Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon. I also do not own the Megami Tensei franchise, it belongs to Atlus.

Family

"How long do you intend to continue with this…farce?"

Rin and Tokiomi stiffened at the words that spilled from Marjatta's lips, the latter standing next to the fireplace, and staring into the flames that burned merrily within. "Farce, you say?" Tokiomi asked with a dangerous note in his voice. "A curious sentiment coming from you, Lady Marjatta. Were you not the one who claimed that bonds of blood were sacrosanct, and the breaking and disregard thereof a crime most foul to those of good sense and upbringing? And yet, you would now describe our efforts to preserve the life of a beloved member of our family a…farce, was it? Lady Marjatta…I am appalled."

"…too many words." Marjatta said after a moment. "Simply put, you would accuse me of hypocrisy. Or am I wrong?"

Tokiomi was silent, his face like stone as he stared at his niece, who looked back at him and his daughter over a shoulder. Next to him, Rin stood uncertainly, and after a moment, Marjatta turned in full before taking a few steps closer. "Rin, answer me." She said.

Rin looked disinclined to answer, and in the next moment Marjatta's crest glowed. "Answer me," she repeated. "I command you."

At those three words, the Edelfelt portion of the Tohsaka Crest, and which indeed formed more than half of said crest, acknowledged the supremacy of the crest of the main line of the House of Edelfelt, as any crest of a branch family would. It burned white-hot against Rin's skin, no, more than that, it burned deep into the flesh of her arm, into her very bones itself, and scalded at her soul.

Rin gasped, and staggering, made to answer. "Y-y-yes!" she hissed. "Y-you say family is everything! And yet you…!"

"You have no right to speak to me of family, Rin." Marjatta said with a dismissive wave, and turning off her crest as she did so. Rin gasped and breathed heavily in relief as her crest stopped burning, satisfied at her submission to the main family. Next to her, Tokiomi grabbed his daughter, and helped her stay on her feet, as Marjatta once more turned back to the flames.

"You go too far, Lady Marjatta." Tokiomi said softly.

"Then I will speak plainly." Marjatta said. "Aunt Aoi is only family by marriage. There are no bonds of blood between her and myself compelling my compassion. Indeed, her…weakness, and I do not refer to her current predicament, offends me. Let me tell you this now: enhancer or not, someone of such weak will as her would never have been allowed to marry into our house."

"You can't speak of my mother like that." Rin protested.

"I can and I am." Marjatta said. "But even disregarding that point, Aunt Aoi no longer wishes to live. And you know this to be true."

The Tohsaka were still and silent, unable to refute Marjatta but also equally unwilling to acknowledge her argument. "I suppose as there are bonds of blood and matrimony between yourselves and her," Marjatta continued. "You are obliged to stand up for her due. And as a branch family of our house, you have the right to settle and conduct your affairs so long as they do not run counter to the interests of the house as a whole."

Marjatta paused, and then turned to face the Tohsaka again. "You have failed your filial obligations once before." She said. "I sincerely hope you do not so once more."

"Then what would you have us do?" Tokiomi whispered. "Let my wife die? How could that possibly…"

"Aunt Aoi has lost the will to live." Marjatta interrupted. "All she wishes for now is to die. And I can understand the reasoning behind both."

"You can't be serious." Rin said with a shake of her head. "How…how could just letting her die count as…fulfilling, our obligations to my mother? That's…that not…"

Marjatta stared at Rin for several moments, and then sighing, dropped the cold mask her face was set in. Instead, she now stared at Rin with a sad and pitying expression on her face. "Don't you know?" she asked. "The most painful thing in this world, is to wander it without the one you love."

Tokiomi snorted skeptically. "Speaking from experience, Lady Marjatta?" he asked.

"Of course not," Marjatta scoffed. "But I was taught that by someone who could."

"Indeed."

"…my grandmother ultimately came to regret ever breaking the mirror." Marjatta said after a moment, and Tokiomi barely managed to hold back a wince. "So she made sure me and Luvia understood that lesson without ever having to experience it ourselves. She lost her other half, and she didn't want to risk us ever making the same mistake."

"…so we should just let her die?" Rin whispered.

"If you wish for her to be at peace," Marjatta said. "Then yes. Or, bring back her other child, but I daresay your chances of success on that matter are…negligible."

Tokiomi looked away in shame. "…I only had her best interests in mind…" he began.

"Indeed." Marjatta interrupted, before gesturing dismissively. "Consider my words well, and decide on what you would do next. You may go."

Tokiomi gave a curt nod, and then taking Rin by the shoulders, led her away. As they passed through double doors which closed behind them, Marjatta fancied she heard a sniffle. She didn't care. They made their bed, and now they must lie in it.

Nothing less is deserved by those who abandon even one of the pack, and their own cub, no less.

"I heard you spoke to our cousin and uncle earlier." Luvia said, stepping from a glowing portal she'd opened between the Edelfelt and Emiya mansions, sparks flying from the edges. She gestured, and the portal sealed itself. "Rin was rather…put out, during the whole day."

"You are too compassionate for her." Marjatta remarked from where she was seated, reading on a couch.

"And you are being too judging." Luvia returned.

Marjatta snorted. "That coming from an avatar of a goddess of justice?" she asked. "Amusing…"

Luvia stared at her sister for several long moments, and then smiling stepped closer to hug her from behind, her breasts resting on top of Marjatta's head. "Just say what you want to say, Marjatta." Luvia said.

"…I put myself in Miss Matou's shoes," Marjatta said after a moment. "And I imagine you standing in Rin's place, and her parents standing in place of ours. It is…incomprehensible."

"…a rather unfair comparison, don't you think?" Luvia asked after a moment. "The different between Tohsaka and the rest of the house in Finland and elsewhere, is as great as the distance between Heaven and Earth."

Marjatta snorted. "Poetic," she said. "But irrelevant…if someone as elevated above the clouds as we are could be capable of forbearing for the less fortunate among our blood, then so it should be for those within and below the clouds as well."

Luvia laughed. "How very poetic of you." She said, and Marjatta smirked with another snort.

"I only follow your lead, my other self." She said.

"Indeed…but to go so far as to tell the Tohsaka to let their matriarch die?"

"Like I told them," Marjatta grimly said. "Aunt Aoi no longer wishes to live, and indeed, has lost the will to do so. To be at peace would require one of two things, the first being to release her from her tortured existence, and the second would be to return her lost child to her."

"The latter would be a miracle." Luvia immediately said. "Sakura has no attachment left to the Tohsaka or the Zenjou, and I don't blame her for it. Neither did right by her, no matter how she or I look at it."

"So we have discussed in the past."

"Hmm…so we have…"

"…there is an alternative," Marjatta said after a moment, narrowing her eyes. "But it is rather distasteful, and I doubt Tohsaka would accept it."

"Oh?"

Marjatta held her silence for a few more moments before continuing. "If the issue in question is that Aunt Aoi is unable to face the consequences of her failure as a mother," she said. "Then what if the slate is simply wiped clean?"

"…what?"

"Wipe her memories," Marjatta continued. "Implant false ones in their places, and even a false identity as well, and have her start over, elsewhere. For optimum chances of success, any and all past ties with others both close and distant would have to be severed…and that is the whole problem."

"Tohsaka are already – if understandably – too attached to her." Luvia sadly said. "It is to the point that they would rather prolong her agony in the faint hope of her recovery, than to honor her wish and let her pass away in peace."

"…they have my sympathies." Marjatta said. "And I must admit, I'd be very disappointed if they accepted the alternative I put forward just a moment ago."

"Then why put it forward at all in the first place?"

Marjatta smiled. "It is an option." She said, and Luvia laughed.

"Indeed."

"WHAT?"

Rin and Luvia stood together on the roof of the school during lunchbreak, both of them having erected barriers around them to avoid eavesdroppers, spies, and watchers, from violating their privacy. The latter tilted her head at the former's shout, and made a miming motion as though of cleaning an ear of blockage.

"I have said what I have said." She said. "Impressive range there, your voice has. Have you ever considered taking up singing as a hobby? I daresay you have promise."

Rin ran forward, and grabbed Luvia by the collar. "You…" she breathed. "You…you really are the lowest of the low…first suggesting we just let my mother die…and now you'd suggest we simply destroy who she is, and have her live a lie elsewhere? What color is your blood, Edelfelt?"

Luvia's response was to simply head-butt Rin away. "You may thank your half-sister for teaching me said move." She said, adjusting her collar as she did so. "I must admit, it is very crude and inelegant, but used right, it is very effective."

Rubbing her forehead from where she lay on the ground, Rin glared up at Luvia, who just looked unfazed. "I – we – merely offer options, Rin." She said. "You can let your mother waste away for gods knows how long, or you can let her die, or you can even try and work a miracle by bringing Sakura back. I wish you luck in the case of the last…or, you can let her start over."

"Start over with a living lie!" Rin spat.

"She'd be alive, at peace, and possibly even be happy, nevertheless." Luvia pressed. "Compared to the present situation…"

Luvia trailed off, but the message was clear. "…you are despicable people, all of you." Rin murmured hatefully. "And you Edelfelt claim to hold family in the highest regard…ha!"

"Hmm…" Luvia hummed in amusement. "And yet, in five hundred years, not once have we abandoned one of our own to slavery as you Tohsaka have."

"SHUT UP!" Rin roared, but unable to look at Luvia, who snorted.

"I think not." Luvia said, as a golden light entered her eyes. "Very well then…here is one option for you, which may accomplish a dual purpose in…making up, for your family's past mistakes, and even healing your mother's mind."

Rin sharply glanced at Luvia, who glanced back, and causing Rin to draw away from the divine light in her eyes. "Goddess Astraea…" she whispered, and Luvia smiled.

"It is simple, really." She said. "Your parents must simply have another child, and raise her correctly this time around. Of course, considering your mother's state, your father procreating with her at this time is a rather…disturbing, prospect, is it not?"

"…you are as despicable as your avatar, goddess." Rin snarled, before scrambling to her feet and storming away. Luvia just smiled at her back, and as the door slammed behind Rin, raised her face to speak into the air.

"Good grief…what a dysfunctional family, my relatives have." She remarked to herself, before opening a portal, and passing through, vanished as it closed behind her.

A/N

Man, this interlude made my head hurt to write.