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

Everything and Nothing

Chapter 11

The door fell to the ground with a muffled crash, allowing the two Japanese archmagi into the room. What lay beyond wasn't what they expected.

Given the defenses on the tower's ground floor, they'd expected something more…macabre. Things like naked and mutilated corpses hanging on hooks from chains dangling from the ceiling…profane patterns sketched in blood on the walls…mind-blasting runes carved into the room's posts and lintels…tapestries made from stretched-out Human skin depicting scenes of debauchery and brutality…

…maybe even unborn babies torn out from their mothers' wombs sacrificed on altars to dark and forgotten gods, the mothers themselves strangled with their aborted progenies' umbilical cords.

Instead, the room they found themselves in was a picture of…luxury. Every step they made sank into a rich carpet of luscious red. Against one wall there was a four-poster bed, furnished with the whitest linens and shimmering silks, the pillows delightfully plump and soft-looking. Shelves lined the other walls, filled with books on many a subject. There was even a globe, handmade and looking as though crafted by a master who worked decades away on such a masterpiece.

The centerpiece of the room was a long table, set for one, with Japanese porcelain and cutlery made from sterling silver. The meal was done, the bony carcass of a roast chicken sitting on the plate along with the remains of sauce and garnish. Next to it was an open bottle of Madeira, along with a glass half-full.

"Where is this guy?" Rin demanded as she and her sister stormed into the room. "He can't have gotten far, his seat's still warm."

"Well, he's definitely not under the bed." Sakura said, peering under the bed with an arm-mounted mini-crossbow primed and loaded, just in case. "Which means…"

"…right, I got this." Rin dully said, before giving the cutlery and porcelain a regretful glance. Then placing her hands along the table's edge, upended it with a single heave. Glass and porcelain smashed against the ground, while cutlery clattered as they scattered over the floor. And with a squeal, the Forvedge magus scampered away, pressing himself against the nearby wall and shakily holding out a carving knife in front of him.

Rin and Sakura stared.

This was not what they expected.

Given the defenses on the tower's ground floor, they'd expected something more…macabre. Maybe a tall and forbidding figure, encased in black plate mail, carrying a gigantic mace. Or an old man or woman, stooped and shriveled from decades if not centuries of cruelty and evil.

Instead, they got a…fop…dressed like it was the 18th Century. As in fitted white trousers that left too little to the imagination, under a floral pink frock coat with gold buttons and a full-fledged cravat. The man even had a powdered wig, and his face was similarly pale from powder, rouge tinting his cheeks while his eyelashes hung stiff and heavy from mascara.

"…s-s-stay back…stay back, you Tohsaka w-w-witches…" the man fearfully stammered out. "…t-this doesn't have to end in bloodshed…"

Rin and Sakura shared a look as the man gave a nervous giggle. Then Sakura sighed. "I'll take care of this." She said, opening up a portal into Imaginary Numbers Space. Rin's eyebrows rose as Sakura pulled out a wakizashi of all things, before stepping back as Sakura drew the short sword.

Holding the sword one-handed, Sakura eyed the Forvedge magus critically. In contrast to his twitching and shaking form, Sakura stood firm and unyielding, before pouncing forward with catlike grace. Steel rang as she swung with fast and practiced strikes, the Forvedge magus clumsily parrying the first two blows.

The third blow knocked the carving knife out of his hands, before the next blow cut his belly open, causing his guts to spill out of the bloody gash. The Forvedge's magus' scream was cut short as a spinning kick from Sakura threw him across the room against another wall, his guts spooling out in his wake.

"…s-s-s-spare m-m-me…" he weakly pleaded, even as Rin grabbed him by an arm and the back of his collar. "…it was n-nothing personal…!"

Glass shattered as Rin rammed him through the windows, the man screaming in pain and terror as he fell down to the ground below, landing with a wet crunch against the stone. The Tohsaka sisters stared out after him, watching as Little Rin curiously flew over. The vengeful spirit poked the corpse a few times, before looking up the tower.

"Can I eat him?" she shouted.

"Be my guest!" Sakura shouted back, and even across the distance, Little Rin's grin was obvious.

"OKAY!" she said, Rin making a disgusted noise before turning away, not exactly wanting to watch her counterpart scavenge at their fallen enemies. Instead, she looked around the room, and then finding the mini-bar, quickly went through its contents both with her eyes and with a poison detection spell.

"…solera brandy…" Rin said while pulling out a bottle, and uncorking it with her teeth. "…we'll have a drunk, on the house."

Sakura raised an eyebrow as Rin took a drink straight from the bottle, before offering it to her. Then smiling back, Sakura took the bottle, toasted her sister, and then similarly took a drink straight from the bottle.

Victory was sweet.

"There are people waiting for us." Rin observed as she and Sakura used their boat to get back to the mainland.

Behind them, in the distance, a column of smoke steadily rose into the afternoon sky, already turning gold and orange as the Sun began to set. They'd set the Sparrow's Nest on fire before leaving, while leaving the corpses of their enemies strewn about for the carrion birds to feast on, assuming the fires didn't burn them first.

That, and looting everything of value that wasn't bolted down, along with much of what was bolted down. After all, if they could get the bolts loose, then it obviously wasn't bolted down anymore, was it?

"Police?" Sakura asked. "Army? Concerned citizens? Gangsters? Hired thugs?"

Rin gave Sakura a look, before sighing. "They have a flag of truce." She said.

"Ah, Lord Edelfelt's henchmen, no doubt." Sakura said. "This should be good."

Reinforcing her eyes, she spotted five men – well, four males and one female – in suits along with two cars waiting at the dock. One of them carried a white flag…

…then to Sakura's amusement, as she stood up on the boat, three of the men started at the sight and fled, one of them throwing the flag away as he went. The woman palmed her face as the last man briefly gave chase, before just stamping impotently on the ground and shouting after his (former) comrades.

"Well, they definitely recognize you." Rin remarked.

"It's so nice to be appreciated." Sakura said.

Rin just grunted, even as their boat finally came to a halt at the dock. Leaving the men at the docks to tie up the boat, Rin and Sakura headed up to rendezvous with their cousin's henchmen.

"Did Lord Edelfelt send you?" Sakura asked, even as Rin pulled out the mystic code Luvia had given them.

"Yes, she did." The woman said, also holding up her own mystic code, confirming her identity, with the mystic code enchanted to only work when in the hands of the person Luvia had given it to, and only when they weren't operating under duress or trying to mislead the person carrying the mystic code's pair. "My name is Natasha Pavlovic Romanova, and this is my partner, Anji Ninomiya."

"Natasha Romanova…?" Sakura echoed. "As in…Black Widow, from the comics?"

Natasha sighed in exasperation, even as Anji snickered while walking up next to her. "Yes," he began. "Just like in the comics."

Then he gave a grunt as Natasha punched him without looking, causing him to fall to the ground, clutching at his nose. "Yes, well," she began. "While we do have…similar names, I am not this 'Black Widow' from American Hollywood."

"You're right about that." Anji grunted. "Black Widow – whether from the comics or Scarlett Johansson from the movies – has bigger tits than you do."

This time, it was Rin and Sakura's turn to sigh in exasperation. Natasha just stood silent and still for a moment, and then turning to her partner, raised a booted foot. Then she stomped down hard, causing Anji to cry out in pain, and again, as she stomped down a second time, and again and again and again.

"Did that guy have a death wish?" Sakura asked while looking on with an unsympathetic air.

"He probably did." Rin replied. "That, or he was just plain stupid."

"Did you really have to burn down the Sparrow's Nest?" Anji asked as they rode back in a car. "That place had more than a few centuries of history to it."

"It wasn't that important if the owners were just renting it out to anyone who could afford it." Sakura dismissively said.

"Yeah, but…okay, that aside, setting it on fire – and leaving the corpses just lying around – has drawn attention." Anji said while typing away on a laptop. "According to the news on the internet and in the air, the police are already on the site, as thick as fleas on a mangy dog."

"What do they say caused the fire?" Sakura asked.

"Or why there were so many bodies lying around?" Rin added.

"They've gone for a pitched battle between rival syndicates…" Anji began, only to trail off as the Tohsaka sisters made dismissive gestures.

"Then that's problem solved." Rin said.

"Besides," Sakura continued. "Don't blame us. We were just supposed to pass through, and we were even just sitting down for a local Italian lunch when Forvedge's hired thugs decided to shoot up the restaurant we were in."

"Not to mention putting a bullet into Sakura." Rin growled. "That guy got what he deserved."

"What exactly happened to the…um, gunman?" Anji asked.

Rin shrugged. "I broke every bone in his torso." She said. "Oh, and I also broke his back…over my knee, mind. Then Sakura melted his brain – literally."

Anji looked ill, causing Natasha to roll her eyes at her partner. "They're Edelfelts, even if they don't have the right to the name." she said in exasperation. "What did you expect?"

"…fair enough." Anji said with a sigh. "Anyway, we're headed back to Venice. Lady Luviagelita's made contact with Forvedge, and we have intelligence on the situation as it currently stands on the ground. We'll regroup, you can refresh yourselves, and then we can have a proper briefing."

"Then what?" Sakura asked.

"Then we head for Romania." Anji said, while Natasha nodded. Sakura narrowed her eyes, before sharing a look with Rin.

"Alright then," Rin said. "We'll go along with Lord Edelfelt's script…for now. I hope whatever plan she has in mind, it's a good one."

"I assure you," Natasha began. "Lady Luviagelita always and only ever plans for nothing less than complete victory."

"I certainly hope so." Sakura said. "I want this whole mess with Forvedge and Icecolle over and done with once and for all, even if I have to kill everyone inside the Forvedge ancestral territory myself."

Natasha opened her mouth to reply, but just closed it wordlessly at the cold expression on Sakura's face, much less the hardness in her eyes. She wasn't scared, not by a long shot, but she wasn't unimpressed either.

Looks like 'Murderer Blue' might not be just a fancy title after all.

"Do you trust them?" Rin asked, once they were back in the relative safety of their suite in Venice.

"No." Sakura firmly said. "Do you?"

"No." Rin said just as firmly. "Maybe if it was the Luvia I know…but this isn't her. This is Lord Edelfelt. Luvia played politics…but this one even more so. Even with Master Zelretch hanging over her head like the Sword of Damocles, I wouldn't put it past Lord Edelfelt to pull some stunt while using technicalities to wriggle her way out of serious consequences."

"Then we need to find a way to operate freely." Sakura said. "But even so, we should play by the script, for now."

"Agreed," Rin said with a nod. "If nothing else, it'd be a way for us to get useful info on what we're facing. Like say…the layout of the Forvedge homefield, an approximation of how many magi we'll be up against, cannon fodder, and the like…"

"…hmm…" Sakura hummed in thought. "…no arguments there, but for afterward…tell me, how much power can the Jeweled Sword channel?"

Rin shrugged. "The Jeweled Sword has virtually unlimited output." She said. "That said, the amount of prana produced is limited per unit of time."

"Per unit of time, you say?" Sakura asked with a gleam in her eyes. "Did you know that time and space have a relationship with each other?"

"Yes…what are you up to, Sakura?"

Sakura began to pace. "I could use spatial manipulation to affect relativity," she said. "And increase the unit of time, which would allow us to pull vast amounts of prana from the Jeweled Sword."

"…energy storage will be an issue…" Rin cautiously said.

"Imaginary Numbers Space has virtually unlimited storage space." Sakura countered.

"…okay, just what are you plotting, Sakura?" Rin asked with a sigh.

"I call it a space-time bomb, at least for now." Sakura said with a smile. "It's not completely accurate, you see, so I'll have to revise it as we get the details down."

"Uh-huh…just what does it involve?"

Sakura shrugged. "We teleport in," she said. "But in such a way that the temporospatial rift is so big that the World can't compensate smoothly. Instead, it compensates violently, resulting in a spatial and metaphysical distortion wave. It should blow out all the bounded fields in the area, destroy everything on the target site before our arrival, as well as in the immediate vicinity, while also causing a lot of damage to everything else further out."

"…that's insane." Rin breathed.

"I prefer to call it…bold, and subtle, in equal measure." Sakura countered.

"Bold, sure. But subtle…?" Rin incredulously asked.

"Sure," Sakura said with a shrug. "After all, it's just a deliberately overpowered teleportation spell in the end. So how about it?"

"…isn't this also what they call shock and awe?" Rin asked after a moment.

"Now you're getting it." Sakura said with a grin.

"Well…" Rin said, scratching at her head. "…it's not like I'm walking out of this empty-handed. After all, I'll get a way to increase the amount of prana I get from the Jeweled Sword."

"That's the spirit." Sakura said, already pulling out pen and paper. "Now, let's get cracking."

"Agreed." Rin said, also pulling out pen and paper.

"So that's the Forvedge ancestral territory." Sakura said, looking out over the maps provided by Luvia's henchmen, laid out on the table in front of them. "The serpents' lair, you could say."

"Yes." Natasha said. "The objective is to force Forvedge and Icecolle into a position from which they cannot properly negotiate, and only submit to demands presented by Lord Edelfelt."

"I'm not agreeing to anything that doesn't end with Cecilia dead at my feet." Sakura immediately said.

"If you wish to duel Cecilia Icecolle-Forvedge," Natasha began. "Then by all means, do so."

"Good."

"The first phase is already in motion." Natasha continued. "Lord Edelfelt brought with her an infiltration team, which will deploy explosive devices to disable Forvedge and Icecolle's transportation and communications capabilities on command, as well as much of their combat strength as possible. Once the infiltration team triggers the explosives, we'll enter the second phase."

"And when will they trigger the second phase?" Rin asked. "The infiltration team is under Luvia's immediate command, right?"

"As you say," Natasha said. "The command will be given once all assault forces are in position."

"And the second phase is…?" Sakura prompted.

"We'll use…relics, family relics belonging to House Edelfelt," Natasha said. "To break the bounded fields around the Forvedge territory. Then we'll launch a two-pronged frontal attack, overwhelming Forvedge and Icecolle's combat strength, and allowing the infiltration team to redeploy and use more relics to seize control of the local ley-lines."

"That should keep Forvedge from resetting their defenses." Rin said.

"As you say," Natasha said with a nod. "And once we have control of the ley-lines, the assault forces and infiltration team will link up with each other, which leads to the third phase. In the third phase, we take control of the rest of the territory, and force Forvedge and Icecolle to surrender."

"Then the dictation of terms begins." Sakura said.

"Yes."

"It's not a bad plan." Rin said. "Of course, it all depends on Lord Edelfelt not getting outed, to say nothing of the rest of the infiltration team."

"Or for that matter," Sakura added. "That things go as planned, in a linear fashion with Forvedge and Icecolle not having anything in their possession to counter Edelfelt's relics."

"Then what do you suggest?" Natasha challenged.

"Full attack." Sakura replied. "Don't just use those relics to break Forvedge's defenses. Use those same relics to simply destroy everything in our path. Ignite the ley-lines if you have to. Don't bother giving terms, even. Just…destroy everything, until if and when Forvedge and Icecolle surrender unconditionally."

"…an…interesting, perspective," Natasha said. "However, Lord Edelfelt has made her final decision, and the plan has been approved."

"…we are making a terrible mistake." Sakura said. "But alright, I'll play along. Planning to attack Forvedge is all well and good, but more importantly, how do we get there?"

"We'll take a plane to Bucharest," Natasha replied, and pulling closer a map of Romania. "And from there head out into the countryside, to the designated rendezvous point outside of Trifas."

"Hmm…" Rin said, tracing her hands over the countryside. "…plenty of towns and villages along the way…and with our forces scattered to avoid detection…we risk getting picked off one-by-one."

"Countermeasures are in place…"

As Natasha droned on about Edelfelt's plans to avoid becoming intercepted and foiled before even reaching their destination, Rin and Sakura shared a look. They gave an imperceptible nod to each other, and then looked down on the map.

"Edelfelt's men are confident about their plans." Sakura thought. "It might just work too."

"It's just too much of a gamble, huh?" Rin asked, speaking to Sakura via telepathy.

"Yes." Sakura replied. "But it also presents an opportunity."

"I see it too." Rin replied. "Basically, use Edelfelt as a smokescreen, and draw Forvedge and Icecolle's attention to them."

"Yes." Sakura agreed. "Not only that, we'll have Forvedge and Icecolle do our work for us, slowing down Edelfelt's forces, and allowing us to act freely. By the time they arrive, everything will be fait accompli. All we need is an opportunity to slip away."

"I'm sure one will present itself once we get to Romania." Rin said with a mental smile, and which Sakura returned.

"Yes," she agreed. "I think so too, sister."

A/N

Happy Holidays, so here's an update.