The Heart To Stand Up To Fate

Chapter 4: For the Greater Good

The day started as any other: with a tired groan that escaped Quinn Vermillion's lips. His eyes slowly fluttered open as Vermillion wearily stared at the ceiling of his room. He stayed there, the only thing covering him being his sheets, for a few moments before he started to become coherent about what was around him again.

No dreams were seen last night.

Good.

Upon realizing he was awake again, Quinn propped himself up, sitting up in his bed, causing the sheets to fall off his bare chest.

"Hmm...?"

Quinn blinked a few times before turning his head.

Oh, that's right. That's why he didn't have any dreams. There beside him was his co-worker, Sylvia, and just like him, the only thing that covered her was the sheets he had nearly pulled off her.

That would have been quite rude of him, wouldn't it? It can be quite cold here at Chaldea, what with the facility being built on top of a mountain in Antarctica.

Quinn let a smile form on his face as he pulled the sheets back over Sylvia, recalling the nice warmth that had enveloped him the previous night. Sylvia had a good time, from what he could recall. As for him, it was nice to take his mind off things. Having another warm body beside him in bed as he slept helped ease his mind, which was probably the reason why Sylvia agreed to another meet-up like this despite the current situation at Chaldea.

Today was the day the Master Candidates would be rayshifting to the singularity that was found in Fuyuki, Japan, 2004.

Just thinking about it made Quinn's head ache. If he had it his way, he'd sleep in today and forget about all the horribleness that was bounding towards them from around the corner. If he had it his way, Quinn wouldn't even have to deal with today or any of these problems.

Instead, he'd be playing around with Ritsuka more under the guise of training, while still passing on lessons to her regardless. He would instead be lounging about with Caster, conversing with her on whatever topic comes up, whether it be science, magic, history, Quinn's pointless yet fun flirting that da Vinci would brush off, or maybe the Servant would engage in more dialectic sparring, trying to snatch something out of Quinn to fill whatever picture her overpowered mind could paint. He would instead think about how to apologize to Romani for their first meeting, yet failing to say anything in the end because that's just who he was. He would instead spend the day watching his student interacting with her friends from afar, happy she's been able to open up in this facility now, but never getting too close because...well...reasons.

...He'd instead spend the endless days, which would turn into endless weeks and endless months and endless years, in her office, helping her with work. He'd spend all that time listening to her rant to him, stressed beyond relief, yet still juggling everything so efficiently and with a level of grace no other could possess. He would offer her praise even when she didn't ask because her eyes would light up every time he so much as told her she did a good job. He would dance with her, make her smile and laugh, and hopefully ease that burden forced onto her even just a little, because she deserved that much.

If that was how he spent the rest of his life like that, then maybe everything in his life that led him to that ending would all be worth it. Finally.

But no. There could be no more 'normal' here. There could be no more laughter here.

There could be no happy endings here. Not at Chaldea. Not with this singularity mucking about, ruining things for everyone.

...He had to get up. He had to face this. He had to, or they would reach a BAD END. This mission had to be done and seen through to the end, or else humanity and its beautiful future would come to an end.