-When my sudden fate is about to take another turnabout for good... I'm unsure whether to just accept it or just turn it away...-
___________________________

Announcement: -Base sequence: human genome confirmed.

-Alignment: Lawful-Neutral Welcome to the data center for the future of humankind.

This is the Security Organization for the Preservation of Humanity, Chaldea. Fingerprint, voiceprint, and DNA authentication cleared.

Magical Circuit assessment complete.

Username matched. You are recognized as a member of the primates. Nice to meet you.

You're our final visitor today. We hope you enjoy your time here.

We are very sorry. Another 180 seconds is needed to complete the admission process. Enjoy a simulated battle while you wait.

Regulation: Senior Contract Servants: Saber, Lancer, Archer There will be no record of your score.

Please feel free to enjoy. Activating Heroic Spirit Summoning System Fate.

We hope you have a good experience as a Master for these 180 seconds.

"...................."

--------------------------
-Madeleine's POV-

***^Location: ???^***

I had felt like I was dreaming for some odd reason... Because I heard the sound of a battle just now... More crazier is that their actual weapons.. I thought I was going crazy..

But now... What happened... And where am I?

As I wondered while the darkness or infact that my eyes were just closed, I heard something that was near me..

"Fou? Kyu... Kyuu? Fou! Fou...Fou!"

What the..

As I slowly woke up, I found myself in a very odd place..? It looked like some hallway for a researching facility more was more steel like, but more of a long one. As stood up from the ground that I was laying onto, I noticed a very odd sight before me.. It was a white yet fluffy creature as it crawled up to me.

"Ah.. Who.. No, what is that..?" I spoke after seeing it, it looked very soft from up-close. That's when what I noticed next was my clothes.

I was wearing something rather that involves apart of something important, judging by the monochrome coloring and it's sense of design and style, it felt like it was partaking in some experimental issue in who knows whatever is planned then..

This has gotten me quite curious..

"That this is a strange amount of events to see..." I muttered till I heard the sound of fainted footsteps nearby of where I was.

The next thing I noticed was someone standing before me.. It is a young woman with short lilac hair, lavender eyes and fair skin. According to her appearance, she's at least either at age fourteen. Then soon, I had found looking at her after she had stepped closer to me.

"...."

"... ...Umm. Since it's neither morning nor night, please wake up, Senpai." The young girl muttered as I slowly stand up from my two feet.

"Pardon me but.. Where are we?" I asked calmly, trying my best not frighten the young girl.

"Right. That's a simple question. I really appreciate it. This is the passageway from the front gate to the Central Command Room, which is in front of the Main Chaldea Gate." The young girl explained.

'Central Command Room'? 'Main Chaldea Gate'? I'm not familiar with any of those places.. But is this place called what she explained? Chaldea... That's peculiar..

"...Ahem. Anyway, can I ask you a question, Senpai? You were asleep, but I don't see why you'd sleep in the hall. Can you not sleep unless you're on a hard bed?" The girl continued.

"Ah... Was I sleeping here?" I asked, looking down on the floor where I was laying onto.

"Yes, like a log. It was such a deep sleep, it was almost textbook." She explained bluntly. Although I somewhat sweat dropped at her words of me sleeping..

"Fou! Kyuuu! Kyao!"

It was then the small white familiar made a rather a cute sound, then soon my eyes now laid on it directly.

"...I completely forgot. I still haven't introduced you yet, have I, Fou? This squirrel-like creature is Fou. He's a Privileged Life-Form allowed to freely walk around Chaldea. Fou led me here, and that's how I ran into you, Senpai." The girl explained as she introduced me to the familiar who was named 'Fou'.

"Fou. Mmkyu, Fou!" It replied.

"That's sounds like it suits him pretty well, maybe though.." I answered, while looking at the small white creature.

"He ran off somewhere again. He does that sometimes, just walks around." She continued, that made me bent down to get a closer look at the familiar itself.

"Wow... I've never seen a creature like this one before... Plus, it does look beautiful thank to it's fur." I replied impressly which it caused the white creature to look at me afterward.

Then soon as I showed it my left hand, Fou ended up touching it, it surprised me for a bit.

"Yes, normally he doesn't go near anyone aside from me, but he seems to like you, Senpai." She explained after seeing the small white creature who touched my hand and then it was now asking me to pet it. It must have been the compliment that I said to it.

"Congratulations. Now you shall be the second caretaker of Fou in Chaldea. Ah, there you are, Mash. That won't do, you know, wandering about without permission... Oh, someone's already with you? You're... I see... The rookie who just got assigned here." A voice entered, it was then a man stumbled upon us three.

It was man, it appears that he's in either of age forty.

"I'm Lev Lainur, one of the technicians employed here. And your name is?" The man answered with the additional of his self-introduction and name.

"Ah.. Nice to meet you, It's Madeleine." I replied to him, stating my name clearly...

Or that's what it was for me to be called...

"Hmm, Madeleine. So you're the last of the 48 candidates. Welcome to Chaldea. I'm glad you're here. I heard you were selected out of many public applicants, how long was your training? A year? 6 months? 3 months?" He asked me with a curious face, though there is something about his words to him though...

Huh..? Training...? ........that word....

.......have I heard that.....one....

"......I'm afraid that I'll leave it up to your imagination." I spoked, sounding rather cold.

......wait.. I wasn't suppose to say-

"I see that you already know how competitive it is in here. You're going to hide your info from your rivals?" Lev smiled as he continued to ask but I stayed completely quiet additional of avoiding eye-contact with him.

"Dr. Lev, Madeleine's training was less than a few hours. I think it's from embarrassment." Mash stated clearly.

"Might be.." I replied, and was still trying to avoid eye-contact with Lev.

"Oh? Well, now... I see. We had an emergency opening for applicants to fill out numbers." The man replied.

"So you're one of them? Do forgive me, I was inconsiderate. But please don't be discouraged because you're a public applicant. We need all of you for this mission." Lev explained as he fixed his front ruffled tie, his words had somewhat caught my attention.

Mission..?

"38 elite mages, plus 10 talented public applicants... Somehow, we were able to gather all possible candidates. That's something to rejoice over. This year, 2017, all possible candidates capable of Spiritron Dives were brought to Chaldea." Lev continued.

"If there's something you don't understand, feel free to ask Mash or myself anytime... Hmm? Come to think of it, what were you talking about with them, Mash? That's not like you. Did you know each other before?" Lev asked after rather a peculiar explanation.

"Ah.. But we just met right now.." I muttered with an audible voice, which the three can hear me clearly.

"What she said is true, I'd never met Senpai before. I saw Senpai sleeping here, so I just..." Mash explained while Lev was a bit impressed.

"Sleeping? Madeleine was asleep, here? Ahh, you went through the simulation when you entered, right? Spiritron Dives can get to you if you're not used to them. After the simulation, the gate must've opened and you walked over here before you returned to consciousness. It's a type of sleepwalking." Lev thought clearly while explaining.

That is... Definitely not the type of sleep-walk that I want to have then...

"When you fell, Madeleine, that was when Mash spoke to you. You seem to be fine, but I'd like to take you to the infirmary just in case... Sorry, hang in there a little longer. The Director's orientation is about to start. You should hurry over." Lev explained clearly as he started walking away to another room of the facility.

"Director?" I spoke, hearing it got me a little curious.

"The Director's the director. The person in charge of Chaldea, and the commander of our special missions. Since you're a rookie from the public, you may have only seen the pamphlet?" Lev asked however I didn't answer his question though.

"It would appear so. Since the Director's profile hasn't been made public. Senpai has no connection to the Director. Only mages from families that have been around for over a century show respect to the Animusphere name." Mash explained as she showed me the pamphlet.

"Right. Well, whether you know the Director or not, it doesn't affect your works as a Master, so it's not a problem. But it's good not to get on her bad side. If you wish to work in a peaceful environment, better hurry. There's an orientation by the Director at the Central Command Room in 5 minutes. She's putting on a presentation for the newbies." The man continued as he looked at me, referring as one of the new people.

Although I stayed quiet for a while around him despite the talk we had with Mash... There's something pretty...

...off.

"Dr. Lev, do you think I'll be allowed to sit in on the orientation, too?" Mash asked as I looked at her while Lev listened.

"Hmm? Well, if you stand way back in the corner, I think she'll look the other way... But why?" The man replied back at her.

"I just thought I should take Senpai to the Command Room. It's possible that Senpai might fall asleep on the way again." Mash explained as she looked at me then we made eye-contact now.

Then I gave her and Lev a silent nod for an answer from myself too.

"...If I leave you alone like this the Director might yell at me... I should tag along as well, eh? Well, if that's what you want to do, Mash, go ahead." Lev replied with a gentle smile...

...that seemed to have made me slightly uncomfortable.

"You okay with that Madeleine? If you have no other questions, let's head to the Command Room. Is there anything else you want to know?" He asked, waiting me to answer for him about anything else to know.

"I have no questions." I answered bluntly.

After my solid response, I then soon followed Mash and Lev to join the orientation.
--------------------------
It was then Mash and I entered a very large blue control room that looked very scientific but more technology like, then I had noticed that there was a lot of the new candidates picked.

"So, this place is.." I asked while looking around silently.

"This is the Central Command Room. Your number, Senpai... Single digit, you're in the front row." Mash answered as I sat down on my seat....

I then soon... started to feel... Weird...

"............."

"...Senpai? You're looking a bit pale..."

....ah.... I just feel.... dizzy.....

"It's an after effect of the simulator. I wish I could take you to the infirmary..." Mash mentioned after seeing my pale face has turned even more pale than before.

It was then someone had entered the room, despite my hazy vision, it appears to be a young women whose either in her mid twenties.

"No more small talk. See, the orientation's already begun." Lev spoke, as I tried to keep myself wide awake for the orientation.

"Welcome to Special Organization, Chaldea. I'm the director, Olga Marie Animusphere. You have been selected, or discovered from each nation for your rare-" As soon as she started to speak-

................................

...soon my world suddenly went black...
--------------------------
...............

........Ma.....die.......

..............

.......wak......up.........

...............ah...
.
.
.
.
.
.
Then soon I quickly opened my eyes, then soon I found myself in the hallways once again. I shook my head but it felt like my world was now spinning in circles really hard, it was now hard for me to concentrate.

Then soon I remembered about the important orientation, and me getting sleepy too. Then I found Mash right in front of me looking at me slightly a bit worried, then soon I felt a pretty sharp sting on my left cheek... It appears to be that it was definitely a hard slap mark...

".....ah. Did I fell asleep..?" I asked her, while holding my left cheek that was sting pretty badly too.

"Yes. It seemed like you were in REM sleep... Anyway, the Director's slap seemed to wake you up completely. Thank goodness." Mash explained clearly.

"I see..." I muttered as I stood up from the floor, while softly holding my left cheek to soothe the slap-

......that's weird... what's this unfamiliar nostalgia..?

"You've been left out of the first mission, Senpai. I was taking you back to your room-Oh!" Mash stated as she and I noticed Fou launching itself towards at her face.

"Fou!"

"Ah, watch out!" I shouted.

"No, no, this is normal. No problem at all! Fou likes to attack my face, slide around to my back, and settle on my shoulder." The young purple-haired girl explained as the little creature curled itself onto Mash's shoulder, making itself comfortable to sit on.

"Wait, are you the one who named him?" I asked, after hearing her statement about little Fou who looked back at me.

"That's right. No special reason, the word "Fou" is the first thing that popped into my mind. I'm impressed you knew that, Senpai. I see you're quite perceptive yourself." Mash stated as she patted Fou.

"Ah.. I was just guessing it. He sees me as a rival?" I remarked myself clearly as Fou looked at me directly in the eye.

"Well, knowing Fou as I do, I'm sure he'll forget it by tomorrow. Actually, we've reached our destination. This is your room, Senpai." Mash stated as she showed me the room that I'll be staying in for time.

"...I see. Thanks for coming all this way. And, what team are you on, Mash?" I asked before she walked away.

"It's fine. If you ask me, Senpai, I wouldn't mind even if it's treating you to lunch. And First Mission, A Team. Speaking of which, I've got to head back now." Mash stated as Fou jumped off of her shoulder and walked towards me.

"Kyu... Kyu!" It answered.

"Eh?"

"Fou says he'll look after you, Senpai. That sets my mind at ease. Now, then, I'm off. If we're lucky, I think we'll meet again." Mash stated as she left me with Fou to join for the current mission now.

It was now me and Fou in the hallways, the little white creature then walked towards me as I offered my right hand to it, then Fou jumped onto it and went to my right shoulder. Fou has really soft and beautiful fur as I felt it closely to my neckline, in exchange it seemed to have nuzzled me back.

"Aww... Aren't you a sweet one..?" I replied sweetly as I petted it's head, then soon as I opened the door and head inside... I saw rather in undeniable sight..
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

It was rather another adult yet a male worker wearing somewhat a doctor's coat and has long light orange colored hair, and was in fact laying on the bed in my chosen room.

Ah..

"Okay, I'm in here-Wait? Whaaaaaat? Who are you? This is an empty room! It's where I slack off! Who gave you permission to come in?" The man shouted in shock while leaving me to give an unimpressed impression.

"Ah, but do pardon me, but I believe that I was told that this is my room." I answered bluntly.

"And now who are you then?" I asked.

"Who am I? Isn't it obvious that I'm a healthy, diligent and hard-working doctor?" The man stated, although I didn't seem to have trust his words.

"Your room? This place? Oh... I see, so the last one finally showed up, huh?" He asked after hearing my previous statement as I nodded.

"Yes, it is." I answered.

"Well, nice to meet you, Madeleine. Didn't think I would run into you like this, but let me introduce myself again." He stated.

"I'm the head of the medical department, Romani Archaman. For some reason, people just call me Dr. Roman. I don't know why, but it's easier to pronounce, so go ahead and call me Roman. Fact is, Roman has a nice ring to it, no? It sounds cool and vaguely sweet." He stated as he greeted himself nicely.

"Nice to meet you too, Dr. Roman." I answered back.

"Yes, nice to meet you. I look forward to getting to know you." Roman spoke.

"Same line here as well." I spoke back.

Till then, Fou who was still riding on my left shoulder and hid behind my long hair appeared from its hiding spot, surprising the orange-haired man.

"..."

"Huh? On your shoulder - is that the mysterious creature I've heard so much about? Whoa, nice to meet you!" Roman answered after seeing Fou directly.

"Mash told me a lot about him, but I didn't really think he existed... Hey, why don't I teach him some tricks? Okay, shake hand. If you do it well, I'll give you a snack." He cooed, sounding like a bride for the little creature.

"...Fou."

For some reason, the little white familiar turned away.

"Huh, what? He gave me a really pitying look and then completely ignored me..." He muttered audibly.

"My.. Fou you're quite picky with people now.." I mumbled softly, not till Four licked my left cheek.

"A-Anyway, I think I get what's going on. You're the rookie who just got here then got on the Director's bad side?" The doctor asked, making me remember what had happened during the orientation.

".. I'm afraid so, yes.." I replied with a sweat dropping down.

"Then you and I are alike. Just so you know, I got yelled at by her too. You know the Rayshift experiment's about to start, right? The entire staff's been sent to help out. But since my job is to look after everyone's health, I had nothing to do. The machines are more accurate at reading the vitals of the mages who are in the Coffins. The Director said, "When you're here, Romani, everyone slacks off!" Then she threw me out." The doctor explained.

"...oh wow..." I muttered, cause that sounded pretty harsh too.

"So I've been sulking here. But that's when you showed up. This is what they called a blessing in disguise right? Since we both have nowhere to go, why don't we spend some time and deepen our friendship!" Roman smiled as he and I shakes our hands together.

"Well then, I suppose why not. I mean, this is my own room, yes?" I replied back.

"Yeah. So that means I'm visiting a friend's room! Woo hoo! I've made a new friend!"

What a odd man...

Soon then, Roman himself alongside with Fou whose still on my left shoulder, now started showing me the other locations in the cooperation of Chaldea.

"...So that's the structure of Chaldea. An underground workshop built on a snowy mountain 6,000 meters above sea level..."

While it was going so on, I had looked at one of the locations while listening to his words, till then someone or a virtual message had entered the room.

"Romani, we're going to start the Rayshift soon. Could you come here in case there's an emergency? The A Team's in perfect condition, but B Team on down is less experienced and they are displaying some slight abnormalities. It probably comes from anxiety. The inside of that Coffin is like a cockpit." The message answered, revealing Lev who was calling for Roman.

"Hey Lev, I feel bad from them. Why don't I give them some anesthesia?" Roman replied back, looking worried.

"Yeah, hurry up,will you? If you're in the infirmary, then you can get here in two minutes." Lev answered back as the virtual message ended, then soon I looked at Roman who stood up.

"This isn't the infirmary now, is it?" I answered bluntly.

"Whoa... Please don't mention that... It's gonna take five minutes from here, no matter what... Well, I think they'll forgive me for being a little later. A Team has no issues anyway. Oh, that guy's named Lev Lainur. He's the made who created the Near-Future Observation Lens, Sheba- A telescope used to observe that pseudo-planet, Chaldeas." Roman explained as he showed me the building base and it's areas in a 3d virtual system.

"Sheba not only observes Chaldeas, but also serves as a surveillance system for most of this facility. Also, it was the previous director who built the summoning/unsummoning system, which is the foundation of the Rayshift tech. To actualize that theory, the Pseudo-Spiritron Calculation Engine (basically a super computer) was provided by the Atlas Academy. All these different talents have been gathered to carry out this mission." He continued as I looked at every single person and their occupational duties one at a time.

"It's pointless for an ordinary doctor like me to be there, but if I'm summoned, I must go. Thanks for chatting with me, Ritsuka! When you get settled in, come by the infirmary. Next time, I'll treat you to some yummy cake." Roman answered with a cheeky-like smile.

Then soon my head started acting again...

........that familiar smile reminds me of....

Before snapping my thoughts out of my head, there was a sudden blackout.

"Huh?"

"What's this? The lights are out. Did something-"

Before anyone can say a word, there was a loud noise that sounded like an explosion. Soon then the alarm went off as the siren wailed loudly. Enough to shake my heart and started racing with fear.

What the-!? An emergency!?

[-Emergency. Emergency. A fire has broken out in the Central Power Station and the Central Command Room. Central Area's containment wall will activate in 90 seconds. All staff must evacuate from Gate 2 at once. Containment wall will close in 40 seconds. Those remain in Central Area, evacuate immediately-]

"An emergency!?" I screamed as Roman looked through the commands.

"Was that an explosion just now? What on earth is happening? Monitor, show us the Command Room! Is everybody all right?" Roman answered but-

[No]

"'No'? What do you mean 'no'!? What about the command room!? And Mash!?" I asked, frantically.

"What's this-" As Roman was about to speak till the red light were on as the sirens wailed even louder.

"Madeleine, evacuate right now. I'm going to the Command Room. The containment wall is about to close. Get yourself out before it's too late!" Roman ordered me as he soon rushed to the command room.

"I can't just run away now!! We have to save Mash!! She and the others are still in there!!" I shouted back as I decided to follow the doctor and started catching up with him.

"Fou!"

"Wait, what are you doing? Wrong way, Gate 2's over there! Don't tell me you're coming with me? Sure the more helping hands the better, but..."

"But? But what!?"

"Oh man, there's no time to argue! Make sure you get back before it's too late!"

Soon the three of us had then rushed to the burned command room.
--------------------------

The minute that we arrived at the command, everything was burning in sight. The controls were damaged, while some were on fire.. Everything was ruin..!

.......just like that day-

Ahh! Now's not the time to get into more thoughts!

"...No survivors. Only Chaldeas is safe. This was where the explosion originated. This was no accident, it was sabotage." Roman answered as I looked seeing if I can anyone or Mash in the flames.

[Generator operation stopped. Power level critical. Switch to the backup generator, error. Please make switch manually. Containment wall will close in 40 seconds. Those remain in Central Area, evacuate immediately-]

"...I'm heading down to the underground power station. We can't let Chaldea's light go out. Hurry up and go back the way we came. You can still make it. Listen, don't stop anywhere on the way! Go outside, and wait for help!"

"!!!"

After hearing the clear order, Roman quickly rushed to the underground power to prevent it from running out, leaving me alone in the burning command room, however I remained calm and then started to look around quickly as the flames started spreading the room.

"...oh no... There has to be survivors here..!!" I mumbled till then I noticed-

Mash!!

I then quickly rushed over to her side, she was in a horrible state, it was enough to make me worry.

"Mash!! Can you hear me!? Hang in there, I'll get you out now!!" I shouted as her slowly eyes opened, looking weak before me then soon I started to carry her to the exit but she didn't let me go.

"...It's all...right. You can't...save...me. Don't mind me, please... Run." She muttered, making it hard to me to hear her voice.

Then soon, Chaldea has then turned red.

"!?"

"Ah.."

[Warning all observation staff. Chaldeas' state has changed. Now rewriting Sheba's near-future prediction data. Unable to detect the existence of mankind 100 years in the near-future of Earth. Unable to confirm human survivors. Unable to guarantee mankind's future.]

..wh....what..? What is happening..?

"Chaldeas...has turned bright red... No, never mind, that-"

[Central Area, sealed. 180 seconds till internal containment procedure.]

WHAT-!?

"...they, shut off, the area. ...Now, we can't, get out." Mash spoke and was unable to move as I noticed the closed gates and the flames heading straight towards us.

"No... We'll figure it out." I spoke without hesitation, I quickly carried the girl to a nearby corner, in hopes of getting us girls away from the roaring bright flames.

"Mash!! Hang in there!!"

[Coffin Vitals: Masters Baseline not reached. Rayshift requirement not met. Searching for qualifying Master...found. Candidate No. 48, Madeleine reset as Master. Unsummon Program, start. Spiritron Conversion, start.]

"...Um...Sen...pai? Would you mind... Holding my hand?"

"Wha...? But why..?"

"Please..."

After hearing her plead, I held her hand as I felt the flames behind my back heading towards us. I quickly held her, shielding her from the incoming large flames.......

....I thought....

......................................

[Rayshift starting in 3 2 1 All procedures clear. First Order, commencing operation.]
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

...................Maddie..!