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

Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi

Chapter 7: Il Mondo (Part VII)

"Fire in the hole!"

It had taken most of the night for the fires to finish consuming the Matou mansion, and even then Sakura's men had to wear protective gear while scouring the burnt-out husk of the building. Drawing up a layout for the ruins, they then planted explosive charges to bring it all down, with Sakura – naturally – having the honor of pressing the trigger.

Just as she previously had had the honor of pressing the trigger to incinerate the Matou mansion.

The explosions visibly displaced the surrounding air, and sent plumes of dust and ash outward in all directions. The ruins fell in on themselves in a great crash, and sent hot rubble flying. As with the fires, though, the bounded fields kept anyone outside from noticing, while other bounded fields kept Sakura and her men safe in their work area.

Even then, they still wore protective gear, like visors for the eyes, ear protectors for the ears (duh), and plastic helmets for their heads. Bounded fields or not, safety standards had to be met to the letter. There were even large signs around the work area, reminding everyone there to prioritize workplace safety, written in five different languages: Finnish, Russian, German, French, and English.

Sakura handed Elisa the trigger, who in turn handed it to another subordinate. "Right," Sakura said, stepping forward and turning around to face her men. "That's it for the night, well done, everybody!"

There was a self-congratulatory chorus at that, though it was rather…indulgent.

After all, they hadn't done much actually. Yes, they'd set thermite charges and magnesium fuses, but once the fires had started, all they'd done was bunker down in the work area and watch Matou burn. Even after the fires had died, they still just bunkered down while the ruins cooled.

Only then did they get their hands dirty once more.

Still, all that was Sakura's orders, and they followed them well. So who was she to deny them recognition for fulfilling their duty?

"Clean up the work area first," Sakura continued. "Then get some breakfast. After that, you all have the rest of the day off, though I want all personnel to report for duty here at 1800 hours this evening. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am!" the men chorused, and Sakura nodded.

"If there's nothing more," she said with a gesture. "Dismissed."

The men stood to attention and saluted, and then left after Sakura saluted back. "You sure you want to go to school today?" Elisa asked with evident concern. "You were awake the whole night."

"I'll be fine." Sakura said with a nod. "There's a spell I can use to keep myself on my feet for extended periods of time, though it's the first I've had to use it. I might have to use my crest to…optimize, the spell's performance."

"Hmm…" Elisa hummed in concern. "There won't be any side-effects from that?"

"Well, that depends." Sakura admitted. "My tutor said the longest any Edelfelt has ever used that spell was about 328 days, which I doubt I'll have to do."

"That…doesn't really answer my question." Elisa said.

Sakura gave a wry smile. "Aake Edelfelt never actually ended the spell, you see." She said. "He just…keeled over on the 328th day, dead at the age of 45 in 1864."

"Sakura…"

"Yes, yes," Sakura said with a sigh and hands raised in surrender. "It's perfectly safe to use for short periods of time, though I might need to sleep for a whole day afterward."

Sakura paused and sighed again, before giving Elisa a faint smile. "You're like my mom, you know that." She said fondly.

"…just looking out for you." Elisa said with a fond smile of her own. "At least have breakfast, though, and a hot shower before going to school."

"I'm not sure I have the time…"

"…then take a car." Elisa interrupted. "I know you prefer to walk to avoid looking as though you're flaunting your wealth, but here and now I must insist."

Sakura frowned, but Elisa refused to give way, and Sakura eventually sighed in surrender. "Alright," she said. "If I can't get you to budge on this, I might as well. Honestly…at times like these, you really are like my mom…"

Elisa only smiled at that.

Gasps of awed surprise went up from the other students as Sakura was dropped off by a sleek black BMW in front of Homurahara Academy. "Edelfelt," one of the female students piped up. "Since when did you have a car?"

"You moron," another female student cut in. "Edelfelt's from an old foreign family. Of course she's rich enough to afford a car."

"But…she's never used a car to get to school before." The first student said.

"Well good morning to you too." Sakura said with a wry smile as she approached, and paused in front of her schoolmates.

"Um…good morning, Edelfelt." They hesitantly returned the greeting.

Sakura tilted her head in acknowledgement of the greeting. "I woke up late this morning." She admitted with a sigh. "So I had to take a car to avoid getting late."

"But," one of her schoolmates began. "Why don't you use it more regularly?"

Sakura hummed in thought. "I don't really need to, for one thing." She said. "At least, when it comes to coming to or going home from school. And for another thing, I thought it'd look, well, bad if I showed off my family's wealth every day. Humility and modesty are as much virtues in the West as they are here in Japan."

That got a chorus of agreement from everyone. "Rich old families really are something else." One student said to another as Sakura resumed heading for the school. "They don't need to show off to make everyone know how rich and powerful they are."

"Yeah, no kidding." Another student said. "They just are."

As she headed to school, Sakura internally groaned as she overheard the conversations sparked by her…unusual, arrival in school today. "Great," she thought to herself. "Just great…I knew this would happen. Now I'm the center of attention, and will be until either everyone gets tired, or finds something else to gossip about."

Fighting the urge to shake her head, Sakura entered the school even as the warning bell sounded five minutes before the start of first period.

With so little time left, Sakura didn't bother making conversation or indulging in personal interaction while changing her shoes to indoor ones, before hurrying to class. Indeed, she only arrived just before the teacher did, and barely managed to get to her seat before the bells rang the start of first period.

"Everyone, rise." The class representative began the usual routine as the first period teacher entered the room and took his place behind the teacher's desk. "Bow. Be seated."

"Class representative," the teacher said as the students took their seats. "Take morning attendance."

"Yes, teacher."

"Did you really wake up late this morning?" Shirou curiously asked as they met up for lunch break.

"I fail to see how that's any of your business, Magus Emiya." Sakura replied.

"Um…sorry…I wasn't trying to pry…"

Sakura smiled to let Shirou know she was joking. "No, I didn't wake up late this morning." She said. "I just didn't go to sleep last night."

"Wait, what?" Shirou asked in surprise. "Why?"

"I've been busy." Sakura said before tearing another mouthful from her sandwich. "Being Second Owner is hard work."

"Rin never seemed to get as busy as you." Shirou blurted out before he realized what he just said. "Uh…no offense."

Sakura smiled with amusement. "I don't mind you comparing me to my sister," she said. "At least in this case: it is generally rude to compare people to each other, after all. That said, what you said just now would insult her more than it would me, implying as it does that my sister is either lazy or inadequate as a Second Owner. Or both, even."

"That's not what I…that is…I…um…"

Sakura laughed and patted Shirou on the back. "I know you didn't mean anything bad with what you said." She said reassuringly.

"…thanks."

Sakura shrugged. "No problem." She said. "In any case, I doubt Rin ever had to deal with anything I have to deal with right now. Capping Matou's taint, and then dealing with the Fuyuki Grail…"

Sakura paused and shrugged again. "I'm sure if she were in my place," she said. "She'd probably be working as hard as I am."

"Yeah, she probably would be." Shirou admitted. "Speaking of which, any news about her that you can share?"

"Hmm…I suppose I could." Sakura said. "The Mages Association has acquitted Rin of three out of four charges."

"That is good news!" Shirou said with a smile. "Wait, which charges?"

Sakura finished off another mouthful before responding. "The ones involving conspiring and actually trying to reach the Root without Association supervision." She said. "Oh, and the charge relating to working with an unsanctioned Dead Apostle. Given Rin's age at the time of our father's death, along with other evidence and testimony provided, the tribunal has concluded that Rin was never aware of the true purpose of the Fuyuki Grail as a World Gate, or that Makiri Zolgen was even a vampire at all."

"So…everything is her – your – father's fault?" Shirou ventured.

"Him and the rest of the Tohsaka ancestors." Sakura said. "Right now, the Association wants to make the Tohsaka family sans my sister the scapegoats for the whole disaster that was the Fifth Heaven's Feel Grand Ritual. Well, there's also Makiri Zolgen, but it's either dead or on the run or in hiding, so they can't touch it. For the most part."

"For the most part?" Shirou echoed.

"The Matou patents at the Clock Tower have been confiscated." Sakura said after another mouthful. "And as you well know, the Matou property is under interdict, with yours truly having the responsibility of containing it for the foreseeable future."

"What about Einzbern, though?" Shirou asked with a degree of concern. "Weren't they also involved in making Fuyuki's Holy Grail?"

"Yes, but they're untouchable." Sakura said with a nod. "They've withdrawn into their ancestral castle, and between their ancient age – over a thousand years – and accumulated mysteries some of which go back to and which they received from the Third Magician, the College of Law knows trying to storm Einzbern Castle will only end in a bloodbath. Einzbern's practically gotten away with just a slap on the wrist: official censure, no more and no less."

"That's not fair!" Shirou protested.

"Life isn't fair." Sakura replied dryly before taking another bite from her sandwich. "Neither is the world, for that matter."

Shirou looked torn, and then after a few moments, sighed and opened his lunchbox to start eating his lunch. They just ate in silence for several minutes, and then taking a drink from a can of fruit juice, Shirou sighed.

"So what now?" he asked.

"Like I said earlier," Sakura said, having finished her sandwich and now just relaxing in the warm spring sunshine at noon. "The Association holds the Tohsaka ancestors responsible for all the charges Rin's been acquitted for. And that's what the current arguments are about."

"…doesn't Rin still have to deal with another charge?" Shirou asked after a moment. "And what does the Association plan to do? With the Tohsaka ancestors being held responsible, that is, seeing as they're all dead."

"In reverse order," Sakura said, glancing in Shirou's direction. "They want to seize all the Tohsaka patents, the crest, and the property in this city."

"That's not fair!" Shirou protested again, and then winced.

"Hmm…I think I've answered that already." Sakura said dryly. "But yes, I – and the rest of the family – agree that is much too draconian even by the harsh precedents followed by the College of Law."

"And what does your family want?" Shirou asked.

"The Tohsaka property should still stay with Rin." Sakura said. "And the Association should just take either Rin's crest or patents. We prefer they take the former, though. A crest can easily be replaced, seeing as Rin is one of us. We'll just give her a new one."

"…is it really that easy?" Shirou skeptically asked. "I mean…aren't crests, well, crests?"

"Normally, yes, but when it comes to our family…" Sakura replied, before trailing off with a smile. "Sorry, can't tell you that. Family secrets and all."

"Yeah, I get what you mean." Shirou conceded.

Sakura nodded and looked up at the sky. "As for the charge of negligence and incompetence as Second Owner," she said. "Luvia is arguing for leniency, on the basis that Rin did at least manage the contain the situation in the end. The early death of Tokiomi Tohsaka, to say nothing of Kirei Kotomine's treachery, also lends weight to this argument."

"And how's that going?" Shirou asked.

"Slowly," Sakura said with a sigh. "Bureaucracy…or to put it bluntly as the Americans would say, bullshit."

"Uh…okay…"

Sakura shrugged. "My cousin – Luvia – once said to be thankful that I have the liberty of not having to deal with the responsibility and obligations of her rank and status." She said. "She's absolutely right."

Shirou didn't know what to say about that.

"Nine of Cups," Sakura said, making a tarot reading for one of her fellows in the track and field club. "There'll be struggles to face and obstacles to overcome in your future, but at the end of it all, you can sit back with the satisfaction of not only having gained what you set out to gain, but also knowing that you did everything right, and that no one can possibly say you never truly earned what you have in the end."

"It doesn't say what struggles and obstacles I have to face, sempai?" the underclassman asked.

"No, it doesn't." Sakura said before giving a small smile. "Fate might let people catch glimpses of the future, almost like it's trying to encourage them with the promise of what's waiting for them at the end, or in the case of bad fortunes, to give them advance warning of the same."

"But…?" the underclassman prompted.

"Life's not easy." Sakura said. "And fate won't let people cheat it and the world of having to struggle and earn their way in life."

"…well, I guess that's what my fortune is about, isn't it?" the underclassman said after a moment. "Work hard, and keep at it no matter how hopeless it looks, and in the end, I'll have everything I deserve."

"Yup." Sakura said with a smile, even as she drew another card. Her smile widened. "Look: The Ten of Cups. Happiness, joy, contentment, and pride: they're all in the future that the Nine of Cups promises you. All your dreams and wishes will come true."

Sakura paused, and then laughed. "Or," she said. "In the simplest interpretation of this card: Happily, ever after."

The underclassman beamed. "Thanks, sempai!" she said.

Sakura nodded. "You're welcome." She said.

"Sempai, me next!" another underclassman said.

"No, me next!"

"No, me!"

"Alright, that's enough of that." The manager cut in, and walking closer. "Edelfelt, put your cards away and get on the track. You're up for the hundred-meter dash, then the three hundred-meter dash, and then you'll be second-to-the-last for the relay."

"Okay…wait, what?"

The manager raised an eyebrow. "Is there a problem?" she asked.

"Not as such," Sakura reassured the other woman, and walking closer. "I'm just wondering how I suddenly ended up in the second-to-the-last role for the relay."

"Oh, that's easy." The manager said with a smile, and clapping Sakura on a shoulder. "You've got the best time after Kaede, that's why."

"I do?"

"Yup!" The manager said. "Now, get on the track."

"Right…right away!"

The manager nodded, as Sakura jogged down to the track, and took her place on the starting line. "Give it your best, Edelfelt!" Kaede yelled a couple of runners away.

"Likewise, Makidera." Sakura said, even as she crouched down, feet pressed against the starting blocks, and hands on the ground.

"Ready…" the student with the starting pistol said while raising the gun into the air. "…set…go!"

The gunshot sounded the start of the race, the runners dashing forward at high speed. At first keeping pace with each other, then the lead runners opened up the distance, Kaede first, then Sakura trailing barely a second after her, then the others behind them. Other club members and students looking on shouted encouragement, both at the Black Panther and the newest member of the club, and then they started yelling as the race came to an end with Kaede in first place, and Sakura right behind her.

Quickly catching her breath, Sakura straightened, and then approaching Kaede, offered a hand with a grin. Kaede matched her grin, and took the offered hand, shaking it with a firm grip.

"Not bad, Edelfelt." She said.

"Good race, Makidera." Sakura said in return.

"Good, good, good!" the manager said hurried over. "Kaede, you finished in 11.541 seconds, well within your usual. Sakura, you finished in 12.101 seconds, just over half a second behind Kaede. Well done, both of you!"

"Yeah, well, the better woman won here." Sakura said with a nod at Kaede.

"I guess she did." Kaede modestly said. "Anyway…the three hundred-meter dash is next. Keep it up, Edelfelt."

"Likewise."

The racers proceed to their places for the next race, Sakura again crouching down with her feet against the starting blocks, and hands against the ground. "Ready…" the shout went up, and Sakura determinedly looked down the race track ahead of her. "…set…go!"

The gunshot rang out again, and again the racers dashed forward. Kaede quickly pulled ahead, but surprisingly Sakura stayed in formation with the other runners, if at the very head of the pack, until the last hundred or so meters. Then she put out a burst of speed, opening up the distance with the other runners and catching up to Kaede, and crossing the finish line just behind her.

"Alright!" the manager yelled as she ran over to the finish line. "Great work, Kaede! 33.901 seconds! Same for you, Edelfelt, at 34.210 seconds! Not even a second between the two of you…we keep this up, and the prefectural tournament will be in the bag!"

"We'll do our best." Sakura said with a shrug.

"Speak for yourself, Edelfelt." Kaede said with a confident smile. "I don't plan to lose."

"Hmm…good attitude." Sakura conceded.

"Yes, yes," the manager said with a cough. "Right…to your places then, the relay is next."

Sakura and Kaede nodded before jogging off to their assigned places. The other runners did so too, and shortly after they were in their places, a gunshot rang out, starting the race. Sakura bounced on the balls of her feet, waiting for the baton to be passed to her, and the moment it was in her hands, she dashed off, to where Kaede was waiting.

Not wasting time with small talk, she passed it on as soon as Kaede was in reach, and then the other woman was off, dashing away at breakneck speed, and crossing the finish line just seconds later. "Hey, manager!" Kaede shouted from the finish line. "What's our total time?"

"47.155 seconds." The manager replied. "Not bad…"

"…but could be better." Kaede said with an annoyed air. Then drawing herself up, she started yelling at the top of her voice. "Everyone, get over here! We've got a lot to talk about, and a lot more practice to do afterward."

"47.155 seconds, huh?" Sakura thought. "Hmm…I wonder what the record is for women in relay racing…I'll have to look it up later."

Then giving a mental shrug, she moved a little bit closer while also giving way, allowing the rest of the club to get closer to Kaede, who then began yelling about needing to improve everyone's time. "Yeah," Sakura thought with approval at the other woman's leadership ability. "Definitely a good attitude."

"Status report." Sakura said as she walked through the bounded fields and into the Matou property.

In the distance, work was well underway, men in protective gear or operating engineering vehicles clearing the ruins. Rubble and broken rebar, blackened wreckage, twisted metal, lumps of slag, and even piles of ash were being gathered up and piled together. They would then be dumped into a receptacle where they'd be heated up by a foundry, burning away any remaining carbon and melting down what wouldn't burn.

Already, other men were heating up the foundry, well, foundries. Others were readying the silver wafers prepared earlier, while others more were sorting out the lead ingots to be separately melted down.

"We're on schedule." Elisa replied, giving Sakura a clipboard. Sakura looked it over quickly, and then signing off on it, handed it back to Elisa. "We should be finished razing the ruins before midnight, though clearing the pit of any rubble that fell into it might take a while."

Sakura nodded, before looking up and around. "The lights are up, I see." She said, referring to the xenon arc lamps on high poles set up around the property and the mansion in particular. "Very good…I'd rather not have anyone work over there in the dark. It's much too dangerous."

"As you say, Lady Sakura." Elisa agreed with a nod.

"Very good then." Sakura said. "Hopefully, we can finish filling in the pit with lead by dawn tomorrow. It doesn't have to finish setting, as it can do that over the day."

"And once we finish filling in the pit, we can move on to the rest of the grounds." Elisa said.

"Quite," Sakura agreed. "All those trees need to be uprooted, along with all the grass, before we plow the earth and sow it with salt."

Elisa nodded, and then followed Sakura as she proceeded to the command tent. Men on guard duty stood to attention and saluted as they approached, and standing down at a wave from Sakura.

"Do you think something will happen?" Elisa bluntly asked once Sakura was behind the command table.

"Hmm…there's an old saying about plans going right…" Sakura replied.

"…and falling for the enemy's plan." Elisa finished with a nod. "That said, if Matou had a trap of some kind, why didn't they set it off when the College of Law was pillaging the mansion?"

"It probably didn't want to get into a confrontation with Policies' Enforcers." Sakura replied, using the alternate name for the Clock Tower's College of Law. "It might have known that that wasn't a battle it could win, or even if it did win, the College of Law might have taken it as a challenge, and sent one of the elite Chelon Canticle Brigade to finish the job. And that is a fight it cannot win, no matter what."

"Will we be alright, then?" Elisa asked.

"The bounded fields around us were set by the College of Law, to Barthomeloi's standards." Sakura replied. "That should be enough to even the odds, enough that I should be able to counter anything Makiri Zolgen can pull. Especially with its workshop already compromised."

"If you're that confident, then I'll believe in you until the very end, Sakura." Elisa said.

Sakura smiled. "Thanks for the vote of confidence." She said. "In the meantime, we'll continue with the plan. We can't hold back simply out of fear that the enemy might be waiting for us. Not once have the overcautious ever achieved anything of worth, so even if the enemy has a trap lying in wait for us, we'll spring it, and then break it."

"Along with the enemy itself?" Elisa asked.

"Of course." Sakura replied, and Elisa nodded.

Falling silent, Sakura looked on across the distance, to where her men continued to raze the Matou mansion's ruins, and gathered up its remains for disposal. And closer to where she was, foundries shimmered with heat, and lead ingots began to melt.

A/N

Good news for Rin, yes? She's no longer to blame for her family building a World Gate without the Association's approval or supervision, to say nothing of working with a vampire that whole time. Or, for that matter, scamming the rest of the Moonlit World about the nature of the Fuyuki Grail Wars. Of course, the Association still considers her incompetent for not noticing or acting on any of those beforehand, though Luvia is trying to get them to lighten up on that point.