Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.

Alea Iacta Est

Chapter 1

The clerk on duty at the records office looked up in surprise at the young woman who'd just filed a request at their office. "Is there a problem?" Sakura asked.

"Not as such," the clerk said, leafing through the papers he'd been handed. "All the paperwork seems to have been properly made out, so that satisfies the needs of proper procedure, but…"

"Yes?"

"May I ask why you're asking for up to date personal profiles on the current members of the Tohsaka Clan?" the clerk asked. "You are one of them after all. Wouldn't you already know? I apologize if I seem to be prying, I'm just curious that's all. You don't need to answer if you don't want to, or if you can't."

Sakura shrugged, casually running a hand through her curls. "We've been out of touch." she said. "Things got…complicated, a while back, but with the next family head just having arrived at the Clock Tower, I thought I needed to update myself."

"I see." The clerk said, again leafing through the submitted paperwork. He nodded. "Very well, everything seems to be in order. We'll send the requested information over to your assigned workspace by tomorrow morning. I just need you to sign at the logbook here, and then it's all good."

"Alright then," Sakura said, taking the offered pen and placing her name, the time, and her signature on a logbook provided by the clerk. "This is discreet, right?"

"Unless they're from our office," the clerk said, taking the pen and logbook back. "Or from the College of Law, or from the higher-ups from any of the departments, we don't talk or give out information on anyone who files for what they need from our office. Not as long as it's done properly. And even in the latter cases, they need a warrant to get that kind of information. So yes, this is discreet."

"Please and thank you."

The clerk nodded as Sakura turned and strode away, out of the reception area for the records office, and thence out of the secluded wing which was host to said office. As she did so, she checked her wristwatch and nodded at the time.

"Right," she said, pausing to put on her coat, buttoning it up and straightening the lapels followed by her tie. Sweeping her some stray hairs out of her eyes, Sakura checked the time again before heading out towards the Clock Tower's main exit.

She had work to do.

The waterfront was loud and busy, massive super-freighters either docked along the quays or anchored further out on the water, along with smaller vessels of assorted sizes. Standardized containers were stacked high into the air, cranes towering even higher lifting and moving and lowering containers from one place to another along the waterfront, or to and from ships.

Workers bustled along the waterfront, wearing brightly-colored helmets and jackets over their uniforms. A jeep moved quickly along the waterfront, then slowed to a halt at one of the piers. Sakura got out, smoothing out her clothes before approaching.

"Good morning." she greeted as she approached a man along the pier who had an air of authority about him.

"Good morning," the man said, shaking Sakura's offered hand before taking the clipboard offered by the driver, himself another man who worked at the docks. "Ah, I see. You're Miss Aozaki's representative, then? Miss…Sakura…Tohsaka?"

"I am." Sakura said, falling into step beside the man as they took a short walk to a nearby warehouse.

"Well, the paperwork seems to have been properly made out." The man said, leafing through the papers attached to the clipboard. "Since everything's in order, you should be able to pick up Miss Aozaki's package with no problems."

"Well, that's why I'm here."

The man shot a glance at Sakura at that, briefly checking her out. White collared blouse with long sleeves, dark-brown coat with long sleeves, matching tie and knee-length skirt, black leather shoes…

"May I ask if you're with the military?" the man asked.

"Huh…no, not really…do I give off that impression?" Sakura asked with mixed confusion and amusement.

"To be honest miss, you do." The man said. "In fact, I daresay with that pin-curled hair of yours you wouldn't look out of place in a war film set in the 40s."

Sakura laughed. "Yes, I've heard that before." She said, running a hand through her curls. "What can I say, I find it's classy and elegant in equal measure."

The man laughed as well. "Well, at the very least you're better dressed than some young people these days." He said, opening the door and inviting Sakura to enter first. Sakura nodded her thanks and entered the warehouse followed by the man, who quickly strode past barking orders while checking with the clipboard a couple of times.

Sakura pushed him out of mind, letting the man do his work, while looking around the warehouse. It was well-lit, powerful halogen lights hanging down from the ceiling, while industrial-grade air conditioners high-up kept the interior and what it stored cool.

Boxes and crates were stacked high in orderly rows, metal and plastic markers with lettering and numbers in red identifying each row for organizational purposes. Sakura blinked, turning towards a forklift machine approaching with a large, metal crate.

Coming to a halt a few steps away, it lowered the crate before the supervisor from before nodded. "Here you go, Miss Sakura." He said. "Your employer's package. Would you like to check if it's intact?"

"Of course."

The supervisor nodded, leading the way to the crate where he opened a small panel set into the side. A blinking display was inside, above a small keypad along with a small set of switches and a large dial. "Temperature is stable at negative thirty-one point nine degrees." The supervisor said. "Your package is perfectly in cold storage, Miss Tohsaka."

Sakura nodded, taking only a small glance at the display. Stepping slowly around the crate, she moved closer and opened an inspection panel. Eyes narrowed as she peered through, taking in her master's prize, and then nodding in satisfaction stepped back while closing the panel.

"Well, everything seems to be in order then, gentlemen." She said. "My thanks."

The supervisor nodded before turning and giving another order. "I'll have a lorry brought here to help with delivery." He said before pulling out a pen and jotting some words down on the release papers. "I'll also need you to sign here…here…and here, if you please, Miss Tohsaka."

Sakura nodded, taking the clipboard and the pen and placing her signature on the indicated spots. The supervisor nodded as he watched, and then again as he took the pen and clipboard back. "Splendid," he said. "Now, we just wait for the lorry and then you may go, Miss Tohsaka."

Sakura nodded her acknowledgment.

The truck slowed to a halt in one of the Clock Tower's delivery areas, Sakura stepping out of the passenger's seat as the driver did so out of his seat. As the driver busied himself opening the truck and unloading the cargo, Sakura smoothed out her clothes and hurried to meet an approaching woman with red hair and wearing a dark green dress.

"Master…" Sakura began only for Touko Aozaki to wave her to silence.

"You brought the package." She said. It wasn't a question.

"It's intact, and in cold storage."

"Excellent," Touko said, finally giving a smile of satisfaction and approval while adjusting her glasses. Master and apprentice approached the unloaded package nearby, now loaded onto a wooden roller, with the truck driver standing nearby.

Touko stepped up to the package, checking the cold storage settings followed by visual inspection through an inspection panel of what was inside. Nodding in satisfaction, Touko stepped back while taking off her glasses, and glanced in the driver's direction with her mystic eyes glowing.

The driver went slack, and then nodding numbly shuffled off. "Sakura," Touko began while working on the temperature controls. "Get it out of the crate, and start moving it to my workshop."

"Won't it start melting? I don't have any ice magic on me."

"Leave that to me, just get it out of the crate."

"Okay."

Sakura pulled out a trio of cards, poured some prana into them, and unsealed a trio of puppets. They were vaguely humanoid in appearance, their faces eerie harlequin masks, lacking legs with only a trio of rings below their waists through which faintly pulsed blue energy and keeping them afloat in the air.

"You three," Sakura said while Touko opened the crate. "Get the package out, and bring it to my master's workshop. And don't you dare drop or damage it, or I swear I'll rewire your neural networks. Now, hop to it."

The three puppets nodded, floating over to carry the package out of the cold storage crate, revealing it to be what looked like a caveman in the middle of death throes frozen in a large chunk of ice. "You go on ahead," Touko said, clapping Sakura on a shoulder. "I'll take care of the driver, and catch up once that's done."

"Understood, master."

Touko nodded, and then stepping away Sakura led her puppets and their cargo out of the delivery area, and then through the service area into the Clock Tower proper. Magi and others stared in curiosity as Sakura and her puppets passed by, though they quickly averted their gaze as Touko joined them a few minutes later.

"I still have no idea how you managed to get your hands on an actual Neanderthal that's been frozen in a…well, kind of pristine state." Sakura asked.

Touko grinned and patted Sakura on the back. "And that my dear," she said. "Is why I am the master, and you are the apprentice."

Sakura laughed and nodded. "True enough, master." She said before briefly glancing over a shoulder at Touko's material. "On another note, how did it freeze so quickly and solidly that no rot seems to have taken place?"

"No idea," Touko admitted while also glancing back at her new material. "I'll probably figure it out sooner or later, but it's probably just academic."

"You don't think it's significant in anyway how it froze so quickly?"

"Sakura, my higher-level teachings to you focused on puppetry, and not much on my other projects," Touko began. "That said, you've helped out with them enough, you are smart enough, and you are enough of a magus to know more than what I intended to teach you. I'm sure you can connect the dots well enough on your own. Don't disappoint me."

"Yes, I'm sorry master." Sakura apologized. "That was a stupid question."

Touko nodded. "Yes, it was." She said before narrowing her eyes. "On another note, I hear Rin Tohsaka has arrived in the Clock Tower. I assume you already know, I heard of that due to her…altercation, with the Edelfelt heiress shortly after arriving, and you are close to said heiress. I also assume that you already know it's inevitable that you will meet sooner or later. If so, I find myself wondering if you haven't already started planning just in case."

Sakura nodded. "I have." She said.

"And?"

"Well, in the worst case I'll just follow in your footsteps, master."

Touko snorted and then actually laughed. "Hey now," she said. "Just because I'm your master it doesn't mean you should emulate me in every way."

Sakura just shrugged and smiled. "Will they really be so hostile though?" Touko asked.

"They may not," Sakura agreed. "But you have to admit the probability of that is rather low. Magi are prideful creatures after all, and when I turned my back on my family ten years ago, I did shame them for having such a…selfish, daughter who'd abandon her responsibilities without a care. Not to mention humiliated them by leaving a planned adoption to revive and bolster an old alliance dead in the water."

"True," Touko conceded. "But is Tohsaka really that prideful? That description is something of a generalization…if accurate enough."

Master and student shared a smile at that. "If what little I remember about my father can be trusted," Sakura finally said. "Then yes, Tohsaka is that prideful."

"I see." Touko said while nodding slowly.

"That said though," Sakura thoughtfully began. "That same pride might just lead them to offer what they would no doubt see as a…magnanimous, chance at 'redemption'."

"Oh?"

"I see two possibilities." Sakura continued. "One is an arranged marriage to someone of their choice…and the other is to once again take up the Matou name from over ten years ago."

"And if either are offered to you," Touko said. "How would you respond?"

"The former is negotiable, I suppose." Sakura admitted. "The latter though…ha! Not a chance in hell! I've been studying under you for over ten years, master, so my entire magecraft is based on yours and thus learning theirs would mean forgetting everything I've learned so far to start over from scratch. That withered clan of nobodies from a backwater country has nothing to offer me."

"Strong words," Touko remarked. "But don't forget, both of us are also – in the eyes of much of the Association – derived from clans of nobodies from a backwater country. So you might want to tone it down a bit."

"I understand, and I'm sorry if I went too far." Sakura said with a small bow. "But you understand what I mean, right? And also, even if our origins are…obscure, you're a Grand Magus with a color designation…"

Touko's eyes narrowed in warning before glancing sideways, but while Sakura didn't catch it, she knew better than to step any closer than that. "…apprentice," she continued. "So I daresay we're at least a step up from our origins."

"I suppose you have a point there." Touko said, briefly closing her eyes and letting go of her apprentice nearly making a fatal mistake. "And it cannot be denied that Matou has completely withered away…I do not understand just why your father would value their goodwill so much when they've clearly been disconnected from their foundation. All you'd have succeeded in doing is stave off the inevitable for a generation or so."

"I do not understand either." Sakura said. "No, I know better now, that is I don't hold my father sending me away for adoption against him anymore. That is normal, expected even, for magi. The problem is…"

"Exactly," Touko said with a nod. "The problem is who they planned to adopt you. For someone who aimed to ensure your potential wasn't wasted, it was undoubtedly a shortsighted decision."

"And they still might be quite shortsighted." Sakura said with a sigh.

"If they are then they should just stay in bed and not face reality." Touko said harshly. "What a waste that would have been."

"Yes, as you say, master."

Touko nodded, master and apprentice falling silent as they left the commons and entered the Department of Archaeology. The receptionists and guards looked belligerently at Sakura – who was from the Department of Creation – as she made to follow her master, but an icy glare from Touko had them backing down.

"Don't worry about them." Touko assured Sakura as they walked past, deliberately speaking loudly to be heard. "Though by now they should know better and to recognize you by sight, my apprentice, and allow you to come and go without issue. And to be honest…it's getting irritating."

"As you say, master."

Sakura knocked on the door, and it was opened by a young man in a butler's uniform. And not just any young man: it was the redheaded young man she met a few days ago, Shirou Emiya.

"May I…Miss Tee? Is that you?" Shirou asked in surprise.

"Yes, it is I, Sakura T." Sakura said with a smile. "Mister Emiya, this is an unexpected pleasure, though judging from your attire, I assume you're here on business?"

Shirou chuckled and nodded, opening the door wider and inviting Sakura inside. "Well, yes." He said. "I've recently started working for Miss Luvia as her butler. I assume you're here to join her and her friends?"

"As a matter of fact, I am." Sakura said, stepping inside and taking off her coat. Shirou closed the door, and taking Sakura's coat with a bow hung it in a nearby cabinet.

"This way please." He said, leading the way.

"I know my way around, Mister Emiya."

"Yes, of course," Shirou said. "But I have to do things properly as well, Miss Tee."

Sakura laughed. "Of course you do." She said.

Shirou nodded and walked in silence with Sakura following through Luvia's suite, before finally arriving at a parlor where Luvia and several other girls were chatting away over tea and biscuits. "Miss Luvia," Shirou began with a polite cough. "Miss Sakura Tee is here."

Eyes looked in his direction in surprise and confusion, and behind Shirou a scowling Sakura made 'play along' gestures that had the girls rolling their eyes. "Yes, I can see that Shero." Luvia said. "Sakura dear, your seat's over here. Shero, more tea please."

"Yes, Miss Luvia." Shirou said with a bow before politely taking his leave.

"…Miss Tee?" Luvia began once Shirou was out of earshot. "Really, Sakura?"

"It's not 'Tee', it's T. as in the abbreviation of my family name." Sakura replied. "It's not my fault he hasn't figured it out."

"Yes, and I assume it's not deliberate at all on your end." Vier von Anhalt said with a roll of her eyes.

"It's a necessary deception, just in case."

Eyebrows rose at that, even as Shirou arrived with more tea. It was poured for Sakura, and served with a bow. Sakura nodded her thanks, and with another bow Shirou left as well. "Shero's a nice young man." Luvia said, running a finger along the rim of her teacup. "Nothing like that boor of a master he has, that Rin Tohsaka. I'd appreciate it if you didn't hurt him at all or even involve him in whatever scheme of yours that's in play right now."

"Nothing is in play right now." Sakura replied after taking a sip of her tea. "Just…primed, or being primed."

"Really, Sakura," Vier said while shuffling a deck of cards and beginning to deal. "Is there any need for such underhanded measures?"

"You know as well as I do that there might be." Sakura said. "That's right, depending on how things turn out, you'll have to be prepared to cut ties with me. If things go south, it means making an enemy of my former family."

"And since when did that become a problem?" Luvia asked lightly.

"I just don't want to cause trouble…"

"My dear Sakura," Luvia interrupted with a smile. "Did you forget? My family lives for trouble. There's just so much fun to be had and prizes to be won in it. Not to mention an opportunity to incite that boor of a sister of yours would actually leave me in your debt."

"In my case though," Francoise de la Main d'Argent said with a nod. "Since when was there a need to fear the antagonism of an obscure family from a backwater land? No offense,"

"None taken," Sakura said. "They haven't been my family in over ten years, for all that I still use their name. Though, if that's the case why I am here, keeping you high-born ladies company?"

"Well for one thing Luvia has vouched for you." Francoise said. "And for all that your paternal lineage is…suspect, your grandmother was of the noble Edelfelt lineage. That counts for a great deal."

"And her blood flows truer through Sakura than it does through her older sister." Luvia remarked.

"Don't forget too," Vier added. "You're an apprentice to one of the youngest magi to ever achieve the rank of grand in the history of the Association. Even Lord El-Melloi II is nothing compared to her."

"Master isn't very fond of Lord El-Melloi II."

Eyes rolled around the table. "Yes, we know." Luvia said with a sigh, and Sakura smiled while picking up her hand.

"So," she asked. "Who goes first?"

Luvia's response was to place a bet, then to discard a card, and then to take a new card in its place.

And with that, the game was on.

"I didn't know you had other Japanese friends, Luvia."

"Hmm?" Luvia hummed in surprise, to find her butler smiling at her. Suppressing a blush at the unintentionally sweet and charming smile, Luvia coughed once to regain her composure. "Yes, well, it was a surprise to me as well at the time."

"Oh?"

"Sakura…" Luvia said softly while thinking to herself. "I think it was about two years ago now, when I first met her. She came here to the Clock Tower accompanying her master, Touko Aozaki, a former sealing designate."

"Sealing…designate…?"

"Yes." Luvia said with a nod. "I'm not sure if you know, but Touko Aozaki is the authority on puppetry, and with good reason. For centuries now, puppetry has been in decline as anatomical science grows increasingly advanced and generally known, but somehow Touko Aozaki was able to escape such degradation, developing and producing puppets of such skill and craftsmanship unseen in centuries. That led to her sealing designation, in order for the Association to capitalize on her skills and breakthroughs as a puppeteer. However, it seemed that such would been a hindrance to whatever greater research Touko Aozaki had in mind, so she fled, going on the run to be hunted down by Association enforcers and third parties for years."

"That seems a bit…selfish, of her."

"I suppose it is." Luvia agreed. "On one hand, if she'd cooperated, she'd certainly have revolutionized puppetry and benefited the whole of magi society…but on the other hand, it'd have crippled her research, setting her back on her path to reach the Root. For a magus, the natural choice would be to avoid such an outcome, even if it means being, as you put it, selfish."

Shirou briefly looked away, and then nodded once in understanding. "Anyway," Luvia continued. "Touko Aozaki's sealing designation was lifted about two years ago, due to a developing manpower crisis in the Association. Too many skilled people leaving or going into hiding for one reason or another…so in the end they decided to cut their losses and started lifting sealing designations to resolve it."

"Did it work?"

"To an extent," Luvia said with a nod. "Not everyone who'd left or gone into hiding came back, but enough did. Basically, the Association figured that even if they couldn't force the best and brightest to sacrifice their goals as magi for the greater good, just having them around would benefit everyone by association, which is better than not benefiting from them at all by either being dead, on the run, or simply gone for one reason or another."

Shirou nodded. "That makes sense." He said, and Luvia laughed.

"It does, doesn't it?" she asked, and Shirou smiled slightly. "Anyway, Sakura was Touko Aozaki's apprentice, and much like you were she was admitted into the Clock Tower for said reason. She joined the Department of Creation, where she remains to this day."

Luvia paused thoughtfully. "To be honest," she said. "I'm not too sure why she didn't follow her master into the Department of Archaeology…perhaps they have differing opinions on how to reach the Root, though they do remain professionally close, as far as I know. Oh well, it's not really uncommon, and it's not my place to pry. More tea please, Shero."

"Yes, Luvia." Shirou said with a bow. "Would you like some macarons too?"

"Yes please!"

Shirou beamed and taking the empty teacup away bowed. Alone now, Luvia sat back in her armchair, closing her eyes and resting them while waiting for Shirou to return. He did after a few minutes, with a steaming fresh cup of tea and a plate with a generous serving of macarons on it.

"Thank you, Shero!" Luvia said with a wide smile before popping a macaron into her mouth.

Shirou smiled back and bowed. For a while he just looked on as Luvia enjoyed her late snack, but then he spoke up. "Sakura…Tee…" he said softly and thoughtfully.

"Hmm?" Luvia hummed before finishing chewing and then swallowing, washing it down with some tea. "Is there something bothering you?"

"No, not really, it's just…somehow…I get the feeling I've seen her before. Miss Tee, that is." Shirou explained.

Luvia sat back in her seat, a finger tapping on an armrest. A thought briefly came up to tell Shirou exactly why that was the case, but she quickly dismissed it. Sakura had all but said she had no intention of revealing herself to her former family, though she inevitably would be discovered, and in light of that fact had already begun preparations just in case.

More to the point, as Sakura had no intention of revealing herself, to do so by Luvia would be nothing less than betrayal. And while Luvia was many things, she wasn't a betrayer, least of all of her friends.

If he's to know he'll know when his master knows, and not before.

Or at least, not from me.

"I wouldn't know why that's the case." Luvia finally said. "Maybe it's because she's also Japanese, and apart from you and Rin, the only one here in the Clock Tower along with her master?"

Shirou blinked and laughed. "Yeah, I suppose that's probably it." He said. "Sorry, I shouldn't have bothered you with something so trivial."

"No, it was no trouble at all." Luvia said with a smile before her expression turned serious. "That said, I would advise against prying too much into other people's circumstances. We magi are rather secretive, even here in the Clock Tower, for all that's it's supposed to be an academic institute for magecraft."

"Yes, I understand." Shirou said with a smile before tilting his head. "Your macarons are getting cold though."

Luvia blinked and laughed. "Thanks for your concern." She said, nodding at Shirou who bowed back.

You're so sweet, Shero. I hope if things go badly and whatever measures Sakura has in mind pull you in, you won't get hurt too badly, or at all.

Huh…maybe there'll be an opportunity for me there.

With those thoughts in mind, Luvia returned to her snack.

A/N

Welcome to the game, Touko and Luvia.