I don't own Fate. Fate is the property of Type-Moon, and no financial gain is made from this or is sought. This is for entertainment purposes only.

Before the Dawn

Prologue

Caster closed her fist around the assault rifle's barrel and casually and quickly crushed it while simultaneously ripping it from the rest of the weapon. At the same time her free hand shot forward with the speed of a striking snake and latched itself vice-like around Maiya Hisau's throat.

The usually-stoic woman gasped for breath and vainly worked her fingers at the Servant's hand as she was lifted into the air. Caster appraised her with a measuring eye, and slightly-tightened her grip around Maiya's throat. "I could kill you here and now if I so chose." She whispered coldly.

"Then…" Maiya gasped out very softly. "…why…don't you…do just…that…?"

It was a pointless gesture Maiya knew, a few last words of defiance against a being that Human beings were not meant to fight against. As far as she knew, it was all going to be over soon, and she would die with her throat crushed alone and helpless in the shadowed interior of the Fuyuki Civic Centre.

Caster simply smiled.

And a surprised Maiya fell to the floor gasping.

"You will do." Caster said cryptically, and then a booted foot slammed into her chin, followed by darkness.

Maiya Hisau woke breathing hard, abruptly sitting up from her futon and just as quickly squinting at the light pouring through the windows. "It's this late already…?" she whispered to herself before glancing at the wall-mounted clock.

Sighing with relief, Maiya briefly lay back until her breathing returned to normal. After fixing her bed and a short trip to the bathroom, Maiya entered the kitchen to prepare breakfast for herself and her son.

"And that hanger-on Fujimura…" she thought with irritation as she washed the rice. Still, the younger woman wasn't so bad, she was a good influence on Shirou and she was their link to the Fujimura Clan, old but mundane allies of the all but defunct Emiya Clan.

Well apart from Shirou and her of course even if neither were Emiya by blood.

She was halfway through breakfast preparations when she heard the door to the shed in the back open and close. Maiya sighed in exasperation, though she reminded herself that with Shirou trying to be a magus it was only to be expected that he would have set up a workshop of his own.

He still shouldn't be falling asleep in it though.

Maiya busied herself with cooking, though it wasn't long before the back door opened and Shirou Emiya entered. "Did you fall asleep in the shed again?" Maiya asked critically.

Shirou laughed nervously while scratching a cheek. "Sorry…" he said apologetically and Maiya sighed again.

"Well no point in crying over spilled milk…" she said. "…why don't you go wash up before breakfast? You'd better not waste too much time though, given Fujimura-san's appetite."

"…right, right…" Shirou said while heading for the bathroom. "…I'll do that."

Shirou quietly listened behind a corner as his father left never to return. "This is too dangerous Kiritsugu." His mother had said to his father while he tied his shoes. "Even when you were at your prime, this would still be too dangerous! Are you seriously going to enter that nest of vipers in your current condition?"

Kiritsugu Emiya laughed. "Back then…" he said. "…I would never have expected you to get this worked up."

"What can I say?" Maiya asked derisively. "Maternity – even as a stepmother – changes people."

"I know…" Kiritsugu said. "…take care of Shirou for me."

"You still haven't answered my question."

"My condition should be proof enough for them. They have to be warned about what's lurking behind those doors. For the sake of the world…for Humanity's sake…for Illya…"

"And what about Shirou…?" Maiya exploded. "What about me? Do we mean so little to you?"

There was a tense silence, and then Shirou heard his mother sigh and continue with a softer voice. "I…I'm sorry." She said. "I shouldn't have said things like that. I…I know I can't replace her, that even Shirou can't…but…we need you as well."

"I know you do." Kiritsugu said, and Shirou heard his father approach his mother. He heard the rustle of cloth, and then his father continued in a hopeful tone. "And if all goes well, then we'll all see each other soon."

"And if things don't go well?"

Kiritsugu Emiya never answered.

"If things don't go well…" Shirou thought glumly as he put on his school uniform, annoyed that his morning had been ruined by such memories out of nowhere but hoping that things will lighten up later in the day. "…then you won't be coming back. Father…where did you go? What was so important that you'd leave us behind? Who is Illya? Who can't mother replace?"

The sound of raised voices broke him out of his trip down memory lane, and with a sigh Shirou quickly but calmly went to the dining room. And as expected his mother was once again arguing with the family 'friend' Taiga Fujimura. "You're so slow Shirou." Taiga complained as he entered. "We've been waiting for you…"

"I didn't cook breakfast just so you could eat it all before Shirou got here." Maiya interrupted with a completely unconcerned voice while reading from the morning paper, as though daring Taiga to try and start eating.

Same old, same old…

"...ah…!" Taiga protested loudly. "Are you accusing me of being a glutton?"

"I didn't say anything." Maiya answered serenely while filling Shirou's rice bowl.

"But you meant it!"

"Well if that's what you think then I'll just have to accept it."

"Hey…!"

"Look…" Shirou interrupted. "…can we please eat breakfast for once without all this bickering?"

"Oh fine…" Taiga said with a pout. "…but I still say I'm not a glutton."

"No one said you were Fuji-nee." Shirou said while Maiya just shrugged and began to fill Taiga's rice bowl in turn. The three of them quietly ate their breakfast…until Taiga turned on the television and the sports section of the morning news set off another argument between the two of them.

"Shouldn't I be used to this already?" Shirou thought glumly while vainly trying to shut out his mother and sister (sort-of) arguing with each other.

Rin Tohsaka winced as the bandaged burns on her arms stung painfully. "Rin…?" Aoi Tohsaka asked in concern over the breakfast table. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." She answered. "My arm hurt just now, that's all."

Aoi smiled ruefully. "You could just heal it with magic you know." She pointed out.

"Yes I could do that." Rin agreed. "But the injuries aren't too bad, and I'd rather it heal on its own. As you said, it's best not to take magic for granted, and the best way to do that is not to rely on it for everyday things. I'll wait for it to heal, and then I'll use magic to get rid of any scarring."

Aoi nodded in approval and returned to eating her breakfast. A few minutes later and a nagging thought presented itself. "What woke you up literally spitting fire though?" she asked. "You nearly burned your entire room – and parts of your arms – and had to use more than a few gems to patch things up."

Rin seemed disinclined to answer, and Aoi's spirits fell. "That…again…?" she asked in a whisper, and Rin nodded so slightly as to be all but unnoticeable.

Aoi shuddered, closing her eyes and remembering running home to find it in ruins and her daughter crying over her father who'd bled out before her. It had been painful for her too, losing another loved one so soon after Sakura's departure a year before then.

And then shortly after the war Matou had reported Sakura missing…if it weren't for Tokiomi's sake, I would have had Rin give up on magic altogether. It's cost our family too much…too much…

"Leverage…" she thought bitterly. "…that's what that Servant called my daughter…was victory worth haunting a girl with having watched her father die in front of her? A victory that turned to ash with the Grail's destruction…exactly as that Servant deserved!"

"Mom…?" Rin asked, noting the shadowed expression on her mother's face. "Is everything alright?"

"Y-yes…" Aoi answered with a cough. "…it's fine. I was just…thinking that's all."

Rin looked a bit despondent, and Aoi sighed. "I know it's hard to get over it…" she told her daughter. "…and trust me I know, because I really did love your father. But Tokiomi would not have wanted you to be held back by the past would he now?"

"No…" Rin said, her expression hardening after a moment's thought. "…no, I suppose not. But there's a chance that the Master of that Servant survived the war. He…he probably stole father's crest. If I get the chance…I'll get it back, and avenge father."

Aoi looked concerned, and briefly closed her eyes before smiling sadly at Rin. "Just don't get yourself killed." She said. "You are the last of the Tohsaka now. For your father's sake…for Sakura's sake…you have to live."

Rin's eyes widened at the mention of her lost sister, and then they narrowed in resolve. "Yes…" she said. "...I understand."

Aoi smiled, and turned back to her meal. But the words that same Servant told her still haunted the back of her mind.

Why did you allow Sakura to be sent to the Matou? If I hadn't come then and there, then history would have repeated itself!

"What did you know?" Aoi silently asked, knowing that the answers would be forever beyond her reach, and yet she would be the first to admit fear at hearing the answers if she had the chance to question that Servant. "Were you behind Sakura's disappearance as much as Tokiomi's death?"

The desert was vast, an infinite expanse of sand under the clear blue sky and the burning Sun, stretching towards the ever-distant horizon without a cloud to shroud that distant line. A single figure trudged their way over the sands, the brown and rough cloth shielding it from the worst of the elements.

Clear blue eyes peered out from the shrouded face, ever-fixed on the distant line of the horizon. She was alone, and always the specter of death haunted her as she traveled through the desert, left behind by her companions.

Why carry on?

Will you ever reach the horizon?

Will you see what you want to see?

Death and ruin alone await you.

You should turn back while you can.

The traveler climbed a dune, and paused to stare out over the infinite sea of sand. She could turn back, go home, and find contentment in a long and comfortable life in a warm and comfortable home with a loving husband and lovely little children.

It was so easy to achieve. All she had to do was turn back.

It was just a dream after all. Dreamers had to face reality at some point.

She took a step forward. And another…and another…she refused to turn back, seeking the legendary shores, and hoping that somehow, maybe…just maybe she would see them again. The friends and companions she'd been separated from, whose names and faces eluded her in the heat but she just knew shared the same destiny as her…and that man, that great man, a king who dreamt a grand dream and shared it with his followers. And following that dream, led them all to glory.

She kept on walking over the burning sands, seeking the ocean, seeking the dawn and the rising Sun.

A hand shook her shoulder, and Cattleya Velvet's eyes snapped open, with her head rising from the arms she'd been using as a pillow. "W-what…?" she asked while sleepily rubbing her eyes. "Brother…?"

"Yes, it's me." Waver Velvet (or as he was formally known the Lord Waver El-Melloi II) said. "Honestly, falling asleep in your workshop."

"Sorry…" Cattleya said while gathering up her notes. "…but I guess I got caught up in my research…"

"That's happened a lot since you were ten…" Waver commented. "…good grief, and they say I was precocious."

"You were…?"

"I had a manuscript ready for publication by the time I was nineteen you know."

"As I recall that same manuscript was torn up by your predecessor…"

Waver coughed uncomfortably, while Cattleya smirked as she placed her notes in a locked case which she then put in another locked case, which in turn was placed in a locked and magically-sealed cabinet.

Standard security measures…those same cases would probably have their own magic seals too…

"…what time is it by the way?" Cattleya asked while getting up.

"It's four in the morning."

"Ah I see…" Cattleya said while turning the lamp off, closing her eyes a moment before and then keeping them closed for a few seconds after to help them adjust to the darkness faster. "…time for bed then…?"

"Technically you should have gone to bed hours ago…" Waver said. "…if I hadn't gone for a glass of water and noticed the lamplight coming out from under your workshop door…"

"I see…thanks then…"

Cattleya wandered off to her rooms, with her brother doing likewise. A change of clothes, and then she was out like a light almost immediately as her head hit the pillows and her sheets shrouded her form.

The desert stretched out before her, but the traveler continued to seek out the horizon.

A/N

And here's the prologue of the rewrite.

One of my biggest problems in Divergent Fate was the Einzbern, as I made them too-decent. Granted, they should be slightly better than Tohsaka (they don't sell their own kin) and INFINITELY better than the Matou, but they are an ancient house and should be archetypal uncaring magi unlike Waver and the new generation.

New changes: Aoi is alive and Tokiomi is dead (a retcon from Guardian of Zero where Caster spares him but here she left him to bleed out), Kiritsugu went off to Germany alone (who knows how that went) and never came back, and Maiya's still alive and is the one raising Shirou.

I look forward to constructive criticism, and I sincerely hope no one is too OOC.