Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1.

AN: Again, sorry for the long delay in updates, a lot of things were on my mind.

In the present, the raw agony coursing through his body was incredible, far greater than what he had expected, enough to send him falling to the floor screaming at the pain.

'Damn this weak body!' Shirou all but screamed as he rolled onto his back, his hand searching for his cane and failing to find it as another wave of nothing but agony ripped through him. If he knew simply stepping through the doorway would be as damaging as it was, he would have most likely sent Bazett through but now it was impossible. Going through the gate again would kill him the moment he was on the other side, he was sure of it. The only way to go back through now was to get it back and use it when he crossed back through and pray it would keep his cursed body alive.

It took time, most likely seven or so minutes, but the pain eventually abated and Shirou only groaned as he rolled onto his back, quietly cursing Rin for destroying him. The agony he had been forced to endure as he stepped through the door enough to bring back his more annoying memories. The day Rin had cursed him being most prevalent, the agony his body had just gone through little in comparison to what he had gone through at her hands so long ago.

It remained quite incredible that the day that made my life nothing but a living hell began as if it was a normal, at least at that time, day for me. Always simply an astounding thing to think about even now.

Shirou Emiya groaned as he woke up, glad to have spent the night at home in Fuyuki City and not anywhere else. The only thing that would make this better would be if Rin was at home with him. Sadly, she wasn't, his wife was most likely off researching something. It didn't surprise him as, the sad truth being, he had better luck finding her studying than doing anything else for the most part. Ever since she had ended up with her curse.

'Now if only she could actually work to cure it.' Shirou sighed at the reminder of Rin's research topic as he threw his legs over the side of the bed. 'I suppose it's best to try to finish this today then.'

Mentally, he went over the entire layout of the house as well as the many weapons he had hidden around it in the past, both as precautions just encase he was ever attacked at home and now it was to bring Rin down before she could hurt herself or, much more likely, hurt him.

'Why are you making me do this Rin?' Shirou cursed his own nature. It had gotten him into this position when he and Sakura had finalized their plan.

"I'll do it, she may go easy on me. I'm still her sister to her, at least I hope so."

"No...you'll get yourself killed. I've had pretty of experience dealing with Magus and I'll handle this."

"But Shirou, she's y-"

"That thing is no longer my wife, she's just another monster."

"Shirou..."

"I know you don't like this Sakura, I don't like it either, but we have to do this."

"I'm just trying to say that maybe we shouldn't do this."

"Sakura, I know you don't like this but I have to do this."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm responsible for this monster Sakura and I need to stop it."

"Rin isn't a monster Shirou."

"No, she's probably worse than one."

"Who are you trying to act like Shirou?"

"A killer."

"Shirou..."

"Bye Sakura, I'll see you soon, hopefully with Rin."

He had volunteered, of course he would have, as he wasn't heartless. There was a very real chance their plan would fail and Rin would need to be killed and if that was the case then he wasn't going to allow Sakura to to do it. He would do everything he could to keep her alive but he was still somewhat realistic, he knew he would most likely be a widower by the end of the day.

Luckily he was already a murderer, he didn't think he could handle both in one day.

"Let's just get this over with." Shirou grabbed the Holy Shroud he had taken to wearing, simply changing its shape instead of having a large collection of clothes. Thinking better of wearing it openly, it was slipped into his pocket as he instead put on a pair of black pants and a red long sleeve shirt.

'I wonder how this will play out.'

Shirou briefly tapped into the Bounded Fields around his home, learning that Rin was downstairs in the heavily renovated basement and after a moment of thought he decided to wait for her. He knew he was dragging this out for hours then but he didn't want to kill her. He had already tried once and hadn't been able to go through with it, she had collapsed and he had abandoned the attempt to help her with Avalon, something that didn't really help in the end. It only made her want it for her research making it necessary to seal it away, something he managed to do several weeks ago.

'Maybe I should have kept it for today.' Shirou cursed himself at the thought. He was, yet again, wasn't thinking clearly as he acted impulsively, not thinking clearly and would undoubtedly suffer for it today. 'I was a fool to seal to away so early.' With that thought, a sudden idea struck Shirou as he activated most of his Magic Circuits.

'But I suppose I could use it for bait.'

"Trace." It was painstaking to do, it would normally never work but he had gotten better at, in some ways, "cheating" and was sure he could do so again. "On."

Golden light filled his hands before it began leaving them, the strands twisting together in front of him in one of his greatest copies to date. Very slowly but surely Avalon appeared in front of him, the perfect thing to draw Rin out of the basement and it seemed like it was working.

Pushing Avalon away, it floated behind him and gently rested on the table as Shirou waited for Rin, something he didn't have to wait long for as Rin stepped through the door and immediately her eyes were on Avalon.

"Shirou..." a rare smile was on Rin's face, one ignored by Shirou as he looked at Rin, as beautiful as ever to him despite everything.

'Rin...' Shirou, for the first time in what seemed to be years, saw his wife again and couldn't help but smile as he saw her for the incredible woman he had married, the smart, strong, determined, and incredible person who had stayed with him through everything. His teacher to be both a better Magus and to become a person who finally found some value in himself, something she had all but forced him to do, to acknowledge that his life mattered in the end.

"Shirou, did you finally see sense?" Rin continued to smile as she walked up to her husband, wrapping her arms around him and despite what would happen soon he held his wife close for most likely the last time.

'Rin.' Shirou tightened his hold on Rin. For once, he didn't want to follow the plan, he didn't want t give up the woman who had changed his life. For once he wanted to be selfish, to think about himself and his happiness above everything else. He didn't want to lose her for whatever reason, he didn't want to take her life, he didn't want to do anything but hold her like he was now, to love her like he did before her change.

"You finally gave it to me!" Rin was ecstatic as she pulled back to look in her husband's eyes but stopped when she saw they weren't focused on her, they weren't focused at all, he was lost in his memories. "Shirou..."

"Rin, can I ask you something?" Shirou ignored the sudden worry in Rin's eyes, instead he simply closed his eyes, banishing his memories from his mind for the moment.

"Shirou, what's wrong?" Rin's happiness had quickly faded, now she was concerned. Her husband was acting strange despite finally relenting and giving her Avalon.

"Yes or no, Rin?" Shirou's voice was dead, there was no feeling in it anymore, something that didn't surprise Rin, it only made her angry.

"Shirou, what the hell is wrong with you?" Rin pulled herself away from Shirou, the white haired Magus turning away from her, looking towards Avalon.

"I see..." Shirou sighed as Avalon shattered, Rin's horrified scream at him ignored as he instead reached up to the necklace he wore. "I don't have a wife anymore it seems."

He ripped off the necklace without a thought, a twin to the one he knew Rin wore, something that made them husband and wife. Since he no longer had a wife, it was nothing but a piece of jewelry and he abhorred most jewelry, especially those based around jewels. Not even sparing a glance at the beautiful blood red gem he once thought of as his greatest gift from Rin, he threw it off to the side.

"Shirou..." she stopped, not even looking at him but he could guess what her eyes looked like. Crazed, a guarantee in truth, and perhaps an intense anger, most likely directed at him for his, to him at least, sensible actions. "What are you doing!"

"Like I said, I don't have a wife anymore." Shirou shrugged as he turned around, learning his guess was right as Rin's almost crazed eyes, filled with anger, locked with his own. Completely empty, not a single sign of life in them.

"You...you..." Rin let out a scream of nothing but anger as she turned away from him, blindly firing a curse at him and one he easily avoided. "YOU BASTARD!"

Rin had developed a particularly vicious yet adaptable spell during her research. The reason for doing so still alludes me but it became a devastating weapon for her, both against her enemies and against me. I tended to call them curses after seeing what they did to people. Rin never agreed and simply called it the new Magecraft of the Tohsaka family.

She was already on her way back to her research when the door closed in front of her, something that made her stop before turning to Shirou, his eyes still dead as he stepped back, shifting his stance to one she had taught him but he had improved on.

"Shirou, if you know what's good for you, you'll leave." Rin's words held a deadly threat in them, something Shirou could easily ignore as he activated some of his Circuits, one of the few spells he could use coming into effect as he Reinforced his body far beyond human levels. "Now!"

A curse from her fingers was added s incentive to listen but something he easily sidestepped before returning with his own, a silver dart firing forward only for it to be intercepted by another curse from Rin, a small grin coming across her face as she continued to fire at Shirou, not letting up but he responded in kind with his silver darts, the only way he could use any of the things she taught him was by applying his Sword Element and Origin to it, enough to not drastically change anything he was taught but make it usable for him.

Quickly growing tired of his use of the curse, he fired one last one before a blade was in his hands, a simple dagger that he threw towards Rin and one that was instantly destroyed but was enough for him to dive to the side, something that saved him from the hail of curses Rin fired at him, something that would only grow in number the longer he allowed the fight to drag on, something he couldn't do as they weren't exactly alone at his house, or at least wouldn't be fore long.

"Still using the same old curses then Rin?" Shirou couldn't stop his laughter as he used Reinforcement on his cover, hoping it would stay together and he could keep Rin enraged, unable to actually think up a strategy. Despite what he wished, he couldn't ever deaden his excitement during a fight especially one against Rin.

I was a fool to think I could outmaneuver someone like her. She knew about my plan and had already developed plans for them, plans she could easily enact even when angered.

"Trace." Pulling back the hammer in his mind, a simple longsword appeared in his hand and he broke from his already broken cover to charge her, his reinforcement was to help it last around ten of her shots, not the six it managed, while batting away only three of her curses before the weapon broke.

'Damn, it was supposed to last six.' Shirou cursed as one of Rin's many curses struck his arm, setting it on fire before he ripped off the sleeve of his shirt and threw it to the side, a new sword in his hand as the other was covered in black metal like scales for only a moment, something he had been working on with Sakura for a long time. The scales quickly receded and his arm was now undamaged from Rin's curse. 'It looks like it does more damage than we thought when we were testing everything.'

We were far from right with our estimations, very far off. The damage Rin could do with her new curses were incredible and extremely dangerous.

In short, they were too versatile to be made by human thought alone. Something else had to be there, something beyond human and something Rin had easy access to.

Shirou was prepared for when his sword broke at only five curses from Rin, not the eight he had planned for and quickly, activating more of his Circuits, he fired three swords towards Rin, encouraging her to stop her barrage to dodge the deadly airborne blades. It would have if she was sane but a larger more vicious black orb met each blade, easily destroying them but Shirou was already gone, making a dive for one of the many guns he had hidden around the house. He hated the fact he would have to use it on Rin but he had prepared for this, four more swords firing towards Rin, these designed to take her curses and still strike. Under normal circumstances at least but the situation he found himself in was far from normal and they would shatter like all the rest, something he simply had to let happen as there was no time to modify them while constantly under fire, especially by Rin's latest curses.

He was right, a single hit from Rin's newest curse shattered each blade in an instant but at least they weren't all but vaporized like the other ones, the shards could give a decent smokescreen as he flipped over the table and an enhanced blow from his fist shattered the floorboards but the gun he had planted there was missing, something he was unprepared for.

She had of course known about our plan, probably knew about it long before we had the courage to begin finalizing it, she always knew how I thought and always knew how to act in response. It was ridiculous to even think I could ever actually beat her. In the end, an undeniable truth in the universe, was that I would always be nothing compared to her.

At least as a Magus.

'She knew.' It was his only thought, the only way to explain why the gun and, most likely, the others were missing as well. She knew all along and had moved and most likely destroyed every weapon he had hidden around the house before today.

When the table exploded in front of him from another of Rin's curses he was caught in the blast, thrown against the wall but he managed to get to his feet and throw himself off the wall and through the doorway in time to miss the next curse, one that seemed to have been designed for capture instead of simply killing him.

'She knew.' His carefully constructed plan was finished before it could even begin, she had known about the guns he had hidden around the house and most likely knew at least what they planned to do. 'If she knows about the plan then-Shit! I've got to get out of here and get to Sakura, I need to warn her.'

Shirou would have most likely tried to escape the house and rush to check on Sakura but Rin's next curse ripped through the wall in front of him and he quickly sunk to the floor, a direct shot from Rin's latest curse too much for him despite all of his preparations.

I had waited to steal her notes and copy them for several weak before I and Sakura developed countermeasure for her spells using my blades. A foolish idea as I should have known better, the Rin I knew in the past would have never left her notes out no matter what.

I should have known those notes were fakes and she knew about our plans for far too long if she could plant fakes for me to steal.

Shirou groaned on the floor, quickly a pair of his longswords in his hands as a third appeared embedded the ground in front of him and helped to split the next curse sent at him in half, shattering as expected but at least doing its job as he struggled to his feet, activating all of his admittedly poor Circuits when compared to someone like Rin. 'I suppose I have to escape then.' Unbidden, his lips twisted up into grin at the thought of fighting, especially someone as skilled and dangerous as Rin. Sure, he outmatched her in experience but she had power on her side, so much that he would never be able to match it but that's what made this so exciting. A single mistake on his part and he was dead, Rin would automatically capitalize on any advantage and that would be the end of it, he would lose and she would win.

Despite my common sense, I was excited at the prospect of fighting Rin, of truly testing myself against both my wife and one of the stronger Mages I knew.

She truly was incredible in the past.

"Trace." The hammer fired, eight swords shooting towards Rin as he himself ran forward, following behind them. The blades that were fired were completely destroyed by a single curse from Rin, detonating into a black wave that consumed the blade and something that made Shirou's grin widen as he split the next curse fired at him in half with one sword, already tossing it away as it was covered in the curse and exploded moments after leaving his hand. "Trace." Another was in hand as three more swords fired forward, another black sphere detonating as he dropped to the ground to avoid the black wave it's detonation caused as it annihilated his three swords.

'This was where I planted the first, an SMG.' The Enforcer was quickly back up and running once the wave passed over him, ignoring his thoughts as already another two swords fired towards Rin, coming from above his head and hopefully distracting her.

It seemed to work, two of Rin's curses fired at them and quickly enveloping them in black before they suddenly shot towards him but with a thought they exploded not too far from Rin, hopefully catching her in the blast but he wasn't very hopeful. Rin would have already been ready for such a thing and he was right, a large black sphere would have taken off his head but his two blades blocked it for the moment he needed to escape.

'Second, a semi-auto pistol.' Shirou threw himself back, two more swords appearing in his hand as the hammer rapidly drew back and fired, a dozen or so blades of all shapes and sizes shooting towards the black cloud in front of him, a residue of Rin's heavy use of her new curses. 'They won't get by.' His assumption was correct, none of the blades managed to pierce it, shattering instantly against it before two more swords, greatswords, flew over Shirou's shoulders and detonated on impact. 'Those two managed to blast a hole through.'

He was right, following up with six or so more of the same exploding swords, he blasted a path through the black cloud, one that was already sealing but he didn't need to get through it. A barrage of swords did.

'Third and fourth, two more SMGs.' Shirou resisted the urge to dismiss his two swords and look for the two guns, knowing they were gone thanks to Rin and as the hammer fired, close to thirty blades fired over his shoulder, the cloud sealing around halfway and he cursed when he was forced to quickly backpedal, avoiding a large number of small black orbs.

He was quickly back on his feet, another pair of swords in his hands and he threw them forward without a second thought, avoiding the worst of the blast the next black sphere caused once it hit one of the blades, consuming both entirely before

"GAH!" He couldn't avoid them all, luckily only three of the twenty-six she fired at him striking him, and the three rapid spikes of pain going across his body was enough to force him to the ground, a black aura engulfing him for a moment before a heavy feeling stuck him, particularly in his skull as he felt as if he was developing a migraine and the feeling made him weakly curse as he found it a sudden strain to move his arms, the black aura around them forcing them down to the ground with a sudden weight.

"Where?"

"I'm disappointed Rin, is this really the best you've got?" Shirou tried to unsteadily rise to his feet, unable to do so as with a flash, he suddenly felt weak as the black aura around him grew darker, already it was becoming difficult to see and he felt as if he was deaf, no sound reaching him, not even his own breathing, something already becoming harsher as he struggled to draw in air, something becoming more and more of a struggle as he could vaguely feel a hand on his shoulder.

"I'll ask again, where did you hide it Shirou?" It was strange to Shirou how he could both love and hate the source of the voice currently resounding in his skull. It was strange he could feel both comfort at the sound of the voice and a sheer terror he could not accurately put into words.

'Huh, seems like I've lost.' Shirou vaguely acknowledged such a fact, everything but his thoughts were becoming numb. At least until Rin decided to use harsher means of getting what she wanted.

"Shirou, don't make me have to hurt you anymore than I already have. I never wanted to hurt you like this, you just gave me no choice when you took it." Shirou was amazed that he could actually find himself believing Rin's words if he hadn't been drilled in how she would act by Sakura. If he hadn't spent so much time on this, he would have believed the thing ready to torture him was the same woman he fell in love with, the same woman he would give his life for without a second thought.

"Shirou...please, just tell me where you hid it." A tone filled with both tearful pleas to work with her and the threat of immense pain if he was to continue to disobey her, one of the strangest things so far in this encounter. "I-I-I don't want to do this b-b-but I will."

"Do it." Shirou found it strange he could still speak, strange but impressed as he ignored the weakness spreading across his body, he ignored his dead sight, his deafened ears, he ignored it all simply to speak. "Show me that you're no longer the Rin Tohsaka I fell in love with or the one I married."

"S-Shirou, please just give it to me." Now the voice was less threatening and more pleading with him, something that fell on literally deaf ears. "I need it more than you, I need to finish what I started."

"No." Damnation was always so simple, so easy to do. All it ever took for him was one word, a refusal to follow orders.

"Then suffer." The act was up, the voice was cold, lifeless. Nothing was there but emptiness, a hollowness he could both understand and despise at the same time.

Pain erupted across his body, his skin feeling as if it was set alight, frozen, shattered, pierced and so much more as his mind was nothing as agony consumed him. His breath was gone, forcibly ripped from his lungs, his senses suddenly returning, his ears ringing and his eyes blinded by the light around him. For that moment, his entire existence was agony, a rare type of agony, one so intense he knew for certain no experience in his life would ever match such a thing again. It was the pinnacle of pain, the purest form of suffering on this planet.

The pain his body was in paled in comparison to his damaged heart, as if ti was ripped apart as he lost the woman he loved.

It was over in moments that seemed to stretch for years, time incomprehensible in the agony he had suffered through.

The black aura around him had faded but it was impossible to notice for Shirou, he had collapsed to the floor at some point during his torment and it seemed he wouldn't be leaving the floor any time soon, his body almost deathly still, his eyes unblinking as they stared straight ahead. It seemed nothing was possible for him now, he could do nothing, say nothing. His mind itself seemed empty, no longer was there a focus on the plan he had developed for this moment, no thoughts on an escape plan. Nothing, his mind was blank.

"Shirou..." Tears ran down Rin's face as she looked down at the collapsed Magus, gently kneeling down next to him. "Why couldn't you just listen to me?" Rin not very gently pulled Shirou to her, laying his head in her lap. "I needed it so much more than you."

Avalon. The reason for everything that went bad in my life. It was such a great thing once, a reminder about Saber, about how much she had taught me, the sacrifice she had made when she destroyed the Grail. It was, for a long time, what made me a Blade. Someone to help others without thinking about himself. Every time I felt the familiar power of Avalon in me, it reminded me that I was someone who should give his life for others, to ensure that others didn't suffer. Soon Rin changed that, she made me remember all of Saber, of her sacrifices when she reigned as King of Knights, her ideals. She showed me what was wrong with them, why I should learn from them and craft my own. She made me view myself as something with it and because of that I remembered Rin every time I felt the power of Avalon in me.

For such a thing so great to ruin my life was interesting to say the least.

Shirou groaned as he slowly sat up, struggling to do so as he finally found his cane, quickly grabbed it and he very quickly rose to his feet, glad to have it back. Unable to do much as he regained his strength, Shirou simply observed the thing that had ruined his life.

"Avalon...how great it is to yet again see it."

'And even greater, I'll be able to use it to return back to my prime and remove these curses Rin placed on me.' Just the thought of his strength returning to him, his pathetically weak body once again back to its true strength a great thing for him, enough for him to smile for the first time in a while. 'At last I'll be able to kill her.'

AN: So how was it? Good? Bad?

Peace.