When he came to, his body felt light as a feather. Yet… he was rooted to the ground. Unyielding and unmoving, he held onto the black shield taller than him as his gaze was locked onto the terrifying figure bigger than them both.

"Fine." The voice belonging to the monster was appropriately deep and unnerving. "It pains me to ask this, but I must know! Why…" He watched as the monstrous golden being raised its fist and wound it for a punch. "...do you fight!?"

Its question was punctuated by a blow that rang through the rocky and empty battlefield as it met the raised shield. He was forced down to his knees as pain shot through his entire body.

But he held strong. A stroke of the pulsing red mark on the back of his right hand faded away.

"Why do you not submit to me!?"

Another punch; another ring. He was blown back a few feet as another mark faded— but he held strong.

"Why do you keep fighting so hard!?"

This time, the wrathful being raised its leg to kick him but he moved first. He threw all his weight into swinging the shield to deflect the kick and knock the monster off-balance. A guttural roar echoed throughout but it took a moment before he realised it came from himself.

Why do I fight?

Why do I not submit?

Why do I… keep going?

The answer died in his throat despite being at the tip of his tongue. The monster's final wish would go unanswered as he struggled to comprehend what was going on. Was this a dream? No, it felt like a memory but not his. Then whose? Many more questions flooded his mind, drowning out the fierce determination he had before.

Please don't forget this…

Just then… a voice rang in his head. He didn't recognise it, but everything became clear in the moment. What was he fighting for?

Isn't it obvious? To live.

"—tain? Hey, Captain? Wake up already!"

"Ahh—!" An unmanly scream escaped him as he shot up on his bed. "What?! Where am… Oh, it's just you, Bronie." He let out a relieved sigh upon recognising one of his crewmates. "Did I oversleep again?"

"Yes." Her answer was as blunt as always. "But that's not the only reason I'm waking you up."

"Hmm? Did something happen then?" There was no panic whatsoever in her tone so it wasn't an emergency at the very least.

"That Schrodinger woman sent us a message; she requests immediate assistance for a mission of the utmost priority," Bronie relayed with complete boredom. "She sent us the coordinates where we should meet up; Kongming took command and charted the route there."

The Captain let out a noise of approval before letting out a yawn. "Alright, I'll head up to the bridge in a minute. Let me get changed first…" Bronie let out a scoff before exiting his quarters to let him get into his usual uniform. Despite the affable way his crewmate had presented the situation, he knew how bad it truly was for Schrodinger to send a message for help. It meant that whatever was going on was in need of a more… stronger presence— one she couldn't do herself. 'But what…?' There was only one way to find that out...

After making his way to the bridge, he was quickly met with Kongming. "Have we got an ETA?" He asked the tactician who responded with a few more minutes. "And any ideas what Schrodinger needs help with?"

"Did Bronie not tell you?" Kongming grumbled, shooting a glare in the direction of the gamer who was sitting nearby. Bronie, of course, ignored it and continued playing her handheld completely unfazed. "Schrodinger needs our help finding someone who might be lost somewhere in the Sea of Quanta; she thinks he might have fallen into a bubble world and requests us to find him."

Well, it still sounded imperative— it was not exactly safe to get lost here —but the captain still let out a short sigh. "I rushed up here for that?" He muttered with a shake of his head.

"Oh, would you have preferred to sleep in more?"

"...No." The Captain shrunk a bit under the narrowed gaze of the white-haired woman who was only half his height. "In-in any case, did she say who we're looking for?"

"Schrodinger said it was better she explain in person; hence, sending her coordinates. She did say she was helping a few others too but that's as much as we know."

"Hmm…" Pretty sparse on the important details but it was rare for Schrodinger to contact them in general; whatever was going on, she trusted them to help her and he couldn't let her down. "A few more minutes, right?"

"...Is something bothering you, Captain?" The worry in Kongming's eyes was unmissable. As annoying as it might be having someone who could read him so well, he didn't mind as much.

"I had another odd dream again," he confessed with another sigh. "I'm sure... it's someone's memory." It had been constant for the last several nights—a flashback where he felt both in control and not at the same time. He was convinced now that they belonged to someone else; the title that frequently appeared within them was a big clue of who the owner would likely be. "Chaldea's Master…"

In his tenure as the Hyperion's Captain and all the (mis)adventures that follow, he naturally grew curious about other versions of himself only to discover most didn't amount to much. That wasn't a bad thing per se; he occasionally found himself jealous of the hims who lived mundane lives. Then there were the ones he couldn't be jealous of— the versions of him that ended up in a place called Chaldea. He had sparse knowledge of those versions of him and they were mainly second-hand information obtained during a rather chaotic series of events. The Last Master of Humanity charged with saving humanity... Ever since learning about Chaldea, the Captain lost the right to claim he had the hardest job there was.

Then there were those two— the Ferryman and him —but the less said about them, the better.

"Maybe they're a warning?" Even the most sceptical of people would find it worrying if they suddenly inherited the memory of another version of themselves. "What do you think?"

"Maybe, but I'll have to hesitate in saying they're a premonition of things to come. For all we know, you could be overthinking things."

"If they are a warning, then I'd like to have to speak to whoever's in charge of these things. We could have used that when you were being targeted by that Saul guy. Would have helped with all the headaches in trying to figure out what his vendetta against you was."

"It was Baal, Bronie," Kongming corrected the gamer who decided to insert herself into the conversation. She then turned back towards the Captain. "If these memories you're seeing are related to the Chaldean version of yourself, then that is sufficient cause to worry. But right now, we need to focus on the task at ha—"

Beep beep!

The sudden interruption came from the nearby console as someone attempted to establish a communication link. Adopting a more authoritative tone, he activated the channel and spoke firmly, "This is the Captain of the Schicksal battleship Hyperion. Identify yourself."

"It's Schrodinger," the voice of their ally replied through the speakers. "We can see you approaching on our radars."

"We?"

"Yes. To cut a long story short, I'm helping the crew of this ship look for their... commander?" The question wasn't directed at them but at someone else with her. "Hang on, I'm passing you onto the ship's captain."

A couple of seconds passed before a new boyish voice came through. "Salutations, Hyperion Captain. I am the captain of the Nautilus, Nemo. It's an honour to finally be meeting you."

'Nautilus, Nemo?' He recognized those names, of course, but he didn't know what that would mean quite yet. "The honour's all mine." He kept things light and friendly. "Could you shed more light on the situation?"

"Of course. Prior to our getting stranded here and meeting with Miss Schrodinger, our leader went missing and we've reason to believe he ended up here."

"...ainl…ast exper…" A barely noticeable voice spoke in the background, which Nemo repeated.

"Yes, mainly from past experiences. We've been trying to find him for some time now and Miss Schrodinger suggests we seek help from you and your crew."

"A rescue mission then? Sounds simple enough," Bronie remarked, sounding bored again.

"I'm afraid it isn't quite that simple," Nemo evidently heard what she said as he replied with an exasperated tone. "We are part of an organization named Chaldea; if you heard about us, then you should understand what that entails, Captain Fujimaru Ritsuka."

"...What was that about overthinking things, Kongming?" The Captain cast a glance in the tactician's direction, who only let out an exaggerated cough while avoiding his gaze. As much as he wanted to tease her further, the dread simmering inside him made itself known. There was only going to be one way to placate it and it was to meet with the Chaldeans; still, in the depths of his heart, he hoped this would be a simple rescue mission and they could go their separate ways once the dust settles…

A/N: Separates the Flamechasers into its own thing only to immediately drop this. Never change, me… Well, at least this little interlude is completely intertwined with the main story. I just made this quick piece in between writing chapter 30 because, for the life of me, I have an allergy to working on the same document for too long. In any case, this was only to just like show what the Nautilus crew was up to cause we last saw them like 2 months ago… and the urge to write something about Captain Ritsuka reared its head. This should beat back the demon for a while. Don't think I'll pick up on this much tbh but might as well put this out there.

In any case, I'm going to go bother my editor to finish chapter 29 and see you all next time!