Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.

Risen from Ruins

Chapter 14

"Ah, so you really are out of the hospital. That's good."

"It really is." Rin replied from where she was sitting on the couch of her London house. A box of tools was open on the coffee table, with machine parts neatly laid out beside it. Rin held a tool in her right hand, with which she was performing preventative maintenance on her puppet left arm. Given the delicate work, she kept her eyes on the puppet limb's innards, only ever looking at the manual and schematics every so often, and speaking to the newly-arrived Shirou and Luvia without looking at them. "It was getting really boring there."

"Didn't you have books though?" Luvia asked.

"Finished reading through them, and I didn't want to have the hospital staff run to fetch me some more to read." Rin said with a shrug. "Besides, I didn't really have any reason anymore to stay there. Both my heart, and my arm are fine now."

"Hmm…and yet here you are, tinkering with the latter."

"It's called preventative maintenance." Rin firmly said. "Not tinkering: there's a difference."

Luvia shrugged in her turn. "I suppose there is." She said, before wandering off. Shirou though, stayed in the living room. After a few moments just standing there, he sighed and sat down on a nearby armchair.

"So…" he began. "How are you doing?"

"…could be better…" Rin muttered, before sparks erupted and a puff of acrid smoke went up.

"Rin…!" Shirou said in alarm.

"Oh calm down." Rin snapped at him, finally looking though only for a moment before returning to her arm. Setting down the tool she was using earlier, she picked up a pair of tweezers, and reaching inside the puppet limb, pulled out a burnt object. "It's just some grit that managed to work itself in the mechanisms."

"I…I see."

Rin hummed while taking the tool from earlier again, and resumed her maintenance. Shirou looked on in silence for several minutes, until finally Rin nodded in satisfaction. "There," she said, putting the tool aside and flexing her arm and fingers before replacing the outer panel. "All done."

"You still have to screw it in place, though." Shirou pointed out.

Rin rolled her eyes. "Of course I do." She said. "I know that."

Taking a screwdriver, she screwed the outer panel in place, and then flexed her arm and fingers one more time before unrolling her sleeve. Smoothing the cloth, Rin then buttoned the cuffs before flexing her fingers a third time, and then smiled cheerfully at Shirou. "There," she smugly repeated. "All done."

Shirou nodded. "So…" he began again. "How have you been while we were gone?"

"…lonely." Rin admitted after a moment. "I mean…we've tried to make this place as welcoming as it could be, and it's certainly better than the hospital, but it still isn't home. And it's a big place…too big for one person. I…I miss my mother. I missed you. I even missed Luvia, for God's sake. And…I miss my sister."

Shirou was silent, unable to find the right words to say. After a few moments, Rin sighed and sat back against the couch. "I haven't been moping around though." She said. "Don't worry about that…I've kept house, worked through and even finished the pile of academic work that's built up ever since I had to stay at the hospital, and I've even returned to my classes in the Department of Mineralogy over the past week. So yeah, simply put I've been keeping busy."

"But…?" Shirou pressed, and Rin deflated.

"…still lonely…" Rin said softly.

"…Rin…" Shirou said just as softly before he gave a reassuring smile. "Well, right now you shouldn't be lonely anymore. I'm back, after all, and so is Luvia. And the next time she asks for help, you can come with us."

Rin made a face at that, but Shirou preempted her. "It's better than being stuck in an empty house." He pointed out. "Unless you can make more friends at the Clock Tower, that is."

"…point." Rin conceded, and Shirou smiled.

"Alright then." He said with a nod, before getting to his feet. "I'll go and see if Luvia needs help making tea. And then we can talk about our trip to America."

"Right, right…" Rin dismissively said with a wave as Shirou walked off. And then his words sank into Rin's consciousness. "Wait, what? Luvia's running around on her own in my kitchen? Oh hell no!"

Fired up at the thought, Rin sprang off the couch and hurried after Shirou towards the kitchen.

Harsh xenon lights lit up the underground space, allowing uniformed homunculi and magi alike to work in relative comfort. Both wore gas masks in case toxic gases were released from further underground, and safety lines were everywhere. Automatons and familiars flew around performing their duties, though spirits were nowhere to be seen, kept away to prevent any…accidents, considering what was in the middle of the underground workspace.

The Holy Grail: a gigantic sphere of rock several meters across, carved open in front and its interior sculpted and inlaid with golden material into a statuary of three beautiful, long-haired women clustered around a central point. At that point, should the Grail ever achieve completion, a path would open, leading straight to the gates of the Root.

That was why no spirits were present in this underground space. The Grail fed on spirits for energy, after all, dissolving them into prana to fuel its mysteries. And while most spirits – such as the kind most magi both within and outside Yggdmillennia made use of – would provide only a paltry amount of prana, it was still only prudent to keep them away from the Grail regardless.

"…work is proceeding as scheduled." Gordes remarked as Darnic joined him on an observation deck. The portly man pressed a key on the control panel, and brought up a series of holographic screens. "We should be able to excavate within forty-eight hours."

"Just as planned then." Darnic said with a nod. "I've read your report. You've done well, factoring in the negative variability and inferring the configuration the founding families used to connect the ley lines to the Grail with an accuracy rating of eighty-four per cent."

"I'd be happier if I didn't have to rely on inference." Gordes grumbled. "Nevertheless, thank you for the compliment, my lord."

Darnic waved him off. "It is only due." He said. "Keep up the good work, not just when it comes to excavating the Grail and relocating it, but also in cracking Jubstacheit's archives."

"Of course, my lord." Gordes said with a nod. "It will be done."

Darnic nodded himself. "I will personally oversee the initial fitting of the Grail to Trifas' ley lines." He said. "That will take quite some time, time in which you should be able to fully access Jubtacheit's archives. Between those and what we can find in the Zolgen and Tohsaka materials, we can adjust and complete the Grail's fittings at our leisure afterwards."

"I'll be sure to double my efforts then." Gordes said. "Though not so much that I will rush things. That may prove problematic…"

"Indeed it would be," Darnic agreed. "Haste makes waste…"

Silence fell between the two men, who continued to watch the ongoing work while also musing on other matters. Gordes' thoughts were on the Einzbern archives in Germany, but Darnic…

"…why on Earth would anyone tamper with not just the ley lines, but the regional faults as well?" he finally said after a few minutes. "To delay the Sixth or Fifth Holy Grail Wars? To bury or perhaps even crush the Grail with an earthquake? If so, why?"

"…I do not know, my lord." Gordes said, before pressing another key on the control panel and bringing up more data. "I have, however, taken the liberty of organizing an investigative task force, which will have the responsibility of finding out who was responsible, and what they were aiming to achieve."

Darnic nodded slowly in approval. "Good…" he said. "…very good…keep me posted…"

"It will be done, my lord."

Things were getting out of hand.

The closer Fiore – or rather, the automaton housing her mind – got to the ritual grounds, the more surreal her surroundings were becoming. The concrete passageways all around were no longer just caked with fungal or coral-like growths, haphazard and organic, but a matrix of hexagonal segments that resembled what blood vessel walls would look like under a microscope.

The segments themselves were alive, respiring and recycling the humid and oxygen-heavy (one hundred per cent humidity and thirty-three per cent oxygen according to the automaton's sensors) air to sustain themselves and their environment in some strange symbiosis. How that was even possible in these dark and dank passageways was beyond Fiore.

More problematic was that as she entered these passageways, the segments recognized her as an intruder and began bringing to bear defensive measures. Segments swelled and bloated, before erupting pale streams and sheets of mucus that had the consistency of semi-liquid rubber. Possessing incredible tensile strength, the former stuck to the automaton's ether shield, and could stretch incredible distances before breaking, all the while pushing the automaton's anti-gravity and propulsion systems greatly.

The sheets of mucus impeded forward movement as direct barriers, and couldn't simply be pushed through, as they stuck to the ether shield. Worse, they hardened quickly once disconnected from the wall segments which produced them, forming brittle casts around the shield and impairing vision. And while individually light, as more and more casts formed around the shield, the cumulative weight also began impairing movement.

This forced Fiore to fire her secondary ether cannons to break them up, while also carving bleeding gashes into the surrounding walls. Dark ichor spilled out from the gashes, surprisingly basic and thus posing no threat to the automaton's shell should the shield be breached, but it triggered a more active defense mechanism.

Pale and amorphous shapes flowed at great speed down the passageway, and hurling themselves through the air engulfed the automaton, shield and all. To Fiore's shock, fluid pressures rose to nearly a hundred pounds per square inch, and causing alarms to scream as the shield simply collapsed, unable to bear the weight.

Diverting power from the shield generators to the outer shell, Fiore charged the latter with current, and causing the defense organisms to simply explode on contact. It seemed their bodies were almost completely made of water, and the current pouring through the shell excited them so much that they simply burst.

More and more of them came, and attempted the same only to blown apart on contact. Fiore proceeded, no longer floating through the air but rumbling over the ground to save energy for the outer shell.

The wall segments continued their attempts to impede her though, and forcing her to use her ether cannons to scour the walls to prevent them from latching on to the automaton's shell. By now other defense organisms were being brought to bear, in particular one that expended more than half its weight in simply hosing down the automaton with an acidic jet.

Sparks exploded and current arced as the outer shell was overloaded, and then bronze began to corrode at an incredible rate. While not as vulnerable as iron to corrosion, the latter still weakened the shell and forced Fiore to realize she was running out of time.

She needed to finish this expedition soon, before she was overwhelmed. Thankfully she'd used an automaton as opposed to coming in person – not that she really could seeing as she was disabled – as this place would be a deathtrap even to most magi.

Charging her primary ether cannon, she fired again, burning the last several meters of the passageway clean. And then reactivating her anti-gravity systems, floated up and forward at maximum speed.

There it is!

The thought passed through Fiore's mind as she saw the heart of the ritual grounds. Once a water pumping station, it was now a cancerous mound of twisted flesh, throbbing and heaving as dozens of vents pumped and exhaled spore-laden jets of air with every breath, while vessels both organically-grown or repurposed from compromised piping and tubing pumped dark-colored ichor.

The walls, ground, and ceiling were a honeycomb of pods, throbbing and heaving from the growths inside of them. Many were empty, having been hatched to defend against Fiore's incursion, while others were tended to by vermin-like organisms. And as Fiore looked on, more pods began to hatch, as the cancerous result of the Curse of Life struggled to defend itself against Fiore.

Patches of the honeycomb had been seared dead or dying by the primary ether cannon, giving Fiore some breathing room. Or so she thought: the wall segments around the passageway Fiore had passed through cancerously bloomed into life, turning into a heaving mass of flesh that pressed down from all around.

Ether cannons fired, burning away great chunks of flesh, but the growth continued unabated, smashing into the automaton and engulfing it. Sparks flew as ether cannons were crushed in their mounts, while alarms sounded as the outer shell was compromised.

Bronze plates crumpled and gave way, allowing feelers and tendrils of cancerous growth to pry into and take root inside the automaton's mechanisms. Attempts to unfold the pincers failed, the sections unable to move against the pressure all around.

Even the primary ether cannon was unable to fire. Fiore charged it, only for a growth to latch around the barrel and bend it so much as to compromise the delicate internal mechanisms.

I've got no choice!

Dumping all power into secondary systems, Fiore ejected a second automaton from the inside of the previous one. Unlike the latter, which was large, bulky, and non-humanoid, the former was an elegant, robot-like machine that flew through the air inside the chamber on anti-gravity wings.

Caught by surprise, the defenses were unable to prevent Fiore from getting close, and leveling twin ether rifles opened fire on full auto. Violet beams carved into the mass, spilling forth ichor…

…but it was simply too big, and she lacked power.

Worse, the mass simply erupted forth twisted tendrils of flesh, and grabbing Fiore's second automaton pulled it against itself and then began to pull it inside. Alarms again sounded through Fiore's mind as the second automaton was compromised, and much quicker given its lighter design, focused on agility over firepower and defense.

For a split-second, Fiore was torn, but then cursing at the loss of one of her greatest works, which had taken years to design and build, made her decision. Dumping all the operational data into backup servers, Fiore activate the self-destruct before purging her mind, causing it to be thrown back into her body halfway across the city.

Then spirit-powered generators inside both automatons went critical in great gouts of plasma. Metal, crystal, and rubber turned to vapor, burning energies scouring the ritual ground and the surrounding passageways clean. And then burning through the ceiling, it ruptured a water pipe, an electrical and fiber-optic conduit, and even a gas line.

That last sent more cleansing fire through the undercity, and blasted a hole through the subway and up through the ground and into the open air of downtown Fuyuki above. People fled as panic erupted at the stream of glowing plasma and burning gas blasting several feet into the air, only for the latter to die down in moments.

Even then, the heat was enough to shatter glass in the immediate are of the eruption, and set concrete glowing.

In her suite aboard the airship Carpatin, Fiore awoke with a crippling headache. "Aspirin…water…aspirin and water…" she groaned to her attendants, who hurried to obey as Fiore struggled to sit up.

The mission though, was accomplished. The Curse of Life was terminated, and the underground biosphere contained and sanitized. Those lost beforehand, plus the explosive conclusion would seed urban legends for years to come, but that was of no further concern to the authorities of the Moonlit World.

And that was enough. Taking aspirin for her headache, Fiore allowed herself to lie down for a bit, to rest and recover until she could properly deliver her report to her grandfather. And then she would see to her cousin.

Come to think of it…it's been a while, hasn't it? Shouldn't she have recovered by now?

…we'll see soon enough, I'm sure.

Sakura and Aoi sat in the Ceahlău Massif's dining room, having brunch together. Caules had excused himself to give mother and daughter some time alone together, with only the restaurant staff left with them in the dining room. Even then, they were left largely alone unless they needed one thing or another.

Sakura's brunch was bacon and eggs, the latter cooked sunny side up. It was accompanied by freshly-baked black bread served with cheese, washed down with freshly-pressed fruit juice and freshly-brewed coffee. Aoi for her part had an egg and sausage omelet, also served with black bread and cheese, though washed down by tea in her case. A basket of fresh fruit sat between them.

Brunch was eaten in silence, awkwardly in Aoi's case, and with surprising ease in Sakura's. Or not: it was clear Sakura was prepared to let her mother make the first move. And if she didn't…

…well…

Bite by bite, brunch was slowly but steadily finished, until both women were left having hot drinks with each other at their table. Sakura lounged languidly in her seat, dressed once more in Yggdmillennia's uniform. This was in contrast to Aoi, and not just her casual, modern attire, but the uncomfortable and pained air around her.

Finally, she drew up the courage to address her youngest daughter. "Sakura," she began. "Will you come home?"

Sakura didn't answer at once, staring into the creamy surface of her coffee for a long moment. And then she smiled, and took a drink. "My home," she began in her turn. "Such that I have, is in Trifas in Romania. It's an old castle, going back to the Middle Ages, surrounded by rolling countryside, though there's a good-sized town about an hour away by car."

"I…I see…" Aoi despondently replied.

Sakura just smiled wider though. "Though," she said. "I wouldn't mind if you joined me there. Like I said, it's an old castle, and so it's pretty big. Plenty of room for guests and family…and while I'd rather not admit it, it is rather lonely, being the only one of Tohsaka Yggdmillennia there. So…how about it?"

Aoi stared at Sakura, who smiled expectantly at her. The silence stretched for several long moments, and then Aoi looked away, biting at her lip. Her eyes wavered, betraying the struggle within, between what the woman wanted against what she was expected to do. And then closing her eyes at the psychological strain, she let out a deep, hacking breath.

"I…my place is here…" she choked out. "I…I must look after the house…and…your father's grave is here…"

Sakura's eyes dropped to half-mast, while her expression turned cool. "…I don't have a father." She said after a moment, and causing Aoi to turn to her with a gasp. "I never had one."

"Sakura…you shouldn't say that…" Aoi breathed.

Sakura took another drink of her coffee. "I still have a mother, don't I?" she asked, looking at her mother with a subtle challenge in her voice and the tilt of her head.

"O-of course…" Aoi desperately said, the emotion betrayed by her cracking smile.

"Hmm…then why do you hesitate?" Sakura asked, and causing Aoi to reel back as though struck. "Why can't you simply be my mother instead of being a parrot for Tokiomi Tohsaka?"

"…when you have children of your own," Aoi weakly said, unable to meet her daughter's eye once more. "You will understand."

"Unlikely," Sakura refuted while repeatedly jabbing a finger in Aoi's direction. "For one thing, Caules is ten times the man Tokiomi Tohsaka ever was, even now. Even if Caules will never be head of the family, he will still be a better father and husband than Tokiomi could ever be. And for another thing, Caules respects me. Unlike that man who only ever saw you as a baby maker, a housekeeper, and a parrot to soften his words."

"That's not true!" Aoi cried, wringing her hands.

"Yes, it is." Sakura said, and causing Aoi to reel back once more. And then sighing, Sakura allowed the coldness to fade from her face. "And it's partly because of that that I forgive you. You couldn't have done anything. You never had the chance to do anything. That man made it so. But…that man is dead. Now…now you can make your own decisions…just like when you said sorry all those days ago…that man could never have said that."

Sakura paused and looked away. Aoi sat silent, still wringing her hands, and then Sakura drained her mug. "Or didn't you mean what you said back then?" she asked. "Am I really that much of an unwanted child as I thought I was when I ran away nearly twenty years ago?"

"Of course not!" Aoi said, only to flinch away as Sakura half-rose from her seat, slamming both her hands on the table.

"THEN WHY?" Sakura demanded. "WHY CAN'T YOU JUST BE MY MOTHER? WHY CAN'T YOU BE THERE FOR ME LIKE YOU WERE FOR RIN? WHY CAN'T ANY OF YOU LOVE ME BACK AS MUCH I AS LOVE YOU?"

"I…" Aoi stammered out, and flinched as Sakura pushed off the table with a shake of her head.

"I hate you…I really do…" she breathed heavily, though it was clear her heart wasn't in it. "…fine then…if you want to stay here…if you want to waste your life caring for that man's grave…then fine…if that's what you really want…then fine…"

Sakura strode away, her shoulders slumped. "Sakura…!" Aoi cried out, and Sakura paused mid-step. Silence hung pregnant with anticipation between them, Aoi soundlessly struggling to say what she wanted to say, but in the end, it was Sakura who broke it.

Briefly looking back over a shoulder, Aoi reeled back yet again at the old hurt in Sakura's eyes, that of a child abandoned by her family. And then she turned away, and took a deep breath. "Make sure to at least visit your grandchildren when you have them." Sakura said, and then walked away.

Aoi half-heartedly raised a hand, and then letting it fall, closed her eyes while shaking her head from side to side, tears falling helplessly down her cheeks.

I…I am…

"Oh, Sakura…!" Fiore cheerfully said, as her attendants showed Sakura into her suite. "I was just about to come and see you…"

Fiore trailed off as she quickly saw Sakura's morose mood, and with a gesture, dismissed her attendants. They bowed out, and then Sakura was stepping forward to sit next to Fiore. Fiore regarded her cousin with concern, and then reaching out, took a hand and held it reassuringly.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"…they really don't want me." Sakura said softly. "Otherwise…they wouldn't hesitate so much…"

"…you know it's more complicated than that, Sakura." Fiore gently said.

"I do." Sakura admitted with a sigh. "But even so…I…"

Fiore stared at Sakura, who could only sit downcast on the couch. And then taking a deep breath, Fiore pushed herself off her wheelchair, and sitting down to Sakura, pulled her into a hug. "Come here, Sakura." Fiore said softly, holding Sakura tight and rubbing an arm comfortingly. "There, there…everything will be alright. If nothing else, you still have all the rest of us."

"…I do, don't I?" Sakura said, closing her eyes and sinking deeper into Fiore's embrace. "When all is said and done…I still have Yggdmillennia…"

"Yes, you do."

Sakura hummed and snuggled up against Fiore. They just sat there for a long time, the younger magus taking comfort in the older magus' embrace, though the silence was eventually broken when Caules slipped into his sister's suite. "Um…" he began. "Maybe I should go…"

"Stay." Fiore and Sakura chorused, and then staring at each other in surprise, the former beamed down at Sakura who pulled away with a sheepish smile.

Caules hesitated for a moment, and then steeling himself, hurried over to sit next to his fiancée. "I've been told you came out of the Ceahlău Massif as though someone had died." He said.

"My hopes and dreams just had their hearts ripped out." Sakura theatrically said, though she then sighed and shook her head. "Those damn Tohsakas…I don't know why I even bother. I should just forget about them…take what I can…let them rot…start over…"

Sakura paused and turned to Caules with eyes burning with anger and resentment. "I mean," she said. "We're going be married and starting a family in a few years so…why? Why do I even bother?"

"…because you love them, that's why." Caules said after a moment, and reaching up, wiped a tear from Sakura's eye. "And that's the best part of you…it's what makes you better than them…"

Sakura looked away, her jaw set with bitterness. "…you two…all of Yggdmillennia…" she said softly. "Where would I be without any of you?"

"…I don't know." Caules said before taking Sakura's hand, and entwining his fingers with her own. Sakura turned her head to look at him, and he smiled at her before closing their hands together. "But I wouldn't want to know."

Sakura smiled back, and nodded once. "Thanks…for being here…for always being here, Caules." She said, before turning to Fiore as well. "You too, Fiore."

"We'll always be with you, Sakura." Fiore said, placing an arm around Sakura's shoulders, and clumsily giving her a hug. "We'll always be your family, no matter what."

"I know…and I'm so very thankful for that."

A/N

Are Sakura Matou and Sakura Tohsaka Yggdmillennia really all that different from each other? I'd say otherwise, and that if they ever met, once the ice is broken, both would find a lot of common ground between them. Their parents don't seem to want them, their sisters both seem to just not care, and both of them dedicate themselves to the first people who showed them actual love and care: Shirou for Sakura Matou, and the Yggdmillennia for Sakura Tohsaka Yggdmillennia.