Olga Marie Animusphere
Night in Antarctica is long. Multiple months long, in fact - from April to August, the sun will not rise. Of course, Chaldea has an illusory bounded field around it set to mimic the day and night cycle of Britain, since living without sunlight for months causes negative effects on the human psyche.
Father's workshop, however, is excluded from the field. Further up the mountain, only accessible by a stairway tunneled into the slope, his observatory has been perfectly positioned to take advantage of the long Antarctic night. Paired with a mystic code placed near the North Pole, the Observatory's telescope is capable of being used at any hour for eight months of the year. (The remaining months, of course, we are forced to deal with the same troubles that the Clock Tower astrologers do, as both poles have normal day/night cycles for part of the year.)
At any rate, since the observatory is usable at any hour, I can use it at times when I'm certain that certain members of the staff are asleep. That's right, since I can dodge his presence, I can avoid feeling crowded out by the other person to whom Father gave a workshop key.
It's about the space, you see. That's all. Even though the dome-shaped room has a twenty meter diameter, even though there are no fewer than four telescopes in the place, I just can't comfortably do my research while he's there. The Animusphere workshop, massive though it is, simply can't fit the both of us.
Because, Kirschtaria Wodime is simply too big.
And so, as I sneak, in the middle of the night like a thief, into my Father's workshop, my heart sinks and my blood runs cold when I open the door. Because, even though he should be asleep, the person I least want to see in this room is working diligently at Father's desk.
Tall, wearing all white, with long flowing blond hair - father's foremost disciple, the leader of Chaldea's A-team, the pride and joy of Clock Tower's astrology department. Kirschtaria Wodime. A mage without peer.
Father's desk is just a bit too tall for me to work at. All of his chairs are too big for me. Even the telescopes, are just a little too high for me to reach without a stool.
And yet, here he is. A man who ought to have had nothing to do with our family, sitting comfortably in that chair, scribbling down some notes. At some point, as I watch him through the cracked door, he stands up and glances through one of the telescopes.
"One for each, then? ...I don't even know what to make of something like this." He says with a sigh. "I should probably sleep on it, in all honesty. Tomorrow's sky should make things a bit more clear."
And then, he makes his way towards the door, where I've been hiding! What do I do!? I could hide, but this is Kirschtaria! He'll find me for sure, and then I'll die of embarrassment! I could run, but he has longer legs, so he'll catch up for sure! So, the only option is… to open the door myself!
"Oh, Kirschtaria. What are you doing up this late?" I say with faked surprise.
"Ah, Director. Sorry for my intrusion." He says with a small bow, and I feel something nasty bubble up in my chest. "I was looking at the file for the new master candidate, and had something I wanted to check."
I can feel my face slip into a slight scowl. "The new master candidate… that's number forty-eight, right?"
"Natsuki Subaru, yes. I was intrigued by his name and ridiculously high master affinity." He replies.
"Subaru… that's the Japanese name for the Pleiades, isn't it?" I mutter. "So you decided to check the stars. Did you find anything interesting?"
"Certainly. Betelgeuse, Regulus, and several other stars are shining unusually bright tonight. What's more, I went ahead and ran a few tests on the provided blood sample… He has a dual origin. 'Star and Spirit'." My father's disciple says, a small smirk gracing his face. If I didn't know better, I'd say he's getting excited. "Director… My intuition is screaming at me. This person is without a doubt, someone important."
"Kirschtaria... " I mutter, eye twitching. "You said that about over half of the master candidates, you know?"
"Well, they're all my important colleagues, after all…" He says, eyes flicking away from me.
"Yes, yes, useful tools and all that." I say, impatience edging into my voice. "But as for candidate forty-eight, it seems you missed the information regarding his magic circuits."
"Severe ruptures that make it impossible for him to expel mana from his circuits, resulting in contamination of the soul over time, and an inability to use magecraft - something on that level isn't that big of a problem." Wodime says, just like the superhuman monster he is. He's three times the mage I am. Ten times more accomplished than anyone else in our age group. Of course he would think that such a thing is simple
He hasn't yet realized that no one else is insane enough to hold themselves to his standards.
"In cases like that, siphoning mana from the circuits using a mystic code or a familiar is a simple enough matter. In fact, if you consider his need to constantly expel mana in tandem with everything else… doesn't it seem like there's something out there, desperately working to ensure that Natsuki becomes a Master?" He continues
"Leaving aside how on earth you're so informed about ruptured circuits… are you saying that you suspect the Counter Force is involved?" I ask.
"...Perhaps. But my thinking was more along the lines of 'the stars certainly seem to love this boy, don't they?'" He replies, and I nod thoughtfully. "As for your non-question about my knowledge, I hadn't realized that your Father didn't tell you. My apologies."
Again, something unpleasant bubbles up in my chest. "Didn't tell me what, Wodime?"
His words hit me like a brick wall. "...My own magic circuits have been ruptured in a similar manner since I was fourteen years old."
...
"...But, most of your accomplishments… have been in the past ten years." I stammer, eye twitching. "And you achieved all of it, with your circuits like that!?"
"That is correct. Like I said, it's not particularly difficult once you get the hang of it." He says dismissively.
Kirschtaria Wodime… is simply too big.
***
Of course, in the end I dismissed Wodime's insight on the subject of Natsuki Subaru. It was only natural to do so - the man was competent, but he had a consistent tendency to overestimate the capabilities of other people. Kirschtaria Wodime lived his life as if unaware of the fact that not everyone could become a titan like him.
And so, when I learned that Natsuki Subaru was the only master who made it to Singularity F, I was absolutely certain that we were doomed. I would be blamed for the disaster, and with nothing to show for our rayshifting efforts aside from over a hundred dead staff members, we'd lose UN funding, and Chaldea would cease to exist.
And then, the next morning, Romani reported their progress.
Natsuki hadn't found any gems in the Tohsaka residence - rather, he found a Noble Phantasm. And it got more ridiculous from there. A demon-possessed Servant - freed from the possession and contracted. Mordred Pendragon, the third or fourth most famous Knight of the Round - contracted and supplied with mana without any visible strain. Heracles, the greatest hero of Greece - defeated without a single injury.
"So don't worry, Director! I'll definitely save Lev. That's a promise." - he said something absurd like that, like it was nothing. Like Demonic Possession wasn't one of the most dangerous, most irreversible things in the world.
Yet, somehow… some small part of me believed him. All signs pointed to it being impossible. Everything I knew about Demons said that exorcism became impossible when the will was completely subsumed. I knew. I knew that the only part of me that actually believed him was the fragile, emotional part of me that couldn't survive without Lev Lainur to look after me.
And then Natsuki actually pulled it off.
"See you guys in a bit!"
As I watch Lev and the others dematerialize, I finally allow myself to calm down. It's over. The Demon is gone. We may have lost a significant number of staff, but we were successful nonetheless. The other master candidates may have been stuck in cryostasis, but they're still alive, and once we get reinforcements from outside-
"Shit! Why now?" A staff member yells. "Director, we just lost Natsuki's signal!"
"What!? Find him! After all the effort he put in for our sake, we can't leave him out to dry!" I yell.
"I'm trying! But with these readings… was he pulled into a Reality Marble!?"
"The [Alien Common Sense] of Demons… So Flauros wasn't dead yet!?" Someone else shouts.
Dammit! This can't be happening!
"The Singularity's collapse is accelerating!" Shouts a man behind me. "Timeline stabilization in fifteen seconds!"
"Da Vinci! Come to the command room - and bring the [Paper Moon]!" I shout into the intercom. "Natsuki will be dumped into Void Space when the singularity resolves; we'll need that thing to have any chance of finding him! Sylvia, what about the rest?"
"All other signals holding relatively stable - though Cu Chulainn's is slowly declining!"
"That's to be expected… Romani, how are their vitals?" I turn to see the normally carefree man gritting his teeth.
"Timeline stabilization in ten seconds!"
"Confirming minor fracture in Cu Chulainn's Spirit Origin, along with the complete absence of his right arm! Mordred and Mash are all green… Lev Lainur has trace amounts of the [Sixth Imaginary Factor] in his system, but they're steadily decreasing! His mind and body are intact… crap! I'm not getting any reading for his soul!" The Doctor shrieks.
"No… soul..?" I mutter, ice surging through my veins.
"Timeline stabilization in five…!"
"Summon procedure beginning. Diverting all nonessential power to [LAPLACE]!" Another woman yells, and the lights cut out as golden dust begins to float through the air.
"Four…Three…!"
Lit only by the pale light of computer monitors and the fiery glow of Chaldeas, a man in a green suit slowly materializes in his usual spot on the command deck.
"Lev!" I yell as tears fill my eyes, and I embrace the only person in the world that I know for certain I can trust. "Lev, please… tell me you're alright! As long as you're okay, then-!"
"Two…One...!"
Lev collapses against me, and I can't hope to hold him up. He falls to his knees, chin on my shoulder.
"...Olga." He rasps, next to my ear. I mutely nod. Tears begin to burn at my eyes. "Flauros… still alive. Reborn. Endless… rebirth."
"...Chaldeas is still on fire! Even though the singularity is resolved-!"
"Humanity… incinerated. Seven… singularities." Lev mutters, and my breathing begins to quicken as the panic attack starts to set in.
"Confirming- everyone except Natsuki Subaru has safely arrived at Chaldea!" I hear someone yell, miles away.
Lev pulls back, and gives his usual close-eyed smile. "Sorry for the… inconvenience."
And with that, he slumps to the ground, and my world falls to pieces.
***
Lev looks perfectly peaceful as he slumbers, a faint smile on his face. His chest rises and falls, with nothing visibly wrong with him. However…
That's just on the surface. In truth, Lev Lainur's soul is completely absent - his ability to speak before seems to have just been the 'lingering will' of his body, and with that last remnant of his existence expended, he should be dead. The trauma caused by the soul leaving the body is almost invariably fatal.
And yet, here he is, the picture of serenity, without a single sign of pain. So, with that in mind, perhaps…
The door to Lev's room opens.
"Yo, Director. I finally got cleared to leave my hospital bed, so I decided to swing by." Says Natsuki Subaru.
"What for?" I snap, despite myself.
"...I came to apologize." He says, grimacing. "I said that I would do my best to save Lev, but…"
I sigh. "You don't need to feel guilty. I was being hysterical, so a quick, comforting lie was necessary to get me to work in my proper capacity."
"No, I wasn't intending to lie." He replies. "I really did want to follow through on that promise. So… I'm sorry for my failure."
...It's an absurd apology. To begin with, the mere fact that Lev wasn't killed outright is a miracle. When it comes to exorcisms of mature demons, I've only heard of a single modern case where the possessed person survived. Of course, as a no-name from the far east, it's not like Natsuki would have the context for how ridiculous his apology sounds.
But still...
"Are you stupid?" I end up blurting out. "You may not know a thing about Daemons, but surely you realize just how ridiculously powerful Flauros was! In the first place, the fact that it was expelled from Lev, and that you all made it back to Chaldea safely, are miracles! You have to at least know that much!"
"Of course it was hard. It was an uphill battle all the way! I was scared, and stressed out, and desperately trying my hardest to keep everyone alive! But, seeing him end up like this… leaves a really bad taste in my mouth." His teeth grind as he clenches his hands tightly. "I know I'm being unreasonable. I know that. But, is it so wrong, to want things to end happily? I'm so sick of these damn surprise downer endings!"
"You just didn't realize it at the time, Natsuki. This wasn't a surprise. From the start, a result like this was... inevitable." I say as my eyes start stinging.
"But he needed the grail to use that weird tentacle form of his! If I was just a little smarter, I could have stopped him from setting off the bombs, and we could have just captured him… I'm sure, if I hadn't used that method to drive out Flauros, then Lev would still be-!" He protests, and my teeth start grinding together.
"No one else is insane enough to hold themselves to Kirschtaria Wodime's standards."
-I was wrong. I was completely wrong, when I thought that.
"...Natsuki. Please stop saying things that will make me hate you." I finally mutter.
"...Sorry." He says, looking down. "...I'll leave you alone for now."
He exits the room, closing the door behind him - leaving me alone, at the bedside of the most important person in my world. A person that I know... will never wake up.