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.

Divergent Fate

Chapter 2

"Well, well, well…" a sing-song voice disturbed the brunette's focus, her sapphire eyes turning to regard the grinning blonde walking towards the librarian's desk. "…if it isn't the famous Cattleya Velvet. I never expected to meet you here of all places."

"I'm not famous." Cattleya disagreed with a neutral expression and tone.

"Oh but you are." The blonde also disagreed in her turn. "A spoil of war-turned-noblewoman and currently among the most promising magi of her generation..."

"Flattery…" Cattleya responded modestly. "…and it would seem that you have the advantage of me."

"…oh my apologies…" the blonde said with a small bow. "…my name is Luviagelita Edelfelt, though you may call me Luvia if you wish."

"It's nice to meet you Luvia." Cattleya said with a polite bow of her head. "Will you be checking those out?"

She indicated the books in Luvia's arms, and the blonde blinked at the other girl's apparent calmness regarding their encounter. Was she truly ignorant of their relation, and the potential consequences should she fail to leave a good impression? Even if she had abandoned her birth family, she was still a Tohsaka by blood, and possessed their crest: a crest that contained a portion of the Edelfelt Crest stolen by the Tohsaka during the Third Holy Grail War.

Surely she knows the potential consequences of that fact? She's already an enemy of her birth family. Would she make an enemy of us as well? Or will she be a hyena as befits her bloodline?

Luvia handed over the books, and watched with a mysterious smile while Cattleya checked them out. "So…" Luvia said. "…what exactly is the fourth heir of House Velvet doing working part-time in the common section of the Association Archives in the Clock Tower?"

"I receive a monthly stipend from my family." Cattleya said, continuing with her work while doing so. "However as you would no doubt know, gemstones are rather expensive, especially the ones suitable for use in magecraft. As such I must earn my keep if I am to advance my magic beyond the standard curriculum offered by the Clock Tower. However it is not an essential, and is merely a supplement that I gain to no loss on my part."

Cattleya pushed the ordered stack of books towards Luvia, and then rested her chin on an elbow. The two locked gazes, though without any rancor at all. "Don't you think it's below your place as a noblewoman to supplement your finances in such a fashion?" Luvia finally asked with a slight mocking tone. To her mixed surprise and approval, Cattleya didn't take any offense at all.

"On not at all…" Cattleya replied. "…I quite enjoy the quiet of the library, and it offers good opportunities to clear my mind which my other hobbies – such that I have given my personal research in my free time – do not provide."

"Other hobbies…" Luvia echoed. "…I've heard that you wield a sword."

"An arming sword to be precise…" Cattleya confirmed. "…I'm not one for unarmed combat, but considering that enemies can get close at times I thought it prudent to learn how to fight up close and personal. A sword seemed to offer a compromise between need and want, and according to my relatives and instructors alike my skills are substantial."

"I see…" Luvia said thoughtfully. "…I would like to personally test your abilities – you are aware of House Edelfelt's reputation – but as I am unskilled with a sword it is a shame that I cannot."

"I agree, cousin." Cattleya said, smiling at the surprise in Luvia's eyes. It seemed she'd managed to get under the blonde's guard. "As a swordsman I cannot honorably meet you on the practice grounds, for to draw my sword outside the battlefield against an unarmed opponent would only stain its proud blade."

Luvia chuckled with amused approval. "A most elegant hyena above the ground…" she paraphrased her family's motto as she gathered her books and prepared to leave the archives. "…it was nice to meet you cousin. Rest assured, I will do all I can to give a favorable impression regarding you to the rest of our family."

Cattleya's blue eyes remained on Luvia's back as she left, a finger tapping thoughtfully on the wooden table. "How sincere are you really, I wonder?" She murmured. Generally-speaking she had an optimistic outlook on life, but she wasn't stupid.

A few drops of Edelfelt blood in my veins don't make me one of them.

She sighed, sitting back on her chair. Gandr…a few other mysteries in her crest that by all rights should not be there…blood testing…some research into genealogical records within the archives…and the fact that the conceptual age of the mysteries meant that Caster had not placed them there…the Tohsaka had really caused her trouble on this front.

Fortunately it seems that I managed to impress the Edelfelt heiress enough so the trouble won't explode in my face unless I deliberately make it explode.

The thirteen year-old sighed, and then returned to her studies now that she didn't need have librarian duties to attend to for the time being.

The ghouls curiously regarded the softly-whistling metal contraptions lying on a series of streets in the East European town currently overrun by the Dead. The mindless, walking corpses shuffled around the cylindrical constructs, snuffling and kicking it around. Shirou Emiya didn't flinch as he pulled the trigger, though he did brace himself as the resulting explosions not only set most of the town on fire, but shook the very Earth itself like a short but intense earthquake.

Still, most of the Dead were gone, and with a nod at his team of combat homunculi he leapt down from the rooftop and split one of the ghouls in half from the top of its head to the groin. As the ichor-weeping halves fell to the ground, Shirou gripped his longsword with both hands and charged. Around him his team fell into place, halberds held at the ready.

The ghouls snarled their defiance, launching themselves with claws and fangs extended. Unfortunately for them, their biggest advantage – their numbers – had already been neutralized, and they fell like wheat before the scythe against the Einzbern. Shirou split two in half, one with a frontal attack and the other in the backswing, and then leapt back to avoid a pouncing ghoul.

It snarled at him, only for a homunculus to take its head off with his halberd. An armored elbow crushed in a ghoul's face, and then Shirou turned full circle, pivoting on a foot as he bisected five ghouls in one swing. More ghouls ran down the street towards them, only to meet their blades. Ichor ran down the stones as Shirou and his homunculi carved their way through the magically-animated corpses.

Black Keys flashed down, and Shirou glanced up at the rooftops as their ally – at least for this operation – leapt down. He gave a nod at the young woman before leaping into the fray, cutting down ghouls left and right with two-handed swings. "I am the bone of my sword." He whispered, and then he leapt into the air, his surgically-augmented bones and muscles more than enough for the task.

The magic came into effect as he landed, his sword striking stone as the animalistic ghouls used their instincts to avoid his strike. Unfortunately, that was in fact the whole point, Shirou's impact rending the surrounding ground with a localized earthquake. As the ground broke and heaved, and surrounding buildings tottered and fell, Black Keys flew again, striking down and burning ghouls one after another.

What she didn't kill the homunculi did, and then the dark-haired Executor was approaching the Japanese knight. "You came equipped for bear, didn't you?" Ciel asked. She wasn't exaggerating: cuirass…faulds…cowters…spaulders…vambraces…gauntlets…poleyns…greaves…her ally was an all but literal medieval knight in the modern era.

"Considering that we'll be raiding a reliquary technically under one of the White Wing Lord's lackeys…" Shirou replied. "…oh I definitely came for bear."

"I see."

"You came for bear too." Shirou pointed out, indicating with a nod the cannon-like weapon slung behind the Executor.

"Well, as you said we're up against one of the White Wing Lord's lieutenants." Ciel said with a shrug, walking alongside Shirou as they made their way out of town accompanied by the homunculi. "It was thought prudent to bring along a heavy conceptual weapon just in case."

So that's the Seventh Holy Scripture I was warned about. I'd best keep my eyes open, grandfather and his alchemists will be pleased to learn what can be learned about this rumored, heavy-duty conceptual weapon of the Church.

"How far to the reliquary?" he asked.

"A couple of hours away…" she replied with a shrug. "…I've prepped a jeep for us and your companions, and it's hidden in some bushes a short walk out of town. I never expected you to set it on fire though."

"It was the easiest way to get rid of both most the Dead…" Shirou said. "…as well as to hide any evidence of their and our presence once this operation is complete."

"I see."

"Einzbern and the Church…?" Cattleya echoed over the dinner table, setting down her fork with its bit of sausage on it. "That pairing seems utterly miraculous, given that I know that the Einzbern were never on good terms with the Church."

Waver laughed despite his best efforts to the contrary. "Well I suppose I can't argue with you on that point." he conceded. "But Einzbern has a great deal of influence in Atlas, and Atlas has a rather unique relationship for a magical organization with the Church."

"Well yes I suppose that's true." Cattleya conceded while scratching her cheek. "So what are both sides getting from this?"

"The Church wants to destroy a recently-discovered reliquary of the White Wing Lord." Waver said with a shrug. "But Atlas wants a chance to examine the artefacts being kept there. So they'll go in together to secure the reliquary, take what they can and then burn what they can't take."

"Quid pro quo…but the target is one of the White Wing Lord's reliquaries. Will it really go well?"

"We want it to go well." Waver replied. "The White Wing Lord is one of the oldest vampires, dating back to the Age of the Gods. Who knows what sort of artefacts he's secreted there? I imagine we might find out a lot if we can get Atlas to examine at least some of them, and destroying the rest – while lamentable from a researcher's standpoint – will also deprive the White Wing Lord of potentially valuable assets."

"But they're sending along a member of the Burial Agency…" Cattleya murmured. "…Ciel or something…I certainly hope that Einzbern's agent isn't biting off more than he or she can chew. If the Burial Agency is involved, there's a good chance that things on the ground might get hot real quick."

"You're surprisingly well-informed." Waver said with narrowed eyes, and Cattleya's eyes widened as she realized that she'd said too much. "You've been reading my papers again, haven't you?"

"Well I…um…I was just…"

Waver sighed and rubbed his temples. "Just make sure no one else finds out." He said in exasperation while slicing into his steak.

"…right, right…"

Snarling packs of ghouls led by the Living Dead loped off to engage the team of five combat homunculi. It was at first sight an unfair match, given that were at least half a hundred of the things with more coming up from the supposedly-abandoned mine, at least until one factored in the homunculi's abilities. Compared to normal Humans they were stronger, faster, and had greater stamina and durability. They were perfect for drawing the attention of the guardian vampire and his puppets.

None of the latter noticed the pair of figures slipping past them along the rocky flanks, one a woman dressed in typical Church robes with a cannon-like weapon on her back, and the other an anachronistic knight. "Can you take care of that?" Ciel asked Shirou, jerking a thumb at the heavy iron bars blocking the way in through a ventilation shaft.

Shirou rolled his eyes before gently shoving Ciel to the side. The Executor's fingers twitched instinctively at his touch, but relaxed just as quickly. If the magus noticed, it didn't show. He simply grabbed onto a pair of bars and bent them out of the way without any hint of inconvenience at all.

"Ladies first…" He said indicating the way in with a hand.

"No, you go in first big guy." Ciel said with narrowed eyes. "I'm no slouch when it comes to close-quarters fighting, but considering that you're bigger, more armored and better armed – to an extent – I think you should have the honor of leading the way."

"…suit yourself…" Shirou said with a shrug, and drawing his sword led the way into the shaft.

Ciel muttered an aria under her breath, and allowed herself to see in the near-total darkness of the shaft. "Aren't you going to use something?" she asked in a whisper.

"…what?"

"It's dark…you can see can't you?"

"Obviously…"

"Einzbern combat augmentations…?"

"…obviously…"

Ciel muttered a few more things under her breath, but Shirou ignored her in favor of keeping his senses focused on what lay ahead. A few more minutes of walking and a point of light appeared in the distance as the tunnel began to level out from its downward slope. "An exit…?"

"…it looks like it." Shirou whispered back, and a few more minutes later he bent aside another set of iron bars. The Executor and the magus emerged at a raised balcony over a grand, many-pillared gallery lit by torches along the walls. The two of them quietly swept down the balcony and down the stairs, and thence to the gallery below.

"Are we sure this is a reliquary?" Shirou muttered in disbelief as he and Ciel crept past gilded statues, and carefully-stacked chests decorated with ornate metalwork. "This looks more like some treasure house."

"I'm not really sure myself." Ciel replied just as quietly, her flinty gaze locked on a tapestry taking up an entire wall. It depicted a stylized, humanoid figure that radiated a subtle sense of wrongness, and the blood-red moon at the very top of the tapestry made it clear who or rather what it depicted. "Brunestud of the Crimson Moon…"

Ciel broke off in surprise as Shirou swept past her, his sword held low and rising to meet the zweihander held in the hands of…something that looked awfully like a bloated parody or likeness of Frankenstein's Monster. Unlike the stiff depictions of badly-made mundane films, this one was fast and deadly, wielding a zweihander with one hand while lashing with the filthy claws on its other hand.

"…guardian beasts!" Ciel spat, Black Keys flashing into existence between her fingers as she spotted two more of the monsters emerging from other entrances. The Iron Plate Effect reduced their bodies to foul-smelling offal that splattered the walls and floor, even as ghouls poured into the gallery. "Ghouls…!"

"We're on our own now!" Shirou shouted back, his longsword flashing as he deflected the fast and powerful but clumsy blows of the guardian beast before him. The magus found himself smiling despite the situation, despite the fact that a misstep would end with him getting torn apart by the thing's zweihander, armor or not.

Fortunately he was faster and nimbler than the thing.

A sidestep allowed Shirou to pin the monster's sword to the ground with a foot, while simultaneously grabbing it by the neck and pulling it face-first onto his sword. He then hurled the dying thing back, ripping his longsword out of its face as he turned, warned by instinct.

Crimson runes flashed malevolently as the armored vampire's ancestral blade was barely parried by Shirou's own sword. The magus swore in German as his arms were staggered by the blow, and his eyes widened at vampire's sheer speed. The damn thing was leaving afterimages despite fighting in place, and then he cried out as the vampire's blade cut shallowly but painfully into his upper arm along a small and narrow area unprotected by his star metal armor.

The vampire's sword was cursed, with even the slightest wound inducing terrible pain. More than just physical pain too; as a magus Shirou was used to pain, but the sword – it tore at the very soul itself.

Haunting laughter echoed from behind the vampire's visor, the Dead Apostle pressing its advantage in strength and speed and driving Shirou back step-by-step towards a corner. "Emiya…!" Ciel shouted in alarm, the Executor also now reduced to carving ghouls apart as they rushed her up close. Shirou couldn't respond as all his attention was focused on parrying, dodging, and riposting.

Realizing that he was being driven to a point where his longer and heavier blade would be deadweight, Shirou launched a desperate counterattack that actually managed to halt the whirlwind-like onslaught of the vampire. But it wasn't enough to finish it. "Impressive…" the Dead Apostle croaked from behind his visor, and then it rallied and threw Shirou back to slam against the wall. At the same time Ciel cried out as the ghouls pinned her arms and then tore her apart.

Again, laughter echoed across the gallery as the vampire approached Shirou who stood panting against the wall. "…your blood…your soul…they will serve me well for a long time…" the vampire taunted the magus, who raised his sword in defiance.

And then with eyes wide in surprise, he dove to the side, knocking a golden statue of a naked woman to the floor as the vampire was hurled against the wall with enough force to crack the stone. Glancing at the source of the thunderous noise that presaged the vampire's getting blindsided, he spotted a bloody but apparently whole and well Ciel grimly on her feet, the Seventh Holy Scripture held ready at her hip.

"Emiya…" she said, striding past ghouls mangled by the conceptual weapon's passage towards their master and ignoring the ones swarming behind her. "…cover me."

Shirou grabbed his sword, and without bothering to reply verbally swept forward, his sword flashing in the torchlight and splatter ichor in its wake as the magus vengefully tore into the ghouls, leaving even more mangled bodies around him. Meanwhile Ciel fired the Seventh Holy Scripture once, and then twice.

The first shot slammed into the vampire as he drunkenly turned to face his enemy, slamming him back against the wall and shattering his armor. The second shot brought him to his knees. He raised his head to glare and roar defiantly at Ciel as she ran up to him, only for his face to be crushed inwards as she smashed him through a wall and into an antechamber beyond.

Leaping after him, Ciel didn't give the Dead Apostle a chance to recover, stepping over it and rapid-firing the Seventh Holy Scripture at point-blank range, her shout of fury echoing as pages from the scriptures tore out of the conceptual weapon and floated down to the floor. Back in the gallery, Shirou crushed yet another ghoul only to realize that they were already crumpling to the ground. "Ciel…" he muttered, rushing to her location just in time to meet her clamber out of the hole in the wall. "…are you…?"

Without batting an eyelid Ciel raised the Seventh Holy Scripture and fired from the hip, Shirou barely stepping aside in time as the projectile slammed into a ghoul in the midst of transforming behind him. As the corpses began to burn on their own accord, finally indicating the guardian Dead Apostle's death, Ciel smirked while regarding her ally. "Watch your back." She told him smugly, barely avoiding laughing at his scandalized expression. "Vampires have more than one way to avoid dying."

A/N

You didn't expect Shirou to be a knight did you now?

Luvia and Cattleya finally meet, and if you expect them to get together from the get-go, then think again. There's a degree of sincerity between them, but considering the bad blood between the Tohsaka and the Edelfelt (who claim the former stole part of their crest) things aren't going to be that easy. Ideas on how to further develop interactions between the cousins will be appreciated.

Cattleya's not nearly as poor as Rin is in canon, but she's definitely poorer than the Tohsaka are with Tokiomi still alive.

IzanagiMikoto: of course she was the brunette. Sakura/Cattleya may dress like Rumia, but apart from the clothes and ribbon, they look different. Sakura's older for one thing, and she has blue eyes not red, and she has no fangs.

SharinganUserX: good point about Caster/RIN's miscalculation, I'll take it into consideration for the future plot. Thanks for the tip, now that's a constructive review!