Chronal Disassociation Ch. 55 (Patreon)

Staring down into the endless darkness that was a massive elevator shaft was making Emiya think about his decisions in life. Intellectually, he knew that he was safe to dive down - being in astral form made it certain that he would be able to float down without issue. However, that didn’t stop the instinctual fear that came from dropping into an endless, black pit any less prevalent.

‘Well, I can’t say I don’t live an exciting afterlife.’

Regardless, he was already here, and it really had taken five minutes to find the location. While the relay station was a good disguise, anyone who was looking closely at it would have realized that something was wrong here.

First off, there was actually no reason to have a remote station like this, since it would only increase the logistics strain for whoever was managing it. Secondly, there were already too many people around, maybe a dozen visible or so, for a simple relay station. Finally, was the fact that relay stations hadn’t been needed for well over a decade now due to the advancements in technology.

All of that pointed to a black site that nobody should know about.

Except that was the point.

Due to the prevalence of hackers and hacking implants in the world, most secrets weren’t really secret if they were put anywhere near a server. More government secrets had been leaked to the public in the past decades than the entirety of Emiya’s natural life.

So, all of the records coming in and out of this particular site may as well have been a goldmine for any would-be local hacker, especially with the American government’s involvement. It should have been leaked a long time ago. Hell, Emiya could have likely gotten the information even easier had he been on US soil and not in London the entire time.

That it wasn’t, was the entire crux of why this station was so badly hidden.

People did know what was inside. Who was inside. And every single one of them realized that it was in their best interest to not release the information for the rest of the world’s sake.

Emiya narrowed his eyes as he slowed his descent down, seeing the top of the elevator at the bottom of the shaft. He landed without a sound, still in astral form, before he made his way through the entrance of the facility. The first thing he noticed was the sharp increase in security. Where up above, the only real security were the guards patrolling above - and the hidden elevator - here was a different story.

Immediately upon exiting the elevator, you would have been met with the barrels of two automated turrets, and would be followed by them until you get to the panel where you would have to do a biometric scan, not unlike the mechanism for getting on the elevator in the first place. After that would be what appeared to be an airlock of sorts, though Emiya didn’t know exactly what it did.

Only then would you be able to access the rest of the facility, provided that you had access cards for the doors that you would need to enter.

Emiya just walked through them without tripping a single alarm. The benefits of being a literal ghost.

The underground facility was a veritable maze, but included everything that one could ever need to live here permanently, which the people working here likely did. Cafeteria, security room, living quarters. Had he not been looking closely, he would not have noticed that all of them were positioned in a way as to funnel into the center of the facility, where the main crux of his little visit lay.

When he got to the door where his target was, even more security was in place. Another set of airlocks, though this one had a table with an empty tray in the middle of the doors. A floor that he was certain contained several kilograms of explosives, rigged to what he couldn’t tell. He glided past that too, making his way further into the room, before stopping.

He couldn’t get past the door.

With a frown, he placed his astralized hand on the airlock door. With a start, he realized that it had some very, very powerful defenses in place. In fact, even the door itself was unique, as he finally figured out that it was made from the same material as his armor, only significantly denser.

The barrier preventing him from moving forward was similar to that of the one at Ryuudo Temple, the one that prevented even Servants from crossing. This one was infinitely subtler, though, and unless he was pressed up against it, he wouldn’t have felt it. Looping around the entire central area revealed that it was the same all around, making him unable to get inside unless the barrier was lowered, or broken.

Judging by how masterfully this was created, he doubted that he would be able to break it without announcing his presence, and he was hesitant to test if the explosives wouldn’t just blow up if he even dared to show his face.

Thankfully, it seemed that the barrier itself was consigned to a ‘flat’ layer. Had it been a full field, Emiya would have been unable to enter the bounding area it was in. All he needed to do was wait for the airlock door to open, and he should be able to get through with no more issues.

He didn’t have to wait for long.

An alarm sounded out, and the grinding of numerous gears filled the room he was in. A red light in the corner of the room started flashing. Just as Emiya started to worry about the possibility that he had somehow been detected, the first airlock door opened, and a man wearing a full hazmat suit, tinted lens and all, walked in with a cart and a tray full of food. Said tray was quickly swapped out with the empty one, and the man hurried back outside, the airlock sealing behind them.

Another series of alarms and gears flashing, and the second airlock started opening. This one was even more elaborate, as his estimations for the thickness of the door was off by quite a bit, as it opened to reveal over two meters of material in thickness. At this point, he would have moved in quickly, not knowing when the doors would close.

He would have, had not his target crossed into the room and immediately locked eyes with his astralized form.

…

Siebren de Kuiper was tall. Wearing an orange prisoner suit, he practically towered over Emiya’s not so inconsequential height, and unlike, say, Lieutenant Wilhelm, de Kuiper’s height was not matched by his bulk. Instead, the man was wiry, almost deceptively frail, allowing him to loom over most individuals with ease.

And that was not accounting for the way he floated off the ground.

But that wasn’t what had frozen him to his spot. No, it was the sheer wrongness that de Kuiper emitted. That feeling of de Kuiper shouldn’t be here. Wait, scratch that. That feeling wasn’t coming from the doctor himself. The darkness that his eyes had blocked out, the blackness that shouldn’t be black that was staring that was looking that was the Abyssthatw-

The mental walls borne from working with individuals such as Abigail Williams slammed into full force. A self-hypnosis to prevent himself from breaking down was put into place. Not even O’Deorain’s arm had forced this on him. Unlike then, whatever it was that his hypnosis was preventing him from acknowledging was capable of showing something beyond even that.

Somehow, the danger of this mission had gotten significantly higher.

“Ah, I’ve been expecting you.” Suddenly, de Kuiper spoke, not breaking eye contact with Emiya at all, “Come, come. We have much to talk about.” The plate of food that had been brought in lifted a good meter into the air with no prompting from de Kuiper, following him as if it had a mind of its own.

Emiya hesitated to follow.

On one hand, this was his only chance to go inside while the airlock was open.

On the other hand, he would be trapped in a room with no way to get out against a man that by all means should be insane, with the looming threat of a possible Outer God.

The alarms sounded once more, and the airlock door started to close. Emiya cursed and decided then and there.

He passed the door just as it shut, gears whirring back into place.

…

When Emiya entered the cell, he had expected something to the effect of a padded room. A sterile lab environment where de Kuiper would have been strapped onto a medical bed for experimentation. Maybe even a workshop where a magus had been dissecting de Kuiper this entire time with nobody the wiser.

He certainly didn’t expect a fully furnished room that would have put any five star hotel to shame, complete with amber lighting and the soft melody of classical music in the background. Humming to himself, de Kuiper casually walked - floated, Emiya corrected - to one of the tables and let the floating plate of food settle on it.

“Please, please, make yourself at home. And don’t worry, there are no cameras or sensors in the room that would detect your presence.” Even as he said this, de Kuiper was setting a kettle on the stove, “I hope you don’t mind matcha, I’m afraid I’m out of jasmine tonight.”

Cautiously, and against all of his instincts saying to do otherwise, Emiya materialized into the room, standing next to the dining table, “...I’m fine with anything.”

“Excellent!” With a chuckle, de Kuiper waved his hand, and a cupboard to the side opened up. Two cups and saucers gently made their way over to the doctor, where he quickly made the tea, humming an indistinct tune all the while. Meanwhile, Emiya took the chance to take a seat, though several weapons were at the forefront of his mind, ready to be deployed at a moment’s notice.

The Servant took the opportunity to take in more of the ‘cell’. He wasn’t exaggerating when describing this room as better than a five star hotel. He’d seen rooms less extravagant provided to kings and queens. Soft, velvet carpet lined the entryway, a chandelier made of crystal glass topped with gems of different colour, a bookshelf that was filled to the brim with volumes and volumes of books.

He was distracted from his observations when the man of the hour sat at the other end of the table, a cup of tea floating towards him.

“Now, I believe introductions are in order.” Taking a sip of the tea, de Kuiper hummed contentedly before continuing,”I am Doctor Siebren de Kuiper, though I suppose if you’ve come here, I assume you already know who I am?”

With a ghost of a smirk, Emiya replied, “You could say that. As for myself, you can call me-” ‘Archer’ he would have said, had he not stopped himself. Something told him that he would deeply regret it if he continued with that line, though he couldn’t pin it down. Instead, as de Kuiper waited expectantly, Emiya coughed and remanded his words, “Emiya. I am known as Emiya, a Counter Guardian.”

“A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Emiya.” With a smile, de Kuiper lifted his tea towards the Servant, “And I apologize for the vagueness earlier. Kischur did mention to expect one of you, but that old fox certainly didn’t say when or how!” de Kuiper gave a laugh that showed he was greatly amused by the fact.

A fact that Emiya immediately latched onto, “I’m sorry, did you say Kischur? As in, Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg?”

“Why yes! Do you know him?”

“Of sorts. I haven’t seen him in a few years, to the point I didn’t even know he was still around.” That was a bit of a lie. Of course Zelretch was still around, not many things could do the old Dead Apostle in.

“That does sound like him.” The doctor nodded sagely, “Disappears then reappears at will. Let me tell you, if I was any younger, I might’ve punched him out of reflex more than once!”

Emiya decided to ignore the image of the man punching the Kaleidoscope and shove it in the back of his mind.

But before the Servant could follow up with another question of how de Kuiper knew Zelretch, the doctor stared at him with genuine curiosity, “Now, young man, what is it that you need from me that you would risk entering this facility?”

The questions that had been at the forefront of Emiya’s mind had all but dried up in the past few minutes, so much so that he had to actively think about his next few words carefully, “Let’s start from the top, then. How and why is this place like…this?”

The doctor hummed, a frown briefly forming on his face before he took a sip of his tea, “Partially due to Kischur’s help and partially because of my condition, I’m afraid." He set the cup down on the saucer.

“Originally, this cell - and yes, I am aware that this is a cell - was a modified solitary confinement, complete with round the clock cameras and whatnot. Unfortunately, due to my condition, anyone who so much as looks at me, or perceives me, tends to go, for lack of a better word, insane over time. Eventually, the guards realized this, and took away all observation devices, though I am saddened that it took several lives for them to do so.” The man shook his head in dismay.

“Nevertheless, after that, Kischur would visit me, providing me with many of the things you see here, and over the years, all of that became all of this. And please, don’t take me for a fool, Mr. Emiya.” At this, de Kuiper gave a wan smile, “While I appreciate your tact, I already know the questions you want to ask. I merely wanted to see if you would do so on your own. You are wondering both how Kischur and I met, and why I am not some blathering lunatic in a straightjacket, as well as how I am doing what I do.”

He said it so matter-of-factly that Emiya could only nod with the barest hint of hesitation.

With a sigh, de Kuiper’s eyes unfocused, as if he was remembering something significant, “You would be right in that assumption, truth be told. When the accident that occurred all those years ago, I had gotten what I had hoped for - to be free from the shackles of gravity. However, the consequences of those actions were far, far more than I had anticipated. Even now, I can’t exactly remember what had happened. What I do know is I heard it.”

“You heard what exactly?” Emiya leaned forward with scrunched eyebrows.

“It. Eternity. The Kaleidoscope that the symphony of the universe sang.” The doctor whispered almost fervently, “And it was too much. No man should see it all. I…I broke, suffice it to say. In that instant, when I heard the melody of the universe, I also saw the beings that played the melody. And they saw me. They started to…parasitize me. From the depths of my mind, they attempted to crawl out into the physical world. They would have succeeded, had not Kischur saved me. I do not know what exactly that he did, only that he had managed to pull me out of the Abyss before those beings could fully actualize, though not without consequences.”

He gestured to the back of his head that was not the back of his head, the back of his head that Emiya’s mind refused to acknowledge as anything other than the back of his head.

“And that was the first time you met Zelretch?”

“Yes, though, at the time, I was more or less in a vegetative state where I could only vaguely recognize things. Eventually, Overwatch and the United Nations stuck me here, thinking perhaps that they could cure me of this condition. They could not, but they would try.” Shaking his head, de Kuiper continued, “Do not mistake my feelings as resentment. I appreciate the efforts that those good men and women went through, but there was no cure for something like this, and those same men and women went insane for nothing.

“It was perhaps a month or so after the incident that it happened. Perhaps the best way to describe it was that I felt like I woke up from a dream, where before, my body was just moving by itself. Kischur visited me then, in this very room. He explained to me that he had been busy sealing the pathways by which those beings could have crossed into our universe, and that he had finally finished just before he went here. By sealing the last one, he had severed the connection between me and the melody. Except that what he did was merely a repair job, and that the fabrics of the universe would never be as strong as they were once before.” His words quieted at the end, genuine remorse making the already old man look even older.

“Kischur did not tell me in so many words, but I knew then that I had doomed this world from my actions, actions which I deeply regret even today. He told me that, should my mind fail me once more, those beings could use the remnants to cross into our world once more.”

Emiya’s eyes narrowed into steel slits. If this man was the bridge for an Outer threat to cross into humanity’s domain, the solution was as brutal as it was simple. The Counter Force did not negotiate with anomalies, and while he was summoned as an Archer through unconventional means, the fact that the Counter Force allowed for Oxton to do so meant that it wanted him here in the first place.

De Kuiper did not miss the sudden, lethal shift in the Servant’s demeanor. Instead of panicking, the old astrophysicist merely offered a sad, knowing smile and set his hands gently on his lap.

"I know what you are thinking, Mr. Emiya." de Kuiper said softly, the classical music in the background swelling in a melancholic crescendo, "You are a cleaner of sorts for the world, aren't you? A guardian mechanism meant to prune the rotting branches of reality. Kischur warned me about the existence of the Counter Force. He told me that one day, it might send an agent to assess the damage I have caused."

Emiya didn't relax his posture, "If you know what I am, then you know what I have to do. I can't let those things breach this reality."

"And you believe executing me will sever the tether?" De Kuiper shook his head slowly, his floating feet drifting closer to the carpet. "I am afraid it is not so simple. In fact, killing me would be the worst possible action you could take."

Emiya scoffed, a cynical edge to his voice, "Every target says that right before the end."

"Perhaps they do. But in my case, it is the fundamental truth of my existence." de Kuiper replied, leaning forward, the amber light casting deep shadows over his gaunt features, "Kischur made it perfectly clear to me. The tear in the fabric of the universe is not attached to my physical body, but to the construct of my consciousness. What you see on my physical self are the aftereffects of such an attempt on my mind. In short, I am not the door, Mr. Emiya. I am the lock."

He reached up, lightly tapping his temple with a trembling finger.

"If my heart stops beating, if my brain ceases to function - whether by natural causes, by my own hand, or by your blades - the lock shatters. The fragile dam holding the Abyss at bay will collapse entirely, and my death will instantly unleash them into this world." de Kuiper's voice wavered, a brief flicker of raw terror bleeding through his polite facade, "They are waiting for me to die. They are pushing me toward it."

"So you're a living dead-man's switch." Emiya stated, the gravity of the situation sinking in. He leaned back in his chair, running a hand through his white hair, "You can't be killed, and you can't be cured. But you mentioned your mind failing. If your sanity goes..."

"Then the lock rusts and crumbles from the inside out." de Kuiper finished grimly, "My sanity is the countdown. Every day, every hour, I hear the melody shifting. It grows louder, more discordant. All of this, the isolation, the routine...they are all just desperate measures to keep my mind tethered to humanity. But a human mind was not built to withstand the pressure of eternity." The doctor looked down at his cooling tea, his reflection rippling in the green liquid.

"I am degrading, Mr. Emiya. Slowly, but inevitably. There are days where I do not know if I am in this cell, or floating in the void between stars. Kischur's patch job bought humanity time, but it is a finite resource. The moment my mind completely fractures and I lose my grip on who and what I am, the countdown reaches zero.

“However, all hope is not yet lost. It was impressed upon me that there exists an organization out there that has taken on similar beings to these, and won. Kischur has not lied to me before, and he says that they are the only ones left with the means to truly cauterize the wound. So, until such time that I know that these people are here, I will continue to hold on as much as I can.”

“...This organization, they wouldn’t be called-”

“Chaldea. The Chaldea Security Organization.”

…

A/N: So, company restructuring due to the project I was assigned to being cancelled. Got let go about a week back, got a severance package that was smaller than I wanted, but bigger than I expected. Not a good weekend, back to job hunting for me.