I do not own Fate/Stay Night nor any other Servants depicted here.

The Path Taken

Lancer, for all her calm, knew that she was not strong enough to even think of defeating the Skulltaker. However, she knew enough of it that it will not stop until it took the skull of the strongest Servant here. And if Saber dies tonight, this thing they call a War will face an even bleaker aftermath. She also knew there was no way out for her to leave alive, lest the fate of this world be left at the mercy of Chaos. So, she must fight to the best of her ability. She parried the dark blade aside and stabbed. She then stepped back as the same blade came inches too close to her helm.

"We have to help her," she heard to boy tell his allies. She spun out of the way while swinging the spear at its head. It ducked under while it took a swing at her legs.

"All should leave now," she announced calmly as she continued to dance away from the daemon of Khorne, who tried to stab her stomach, "This fight is not yours to take part in."

"But-"

"Lancer..." her connection to the world huffed out as she finally arrived at the scene, "What..."

"Do not concern yourself in this, Mon-keigh," she repeated as she narrowly dodged another swing to the head, and then swung wide to buy some breathing space, "Take your allies and leave. Your fate will not end here if you-"

Much to her surprise, the daemon suddenly parried aside her Singing Spear and grabbed her by the helm. It roared as it lifted her up and slammed her to the ground. Then, she felt herself being tossed aside and she crashed into a tree. Thank Isha she was still able to maintain her grip on the spear. She picked herself off the ground and scanned the area to find the Chaos spawn. The helm was cracked around where the daemon laid its hand on it. Whether it was close to breaking off or not, she couldn't really tell. Nonetheless, she had to do something about the Skulltaker and with haste.

Saber grunted as the daemon turned its attention to her, quickly blocking its sword with her own. Her defense with one hand was not as sturdy as she would be with both hands, but she was still capable of turning away a quick attack. Yet, it was relentless and two more slashes put her on the defensive. Suddenly, a hand shot past her guard and grabbed her throat. It started to tighten its grip and she started choking. She still was able to instinctively throw out a random slash, to which she was released and air began to pass freely once more.

Before the daemon could continue its attack, Assassin Blink-ed in to attack. His stab was unfortunately blocked. It proceeded to randomly slash at the Servant, with every attack parried away. He couldn't fathom why until he got stabbed in his left shoulder. He was then kicked down after the blade was pulled out, the wound bleeding profusely. Skulltaker would have had the killing blow until a shadow shell wrapped him up. It turned its gaze to Sakura, who had her hands out towards them. It roared and teleported to her with frightening suddenness, its black sword raised.

"Sakura!"

His eyes widened as he shouted her name. He dropped his reinforced pipe, having felt that it wouldn't do much good. He saw how the black sword was used. He felt a sense of rage and hate emanating from it. The pipe wasn't enough.

"I need something!" he thought desperately as he ran in between them, "I need a weapon to protect her! A weapon... weapons like... like the ones he had!"

The image of the twin swords, one black and one white, burned in his mind. Their picture was the clearest, as was Archer's stance using them on the daemons in his Reality Marble.

"Trace... On."

He could feel heat flowing down his arms, the air around his hands pricking them with electricity. As he brought them up in a cross formation to block the dark blade, the swords materialized just as they made contact. For a second it held. And then, they shattered right before his widened eyes.

"Hammer..."

Time seemed to slow and he watched helplessly as the blade inched nearer to his head.

"...of the Wind King!"

Saber shot forward, slamming into the daemon's side, saving her Master from certain death. Her left arm was usable once more, but it was still weak. Still, she took a swing at her formidable foe just as the both of them landed on their feet. It was blocked, unfortunately, but that drew its attention back to her. It roared and started its random slashing again. However, Saber noticed something odd.

"It is directing its heavier attacks to my left," she realized, a frown forming on her face as she fended off another attack.

She began jumping back to the center of the battleground. One, to make sure the fight didn't spill over into the neighborhood down the road. Two, to draw it away from their escape route. Hopefully, their Masters can escape and the Servants can work together to take it down. However, her senses shouted a warning and she stopped just in time to avoid a slash to her head.

"...It is moving around like Assassin," she realized grimly, as she parried another strike to her left. Suddenly, Archer darted past her and moved on the offense. The daemon leaped back and stared at the intervening Servant.

"Archer?"

"I will buy time for you to retreat," he stated calmly as he took on an open stance, "You and Assassin are injured. Lancer looked somewhat stunned. I will stall this thing until she is ready to take it on again. Until then, get our Masters out of the way."

She watched as he darted forward to clash blades with the daemonic champion. What Archer said was sound. She still needed time to recover from the harsh beating given to her by Caster's Master. Then, she turned reluctantly to the others and said, "Retreat is open to us. Perhaps it is the best option."

However, Rin suddenly cried, "Archer!"

To the Servant of the Bow, the option as quite clear. He had to employ delaying tactics. That much was clear to Lancer. However, it would be folly for him to think he could match blades with this particular daemon of Blood God. Perhaps she should...

Her thoughts halted as she continued to observe the battle. Why was she even considering this? Giving her life for the Mon-keigh planet. All her life, it had been her duty to guide her craftworld. To fight for its survival. Her people's survival. And yet, she was now thinking of doing the same for them?

"Is it perhaps the current situation is no different to what I face every day?" she mused as Archer's Master cried out in horror, "...If any Rillietann catches wind of my thoughts, I would never hear the end of this... Very well. I shall gift them this fighting chance."

She opened a channel to her tether to this world, "Tell them to retreat."

From far off, her Master stared at her, "What are you doing?"

"This daemon knows no rest. It will hunt until it takes its skull," she told Bazett as she slowly gathered her power, "I will hold it here. I pray mine is enough."

"...You won't be walking away from this," the enforcer replied with a knowing finality.

"How very perceptive of you," she stated as she could feel the power of the Warp fully coursing through her, "Lead them to safety. My final word to you. Farewell, Bazett Fraga McRemitz."

She cut the connection, feeling the surprise of the human fading out. She reached for her ghost helm and removed it. It was cracked, with one of the jagged lines cutting through one of the eyes, and thus would hinder her sight. With the Warp relatively calm, she need not fear the perils of other daemons. Setting it on the ground, she stood up and stretched out her hand towards her opponent. Towards its head. And unleashed her full might at its head and mind.

The black blade was buried in Archer's thigh. With great relish, the daemon pulled it out harshly and kicked the Servant down. The four young Master's felt helpless. With all their Servants either injured or dead, they had no idea what to do. It was in this instance that they noticed the runes on Lancer's armor began glowing. She had removed her helm, revealing tied up red hair and a most beautiful complexion. Her piercing blue eyes had a steely white glow to it. Past her red locks, on her forehead was a white tattoo of an eye within a triangle with five lines radiating out from the eye. If not for her knife-like ears pointing out of the side of her head, she could have passed for a normal human.

She reached out and bolts of lightning seemed to leap out of her outstretched hand to the daemon's head.

"I am Taldeer, Farseer of Ulthanash Shelwé!" she shouted as the glow in her eyes intensified, "I shall be your doom!"

The daemon roared and warped next to her with a slash. She stepped back to dodge and then charged to meet it, starting her own dance of death.

"We have to go," spoke up Bazett, reminding the remaining Masters of Archer's earlier request.

"...Let's go," Luvia finally said, "But not here. We should move down the road in case that thing decides to attack Sakura again."

The other three looked at each other and nodded. Assassin, who moved to his Master's side after Saber charged into the daemon's side, astralized. Archer did the same. Saber hurried to Shirou's side. Then the enforcer hurriedly ushered them away before the daemon could notice. They remained silent during their walk, mostly thinking about the revelation they had just witnessed earlier. About the mediator being the shadowy figure that Luvia and Rin argued about.

"What... what happened here?" muttered the boy as they came up to the car wreckage.

"...Rider died," stated Luvia, her reply conveying everything.

"...We need to ask Noel-san something about this," muttered Rin after mulling over something else. Turning to the others, she said, "Something Saber said the other night... she called the fake priest Assassin. Now, I didn't know what to make of this, so I put off thinking about it. But now... now that the fake priest revealed himself, I must ask this. Saber, why did you call him Assassin?"

"Because the Assassin of the previous War had similar powers," Saber explained, "I cannot recall if I have ever met his Master, but Noel might."

"That... is quite a disturbing thought," the twin tailed magus mused with concern, crossing her arms in front of her, "The fake priest mentioned he took part in that War with my father. Both summoned Servants. Archer and Assassin."

Saber widened her eyes in response, "That..."

"Do you know something about this?" pressed Rin.

"...It is not my place to say," confessed the Servant, "I only know vaguely what happened. If anything, I would like to question Noel about something as well."

"Looks like we know what we need to do in the morning," confirmed the magus as she looked to the others for confirmation.

"I suppose we do," agreed Luvia. Sakura and Shirou only nodded.

"I shall join you as well," added Bazett, "I would like further information about this."

"Alright, it's settled then,' declared Rin. Turning to her former sister, she asked, "Sakura. Bring us back please."

The enforcer watched as the others huddled together and to her surprise, a dome of shadow engulfed them, taking them away.

"The Matou... perhaps I need to look up that family," she muttered to herself as she made her way to her base of operations.

Ducking. Dodging. Weaving. Lancer did so with grace and finesse. The clashes of their blades echoing in tandem with her fleet footwork. However, even though she fought a being of pure rage, it was a very experienced spawn of Chaos. Already, her armor had nicks, cuts, and dents in it. The black blade was ever so sharp. She did her best to avoid its sting, even employing her psychic powers in tandem with her attacks, and yet to no avail.

She wanted to force it away, to buy her some breathing space. Before the blast hit it, it stepped into the Warp and the next thing she saw was her hand falling off her wrist, the snarling spawn of Chaos only a few breaths away. She stabbed it with her spear, but it was too close. With another swing, it severed her arm at the elbow. She stilled her mind, numbing out all pain. The smallest thing she could do. Trivial but most necessary at this time. She refused to allow it the satisfaction of hearing her cry out. It seemed to enrage it even more; stepping on her foot and slashing at her legs, it finally buried its hellish sword in her.

A searing sense of rage burned her as it went in her abdomen and out her spine. She could feel the loss of her legs. She felt her body freeze. Slowly, it pulled the sword up, the serrations on the sword keeping her on it. Letting her head be near enough for it to grab with its free hand.

"You fight well, for a witch," it rumbled out to her, "And yet, a pity you are a witch, though you are among cowards."

As it began chanting, as she began to smell the burn of warp fire, she let a smile adorn her face. Calm. Serene. Thank Isha it couldn't see it. For small mercies. This War will be won and Chaos will be overcome. The path is set and there is no turning back.

"Saber. Archer. Assassin. May Kaela Mensha Khaine guide your blades."

Warp fire was very thorough. All flesh was burned off, leaving only the skull. With a twist of its wrist, the spine was dislocated away. Stepping away from what remained, a portal opened. It stepped inside with its prize, the way closing behind it. The body was slowly breaking up into motes of blue light when another visitor to this world stepped in. It walked up to the disappearing body and grasped the main crystal that was emblazoned on the Farseer's chest plate. Miraculously, it survived and it gleamed in the moonlight.

"You have fought well, farseer," the voice intoned as the spirit stone floated in his gauntleted hand, "But, I think it's time to return you to Kyras' hands. Your role in our universe is not over yet."

Looking around, he viewed this side of Fuyuki City. "Ten years since my coming here and so much has changed..." he murmured with a certain amusement, "It is a good thing."

Glancing down at the spirit stone as he opened his own portal, he chuckled darkly "Time to bring you back. Not to worry, this will be like a dream to you. After all, how can an Eldar willingly give her life for a human?"

Sindri Myr stepped through, the portal closing without a trace.

Morning streamed through the house. Sakura rose first, heading straight to the kitchen after her time in the bathroom. She was not that surprised to find Shirou already there. Although, something seemed off about him. He was moving a lot more slowly and carefully than usual.

"Senpai?" she called out, feeling quite concerned.

"Oh, good morning, Sakura," he greeted with his usual smile. Noting the look on her face, he quickly said, "Ah, don't worry about me. I'm fine."

"Senpai..." she muttered, her sense of worry still not abated. "Still, if he says he's fine..." she wondered as she took her seat.

"Good morning," greeted Saber, drawing her attention away.

"Ah, good morning, Saber," replied the Matou, "Have you recovered already?"

"I am close to full health," the Servant replied calmly, "Not to worry. I should be ready by tonight." By then, Shirou had finished making breakfast.

Thundering steps sounded through the hallway, just as the boy was laying everything out on the table. "Shirou! Food!" exclaimed Taiga as she promptly seated herself and held out her bowl.

"Good morning," said Rin politely as she stepped in after the hasty teacher... followed by Luvia.

"Eh, good morning, Tohsaka," he replied, pausing a second before continuing, "So... Edelfelt is joining us?"

Quickly noting the teacher being present, the blonde quickly stated, "Oh, no! I just heard that dear Rin was staying here, so I simply had to visit to check up on her."

"You are way too early," Rin deadpanned, catching on quickly to what the former was trying to do, "I think not even you could go on without breakfast."

"Oh, then if you do not mind, Shirou," Luvia said as she took a seat at the table, "You don't, do you?"

"Er, sure. You are more than welcome here," the red head replied haltingly.

Somehow, Taiga and Luvia hit it off as they talked about food. That the teacher's attention away from the others, though Sakura and Rin went back to being uncomfortable when the Finn began exclaiming how wonderful the food was. That increased when Taiga started doing the same thing. All that accumulated with Luvia passing a voucher to an All-You-Can-Eat event at the Fuyuki City Hyatt Hotel in Shinto over to the ecstatic Fujimura.

"Was there really such a thing?" questioned Rin with disbelief as the teacher rushed out of the room.

"Nope," denied the blonde magus with a smirk, "And I can always claim to have been fooled as well if she ever asked."

"Hmm, I guess it would have to be this or more hypnosis," summed up the former as she crossed her arms. Turning to the others, she asked, "Shall we get ready to go to the Mackenzie residence again?"

Getting nods from everyone, she spun on her heels and left to get ready. Luvia excused herself too. Shirou and Luvia did the washing up while Saber waited patiently. It did not take long for everyone to get ready to leave.

"A pity the car was destroyed," muttered the Edelfelt mage as they left the house, "We could have traveled in comfort instead of walking."

"But none of us could drive," pointed out the boy.

"I could, with the knowledge given by the Grail," the Servant revealed, "I could easily drive a car."

"Even without knowing how it works?" asked her Master in disbelief. She nodded.

The rest of the walk was one of silence. It didn't take too long to reach the house since they knew the way. Rin went ahead up the porch and rang the bell. After a bit of a wait, the door opened and a rather exhausted police officer looked out.

"...Eh? What..." she mumbled out a little before her eyes widening as she realized who was at the door, "Eh? Rin?" Then, she looked past her morning guest and muttered, "Everyone is here?"

"As of this moment, yes," said Bazett, suddenly appearing behind them.

"...What's going on... I've been up all night and I really need sleep..." Noel groaned lightly.

Saber stepped up to the porch and said, "Assassin."

"Huh? What assassin? Are you talking about-"

"Servant Assassin and his Master, Kotomine Kirei."

Noel froze. Then, she sighed and stepped back, the door swinging wide open. "Please, come in. I'd like to know what brought this on, but we can't have everyone out here," she stated tiredly.

Commentary:-

Sorry, I wanted to put this up on the 1st. Sadly, I sent it in a bit too late and my beta was all busy with work. Thankfully, he came through and here we are now. Praise the Sun.

Anyway, welcome back! Another day has ended and another Servant has fallen. Not sure if you saw it coming, but yes, Lancer died. However, not without buying time for the others to escape. And, I do hope I did this portrayal of the Skulltaker justice, showing a bit more of how it would fight. We also get a glimpse into what will happen the next morning. Luvia became a scammer. Naughty, naughty. Hope it won't come back to bite her. Also, darn, I shouldn't have trashed the car. Oh, well.

Yeah, I don't really have much to say on this one. Oh, wait! I have another Omake for you. This... I have been waiting to put up for a long time...

"Rejoice. Your villain has been revealed," said the priest with a smirk, focusing straight at the boy, who gritted his teeth and gripped his weapon tightly. He turned to the boy and said, "How is the heart?"

"Invigorating!" was the reply, "Now, we simply need the others."

"A matter that is easy to rectify," the shadowy priest stated as he walked over to the struggling Caster, who noticed his approach.

"You think to kill me? My flesh is not yours to destroy. It is immortal. It is undying. It-"

His hand clamped on his throat as the shadows rose up to wrap her up in a ball. He thrust his other hand into the sphere and pulled. Hard. Drawing blood. Sakura closed her eyes with a grimace. Shirou yelled in protest. Luvia and Rin stood stock still. Seconds later the sphere broke apart, revealing a bleeding Servant, his chest now had a hole gouged out where his heart was.

"You... urgh," Caster groaned, "...Heart of Darkness..."

True to its name, darkness shot out of the hole, black as death. It swallowed up everything; Servants, Masters, and former Servants. Shinji was fortunate enough to teleport back to the treeline. By then, the whole battlefield was drowned in black mist.

Shinji smirked and held out his hand, chanting the words, "Sight beyond sight."

A small portal shimmered into reality. He peered into it and was amazed.

Stars. So many stars. Billions fill the emptiness, filling the darkness.

"What? What is this?" he heard Luvia ask.

"Are we in... another Reality Marble?" asked Rin in return.

"Wait... are we in a cage?" exclaimed Shirou in shock. True enough, blackened metal bars surrounded the Masters. There was also some pinkish-red organic material nesting at the base of the bars.

"Shirou, stand back," said Saber as she came near and swung her invisible sword. However, the growths shot up and batted away the sword, surprising everyone.

"Wh-what was that?" stammered Sakura as she hid behind the boy.

"Best to stay away from them," stated Assassin as he observed the writhing growths, "At least until we find a way out of this."

"Women and men, soldiers and outlaws, fools and corpses..."

Every head turned to the speaker. Caster was there, a few feet away from them. "...All of you have found your way to this War. And now, your blood will soak the soil, and feed the great evil therein," he declared.

"Release us," said Lancer, "We must stop the Chaos-addled boy."

"I am afraid I must decline, Lancer," the former replied, "The Heart demands blood, and so it shall have it."

"Then we will fight and defeat you," declared Saber in return.

"Bold words with a mighty sword-hand," said another Caster, stepping out of the shadow to his left.

"Take care," warned the Servant of the Sword, "Caster can create clones."

"You think your success is guaranteed," said another clone, stepping out from the right.

"And yet, as victories mount, so too will resistance," a fourth intoned as it appeared to the far left.

"Speak all you want, Caster," said Saber with confidence, "I will be victorious." The wind around the sword stilled and its golden glow illuminated the place, its warm glow calming everyone on her side and giving them hope.

And yet, Caster and the clones laughed. It became more uproarious as more and more clones appeared, some looking similar but some looking horrendous. The same pinkish-red growths were apparent in places, giving the clone tentacles and eyes. Eyes black as night and deep like a well. then, the original raised his arms, the clones falling silent. The atmosphere suddenly turned threatening and suffocating. Saber, Archer, Lancer and Assassin were on their guard. The priest pulled out a few Black Keys and standing calmly between the Masters and the Servants.

"Such bold words, Saber. I do not expect anything less from you. However," said Caster as he raised his arms, silencing the clones. He turned his palms upwards and continued, "Allow me to remind you that overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer."

Now, please. Read. Review. Leave a comment. One can sometimes find clarity in madness, but only rarely...