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

Resolution

Chapter 3

"You're looking well."

Kariya glared at Sakura as they arrived in their assigned conference room, on the fifteenth floor of a large high-rise owned by a bank in Fuyuki's financial district. Glass windows all around looked out over the surrounding city, gleaming in the Sun while vehicles and people bustled about on the streets below. The room also featured a large conference table, Sakura sitting at one end with a black cat sitting comfortably on her lap, purring softly as she absentmindedly ran a hand over its back.

Aside from her, though, most of the seats around the conference table were empty. The room was also sparsely-furnished, with only a flatscreen television mounted on the wall next to the door as the only other thing in the room aside from the conference table and its chairs. That, and a trashcan sitting in one corner.

"Last I saw you," Sakura continued with a mocking smile. "You were writhing on the ground like a worm…how fitting for a son of Zouken Matou…"

Kariya nearly snapped at that, only to stop as his wife's grip on his arm tightened. "Sakura, please…" Aoi Matou hesitantly began. "…we…I…we shouldn't…we don't need to fight…"

Sakura scoffed at that, her free hand rising up in a dismissive wave. "That remains to be seen." She said before again focusing on Kariya, eyes narrowing in measurement. "So, you've learned just a bit, have you? It's only been a few days, after all. I'm pretty sure I broke your right tibia into four pieces, and your left wisdom tooth into five, which shouldn't have healed so quickly. At least, not without magic…and knowing you…spell-caster, I see. How very interesting."

"You don't know me." Kariya softly said.

"I know enough." Sakura replied.

The only other person in the room gave a cough at that, looking at Sakura reprovingly and then similarly at the Matous. He was an old man, with white hair tied back into a ponytail, wearing a silk jacket in black with gold epaulets and trim on the cuffs and front. Beneath, he visibly wore a white shirt, along with a cravat around his neck, held in place with a gold and sapphire brooch. He also wore fitted silk trousers and leather boots in matching black, all in all looking for all the world like some European courtier from the 19th Century.

"If we could perhaps focus on the issue at hand?" he asked in a carefully-neutral tone of voice.

"Who are you?" Kariya bluntly asked, causing Sakura to sigh.

"Stepfather," she began, eyes glittering with amusement at Kariya's jolt at that word. "This is Margrave Franz Joachim von der Rabendorf, and the official representative of the Clock Tower's College of Law."

"And what business does the College of Law have here?" Kariya demanded.

"Do not be absurd, young man." Von der Rabendorf snapped. "Your father was a Dead Apostle, as you were well aware, and one without any form of sanction from the Mages Association. As such, the disposition of his assets in the aftermath of his…liquidation, is our business."

"…take a seat, stepfather…mother." Sakura said, Aoi seeming to curl in on herself as though struck in the face, Kariya briefly taking the time to steady her while throwing glares at the magi in the room. However, neither Sakura nor von der Rabendorf were sympathetic, simply looking on in silence as they took their seats. Then Sakura raised a hand, powerful bounded fields falling into place around the room.

"Now then," von der Rabendorf began. "First things first, there is the issue of Kariya Matou being aware of his father's vampiric nature, and failing to report it to the proper authorities. Normally this would result in severe sanctions, however, Pride Tohsaka has presented evidence that his silence on the issue was essentially a case of fait accompli."

Kariya's mouth fell open in shock, and Aoi wasn't much different, the two of them staring at an unfazed Sakura for her unexpected show of magnanimity. "Close your mouth, stepfather." She said instead. "No one wants to see the insides of your throat."

"…why?" Kariya managed to ask.

Sakura snorted. "No one knows Tokiomi Tohsaka better than I did." She sneered. "He was deceitful and manipulative in ways few others could hope to be, and I've spent over a decade in the Clock Tower. In the event you went to the Mages Association to report your father's inhuman nature, who would they have believed? You? An outcast scion who absconded his responsibilities to his family, or the otherwise eminent and qualified Second Owner of Fuyuki City?"

Sakura paused and scoffed again. "But I am not my father, nor his father or his father before him." She said with a dismissive wave of a hand. "I have no interest in covering up Zouken Matou preying on the people of this city, or for that matter, maintaining an inadvisable alliance that has never brought benefits with it."

Kariya blinked. "So you really did kill him." He said.

"I did." Sakura said.

"…so, what now?" Kariya asked.

Sakura turned back to von der Rabendorf. "Pride Tohsaka has already made it clear she has no interest in obfuscating the issue of the Matou inheritance." He said. "For the most part…"

"Of course there's a catch…there's always a catch…" Kariya grumbled. "…what do you want?"

"Get out of my city." Sakura bluntly replied. "The alliance between Matou and Tohsaka is terminated, effective immediately, and you and all your descendants are barred from entry on pain of…well, even I don't know."

She paused and smiled, malice dancing in her eyes. "Who knows what might happen when all the power in the ley lines that run through the city is turned against you?" she asked mockingly.

Kariya narrowed his eyes, meeting Sakura's gaze determinedly for several moments before turning back to von der Rabendorf. "I assume the College of Law is aware of the Greater Grail?" he asked.

Von der Rabendorf was unimpressed. "Then-Cause Tohsaka offered full cooperation with regard to investigation and resolution of that issue over a decade ago." He said. "The matter has been declared closed and then-Cause Tohsaka cleared of all charges."

Kariya looked like he'd bitten into a lemon, and decided to just drop that line of thought. "What of the Matou properties in the city?" he asked.

"They are yours, but I want them sold and gone by the end of the year." Sakura said. "You can keep all the money – barring the inheritance tax, but that's not really my problem – but I want you and yours gone."

"You can't dictate what I can or can't do with my property!" Kariya protested.

"Perhaps not." Sakura admitted before narrowing her eyes. "But then again, it would be interesting to see what might happen to those properties once the Edict of Banishment comes into effect."

"That's blackmail!" Kariya exploded.

"You are free to see it in any way you wish." Sakura said. "But such are my terms. Take it or leave it."

Kariya ground his teeth together and clenched his fists, but in the end, there was little else he could do. "…anything else?" he finally ground out.

"There is one other matter." Von der Rabendorf said. "Most of the Matou library and workshop was destroyed during Pride Tohsaka's liquidation of Zouken Matou last winter. However, our own agents have discovered a number of materials that survived. They have been duly confiscated, and we now require your acknowledgement of this fact."

Kariya snorted. "Is that all?" he asked before making his own dismissive wave. "You can have it. I couldn't care less about any of that stuff."

"Then why bother studying magecraft at all, then?" Sakura asked.

"I had my reasons." Kariya snapped.

Sakura chuckled and smirked. "I can guess." She said before nodding in Aoi's direction. "Knowing mother, your children are more talented than expected, and so you needed to teach them at least the little they need to protect themselves. Or am I wrong?"

"None of your damn business." Kariya snapped yet again.

Sakura outright laughed. "Perhaps…" she said. "But you misunderstand. I actually do approve. If nothing else, it's not a choice Tokiomi Tohsaka would have made, and one which would have driven him up the wall were he still alive to know it. As would the fact that you fucked his wife and put a pair of babies in her."

Aoi flinched and gave a dry sob, while Kariya snarled. "You sick…!" he spat while getting up.

"Sit down." Sakura said, prana laced through her words and causing Kariya to break into a sweat as she simply overpowered his magic circuits and forced him to obey. Despite having been on the receiving end of Sakura's anger just a few days ago, he only just now began to realize just how monstrously powerful she actually was, and how even the likes of Zouken had fallen before her.

She wasn't like her father at all. She was worse.

Tokiomi had been all talk and hot air, constantly going on about big things he could never actually do.

In contrast, Sakura could do everything she said, and she knew it too.

Ignorant of Kariya's thoughts, Sakura continued with a wave of a hand. "But enough." She said. "You and your children are of no concern to me, at least so long as you leave and stay out of my way. I'm sure you can find anything else you need on the black market, what's left of Zouken's materials can and has gone to the College of Law."

"Pride Tohsaka has already signed her recognition of this fact." Von der Rabendorf said, taking one of the folders before him, and flipping it open before sliding it along with a fountain pen across the table. Kariya looked at the document in question, the parchment filled out with officious-reading words and sentences about his abdication of any claims on his father's legacy.

That, and his and Sakura's names, her signature already present over her name.

For a moment, Kariya was tempted to refuse, if only to simply spite his stepdaughter. But in the end, he took the fountain pen, and signed. Then the duplicate beneath, and the triplicate under even that.

"Excellent." Von der Rabendorf said, taking the parchment back and quickly going through them. Then closing the folder, he opened a second folder, and slid it forward, Kariya's face looking as though his stomach had gone bad as he saw the folder had a copy of Sakura's Edict of Banishment.

"You don't really expect me to acknowledge this, do you?" he asked.

"It would be very inadvisable." Von der Rabendorf said.

"Well, for him at any rate." Sakura cheerfully said, reinforced by her cat's meowing, Kariya sourly looking at them both, and again comparing her to her father. At least up to a point…Tokiomi had been like a silent film villain, with his gaudy clothes, pompous attitude, and tendency to stroke his moustache…well, goatee, actually, but close enough. Sakura, though, was like that supervillain from that…what were those movies, again? That British spy, James Bomb, or something?

"…interesting to see what happens." Sakura continued, oblivious of how her stepfather was mentally comparing her to Ernst Blofeld. "There is just so much to learn."

"Yes, quite, Pride Tohsaka." Von der Rabendorf said with a cough.

His face so sour that it could all but curdle milk, Kariya took the fountain pen, and signed his acknowledgement of the Edict of Banishment, giving him a year before the ley lines automatically inverted against anyone of his blood and their properties in the city. Then he signed the duplicate and the triplicate, von der Rabendorf taking them back, before sliding a third folder to Kariya.

"There's more?" he protested.

"Verba volant, scripta manent." Von der Rabendorf remarked in Latin, and then sighed at the blank expression on Kariya's face. "Spoken words fly away, written words remain."

"It means everything must be properly documented," Sakura said. "So it can be referenced when needed in the future."

"Crudely put, but it gets the message across I suppose." Von der Rabendorf said with a nod.

Grumbling to himself about showoff magi, Kariya also signed his acknowledgement – this time of his being cleared of all charges as an accomplice of his father's activities as a vampire – in triplicate. "Anything else?" he asked surly.

"Yes," Von der Rabendorf said, causing Kariya to groan in exasperation. "Though it does not require your signature."

Then he slid a fourth folder forward, Kariya opening it to expose a page of parchment, again with officious-reading words and sentences, declaring the Clock Tower's recognition of his status as the legal heir and successor of the Zolgen lineage of magi. "…is this even worth anything?" he asked.

"Whatever do you mean, Magus Matou?" Von der Rabendorf asked, Kariya's eye twitching at the title.

"My succession to the Zolgen lineage…does it matter materially?" he asked.

"You refer to your ancestors' patents in the Clock Tower?" Von der Ravendorf asked.

"Yes."

"Yes and no."

"What?"

"Your father's crimes have led to all your patents being confiscated and placed under quarantine." Von der Rabendorf replied. "As per standard Clock Tower protocol, quarantine will last for one hundred and one years, after which each patent will be reviewed by a specially-appointed board, whether they will be placed in general circulation or once again returned to quarantine, this time indefinitely."

"Regardless," Sakura chimed in. "Matou will never regain exclusive privileges to their ancestors' patents?"

"They can appeal for them, after review." Von der Rabendorf said, and Sakura nodded in acknowledgement of that fact.

"…and what else?" Kariya asked with a sigh.

"While your ancestral patents have been quarantined," Von der Rabendorf began. "You and your heirs are not actually barred from the Clock Tower. If you so wish, you or they may enter to study within the appropriate departments."

Kariya snorted but said nothing, only nodding in acknowledgement of the fact. Von der Rabendorf similarly stayed silent, sorting through his documents and giving both Sakura and Kariya their copies before locking them away in a briefcase. "If there is nothing more," the German aristocrat began while getting to his feet. "Then I will take my leave."

"Likewise." Sakura said, getting to her feet and releasing her familiar, which lithely leapt down to the ground, padding around and rubbing herself against Sakura's legs and ankles. Then, briefly turning to her mother and stepfather, Sakura pulled out a business card, which she slid over the table in their direction. "If you have further business with me, then you may contact me on these numbers and addresses. Well, then…"

Sakura gave a formal Japanese bow, von der Rabendorf doing – if surprisingly so – likewise, before the two of them left the conference room. The German aristocrat politely opened the door and held it open for Sakura, who smiled and nodded her thanks, only to pause as Aoi spoke up.

"Sakura…?" she began in a soft and faltering voice. "I…I'm sorry…"

Sakura was silent and still for a long moment, before briefly looking over her shoulder with an unreadable expression on her face and then turning away. "Leave." She said softly. "Move on. There is nothing left for you here."

Without another word, Sakura left, von der Rabendorf giving a curt nod at the Matou before likewise departing. Alone with her husband, Aoi let her face fall into her hands, and began to cry.


"You didn't answer his question."

"Oh?"

Sakura and Rin sat at a table in a noodle restaurant, busy and noisy with customers and employees. Sakura was enjoying some simple cold soba, while Rin – using her powers to keep people from noticing her feline ears and tail – had hot soba cooked with fried shrimp and vegetables.

"Why did you cover for our stepdad?" Rin asked.

"Because as much as I dislike the man and his wife," Sakura explained. "I'm not going to do Tokiomi or Zouken's work for them."

"Huh…makes sense…" Rin mused.

"Those two would have loved nothing more than to see Kariya burn and get dragged down with them…" Sakura began, briefly pausing to dip some noodles in sauce before slurping them up. "…but to see him get vindicated…if it weren't for the fact that Tokiomi is ash, I'd daresay he'd actually rise from the grave in disgust, not that Zouken would do much better."

Rin cackled. "Now that would have been a sight to see." She said. "Of course, if he could have risen from the grave, he'd probably have do so back when mother married stepdad all those years ago. He'd probably have crashed the ceremony, or the reception, maybe even the honeymoon…talk about a mess."

"An amusing mess." Sakura said, and Rin laughed.

"It would have been." She agreed. "Mind you, it'd cause quite a bit of trouble…"

"…only until we put him back in the grave again." Sakura pointed out, and Rin gave another cackle.

"So true." She said before making a face. "A shame we never got to actually do any of that, though."

"Shame indeed." Sakura said.

The sisters ate in silence for the next several minutes, and then finishing, Rin sat back while working her tongue in her mouth to get bits and pieces of food out from between her teeth. "…she apologized." She said.

"Mother?"

"Yes."

"…there's nothing wrong with saying sorry."

"…but?"

Sakura didn't reply at once, instead placing her chopsticks over the empty and dirty serving tray of her soba noodles. "Thank you for the meal." She said before again turning to her sister. "It's too late now. Maybe…if she'd made her apologies ten years or so years ago…things might be different. Now though…it's all part of the past…"

"…let the past die, right?" Rin asked.

"Yes." Sakura said, pausing as a waitress arrived to clear the table, Rin ordering dessert for them both, Sakura only speaking up again once the waitress had left. "Let the past die…let it all burn…a sacrifice for the future."


A/N

Yes, I know Kariya should be in his 50s (maybe in his 60s) by this point, making it quite ironic that some – admittedly older – German aristocrat is calling him "young man".

That aside, Matou got off lightly, all things considered. I mean, sure, all their (well, their Zolgen ancestors') patents in the Clock Tower got quarantined/confiscated, likewise for anything of magical value that survived Rin and Sakura turning their mansion in Fuyuki into a frozen hell, but at least the Clock Tower didn't take everything. As in everything, up to and including Aoi and Kariya's kids, considering how much the Barthomeloi loathe vampires (with even sanctioned ones like Zelretch among others barely tolerated). Then again, Sakura also told them to fuck off her land, or learn firsthand what happens when the ley lines get turned against them.

In RPG terms, it'd be interesting to see what happens when your luck stat goes negative, to say nothing of penalties to various rolls and Fate Points (FPs). Well, interesting in the Chinese sense, that is.