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 9
The post-dinner dance was in full swing, with couples twirling each other in the light of crystal chandeliers while other guests watched to the tones of Tchaikovsky. Akiha Tohno and a few others looked visibly-pained at the clumsy if determined efforts of Arcueid Brunestud and Shiki Tohno trying to dance, with only the amused expression of Zelretch keeping the more stuffy aristocrats from intervening.
However the Lord Waver El-Melloi II and four of his Pentagon were more focused – in a worried fashion – at where Cattleya was dancing with her father. Rin Tohsaka looked on neutrally, while Misaya Reiroukan watched with veiled curiosity. "You look very beautiful tonight." Tokiomi said softly, and Cattleya smiled. It was only skin-deep of course, but she knew very well that appearances mattered here and now.
She would not let her father gain a victory in the form of a humiliating spectacle on her part.
"I am honored by your praise." She said. "How is mother by the way?"
"She is well, all things considered." Tokiomi replied. "What of you? Are you well?"
"I am well." She replied. "My fortunes have soared quite high, certainly much higher than you originally planned, under Makiri."
Check…
"I can see that." Tokiomi agreed. "You have done well for yourself. I am proud, Sakura."
There was uncertainty and surprise in her eyes, even if only for a brief moment, and Tokiomi's smile widened by a fraction. Apparently he had succeeded in getting under her guard. "I am concerned though." He continued. "You appear to be consorting with certain elements that in the long term would not be conducive to your career and future as a magus."
"Is that so now?"
"Carter and Carnarvon are worthy allies…" Tokiomi conceded. "…and the same goes for Archibald. However your brother might not be the most…orthodox influence…"
"It is not my place to question the doctrines of a lord, brother or no." Cattleya said with a smile. "I will however admit that brother is rather unorthodox. However if the other lords tolerate and accept his doctrines, who am I to question their doctrines?"
If Cattleya could have laughed in such a scenario, she would have. As it was it would have been a breach of protocol, and so she settled for a veiled but smug expression at the equally-veiled frustration on her father's face. Under the guise of proper protocol, she had grounded not only his initial offensive against her brother, but had also undermined any further argument on that topic before they could even be made.
After all, what right did an Oriental Supervisor have to question a lord, much less the favorable stance of his colleagues?
Father and daughter danced in silence for several moments, their movements precise and perfect as per a waltz despite Cattleya's kimono, ordinarily not a garment suited for such a dance. "You dance well." Tokiomi finally ventured.
"Thank you…" she said. "…it is only expected from someone who grew up alongside Archibald."
Tokiomi's lips thinned, and Cattleya barely managed to crush the urge to laugh. Her father had not intended for the word 'dance' to be taken literally, and she had not taken it literally. But neither did she intend for 'grew up alongside Archibald' to be taken literally either.
Cattleya Velvet: 1, Tokiomi Tohsaka: 0
"I understand that a great event will be held in Fuyuki within a year." Cattleya remarked as the tempo picked up with the dance nearing the end. "And it seems that we've acquired an invitation."
"Did you now?" Tokiomi asked as he lifted his daughter and carrying her through the air.
"Indeed…" Cattleya said. "…I daresay that we shall be fashionably late."
"Quite…" Tokiomi said coolly, and then his smile returned. "…but do remember that only one may claim the prize. It would be most saddening if your little group would be divided as a result of the event's conditions."
Cattleya stayed silent, even as the dance finished and her father planted a kiss on her forehead. "Take care of yourself my dear." He said as he walked past her. "You have grown most magnificently, but you have yet to reach the full bloom of your potential."
"Miserable wanker…" Cattleya growled silently, only to start as someone patted her on the shoulder. She turned and her eyes widened as they met a matching pair of eyes that did not belong to her father.
"Sakura…" Rin said. "…would you care to discuss some things in private?"
Cattleya narrowed her eyes a fraction as she considered the matter, and then nodded. This meeting had been inevitable, so she might as well go along with it.
But it didn't mean that she would let her guard down.
As she followed Rin from the dance floor, she and David traded glances briefly. The other magus followed them with his eyes, but waited until they'd left the ballroom before he gave his excuses and trailed after them. His crest flashed in sympathy to a murmured aria…and then he was gone with but a shimmer of light to indicate his passing.
Tokiomi meanwhile was moving to take a roundabout route to meet up with his children, only to be intercepted by a most unexpected figure. "Ah Tokiomi Tohsaka…" Zelretch said warmly while offering his hand. Naturally Tokiomi took and shook it. "…you are Nagato's great-great-grandson, are you not?"
"That is correct."
"It's good to see that his bloodline continues." Zelretch said with a satisfied nod. "He was a most promising student, and it seems that his family retains that promise. Come, I would like to discuss some matters with you, relating to our shared branch of magecraft, and of certain…lessons which I'd passed onto Nagato and of which you might be unaware of."
Inwardly Tokiomi cursed but was unable to go against the apparently-open invitation of the Wizard Marshall. To do so would have been an unacceptable faux pas of the highest degree, a black stain on his family's reputation. "Is he in on us?" he thought desperately. He wouldn't be surprised given how the Wizard Marshall had been getting along with the Lord El-Melloi II, but there didn't seem to be anything off by his eyes.
But then again…this is a man renowned for his ability to cause trouble with the slightest action.
As he followed Zelretch to a quiet corner, Tokiomi risked a glance from the corner of an eye to the so-called El-Melloi Pentagon. His blood ran cold as he realized that apart from Cattleya, only three of them were left, and there was a slight tenseness to their frames. It would have been undetectable even by the standards of the political animals infesting the Clock Tower, but the master martial artist that he was could see it clear as day.
"They know…Rin, be mindful!"
Cattleya smirked as Rin filled a crystal goblet with dark-colored, red wine. "Well it seems that we're much more alike than I thought." She said. "Drinking despite being minors…"
"Do you want one?" Rin asked instead.
"No thank you."
Rin shrugged as though it wasn't of much concern to her, which it wasn't. She did however lift her goblet towards Cattleya. "To your health…" she said, and Cattleya nodded.
"How sincere are you really?" the younger girl asked silently, and carefully scanning her sister and the way she held herself. "By the Root…she's like father if he was female and much younger than he is now. Sister…Caster…this is going to be more difficult than I had hoped."
Cattleya briefly regarded the room they were in, and conceded that for an out-of-the way stateroom in a hotel of small city it was well-furnished. "Perhaps we should get to the point." She finally said, and Rin nodded while setting her goblet down. Cattleya looked on as she lit some incense.
Poison…? I injected myself with a general antidote before going to this dance, magus paranoia and all that.
"What say you that we end this little feud between us?" Rin asked, and Cattleya blinked. This was not foreseen in any form or way. "It is rather unsightly you have to admit, and despite the fact that you shamed our family by breaking father's pact with the Makiri, I'd rather not have this go on. We can let bygones be bygones."
Cattleya briefly gaped at her sister, and then collected herself. "That would be agreeable…" she admitted. "…but what's the catch? There's always a catch when it comes to magi."
"Really now little sister…" Rin chided disapprovingly. "…must you such inelegant mannerisms?"
"It suits me, why do you care?"
Rin sighed and shook her head in exasperation. "Very well then…" she said. "…that 'catch' as you called it, is quite simple. You have something that belongs to me. I'd like it back please."
Cattleya blinked in confusion for a few moments, and then her eyes widened in realization. "Yes…" Rin said. "…I'd like my crest back. It's mine by right after all, seeing as I am the Tohsaka heiress and have the Tohsaka name."
"You can't be serious!" Cattleya said, backing off and trying to open her circuits just in case. "Your claim is valid, there's no doubt about that, but surrendering the crest…it'll be suicide! The Archibald would make me pay hell for losing my crest!"
"It's my crest, not yours." Rin said while drawing her Azoth Dagger. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way, little sister."
Cattleya ground her teeth, only to abruptly collapse to her knees. Her vision grew blurry, and to her horror she found that she couldn't open her circuits at all. "Poison…?" she hissed. "This is…!"
"Oh it's not poison." Rin assured her with a cold and cruel smile, and to Cattleya's horror she found that it perfectly matched their father's smile. "You probably took a general antidote for tonight's event, so poison wouldn't work. It's just a nerve relaxant, nothing serious, and it should wear off after a few hours. Assuming, of course, you aren't inured to it like yours truly."
"Despicable…!" Cattleya spat, and Rin shrugged again.
"Despicable tactics for a despicable bitch..." Rin said with all pretense of nobility gone. "…your Servant hurt father and mother. You stole my inheritance. You shamed our family, broke mother's heart, and yet you still have the gall to call me out on using your tactics."
Cattleya glared, something made increasingly difficult as her nerves continued to slacken. Rin ran a finger along her dagger's edge. "The crest is on your right arm, isn't it?" she asked. "Or is it…?"
She broke off as the door slammed open, and she turned just in time to see David throwing a handful of daggers at her. Rin dodged or parried them with her dagger, but Cattleya was already moving. "David…!" she shouted while throwing a metal cylinder at him.
The magus caught it deftly, and in one smooth motion popped it open and spilled the powdered diamond into the air before him. "In the darkness before the dawn…" he cast.
"Damn…!" Rin spat as she fired a bolt of lightning at the window and blew it out.
"…the stars shine the brightest!"
Diamond dust shot up into the air and coalesced into a trio of wicked-looking javelins. "Diamond Stream…!" he shouted, and the three javelins lanced forwards at blinding speed and forcing Rin to corkscrew wildly through the air to avoid being skewered. Blood fountained as one of the javelins lacerated an arm, and she spat curses in German as she fell to the ground.
"Rechte Flügel, Linke Flügel, Ritter und Ladegeräte, Lanzen und Schwerter..." she cast as she landed, crumpling to her knees as the ground buckled beneath her reinforced limbs. She pointed her dagger up towards the shattered window she'd jumped from, while Cattleya's diamantine javelins were already breaking into powder and along with more diamond dust from the inside coalesced into hexagonal diamond plates. "...Panzerfaust!"
A pentacle-shaped magic circle appeared around the dagger's tip, dark light gathering at the tip before discharging in a ravening burst of power. The diamond plates slammed together just in time into a protective, dome-like structure over the window, but the force of Rin's spell meeting her sister's defensive system was enough to shake the hotel.
"I couldn't break through…?" Rin thought in fury as she stormed away. "…diamonds…of course I can't break through it I don't have enough conceptual weight on her…damn her..."
Meanwhile inside the stateroom David tended to his injured or rather incapacitated friend, Diamond Shadow flowing back into its container as Waver arrived with the rest of the Pentagon, Volumen Hydragyrum rolling along blob-like beside its master. "You alright, Cat?" Miranda asked.
"Don't call me that." She snapped, and Susanna gave a soundless giggle while Miranda grinned and Waver sighed in relief.
"She's fine." Susanna signed while David gave Diamond Shadow back to Cattleya.
"I should call the Enforcers." Waver said while looking out of the window. "I'm not letting this slide."
"No witnesses apart from myself…" Cattleya said while struggling to a sitting position, helped by David. "…thanks David…and David here. It'll come to nothing."
"So we're just going to let this go?" Christopher asked angrily.
"We have no choice." Waver said darkly. "Without any witnesses to…this, Tohsaka could argue that we placed any evidence in this room. But we won't be sitting idle. I want all of you to stay on your guard. Whatever it was that Tohsaka wanted…"
"She wanted Cattleya's crest." David said with a shrug.
"Thank you David…" Waver said with a nod. "…she and her father won't give up on it easily. I don't want any more incidents…at least not where there won't be any evidence as to their treachery."
Waver smiled thinly, and the Pentagon traded glances before nodding slowly in understanding.
"I have no excuse." Rin said with bowed head as she and her father drove away from the hotel, the party ruined by the incident. "I will accept any punishment."
"No, there's no need for that." Tokiomi said. "Raise your head…the reclamation failed, but not on your part. Zelretch taking me aside was something that we did not expect, and without support – which your sister had – the operation was doomed to failure. We'll just have to try again when another opportunity comes around."
"Yes father."
Tokiomi sighed and sat back on his seat. "Things have become most troublesome…" he said. "…we have earned a degree of hostility from the other magi present, and yet while prudence dictates that we withdraw until the situation calms down, we cannot do so without losing face."
"Will the Lord El-Melloi II go after us?" Rin asked.
"It's possible." He said. "However I do not believe so. They lack witnesses beyond their own allies, and any evidence is circumstantial at best. Still…we should remain on our guard."
Rin nodded and Tokiomi chuckled. "Let us be patient…" he said after a moment's thought. "…in a year or so, the Fifth Holy Grail War will begin. If not before then, we will have the opportunity to correct things by then."
"She will come…?"
"Of course she will…" Tokiomi said with a nod. "…it is her destiny to fight you, regardless of whichever motivation drives her."
Rin smiled and bowed. "I will not fail when the time comes father." She said. "For the glory of our family and the honor of our name, I will win the Holy Grail and attain the Root."
Tokiomi smiled in response. At least on this side, everything was as it should be.
"Why did you stop me?" Waver asked Cattleya as they sat in a private room back in the manse that they and the rest of the Pentagon were residing in during their time at Misaki Town. "There were ways I could have twisted the situation in our favor, witnesses or not be damned."
"She was right you know." Cattleya responded.
"About what…?"
"It was my Servant which stole her inheritance, and hurt our parents." She replied. "In a way, I am responsible for the way she is now, just as much as Caster is."
"Do you still think that you can save her?" Waver asked after a moment. Cattleya did not answer for a long moment.
"I don't know." She finally said. "I'm not giving up but…"
She trailed off, and Waver sighed. "Oh Cattleya…" he said, and his sister chuckled.
"If worst comes to worst…" she said. "…then I will crush her. But until then I'll do what I can, and even in the worst-case scenario, I'll fight with all I have fair and square."
She paused and chuckled again before glancing at her brother. "Chase the dream to the end, isn't that right bro?" she asked, and Waver smiled and nodded. Cattleya stood and stretched.
"Well it's getting late." She said while turning towards the door. "I think I'll go take a dip before going to bed and sleeping off sister's drugs."
She paused as she turned the doorknob, and she smiled impishly at her brother. "Care to join me?" she asked.
"Don't be ridiculous." He said, and she laughed as she left.
"Good night brother."
"Good night sister."
"Well that could have gone better." Shiki said to his sister.
"Magi and their feuds…" Akiha said contemptuously. "…if it weren't for the fact that our family is as messed-up as it is, I wouldn't come near any of them."
"Not all of them are bad Akiha." Shiki said, remembering the fiery-haired sorceress that he had met as a child. "That Lord El-Melloi II seemed like a nice enough man and his sister too. And there's Arcueid's grandfather too."
"Hmm…" Akiha hummed in a non-committal way as they stepped out of the car…and sighed in exasperation. Standing beside the gate was Arcueid, already in her casual attire, along with a most uncomfortable-looking magus.
Probably an Enforcer…
"Shiki…!" Arcueid gushed and threw herself at the boy, and promptly dragged him off into the property babbling away. Akiha sighed again and turned her attention to the Enforcer instead.
"I take it the Lord El-Melloi II sent you?" she asked.
"He felt it courteous, even if your family had yet to officially align with the Mages Association." The man said, falling into step beside her as she walked back into the house accompanied by Kohaku. "It was also felt prudent, as we earlier apprehended a Kishima, and we have reason to suspect that your relatives have other spies who have already reported back."
"So they know." Akiha said grimly. "Well it was bound to happen sooner or later."
She sighed and paused on the threshold. "What do you need?" she asked.
"Permission to set up bounded fields…" the man said. "…an Enforcer cadre will be stationed around your house, and we'll also be using magic to avoid mundane detection. Not so much magical detection, we'll need to show our presence after all if we're to be an effective deterrent."
Akiha nodded, and a thought occurred to her. "Shifting…?" she asked, and the Enforcer nodded.
"Of course…" he said. "…the same group cannot be here all the time…however…"
"The changing of the guard will be a vulnerability yes?" Akiha said with a grim smile. "Well I suppose we can hold our own for a while, even more so if Shiki and I convince Arcueid to stay put inside."
The Enforcer chuckled. "The White Princess…?" he said. "Humph…if your relatives attack and she's here, they don't stand a chance."
"That's the idea."
The Enforcer nodded and left, and with a nod of her own at Kohaku Akiha entered her house.
A/N
Well now things are getting moving, with Velvet and Tohsaka finally coming to blows, and Akiha finally throwing her lot in with the Association. That's all for now I suppose.
