Divergence of Compassion and Comfort: Part 2 (FGO X Rise)

Divergence of Compassion and Comfort: Part 2

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Commissioned by Chaosbrain

Wordcount: 2750

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Hoarfrost encroached Chaldea, as Ritsuka Fujimaru ran through its halls, carrying the last, only hope he had left in his hands.

“Senpai! This way!” Mash was using Coda’s farewell gift. A powerful exoskeleton suit she’d refined after Da Vinci designed it, before she returned to her world upon hearing of Chaldea’s imminent change of hands. She’d promised to visit him and Mash in Japan once they arrived, meeting them as an old friend, before parting ways. He wished she was with them, even as Mash dispatched another batch of the Oprichinki with a volley of ebony lances from emitters on her shoulders. “Everyone’s in the Shadow Border and its weapons are keeping them away! Just hold on!”

The Shadow Border was another of Coda’s farewell gifts, but to Da Vinci and Sherlock Holmes, who both wished for a contingency plan. It was Ritsuka’s destination, as he cradled the souls and memories of all his allies through the years, and hearing of its activation gave made him run that much faster. If it was active, everyone could be kept safe inside it, even if he could only summon a few Servants and figure out a plan—

There was an explosion.

A massive one that turned his vision black, and for his body to instinctively try to stiffen even as he forced it to go slack, except around the precious cargo that Da Vinci gave her life for. 

He didn’t allow it to get hurt, even as he felt his back collide with Chaldea’s walls, and as air was mercilessly forced out of his lungs by a kick that threatened to break the Mystic Code designed to protect his body.

His ears didn’t ring, so he knew there was no shockwave, and that the explosion that threw him wasn’t an explosion. It was another Enemy Servant, when Mash was already at her limit fighting three with Orteneus Apex operating with only onboard power.

“Huh, so Wodime was right! You Chaldeans are more capable of fighting against three Servants even when you’re ambushed! Jeez, he might be an idiot sometimes, but he sure knows how you humans think!” 

“Senpai!”

Ritsuka forced his eyes to open, and forced his limbs to pick himself up, even though he knew he was in more danger than ever. 

“Oh? Look at that. I didn’t think any of the weaklings in this world could stand with the wounds you’ve got. But I guess this is just what it takes to save the world, huh?” In front of him was a Servant that he didn’t recognize with skin like darkened bronze, white hair, and absolutely radiating power. Looking at her reminded him of Bablylonia, when he spoke and fought alongside goddesses. Without a doubt, he knew that he was correct that he should fear for his life. “I guess you’re worth talking to, unlike the rest of your humanity. So, tell ya what, you give me your name and I’ll remember ya! Ain’t a bad trade for your life, right?”

“…It’s… Ritsuka Fujimaru.” His vision swam, pain was emanating from his back, but he recalled how he was supposed to act. How to stand tall, how to be respected, and how to reach out to those Servants, even if they hated their existence. The lessons Coda imparted upon him were something he’d never forget, so through all the pain and blood, he met the scarlet gaze of the Servant sought to kill him. “That’s my name.”

And, his words made the spear pointed at his neck go still, even if it wasn’t withdrawn.

“Seriously, what the heck? I finally find someone worth fucking fighting, and he gets dropped in front of me all fucking beaten up already!? Is this some sort of twisted joke!?” The Servant growled, groaned, and grumbled all at once, but her arm didn’t waver from pointing the spear at his neck. He’d earned respect and honor, as an opponent. However, despite the Servant’s bluster and coarse words, he knew she’d follow her true desires. “Tch, well, whatever! I’ll take this out on the other Lostbelts! Know that you’re dying to the winner, Ritsuka Fujimaru!”

At that moment, as the spear went forward, the world seemed to slow to a crawl.

Ritsuka saw everything. 

Mash’s desperate withdrawal to help him, even as she had to take damage from her three foes to get to him. 

The Oprichinki’s relentless advance quickening as they were no longer being beset by the firepower granted to them by Coda. 

Koyasanka, Kotomine, and the strange Caster that called upon ice with ease all surged forward too.

He felt the spear’s tip begin to pierce his throat.

However, at that very moment, as he looked his foe in the eye and held all that remained of his companions in his arms… he made a wish.

Not a wish for help.

Not a wish to stay alive.

But a wish that the day would end in his favor, so that his friends would live, and that Chaldea can have a chance at stopping whatever was happening to them.

And, the moment he made that wish, it became a prayer.

One that was answered in the same instant… and ended that instant the moment it came to be.

Ritsuka Fujimaru blinked and everything had changed. The pain all over his body was fading away swiftly, until he found it no longer difficult to stand. The Oprichinki were no more, and Mash was beside him, staring at the same back as himself.

And, all four of the enemy Servants were behind a massive shield of ice, studded with talismans, and radiating divine energy… and it was nearly broken. The Divine Servant was clad in golden armor instead of white, and wielded a trident composed of gold… which was covered in scratches. Kotomine’s arm was gone, while both Koyasanka and the strange Caster’s gazes were wide with fear.

The wall would’ve been broken, if not for the attention of their savior falling on them.

“I’m sorry, there’s no place in this world that’s safe anymore except for here. Something has arrived, something strange, which I don’t think I can destroy without causing immense damage to time itself.” The words were softly spoken, full of care, and left the lips of someone whose very presence seemed to grant Ristuka more strength. Yes. He was sure of it. Just looking at the person in front of him, the one who came to save him the moment her prayed for victory, filled him with strength. “It’s beginning. We must go to the vehicle you have prepared immediately.”

Ritsuka didn’t even manage to ask for his savior’s name, before the firm hands grasped his shoulders, and a sad smile crossed the face of the one he saved.

“I’m sorry, I should’ve been quicker.”

Then, an instant later, he was elsewhere alongside Mash, and in his arms were all his companions.

There was a great panic a moment later.

Da Vinci arrived, even though she wasn’t Da Vinci.

The Shadow Border launched.

However, throughout it all, Ritsuka Fujimaru’s gaze was solely upon the one who saved him.

Looking at him alone told him that the being he now looked upon was Li Song, the Aspect of Conflict, Coda’s counterpart… and the one she wished to reach.

And, just like his first meeting with Coda, he knew that he was beginning another journey with them.

…

Coda called the Shadow Border a “Land Ship” and its construction was carried out within a section of Chaldea that wasn’t in the official documents, and hidden through magecraft, and the Aspect of the End’s improvements upon stealth technology. 

According to Coda, it was used on her homeworld to fight extradimensional threats on even footing, making it two story, armored vehicle with numerous energy emitters laden with mystic armor, yet capable of turning on a dime and speeding away at eighty kilometers per hour. 

Before Da Vinci, Holmes, and Coda began renovating it as a mobile Chaldea.

Ristsuka was so impressed by the explanation and existence of a Chaldea’s new mobile base, apparently with the same amount of firepower as a naval task force on Coda’s Earth, that he couldn’t believe that it was unfinished.

“Unfortunately, it’s only operating at minimum capacity. Sherlock and I planned on finding a power source on our spare time, since Chaldea was going to get kept whole, and Coda was going to show up again… but that didn’t happen.” The long, walking tour took them to the reactor room. It was mostly empty, save for a steadily churning engine whose make and material Ritsuka couldn’t even place. “You see all those empty spaces with connectors? We might need to modify them to take mana, but that’ll be difficult in Zero Space—

“No need. I know the designs.” A hand reached past Ritsuka’s shoulder, covered in callouses, yet somehow still elegant. The open hand curled inward, and a moment later, the empty spaces were filled. “There. I have also granted filled them with power. Activate the rest of this frigate, Da Vinci-san.”

“You… how… what…!?” 

“I shall explain later.”

“Okay, my new favorite person, see you later!’

With those words, while Ritsuka recalled in the back of his mind a frigate is the smallest warship in a navy, Da Vinci sprinted away to the rest of the ship.

Leaving him, Mash, Goredolf, and one of Goredolf’s bodyguards with them, a homunculus named Toule VI.

“Master, I think this the part you beg for your life in front of the Divine Existence who’s a friend of Chaldea, if you want to live.” Without the soldier’s helmet, Toule reminded Ritsuka of Irisveil, but with shorter hair, sharper features, and a far slenderer profile in a soldier’s uniform. Her personality was also nothing like motherly woman who hosted a Holy Grail. “Go on. Beg slovenly and grotesquely, so you may incur as much pity as possible. It’ll give a wonderful gap compared to your previous personality.”

“B-be s-silent, Toule! W-we don’t speak unless we are spoken to by the Divine Existence!” Chaldea’s new Director for mere days kept his face down. Ritsuka’s trained gaze didn’t allow him to feel the slightest bit bad for the man. He saw fear, betrayal, and courage coursing through a frame that wanted to crawl away and hide, as well as weep for lost love. Ritsuka wished the homunculus would be kinder, if only a little. “P-please, pay us no attention unless n-necessary, L-Lord Song…”

“I’d honestly call him just god, since y’know, he fixed me in a glance and gave me a literal human lifespan in a second.”

“Toule!”

“Coda will not be arriving. Whatever this place is, and whatever has happened to your Earth, has temporally locked it through multiple vectors.” Ritsuka knew only the very basics of magecraft, but the words that left Li Song’s lips sent a chill down his spine nonetheless. “Yes, the Crypters, as they have called themselves have an ally that is capable of manipulating time to an immense degree. Beyond what I know of time and its function myself, even.”

Another sad smile crossed Li Song’s lips, but this time Ritsuka didn’t allow himself to ignore it.

In a instant, before Goredolf or Mash for ask for more information, he made his own inquiry.

Why?
Why did Li Song appear so sad, despite having saved them, and giving them a chance to fight back?

Hesitation appeared for the first time upon Li Song’s features, before he met Ristuka’s gaze, and did not find the boy wanting.

“Before the Zero Sail was initiated, no…. from the moment I rescued you, the world was being forced to be undone and I felt every life taken.” The words struck Ritsuka with greater force than anything he’d felt before. They made his throat seize and heart ache at the same moment, while his vision suddenly blurred. However, he forced himself to remain standing, even as gasps left the lips of his companions. “Earth’s surface, all life upon it, was undone and unmade for the sake for seven locations of immense power and strength… which I believe might be other forms of humanity that will replace this world with their own.”

Ritsuka felt himself weighed and measured, before being found worthy, as he readied himself to hear the truth.

“Those other forms of humanity must be undone and unmade, I fear, if your humanity is to be returned.”

Those words were far worse than anything he could’ve considered, but Ritsuka’s gaze turned towards Mash first and his hand reached out to her as she trembled. Even though he could hardly process the words uttered to him, he recognized them as utterly true, and felt himself shaking. Instinctively, he looked to aid Mash, and he was grateful as she held onto his hand.

Then, steady footsteps reached them all. 

“An astounding deduction, Mr. Song. I am very impressed.” There was no clapping, nor any form of sarcasm on Sherlock Holmes’ tone, but for the first time Ritsuka saw disappointment on the Great Detective’s face. “But… could you not have spared the young ones from this knowledge? This Zero Sail will last for quite a while; therefore, they could have had a measure of peace.”

“I won’t lie to them about what they must do, in order to save their people, and their world.” A lesser person would’ve hesitated, Ritsuka knew, but the words came forth as spoken fact. Li Song did not for him to live a beautiful lie. “Those who attacked them, those who created this war, have already shown their hand. For their beliefs, for their dreams, and for their path, they have chosen to discard billions of lives.”

Coda would have lied to them.

But… she might break at the task ahead of them now. 

Ritsuka didn’t even realize he said those words aloud, until Li Song spoke again.

“No. She wouldn’t have broken. She would’ve wept, tried to find another way, and done her best to make things right while trying to spare all the new existences that came to be. Even after what has been done to this Earth, to you, and to her.” Li Song’s voice was filled with kindness and compassion, even as he defended someone who was supposedly his opposite, and the one he is supposed to kill. “However, I am glad that I am here instead of her, Ritsuka Fujimaru. She wouldn’t have been broken by this, but I would never have her suffer through it.”

There were more words that needed to said thereafter, but Ritsuka felt his consciousness begin to slip away, even as Mash desperately held onto his hand to hold back tears.

“Yes, Ritsuka, sleep for now. Steel yourself for the war of survival to come. This frigate, its whole crew, and all your servants will have need of you now more than ever, as you will lead them in battle.”

…

After many hours explaining, fixing what needed to be fixed, and taking stock of the entire affair, Li Song took a seat in his quarters.

A sigh left his lips the moment he laid himself upon the bed.

Once again, he tried to leave, to go back to his friends and companions, and when he opened his eyes once more… he remained in the same place he was. 

In the same world which Coda spoke to him about, where two individuals fought across space and time to restore their world, only for their efforts to be hidden so that they could have a chance at a normal life. 

The story had seemed fantastical at the time, but the moment he answered a prayer from one tinged by Coda’s ideals and beliefs, he found himself with Ritsuka Fujimaru, Mash Kyrielight, Chaldea, and their supposed replacements in an LRU Frigate… that Coda gave to Chaldea after gaining it from somewhere, somehow. 

Li Song knew that he would have been happy to be in the world, if it were in the adventure Coda described.

Fighting Singularities.

Recovering Holy Grails.

Meeting heroes of another age in another dimension. 

However, such wasn’t the case, as he’d relayed to Coda’s friends ands cherished companions. 

He will be fighting pieces and bits of humanity that wanted to survive, by a foe that he couldn’t find nor detect.

People who are trying to survive, but have been forsaken by the strange system of the world he found himself in.

Thus, even though he knew of only one surefire path towards ensuring billions of lives would be saved, his teeth grit and his hands curled into fists… as he strained himself towards thinking of a way to save them all.