Welcome back everybody to the beggining of chapter 21 of the story! Having a good 2023 or has everything got screwed up right in the start? Either way, I hope this year can be good to all of you.

Now with that out of the way, let's start it!

DISCLAIMER: All the Nasuverse characters belong to Nasu and are property of Type-Moon, with the exception of the OC's that belong to me, the author.


"N-No way! Is that the famous Emperor Nero?!" Mash exclaimed in the presence of the roman emperor who had appeard in front of her group.

"Yes I am umu!" Nero smiled all proudly. "But no autographs please. I've been very occupied lately. Also..." Nero looked to the crowd that was all bowing down to her. "Don't you guys think something is missing? Something that I, the all mighty praetor, request when I show all of my radiance in public?" She questioned her people.

Right in a short amount of time, the people started to clap and cheer in a burst of joy, with thousands of compliments and praises thrown at Nero.

"Emperor Nero is here! What a blessing!"

"I'll tell my kids of this day that I got to see such magnificent figure as the emperor!"

"We all love you Emperor Nero!"

"I love your arts and music Emperor Nero! Truly the greatest genius of our time!"

"Please marry me Nero!"

The Chaldea group alongside the old man now known as Seneca, watched the round of applause of the crowd.

"Wow! They really love her." Nala commented. "The way they clap and celebrate is so...festive?"

"Then she probably is a great leader for them to love her that much." Peko crossed his arms.

"Yeah. She must be..." Ritsuka said, altough with some hints of not being very enthusiastic about it. Seneca was near him realized that.

"You seem dissapointed young man." Seneca looked at Ritsuka. "Why so?"

"Is that...I don't know. She's just...more shorter than I'd imagine." Ritsuka told to the senator.

"Hmm. Now that you say that Ritsuka, I may be around the same height as her!" Peko replied, now seeing that what Ritsuka was saying was very true. For such glorious title and power, Nero was quite the shortie.

"Haha. Is that so?" Seneca laughed happily. "Then a little advice to you young men. Never have expectations for anything." Seneca told to the master of humanity. "Then, you'll never be dissapointed."

Ritsuka was somewhat shocked to see how true that statment could be. Seneca speaked in such wise way. So taking his advice didn't looked like a bad idea. "That is some good advice. Thank you Seneca-san!" He showed gratitude to the old man.

"Oh please now. There's no need for such formalities." Seneca told Ritsuka. "I have people treat me with such high respect and honour all day so it would be nice to have people who'd speak to me as their equal instead of their superior."

"Then it's a honour to be talking with an equal like you, Seneca-san." Mash greeted him. "My name is Mash Kyrielight. This person here is Ritsuka Fujimaru, our team leader. Pleasure to meet you!"

"The pleasure is all mine, Ms.Kyrielight." Seneca smiled of good will to the two, before noticing Peko and Nala. "And you two must be the little tricksters at the gate. I presume you are also with them."

"Pleasure to meet you ol' geezer! Name's Nala!" She said happily to Seneca. "And about the gate thing, sorry for that."

Peko side eyed to his sister. "Did you really had to call him geezer?" He then looked at Seneca. "Anyway, nice to meet you Mr. Seneca. My name is Peko. Me and her are siblings."

"Thanks for saying that young boy. Otherwise I wouldn't have known." Seneca said amused, joking about the fact that Peko and Nala didn't need to share that information to be known by anybody that they were twins just by looking at it.

"Fou!"

They all heard a sound as Fou appeard behind them running back from fleeing the guard at the gate. He was tired. The little animal went straight to Mash's shoulders to rest.

"Glad to see you came back Fou." Mash said. "Sorry for making you run for so long. You deserve your rest now."

"Fu..." Fou said weakly before closing his eyes.

"Now that's quite the exotic creature. I've never seen anything like that before." Seneca commented, rubbing his own beard.

"It's a mix up of a squirrel and...rabbit? Or so I believe." Nala told Seneca.

"For now we think it's that." Ritsuka said.

"Hm! Nature seems to always be full of surprises." The old man said. "Or perhaps...is it magic instead?"

"Both. Perhaps more on the magic side." Ritsuka told him.

"Hey Ritsuka." Peko called his friend. "I never heard about Nero or Seneca, but both are surely important. Can you tell me what do you know about them?"

"Yeah! I too would like to know more about them." Nala was also intrested in hearing more about this historical figures that she never heard of.

"Really? Do you want to hear from my mouth?" Ritsuka felt that he wouldn't be able to explain properly to the two kids. After all, he was never that good in history classes. "I'd say Mash is more suited for-"

"I think it would be nice for you to explain them master. I give you my approval." Mash told to him, wanting to see how knowladgeble was Ritsuka when the topic was Ancient Rome.

Seeing that he was stuck in a corner with no way to avoid the request, Ritsuka just sighed to himself. "Hope my memory doesn't fail me now."

"So to start, about Seneca right here..." Ritsuka said all serious, proceeding to look at the man himself. "...I don't know much about you, sorry."

"What a terrible way to be honest Senpai!" Mash yelled inside herself.

Ritsuka felt that he had just disrespected the old man's whole existence right in front of him just for being ignorant.

"There is no problem young man." Seneca put an hand on Ritsuka's shoulder as consolidation. "I never was a man with power and fame as goals in mind. All that matters is being happy with yourself and the life you have."

"Thanks for that Seneca-san. But I still feel a bit ashamed..." Ritsuka told to the senator.

"Meh. No problem. I don't blame you." Nala said to Ritsuka.

"What about Nero? Do you know something about her?" Peko asked him.

"Well about Nero..." Ritsuka looked to the short woman in the middle of the crowd, still receiving applauses and cheers. "They're still clapping even after all this seconds?" All that adoration and love from her people seemed weird, specially that Ritsuka remembered when he had studied about this emperor at school. Ritsuka not only expected Nero to be different in appearence, but also how the population viewed her. "It's a bit funny. Like, what I learnt abiut Nero is that she was an act-"

Seneca smiled at that moment dissapeard. "Please! Don't say that in public with the Praetor herself near you!" The old man hastily raised his hand, stopping Ritsuka from talking.

The master and the rest of his group were confused. "Huh? Why?"

"Believe me. You are better by not uttering such words about a person like Nero in public. Specially not now." Seneca for the first time was speaking dead serious with them, as if he was warning them of a mistake that could lead to a great danger.

Feeling that the senator was being true in hiw words and expressions, Ritsuka believed in him. "...Okay."

Before any of them could say another word, they noticed that the sounds of the claps had finally stopped.

"Thank you! Tibi gratias omnes! Now that were celebrations worthy of citizens of Rome, umu!" Nero exclaimed happily. "I'm a happy soul knowing that such emperor like me got such amazing crowd like you!" Nero lifted her golden cup in the air. "Cheers to all of you, cives Romani!" She drank the liquid from the cup.

The crowd cheered some more, altough shortly this time, as they saw that Nero had no more reason to continue receiving their applause and so she dismissed them. Now with the brief ceremony over, she could focus on the newcomers that were next to her advisor.

"Did you all saw how they fervently cheered for me? This is how an emperor should be treated in all it's splendor, umu!" Nero said.

"Does she says that 'umu' thing very frequently?" Nala asked to Seneca.

"You could say it's her trademark, so better get used to it." Seneca told the young girl.

"So what brings you strangers to my domain? An audience perhaps? That would be predictable, everyone is always seeking to have an audience with this great emperor after all." Nero put an hand on her chest, full of herself.

"Yeah. That's kinda it. We do seek to speak with you, Emperor Nero." Mash informed the small woman. "If you allow us, that is."

Nero didn't respond immediatly, instead taking another gulp of her golden cup. "Haha. You're more than welcome to have an audience with me." She turned her head to look at Seneca. "And what do you think of my decesion Seneca? Did I do the right choice of inviting these people?"

Seneca smiled in a instant. "Of course my dear Praetor. You never fail when always deciding something. That ability of decision making and intelligence of yours shouldn't need of the councils of an old hermit like me anymore."

"Oh thank you so much Seneca." Nero chuckled. "But I do like your company, so don't bother with me dismissing you any time soon. Either way..." She looked at the Chaldea group. "We should discuss and speak the topics and instrests you might have in my palace. Talking of important things with the emperor herself in public is very...simpleton. You might even help me against an enemy of mine in the mean time."

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Peko asked her.

"I'll tell you once we arrive to my palace." Nero told the boy, before changing her attention to the senator. "Seneca, show them the way if you will."

"Of course, my praetor."


The Chaldea group, now following Nero and Seneca, observed the area around them. It was quite lively, with people walking from a place to another, buying and selling products, chatting and doing their daily things.

"Rome seems nice. I'd never imagine this place to be full of life during this period." Mash said, observing someone buying apples from a local store.

"Yeah. And even after all this centuries Rome still continous to be very popular." Ritsuka replied to the shielder.

"Does it still look like this?" Nala asked him.

"Hmm. Probably not." Peko told his sister. "I mean, I think it would be impossible for a city to stay the same for so long throughout history."

"But it still exists. And as the capital of Italy no less." Mash told Peko. "So what matters in the end is that it still endured to the test of time. Just like France."

Seneca, who was hearing their conversation, got curious when hearing that the location he was walking in right now still existed a thousand years later. "That's intresting. I wonder how different the future Rome is from the one I live in the present."

Ritsuka smiled to the old senator. "I never been there, but from what I saw-"

A static noise sounded in the middle of the group. That could only mean one thing.

"Aaaand contact established. Does anyone hears me?" The voice of Doctor Romani sounded as his hologram appeard in front of them.

"Hearing high and clear doc." Ritsuka told him. "We successfully entered Rome, altough we could have used some extra help."

"Yeah. Why did it took you a long time to contact us doctor?" Mash questioned Romani.

"Do you guys always need to blame me for anything?! I just went to check MagiMari's site, that's all!" Romani explained them.

"Really?" Nala looked at the doctor with some dissapointment.

"It was important!" Romani almost yelled.

"More important than our current mission?" Peko frowned.

"Both have the same importance." Romani tried to avoid eye contact.

"Hum, sure." Ritsuka smirked.

"Who is this mysterious man? Is he with you too?" Seneca asked them as he watched a bit confused to the movable image of the person he was seeing in front of him.

"This is Dr. Roman. He is kinda of our boss." Ritsuka explained to the old man.

"Kinda? I AM your boss." Romani cried a little. "But I think I should think about introducing myself first to then complain after. As he said, my name is Roman."

"Hmm. You look quite the individual Mr.Roman. Is that magic that you are using to transmit the image of yourself to us?" Seneca asked him.

"More or less. It's a mix of magic with technology in the end." Romani said.

"Technology..." Seneca hummed as he put an hand on his chin. "Is that some type of magic?"

Romani sweated a bit. It was something very hard to explain to people like Seneca who lived way before technology was even a concept. "Let's just say it's a thing from our time."

"Then the future must be intresting. Also pardon me. I still haven't told you my name. It's Seneca the Younger."

"The famous philosopher?! Now that explains your wise like appearence." Romani smiled. "I'm glad to meet such intelectual man as y-"

"Seneca?! Is Seneca there?!"

The voice from Da Vinci behind Romani could be heard as the italian woman shoved the doctor aside from the hologram, making herself appear in front of the roman senator.

"H-Hi! My name is Leonardo Da Vinci and I'm-"

"Do you really think he would know anything about you or your works?! He's way older than you!" Romani pushed Da Vinci aside from the hologram, much to her struggle and defiance. Ritsuka and the others could only watch the struggle beetween the two without saying anything. They acted like some weird couple.

"No! Please! I wanna talk to him!"

"No way! Besides, you still have work to do at the office right?"

"Screw you Romani! You'll pay one day!"

With the situation on Chaldea controled, Romani backed his gaze to Seneca who was windering what he had just saw. "Sorry about that. She seems to be a big fan of you. Oh! Also, how do you know about magic?" Romani pointed to Seneca. "Aren't you suppose to be still alive by this time and just a philosopher and writer?"

"Well, my new friend from the future, some things changed..." Seneka looked at the scrolls on his bag. "And so did my curiosity for knowledge."

"Those scrolls." Peko said.

"Huh? What is it about the scrolls, Peko?" Ritsuka asked to his friend.

"They arent just some normal scrolls. I feel some sort of magic in them." Peko told him.

"True. I can also feel the mana emanating from them." Nala said.

"Oh. Then that explains how you know magic. Those scrolls are some kind of magecraft right?" Mash questioned the old man.

"You are all indeed correct." Seneca chuckled. "From my time of exile, I learned and explore other paths of knowledge. One of those paths leading me to the discovery and use of magic, allowing me to create these magical scrolls."

"So in a way you are an ancient magus. Cool!" Romani smiled. "Philosophy is in some ways connected to magecraft, so I guess it would be a question of time until you discovered it."

"Well, I never expected my life of following my ideology would lead to this. But you could say one of the life's beauty is on how unpredictable it is." Seneca rubbed his head.

"I also think that makes life more intresting." Ritsuka said to the old senator, before looking back at Romani. "Anyways, is that all you wanted to say doc?"

"Hmm. Actually there's more." Romani smile grew a bit. "And this is some unbelivable news. I bet you won't even believe it."

"What is it then?" Nala like everybody from the group was now in suspense to know what Romani was about to say.

"My monitors detect some huge signs of mana nearby. I think it could be way too good to be true but, the Hol-"

Some noises of commotion could be heard up ahead. It looked like something had happened.

"What is happening?" Mash asked to Seneca.

"Don't know. But something good certainly isn't." Seneca told her. "Follow me!"

Reaching to the place of the disturbance, the group saw that Nero was already there. As for the disturbance itself and it's cause, a group of roman soldiers had just kicked a civilian out of his house, with some people nearby watching.

"No please! Spare me!" The man begged in the floor, fearing for his life.

"What's happening here?" Nero stepped up. "As the emperor, I demand an explanation!"

"Of course, my praetor." One of the soldier's said, handing her some papers that he had on his hand. "We found this inside his home."

Nero read the content of the papers. Whatever that it was written on it, made Nero go fully mad, throwing the papers on the ground violently. "You traitorous pig! How could you do this to the empire!?"

"I-It's not mine Emperor Nero! I don-" The man received a kick in the stomach from ine of the soldiers, stopping his excuse.

"You have no right to talk traitor!"

Nero furiously went torwards the man, leaving the pages on the ground for Peko to go and see them.

"What do they say?" Nala asked her brother, joining him in seeing the pages.

"I don't know. It's in some language that I'm not familiar with." Peko told her, showing the words of the paper that belong to a language that both siblings didn't know anything about.

Mash, who took a quick look, was able to recongize what it was however. "Isn't that latin? It looks like it."

"Would make sense, since were in Rome and all." Ritsuka said. "Do you know how to read it Mash?"

"Hmm. I'm afraid I don't know latin very well." Mash told to her master.

"Then allow me." Seneca stepped in, since latin was his mother language. He asked politely to read the papers to Peko, wich the boy gave him willingly.

When reading what was the big problem that made Nero so angry, the senator's eyes widened. This pages had content that while in the present would be fine and okay to read, in the time of Nero's reign as roman emperor, they were a very severe sin. "Oh no." Seneca said painfully.

"What does it say, Seneca-san?" Ritsuka asked to the old man.

"This man...is a christian." Seneca revealed to them.

The information seemed to have shocked Mash while Ritsuka was a little confuse. Peko and Nala however, were even more confused.

"What's a christian? Is that a bad thing?" Peko asked in pure ignorance, not knowing what that word was even supposed to mean.

"Is it some type of creature or something?" Nala asked in ignorance as well.

"It's people that follow a certain religion. I don't know if you two would get it immediatly if I just explained briefly." Romani who was still around with his hologram, informed the two kids.

"Religion?" Peko put an hand on his chin. "I think I know what that means. The concept itself...doesn't sound strange to me. What about you sis?"

Nala wondered a bit. "Hmmm. I too think I know what religion means. That man is christian, wich in itself is a religion, right?" Nala asked to Romani.

"Yeah! You two are right. That man follows a religion called Christianity, wich makes him a christian."

Ritsuka still didn't understand why Nero seemed so pissed at the man for being christian. "Even then, I don't know why Nero would get angry at someone just by-..." He then remembered of his history lessons again. "Oh. Now that makes sense."

"It does make extreme sense in this era master." Mash told him. "It was during her reign that they were..."

"How do you dare to have other beliefs than those of the Roman Empire?!" Nero shouted at the man on the ground. The crowd could only watch in fear.

"Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! I didn't mean to!" The man started to cry, pleading for mercy.

"Those shallow words don't mean nothing from a mouth of a traitor like yours!" Nero wasn't planning of giving him any second chances. "You aren't allowed to worship a god that isn't a roman one!" Nero stepped on the man's hand who yelled in pain. "Your devotion should be aimed to them! To the Empire! TO ME!"

"THAT'S ENOUGH NERO!"

Seneca yelled as best as he could to the emperor in front of him, telling her to stop. His voice was enough to make any noise from the crowd stop and everyone change their attentions torwards the old man.

Nero slowly turned her head to look coldly at Seneca "What do you want, old fool?"

Seneca took a deep breath and focused on remaining calm, bowing down to his emperor. "Please, not in front of the citizens, my praetor."

Hearing her advisor's words, Nero took a look at the normal people surrounding her. All of them with faces of fear and horror, as if Nero had just turned into a monster that was now among them. "Hmphm! Fine, I'll do as you wish." The emperor calmed herself down. She then looked at the group of soldiers near her. "Take him out of the city and kill him when you are far enough from the gates. Understood?" She instructed them.

"Yes Praetor Nero!" The soldiers said in unison.

"Good, umu." Nero took a sip of her golden cup. The liquid seemed to have no end by how many times Nero had drunked from it just today. "And what are all of you doing here?" Nero said with annoyance to the people. "There's nothing to see and everything is in control. I order you to go back to your activities now."

Like robots who had received a command, the frightened people obeyed their emperor and returned to walk and do their mundane things as if nothing had happened just now.

As everything had apparently went back to normal, Seneca approached the group of soldiers. "Here." The old man discreetly handed them a bag full of golden coins. "Take this man out of the city and let him go when you arrive to the outskirts of Rome please." He whispered to them.

Without sayin nothing, the group of soldiers took a moment to then accept Seneca's subordination. "Understood Senator." One of the soldiers took the bag of coins and hide it within his clothes. They grabbed the crying man from the ground and started to drag him out of the city. "Alright. Time to answer for your crimes traitor."

The man sobbed silently, not knowing that his life would be spared thanks to the action of Seneca.

"That was intense. Is he going to be okay?" Ritsuka felt sorry for the man.

"I made sure so." Seneca said with sorrow. "May he find a way to get a new life." He turned around. "Now we shall continue our walk to the palace. Come." The senator started walking, following Nero who was ahead. The Chaldea group felt the same.

Mash however was kinda anxious. "Something here just doesn't make sense."

"What do you mean Mash?" Peko asked her.

"Nero is already chasing christians in the empire. However, due to the year that we are in according to the mission information I saw before the Rayshift, it shouldn't been happening now."

"You're right Mash." Romani told her. "The christians persecution started under Nero's reign but only some years later after the year we're in."

"Could it be that's the cause that this Singularity came to existence?" Nala pondered. "Since they are created from anomalies of human history and stuff."

"That's a good hypothesis Nala." Ritsuka saw how the girl's theory wasn't so far fetched.

"That might be the cause, if I'm being honest." Romani tought.

"And something seems off about Nero herself." Peko told them. "The way the crowd applauded her for so long when we first saw her to have this reaction of fear then. It's...suspicious to say the least."

"From what I remember, Nero was used to be some controversial emperor." Ritsuka said. "We better keep an eye on her."

"And what about Seneca-san?" Nala asked him.

"Hmm. He does seems like a more open minded and benevolent person." Peko said. "Altough he's also Nero's advisor so I don't know."

Mash ended up sighing. "That's why I talked it would be better for Chaldea to have tools and systems that could see if a person could be our friend or foe. Judging by ourselves is a lot harder."

"Then as the leader I can say we might trust him for the time being." Ritsuka said to his group.

"Do you think so Ritsuka?" Peko said to his friend.

"Yeah. I can feel he's a guy who we can trust for now." Ritsuka remembered about what the Seneca said regarding about the man that was arrested by the soldiers. "Anyway. We should get going to the palace. There we might have more clues to what's happening to this Singularity. Let's go!"

All of the three nodded to Ritsuka's words.


Arriving at the palace, Nero and Seneca guided the group to the throne 'room' of the small emperor. It was actually the palace's rooftop with tall columns wrapped in red sheets surrounding it and a nice view to the rest of tge city. In the middle, there was Nero's golden throne wich she sat on it while Seneca brought a small table near her. The Chaldea group approached and saw that the table was actually a map of Europe, or in this case, of the entire Roman Empire at the time.

"It's of good hospitality to let the visitors talk first and make them feel well as if our home was also theirs. What does your Imperial Majesty thinks of that?" Seneca asked to Nero, already sharing his opinion of letting the newcomers talk first.

"I'll allow it, umu." Nero gave it permission as she took a sip of the golden cup.

The whole group looked at Ritsuka, knowing he was the leader and so he should also be their main speakman. That put him a little bit nervous, since Ritsuka was still new to this whole thing of negotiating and being a leader, however he would try is best to make his and Chaldea's intentions clear.

"First of all, thank you for accepting us. Knowing that we can cooperate with the emperor will turn our goals a little bit easier." Ritsuka started by thanking both Nero and Seneca. "We are mages from the future, a future that is at risk of no longer existence."

Both the emperor and the senator's curiosity grew, finding Ritsuka's words and backstory intresting and quite out of this world for the times they lived in. More to Nero than Seneca, who already spent some years training magic.

"We are here to find a magical artifact called the Holy Grail. You see, we are here to fix human history, wich has been screwed all over by an enemy of ours. The time period Your Imperial Majesty and it's advisor live in is very important to what happens in the next centuries of our history. So we believe our enemy came here in order to change the events of what happened, in order that humanity goes extinct. So if we find the Holy Grail that he hid here, we'll be able to fix some part of our problems and maybe all of your too." Ritsuka ended his explanation, believing that he delievered it the best way he could.

"Hmmmm..." Seneca rubbed his beard. "If I may ask you, what's your enemie's name?"

"Lev Lainur." Mash answered to the old man. "Also a mage from the future we come from. He's a traitor who's making an effort to erase all of humanity in the future."

"He's also a huge jerk. Don't forget that." Nala said, remembering of their encounter back at Fuyuki and what he has done. She could barely know the man but just from that first interaction, she could tell that Lev Lainur was a dispicable man.

"Yeah. He's an individual that you shouldn't trust if you ever find him." Peko told Nero and Seneca. "Don't ever believe a word from what he says, even if it sounds good for you."

"Have you met him or know that he's at least here?" Ritsuka asked to the two romans.

Seneca stared at Nero who also stared back at him, the two saying nothing to each other.

"We have never met a mage called Lev Lainur." Nero put an hand on her forhead. "You're the first ones that we saw and say that came from the future. And believe on the emperor's word when I say you that. If that Lev Lainur came here, we would heard something about him by now." She explained to the Chaldea group.

"The emperor is right. The man you speak of, was at the moment unknow for both of us until you told us about him." Seneca scratched his golden beard. "Perhaps he may truly be the cause for the turmoil that has been happening lately in our empire."

"You did mentioned that you are at fight with some enemies of yours." Peko said. "Who are they?"

Hearing the question, Nero stood up from her throne. "An army that calls themselves United Roman Empire. They already occupied some west part of my territory." She put an hand on the map of Europe, more precisely on the west. "The battle has been waging for months now. I hate to say it but they are truly formidable on their startegies." Nero gave a quick punch on the table out of anger. "Always like they're a step ahead. What's their bussiness in invading my stage?!" Frustrated, she took another sip of the golden cup.

Seneca looked briefly at his emperor with sorrowful eyes, before looking back at the Chaldea group. "From the information we could get from our soldiers, it appears that this United Roman Empire it's composed of former roman emperors and some other known figures. We already know the identity of one of them."

"Really? Who?" Nala asked.

"My uncle, Caligula." Nero revealed.

"He also was a roman emperor, correct?" Ritsuka asked Mash for confirmation.

"You're right master. Caligula was indeed a former roman emperor and also Nero's uncle. A very famous one too." Mash said.

"Wait! There can be more than one king or emperor ruling an entire nation's throughout history?" Nala was flabbergasted by the information.

"It makes sense. I mean, at the end of the day no one's immortal. Not even nation leaders." Peko said to Nala. "Why you would even think that?"

"...I don't know." Nala stared at the ground.

"He's the one who leads the troops to battle majority of the times." Nero told them. "And our soldiers reports have told me that he's been last seen here." Nero moved her finger down to the south of the Italian Peninsula and stopped at an island near it. "At Mount Etna. Some even say he established an accampment there. We need to take care of that. I plan on him being the first to take down of the enemy."

"And perhaps who knows, while we defeat the United Roman Empire, you can also find clues or even the Holy Grail itself along the way." Seneca said. "This partnership seems rather beneficial to both of us." He smiled. "Your appearence seems almost like it was fated to help us."

"You are indeed right Seneca." Nero also smiled. "Perhaps this people came from the future to help us in the end. As a sign that we'll indeed come out as the winners of this!" Nero went to the edge of the rooftop and raised her hands in the hand as she stared at the entire city of Rome. "That I'm indeed the main star, umu!"

Ritsuka and the other's sweated and smiled nervously. "She's really way too extrevagant huh?"

"So, people from the future. What do you say of becoming my generals and aid me in getting back what was always meant to be my domain?" Nero happily extended her hand to Ritsuka. "I wouldn't mind of having more support characters in my story, umu!" She said with joy.

Ritsuka looked at the rest of his group. He was the leader but also wanted to hear the opinion from the others. "What do you all think? Mash?"

"I'm going with Seneca's words and say that this is indeed beneficial for both of us. Having allies this early on is a good thing to have master." Mash told him, being in favor of the partnership.

"Hmm. I too think having allies now and support from an entire army of an emperor would do us good. We can't let this Singularity be an almost disaster like the first. " Peko told to Ritsuka. "Altough Nero seems a little...crazy."

"Seeing that the majority is at the favor, it would be useless if I was against it." Nala smiled. "But I too think we need an alliance right now. We already know from the previous Singularity that trying to do this all by ourselves will only turn the things harder. Then yes, I say that we shoud form a partnership."

Seeing that everyone wasn't opposing to the idea to ally with Nero and Seneca, Ritsuka knew what the final decision was now. "Well, guess it's decided then." Ritsuka smiled to Nero. "A partnership is about to be formed right here and now." And he shook hands with Nero.


With an alliance formed early on, Seneca revealed to the Chaldea group that they planned on attacking Caligula's accampment at Mount Etna on the day after tomorrow, since they still needed to reorganize their troops who had come back from previous battles as well as let them rest. As for the Chaldea group, Seneca managed to get them some rooms of the palace where it would be their stay during this Singularity. Mash and Ritsuka in one room and Peko and Nala in the other one. The night eventually arrived and everyone went to sleep, thinking about the tomorrow.

Well, everyone except Ritsuka.

"Damn, why the romans couldn't be more specific when pointing the way to the bathroom! I tought I would have to do on the bushes!"

Now on his way to his room, Ritsuka couldn't help but notice when looking to the exterior that the moon was full and there were countless stars in the sky as he also spotted the city of Rome in the distance. And just ahead of him there was a couple of stairs that would lead to the exterior of the palace, to a vast garden to be more precise. A garden full of of red and white flowers that extended way ahead, all nicely organized into their own groups.

"At least this palace has quite the garden. It's beautiful. Hm?" As the master of humanity looked at the garden, he noticed someone standing on front of it, calmly staring at the view while sitting on the tiled ground.

"Is that Nala?"

Kingdom Hearts II OST- Missing You

"Hmmmm." The girl stood there watching the flowers move slowly to the wind. It's movements were almost hypnotizing for the young girl. All this silence and calmness felt relaxing for her. Until someone saw her.

"Can't sleep?"

Hearing the voice from behind, Nala turned her head around to see Ritsuka walking torwards her.

"R-Ritsuka?!" Nala exclaimed, not expecting that he would still be awake by this time. "N-No! I was just doing some surveillence, that's all!" She clumsly tried to lie.

Ritsuka could see that she wasn't the greatest of liars. "With dozens of soldiers of Nero already doing that? I didn't know you have decided to volunteer and help them." He smiled.

Nala saw that Ritsuka could see through her lie easily and so she sighed. "Fine. You caught me. I went here to look at the garden. It's just, so peaceful you know?"

Ritsuka sat next to her. "Sure is. Almost like a big soft carpet. The romans have a good taste for decoration."

"And it somehow..." Nala touched her chest. "It feels, nostalgic to me. As if this garden and it's flowers were something that warms my heart. Something that I've seen before." Nala looked at the full moon in the sky. "Or perhaps it's just my liking for flowers spiking, I don't know." She talked quietly.

Ritsuka noticed how this was probably the first time he had saw Nala talk in such a calm and peaceful tone since she usually was a very energetic kid. The garden truly was making her feel something. Ritsuka then remembered of a thing. A memory of his childhood days. He chuckled just by remembering it.

"Well, now that you say that, you've just reminded me of something." Ritsuka said. "When I was around your age, my mom used to have a small garden on the backyard of our house. It wasn't as big as this one or anything like that but..." Ritsuka laid his back on the ground. "It was equally beautiful for me."

Nala looked at him, with a puzzled face only to smile shortly after. "Heh. I think I understand." She went back to look at the garden. "No matter if it's big or small in the end. As long as we're happy, it will always look beautiful to us. Also, do you have a mother?"

"Well, yes." Ritsuka answered her.

"It must be really nice to have one." Nala said. "What mothers generally do?"

Ritsuka smiled happily. "They usually take care of you, tell you when to sleep, what's good for your body and also pamper you if possible. That's what I remember my mom of doing."

"So is it just like a dad?" Nala continue to question Ritsuka.

Ritsuka smile slowly dissapeard "...Yes, I guess."

Seeing that she made a question that was unpleasent for Ritsuka, Nala tried to excuse herself. "Oh, sorry! It wasn't my intention Ritsuka!"

"No,no. It's alright. You had no way to knew it. I don't blame you." Ritsuka forgave her. "How about another question?"

"Okay!" Nala went back to smile. "Soooo, what's your mom doing right now? I mean, before all this crazy thing happened to you?"

"She..." Ritsuka remembered of another memory. This time a memory he wished to forget. "...I rather prefer to not speak about it."

"Crap! I make you uncomfortable again, sorry!" Nala slapped her forhead, calling herself an idiot for commiting the same mistake in a span of seconds.

"Hehehe. I already told you I don't blame you Nala. You had no way of knowing this." Ritsuka forgave her again.

"Then I think it's only fair for you to question me now. Your turn Ritsuka." Nala told Ritsuka to ask something about her now.

"Okay." Ritsuka tought about a question he could ask. "Why do you and Peko only remember of your dad. Do you have a mom?" He asked.

Nala stood silent for some seconds. "Now that you talk about it...ghghhgg!" A sharp pain in the head erupted as Nala squirmed in pain.

Ritsuka immediatly went to check if she was alright. "Nala! Are you alright?!" The master of humanity put his hands on her shoulder. "If so say something please!"

Nala didn't respond, taking a short time to take some breaths as sweat rolled down her face. "Y-Yes...I am." Nala took some deep breaths, feeling that the sudden headache had gone away. "I'm feeling...a little bit better now..." Nala went back to breath normaly, cleaning the sweat from her face.

"Sorry. Shouldn't have provoked your amnesia." Ritsuka told her, feeling guilty for the pain he had caused on the girl now.

"It's alright. I don't blame you too." Nala tried to comfort Ritsuka with a smile. "But that thing you said about me and Peko having a mother..." Nala stared at petals flying in the air. "I honestly don't know. All that I and my brother remember, is having a dad. And even then we can't remember of his face, body, voice, nothing. Only the fact that we have one." Nala said sadly. "But as for a mother. We don't know if we ever had one or not."

Without knowing what to say, Ritsuka decided the better now would be to stay silent and observe the large garden in front of them. As the seconds and even some minutes passed, Nala finally broke the silence between the two.

"Hey, Ritsuka. Can I ask you something?" She asked to him without looking.

"Sure." Ritsuka replied, not looking at her either.

Nala slightly, lowered her head. "Am I...your friend?"

Ritsuka was caught off guard by that question, even looking at the girl at his side. "Hum, yes. Why?"

"It's that when I was kept as a prisoner of the Dragon Witch back in France, she told me you wouldn't be rescuing me. That you'd rather abandon me then having to go through the pain and effort to save me." Nala revealed to Ritsuka. "Of course that I didn't believe in any word she was saying. But, I started to have doubts. At that time, we had just met for some couple of days and the way I treated Peko when we arrived to the Singularity was...I feared that you and Mash would have a negative perception of me. And so I tought if you really would find easier to just leave me in that cell..."

Ritsuka heard with attention every word from Nala's mouth, thinking how hard was her time as prisoner of the Dragon Witch. And she was still just a kid.

"I-I know it was stupid of me to think like that! That you would-" As Nala tried to lighten up the mood, she felt Ritsuka's arms wrapping around her body. "R-Ritsuka..?"

"Nala..." Ritsuka said stoicly, resulting in the girl to meet his eyes.

"There wasn't a single night, that me and Mash would sleep comfortably without thinking about you." He smiled as some tears appeard in his eyes. "Of course we are friends! We would rescue you not because you are Peko's sister, but because you're also our friend and member of the team!"

Hearing those words, Nala felt a pain in her chest as she also started to tear up. "R-Ritsuka..." She hugged him back. "Thank you. Both of you." She let some tears fall on her eyes. She could let that doubt finally die, knowing that both Ritsuka and Mash alongside Chaldea also saw her as a friend. She could trust in them.

The two stayed like that for some seconds before eventually breaking the hug apart. Their attention had now returned to the garden in front of them again.

"Also, thanks for protecting Peko in the meantime." Nala told Ritsuka. "It was good to see him all well and alive."

"Hm." Ritsuka smirked. "He also made sure to keep himself alive. He really did train and pushed his limits just in the hope of seeing you safe."

Nala smile grew a bit. "Yeah. I love that idiot." Nala then gasped. "Ah! But don't tell him that cried! Please, I beg you! Tell him and I'll punch you!"

Ritsuka couldn't help but laught. "Hahahahahaha. Don't worry." Ritsuka put a finger on his lips. "They're sealed."

"Heh. Good."

"Hey, do you think it was a good decision that we made an alliance with Nero and Seneca?" Ritsuka asked Nala.

"Hm? Why are asking that now?" Nala raised an eyebrow.

"It's that I too have some doubts. And I'm supposed to be the leader. So I want to know if I make the right thing as a leader." Ritsuka told her.

"Hmmm. That emperor Nero seems,well...a bit unhinged." Nala told her opinion about Nero, wich curiosily was the same opinion that Ritsuka had about her. "But Seneca, he looks a person we can reason with just like you said. So on my eyes, you did the right choice Ritsuka." Nala smiled to him.

"Glad to hear that Nala." Ritsuka smiled back.

"Altough something continues to irk me. Like, that man the soldiers arrested earlier this day, he was christian. Were they angry and arrestem him because christians are evil like some sort of cult or anything?" Nala asked Ritsuka, still thinking about what they saw today.

"Jeanne was also christian." Ritsuka mentioned their friend from the previous Singularity.

"Ah! Then christians are good people!" Nala said.

"But I think that Gilles de Rais guy was also christian..." Ritsuka said soon after.

"Then...christians are neither good nor evil? Or they can be both? Hurhg, this whole thinking is messing up my brain." Nala scratched her head in confusion.

"All the groups have good and bad people. That also applies to religion." Ritsuka told Nala. "I think it's all about the nature of some persons."

"...Yeah, I'll think like that too." Nala laid her back to the ground, now staring at the moon. "So, even if this Roman Empire is all powerful and big, it no longer exists in the present, right?"

"That's true. It ended eventually, like so many other things" Ritsuka told her. "That's just how time works."

Nala found Ritsuka's words to be somewhat sad. "Then, I don't want our group to end.' She said sure of herself. "I want to make sure it lasts for long enough. Until we find our dad and fix this whole human history problem too."

Ritsuka smiled at hearing her words. Now he couldn't help but see Nala has his little sister. He would make sure that both her and Peko would see their father and protect them. He would also protect Mash too. As a leader, that was his duty. "Then I'll guarantee that our group will last, perhaps even after all of this is resolved."

"Huh?! Really?!" Nala exclaimed with a big smile.

"Of course. That's a promise Nala. That no matter what happens, this group will never end." Ritsuka smiled to her.

"Heh. It's good to hear that Ritsukaaaaaaaa..." Nala yawned, showing that she was tired from staying awake at such late hour.

"Looks like we better go to bed." Ritsuka got up from the ground. "We'll need to be at our best for when the next battle comes up." He extended his hand to Nala. "Ready to go?"

Nala smiled all happily to her friend. "Of course!"

To be continued...


And that was chapter 21 guys!

Now before anything, I want to say sorry for a little mistake I made at the end of the previous chapter when I said I'd be excluding Stheno, Elizabeth and Kiyohime from the Singularity, when it's actually Stheno, Elizabeth and TAMAMO CAT not Kiyohime. I don't even know how to clear that serious mistake now. Oh god, will everyone now start to think I'm actually some fraud that actually didn't played the game nor read the story of FGO because of that mistake?

But now for real, I really forgot that Tamamo Cat was in this Singularity and not Kiyohime. But I'd say that's a problem of the first Singularities, where there was always one or two servants that would be so damn forgettable that they'd just dissapeard into the void of the players mind. And Septem is for me the most forgettable of the Singularities wich doesn't help that much.

Anyways, this chapter had a good lenght. That last segment may have stretched it a bit thou but I feel it would be good to have added it on this chapter and have it ended there. Also my rewritting of Septem will also include a bit of Nero's chase of christians even thou that only happened some years later, but I figured that it's inclusion would turn this Singularity more spicier.

So yeah, Ritsuka and Nala finally have some time to talk between themselves, since in my version of Orleans they didn't interact that much as Ritsuka did with Peko. So this conversation helps in solidifying the group's bond a little more.

(Kinda) IMPORTANT: Also I think it should be about time I mention Peko and Nala's heights. (What a great writer I am, 20 chapters in and only now I talk about the height of my oc's). For start the height of some servants are kinda bullshit. Like Nero is smaller than Abby wich is a freaking child! And Lartoria also was a big surprise for me when I discovered her actual height. I always tought she was like 1,80cm tall. Went to see her profile and she's actually 1,71cm tall! Like...dude what?! Some heights here just don't make sense. So here instead I decided to be a little generous to our padoru emperor and put her height at 1,55cm in order to not look so hilariously short. Now as for Peko and Nala.

Peko's height: 1,50cm. Wich means he would be as tall as Nemo. (And Nero from the original version)

Nala's height: 1,48cm. In order to be almost as tall as her brother and she's also 1cm taller than someone like Melusine.

Now I know that Mash already has an established height and male Ritsuka also had his height mentioned one time I guess. But in this fic Ritsuka will have the height that I assume it would be the average height of a japanese teenager like him and put it at 1,74cm tall. Mash established height is of 1,58cm but in this version I'd also make her a bit taller and give her a 1,62cm in height so that the height difference between her and Peko can be a bit larger. And for some random curiosity, if this fic had Gudako instead of Gudao has protagonist, I'd probably put her height as same as Mash or 2cm taller. (This are just the heights they would have in my fic. You can imagine them being taller or shorter the way you like outside of this story.)

Anyway, that's all I wanted to say and see you next time on chapter 22! Peace!

P.S: Man, I do like watching some NBA but as an european it's freaking hard because of the timezone so it's always 50/50 when I take my chances of staying awake to then watch a great game or a freaking boring one. Wish that the european leagues of basketball here would be as good as the NBA.