Pain

Having grown up entirely in the Chaldea Facility, Mashu had never met another child before. She knew about children and had seen them in pictures from workers when they talked about her family, but she never met one. The closest she got was Olga-Marie Animusphere, the current Director of Chaldea, and she was as far from a child as anyone could get. Perhaps Roman would be a better comparison, but even he had moments of maturity. That made the little girl she found in the hallway the first child Mashu ever met and the cutest

The girl looked like an angel, curled up on the floor, snoring softly while she cuddled Fou like a teddy bear. Her bright orange hair, tied into a side ponytail with a strange cowlick on the other side, clashed with his white fur and the white uniform she wore with black leggings. Mashu didn't know they had Mystic Codes that size, but she wasn't going to complain, it looked adorable, though the shirt looked more like a skirt on her and the boots were a bit too big.

Fou poked his head up from the girl's arms, calling over to Mashu. Despite the softness of them, the short barks woke the girl from her slumber. She sat up, still cradling Fou and rubbing the sleep from her amber eyes. It took a moment before she registered Mashu, screaming in surprise of the unfamiliar woman. Mashu cracked a smile and the girl blushed.

"It's neither morning nor night right now…." Mashu froze. She had never addressed someone who was younger than her before. From birth, she had always been taught to address people with respect, including titles. Olga-Marie was Director Olga-Marie or simply Director. The Professor was the Professor. Roman, despite Mashu having very little actual respect for him, was Dr. Roman. This was a strange experience for Mashu. Not adding some sort of respectful title felt wrong. "That means it's time to wake up."

"Oh," the girl said. Her voice was soft and bell-like, filling Mashu with an unfamiliar warmth and urge to hug the little girl. Had she sounded like that when she was younger? The child rose to her feet and looked around while Fou fell from her grip, scampering over to Mashu and leaping onto her shoulder. Confusion clouded the girl's eyes. "Where's Papa?"

Papa. Mashu knew that word referred to a male paternal figure but she had no real experience with it herself. Roman was as paternal as a sack of puppies and Maris-Billy was gone not long after she was born, but that wasn't important. Why was this little girl looking for her Papa? In fact, why was this little girl even here? Had her Papa brought her here? That would mean he was either a new technician or one of the 48 Masters that had recently arrived. But why had he brought his daughter with him and where did she get that uniform and how had she been allowed in and why did Mashu feel like squeezing her cheeks?

"Who are you?"

"Oh." Mashu was caught off guard by the sudden question. "I'm Mashu Kyrielight." Mashu was caught off guard by how easily the answer came. Usually, she would've been more reserved and cryptic around an unfamiliar person, yet she answered the child without a second of hesitation. Strange. "Um..Miss, may I ask a question? Why were you sleeping on the cold, hard floor?" Miss would work for now.

"Because it's like home." She said as if it explained everything. To Mashu, it sort of did. It was hard to tell from the girl's appearance, but her accent gave her away as Japanese, meaning she was probably used to the hard mats they slept on. At least, that's what her books had told her. The girl trotted closer to Mashu, looking at her with innocent curiosity. Fou stared back, barking back at her. The girl giggled. "He's a weird squirrel. He barks and he's fluffy."

"This is Fou. He is a Privileged Life-Form allowed to roam the halls of Chaldea. I was looking for him when I found you on the floor." Fou lept from Mashu's shoulder and onto the girl's head, nesting in her hair much to her amusement "And it seems he likes you. He doesn't usually go near other people."

The girl scratched Fou's cheek, making the mysterious creature purr. Mashu was about to get onto asking the little girl for her name when someone came around the corner. Professor Leff Lynor, head technician of Chaldea. He wore his usual evergreen suit and top hat, eyes squinted with a warm smile on his lips as he approached Mashu.

"There you are, Mashu. That won't do, you know, wandering around the facility without permission.." Leff slowed to a stop as he noticed the little girl in front of Mashu. "Oh, hello, little one. You must be the child I was hearing about, Mr. Fujimaru's daughter."

That answered Mashu's question about the girl's origin and confirmed her Japanese theory. The girl's face brightened at the mention of her father, hopping over to Lynor and looking up at him.

"You know where Papa is?!"

Leff chuckled and nodded. "Of course. He's currently at orientation with the new Masters and our dear Director. I should be there too, soon enough. I'm Leff Lynor, one of the technicians that will be working with your father. It's nice to meet you, Ritsuka."

Ritsuka gasped. "You know my name?"

Lynor smiled. "Of course. I was the one that convinced our dear Director to let you accompany your father until other arrangements could be made. I'm glad that I finally get to meet you. I hope you're enjoying Chaldea." Mashu looked at the Professor curiously. She hadn't known about Ritsuka beforehand. Usually, she was told about everything in the facility. Strange…

"Mashu, have you been watching Ritsuka all this time?"

"No, Professor, I just found her sleeping here while I was looking for Fou." Leff raised an eyebrow.

"Sleeping? Here, in the hallway? That's strange." He mulled the thought over for a moment and nodded. "Perhaps our little guest is in need of a nap after her long trip." On cue, Ritsuka yawned cutely, smacking her lips and rubbing her eye. It took a lot of willpower for Mashu not to aww.

"Mashu," the professor turned to her, "please take Ritsuka to her father's room. You'll find it not far from the infirmary, Room 0525. Do try and hurry, the Director will want you at the orientation as well to see the first test of the Rayshifting." With that, the professor said his goodbyes and walked off down the winding corridor, leaving Mashu with Ritsuka. The lavender-haired Designed Human smiled at the little girl and took her hand as they started walking towards the infirmary.

The walk to Ritsuka's room was rather informative for Mashu, both about the girl herself and about children in general. The first thing about children was that they could talk a lot. It felt harsh to call it blathering, but that's basically what Ritsuka did the entire way, going on and on about her home and her father. Mashu found it interesting, but it was hard to keep up with the onslaught of information.

What she learned about the Ritsuka family was that it was small, consisting only of Mr. Fujimaru and his eight-year-old daughter, living in a small apartment in Japan. Mr. Fujimaru was not a traditional Magus, working during the day as a grocer while his daughter attended elementary school. Mr. Fujimaru wasn't a particularly good Magus either, only knowing basic spells and understanding very few concepts about actual magecraft. Still, he passed on this knowledge to Ritsuka and she absorbed it like a sponge. The girl bragged about how proud her Papa was and how they went out for ice cream to celebrate her first successful spell, a simple healing on a cut on Mr. Fujimaru's hand.

When Mashu asked about Ritsuka's mother, she learned her second lesson about children, they were easily distracted. Just as she was about to answer, a group of technicians passed by in a hurry and captured Ritsuka's attention. Suddenly, the subject changed from Ritsuka's family to the purpose of Chaldea. Mashu wasn't sure how much of the explanation Ritsuka actually understood, though, as she soon became more interested in playing with Fou's fur than the mission to preserve humanity.

Despite this, Mashu found herself enjoying Ritsuka's presence. It was new and exciting and gave her strange feelings. Not bad ones, just ones she didn't fully understand. A sense of protectiveness of the little girl and an even stronger urge to pick her up and squeeze her till she popped. She resisted it but barely. It was odd to have such intense feelings for someone she just met. Everything involving Ritsuka was odd, but Mashu didn't mind.

"This should be your room, Miss Ritsuka." They stopped in front of a door that looked like every other door in Chaldea, numbered "0525", not far from the greed-marked door to the infirmary. "The door should be open."

Mashu pushed the keypad and the door slid open, surprised to find the light was already on. She was even more surprised to find the resident doctor sleeping in the bed, his laptop sitting on his chest, playing the tunes from that ridiculous blog he loved so much. Mashu let out a sharp cough, waking the peach-haired doctor.

"I wasn't sleeping!" Mashu looked at him distastefully while Ritsuka laughed, surprising the doctor. "Uh, Mashu, where did you get a little girl? Are you trying to tell me something? Gasp! Is she your-"

"This is Fujimaru Ritsuka, the daughter of one of the new Masters." Mashu cut him off quickly. She did not have time for his silliness. "This is her and her father's room."

"Oh!" Roman shot up off the bed and slammed his laptop closed, chuckling sheepishly. "I'm sorry, I was just trying to get a little rest before the test, ya know? Hehehehehuh?" Ritsuka tugged on Roman's shirt, pointing up at his face. Crouching down to her level, Ritsuka grabbed a fistful of Roman's hair, stroking it and twirling it around her fingers. She let out a small gasp of amazement

"It's so soft and pink~"

"Um, yeah, that's my hair. Do you like it?" Ritsuka nodded. "Then thank you, I do a lot of work to keep it like this. I have to use this shampoo that Da Vinci made to keep it nice and fluffy. It's pretty great cause it smells like strawberries and fizzes on my head. Then I have to spend an hour brushing it out and making sure nothing is-"

"Dr. Roman," Mashu cut him off, "can I leave Ritsuka with you in here? The Director wanted me at the Orientation and it's starting soon." The way she stood outside the door gave the impression that her request wasn't a request.

"Doesn't the Director want me there too?"

Mashu gave him a stern look.

"Yeah, I figured. Sure, she can stay with me if she wants to. What do you say Ritsuka?"

"Mm!" She nodded, "I'll stay and wait for Papa. Me and Dr. Romi can play 'till then."

"Ok." Mashu bowed respectfully. "I'll come back and see you later. Goodbye, Miss Ritsuka."

"Bye, Ma-chan!" The door closed in front of the blushing Mashu while Ritsuka waved her off. Roman gave her a curious look. He had helped care for Mashu since she was first created and practically raised her and he had never seen her act so openly with another person, yet here she was bonding with a child so easily. Strange. However, there was something even stranger.

"Dr. Romi?"

Roman eventually submitted to the childish nickname. It seemed Ritsuka gave everyone a nickname. Mashu was Ma-chan, Professor Lynor was Mr. Top Hat , and Fou was Fou, she couldn't figure out a nickname for him. With Mr. Top Hat as an option, Roman was willing to deal with 'Dr. Romi.'

He was also willing to deal with playing with her. Playing with children was something he hadn't had much recent experience and was sort of refreshing. Mashu was never much for playing when she was younger and Olga-Marie had been cold to him since she was a child. So, playing with Ritsuka was fun, if not a little unusual.

"Hit me." Fou pushed over the poker card and Ritsuka snatched it up. Her face belied no emotion as she slid it in with the rest of her hand and stuck him with a cold gaze. "Your turn."

Roman gulped. Never in his life did he ever expect to fear playing Blackjack with an eight-year-old, but life loved throwing him for a loop. He had a four and a ten in hand. All he needed was a seven or less and he might-keyword being might-win this. Anything more and he would lose for the fifth time, and this time, he wouldn't be able to push of their bet any longer. If he lost, he owed Ritsuka an entire pillowcase worth of peanut-butter-and-chocolate candy. That's what he got for not taking her seriously.

Roman looked at Fou and nodded. The mysterious, squirrelish creature pulled a card from the top deck and slid it over to Roman. With shaking, sweaty hands, Roman reached out for the card. How was he going to even get that much candy? Did it really need to be a whole pillowcase worth? Why a pillowcase exactly? Who taught this girl how to play blackjack? What would she do if he pulled out now? Roman grabbed the card, ready to flip it and seal his fate.

The room turned a bloody red, the entire room shook, and the air was filled with the scream of the emergency siren. For a moment, Roman was relieved until he realized what this meant. Something had gone horribly wrong.

'Olga-Marie! Mashu!' Roman was on his feet, ready to run out of the room when he felt something dragging on his leg. Ritsuka was clutched to his pants, shaking like a leaf with Fou resting atop her head, cooing softly to comfort the girl. Roman crouched down and pulled her hands from his pants, holding them tight. "Ritsuka, I need you to stay here while I go and check on everyone else."

"What was that noise? Was that an explosion? Are Papa and Ma-Chan okay?" Roman bit his lip. In most cases, he'd be honest with her about the situation, but he didn't need a scared child on his hands right now.

"No, that was just some thunder. The storms get bad up here sometimes and the thunder is really loud. I have to go see if it scared anyone else. I'm the doctor after all." Roman gave a weak smile while Ritsuka returned a disbelieving frown. She may have been a child but she wasn't stupid. "Look, Ritsuka, stay here, okay? I'll be back as soon as I can!"

Roman didn't let her say anything else as he ran out of the room. He needed to get to the Control Room. Smoke was filling the corridors which meant there was fire and that meant that the emergency water system hadn't turned on to quell the flames from the explosion. The only manual override was in there. He had to stop this quickly.

Roman was a man on a mission. He was so focused on this mission, he didn't notice the little girl chasing after him through the crimson lit hallways. He didn't notice when she lost him. He didn't notice when she took a right where he took a left and ended up in the middle of a fiery hell.

Mashu was going to die. That wasn't anything new, she knew she was going to die from the moment she was created. Everyone was going to die eventually, she just had the cold comfort of knowing when. Yet, it seemed fate had other plans for her. Life truly was full of unexpected things, like explosions and large blocks of rubble crushing your entire lower body.

She was thankful and remorseful when the screaming stopped. It had been like torture listening to the people who had gotten hid by the fire scream in pain as their bodies were burned. At least now, she could pass on peacefully. A morbid and horrible thought, especially when one of those screaming was definitely Mr. Fujimaru. Mashu hadn't been able to meet him before the first test of Rayshifting began and had hoped to see him afterward. It seemed like that was less than possible now.

'Miss Ritsuka, I'm sorry. I told you I was coming back but it looks like I won't be able to see you again. I'm so sorry about your father. Roman, please keep Miss Ritsuka safe and far away from here.' Mashu closed her eyes, ready for death to take her.

"Ma-chan!"

"Kyuu!"

Her eyes snapped open, revealing Ritsuka and Fou standing over her. Tears ran down the girl's face as she looked frantically from the pool of blood to the stone to Mashu. Fire roared all around her and smoke filled the chamber. Chaldeas glowed with an malicious orange heat, foretelling the future, or lack thereof, for mankind. The roar of flames went off around them and more rubble was falling, cashing against the ground with cacophonous booms.

"M-Ma-chan, are you okay?"

"Miss Ritsuka….you need to run away. This place...is dangerous...go back to ...he'll keep you safe." Mashu struggled to get words out as blood filled her lungs and drowned her from within.

"Ma-chan, can you move?"

"...run…" Tears and smoke burned Mashu's eyes. She wished she could tell Ritsuka it was all okay, to comfort the girl and take the sad tremble out of her voice, but this was all she could manage. Trying to keep her alive and hope she'd be okay. 'Where's Roman?'

"Ma-chan...where's Papa?"

"SYSTEM SWITCHING TO FINAL PHASE OF RAYSHIFT. COORDINATES, AD 2004, JANUARY 30th, FUYUKI, JAPAN." The computer blared the announcement over the loudspeaker. The doors to the Chaldeas chamber began to hiss and grind to a close. Mashu tried to tell Ritsuka to run but her words were lost. The little girl whirled around, eyes filled with fear and uncertainty.

"LAPLACE'S SHIFTING PROTECTION AVAILABLE. SINGULARITY'S ADDITIONAL FACTOR SLOT SECURED. UNSUMMON PROGRAM SET. PLEASE MAKE FINAL ADJUSTMENTS." Tearful amber eyes gaped down at Mashu, who smiled and mouthed 'Run'. Ritsuka stood up, Fou on her shoulder, and began pushing against the rock on top of Mashu.

'No. Run. Please.'

"CENTRAL AREA SEALED. 90 SECONDS UNTIL INTERNAL CONTAINMENT PROCEDURE." The doors were sealed. There was no way out. Ritsuka kept pushing, screaming and pushing with all her might. Tears poured from her eyes. Mashu closed her eyes and begged.

'Please save her. Someone, please.'

"COFFIN VITALS: MASTERS BASELINE NOT REACHED. RAYSHIFT REQUIREMENT NOT MET. SEARCHING FOR QUALIFYING MASTER...FOUND. UNREGISTERED CANDIDATE RESET AS MASTER." The back of Ritsuka's hand burned. She kept pushing. Fou whimpered atop her head, curling into his tail.

"UNSUMMON PROGRAM, START. SPIRITRON CONVERSION, START." A halo of light surrounded Ritsuka and Mashu. Ritsuka lost what little strength she had, falling to the ground next to Mashu. She curled up into a ball and began to cry as warm arms wrapped around her.

'It's okay, Ritsuka. I'm here."

"RAYSHIFT STARTING IN 3...2...1. ALL PROCEDURES CLEAR. FIRST ORDER, COMMENCING OPERATION." Mashu held the child to her chest as the life began to fade from her body and the Rayshift began. This was the end for her. She hoped that wherever it went, the Rayshift would take Ritsuka somewhere safe, but she doubted it and it broke her heart. That sweet little girl, lost and alone in some battlefield, unable to protect herself and no one else there to protect her. It wasn't right. She needed someone to protect her, somebody, anybody!

"You have the heart of a knight, Mashu Kyrielight."

And the world was darkness.