Fate/Curadh Beag

Chapter 1: Divergence of History

FATE/CURADH BEAG

"Little Champion"

Chapter 1: Divergence in History

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This and any future stories involving Connla will assume that you have read all previous stories, so some details already covered there will not be explained here. If you haven't read those, I recommend you do so before this one so you aren't too confused. This particular chapter happens immediately after the final chapter of Fate/Parallel Colors as well, so there will be spoilers for that story's ending.

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In the Chaldea Security Organization's medical bay, five figures stared at a sixth who entered one of the spare rooms. Only the sound of the heart monitor attached to a healing pod beeped around the dumbfounded quartet of men as they gazed at the new visitor with abject astonishment. The remaining person held a video camera and was taking pictures of this moment for later viewing pleasure.

"Um... hello, everyone," the purple-haired teenaged girl finally murmured, breaking the tense silence.

"Wha-?" Cuchulainn Prototype gaped, unable to think of anything to say.

"It can't be..." Cuchulainn Caster uttered.

Cuchulainn Lancer couldn't even so much as move. Cuchulainn Alter quickly looked back and forth between the visitor and the child Servant sleeping within the healing pod. They were the same person, yet the sleeping Servant was seven years old, while the newcomer was easily 10 to 15 years older than her counterpart. Alter thought for sure he was going mad, seeing two of the same girl in the same room as him.

She looked around, then fidgeted with her hands and asked, "Maybe... this wasn't such a good time?"

"It's all right. They'll snap out of it once they hear your story," Leonardo Da Vinci replied, still fixing the camera on the girl's timid expression. She panned towards the four men and explained, "Fellas, this is Connla Aibi. She's a version of Connla who came to us from a parallel world to aid us in our fight against Daoloth."

"A parallel world... you say?" Lancer murmured, quickly realizing what was going on.

"So she's kind of like Cliste, in a way? Except that instead of us going to her world, she came to us?" Prototype wondered.

"That's right," Da Vinci replied.

"Well shit. Why didn't you say that before bringing her in?"

"I thought it would make for a good laugh to observe how you guys reacted to seeing a second Connla."

"You need to do something about that sense of humor, woman," Caster grumbled, feeling worn out from being the victim of such a ludicrous prank. "Not everyone finds that kind of joke funny, you know."

"Ah hah hah, sorry about that! I just thought I'd spice things up a little after all of that doom and gloom we had to go through with Daoloth's invasion."

Aibi noticed that Alter was staring at her fervently, so she cast her eyes down at her feet and mumbled nervously. Da Vinci ran up to her and pushed her toward the crowd, imploring, "Come on, don't just stand there! Sit down and relax with us! Since you're going to be an important part of our recovery team, it would be best for you to get to know everyone else."

"Y-Yes, of course," Aibi moaned and sat down on a chair several feet away from the Cuchulainns.

Caster asked, "She's going to be helping us?"

"Yep," Da Vinci said. "She'll be assisting you and Sigurd with restoring Connla's cranial Runes, along with strengthening her connection so that she can return to our world without incident."