"Ughhh.." Groaning, Shido opened his eyes, taking a moment for his eyes to get accustomed to the light.

As his vision cleared up, he realized that he seemed to be laying down in a medical bed, with some bandages tied around his arms.

"Oh, are you finally up?" Shido turned to see the one servant he hadn't seen in person, Da Vinci said as she sat down beside him.

Shido tried to sit up, only to let out a small hiss of pain. He ultimately ended up being able to sit up on the bed by enduring the pain, but it didn't subside even after he stopped moving.

"Be careful there. Your body has gone through a lot since Camael manifested itself inside you." Da Vinci cautioned as she stood, merely watching as Shido struggled to try and stand up before sighing, and hooking her arm with his to support his body.

"How..long has it..been?" Shido asked, leaning on Da Vinci for support as she helped him exit the medical bay, and into the hallways to get to wherever she was leading him.

"It's been about 3 days since everything with Singularity F happened. Everyone else has already recovered. And that bastard even went too far, trying to harm this amazing and beautiful body..!" Da Vinci seemed to grow irritated at the last bit, no doubt talking about her promise with Angra.

Still.. It all feels a bit surreal right now..

Shido could only think that as he heard Da Vinci explain more about their current situation. Seemingly just using him to express her annoyance with everything, from all the injured still in recovery, repairs they had worked night and day to finish, to even Angra, well, being himself.

Though, apparently for the last two days, Mash had been waiting for him to wake up. It was only when she fell asleep from being too tired and by the insistence of Romani and Fou that she went to her own room to recover. Da Vinci told him that Cu was more casual about it all, moreso just popping by the medical bay, helping with healing some others with his magecraft and then going off to train by himself.

Of course, Angra was exactly how Shido expected. He didn't show up once, though strangely she said he got a room for himself and stayed there the whole time since coming back. While Shido could kind of expect that, he wondered what he was doing all the time in that room. Not to mention that he felt Cu would have dragged him out there to train, or at least that was the impression Shido got about Cu.

By the time all that was explained to him, they had arrived at their destination. The inside of the room they rayshifted in, [CHALDEAS] shining a faint blue, with certain spots having been lit up. It looked a bit strange to see that it wasn't flashing red like what Flauros showed them, but that was most likely because they've been able to stop it since the time he's remained unconscious.

Footsteps rapidly approached from behind, and Shido couldn't even turn around fully before he was in a bone crushing hug, leaving him gasping for air.

"Please..not..so..tight..!" Shido could barely breathe because of their inhuman strength, and they quickly let go after hearing his words, repeatedly apologizing to him.

"I'm sorry for that. I'm sorry.." Mash repeatedly apologized, bowing everytime she did so with a red face from the embarrassment of hugging him so much it suffocated him.

It's a bit cute, in its own way.

Shido thought, not being able to help but compare her to Yoshino in the moment as memories of when Yoshino accidentally harmed him when she only wanted to show gratitude appeared in his mind.

"It's fine. I know you were probably pretty worried for me, considering how long I was knocked out for." Shido smiled sheepishly as he tried to stop Mash from bowing so much, a bit embarrassed from everyone's stares at the scene happening.

She nodded, clearly embarrassed by the whole thing herself. Shido smiled at her, the feeling of the fact they made it out alive finally sinking in. Then, as if a string was cut, the unnatural calm he had this whole time disappeared and he fell, sitting on the ground.

"Are you alright, senpai?!" Mash worriedly looked across Shido's body, possibly for any signs of an injury. But there was none. The reason he fell to the ground so suddenly, was simply put, relief.

He knew they survived, that they overcame Saber, that they were able to escape death from Flauros and survive the singularity. However, emotionally, he didn't understand that. In his mind, everything so far has been like a nice dream, just with him going through the motions.

It was only after he could see Mash safe and sound, being her usual kind yet a bit awkward self that he could accept the reality before him fully.

So..that's all it was. Simply relief at having survived.

"Come on master, can't have you staying like that forever." With an energetic voice, a person's arm pulled him up and turning to see who it was, he saw Cu standing behind him with a small grin on his face. Most likely having just arrived based on the door closing behind him.

"Hey, glad to see you." Shido gave a grin of his own, standing up without the assistance of Da Vinci as he didn't feel that much pain to move now.

Well, it was fading on the walk to the room anyways, so it wasn't that big of a deal. Most likely just the typical lingering pain from excessive use of Camael, added with the fact that he had to now get accustomed to using the powers of an Angel once more.

"How are you feeling though?"

Shido gave a smile at Cu's question, swinging his arm with a small laugh to show how he was fine. "Yeah, you can see I'm completely fine, no problem at all."

Cu's eyes narrowed as he examined Shido's body, looking for anything amiss or strange. It had been a while since Shido had seen that same type of stare from some of the girls when he recovered from a particularly bad incident.

"Well, make sure not to overwork that Angel thingy inside your body again, kid." Cu grinned as he ruffled Shido's hair, forcing Shido to fix his hair after. "But, I'm serious about what I said. Whatever power you have inside of you, it isn't one you can rely on without facing any consequences."

Shido nodded, already aware of that fact. After all, he knew that while he could use their powers and would no doubt rely on them, he can't simply forget exactly the danger it could have. For all he knew, the powers of the Angel's could end up doing something like eating away at his life, considering the fact he somehow regained them when they should be long gone.

"I..can't say I will." Shido turned his face away from Cu, hiding his expression from the man.

Shido didn't want to die or anything like that. He would much rather live a long and healthy life, dying at old age with the people he loves. That was Shido's most sincere thoughts on the matter.

However, reality was hardly that kind. He had already relied heavily on his abilities back when dealing with the spirits, and now he had to go through singularities even worse than the one they just experienced. He knew he wouldn't stand a chance without betting everything on his powers that have mysteriously reappeared. If he didn't, then he could possibly fail before they even get halfway to their goal.

And Shido couldn't let himself fail.

Cu sighed as he saw Shido's hand clench into a fist, hard enough for some small dribbles of blood to trail down his fingers. "Well, I guess that was a bit much to ask for. Go ahead and use it however much you want, just don't go and die after going that far."

Shido silently agreed by giving a nod, and the mood surrounding everyone had shifted from the sudden intense discussion.

Shido heard footsteps approaching, this time around he was able to see who it was without getting into a bone crushing hug. There, calmly standing before them all with clear eyebags, a cup of coffee in hand and a smile on his face was Romani. "Nice to see you, now that you're finally awake."

"It's nice to see you too." Shido reciprocated the smile, though he was a bit worried by how much he slept considering his eyebags looked as bad as Reine's did.

…

"Senpai? Are you alright?" Mash asked, concern clear on her face as she tilted to be able to Shido's expression better.

"..Yeah. Just thinking..about someone I knew."

Shido could only turn his gaze away from her concerned face, to face the approaching Romani. "Want me to make you a meal? Looks like you haven't eaten in days."

Romani's face practically lit up at the suggestion, light returning to dead tired eyes.

"Really! Then I'll take that offer! All I've had this entire day has been some coffee."

..Seriously? Just how busy has this guy been..

Shido placed a comforting hand on Romani's shoulder, a sympathetic smile on his face as he internally went over what he could make to fill up the man's stomach.

"I'll make you the best dinner you've had in ages!" With that burning determination, Shido set off to the kitchen as if he was going off to a life or death battle and Romani faithfully followed him with eyes filled full of a desire to finally eat.

It was a rather comical sight to everyone who witnessed it.

"..Are you sure you're okay to cook?" One of the staff members, an engineer named Duston asked with slightly furrowed brows. "You just recently woke up, and well..after everything, you should probably try to get some rest whenever you can."

"Thanks for that, really. It's just that cooking is something I enjoy. It helps me calm down at times, so there's no need to worry about me right now. Though.." Shido turned to face the Chaldea employee, a sheepish smile on his face. "..mind helping me cook? I don't think I can handle cooking enough for everyone without some help."

"Well, I don't mind. But you'll need to tell me what to do exactly, I'm not really the best cook around." The man smiled as he rolled up his sleeves after Shido didn't hesitate to nod his head.

"It's fine. I'll just need you to handle some of the smaller stuff anyways."

The two got to working on cooking, Shido mainly focusing on the meat to ensure its properly cooked and making the sauce, while Duston had cut up and helped to assemble the whole dish.

It was something Shido felt happy about, his body moving as if on autopilot and he couldn't help but recall all the memories he had of cooking with the girls. The times growing up where Kotori would complain about it, but still help him in the end even as she grumbled about it all. When Tohka would get so excited about the food she ended up eating it still raw, forever being banned from helping him cook. The way Origami and Kurumi had always seamlessly helped him, having everything ready when needed and cooking like experts that only attested to how much effort they put into it. How Mukuro, Yoshino and Natsumi all did whatever he asked and the way they would sometimes clumsily mess up from time to time. The times when Kaguya and Yuzuru would compete to see who could cook faster, which always ended in disaster one way or another. Though Miku and Nia never really helped him out before, he could imagine Miku hugging him too tightly for him to actually cook and Nia acting as if she was dead from cutting a single vegetable.

It..

"-Hey, are you okay?" Duston asked with narrowed eyes upon seeing Shido stop in the middle of coating the meat with sauce.

Shido didn't seem to react for a couple moments, before he suddenly turned to face the man with a smile. "Yeah, sorry about that. Was just stuck in my head for a moment."

"Hey.."

"Yeah?" Shido asked, going back to coating the meat in the sauce as Duston seemed to be internally debating something.

"I..know this isn't the best thing to say, but I am glad that out of everyone, you were there in Singularity F." Duston finished slicing a tomato, and put his knife down to look Shido in the eyes. "To be honest, I didn't like the director too much for a long time. After all, I'm just a normal guy, I'm not really magus material or anything, so I always thought of her as a stuck up girl. But..now I realize I was a bit wrong on that. She had faced a lot of pressure and tried to do her best in spite of that, so, what I'm trying to say is.."

Shido could see just how genuine he was about the entire thing, as he smiled at Shido while collecting his final thoughts. "Thank you for being the one there for the director. Had you not done what you did, who knows what fate would have awaited her."

Shido quickly turned his face to look into the bowl of meat, hiding his expression. Though his shoulders lightly shook, and with a soft smile on his face, Duston soothingly patted his back, providing comfort and compassion to Shido.

As Shido was busy cooking alongside Duston, Romani was slumped in one of the cafeteria seats looking like he could pass out at any moment. There were some other members of the Chaldea staff in the same boat, spread out across the various cafeteria seats with some of them having fallen asleep the instant they sat in their chairs.

"You know, you are pretty capable. Despite seeming entirely unreliable." Cu remarked, settling down into the seat next to Romani and leaned back casually with the spear only his lancer self should have in his hand while doing so.

"That's rude! Come on Mash, tell him how wrong he is." Romani puffed his chest up proudly, clearly expecting some support.

"Well..I don't think he's really wrong. You do seem unreliable a lot, doctor."

Romani's face turned into shock at the betrayal, because he knew for certain Mash wasn't the type to lie for the sake of teasing him. To her, that was her true thoughts on the matter, without a hint of deception or lies. That sort of thing stung more than whatever curses Angra could ever say to him.

"Even Mash has turned against me..what has this world come to?" Romani cried dramatically, and Cu laughed at the comedic sight, with Mash soon joining.

Romani's eyes were filled with warmth when he noticed her smiling face, happy and as carefree as they could be in these circumstances. The memory of her time when she had no expressions on her face, more akin to a doll than a person came to his mind.

He knew that it was more strange for her to actually have emotions than not, considering what purpose she was created for. But, he hardly cared about the circumstances of a person's birth. Someone like him could never judge or think of someone preemptively just due to something as insignificant as that.

Though, his mind had wandered as he recalled the last moments in Singularity F. Of Lev, or rather, Flauros' reveal on his real identity and his plan to destroy humanity.

Romani's gaze unconsciously traveled to his hands he held out on the table, looking on his fingers as if to see something that wasn't there.

Flauros, huh..I hope Shido can take care of Mash when the time arrives..

Cu's eyes examined Romani, a serious look in his gaze that disappeared the next moment as if it was never there. However, no matter how deep in his thoughts he was, Romani didn't miss that sort of gaze directed at him, and a sad smile rose on his face.

Makes sense the Hound of Ulster would notice. Especially with Odin supporting this version of him.

"Oi. You still alive in here?" Cu asked as he stepped into one of the dorm rooms meant for the master candidates that were either dead or currently under cryostasis.

He had been glad that at least he got a good meal before he was forced to visit this waste of a servant.

"Sadly for you, yes I am."

Cu clicked his tongue, no doubt hoping that the owner of the voice was actually dead instead of laying down on the ground.

"Came back because you missed me?" Angra Mainyu asked teasingly, a grin etched onto his face that only made Cu's face twist into disgust. Surrounding the Avenger class servant, was a puddle of the very same Grail mud that was present in Singularity F.

It would've been covering the entire room, or even all of Chaldea if not for runes put in place by Cu, creating a barrier to keep it all inside along with Angra suppressing its spread himself. If not for those two factors, that mud would undoubtedly be the cause for the remnants of humanity within Chaldea to all die and the hope for their survival to be extinguished.

"I don't know how, but you rub me the wrong way more than Archer ever did."

"Glad to be of service." Angra said, his voice not even wavering in the slightest when his hand blew apart, the chunks of flesh being consumed by the Grail mud before his hand healed completely within an instant. He didn't so much as bat an eye, and laughed at the disgusted face Cu showed at the sight.

"..I think it might be just how insane you are. You know the consequences doing this will have to your Spiritual Core and yet you go through with it without a single bit of hesitation."

Angra lazily waved his newly healed hand, as if what Cu spoke of was nothing of note. "It's not that big of a deal. I would hardly use the thing anyways, so it's fine."

Cu sighed and turned back to the door, stopping just as he was about to leave as if he just thought of telling Angra something. "Just to tell you, the kid woke up today. So try and hurry with this before we go onto the next singularity."

Seeing the door close behind the Caster servant, Angra sighed as he dully noted that his leg exploded this time around. His gaze didn't even linger long enough to see it get healed, instead he closed his eyes and yawned as if the pain of it was nothing to him.

"Still..that bastard is really demanding. This process isn't an easy one." Angra lazily pulled out the same Holy Grail he took back in Singularity F, a Holy Grail already corrupted by a version of his previous self, if it could even be called that. "Well, it is what it is."

Shido stretched his back as he exited the shower in his room and changed into a plain white shirt and black sweatpants, drying off his hair with a towel.

That really hit the spot. I feel so much better after being able to cook and have a nice shower. Feels relaxing.

Shido sighed, content as he sat down on his bed, and he felt something brush up against his hand. Turning his head, he noticed it was a cardboard box. It wasn't the same one it was sent over in, and he knew the other baggage was most likely long gone by now.

"So Da Vinci already sent it over here.." Shido muttered to himself, recalling how he asked Da Vinci if any of his luggage survived and if she could bring it to him.

After all, the luggage contained something he never wanted to part with. A single thing he always cherished, no matter how complicated his feelings were towards the original owner.

"-So it's still safe.." His voice broke with relief, as he held a single item in his hands.

It was something many others would overlook. It was heavily worn out, with clear tears that were very obviously patched up and barely keeping it together. However, anyone could tell just how much the person who owned the small teddy bear loved it from the way it was patched together. Anyone could tell how much love and care was given to maintain the teddy bear.

"Reine.." His voice cracked as he spoke that name, sadness, regret, love and loss all heavily present in his voice.

Absent-mindedly, he saw a small note in the center of the box he overlooked prior. Grabbing it from within, he read it over.

Hey Shido, how are you doing over there? I know we were pressured into sending you there, but try not to stress about it all so much. All of us know you can handle whatever they throw at you, after all, you are the person who changed the world, weren't you? Try not to miss us too much, though if you do, we are all just half the globe away. Fraxinus can bring us over there in a second, so don't feel too sad that you don't get to see my beautiful face every morning anymore.
From, your amazing younger sister
btw, Kotori was originally going to write this but she was too embarrassed to go through with it

"That's just like them..I bet Kotori would've spent days figuring out how to write it without seeming like she cares too much." Shido chuckled to himself at the thought, his hand crumpling the note Mana left for him.

Mana..Kotori..Reine..Everyone..

He could recall all their faces, everything all of them went through together. From the start of it all when his life turned upside down back during that fire, to sending [Beast] back to her world. It was all flashing across his mind in an instant.

The smile he fought so hard to keep on his face earlier, crumpled. Just like the paper he held in his hands. The feelings of sadness, loss and regret coursing through him each time he thought of them was impossible for him to ignore anymore.

I miss you all..so much..

That night, Shido Itsuka felt more alone than he has in his entire life. More than when Mukuro made everyone forget about him. More than when Miku turned everyone against him.-Even more than when he was abandoned by his mother as a child.

Curling up into a ball on his bed, the only thing he could hold was the teddy bear and note left behind, by people who had already left Shido himself behind. And all that anyone who stepped into the room would hear, would be him crying himself to sleep.

There were some questions asked on SpaceBattles that I feel would be good to add just as general knowledge in terms of my ideas, so I'll add the questions and my answers down below.

MWKillKenny84: ... oh Frak, would said patched up pocket sized teddy bear qualify as a Catalyst for M/Mio/Phantom/Reines?

A: Yea, it would count as a catalyst 4 her, but keep in mind that Mio's angels are super op, even in the nasuverse so the mana cost of rlly any of them would immediately kill Shido when they use their NP.

MWKillKenny84: ... wouldn't Nia's own Cheat Sheet Book be enough to remove this weak point?

And thanks for the reply.

A: Yea, similarly making clones with Zafkiel would overcome the issue. So yeah, it's not a dead set thing for it to be impossible 4 him, but they don't know if he'd even get those angels again so it's more of a risk to them in their minds atm. And to be clear, only Da Vinci and Romani have thought of the idea already and have agreed not to do it.

And no prob, I'm glad to hear any question yall have.

Voidborne2:Maybe their Servant Container bodies will limit their strength, like how full-on Divine Servants have to weaken themselves or like how a Servant's body can't contain the full might of a pure Heroic Spirit.

Anyway, I wonder how Shido would feel when learns that the love for humanity is what makes a Beast a Beast. Judging from how he sees Alaya and Gaia, he probably wouldn't see them in a good light. And if he meet Goetia and learns of his motivations…yeah, he's not going to let that slide.

Wonder if BEAST Tohka can somehow be brought back as a Nasuverse Beast. Now that would be poetry in a messed up sense…

A: If it's Reine, then yea the servant container would limit her abilities severely and very few abilities of her true self would be kept. But, keep in mind that as Mio, her nature would restrict her into a Forienger class servant and thus she wouldn't be restricted like a typical servant.

Reasons 4 that is this little bit from the wiki on their qualifications which I feel match Mio rather perfectly, overcoming the aspect we see of Outer God's having to support a servant into being a Forienger bc of Mio quite literally coming from another world.

Tho yea, he wouldn't like any Beasts bc of the fact they love humanity yet go abt trying to destory it. To him, they would be worse than Alaya and Gaia.