Chef's Kiss Pt. 2 (Fate/Grand Order) (Patreon)

A/N: Welcome back to Part 2 of the now named Chef's Kiss everyone. Thanks for helping me figure out the title, though I'm not completely in love with it. Hm, I still think its the best we came up with so far tbh.

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In an instant, Shirou comes to a realization and a decision.

“… We can’t all go check it out. We’re going to need to split up. I think Saber and I should go, while you two stay here and hold down the fort.”

Of course, even before the words are fully out of his mouth, Shirou knows that the sisters aren’t going to be happy with his decision. And he’s absolutely right. Each reacts negatively to his suggestion in their own way.

“What?! Why would we do that? You think we’re just going to stay here in the kitchen while you go running off towards literal explosions?”

“She’s right, Senpai. I refuse to let you put yourself in danger without me nearby.”

For a moment, Shirou smiles fondly. Even if Rin is undeniably more caustic about it while Sakura is more stubborn, both of them are showing their affection in their own unique fashions. Still… he drops the smile and gives them both big puppy dog eyes as he beseeches them with his gaze.

“But someone has to stay behind and protect the kitchen! We just got done moving all of those ingredients into their proper places. What if that Professor realizes his bomb didn’t go off and he comes back to finish off the job?! If our ingredients and equipment are ruined, how will we cook food?!”

It should be said, this Shirou Emiya was in many ways unique from quite a lot of the more ‘standard’ Shirou Emiyas across the multiverse. Most versions of Shirou Emiya liked cooking. But this one… this one took it to a whole other level.

Of course, he wasn’t alone in his feelings. The instant that Shirou brings up what might happen if they left the kitchen undefended, Saber’s eyes go wide and the legendary King of Camelot nods her head rapidly right alongside Shirou.

“Y-Yes! We must make sure the kitchen is well-guarded against further attacks! Shirou’s ability to continue cooking for us is just as important as discovering the source of these explosions and the purpose of these attacks!”

Rin and Sakura exchange a look at that. The sisters might not get along most of the time, but in this case they are momentarily united. Rin is the first to point at Saber accusingly.

“You’re just saying that because you’re a glutton for Shirou’s cooking! There’s no world in which guarding a kitchen of all things is as important as figuring out what’s going on in Chaldea at the moment! I KNOW I explained to you all what this place is and what they do here! For it to be under attack… we need to step in, asap!”

Beside her, Sakura looks pained to be in agreement with her older sister, but slowly nods.

“Senpai… I think just this once, we will need to leave the kitchen unprotected.”

Shirou looks between the two girls for a long moment. On the one hand, he’s happy that they’re finding common cause with one another. On the other hand, he wishes it wasn’t common cause directed at him. In the end… Shirou has to do what he has to do. Though his next words are directed at both of them, his eyes are fixed on Sakura.

“… If you both stay here and guard the kitchen for me, we can do that thing you like later tonight.”

Sakura’s eyes widen, her cheeks pinking up. Rin also begins to blush fiercely, but before the latter can do more than open her mouth to respond, the former cuts her off.

“Senpai is right. We’ll stay behind and hold down the fort while he and Saber go and check out the explosions and make sure everything goes okay.”

Rin sputters at Sakura’s sudden yet inevitable betrayal.

“Y-You can’t be serious, I-mmph!”

Suddenly, Sakura’s eyes are blazing with an unholy purple glow, her hand covering Rin’s mouth as she all but strongarms her sister back into the kitchen proper.

“Don’t you dare ruin this for me.”

Then, she shoots Shirou and Saber a big smile.

“Good luck you two! Come back safe or else!”

A shiver runs down both of their spines at that, but with the dilemma of who was going to stay and who was going to go finally dealt with, Shirou and Saber choose not to address Sakura’s general scariness and turn to sprint out of the cafeteria.

Blaring alarms direct them to Chaldea’s Central Command Room, even as they find the place to be surprisingly deserted. Shirou can’t help but wonder where the people are, but just as he’s starting to get really worried, he and Saber turn the corner to find someone at long last. They’re right outside of the Command Room in fact, working on what appears to be a locked door.

“D-Damn it all, this wasn’t sealed a moment ago, what the heck happened?”

Just as Shirou and Saber make their approach, the man manages to get the door to pop open… only to finally catch sight of them.

“Hey! Who are you two?”

Clearing his throat, Shirou steps forward.

“I’m Chaldea’s new Head Cook, and this is one of my assistants. We heard the explosions and the alarms and wanted to see if we could help. What’s going on?”

Finally seeming to catch onto their outfits, with Shirou wearing obvious chef attire along with a black apron on top and Saber looking like a waitress or a member of the serving staff at a high-end restaurant, the man slowly relaxes.

“Ah, ahem… well met. You can call me Dr. Roman, I suppose. Er… Chaldea is under attack. You both should find some place safe to hunker down!”

With that advice freely given, Dr. Roman darts into the Command Room without a second glance back. Shirou and Saber share a look at that… before following after him. As they enter the Central Command Room, it’s obvious that the place has seen the heaviest of whatever this attack is. The whole place has been blasted apart, and yet… the resiliency of Chaldea’s technology cannot be understated, because some of the consoles are still working, and Dr. Roman has quickly ran over to them and began assessing the situation.

“Ah! They were sucked in… I see now!”

Shirou doesn’t quite understand what that means, but before he can ask, the good doctor notices they’ve followed him.

“Hey! I thought I told you two to find some place safe to hunker down!”

At this, Shirou offers a wry grin and a shrug.

“The whole place is being beset by explosions, Doctor. Is any place truly safe?”

At that, Dr. Roman deflates a bit before grumbling.

“Fair point… just… watch the door, I guess.”

In the end, Dr. Roman’s orders turn out to be more than fair as Shirou discovers there really isn’t much he can DO in this situation. Apparently, the young woman he’d met, Ritsuka… had been Rayshifted into a Singularity alongside a ‘demi-servant’ named Mash. Dr. Roman is able to get in touch with them through the barely functioning consoles in the Command Room, but ultimately it sounds like they’re mostly on their own.

Though not completely. Olga Marie Animusphere is apparently with them as well, and the Director of Chaldea’s lecturing brings a fond smile to Shirou’s face. She really does remind him quite strongly of Rin. Rin, who he had definitely pissed off by using Sakura to browbeat her into submission. He would have to make it up to her later.

Regardless, a lot of what Dr. Roman and Director Animusphere were saying was going right over Shirou’s head. It sounds like Ritsuka is struggling to follow along as well, but also acquitting herself quite well in the battles she’s having to fight within the Singularity. Shirou can’t help but feel a little useless, and also slightly humbled. Rin was probably right, either she or Sakura would have been more fitting to send for this kind of situation.

“… Shirou.”

Just as he’s thinking these things, Saber’s voice, quiet and solemn, cuts in from his left. He blinks, having been watching Dr. Roman help guide the team of girls through the Singularity they’d been Rayshifted into. Turning, he finds Saber looking rather stone-faced, having pulled up a piece of rubble from the initial explosions that had clearly devastated most of the Command Room.

She’s staring at something that Shirou can’t see from where he’s standing, and so the young man slowly walks over so he can look down at what she’s found. Only for his eyes to widen and his face to go pale at the sight before him. His smile dies a quick death as he glances between the console Dr. Roman is communicating through. He listens as Olga’s blunt voice comes through loud and clear… before looking down at her mangled, nigh-unrecognizable corpse.

His and Saber’s antics do not go unnoticed by Dr. Roman, who glances over and grimaces at what they’ve found. The good doctor presses a button on his console, muting himself so that he can speak in a quiet tone.

“… I believe the Olga we’re conversing with is merely a facsimile of the original. The initial explosion would have been right beneath her feet… meaning she died the instant that the bombs started going off, only to have her residual thoughts and memories Rayshifted into the Singularity. Once all is said and done… she will likely be unable to return to our world, unfortunately.”

Oh. That was… Shirou grimaces, as Dr. Roman unmutes himself and returns to providing guidance to the group traversing the Singularity. Looking down at Olga’s mangled corpse is… hard, but Shirou finds himself unable to look away. It wasn’t fair. Sure, she wasn’t the easiest person to get along with, something he’d understood from the moment that he’d met her earlier that morning. But that didn’t mean she deserved to die. Especially not in this gruesome of a manner.

It wasn’t fair, and more than that… Shirou could maybe do something about it. It just meant blowing his cover. Slowly, he drops to his knees beside Olga’s body, bringing a hand up. Saber is suddenly there, holding his wrist silently and stopping him… but when they look into each other’s eyes, she lets go after a moment and shifts around so that Dr. Roman can’t quite see what they’re doing.

In the end, Shirou Emiya was always a hero at heart. This Shirou wasn’t the kind who would rush to be a hero for strangers… but he was the kind who couldn’t help but try and be a hero to every pretty young woman who crossed his path, no matter how mean they might be.

Tracing a copy of Avalon in his palms is difficult, but nothing worth doing is ever easy. As he pushes the magical scabbard into Olga’s chest, he grimaces. See, Avalon both did and didn’t work on corpses. It couldn’t resurrect the dead. However, death wasn’t as simple as it seemed. Death was a grey area, especially this close to life. Just a little while ago, Olga Marie Animusphere was a living, breathing human being. Now, she was a collection of meat. Who was to say she couldn’t go back to being that vivacious, tough young woman once more?

Avalon sinks into her mostly intact chest and immediately goes to work, turning Olga’s mangled, half-exploded corpse into a complete and intact body once more. It regenerates her flesh to its pristine form, but does not actually bring her back to life. Her body is still… braindead, essentially. Feeling the pull on himself as the traced copy of a truly powerful Noble Phantasm resides in that lifeless but intact body, Shirou reaches down and lifts Olga up from the rubble.

He turns towards Dr. Roman just in time to hear Professor Lainur make his insidious, monstrous reveal. As it turns out, Sakura was right from the very beginning. Lev Lainur was a very bad man indeed, and had been behind everything. Unfortunately, no one had told the copy of Olga’s consciousness that, and in the Singularity she’d walked right into his arms.

The look of horror on Dr. Roman’s face as Lev Lainur prepares to do away with the last remaining fragment of Olga transforms quickly into wide-eyed shock when he sees the young woman’s intact body held aloft in Shirou’s arms. Truth be told, Shirou doesn’t know what else to do. He doesn’t have any more clever ideas. He isn’t very technologically savvy, and he’s reached the limits of what he can contribute to this situation.

… But he doesn’t give up hope, and in that moment, Dr. Roman doesn’t let him down. As soon as the man sees Olga’s intact body, his mind seems to speed up, and an instant later he’s doing something on the consoles.

“Bring her here!”

While the Olga in the Singularity is crying out in dismay and horror over Lev Lainur’s betrayal, Dr. Roman is setting things up and attaching various doodads to Olga’s body. Shirou doesn’t pretend to know what’s going on. He just watches and has faith. That said, it still feels like his heart is torn out of his chest as Olga’s pleading words reach through the console, filling the Command Room.

“N-No! Please! I haven’t even accomplished anything of note yet! All I wanted was-!”

In that moment, to Shirou’s shock, a rent in the air appears and a portal opens in the Chaldea Command Room. Through it, Shirou can see Lev Lainur holding the fragment of Olga’s consciousness by the throat, and beyond them, a horrified and frankly traumatized looking Ritsuka, as well as the young woman who must have been Mash Kyrielight.

With an incredibly villainous laugh, Lev Lainur tosses Olga towards the burning CHALDEAS in the center of the Command Room… only to blink stupidly when that’s not where she ‘lands’ at all. So secure and sure of his own superiority, he hadn’t really taken any time to look at the rest of the Command Room… and thus completely missed what Shirou, Saber, and most importantly of all, Dr. Roman, were doing.

“What?! You all-!”

Rather than being consigned to a fate worse than death, Olga Marie Animusphere’s consciousness… is zapped into her newly repaired body, her intact form taking on that impression of her memories. Shirou watches in wide-eyed shock as Olga suddenly takes in a breath, eyes opening wide for a single moment… before she flops backwards, unconscious once more.

Lev Lainur, meanwhile, just sneers at the lot of them.

“Tch! No matter! It changes nothing! I’ve already won, you fools! Humanity and its future have already burnt to a crisp with only you few remaining fools in Chaldea still around! There’s nothing left of the outside world… and when I’m through with you, there won’t be anything left of you lot either!”

With that, the villain lets out another cackle and slashes his hand through the air. The dimensional doorway he’s opened closes even as he steps through another and disappears entirely.

In an instant, Dr. Roman is back at his console, scrambling. Shirou understands immediately what he’s doing now. He’s trying to save the others. Olga might be alive… for a given value of alive, but Ritsuka and Mash were still trapped in the Singularity. It falls to Dr. Roman to get them out, and all Shirou can do is watch anxiously to see if he manages it or not.

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A/N: Alright guys, lay it on me. On a scale of 1 to 10, how bad was this asspull? xD

I will say, even though I don't normally do edits, if anyone sees a better way for Shirou to repair Olga's body ahead of Dr. Roman stuffing her consciousness back into it, I'm open to adjusting this chapter so it makes more sense within the confines of the Fate Universe. As is, I know using Avalon in this way is probably reaching?

But for the sake of saving Olga, I reached! lol

Anyways, be sure to continue giving me your feedback on this. Really appreciated all of the comments last time, it was awesome and I'll probably be using those comments to flesh this story out going forward.