Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/ Stay Night or any other related properties. This story is for entertainment purposes only. Please Enjoy!

Chapter 26: Rin

"Blake Ryan, I assume?"

"Yes, that would be me."

"Please, call me Rin."

"Your magic circuits are active!"

"Rin!"

"I think you should sit this one out."

"I need some air, I feel like I'm suffocating in here."

"Sage is here?"

"You should be weary of her."

"What do you know?!"

"Master Blake has been taken by Einsbern."

"I'm gonna kill you!"

"No matter where you go, or what you do, I will believe in you always."

"Don't go!"

"I love you."

"Blake Ryan will return to you."

"Rin?"

"You won't lay a finger on her!"

"It's because...I...love...you…"

Memories bombarded Rin's mind like a machine gun; her lost memories ripping their way back into her mind like bullets. Everything she had forgotten was returning all at once and all the magus could do was sit there as tears fell down her face from both relief and sorrow. Blake's face reengraved itself into her mind, and his voice resonated through her psyche.

"Ms. Tohsaka." The woman called gently. Rin was still sobbing uncontrollably. "Ms. Tohsaka." The woman said a bit louder. "Ms. Tohsaka!" She finally yelled.

Rin finally stopped crying out and looked at the gray-haired woman with wild teary eyes.

"It's ok, my dear." The woman soothed as she wrapped her arms around the girl. "Everything is fine. Things are going to be okay."

Rin didn't normally like to be touched, but she needed a shoulder at the moment. The girl buried her face in the woman's robes and began to silently sob.

"He's dead!" Rin cried. "He's dead and its all my fault! If I hadn't shown up, he would still be alive!"

The image of the life fading from Blake's eyes burned in the forefront of all of the other memories she was experiencing.

"That's the thing, my dear." The woman said. "We can still save him. But I need your help."

Run stepped out of the woman's arms and gave her a look of shock.

"The dead can't be revived." She said with disbelieving eyes. "The laws of nature forbid it. And even if we could succeed, the world would try and kill him again."

The older woman smiled at her and gave a soft laugh. "There's two things about that, that make that statement virtually untrue." Rin looked at her in confusion. "One, we wouldn't be bringing him back to the Realm of Life. We'd be bringing him back here, where the laws of nature don't apply. And two, he's not dead. At least not here anyways. Diviner's cannot die within the bounds of the diviner's realm."

"But he died!" Rin yelled. "I watched as his last breath left him! I felt it."

"That also has an explanation," the older woman responded. "He was being a damned fool."

Anger clouded Rin's face, but the woman held her hand up, signaling for the girl to let her finish.

"I say this because he forgot that I had told him that he couldn't die here. So he did something desperate. He used "Higher Arcana: The Lovers" And sealed away his soul within you."

Rin's eyes went wide. His soul was inside of her? Then it hit her. The memories that she had been experiencing had started coming back after he had "died". It was all making sense now.

"That's why his body appears to be dead, because for all intents and purposes, it is."

Hope re-entered the Rin's heart as she tried her eyes. What do you need me to do?" Rin asked; her face finally calm.

She donned her "magus face".

The woman held out her hand and a tarot deck materialized into it. "This is Blake's deck. I need you to place your hand on it and allow it to temporarily view you as it's master. Since you have Blake's soul within you, it should respond to your will. Once you do that, it should allow you access to your inner world. Once you are there, you will draw one of four cards. That card will locate him. After that, you will draw the second to lead you to him. Once that is accomplished, you will draw the third to release him from your body and back into his. Do you understand?"

"I think so." Rin responded in thought. She hadn't realized how many uses the tarot deck had.

"Good enough. So, when you release him, that's when you'll draw a fourth card to guide him back to his body. Do you understand?"

"I comprehend the basics." Rin responded. Slight confusion crossed her face. "But I don't see how randomly drawing cards from his deck will do anything? What if I draw wrong."

The woman sighed. "The deck is never wrong. It responds to your will and need. If you do not know the card you need, one will respond to you."

"But aren't they just cards?" Rin asked. "I thought a user had to pulse mana to each card as they drew."

The elder shook her head. "No. The deck works as a collective. To pulse your mana into each individual card would be drastically less cost efficient. Furthermore, there is a certain property to tarot decks that make them highly reactive to magic. We call it the "Diviner Property", but we have little to no idea what that the property actually is. This property only seems to take effect when the whole deck is present, and once mana is pulsed into the deck, it no longer needs mana to activate the cards."

"Aside from the Higher Arcana cards, correct?" Rin inquired.

"Yes. The Higher Arcana cards are a different matter." The woman responded. "They don't require mana to use, so it's easy to get carried away with them, but they come at a higher cost that isn't quite realized by first-bloods."

Rin nodded. First generation mages had the same issue. They were capable of mage craft, but were unaware of the cost. Many had died from mana overuse, and many more had died from spells that they had no means of controlling. It seemed diviner mages were no different in this matter.

"It costs them life-force, doesn't it?" Rin asked in a manner that said that she already knew the answer.

The woman nodded. "Yes. Higher Arcana cards are high level spells that shave off years equal to that of the number used. It's a terrifying but brilliant power."

"So a tarot mage can only use cards up until their life force is spent?"

"That would be correct. Through training of the inner world, one can discover the exact number of years that they have to spend. Blake knew this number, but decided to spend his cards to save you and that..." the woman wrinkled her nose in disgust. "...occultist."

"So there's no way around that limitation?" Rin asked; ignoring the face the elder was making in regards to her friend.

"Oh no." The woman laughed. "There are two ways, actually. One is through ritual. The card must be prepared for as many months as the number of the card. This is time consuming and requires a draining amount of mana."

"And the second?"

The woman smiled. "You are very curious about this topic. Do I sense an urge to become a tarot mage?"

Rin gave a wry laugh. "Oh definitely not. I'll stick to my gem magic. I'm just curious because I want to understand him better."

"Ah, I see." The elder smiled. "Well the second way to circumvent the life cost is to go into certain cards and make the spirit of that card submit. Once that is done, a Higher Arcana card becomes what is known as a "Mastered Arcana" card. A "Mastered Arcana" reacts like one of the suit cards and comes with virtually no cost."

"So a tarot mage could have complete dominion over the entire Higher Arcana?" Rin didn't like that thought. Vollu had used a "Mastered Arcana" card.

"No." The woman responded. "Complete dominion is almost impossible. You can only achieve "Mastered Arcana" for Higher Arcana card numbers equal to your set number of life years. So unless one had two-hundred-and-thirty-one life years, they could not hope to master them all. In his life, as a tarot user, Blake unintentionally set eight of his Higher Arcana cards as candidates for mastery."

"I see," Rin said with thought on her face. "But won't me drawing cards decrease my life force?"

"No," the woman shook her head. "You'll be in your inner world, so the usual effects won't apply unless you try to forcefully release yourself."

Rin nodded. It was complex, but it all seemed to make sense.

"Why are you so invested in saving him and protecting me?" Rin asked the woman. "Who are you?"

"Because he is my precious disciple," the woman smiled. "You're important to him and important to the current society in the Realm of Life. He will need you once he returns. As for who I am, I don't believe I properly introduced myself. I am Integra Salleoso, Master of Arcana."

"It's a pleasure, Madam Integra," Rin smiled. "Well, I think I should get started then." She looked over at Blake's body. "Time for me to save you, idiot."

A/N: Sorry sorry sorry for the long wait! I'm currently on a different sleeping schedule so things have been a little harder to work on. I'll be posting up more consistently now! I know it's not much, but it will be setting up what is to come next and I hope you all will enjoy it! Thank you for your patience and thank you for reading! I hope you all have had a wonderful day!

-B