Summary: No one wanted to leave Vy and Mash when the Mages Association ordered all Heroic Spirits to be banished from the realm of the living. After all, the Grand Order was not something that could be forgotten, even if those in power wanted all proof of it to disappear. Now in the Order of the Lostbelts, before the Shadow Border entered China, two old Servants come back to a new Chaldea from the old Da Vinci's suitcase. There they find one familiar girl waiting for them in the Summoning Room.

Note: This was inspired by a text conversation I had with a very good friend after coming home from my new job for the second day. Even when I was tired and I had no clue of what he was doing, his messages were still nice to see and it reminded me that I'm not alone.

I wanted that warmth to be reflected into this story, even if I can only impart a little.

The theme for this chapter is Ocean of Memories, one of the tracks composed by Hideyuki Fukusawa for Ufotable's adaptation of Unlimited Blade Works. Considering who stars in this, the Servants being my first Gold Archer and my first Saberface, I find it fitting. CW: for Lostbelt 3 SIN's prologue, the tiniest bit of language, and this being largely unedited outside of me, since I wrote this on muse's whim (as the rest of the chapters of this fic can be attested to).

Please enjoy.

Day 7: Resummoning

EMIYA already knew something was wrong when his Spirit Origin didn't go back to the Throne of Heroes from the Unsummoning Process. Da Vinci had winked at him before going through with what she had planned, and by then, it was a blur. Time wasn't a thing. Well, aside from the constant feeling of being shoved into what was way too cramped of a living space for more than 100 Servants.

The faint sounds of fighting outside proved that Vy and Mash were still out there. That the girls they adopted and loved as their own were suffering somewhere. The phantoms Vy called for every now and then shared things that EMIYA didn't want to believe, and when the veterans were allowed to materialize one at a time per day after some kind of agreement was made, that settled it.

The Grand Order may have been finished, but something aside from the remaining Demon God Pillars had surfaced in its place and every single Servant knew by then that Vy was crying herself to bed again.

Vy was, for the better or worse, being forced to wipe out populations of people (like how he used to) just to survive. The report Scathach-Skadi scathingly gave after Chaldea had visited Russia confirmed the Counter Guardian analogy enough to make EMIYA want to vomit.

How could their enemy do this? Hell, how could the world of humanity put her up this?

Vy — their anxious, hardworking Master was pushing herself again and again without end. Without having tangible physical form, EMIYA knew he shared every other Heroic Spirit's urge to fight and get out there. Vy could only get by with Mash and the rest of Chaldea's help for so long. Everyone could feel her mana waver more and more with each trip. With each battle.

The Servants had to do something aside from check-ups.

He just wasn't expecting a voice to call out his name into that cramped space past all the chattering and worried yammering.

"Shirou?"

Even when Da Vinci was using that infuriating name, there was no way EMIYA wouldn't answer. Not when he could feel Vy's mana flicker again.

Saber Alter didn't really like Vy at first. After all, Vy embodied everything she hated since she had touched the Grail's mud and became the ideal King Arthur couldn't reach. Kindness, weakness, frailness, all those things. The fact that Vy couldn't even support two Excalibur Morgans back to back from fatigue made Saber Alter's opinion worsen.

But Vy still stayed in spite of the obvious fear. With a gentle tired smile, she had always offered an extra hamburger to Alter's plate at the Chaldea dining hall, sitting next to her even when her voice couldn't go higher than a decibel. Vy still gave Alter embers, attack and defense enhancements, and time as much as she did her other Servants. The number of times Alter later found Vy smiling at her happily after battle instead of the usual shakiness made something in her soften.

Alter knew she would not want to answer to anyone but her. Not after the Fifth Holy Grail War. Not after dying once and coming up to a girl who couldn't stop for a break even if it meant she could help herself.

It was almost sad, thinking about the irony of Alter's current circumstances. Her old mindset, all embodied in a girl she was made to serve.

So when Da Vinci, even with a smaller hand, reached into the suitcase where all the Servants' Spirit Origins were stored, and asked, "Who would like to visit Vy first?" — Alter already knew she would make herself be in front.

Vy's eyes hadn't changed when EMIYA and Alter both surfaced from their hiding places in the New Chaldea facility in the Wandering Sea. They were wide, teary, and so, so bright in contrast to everything else.

Colored brown and filled with hope.

"Oh my," Mash said from near Vy's side. Even if her shoulders looked so, so much broader from the last time they had all been together, she was still Mash. Glasses, purple eyes, and all. "Sion-san, y-you did too much."

Everyone else, though…

"Hey, you needed the help, right?" The purple-haired human (or was she a vampire?) made a peace sign for victory. And, in a way, EMIYA and Alter got a victory, didn't they?

When the Servants glanced at the rest of Chaldea's company, Da Vinci grinned (which was still strange since she was definitely bigger before, what the hell happened while they were away?) while the new helpful arrivals to Chaldea's staff in Sion and Goredolf smiled and gaped respectively.

"The fat one looks like you," Alter mock-whispered to EMIYA as they slowly made their way over to Vy's side.

Oh, what the hell. "If you're referring to my past self, then put a sock on it," EMIYA replied in an equally quiet voice, holding back the urge to sigh. "I was never so pale back then and in the man's meager defense, the new Director has been poisoned, Saber."

"Bah." Alter waved her hand in the air, barely avoiding hitting EMIYA's shoulder. Yep. Definitely a corrupt version of Arturia Pendragon. "We can talk about past lives another time, Counter Guardian. We both know why we're here."

EMIYA shrugged his shoulders with an exasperated smile once Vy blinked up at them upon their arrival, breaking off the dead stare she was doing for the past few minutes it took for the Servants to walk up to her. Her bottom lip quivered. Yep. It was Vy. Definitely Vy. Fragile, kind, and so strong to make it this far.

Nothing — not even a new black Mystic Code or a new ponytail hairstyle — could change that.

"…Archer?" Vy breathed out shakily. "Saber?"

Well, shit.

"What is with that face, Master?" Saber Alter proceeded to exaggeratedly stride up to Vy, raising her hands to pull at the girl's cheeks. Ignoring the squeals that came out at that point from both Master and other humans (Alter acknowledged Mash's worried "Senpai!" with a nod, though), Alter tugged harder. "I thought the Master Archer and I both knew wouldn't cry at seeing us again."

"Owowowow, I-I mean, yeah?" Vy made the reply sound like a question with the last part, causing Alter to step back and let go of her now reddening cheeks, but her nose still scrunched up from emotion. The tears were definitely going to fall now. Double shit. "But, but… Alter… You a-and Shirou…"

Alter sighed. "I give up." With a toss of her head, Alter glanced at EMIYA and said, "Deal with this," before walking backwards towards Da Vinci.

Before EMIYA could even say a word, however, Vy bent her knees and jumped.

"What in the tarnation—" Alter yelled out in mock rage just as Vy collided with her chest first. Once both women had started to lose their balance from the laws of physics, Archer relied on his Hawkeye Skill just to rush over and catch them both in his arms.

A moment passed. Elbows bumped into each other, there was some yelling behind them, but Archer focused in on the one human he could call close to a true Hero of Justice thanks to the Grand Order.

Alter murmured a gentler, "Master?" before the dam eventually broke.

"W-Welcome back!" Vy cried out loudly, breaking the silence while feeling warmer than usual (and definitely feverish, what the fuck, Archer EMIYA wanted to comment on this), just as she hugged both Servants tightly. If not for the Servants being, well, Servants, EMIYA thought the force would be enough to make someone cry uncle. "W-W…" There was sniffling. There was definitely sniffling. And EMIYA could've sworn out of the corner of his eye that Goredolf and Meunière turned their heads away and proceeded to offer each other handkerchiefs. Huh. "Welcome back…! I-I'm just… I'm just so happy…!"

I missed you two so much, was left unsaid, but both Heroic Spirits knew what their little Master wanted to voice.

The thought alone made Alter demur almost immediately, breaking the haughty facade by wrapping the teenager up into her arms in her own awkward embrace. EMIYA hugged them both to his chest, sighing wordlessly. "Vy…"

"I'm sorry, Master," EMIYA said for the both of them, interrupting Alter's train of thought. He was probably speaking for the rest of the Servants who were still waiting on the Wandering Sea's Summoning System, too, when thinking on it. "We shouldn't have left. But you did well in surviving so far."

"Th-Thanks to you both…" Vy was clearly on the verge of sobbing if not for the Shadow Border's hum of its engine, nor for Mash's teary visage either. "I-If not for your power—"

"We know. We're here now, Vy," Alter cut in quietly, pressing her cheek into the top of Vy's straight brown hair. The phantoms said enough. "And we won't leave you."

Never again.

Vy let out a noise close to a mix of a scream and a sob at that point, finally making Mash move in on the group hug too. Archer merely opened his arms just before the Demi-Servant had leapt forward, catching Mash smack-dab in the center of the embrace as the grips became more uniform. The grips were starting to feel more like family.

"Welcome back, everyone," Vy cried softly, pressing her forehead into Alter's dress as Mash murmured unintelligible words of comfort into Vy's shoulder blades. "Welcome back."

To EMIYA, right then and there, Alter almost sounded like his Saber when she said, "We're home."

Even with Vy feverish and sniveling worse than the usual symptoms of a cold, Archer could fool himself into believing their environment of the Wandering Sea had the faint smell of tatami mats. Archer could've made himself believe that they all were home again.

Chaldea the building was gone, but Chaldea the people were still here. That alone made Archer and Alter both feel all the more grateful for it.

Vy was poisoned, just like the new fool of a Director in Goredolf, but the Servants all agreed they'd get her the antidote. Just to make up for leaving. Just to give the enemy the middle finger they deserved. Failure was not an option.

After all, Vy was still alive together with Mash. Archer and Alter knew they'd be damned to let that change for the worse.