ARC 2 - Prologue : First Snow

*Bang*

*Bang*

"Gudako! Get out here! The inspectors want to talk to you!"

"Well now, looks like they're not wasting any time getting this interrogation party started. Remember, silence is golden. Wait and see what their game is and try not to say anything more than is absolutely necessary."

Gudako nodded. Handing the box to Mash for safekeeping, Gudako picked herself off the floor and knocked on the door to the room. With a click of the lock, the iron door was pulled open, revealing an escort party of 3 soldiers. The soldier in front nodded and pointed down the hallway.

"Good. The case inspector is waiting in Room 3. Don't try anything funny alright? And make sure you answer truthfully."

Nodding, Gudako turned to walk in that direction when one of the soldiers put their hand in front of her.

"Where's the box from earlier?"

"I left it with Mash."

Looking her up and down to confirm this statement(as the black box is pretty hard to hide), the soldier grunted before putting their hand down.

"Three doors down on your right….and sorry for pushing you down earlier. It was protocol."

"No worries. Thank you."

And so, Gudako made her way towards Room 3.

*Time skip*

The door to Room 3 lurched open, revealing an inspector shuffling her papers and a very tired Gudako walking out. She had been in there for 6 hours of nonstop questioning. It had started out okay with the general "Name?", "Where are you from?" questions, but then, half an hour in, the inspector began asking questions that dealt with mana and other mage-thing, which Gudako did NOT know how to answer.

Urgh….finally done. Any more and I probably would have fainted before I even got out.

Lost in her thoughts, it wasn't until a white-gloved hand was waved in front of her face, followed by the click of a tongue.

"Hello? Hellooo~? Aw, poor little Master of Chaldea. Are you tired after that interrogation? This your first time playing with the big boys? Then you'd better hurry up and learn how the game is played. As they say, experience is every-Aah!"

A little white furball suddenly leaped at Koyanskaya, clawing furiously at her clothes.

"Fou, fooou!

"Hmph!"

With a well-aimed smack, Fou hit the ground. Growling, he struggled to get up, but was then pushed into the ground again by a very cold heel.

"Fou!?"

"Oh, is that your cat? I'm sorry, but I couldn't help, but hit it back~."

"Kyuuu!"

"Whoops! Clumsy me! Now I've gone and stepped on it! But what can you do? This is how it goes when the weak attack the strong. Maybe once upon a time this thing was more impressive, but now it's just a puny little hair ball. It's the way of the world that it finds itself under the heel of a stronger animal now, don't you think?"

"Let Fou go!"

"Now now, no need to get so wild. It is brave of you to bare your fangs for your little pet. Cute~. But sorry, I can't just let it go. No, not after it went after my perfect skin with its little claws. Normally I'd break a leg or two so it knows not to mess with me again, but….I might be willing to let it go unharmed, IF you agree to chat with me for a bit. So, what do you say?"

Gudako hesitated. Although there was a slight fear crawling up her neck, she couldn't help but think that this was the perfect time to try and uncover who exactly this Koyanskaya was.

"...I'm trusting you to keep your word."

"Kyu, kyuuu!"

"Now, now, settle down little Fou. Your owner and I are just getting down to brass tacks, after all. All right. Now that we have an agreement, my dear Gudako, here's my first question:

How much do you know about Chaldea? I was told that you were scouted and brought here from some random country…but no matter how you slice it, you were born into a commoner's family. I bet you didn't even know the first thing about magecraft before you came here, did you?

…

No, no. Don't answer. It's all over your face. I see you had a strong aptitude for Rayshifting. I can't believe you came all this way on that alone. Do you even know where you are? They probably didn't tell you which country Chaldea was located in, did they?"

Gudako shrugged.

"Never bothered to really check. All I know is we're on a very tall mountain."

"...You're at the heart of one of the most secluded areas in the world, one not in the borders of any nation. An unobservable mountain that's been hidden behind a barrier of magecraft for hundreds of years. Had Chaldea actually told you where, I doubt you'd have ever signed up. I can practically see your protests, asking them if they lost their mind. Trust me, this place is as isolated as it gets. I could show you 6 months worth of paperwork to buy this place to prove that. But never mind all that. The thing I'm dying to learn more about is the original 48 Masters. Of those, 9 are still here: Mash Kyrielight, the 7 Team A Masters, and you. The other 39 have been revived and sent home. No doubt they went back to living their lives in peace, but their personal information still goes for a very high price. And why wouldn't it? Now that Rayshifting has been proved possible, each of those candidates is worth their weight in gold. But none of them are likely to fetch as high of a price as the members of Team A. The 7 people originally meant to save the world….Ah, excuse me."

Koyanskaya gave a small fake cough into her fist before smiling fakely at Gudako.

"Let me rephrase that. The 7 people from whom you stole the opportunity of a lifetime."

"Fo…Fooou! Nnn..kyu kyuuu!"

Fou suddenly struggled harder throwing Koyanskaya a little off balance. She flailed her arms for a split second before pushing down harder on her heel and resuming her air of superiority.

"Alright, that's enough out of you, my little footstool. Think you can kneel for me like a good little weakling before the plane comes in for a landing? Ahem, now then. Tell me, how much do you know about those 7? Don't tell me you've never heard ANYTHING the whole time you've been here. They're your great senpai, after all. I'm sure Mash knows a thing or two about them. After all, they were training together long before you even knew what Chaldea was."

"..."

Now that she thought about it, Gudako really didn't know about any of them. She had a few of their names and had heard passing remarks about their abilities, but beyond that? Nothing. They might as well have been obsolete strangers to her.

"No way, you have no idea! Never mind their magecraft affinity, you don't even know their NAMES? Wow~! So coldheared, Gudako! In that case, you can't really blame them for being pissed when they wake up, can you? After all…you stole everything from them. Their lives, purpose…and even their place at Chaldea."

"Fou! Fooou!"

In a sudden burst of strength, Fou wrestled himself out from under Koyanskaya and took a mad lunge at Koyanskaya's face. She, having already noticed the action, dodged the attack again before quickly slapping him into the hard metal floor with a loud thud. This time, the other heel came down on Fou's midsection, digging in hard to keep him in place and as payback.

"Hmm,hmm, you shouldn't keep going for a lady's face like that little Fou~. Keep acting up and I might just have to defend myself…say like biting off your head. Then that would be it for you and you wouldn't have any more chances to learn again, would you? But well, I guess we'll have to end it here. I'm supposed to meet Sir Goredolf soon. And on that note, I'll be on my way now~. Lucky for you you're so ignorant Gudako. If you knew anything about even 1 of the Team A members, I'd be grilling you about them in solitary for as long as it took…but sadly, it looks like that honey-licious branch isn't available to us, soo….bye! For now!"

And with a flirty wink, Koyanskaya turned around and swayed off down the hall towards wherever Goredolf was, leaving behind a wounded Fou and a very confused and worried Gudako.

—-----------------

"Fou!"

"Welcome back, Senpai. I see you met up with Fou on the way. He's been hiding out for a while so I'm relieved to see him with you."

"..."

"Senpai? Is something wrong? Did the investigation go badly?"

"...It's about Team A."

"Team A?...Hm, now that you mention it, I never did tell you about them, did I? I didn't mean to keep it from you. We just never really had time to discuss them…"

Da Vinci nodded, "That's true. Especially since the Team A Masters ended up not being involved at all in stopping the Incineration of Humanity. But now that they're about to get thawed out and we have nothing better to do…this seems like a good time to tell you about them. Team A refers to a group of A-ranked Masters handpicked by Chaldea. Mash was in this team as well."

Da Vinci then pulled out a small device from somewhere in her clothes and pressed a small red button on it. Gudako watched as the device flickered to life and projected a single image of a blonde male dressed in white with downcast eyes.

"First up: Kirschtaria Wodime. The chairman of the Animusphere-controlled Astromancy Department, one of the Clock Tower's 12 departments aod study and the official leader of Team A. He's the head of the exceptionally distinguished WOdime family, whose name and magical circuits have been around for thousands of years. He's also Marisbury's top pupil and rumored to be a better heir to the Lordship than Olga Marie. He was expected to contract a Lancer. In terms of magecraft capability, he's a head and shoulders above the rest."

*Click* An image of a long, straight haired girl appeared who wore an eyepatch across her right eye. Dressed in a suit-like fashion, she was extremely slim and not all that tall.

"Ophelia Phamrsolone, the prodigy of the Evocation Department. She possesses special Mystic Eyes, so she wore an eyepatch to cover it. She was expected to forge a contract with a Saber, but she's also very particular about what sort of Heroic Spirit she would contract with."

*Click* Another male, this time a light, gray haired one, appeared. He had eyebags under his eyes and looked like he was permanently scowling at something or someone.

"Kadoc Zemlupus. Nothing special except for his affinity for Rayshifting. His story is closer to yours, seeing as he's the only ordinary member among all the geniuses of Team A. But his kindness more than made up for it, even if it did descend into self-deprecation at times."

"...I remember." This time Mash spoke. "He always worried about others…though he did have a pessimistic side which bothered him as much as it did anyone else."

"He expected a contract with a Caster because he didn't have much magical energy."

*Click* This time, a pale, tall, and strangely dressed man appeared. Smiling, this man seemed to exude confidence and romance.

"Scandinavia Peperoncino. Yep, you heard me. He's using a pseudonym so no one knows where he's from. He was a freelance mage Marisbury recruited when they met abroad. Cheerful and funny, he was also the oldest member of the team. He expected an Archer for a contracted Servant. For the record, he had this Italian like air around him, but also strangely knew a lot about Buddhism. Naturally, he also knew a lot about Indian mythology."

*Click* Another girl, this time with brown hair long enough to almost touch the floor. She held a book close to her face, her framed eyes peeking out from behind its worn cover.

"Akuta Hinako. She got her start in Yumina, the Botany Department, which is tied to the study of witches in the Clock Tower. She used to be part of the engineering team here before her latent talents were spotted and she was added to the pool of Master candidates. She's the kind of introvert who would love to just curl up with a book from sunup to sundown. But she had a strange…aura you couldn't help but notice. She never came in for routine physicals and was expected to contract a Rider. That was really important to her for some reason."

*Click* Another male, this time distinctly Caucasian with slicked back black hair. His eyes were narrowed slightly and he had an unsettling grin on his face.

"Beryl Gut…he…."

"..." Even Mash wasn't saying anything. Whatever was up with this guy was likely not very good.

"Well! We don't have to go into detail for every Master! Moving on~!"

*Click* Another male, this one with grayish brown hair and soft eyes. He wasn't looking directly at the camera, but you could tell that he knew it was there.

"And the last one. Daybit Sem Void. A bit of an enigma, getting himself kicked out of the Folklore Department and all. He's definitely a genius, a very rare find…although he never tried to understand anyone and no one could understand him. He expected to contract a Berserker…though no one expected him and his Servant to form any sort of understanding."

And with another click, the device turned off.

"And that's all of them! Quite cast right! But don't let that get to you, if anything they'll be the ones who would be timid around YOU. They may end up looking up to you. All the Team A members value others by accomplishments and yours have been pretty incredible. If anything, they'll probably be spending time asking you about the Singularities and all. Kadoc can be shy, but he's very studious and is hugely into mythology."

"Yeah! And Pepe as a great listener. Even Akuta would open up a little in front of him!"

"On a different note, we need to get all the equipment ready to thaw them out which would take four days. Whether you stay or go will be decided between now and then. Whatever the decision is, I hope it won't be too bad."

Gudako nodded in response, having been silent the whole time while trying to process all the new info. As she shuffled around a little to get more comfortable, she bumped into Mash and something hard.

"Ah right! Here's the box from earlier. Don't worry, nothing happened to it."

"Oh thank you Mash."

Da Vinci glanced at the box in Gudako's hands before turning away and saying.

"I really hope we don't have to use it. Given how things are going, we likely won't have to."

Gudako simply shrugged, but doubt as crawling around in her stomach. She couldn't help, but worry a little. After all, her innate danger sense had never been off before. So why would it be wrong now?

Author's Note: Heyo! Sorry for the late update! I've got one more test this week and then I'll be done with finals! Also, I'm using my phone to publish this chapter so hopefully it isn't formatted really weird.