In her bedroom, Illyasviel von Einzbern lies under the covers of her bed. She tried desperately to stay as still as possible, but she couldn't stop trembling in fear. She was so scared.

"Momma." She whispered to herself.

At first, the sound of the first explosion didn't concern her. She figured that it was just another of grandpa's experiments gone wrong. It was only when the sound of gunshots, spells, and what sounded like exploding watermelons to her ears that Illya grew concerned. And as the noise got closer, the more her dread grew. Whatever was making those sounds was coming for her.

"Papa," She started crying.

She thought about calling for help, but she gave up on the idea despite the terror in her heart. Ever since Mommy Papa left, everyone ignored her unless they needed her for something. No one would care if someone was out to get her.

"Momma, Papa. Please." She prayed in tears

Praying while hiding under her sheets was the only thing she could do. She was scared. She felt lonely. All she wanted was a hug from her momma, for her papa to pat her head and tell her everything was going to be okay.

Her heart nearly jumped out of her chest when she heard the window in her room shattering to pieces. Someone broke into her room through the window. She immediately covered her mouth with her hand to muffle the scream that would have given her away. This time, out of sheer terror or survival instinct, she manages to stop trembling and stay perfectly still, all while praying with all her might that the monster wouldn't notice her.

"Damn it. Taiga, I was a fool to have doubted you," Kiritsugu groggily picked himself up and dusted the broken shards of glass off him. Damian had thrown him through the third-story window from the tower's base. If he hadn't been reinforced beforehand, that would have dislocated his shoulder, if not ripped off his arm entirely.

Illya gasped. The monster's voice sounded exactly like papas. But it can't be. Grampa said he left us, that he was never, ever coming back. Illya wanted to look but was still too scared to move.

"Illya," Kiritsugu spoke softly, yet it still made her cringe. He could clearly see someone hiding under the blankets, and it didn't take a genius to know who it was. "Illya, don't be scared. It's me. Daddy's here for you now."

For a few seconds, which seemed like hours, Illya didn't move a muscle. Then she slowly, with trembling hands, push the blankets to peek out of her blankets. At first, she saw a black suit and trench coat like Daddy always wore. Feeling a little reassured by the sight of the familiar clothes, she slowly raises the blankets further to see him standing over her bed. She stared at him for a few more seconds.

"Did… Did you really come back for me?" she studders every word as tears stream down her face.

Now it was Kiritsugu's turn to flinch. He had promised to come back, and while it took him longer than he expected, it hurt him to see that Illya thought he wouldn't. What could have happened to make her believe that he would abandon her?

Kiritsugu embraced her in the warmest hug he could give her at those thoughts.

"Yes, Illya. I came back just like I promised, and I won't ever leave you behind again."

"Papa!" Illya cried as she hugged him back as hard as she could. The embrace was all she needed to know that he really was her father and not some monster pretending to be him. Her daddy came back. He came back and said he wouldn't leave her again. She held on to him, buried her face on his chest, and cried. Letting out all the pain and longing inside of her until she ran out of tears.

"I hate to interrupt this living reunion," Damian says from the window after climbing to her room. "But we need to leave. I dodge a bunch of homunculi before getting up here so getting out the window is not an option."

Illya and Kiritsugu turn to him.

"Who are you?" Illya asks cautiously

"His name is Damian, and he's one of my adopted sons Illya," Kiritsugu answered. "You have two older brothers now."

Illya blankly stared at Damian. For the first few seconds, she did nothing. She was as stiff as a statue and had an unreadable expression on her face. Damian was starting to worry that she might be spiteful or envious or something.

"Onii-chan!"

At least until she broke away from her father's arms crashed into Damian's arms, wrapping him in a bone-crushing hug.

"You can call me Big Sister!" Illya cheered

"Heh. Nice to meet you too, big sister." Damian hugged her back then turned to Kiritsugu. "But seriously, we need to go. It's only a matter of time before they swarm us again."

"Alright, I'll take point. You protect Illya. Illya, we're leaving. Stay behind your brother no matter what, okay?" Kiritsugu said.

"Umm… okay. Where are we going?" Illya asks, letting go of Damian and following them from behind.

"We're going home, Illya." Kiritsugu answers.

With Kiritsugu taking the lead, they leave Illya's bedroom and into the corridor. Whenever a group of hostiles neared them during their escape, they either took cover to avoid them, or Kiritsugu discretely took them out with his Beretta 92FS equipped with a silencer while Damian snapped their necks. After telling Illya to close her eyes, of course. Along the way, Kiritsugu planted several explosives around the castle's foundations.

"Are those plastic explosives?" Damian asks, again trying not to think about how he got past the airport with those.

"Yes. Twenty bricks of C4, to be specific. Combined with precision blasting demolition technique that will collapse the whole damn castle." Kiritsugu replies.

"You're blowing up our house?" Illya asks in shock.

"It's not our house anymore, Illya," Kiritsugu says as he plants another explosive. "Acht tried to keep us apart. I'm just making sure he can't do that ever again."

"Oh, well, I guess that's fine. I don't like it here anyway." Illya pouted and crossed her arms.

Once Kiritsugu finishes rigging the castle, they continue their escape and finally reach the lobby.

"Leaving so soon?" A voice causes the three escapees to freeze in place for a moment and slowly turn to the source of the voice.

A tall white-haired man appeared behind them at the top of the stairs leading to the corridors in the lobby.

A cold sweat trickled down Damian's spine at the sight of him. Illya instinctively hid behind her father, gripping his sleeve as if it was her lifeline, and Kiritsugu silently glared at him.

"Why are you here, Acht." Kiritsugu demands

"As the head of the house, it's only natural to greet his guess, is it not?" the Einzbern scoffed. "Emiya, did you think I wouldn't anticipate you coming here? After repaying our goodwill with betrayal by destroying the holy grail, you truly believe I'd be so stupid to think you wouldn't rob us of our lesser grail as well?"

"You didn't answer my question. Why are you here?" Kiritsugu protectively steps in front of the two kids behind him. Gun in hand. "We've already cleared all of your forces that you sent to stop us, and we both know you're not a fighter. The grail war won't start for another sixty years, so even if you were, stopping us is pointless."

Unsettlingly, the old Einzbern laughed.

"As embarrassing as it is, mage killer, you're just as mistaken as we were for entrusting you with our goals. First, those so-called forces you dispatch mere nothing more than expendable foot soldiers."

Damian activated his magic circuits, put his hand on Kiritsugu's back, and reinforced him again. That old bastard wouldn't be here unless he's got something planned.

"Secondly, due to the incompletion of the fourth holy grail, largely thanks to you, of course, the next war won't occur in sixty but a mere ten years."

"What?!" Kiritsugu felt like his world crumbled at his feet with those words. If what he said was true, then his children would likely be dragged into that mess even if they didn't become masters, and there was nothing he could do about it since he wouldn't even live to see the next war. All his planning for his family's future had once again fallen apart like a house of cards.

Jubstacheit took a moment to savor the betrayer's shock and despair before continuing.

"You're only right about one thing, Emiya. I cannot dispose of you. But he can."

A stone giant jumped from behind the elder Einzbern and landed at the base of the stairs in front of them. It was a two-meter-tall golem with skin that looked like it was made of stone. It had six eyes, two on his forehead, two between his nose, and two on his cheekbones.

The scene reminded Damian of the fate route in the visual novel. When Shirou, Saber, Archer, and Rin tried to escape the castle, Illya and Heracles were confronted in the lobby.

"Why won't you just leave us alone?" Illya yelled, "I don't care about the stupid Third Magic or the stupid Heaven's Feel! I just want to go home with Papa and-"

"Enough. It seems we've been far too generous to allow you to be able to function as a human." Jubstacheit hummed. "But no matter. I can always scrap you and start over from scratch."

"You bastard." Kiritsugu clenches his teeth in frustration. "You'd sacrifice my daughter for that accursed grail?"

"None of this would be necessary if you hadn't betrayed us. Goodbye and good riddance Emiya"

The golem roar as he charges at them, raising his fist to flatten the escapees.

"Move!" Damian shouted as he reinforced himself to the utmost limit and moved out of the way. Kiritsugu barely had the time to pick up Illya and dodge the falling fist made of magic and stone.

Damian retaliated by conjuring wind blades at the golem. It didn't even put a scratch on it, but it was enough to catch its attention charge at him once more, ignoring Kiritsugu and Illya.

"Are you insane, Acht?" Kiritsugu yelled after safely putting Illya in the corner of the room and joining the fight. "That golem of your almost killed Illya just now! Didn't you say you needed her for your next Heaven's Feel?"

"It seems Fatherhood has made you soft, Emiya." The elder Einzbern scoff. "I had originally intended for Illya the become the master for the next Heaven's Feel, as well the vessel. But now that it's come to this, I have changed my mind. I can always make another homunculus. Only the lesser grail that is her heart is necessary."

"You!"

In truth, The Einzbern head was more desperate than he appeared. Their family had been forced to fight for resources for too long. They failed to reclaim the third magic too many times. The fifth holy grail war will be their last. Either they achieve victory, or it will be the end of the Einzberns.

A loud bang erupted as Damian dodged another of the golem's attacks. The golem's movement was fast but telegraphed. His reinforcements and mystic eyes allowed him to avoid the blows with ease.

Damian countered by unleashing a barrage of elemental spell after another at the golem. But he can't even put a scratch on it. The golem seems to have servant-level magical resistance, and his reinforced physical blows can barely put a dent on the golem.

Kiritsugu aimed at the old Einzbern with his Thomson Contender. Still, before he could even finish pulling the trigger, the golem immediately ceased his attack on Damian place himself in the line of fire.

"You didn't think I'd be that easy, did you?" Jubstacheit mocked as the bullet bounced off the golem as if it was made of rubber.

At that moment, something clicks in Damian's mind. He remembered Kiritsugu's lesson on his anti-magi tactics. About how mages typically hone their skills and countermeasures against magical threats while ignoring anything purely physical. That golem was no exception. None of Damian's spells could even scratch it, but he manages to damage it with reinforced physical blows. Minimal damage but damage, nonetheless.

"Old man!" Damian fixes Kiritsugu with a meaningful stare. He didn't say his plan out loud. He couldn't afford to let Jubstacheit discover what they're planning to do.

Kiritsugu looked back for a second and then nodded. To Damian's relief, he seemed he catch on quickly. He pulled out his Calico and fired hails of bullets to grab his attention while tossing two pinned grenades at Damian.

As they both expected, the golem mindlessly charges at Kiritsugu. It apparently had only two functions. Protect his master and attack all hostiles. It lacks the intelligence to handle any task more complex than that.

As the golem charged towards Kiritsugu, Damian slowly and carefully reinforced the pair of grenades that Kiritsugu tossed him. He had to be cautious, even more than when strengthening his limbs. The slightest mistake could cause them to explode and get them all killed.

At the same time, Kiritsugu fared much worst than Damian against the golem. It was taking him everything he had just to dodge. Damian reinforced him before the fight started, but he didn't have his eyes, and close combat was never his forte. He couldn't even afford to take the time to aim his gun lest he becomes a red stain on the floor.

The golem slammed his fist on the floor where Kiritsugu stood before sidestepping out of the way, but the shockwave caused Kiritsugu to stumble, giving the golem an opening to send him flying with his other fist.

"Papa!" Illya shrieked in horror

"I'm fine!" Kiritsugu grunted as he got up. He blocks the golem's blow with his right arm causing it to break in three places. Yet he beards the pain not to make Illya worry. "Don't move, Illya. It'll be over soon."

"I'm done," Damian shouted. As soon as he finished reinforcing the grenades, he unpinned and threw them at the old Einzbern with all his might. And just like before, the golems moved to defend him. Just before the grenades explode, Damian runs to pick up Illya heads toward the door leading outside while Kiritsugu uses Time Alter – double accel to do the same. Right after they open the door. A giant explosion engulfs the elder Einzbern, the golem, and most of the lobby.

The trio was outside of the blast range, but the shockwave alone was powerful enough to send them flying at least 10 meters away from the front of the castle before tumbling to the ground.

"Illya, are you okay?" Damian groaned. He wrapped himself around her to protect her from the blast.

"I… cough…cough. I'm okay. Where Papa?" she tried to get up, but she was too disoriented from the blast kept falling on top of him.

"I'm right here, princess." Kiritsugu was standing right next to them, holding his right arm.

"What about the golem, did we?" They stared at the castle or what was left of it with their mouth agape. The front of the castle, which was three-tenths of the entire building, has completely collapsed.

"It's over. Isn't it? There is no way they can survive that," Damian says as he gets up.

"Unlikely. But I'm not waiting around to find out. Let's get out of here," Kiritsugu says.

There were no arguments there. They make their way through the forest, putting the castle behind them. Once they reached the car, Kiritsugu pulled a detonator from his coat pocket.

"Is that even necessary anymore?" Damian asks upon seeing the detonator.

"Maybe not. But I don't deal in maybes. Only certainties." Kiritsugu says before pressing the button

A series of explosions consume the very foundation of the castle, making it collapse on itself and everyone inside it. The Einzbern Castle was now reduced to a giant pile of rubble. Kiritsugu, Damian, and Illya found contentment in watching the castle collapse, each for different reasons.

"Where will we live now, Papa?" asks Illya

"To a much happier place than that castle will ever be, Illya," Kiritsugu replied with a soft smile as he picked up his daughter in her arms again and headed towards the car alongside Damian.

And so, the Einzbern family's one-thousand-year history came to an end.


I really wanted to include Sella and Leysritt in this story. They're among my favorite characters in Fate/Stay Night. Unfortunately, they were born only two years before the holy grail war so I couldn't include them in a way that makes sense.