021 - Hundred years' war of the evil dragons (Part 1)

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This is a story from once upon a time, centuries into the past and a little squirm sideways. A different way history could've gone, if the right actors had access to the proper tools. An island of causality floating in the sea of time, maintained by a golden miracle and designed by a disappointed conductor. A Singularity.

A woman stands in front of a magic circle, deep within the bowels of a dark castle. She wears dark armor over dark clothes, sporting a dark expression that takes away from her otherwise beautiful features. It's as if darkness itself enshrouds her figure, her demeanor, her heart. A dark aura that would suffocate anyone daring to approach.

And yet, there's an undeniable elegance to her person, a dark charisma that suffuses all her being as she activates the magic circle and starts up a ritual. That sort of presence isn't easy to project, it speaks of an incredible natural talent or long hours spent practicing in front of a mirror.

As she speaks the great words of power, bringing into her world five champions blinded by madness, a single man watches from the shadows. He waits in patient silence as she imposes her will over the Berserker-Servants, the disturbing smile on his face only growing wider and wider until the five are dismissed to perform their tasks.

He cannot contain his glee anymore, breaking out into cackles as he joins the woman's side, eager to discuss their next move. That's his one and only wish, to see more of this woman's choices play out, to see more of this woman's desires come true. To watch this woman unleash her hatred and wrath upon this godless world and burn it down to cinder.

They walk down cold and shadowy corridors, idly discussing the fall of a kingdom. Facing a certain man of the cloth, already tied down to the stake and ready for execution. A man she makes a great show out of mocking and taunting and a man that, ultimately, she gleefully sets on fire.

And yet, for all the pomp she throws into the act, for all the affectation behind her words and gestures… There's far too little satisfaction in her eyes as the man burns to death, there's scarcely any feeling shining through a smile that's made for the sake of others.

This is a woman born from fire, who was brought to life by a higher power. An empty vessel filled with another's will, who won't stop at anything to see it through. The man isn't the only one who feels drawn towards the woman. There's a sense of belonging, a hint of kinship that ties this black-clad avenger to a certain outside observer.

And yet, the resemblances end there. In spite of everything they have in common, this miracle, this woman…

There's nothing to her, just a pile of bad memories drenched on a deluge of grudges birthed from the dreams of a madman and brewed by a Holy Grail.

She has nothing but that which brought her to life. She is nothing but what she was brought to live for. It brings her no pleasure or sense of fulfillment, no matter how much she tries to tell herself otherwise. She is the only thing she could possibly be, trying her best to close her eyes to her own nature.

So pointless, so… empty.

What a waste of a miracle.

Suddenly, the woman's body stiffens and her gleeful cackling cuts off. A snarl comes to her lips as she turns around, eyes narrowing in outrage as she scans her surroundings.

"Who's there?" She demands, head still wiping from side to side, looking for something that simply isn't there. "Show yourself!"

"Jeanne?" The man asks worriedly, fingers clenching around the bizarre book he's holding against his chest. "What's wrong?"

There's no forthcoming answer at first and the black-clad woman continues to turn around, stubbornly eyeing her surroundings. Her attention rapidly snaps from place to place, drawn by a glint on the battlement, a piece of tarp shifting in the wind, a bird taking flight from a watchtower…

Finally, her head turns straight up, glaring at the bright ring of light occupying the sky. The glare is held for a long moment before the woman gives up with an aggressive tsk.

"I heard… a voice." She finally explains, speaking slowly as she rubs the bridge of her nose in frustration. "It dared to disapprove of me, it dared to pity me."

At these words, the eyes of the man, already wide and protruding, make a good attempt at falling from his skull. But he recovers quickly and, since the woman wasn't looking in his direction, she misses the reaction altogether.

"Are you… feeling alright, Jeanne?" He asks carefully instead. "Does your head hurt? Any dizziness, maybe? We have already dealt with all pressing matters, why don't you let me handle the minor details and take a break?"

"What are you suggesting, Gilles? Do you think I'm some weak maiden that…?" She trails off when she notices the way her hand is trembling, hurriedly hiding it behind her back and immediately changing her tune. "Actually, you might be right. Summoning so many Servants at the same time seems to have taken a toll on me. I think I'll retire to my chambers for a brief rest."

Unfortunately, she wasn't nearly as subtle as the man and the man wasn't nearly as distracted as her. As Jeanne walks back into the castle, Gilles carefully eyes her figure, worriedly looking for any sign of weakness or wavering. It isn't until she's disappeared from sight that he allows himself to relax again.

"Could it be… the Voice of God? No, it cannot be, God doesn't exist. It must've been them." He mutters under his breath. "Yes, that makes sense. It's earlier than expected, but that's of no consequence, we've already made our preparations. Nobody will take my Jeanne away from me again! Nobody!"

Mashu Kyrielight

It's been two weeks since Singularity F was solved. Saying Chaldea has recovered from Lev's sabotage would be going too far, but the situation has certainly stabilized ever since. The Lady Director has worked very hard to ensure as much functionality as possible was returned to the installations.

That involved a lot of personnel wrangling, fine-tuning schedules to optimize productivity while addressing the different tasks in a strict priority basis. That would've been a challenging and exhausting task even in normal circumstances, but they are in very much abnormal circumstances at the moment. After the bombs, the staff has more holes than actual people fit for work, be it because they're still recovering from injury or because they are… no longer with them.

The Lady Director had to do all that on her own without anyone's help, because the few people who could help her had more pressing tasks to accomplish. Like keeping their few surviving generators from exploding. Or ensuring the holes in the staff are refilled as soon as possible. And most people will never know how much pressure she's under or how hard she works for them.

Even now, the Lady Director is something of a boogeyman for most of the people at Chaldea, always grouchy and ready to snap at them for the slightest mistake. Mashu is only aware of the bigger picture because the Lady Director has taken to inviting her for tea every other day. They talk about things and they learn about each other.

It's nice.

The rest of the time, Mashu spends diving into pseudo singularities in expeditions to gather supplies or otherwise using the simulations to train with Senpai. Which is nice too, but it has also become kind of… awkward.

After that first and intensely mortifying experience the night right after returning from Singularity F, Mashu hasn't dreamed about Senpai's past again, but there's been… other dreams. Nowadays, it's not rare for Mashu to find herself incapable of looking at Senpai's face in the morning. Some other times, she has trouble looking at Lady Director's.

She's been doing some discreet research on the side when she's had the chance and this is apparently normal during puberty. Which should be reassuring but it really isn't, because that means there's no real solution to her problem beyond waiting it out.

Look at today, for example, she's been sent to wake up Senpai for an emergency meeting and that shouldn't be a problem at all. For a Servant, to visit her Master's bedroom should be nothing out of the ordinary. It wouldn't have been a problem two weeks ago.

But now Mashu has a dirty mind and she cannot step into Senpai's personal space without getting all sorts of improper thoughts. Being sent to wake her up might also mean having to help her out of bed. And Haku-senpai sleeps naked! Which is something Mashu would rather never have learned about(, even if she'll probably treasure that memory for the rest of her life).

She kind of misses when all the senxual context flew right over her head. This isn't what she had in mind when she said she wanted to experience every aspect of being a normal human being!

And what if Haku-senpai is very sleepy? Like really sleepy? What if, when Mashu tries to get her off her bed, Senpai drags her into the bed instead? She'd be trapped under the sheets with a naked Senpai and it wouldn't be fair if she was the only one dressed so she'd have to get naked too and then one thing would lead to another and (she'd be ruined for marriage) they'd be late for the meeting and—

"No, Mashu! Stop that!" She chastises herself. "Stop being dirty!"

Stopping right in front of Senpai's room, the Demi-Servant shakes her head cutely and tries to vanish the dirty thoughts by slapping her flustered cheeks. It somewhat works, but now her cheeks sting and feel warm. They probably got even redder.

Firmly shoving all her hesitations and inappropriate thoughts into some dark corner of her mind, Mashu takes a deep breath and pushes the intercom.

"Senpai? G-good morning!" She greets as soon as the intercom light pings green. "I'm here to pick you up! We have an emergency meeting in five minutes!"

She then awaits for an answer with bated breath. The normal intercom functions won't work at all if the resident is asleep, so the small green pilot light means Senpai is awake. But that doesn't mean she's out of bed or in any state to receive guests. Making that particular assumption is how Mashu ended up learning more than she ever wanted about Haku-senpai's sleeping habits.

And what sort of person invites others into her room while she's naked in bed?

Senpai must really trust Mashu, it's a bit humbling, actually.

"P-please ensure you're ready to leave as soon as possible" She adds after some hesitation, suddenly worried Senpai will just invite her in again. "We are a bit short on time."

Much to her (disappointment) relief, the door promptly opens, revealing a perfectly dressed Senpai with clear eyes and a bright smile. It looks like she wasn't in bed at all. That's… good. That's good.

Shut up, dirty mind! It is!

"Good morning, Mashu!" Haku-senpai greets Mashu with her usual cheer, utterly unaware of the thoughts running through the mind of her not-so-innocent-anymore kouhai. "Any idea what this is about?"

"Ah, yes! We have locked on the coordinates for the next Singularity!"

"Finally, some real action!" Haku-senpai groans in satisfaction, stretching exaggeratedly in a way that rather flatters her bust. "Diving pseudo-singularities is good and all, but I was hoping for something more interesting than beating up ominous hands and creepy doors!"

Mashu says nothing, looking away guiltily and hurrying ahead so she won't feel the temptation to also stare at Senpai's butt.

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