Rome was, by every definition of the word, ancient. Despite the advancements of human technology, Rome's culture remained intact. Unlike modern London, which had by and large removed most of the older structures that were historically dotted around it. Lena couldn't help but wonder at the sights around her. Truth be told, she hadn't had much exposure to historical landmarks outside the British Isles.
As such, when she first saw the Colosseum? The very same one since the Roman Empire? She had to admit she was more than a bit impressed.
Where London had taken to using their advancements in technology to tear down their historical buildings, Rome had used these technologies to restore theirs. The Colosseum, originally closed from the public after 2033's vandalism problems, was now back in all its glory.
Concrete made using the original Roman formula was applied to the cracked portion of the Colosseum, finally making it whole after centuries of mistreatment. The people over at Oasis had even developed a new, anti-seismic device that would essentially prevent the historic arena from ever getting damaged in that way ever again!
...At least, that's what the travel guide Lena looked up said.
In reality, she only really knew as much as the next guy, and considering that the people with her were some of the smartest that she knew, maybe not even that.
Still, none of that detracted from this being one of the best weeks in her entire life.
They arrived in the Italian capital just a day ago, and after settling in for that first night, they had gone out today to see all the sights.
And see them they did.
While they (read: Winston) attracted a lot of attention, they managed to see a lot of the famous sights, like the Forum Romanum and the Trevi Fountain.
Really, if they were going to get some time off, they were going to make the most of it.
"Archer, Archer!" Shoving her phone at the dark-skinned man, she quickly dragged Emily in front of the fountain in the Piazza Navona.
With a wry chuckle as the couple posed for the camera, Archer complied with a snap, "This is the third fountain today. This is starting to look more like a weird hobby than vacation pictures."
"Oh, just let me have this, you twat." The insult would have been more effective if Lena could wipe the grin from her face.
This was it.
The wedding was going to happen in a few days, and every single one of her invites had shown up, even the last minute addition of the Lacroix couple. Thankfully, with her physician in Angela also coming, the high brass didn't see a problem in letting the purple-skinned woman go, as it was also recommended by said doctor to do so for her own mental well-being.
Regardless, it was easy for Winston to cook up a disguising device with some surprising help from Sombra. With it, Amélie Lacroix looked every bit the normal wife, if a bit weak due to a prolonged medical issue.
Sadly, that was purely an aesthetic change. The truth was that her skin, according to every expert on the base, would remain purple for the foreseeable future.
Nevertheless, as the couple had separated from Lena and the others, the pilot was greeted by the distant sight of the Frenchman and woman being as reportedly amorous as the stereotypical depiction of them were. Lena was honestly glad - she had thought for a moment that her newfound friend's husband would be disgusted at her new look. It was a relief that she was wrong in that regard.
"Well, if you're going to continue," Archer started, watching amusedly as Winston tried to take a picture of Angela and Genji, "I'm going to head off for a bit."
"Huh?" Lena raised an eyebrow as she looked at Archer questioningly, "You're going?"
"Well, how else am I supposed to cook something if I can't find the right ingredients?" With a smirk, Archer crossed his arms, "Though, if you insist on me staying, I'd be happy to-"
"No, no, no, that's fine." Emily was the first one to shake her head in negative. Lena was too busy wiping her drool at the thought of Archer making something from authentic Italian ingredients, "Don't let us get in your way, mister. You just go right on ahead and make the best damn wedding feast that you can, alright?"
"Of course, of course, as the bride-to-be demands it to be." With a flourish of his arm that barely masked his smugness, he continued, "I'll meet you guys back at the hotel tonight. Maybe even at the wedding itself, if I lose track of time."
"Hey, Archer." Lena's voice stopped him from moving before he could take more than a couple of steps. It was the seriousness behind it. Looking at her from over his shoulder, Lena started back at the Spirit in what she hoped was her most serious expression she could muster, "Don't. Be. Late."
This was the most important moment in her life right now, right next to when she proposed to Emily. She'd be damned if she allowed one of her closest allies and friends miss it cause he was off buying baking goods.
With a snort, Archer turned back to them with a small smile, a more genuine one that his usual smirks, "I won't. That's a promise."
He disappeared into the crowd soon after.
…
"Oh, and keep an eye on Sombra, will you?"
'Wait, you're not bringing her along?! Archer! How the hell do I keep an eye on an invisible kleptomaniac?!'
"..."
'Archer?! Answer dammit!'
"..."
'ARCHER!'
…
Emiya was telling the truth when he'd said he'd be looking for ingredients. Weddings were an occasion that he fully respected, as even with his time in Chaldea, he'd seen the bonds of matrimony transcend even time and space.
He had no doubt that Lena Oxton would be faithful to Emily O'Hara. Whether either would change their names, or retain their current ones was irrelevant. He'd seen the bond between those two, and it reminded him of those legendary couples he'd known.
Artoria and Guinevere, minus the whole Lancelot thing.
Sakamoto and Oryou, minus the whole ancient dragon thing.
Sigurd and Byrnhildr, minus the whole 'proving love through murder attempts' thing
Rama and Sita, minus the whole 'could never meet' thing.
…Alright, so his exposure to relationships in Chaldea wasn't exactly perfect, it was the thought that counts. Though, saying that, the last one might've been the result had he not been at the right place at the right time.
He shook his head mentally as he glided through Rome in his astralized form. He was digressing a bit too much recently, even in the privacy of his own thoughts. In Chaldea, there were a host of problems that constantly made him focus on the task at hand. Singularities, Lostbelts, Pseudo-Singularities, the damned Halloween and Christmas shenanigans, and even the bullshit that Nobunaga would start up every year without fail.
There was, quite literally, never a dull moment in Chaldea.
That was not the case here.
There were emergencies that required his full attention, true. Null Sector, Talon, even random jobs that he would do for the hell of it. And yet, there was always downtime. Time to relax. To take everything in.
It'd gotten to the point where he had unknowingly started to adopt some of the eccentricities that the members of Overwatch had forced onto him. Case in point, he didn't think he'd be seriously be able to train someone like Sombra, or Genji, or anyone in Overwatch for that matter.
It told Emiya that he was changing.
And he relished in it.
Unfortunately, some things never change. Some things couldn't change. As was the case of Emiya prying his way into things he had no business in.
With a few more astralized steps, he arrived at his destination.
The Vatican. Or rather, their Apostolic Archives. Of course, he'd known it as the Secret Archives when he was alive. They apparently changed it some time near the 2020's. That was fair. It wasn't exactly secret since everyone, even the non-practitioners of magecraft, knew about it.
If anywhere held records on just what had happened to Chaldea and the Lostbelts, it had to be the Archives.
He had been sidetracked with everything that had been going on, and he hadn't a real reason to force Oxton to Rome before today. Frankly, it was a lucky break for him for once. Emiya had expected to only have a few days during an Overwatch mission to go check out what he needed. That they would pick Rome was a complete coincidence that he wholeheartedly welcomed.
Still, the regular Archives were not what he was after. He wasn't after the Vatican's Archives, but the Church's Archives, whose existence was kept secret from those that didn't know of magecraft. Theoretically, even if something had happened to the mages of the Clock Tower, with the Church being so far away and the wonders of modern technology, surely something of note would have been recorded.
Thankfully, he already knew where to go, and how to access it. During his time alive, he had been given access, if very limited access, to the Archives, after needing to deal with a particularly ancient Dead Apostle.
So, without further ado, he barreled through the normal Vatican Archives, arriving in front of an unassuming wall and walking through.
The minor protections to ward off any normal people were bypassed. The rest of the, very lethal, countermeasures were similarly bypassed by his wearing of a Holy Shroud. It was times like this that he felt thankful to that damned white-haired witch.
His Holy Shroud, an object that only higher members of the Church normally had access to, acted as a sort of access code to most of the Archive, allowing him to get through most of the way through. Only the extremely dangerous parts, the parts that housed things like memetic hazards were still closed off.
Emiya at least understood why. Even through the holy barriers in place, he could feel the malevolence of the sealed objects. That also confirmed to him that the protections that the Church had in place were still going strong, and by how readily they responded to his presence, they'd hold for a while still.
The fact he could approach them at all only confirmed that even the Church's divisions were gone. Had they been here, they would've already launched a kill squad when he'd gotten close.
For a moment, he thought he'd not find anything of note because of that. If even the Burial Agency was gone, then there was a chance that no records would have found themselves inside the Archives.
He was wrong.
As he reached near the end of the Archives, he knew he was under the Apostolic Palace, where the Pope of the current era lived. A single book was on a pedestal, and was curiously surrounded by a mess of other books around it.
The Papal Records.
The curious thing about the Pope is that they're usually the only head of state that is fully aware of the supernatural. Sure, the United Nations knew, but that was completely different. The memories regarding the Moonlit World were, quite literally, stored on site in Geneva.
That is to say, the members representing the nations in the United Nations only knew of magecraft when they were in Geneva itself. Their memories were sealed the moment they left, and they would only be unsealed when they stepped into the assembly hall of the actual building. It was the compromise that the Church and the members of the Mage's Association made in order to preserve the secrecy of magecraft, while also discussing important matters that would impact everyone on the planet on an international stage.
The prime example being Chaldea itself.
The Pope was the exception to that rule. They not only were a state head, they also directly controlled the Holy Church, but was also usually not privy to the existence of magecraft beforehand. Therefore, in order to appease the Mage's Association, the Church had, reluctantly, allowed the Pope to be observed in case he breaches the secret to a wider world.
Their only provision is that the observation must remain onsite, and that the Church remained the owner of the original observation logs. The Association would be sent any breaches automatically, but the life of an old man was generally seen as extremely boring, and so the Association agreed.
Their observation took the form of a long-lived homunculus brain, with audio visual receptors connected to the Apostolic Palace. This brain would decode the sights and sounds within the Palace and record them in the appropriately titled Papal Records.
The books lying in front of him were old records from previous Popes. The current one on the pedestal would have been lying on the ground with the others had the homunculus brain been replaced. Unfortunately, 'long-lived' in homunculus terms meant '8-10 year lifespan'.
Without anyone to replace it, it was unlikely that everything he needed was there.
Cracking his neck, Emiya strode forward to take a closer look at the text.
Jackpot.
The last record was on the 18th of June, 2021.
It detailed a meeting between the Pope and several of his cardinals regarding his poor health.
Emiya flipped the book back, the protections against this action failing as the barriers once more recognized the Holy Shroud. With an entire two years after the Lostbelts happened, he was certain that he'd finally get some answers. He would have gone for the Singularities, except, since they were timeline corrections, nothing would have come up. From the World's point of view, the Singularities never happened.
The Lostbelts were different in that they ended up destroying all life on the planet. Or, at least the Trees of Emptiness did.
Two years of nothing but the daily life of an old man was still annoying to get through though.
He flipped hurriedly to the date that it all started.
On December 31, 2018.
The words were there. He could read the words. He could sound them out just fine. He just couldn't comprehend them. Not in the way that he couldn't believe what they said. No, this was more his human mind, twisted as it was to form a Reality Marble, was still human enough that the alien nature of what was written could not, would not, be understood.
He had experienced this before. Back when the Foreigners of Chaldea's mere existence threatened the very fabric of sanity itself.
The homunculus brain was lucky, its only purpose was to record, not comprehend, so it had written what it had seen.
But for everyone else? Nothing short of an alien would be able to understand.
Suddenly, Emiya felt that maybe, just maybe, finding out what had happened wasn't worth it at all.
'Damn you, Alaya.'
…
A/N: Merry Christmas to everyone, even the celebration's a bit late! If you like what I do and want to support me, check out my P-atreon at P-atreon•com(slash)Almistyor.
And a special thanks to: FireRogueWolf25, brutalcrab and Tassimo.