his cake behind his back, and a nervous and shocked look entered his eyes. "If I may ask, why?"

"We are short-staffed today, and with the singularity, we need all hands on deck," Lev stated.

"I will be there when I can," Roman said before continuing to eat his cake as the call ended.

"Are you going to do as you told," Gudako asked leaning toward the sloth-filled doctor.

"In a minute, I need to finish eating, then I need to check on the clinic," Roman explained.

Ritsuka sighed, already knowing he was lazy. He honestly hopes he never gets hurt so he doesn't have to see him. Gudako merely chuckled, finding his antics funny.

"We will see you later, fufu," Gudako chirped dragging her brother out of the room.

30 seconds before the explosion

Everything was quiet. Most of the Master Candidates finished summoning their Servants, and have entered the coffins for Rayshifting. Lev watched for the control room as a few fellow team members lifted boxes of equipment. The black frames of the white eye of SHEBA began to grow erratically.

All of a sudden an explosion went off in the control room before SHEBA released a pulse of black energy. A few candidates screamed as orbs of black flames appeared and dragged them like puppets. Rubble fell onto those we managed to escape killing them. The ones in the coffins were dragged into the orbs like death taking the souls of those who died. Then there was silence, minus the crackling of blazing fire.

Fuyuki City, Japan

2014

Olga sat down on some nearby rubble rubbing her eyes. Ritsuka and Gudako looked at each other as Ari stood by Ghost. Mash walked by the twins as they started at Olga. The hologram stood in between them.

"Director, what do you want us to do," Mash asked.

Olga sighed before staring up at Roman. "What is the status of all remaining Master Candidates?" she asked.

Roman looked down, before letting out a long sigh. "There isn't any, they are either dead or gone. Though the SHEBA seemed to regain its shape as earth, though it is a bright, dreadful orange," Roman explained.

"My god," Olga exclaimed in a quiet voice. She looked at the twins, with a slight glare. "You two might be the most incompetent Candidates I have ever seen, but now you are our only hope. Mash -though I don't know how- is a Demi-servant and Ari -whoever she is- is your's, so I order you two to help save humanity.

"It's not like we have a choice," Ritsuka stated.

"Of course," Gudako chirped excitedly.

Ari stepped before with Ghost above her shoulder. "Looks like a job didn't change much buddy."

"Hehe, not much at all," Ghost said with an invisible smile.

Mash nodded with a determined look on her face as they looked out into the burning city.

"Well, now all we need to do is figure out what is causing this singularity," Roman sighed.

A/N: I'm sorry this chapter took so long. The next one will primarily be about Ari and Mash's dynamic with the twins. Yes majority of the Master candidates were taken, and maybe some servants, who knows.

Now for spoiler-free questions:

Speedster419: Yes, some servants will get the Fate treatment, though only ones that don't appear in the game physically