When the eight-seater Toyota left the airport, the rain attacked it at once. Jet Tohsaka looked out of the window, and watched as the winds tore at the cherry blossoms. Every now and then a pair of headlights would pass them in the darkness, but at this time of the day most people were already finishing their dinner, and getting ready for the next morning.

Then again, they were not 'most people'. On the car there were two magical families,both which had fought each other for the Holy Grail and would do so for the next war. Jet turned on his phone and checked the time. Two hours to midnight, the start of the Holy Grail War. He felt nervous, and a satisfying sense of adrenaline coursing through his veins at the same time.

However, his parents seemed oblivious. His father was just a dentist, working in his own private clinic and terrorizing children. His mother, Rin, was a famous magus, and they were returning to her old house which he only saw every year when they returned for their holidays. She was making small talk to his Uncle Shinji, and he wondered if his dear cousin would participate. Hopefully not, I'll hate to have to meet him as an enemy. It was one thing fighting and killing a stranger he didn't know and care for; it was another fighting your friend of fifteen years.

Uncle Shinji said, "Yes, yes, Sakura is doing well. I'm just going to fetch Emiya first."

His mother asked, "Did he get a girlfriend yet?"

"There was this girl at the orphanage crushing on him, and she was around eighteen, quite pretty, but Emiya said no downright. Gave the same excuse again." He made a face as they turned around a corner. Jet spotted a solitary phone booth, still lit up. "It kind of hurt her feelings."

"I wonder what she would say…"

They turned across a corner and stopped at a traffic light. The adults fell silent, and the windscreen wipers scraped the rainwater off noisily. A truck revved its engine and drove across them, followed by a loud scraping of tires that made all of them turn.

Jet said, "What wish did he make at the end of the last Grail War, anyway?"

Uncle Shinji said, "He never told us." He bit his tongue. "Don't mention anything about this when you see him."

"What's wrong?" He decided to press his luck.

"That… I'll leave it to your mother to tell you."

He frowned. Although his mother had practically written a library's-worth of information for him about the past Grail Wars, she had never given him a detailed explanation of what happened. It was just 'Oh, so Berserker attacked Saber' or 'So Archer decided to temporarily deflect to Caster' e.g. When he asked why she was staying at the Emiya residence, she immediately changed the subject. There was a distant siren coming from the city as their car started up again, and Jet wondered why they chose such horrible sounds for ambulances.

After they had fetched Emiya (and the car became really squeezy), they headed for the old Tohsaka mansion. Emiya said, "I hope you all don't mind Norwegian lobster, there was a lot in the supermarket yesterday." He was carrying at least five heavy bags of groceries.

For a bachelor, he sure acted like a married man.

"Rin can't even boil a pot of water without burning up the kitchen, huh, Ben?" Uncle Shinji said.

"Well, we've fire insuran - I mean," Catching his wife's eye hastily, he added, "I guess I'm lucky the whole house hasn't burnt down yet."

Emiya laughed out loud, and his mother glared at him.

Soon, the old Tohsaka mansion came into view, standing against the rain and wind and thunder. The many windows looked like empty eyes, and the topmost window on the third floor; that was where his grandfather was killed. The room had a heavy, ominous feeling, as if the portraits inside were watching, staring. Uncle Shinji pulled out a remote, and the gates sprung to life and opened noisily in protest.

He drove inside and they got off. The rain splattered outside them, and the wind threatened to take his mother's scarf. Inside, the house was just as he remembered, with a pleasant vague smell of Sakura and herbal soup.

Shinji turned to Emiya and shrugged, "I guess she got too impatient ."

"Yo." Jet's cousin Alter appeared at the top of the nodded to his father and relatives, before turning to his cousin. "Get yourself up here and we can talk."

They headed into Alter's room. There was only a bed and a small table, but that gave them enough space for them to experiment with their spells. He knew that Emiya taught Alter some magic in this room, explaining the presence of many broken lamps and a shinai in the corner. Jet hurled his luggage against the wall, smelling the familiar smell of his room. It felt back to be home. He was massaging his cramped shoulder muscles when he heard the lock click. The hairs on the back of his neck rose. He was facing away from Alter. Suddenly, he was filled with distrust with his cousin, and he took a few steps backwards.

"Hey, man." He said, smiling nervously. It was still pouring outside, the thud thud thud of the rain drumming against the window panes. So loud.

Alter frowned.

"You look sick. Come here." He was advancing towards Jet with a strange expression.

"Back off!"

"?"

Jet scrambled against the wall. He had no Servant yet; the summoning was going to be tonight. His mother had suggested an Archer servant, but he couldn't imagine his servant fumbling for his bow and trying to shoot a Saber in close rnage.

"Just… stay where you are!"

"You look like I've some contagious disease." Alter didn't look too impressed. "What's this, the first time you saw me?"

"..."

He wondered if his mother had heard his outburst, and wondered how she would react. She had fought in the War with his aunt and Emiya, but now they were good friends. Why shouldn't he and Alter remain the same?

"Must be jet-lag." He said. "My dad… he got budget airline again."

"That explains it." Alter clapped his hands together loudly. "I hate budget, but my father always goes on first class." Alter said, and grinned. Jet wondered if there would be seals on his wrist. "My father told me we were going to do something special tonight. Any idea what is it?"

"No…" Jet said. So Alter was going to be a master, too. Well, he was going to summon the Saber class first; the strongest class container, and Emiya had won with Saber. Screw the Archers; that Gilgamesh had betrayed his grandfather in the Third War, and he never found out why his mother was still so besotted with them. And the worst was Assassin; he wasn't too keen on attacking other's backs like some coward.

Alter could have Rider or Lancer.

"You think Uncle Emiya's going to introduce his girlfriend?"

It was a long-running joke between them. Jet laughed and said, "My mother would learn to cook before that."

They played chess for an hour, in which Alter's pawns and bishops stormed down the board and recklessly taking out anything in their way, while Jet's pawns met his enemies with a frenzy, supported by knights that threatened the rearguard. They ended with a stalemate, but neither of them was going to accept it, so they kept moving their kings to and fro before Aunt Sakura called them down for dinner. Alter rushed down first, but Jet wavered for a moment, his heart feeling empty.

The mahogany table groaned under the combined weight of a four-course dinner. Uncle Shinji sat on at the head of the table; the house was now owned partly by him and Sakura, too. Emiya had brought and lit up scented candles, which made his father sneeze until it was taken away. Apart from the lobster, there was steamed shark-fin (he and Alter grabbed that eagerly), pepper crab, steamed fish, milk tea, and others. For once, laughing with Alter at the jokes his Uncle Shinji made, Jet felt truly relaxed.

After that, his mother started on a story on how his father had broken his arms after fleeing the toilet from a wild cockroach, and Aunt Sakura brought in desert; tiramisu. They finished that eagerly, and Jet felt his heart grow heavy. He turned to Alter, who was talking about the orphanage with Uncle Emiya.

After tonight, we are enemies.

He looked at his arm, and could almost see the Command Seals there, waiting to be summoned. He grimaced. It was his dream to restore the Tohsaka glory, but at this cost? It couldn't be! Even if he didn't kill Alter with his own hands, then someone else might. He had a vision of a bloodied and dying Alter, laying on the street while the rained poured on him, his eyes glassy as a police car pulled over him…

"Are you feeling alright?"

He looked up, and smiled. His mother had scolded his Aunt before for spoiling the two of them.

"No, Aunt Sakura."

After dinner the table grew quiet, and solemn. Uncle Shinji looked around the table. "So, Rin, I heard you had news." She looked up at the grandfather clock. It was thirty minutes to midnight.

"I'm going to the toilet." Jet's father said. His chair scraped against the floor loudly. "Stomachache."

"Ben, I'm going with you." Emiya said, and he put down chopsticks noisily. Jet thought he heard Emiya muttering under his breath about 'Saber'. He looked strangely bothered, and was touching his right wrist where the Command Seals would be.

Rin waited for her husband to leave before she spoke.

"Brother-in-law," She said nodding and looking solemn. "I expect you have heard about the Sixth Holy Grail War."

Uncle Shinji nodded, and turned to Jet. He pulled up his sleeve and filled Jet's cup with green tea again and said, "So, are you a master too?"

Jet, his throat dry, turned to his mother. They were completing families, after all. She gave him no indication, and instead chose to stare into blank space, so he quickly sipped his tea and nodded. Uncle Shinji took a long sip of his green tea as he stared out of the window.

"Alter'll be a master too." He said, turning to Sakura, as Alter stared down at his plate. "I know you've spent half a year preparing for this, but I've to tell you first; there's no need for you two to… work against each other."

"Yes, Uncle."

"The Grail Wars of past were different. There's no need to kill innocent people, and nor do you need to be at each other's backs. I've told Alter that."

Jet nodded again.

"We have decided that it's best for the two of you to work together. It'll be much safer this way." Shinji said. He turned to Alter, "This house will be your base of operations after tonight. If you face any problems, you may turn to the Church."

"Yes, Uncle."

Rin said, "I think that's enough. It's best to summon the servants without delay. Sakura, what are you planning to summon?"

His Aunt looked up, looking a little surprised. "I…" She turned to Shinji, who in turn spoke up for her.

"We have discussed this with Alter, and we hope for him to summon Servant Saber."

"I… was hoping otherwise."

"Rin, you were trained in Tohsaka magecraft, and I'm sure Jet has learnt a lot from you. He will have the highest chance of surviving in this war, especially with your gems. But we will never reach your standard. So… please."

"But this isn't a game, Shinji! What happens if -"

"Precisely." Shinji said, closing his eyes. "We do owe Sakura quite a bit, don't we?" For a moment he was no longer that Uncle Shinji he knew. "Perhaps it's time to reply old debts, Rin."

His mother looked at his uncle and turned aside. "I…It's up to Jet to decide."

All the eyes turned to him. His throat turned dry again. Alter was staring at the plate, looking very uncomfortable. His fists were tightly clenched, and the wooden chopsticks snapped.

A plate dropped onto the floor and shattered.

Alter said, "I don't need Saber!"

He was standing up, looking shocked, and his face red.

Shinji turned to his son. "We have your interests at heart, son…" He sighed. "If you are unwilling, Jet, we're fine with this. Servant Rider may not be a bad choice as well." He turned to Sakura, who nodded and said,

"Really, we understand. Your mother also has your interests at heart. Alter, sit down."

Jet stared at his mother, who had turned away. She must have realized how selfish she had acted earlier. He knew he was a better Mage than Alter, who had pretended not to be bothered by it all these years. Yet whenever they met somebody would just have to compare them, and –

"Very well. As the representative of the Tohsaka family," He turned to Alter, who looked embarrassed, and Rin nodded with a smile, "I promise to let Alter summon Servant Saber."

Author's note: It's my first time trying my hand at writing fanfiction here. I'll try to keep the OCs to a minimum. I've basically imagined what the original characters of FSN would be like 15 or so years into the future, and filled in the gaps with my own characters. Leave a review if you feel that I should continue this story! :)

NOTES: I made some edits to this chapter.