Fate / Grand Order: Star or Hope
Being inside the coffin is suffocating.
Oh. The height was just fine. The coffin was three meters tall. It was the width that's a problem. It was a tight place, just wide enough for a person to stood inside with a few centimeters to spare. Not even half a step and the back already touched the coffin's inner wall. All cockpit has the same size.
Kirshctaria supposes that they were in luck that all Master Participants were able to fit in. Had one of them were too big, they won't be able to enter and that would lead to a problem. He understands that the Rayshift coffin had been constructed long before the Master Candidates were selected... but was it too much to think for those with different body build?
Well... he will talk with Olga Marie once he's back. Right now, he has to focused on the mission—
"Hm?"
It was just a happenstance, but Kirshctaria saw one of the Master Participants was fidgeting inside her cockpit. It was a bit hard to see, since her location was on the edge while Kirshctaria was close to the center, and the dull-colored screen door didn't help either, but Kirshctaria was sure that Master was a nervous wreck like now.
That won't do.
If she's nervous now, she would endanger herself and her teammates during the mission. And Rayshift project observes brain vitals. A nervous person has different brainwaves than a calm person. She might be in danger during Rayshift itself.
He should've done something. He is The team leader after all. It was his job to take care of his team's safety and wellbeing.
Pressing a button in his cockpit, he opens the screen door and stepped out.
"Kirshctaria? What are you doing?!"
"Just a little pep talk. It won't take long."
He approached the nervous Master, knocking on the cockpit's screen door. The girl looked up at him and start flailing in nervousness.
Whoops.
"Ah. Calm down." Kirschtaria said. "There's a button on your left. Around your eye level. Press it to open the cockpit." He pointed at the general direction where the button located, just in case the girl can't hear him from inside.
The girl looks in that direction and found the button. Kirschtaria took a step back when the screen door sliding down.
"Sorry for sudden action, but I can't help but notice: are you nervous?"
The girl nodded slowly, as if ashamed.
"It's okay," Kirschtaria said. "It's normal to be nervous. This is a big mission and the first time Rayshift to be used. Everyone is nervous too."
He may have gone through simulation several times. Chaldea may employ the best in all relevant fields. They even had run through the calculation several dozens time and making double and triple check. But unexpected things always happen one way or another. No plan survived on the first contact, after all. And this is the Rayshift's first debut. Nervous is understandable.
"T-thank you." The girl smiled. "It just that... I'm not good with small space..."
Ahh. Claustrophobia. The fear of being locked in an enclosed space. Stuffed into the coffin is definitely would trigger it.
"It won't be for long, I assure you." He said. "We are supposed to be inside for a few minutes at best, and then we would be launched to Singularity. To open space. Can you bear with it for a few minutes?"
The girl shifted. "Is that so? Then I guess I can do it." She said. Good.
But she still looks unsure.
"What's else?"
She looks sheepish. "W-well... my brother and I were recruited... but he fell asleep during the briefing and excluded from the mission... the Director was very angry... I hope he's fine without me around."
Hm. Olga did say some impudent newbie had the gall of falling asleep on top of arriving late.
"He'll be fine. The Director may seem harsh but she does care about her personnel. The mission just took a lot of her mind." That's how Olga Marie is. Tough and harsh, but she actually just a lonely sweet girl who's trying her hardest. And when she's stressed, either she lashed out or break down crying or both. "Tell you what? The sooner we finish the mission, the sooner you can meet your brother again, and the two of you can formally apologize to the director. She's not unfair, trust me."
"I see... thank you, Senpai!" Beamed her.
Senpai... huh? That sounds like Mash. She really loves to use that word once she discovers it.
"Then I'll count on you during the mission miss..." He briefly looks at the data. Ah. One of the 'Civilian' Master. "Fujimaru Kasumi."
Seeing she was no more nervous, Kirschtaria mentally patted himself for a job well done. Nodding politely, he turned around with the intent to get back to his own cockpit. Rayshift should be started soon.
However, he doesn't even reach three steps when white overcome his vision. All he knew was there's a very loud noise, blinding pain, and then... darkness.
~X~
Dark. So... so... dark.
Silent darkness.
Kirshctaria found himself floating listlessly.
He can't see anything. He can't hear anything. He can't move. His body feels like locked down with the strongest binding spell on top of the heaviest chain one can find.
Where was he?
Where was everyone?
What happened? The last thing he remembers was he gave the girl a simple pep talk to erase her nervousness and then...
And then... what? What happened? Why he can't remember anything? It was something white but what was it?
"..."
From the darkness, there's a shape. A silhouette.
There was someone.
The silhouette was vaguely human-shaped. They seem to talk to him but... what language is that? The world is jumbled together and did not make sense. Too soft-spoken. Not loud enough.
"W-who are you?" He voiced out. "Where am I?"
"..."
They open their mouth, seemingly to say something. They... are they asking him something?
"What? What do you want? Speak clearer?"
The figure closed their mouth. Tilted their head, as if they were confused. Then they turned around and walking (floating?) away.
"Hey! Wait! You haven't answered my question! Hey!"
Kirschtaria tried to reach them, but they were getting farther and farther away.
No.
It was him who moved.
Someone... something... was pulling him away. Try as he might, he can't escape the bounds. His limbs were locked, his circuits refused to activate. There was no one to hear nor helping him. He was helpless.
He hates it. He hates the feeling of helplessness.
He's scared.
What should he do?
"...ke up."
Echoes from nowhere.
"...wake up..."
Wake up? But he is awake... or is he?
"Wake up... please... please wake up... I beg you, please... Please don't die."
What...?
The pulling sensation gets stronger. Kirschtaria felt like he was dragged against a very strong current. His whole body feels hurt because of it. His eyes hurt so he closed them. The current shook him.
No. It was not current. It was a pair of hands.
Cracking open his eyes, the first thing Kirschtaria saw was orange. Fiery orange. Reddish orange. That redhead girl he consoled earlier.
Upon seeing him awake, she's burst into tears.
" awake... you're awake... oh god thank you! Thank you...!" She sobbed, bending down and clutching at front of his uniform.
Kirshctaria realized he was laying down on the hard floor that strangely felt hot and wet. As if someone had flooded the floor. Groaning, he pushed himself up. He had to blink a few times before his vision stop blurred. A gasp escapes his mouth.
The room...
"What is this...?" He asked in horror. Standing up and looking around. Checking for the presence of illusion to find... no. This was not an illusion. This was real. The room had thrown into chaos. There are fire and debris everywhere. The coffins were destroyed. The people inside...
they are either in comatose or dead.
A panicked cry pierces through the tense air.
"Nee-san! Mash! Where are you!" A male voice called out.
"Ritsuka!" Fujimaru responded. "Over here!"
A boy with dark hair and bright blue eyes run towards them. Kirschtaria assumes he's miss Fujimaru's brother, the one who had been excluded from the mission, seeing that he wore Chaldea Master Uniform instead of Chaldea Combat Uniform. His name would be...
"Fujimaru Ritsuka?" The boy jumped and turned to him. Kirschtaria noted that he's young. The minimum age limit. "My name is Kirshctaria Wodime. Do you perhaps have some insight into why this all..." he waved his hands to their surrounding, "happens? I'm afraid I don't know anything."
"I... neither was I." ...oh. "I was talking with Dr. Roman in my room, but then the power went out." WHAT?!
"What do you mean by the power went out?! Chaldea is NOT supposed to experience that!" The Sheba Lens, the Chaldeas... all those important pieces of technology and infrastructure need electricity! Without it the Rayshifting was not just near impossible, it would become unstable and very dangerous! There's a reason why Marisbilly built the reactor!
"W-well... seeing from the damage, Dr. Roman said it possibly be an act of sabotage... and I agree."
Sabotage, huh? That explains A LOT! Question: Who's the soon-to-be-dead son of a bitch responsible for it?! When Kirshctaria got his hand on them, he will make sure they WISH they locked in Clock Tower as Lab Rat!
...no. not now. He can be murderous later. There are more important things to take care of now.
"Where's Dr. Roman?"
"He went to the power plant to switch power to reverse. There's an error in the system so he had to do it manually."
Good... that's good. That would be one problem less. Kirschtaria knew Romani for years. For all his goofy devil-may-care attitude, he's actually a quite trustworthy and reliable man. He can entrust Chaldea in his hand. "What about the others?"
"You two were the first ones I found awake and well."
Not good.
"Let's spread out and help others as much as possible."
"Yes!" "Understood."
Kirschtaria went to the rest of Team A. His footsteps make Splash Splash sound and he dearly hopes the redness in the water was because of the fire and not blood.
He trembles when he found them.
Ophelia was slumped against the glass door. Unconscious. Daybit's glass door was full of spiderwebs and one-touch away from completely shattered. There's blood running down from Kadoc's head. There's a big shard embedded in Beryl's shoulder. Pepe's cockpit has fallen with its glass door partially shattered. Hinako's chest was barely rising and fall.
Steeling himself, Kirshctaria carefully uses his magecraft to get them out from the cockpit and use healing magecraft to mitigate the damage as much as he could.
Not enough. He was one person, there's six of them. All of whom sustained a fatal or near-fatal injury.
If only his circuits were in perfect condition, this will be piece of cake...!
"HELP!" He was startled when he heard Ritsuka's shout. Just behind that big rubble. "OVER HERE! PLEASE, I NEED HELP!"
What did he found...?
With great reluctance, Kirschtaria leave his fellow Team A and went to check him.
"Holy shit!" He hears Kasumi's horrified gasp, and he agrees!
Because Mash was buried under the rubble. There's a pool of blood beneath her. She was crushed from the waist down! Fou was yipping worriedly as Ritsuka futilely tried to move the rubble.
And to make things worse she was painfully awake and aware of the pain.
"...sen...pai..."
Shaking himself back to reality, Kirschtaria quickly helped Ritsuka. A wind-based spell combined with Reinforcement to his hands to help lifting the rubble. Once they lift the boulder, even if only half an inch, Kasumi quickly pulled Mash free.
Had Kirschtaria was not desensitized of what he saw in the Clock Tower, he would have thrown up at the sight of Mash's condition.
Her legs were crushed. Totally and completely crushed. No hope for recovery. The only way to salvage them was to amputate them. Assuming they got her in time before she died through blood loss.
No. She won't die. Not on his watch.
"Put her down." He pushed all Prana he can channel into her. It was painful because he also uses his damaged circuits, but if it means he can help Mash, then he will bear the pain. After all the pain of getting stabbed inside out was nothing compares to what Mash must be feeling right now.
"Don't... mind me... senpai... just run, please..."
"What are you saying, Mash? There's no way I can leave you." Kasumi said. "We will help you. Promise."
Kirschtaria wordlessly nodded in agreement and poured more prana to the wound. Stopping the blood from oozing out and trying to heal the damage, even if only a little.
Come on...
Come on...
Come on...
Please let it work. Please let it work. If there's a god or higher being above listening in, then please, please let it work!
An ominous sound could be heard.
WARNING TO OBSERVATORIAL STAFF: CHALDEA'S CONDITION HAS CHANGED
"WHAT?!" "...w-what?"
The four of them (plus Fou) looked up to the Earth Miniature above.
SHEBA'S NEAR-FUTURE OBSERVATIONAL DATA WILL BE OVERWRITTEN
THE SURVIVAL OF THE HUMAN RACE ON EARTH FOR THE NEXT 100 YEARS...
"The Chaldea..."
"it's burning..."
CANNOT BE CONFIRMED
"No." Kirschtaria shook. "No, no no no. This can't be. What happened?!"
First, Chaldea's light was gone. Next, there was sabotage. His teammates were a hairbreadth away from death and Mash can't possibly regain her lower body. Then this! What happened?! Why... why this all happens?! Humanity can't just go extinct like this! This can't be! Impossible!
THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY CAN'T BE GUARANTEED
This is a joke. A cruel joke. A nightmare! Someone must be slipping hallucinogen or something the like to his stuff last night. Yes. That must be it. There's no way the situation can escalate this fast! There's no way... absolutely no way...!
CENTRAL BULKHEAD WILL NOW BE SEALED
COMMENCING INTERIOR CLEANING IN 90 SECONDS
"Senpai... everyone... I'm sorry." Mash was crying now. "It's because of me... you are..."
"No." Ritsuka shook his head. "This is not your fault. We're here because we choose so."
"He is right." Said Kirschtaria. He then added. "And I can just make a hole in the door to get us out."
That was a lie. He can't do it. Marisbilly designed Chaldea well. The walls and door are made with a special material that will negate Magecraft effect to a degree, and seeing the walls survived the bombings, the bomb-proof feature works well. Kirschtaria literally had to use a spell that equals to C4 explosives to forcibly open the door. The kind that could possibly them with the impact. But... well, it was not like they have to know. If it will reassure them, Kirschtaria is willing to lie.
Mash smiled weakly. "Thank you..." She turned her head to the sky. "You can't see... the sky... at all... from here..."
Ah. Right.
Mash has been raised in confinements all her life. She was never once ventured outside. And in Chaldea here, where a blizzard is an everyday occurrence, all day long, there's no way she can see the sky. Her one wish was to see the blue sky. The real sky.
If only the sabotage didn't happen... Kirschtaria can show her the real sky. Granted it was a sky in a Singularity, during the mission, but it would be a real sky nonetheless. Yet because he was too overconfident and too naive, this happens. He had forgotten Clock Tower Number One Lesson: Constant Vigilance, for anything and everything is out to get you killed.
"Sorry."
He was the Team Leader. It was his duty to take care of his team. And yet... and yet he failed to do so.
Out of 48 Master Candidate and one Non-Master team personnel... only three Master, him included, who were in any shape to do anything. And they haven't started the mission yet.
He was a failure of a leader.
"I'm so sorry... I was a terrible leader... I'm sorry..."
"No... it was my fault... for being weak."
No. She is not weak. A weak person would have died when half of their body was crushed. Mash didn't even whimper. She is strong. It was Kirschtaria who's inept in leading.
"Hey. Hey, don't cry." Ritsuka shakes his shoulder. Smiling shakily as if trying to reassure him. "We'll found a way to fix everything, right? There's always a silver lining in the worst situations."
"That's right." Kasumi's grin was weak, but she tried. "After all we are together."
"Together..." Mash whispered, mouth tugging into a smile. "S-senpai... your hand... can you...?"
Knowing what she meant, Kirschtaria took her right hand while Ritsuka took her left. Kasumi just hugs her tighter, trying to not give Mash even more pain.
Despite the hopelessness of these situations, Kirschtaria can't help but feel faintest of hope.
Together.
He hopes they can pull through. He prays that they will be safe and alright. He hopes everything will be alright. No. He will make sure everything will be alright. Marisbilly's dream, Chaldea's purpose, the Fujimaru Siblings, Mash, the fragile hope, and the bond between the four of them, he will protect them.
Even if it means sacrificing his own life.
~X~
COFFIN VITALS: MASTERS... BASELINE NOT REACHED
RAYSHIFT REQUIREMENT NOT MET
SEEKING FOR QUALIFYING MASTER... FOUND CANDIDATE
CANDIDATE NO. 1: KIRSCHTARIA WODIME, RESET AS MASTER
CANDIDATE NO. 47: KASUMI FUJIMARU, RESET AS MASTER
CANDIDATE NO. 48: RITSUKA FUJIMARU, RESET AS MASTER
UNSUMMON PROGRAM: START
SPIRITON CONVERSION: START
RAYSHIFT START IN
3
2
1
ALL PROCEDURES CLEAR
FIRST ORDER, COMMENCING OPERATION