Chapter

Alberto was panting - taking too deep a breath hurt - and he was light headed. 'I must have lost some blood.' Either that or he had a concussion. He tried to sit up, but somebody pushed him gently back down and said something to him. He couldn't make sense of the words – his ears weren't working right. But before real panic could set in, a magical warmth began to spread up from his side, clearing his head. 'Well, that didn't go as planned'.

Rin looked around the clearing turned battlefield: Megumi was crouching over Alberto, wrapping bandages over his wounds. He looked unhealthily pale. Luvia was walking around checking for any living enemies.

Rin turned back to face their rescuer – a tall red head dressed in a black coat. Emile Leblanc. Aka Shirou Emiya. "So. How are you? What have you been up to lately?" She wasn't certain what to say or how to say it. They hadn't talked in five, almost six years. Not since she had walked out of his life. It was incredibly awkward. But at the same time, she was glad to see him – she had been wanting to find out what he was doing for years, but hadn't known how to ask (or even how to contact him).

((two years ago))

Shirou crouched, watching as the SUV made its way up the dirt road, over to the edge of the farm field. It stopped next to a pickup truck, and moments later a pair of men dressed much too nicely to be farmers stepped out, to be greeted by a similar pair from the truck. Standing in the lee of the two vehicles, they started talking in Italian.

They were Capos for a local Mafia, along with a pair of bodyguards.

Shirou smiled, 'good thing I paid attention to Rin's instructions.' Back before, he would have just charged in and killed the lot of them, but Rin had drilled into him the need for research. So he had gone to an old Jewish Magus in Rione Sant'Angelo, and spent six months mastering a spell to speed up learning a new language (which he practiced with a half dozen European languages). And at the same time, he had learned how 'Justice' worked, here in Italy. This was his first attempt to make use of that knowledge.

Shirou stood up, stepping from between the rows of wheat out into the open, where the men could see him. He was plainly dressed, with no weapons, just a sack in his right hand.

"I come to speak on behalf of the elders of Ficuzza." He paused to see if his Italian was clear enough. The men watched attentively. One of them kept his hand hovering over a hidden holster. "They say that they respect you, and that they have always paid their Pizzo, their protection money, on time. But they respectfully ask that you keep the Pizzo at 10%. That has always been the rate, and it is a fair deal. They can not pay the new 30% rate."

Shirou stood, tense, as he applied his new knowledge on behalf of the town of Ficuzza.

"And who do you think you are, to tell us our business?" Asked the Capo on the left. At the same time, the one on the right demanded, "why should we negotiate with you?"

Shirou ignored the question. "The 30% rate will not be profitable, as you will have a hard time collecting it without your chief enforcers." He dumped the contents of his sack onto the ground – two heads that had been reinforced to prevent them from rotting rolled out.

One of the guards went for his gun, but before he could shoot, he found Shirou standing at his side, and his gun hand laying on the ground. Shirou made a show of sheathing the knife behind his back. "This man needs a tourniquet, or he will bleed out."

The two Capos looked at each other, and one nodded. The second guard pulled off his tie and wrapped it around the arm of his compatriot.

"10% was fair in my fathers day. So I see no reason not to keep it at 10%," the Capo on the left finally ground out. Shirou nodded.

"Who are you?" The other capo asked.

"That does not matter. I am just a helper. The elders of Ficuzza asked me for my assistance, but they did not know my plan. This," Shirou swept to encompass the heads and the injured soldati, "should no be held to their account."

The Capo nodded again, "that is fair. I have no issue with them, or you. But Guido," He pointed to one of the heads, "Had a younger brother. He will kill you if he sees you."

"So he will not see me," Shirou backed into the tall wheat growing behind him and disappeared from sight.

Once, he would have tried to act the part of a 'Hero of Justice,' driving these extortionists out, but he had learned that all that would happen was that some other Mafia would just take over the operation a couple of months later. So now, he compromised his principles.

((now))

"I have been traveling around, helping people settle disputes peacefully and bringing a little justice to those that needed it. How about you?" Shirou took a longer look at Rin. "You look good. Are you still trying to be the best magus of our generation?" Shirou steered the conversation away from himself - he wasn't certain how to explain his life. Half the time, it didn't make much sense even to him. It certainly wasn't what he had dreamed of doing. And Rin... If it wasn't about magic, she wasn't interested. She had made that painfully clear. He adjusted his trench coat self consciously. Protective runes could faintly be seen on the inside, as their glow faded after the battle.

Rin took up her patented lecture pose, "I will have you know that I am apprenticed to the Wizard Martial Zelretch. You can't ask for a more prestigious appointment." It felt a little awkward – she hadn't used the 'lecture pose' since graduating high school.

"Ok." As Luvia came up to join them, Shirou turned to her, "Um, who's Zelretch?"

"Let's do the meet and greet after we get back. It would be embarrassing if we missed one of those faceless things and it killed us while we were exchanging phone numbers," Luvia snarked.

Rin snapped back to work, "She's right. And Alberto doesn't look so good. Let's head back for the Jeep."

"Land Rover," Luvia corrected.

"Whatever."

Shirou draped Alberto's arm over his shoulder and Megumi stabilized him on the other side. The group trooped out of the forest, with Rin and Luvia scanning for threats. The drive back to the hotel was surprisingly quiet. Rin, who was usually loquacious, replied to Luvia's questions in monosyllabic grunts, and Alberto was too busy suffering to flirt with Megumi.

"We'll spend the night, get some rest, and then head out to Japan," Rin finally pronounced.

^lost^

The following day found them all at the airport, in line to buy tickets to Tokyo. Alberto and Megumi were chatting quietly behind Rin, with Luvi standing back and watching the by play. Shirou stood off to one side, like he wasn't part of the group. He hated being in airports – it was too hard to monitor all potential threats.

Luvia was just about to comment on how tense Rin looked when Rin's phone rang. (She had finally gotten a cell phone a year ago. She wasn't certain how to do more than call and text, but that was really all a phone should do, in her not so humble opinion.)

"The spell locus has collapsed," It was Waver Velvet, from London. He did not sound pleased.

"And?"

"It's Fuyuki City."

"Oh. That is concerning," Rin groaned before turning to look over at the big board of flights.

"Tell me about. If the portal gets tangled in the lei lines," Waver began pedantically when Rin hung up on him.

"Everybody, this way!" She jumped out of the lane and power walked towards the neighboring airline. "Change of plan - we're going to Fuyuki."

^lost^

"This non-top traveling can get pretty disorientating," Alberto complained as he raced down the concourse after Rin. The flight she had booked them on was taking off in half an hour, and they had had to hypnotize their way past security and run all the way to get there before they shut the doors.

"Yeah, but you get used to it. You just have to compartmentalize your life," Shirou replied as they finally made it to the gate. Once on board, they squeezed down to their seats, past the overweight man loading a too large suitcase into a too small overhead compartment, and a gawky-tall teenager who was sticking his feet out into the aisle.

Currently, Shirou was compartmentalizing the mission to close the dimensional rift from the fact that the leader of said mission was Rin. That way, he could avoid thinking about the Tohsaka craziness (or the fact that she still looked very good despite the utilitarian haircut and no-nonsense clothing that was her current fashion)

"Well, I'm looking forwards to it. I've been all over Europe, but I've never been to Japan." Luvia chirped. "After we're done, I might stay for some sightseeing." She took her seat next to Rin.

Shirou was about to sit down next to Alberto, but Megumi uncharacteristically pushed past him, taking it first. "I know some healing spells," she stated by way of explanation. Shirou glanced over at the other man - Alberto was still a little pale. He smiled when Megumi sat down next to him, though.

"OK," Shirou ended up seated by himself.

"I know of all the famous tourist sites that everybody visits, " Luvia continued, "But are any of them magically active? I am just asking so that I can avoid whichever one it was that turned you into such a crusty old curmudgeon."

"I am not!" Rin replied, exasperated. She was stressed – dealing with Zelretch's mess, and then discovering that there was a potential apocalypse fermenting somewhere in her home town... 'I hope my house is ok,' Rin stomach roiled. And having Shirou sitting two rows back, breathing down her neck, didn't help. Any moment now he was going to demand why she had been such a bitch in high school, and she didn't have any good answer.

"Well, maybe I should ask Shirou. The two of you have some sort of history."

"No, we just went to high school together. And then we lost touch afterwards. That's all."

"Uh, huh. So were you like this back in high school? Because I can't imagine you as a naive young schoolgirl." Actually, Luvia had a pretty good idea of how Rin was back in high school, but everybody had their own way of dealing with stress, and this was hers.

"Fine, ask Shirou." Rin got up to use the bathroom, to avoid the interrogation (and so that nobody would see her throwing back half the bottle of antacids that she had palmed from her bag. She was supposed to be perfectly composed, after all.)

"Hey, Shirou can you help me with the window shade? It's stuck." Luvia asked.

The next thing he knew, Shirou was trapped in the window seat, with Luvia between him and the aisle.

When Rin came back from the rest room, she glanced over at Alberto and Megumi as she walked past where the two disappointments were seated and tried not to scowl. Alberto was scratching at his arm – most of his body was a single contiguous bruise, the damage covered by a sweater and an illusion (to prevent security from flipping out). Rin was surprised to see that Megumi was being very solicitous, adjusting a pillow and blanket to make Alberto as comfortable as possible 'Huh, I thought she found him as annoying as I do. He's loud and brash and insecure. Not at all like Shirou.' She glanced up to where Shirou was seated. She was less than amused when she saw that the red head was now seated next to Luvia. "Hey, that's my seat!"

"You told me to ask Shirou about how you were as a teenager, so I am just following your instructions. You can take Shirou's old seat." Luvia smiled sweetly.

Rin glanced back two rows to the open spot, next to a Chinese businessman. A growl escaped her. Shirou just shrugged, as if to say 'what can you do?'

Rin stomped off. At least it was an aisle seat.

"So, Shirou, how long did you date Rin?" Luvia was bubbling with excitement, to Shirou's bemusement. She was a pretty enough girl, but he didn't have time for such distractions – he had to make the world a safer place. Though he was still a little vague on what the best way to do that was (being a 'Hero of Justice' was a bad joke).

"We never went out." Shirou replied quickly.

"Oh, come on. I can spot a bad break up from a mile away. Lord knows I've had enough of them myself. So who broke it off?"

Shirou sighed. "We were just friends. We drifted apart because Rin got more focused on her magecraft." There was no way that Shirou was going to air dirty laundry about Rin. Especially not with her sitting two rows back, listening in with a monomaniacal intensity.

He did sometimes sit and wonder 'What if?', but it was a pointless exercise. The past was just that – dead and gone.

^lost^

"This is definitely not our Fuyuki" The first man pointed towards a plaza to the left of the skyscraper. "The Fuyuki Hilton is supposed to be there." He was visibly restraining his excitement.

The second man nodded, "And the cars are a different style. Somehow, we have been pulled into the future. If we could just find a newspaper, we could find out the exact date." looked around, taking in the city around them, so much like their own, but slightly different in little ways. Unlike his companion, he did not appear excited by this.

"You know what that means, Kirei? We just experienced a True Magic! We need to find out if it was something spontaneous, or if we were actively summoned to this time. This could be a breakthrough of earth shattering proportions!"

The second nodded agreement, "What of our responsibilities?"

"This comes first!"

^lost^

"I am so stiff," Luvia stretched. "You want to walk around while Rin gets the rental and sets it up with the tracking spell? You can act as the native guide and show me the sights." She asked Shirou as they exited Fuyuki airport, hugging his arm to her chest.

It was a small regional airport, and you walked pretty much straight from the concourse out to the baggage claim area. And except for a pair of ads from the local bank, all the posters were of local points of (very limited) interest. It felt almost homey.

"Back off, Edelfelt." Rin stormed over, "we're here on business."

Luvia role her eyes, but followed Rin as she continued on to the car rental desk. "What's the largest car you have?" Rin demanded.

"We have a Ford Expedition," the sales woman behind the desk typed a few thing into her computer and then turned the monitor so that Rin could see the costs for that model.

Luvia gave a low whistle, "You have the budget for that?"

Rin's left eyebrow spasmed. "Do you have anything a little cheaper?" She asked sweetly. After a very stressful half hour, Rin finally waved them over to the parking lot, leaving Luvia behind to deal with the paperwork. It served her right for teasing her about Shirou.

"OK, this will do," Rin got into the passenger seat of the Toyota and in the space of five minutes assembled the tracking spell.

Shirou watched over her shoulder. He was impressed with how fast she got everything set up. "That's a neat spell."

Rin glanced sideways at him as an unexpected jolt of deja vu ran through her.

^lost^

((flashback))

A high school aged Rin slammed open the door to Shirou's shed / magical sanctum. "Shirou! I got my familiars to follow Issei!"

Rin was positively bouncing. Even through her real personality was more open then her 'school idol' persona, this level of excitement was rare for her, "I sensitized them by using Issei's notebook in casting the spell. I sent them off last night. This morning, they tailed him back to school!"

Shirou smiled as he put down his latest experiment. "That's great, though Issei might not agree."

"It's not like I used them to spy on him. That's why I had to wait until school to know if the spell had worked."

"You're a good person, Rin." Shirou stood up and gave Rin a quick one armed hug, causing the Tohsaka heir to look away so that Shirou wouldn't see the blush, "I can return his notebook, if you give it to me."

((now))

Rin scowled as she felt herself blush. It had been years since she had gotten that excited about new magic. It was even longer since she had had an appreciative audience. "Get in the car," she growled. She didn't need this right now.

As Shirou opened the door for Alberto and Megumi to get into the car, something caught his eye. He stopped and pulled up the young enforcer's sleeve. "Rin, come take a look at this."

"What?" Alberto asked as Rin twisted in her seat to see what Shirou was pointing to.

She glanced over and paled. "Oh, shit."

"What?" Albert repeated, getting nervous.

"That's a Command Seal, like the ones used in the Heaven's Feel ritual."

"What.." Alberto began, "I read about that - don't the winners get a wish?"

"But there is no way that could be starting up again. The Grail system can't recharge that fast." Shirou replied to Rin, completely ignoring Alberto.

"We'll deal with it after," Rin ground out, "the Heaven's Feel is a disaster, but our current pproblem is worse." Rin climbed into the drivers seat and stepped on the gas. Megumi quickly snapped her seat belt into place as the car jack rabbited out of the parking spot.

"Um, Rin, are you certain the detector is working right?" Luvia pointed to the contraption that was resting on her lap. The pointer needle had started out pointing solidly south, but after a couple of miles, it was starting to oscillate back and forth. It even did a one eighty.

Rin peered over towards the passenger seat to examine her working. "Eyes on the road!" Megumi almost shrieked from the back, before looking over Luvia's shoulder. "I don't see anything wrong with the spell. Do you want me to cast a tracker as well?" This wasn't her forte, but maybe a different (less accurate) spell might work better.

"No. I was afraid of this. Fuyuki is on a major lei line node. The portal must have gotten tangled in one the lei lines, turning the entire city into a portal. If we don't seal it up soon, this could turn into a major disaster."

"Head for Ryuudo," Shirou interrupted. "We can work our way out from there."

"No, we can use my house. That way we won't have to deal with prying eyes." As Rin steered towards the upscale neighborhood of Fuyuki, the foreigners - Luvia and Alberto – spent the time rubber necking. While this situation was serous, mages got used to life and death situation, to the point of being a little blasé.

"That's the high school were Rin and I went," Shirou pointed out to Luvia, who had at some point found time to switch back into one of her signature dresses, making her look like a 19th century ditsy blond. And as usual, she was hamming that role up to eleven.

Rin scowled at how chummy Luvia was getting with Shirou. Not that she cared. It really wasn't her business. "That brings back memories. I wonder what happened to Taiga. Is she still teaching here?" Rin interrupted as she turned past the athletic field to head down towards her old neighborhood.

There was a flash and the sound of steel on steel from over the fence.

"What.." Somebody landed on the road in front of them. Rin stomped on the brakes, but he was gone in an instant, leaping away before the car reached him. At the same time, a volley of arrows slammed down into the street where he had been a moment ago, one piercing the car's roof with titanic force. Tohsaka lost control, and the vehicle spun out of control into a telephone post.

Shirou immediately leaped out, a pair of swords in hand. He had almost a hundred empowered swords – noble phantasms, or swords with a long history of use – etched into his soul, but he chose plain, forgettable swords with no legacy to them. They sufficed for somebody like him, and it took less effort.

"Shirou!" He whirled around at the cry, his heart leaping into his throat. Rin was facing off against a woman with long purple hair that moved like it was being whipping in a wind. The woman gave Rin a cursory glance before leaping aside as a man in gold armor wielding a pair of bronze swords attacked her. They were obviously Servants from how fast they moved. Megumi yanked Alberto out of the car on the far side of the battle just as the woman fired another barrage of arrows and leaped away.

The swordsman followed after her. Neither Servant spared the mages so much as a glance.

"Rin! I need help!" Alberto called out. He was collapsed against the side of the ruined SUV, holding Megumi as she bled profusely, an arrow protruding from her abdomen. There was a green miasma rising off the arrow, and it seemed to twist on its own.

Shirou raced over, sliding to a halt by the wounded magus. As he took in the situation, Rin followed more cautiously, making sure no other attackers were lurking in the shadows.

"Rin, do you still have that healing spell?" Shirou asked as he got ready to pull out the arrow.

"Yes. Do it."

As Shirou broke the fletchings off and then yanked out the arrow, Rin dangled a large pendant over Megumi, activating the spell.

A gentle light suffused the other Magus as Rin began to chant an Aria. Rin glanced at the wound and chanted faster, more urgently.

Nothing happened.

As sweat began to form on her brow, Rin began again. Luvia cast a quick bounded Field to keep bystanders away while she worked.

After the third repetition, Rin stopped.

"It's not working. The arrow must be enchanted."

Shirou used structural grasping on the arrow. His spell worked poorly on anything that wasn't a sword, but it was sufficient. "You're right - it's magically poisoned. It's paralyzing her," He pronounced with a sense of finality. Megumi's breathing had become labored, and her skin was turning stiffer, less yielding.

They had mere seconds before she stopped breathing all together. "Luvia – cast a containment – I'm going to try something." Rin began another incantation, with Luvia assisting to contain the magic – without a pentagram it was difficult to make sure the magical energy went where it was needed. She began another chant, this one in old Aramaic, all gutturals that she none the less pronounced precisely.

Finally Rin lowered her arm. "This is the best I can do." Megumi's skin had a hard, plasticky appearance, and she had stopped breathing. "She's in a 'temporally suspended' state. That will keep the poison from doing any more damage to her."

"How long will that last?" Alberto asked.

"If the spell is not disturbed, a couple of weeks. That will give us time to resolve the current problem and then take the time to research the poison. Though if we can capture the archer, they may know an antidote as well."

Alberto nodded his agreement, for want of any other options. "In the mean time, we need a base of operations." He didn't want to think about what would happen if they didn't manage to get an antidote.

As Shirou finished reinforcing the car back into shape. Rin got back in, "My house isn't far."

The rest of the drive was more subdued.

^lost^

Kotomine Kirei watched the team of magi pile into the beat up automobile and drive off in the direction of the Tohsaka mansion. He couldn't hear what they were saying, as his familiars were fairly limited in their abilities, but he could see that the leader looked remarkably like Tokiomi. A slow smile spread across his face 'She must be a Tohsaka.'An idea formed in his head.

He looked over at the other desk in the hotel room that they were operating out of. The room was cramped, and Tokiomi had been complaining that he couldn't get any sleep on the cheap bed. "Tokiomi, we should switch to operating from your house. I scouted it with my familiars, and it appears uninhabited." He pointed to the mirror that was reflecting what his other familiar was seeing. This particular familiar was perched in a tree, and it had a good view of the back of the Tohsaka mansion. "I am saddened to say that the Tohsaka line must have died out," he added with false sorrow.

He knew he shouldn't do this, but he was bored, and such close proximity to Tokiomi had begun to grate on his nerves.

The older magus looked over at the images his apprentice was showing him. "Huh. Aoi was always delicate." He sighed. It was no surprise she couldn't make it on her own without him to help her. He was mildly chagrined that he hadn't thought to check on her when he realized that he had been pulled forward through time, but he was a magus, and True Magic came first.

And it's not like she had produced any children. At this rate he would have to divorce her, or have an affair (in order to produce an heir,of course. Not because he wanted to).

Tokiomi inspected the image of his erstwhile home, "It's still a risk, but I hate being stuck in this tiny room, without any tools. Lets do it." His face broke into a smile as he patted Kotomine on the back. "That was good thinking. I'll send Saber to stand guard. You go hire us a cab." Besides, it was HIS house. And if he was the last Tohsaka, he should act like it.

^lost^

"Wow, your family really has money," Alberto commented as they lowered Megumi into the bed in one of the guest rooms of the Tohsaka mansion. The building was slightly overgrown on the outside and dusty on the inside, but the furniture was all there, covered in white drop clothes (as if Rin had just gone away for a long vacation).

"Not necessarily. Real estate is cheaper out here than in Tokyo.," Shirou responded, "When I sold my dad's place, it.."

"You sold your house?" Rin interrupted, scandalized. She wasn't certain why it bothered her. She knew that just because she was back in Fuyuki with Shirou that things weren't going to go back to the way they used to be. Everything was different. She glanced up at Shirou. But it would be nice... She quickly clamped down on that thought.

"Yeah, to pay for my travels," he shrugged. "You know what they say, you can never go back. So I figured I would use it to fund the future. Anyway, it didn't net me as much as I expected."

As the group reconvened in the dining room, Luvia pulled the drops clothes off and piled them off to one side. "You probably got ripped off."

"Maybe. I was in a rush to get started," Shirou shrugged. "I'll go make us some tea, at least." He headed into the kitchen. "You know, we should buy some food if we are going to be here for a couple days – take out is really bad for you."

Luvia glanced over at her friend, "So you were just schoolmates, but he knows were you keep the tea?"

"We need to summon our own Servant," Alberto interrupted before Rin could respond, annoyed at how the others didn't seem at all concerned about Megumi. They were acting as if there was no rush. But god only knew how long it would take them to discover the cure once they had dealt with the rift. They needed to get it done NOW. "Do you have a work room I can use?" He pointed to his command seal, by way of explanation. He wasn't in the mood for banter.

"Is that really a good idea?" Luvia asked.

"I don't think we have any choice," Alberto was almost yelling. "We need to resolve this as quickly as possible, or are you forgetting Megumi?"

"You're a magus," Rin snapped, "You know that if you don't do magic right, it can have catastrophic consequences. That is why we are here, in case you forgot. Because a spell went wrong. And summoning a Servant isn't like ordering take out."

Luvia nodded, "The stories you told of how your Servant ended up betraying and almost killing you don't exactly encourage me to summon one."

Rin sighed and rubbed her head. Her feelings on Saber were mixed at best, "I remember. Servants can be a lot of trouble - they all have their own agenda. And anyways, there shouldn't be another Grail war yet: I suspect the portal is messing with the grail system, potentially destabilizing it. I don't even know if the Grail will materialize or not. If it doesn't, then the war will be over nothing, and a Servant is going to be way more trouble than they are worth."

"I think it's worth the risk. We know that there are Servants brawling in the streets, and it's a matter of time before we encounter one again. It will be helpful to have the extra firepower, if things go pear shaped." Shirou called from the kitchen. Maybe some Servants were trouble, but Saber hadn't caused any problems, except a little at the end. The rest of the time she had been really nice.

"Pear shaped? You mean like Rin's hips?" Luvia asked, puzzled.

Without pausing, Rin scooped up a cushion from the sofa as she walked towards Alberto and threw it at the blond girl. "Come this way, you can use the study. And I have some notes there that you should review. You'll be summoning without a catalyst, so lets hope there is a servant that is a good match for your personality."

^lost^

"Open, shut." Alberto injected prana into the inscribed pentagram. "Open, shut." He was using the ritual that Rin had developed for the Fifth Grail war. It wasn't a perfect match for the current conditions, but it should suffice.

It was crowded in the study with everybody watching the ritual. Luvia and Rin took spots right by the summoning circle, so as to get a good view. Shirou was forced to stand off to the side, by the window. Which was fine – he didn't have much interest in the summoning magic: he knew it was way beyond his skill level. He had come to accept his limitations, both on his magic and on what he could accomplish in life.

As he glanced out the window, his eyebrows pulled together in a puzzlement – two figures had just turned onto the Tohsaka property. "Um, Rin, did your bounded field detect anything?"

The summoning circle began to glow as something formed in it. At the same time, one of them men outside became agitated and made a gesture.

"We have guests!" Shirou pulled on his runed coat.