Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.
Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi
Chapter 1: Il Mondo (Part I)
Fifteen years later
"25,000 new jobs!"
The election campaign was in full swing, between floats with giant cartoon animals on top, dancers in flashy and flamboyant outfits, clowns and marching bands, and vans topped with loudspeakers loudly belching out fancy rhetoric. Confetti rained down from the sky over the crowds, while costumed men and women tossed out toys and souvenirs from the floats. And like the stupid and unthinking sheep that they were, the crowds lapped it all up.
"New maternal benefits for wives and sisters!"
Sakura Edelfelt-Tohsaka didn't care for any of that, though. Instead, she just sat on a bench in a nearby park, looking slightly out of place in her safari outfit, a pith helmet sitting on the bench next to her. She kept her eyes on the pigeons around her on the ground, picking at the seeds she periodically tossed to them, a small smile playing on her lips. The wind briefly picked up, blowing through her long dark hair, well, mostly dark, as the strands to the front of her scalp had long since turned white, with no inclination of ever returning to their natural color.
Power demanded sacrifice, after all.
Sakura blinked and looked up at the jubilant roar of the crowds, and reinforced eyes narrowed as the biggest float of them all rumbled into view. A man and a woman stood and waved at the crowds from the top, though the latter was barely more than a girl, maybe four or five years older than Sakura herself, and yet shorter and lighter than her for all that.
The man, though, was clearly decades older than his paramour was.
"Dirty old man, huh?" Sakura thought at the sight. "Well…not really my problem, one way or the other."
Sakura smiled as she turned her attentions back to the pigeons, and tossed them a fresh handful of seeds. Then reaching into Imaginary Numbers Space with her fingers, pulled out a single, precisely-cut specimen of onyx. It pulsed between her fingertips, her own prana inside responding positively to her touch.
Letting go, she let the gem fall to the ground, one of the pigeons picking it up with its beak. It cocked its head at Sakura, regarding her with beady eyes.
"You know what to do, little buddy." Sakura told her familiar, and then she followed it up, as it flew away. "That's a good boy."
Smiling again, Sakura turned back to the other pigeons, and tossing them another handful of seeds.
The festival was in full swing, the crowds thronging through the narrow streets between booths and attractions. Peddlers shouted at prospective customers, children tugged and pointed and yelled at their parents, adults conversed and laughed with each other, all under the cloudy skies of night. The Moon peered through gaps in the clouds, while multicolored lights glittered on lines stretched overhead across the streets.
Sakura slid the requisite amount of pesos over the booth's wooden counter, and was gratefully accepted by the vendor. "Thank you, senorita." The older woman said.
Sakura nodded back with a smile and a tip of her helmet, and then taking her cup of shaved ice, deftly slipped between and through the crowds, spooning fruit-flavored ice into her mouth. Making her way up a hill, she ended up on a landing looking down on an amphitheater below. Seating arrangements were limited only to the city's great and good – or more accurately, the city's rich and powerful – though ordinary people and other bystanders could watch from vantage points outside the amphitheater.
"…so I said to him," the man on the stage began. "Brother, I love you like you were my own flesh and blood, but with this? I can't help you. Women always find out the truth, you see…always. And I've got a wife."
The crowd below laughed, as did a few of the people in the landing. Sakura didn't, instead continuing to spoon shaved ice into her mouth while watching the gathering below. Eyes stayed fixed on the VIP table, where the local candidate and his mistress sat, laughing as they lapped up the comedian's tripe.
The minutes ticked by, the Moon slowly climbing higher into the skies above, even as events came and went down below. The comedian finished his routine on the stage, and was followed by a musical number by a local singer. Sakura had to admit, the woman had an impressive voice, but even so, she kept her eyes on the target.
Finishing her shaved ice, she tossed it in a nearby trash can, and then returning to the edge of the landing, leaned forward, resting her arms on the metal railings. Patience…patience was the name of the game when it came to hunting, no matter the prey. Rabbits, deer, partridges and other game birds, people…it was all the same in the end, and this was no different.
Lips twitched into a smile as finally, the target made her move. The mistress whispered something to her lover, and they shared a kiss, before the mistress made to leave the amphitheater for the ladies' room.
Sakura pushed herself off the railings, and walking quickly, vanished into the crowds while also heading for the ladies' room.
It was show time.
A pair of guards stood on either side of the ladies' room, their eyes regarding Sakura with quiet suspicion as she approached. They didn't try to stop her, though, as she didn't seem threatening in any way to them. They just watched as she approached, and opening the door, stepped into the ladies' room while closing the door behind her.
The mistress was at the sink, humming softly to herself while washing her hands. There was no one else inside the room.
Sakura sent a thought to her familiars, and then pressing a piece of jade against the door, fused it with the surrounding wall. A moment later and the power was cut, Sakura's familiars using gems she'd given them to blow the local power grid.
Darkness fell as the power failed, with red emergency lights coming on a moment later. Even through the walls, the panicked shouts and screams of the people outside could be heard, while loud thumps resonated through the door as the guards outside tried to come in, only they couldn't.
There were no emergency lights in the ladies' room.
Sakura didn't need it. Reinforcement was enough. Pulling a 12-inch dagger from Imaginary Numbers Space, she stalked around her panicking prey, the mistress turning back and forth, heaving and tearing up in terror. And then holding her breath, Sakura pounced.
Kicking the mistress down to her knees, Sakura then grabbed her by the hair, and pulling back bared the mistress' throat. A simple motion later, and blood was gushing like a waterfall from lacerated arteries, the mistress gurgling as her life bled away and flooded into her lungs. But Sakura wasn't finished.
Letting the mistress fall to the ground, Sakura then palmed another piece of jade, and with a muttered word, slammed it into the mistress' torso. Flesh exploded in a shower of blood and gore, the mistress' torso turning to mulch as Sakura destroyed it along with the mistress' lower abdominal organs, in particular the woman's reproductive system.
Sakura, your mission is to infiltrate the campaign climax and terminate the target. Complete destruction of the body is unneeded. The client is willing to let them have the rest so long as the target's reproductive organs are destroyed.
Mockery, is it?
So it would seem, Sakura. The mission details are up to you, but keep it discreet. We don't need our names on the front page of any newspaper or on the screens on some news channel somewhere else in the world.
I understand.
Sakura got up, magic rippling over her clothes and body to break down the blood splattering it, dust crumbling away as she stepped over the mangled corpse to the back wall. Pulling out another gem, Sakura slammed it against the wall with a muttered word, and blew a hole right through.
"Elisa?" she reached out with her thoughts.
"Sakura?" her bodyguard asked.
"Mission accomplished." Sakura thought as she slipped into the panicking crowds, using them to mask her escape route. "Ready the chopper, I'm already on my way out."
"Yes, Sakura."
Sakura turned a corner, scanned her surroundings, then hurried through the empty alley. It was a roundabout route, one which kept her from prying eyes and made any pursuit from the local kingpin cum politician out for blood for his mistress' death that much more difficult.
Not to mention, if she had to fight, then with less prying eyes here she'd find it easier to let loose.
Hurrying up a set of stairs, Sakura paused just short of entering the alley beyond. It wasn't something she could put into words, and which science could only handwave as instinct, a sixth sense possessed only by really lucky people or those who'd spent so much time putting their lives on the line.
Something…
…someone was here.
…
…
…
The first step to breaking a trap was to spring it.
A gem shattered in Sakura's grip, allowing her to instinctively control the gravity in the local area and how it affected her. Prana flooded her crest, the Earth element allowing her to similarly control her mass on an intuitive level. Together, they would increase her mobility to levels even greater than just mere reinforcement gave her, and that was before reinforcement itself was factored in.
Not that there wasn't a price, of course. The crest fused into her spine burned angrily, feeling as though someone was peeling her skin and then dragging red-hot claws through the flesh beneath, all while boiling water mixed with acid was being poured on top of it.
The crest was very useful, and more than that gave weight – legitimacy, even – to her name, but by God, she could do without the pain that came with using it. Even after getting used to it, it was never really something you could do away with.
Stepping into the open, Sakura immediately took a step back, a boomerang imbued with the Wind element spinning past through the air. It'd have carved right through her head otherwise, and quite easily at that, the all-but inaudible keening of its passing pointing to a monomolecular edge of air around the boomerang that would have let it cut through solid steel.
"Murderer!" the man in a suit down the alley shouted at Sakura as he drew and threw more boomerangs at her. "I'll kill you!"
Sakura sped down the alley with a set expression on her face, eyes wary for the incoming boomerangs. Then without breaking stride she dodged the side, right, left, left again, and then right, before pulling an arm back to throw a right hook.
It slammed into the man's face, causing him to drop the boomerang he was holding, and staggering him away with a cry of pain as Sakura's reinforced and elementally-imbued fist shattered his left cheekbone. A left hook did the same to his right cheekbone, and the man barely had time to spit out broken teeth before a spinning kick by Sakura caved in his left temple and smashed his face against the wall with the crack of breaking bone.
The man was probably walking dead already, but Sakura was nothing but thorough. Hyenas didn't stop feeding until their prey was naught but bare bones, after all, in fact they might even break the bone to get at the juicy marrow within.
Grabbing the man's head with a claw-like hold, Sakura slammed his head against the wall again, and with a feral snarl, dragged it against said wall while running down the alley. It left a trail of blood, skin, and pulped flesh behind them, and then coming onto a street running along the edge of the cliff, Sakura slammed the man's head against the steel railing.
Steel and bone broke before Sakura let the man's head go, his limp body falling to the ground. Quartz flashed into her hand, and with a hissed aria, she slammed it down against his body. An explosion rumbled through the night, the man's body reduced to bloody pulp smeared against the floor of a crater three-feet deep.
"You're a hundred years too early to try and take an Edelfelt on, spell-caster trash." Sakura contemptuously spat, walking away and brushing dust off her clothes.
The chopper was waiting for Sakura as she arrived at the extraction point, Elisa Rodriguez opening the passenger side door open for her. "Everything alright?" she asked as Sakura got into the chopper, and closed the door behind her.
"Just a minor nuisance slowing me down." Sakura said as she strapped herself in. "I'd have been here sooner if not for that."
"Fair enough." Elisa said as she had the helicopter take off, and taking them to where their plane was waiting. "What about the mission, though? Any complications?"
"…reading about the target on the dossier is one thing." Sakura said after a few moments. "Seeing it in person…that girl was only a few years older than me. And she was sleeping with a guy around twenty or so yours older than her? I'll admit, it's…creeped me out, in a way."
"Well, there's a difference between blowing stuff up and killing people on the battlefield, and having to lie on your back and spread your legs for some lowlife to get his balls off." Elisa admitted. "So yeah, I don't fault you for getting creeped out, especially since that girl wasn't that much older than you."
Sakura just hummed in agreement. "…she wasn't much, though." She eventually said.
"I beg your pardon?"
"The target," Sakura elaborated. "She wasn't much, literally. I mean, she wasn't skin and bones, but I did get a feel for her while stalking her and then finally getting in close to finish her off. Her muscles were too soft, and her movements too slow and random."
"So she really was just a helpless woman in the end, huh?" Elisa asked.
"A helpless woman with a valuable bloodline, regardless of whether or not her mother was just a mistress." Sakura said before giving a sigh. "Well, I guess it's not really my business, her grandfather's way of thinking that is."
"You mean…about the fact that he didn't care that he had a granddaughter," Elisa began. "But he cared that she was marrying someone rich and powerful, with connections to the twilit underworld between our two worlds."
"That's exactly what I mean."
"…the world can be a cruel place." Elisa eventually said. "Much like life, it's not fair."
"Well, that's true." Sakura said with a sigh. "Not much we can do but make the best of it, huh? And be thankful that we're all lucky to have a fairer deal than others. In short, count your blessings."
"Amen to that, Sakura."
A couple of hours later, and Sakura was sitting on a couch in a Learjet's passenger cabin. She'd freshly-showered, and was now wearing a loose-fitting dress while getting in touch with her relatives back in Finland over satellite.
"Good work in South America, Sakura." Lummiki Edelfelt said over the satellite link. "Lord Crépin has already independently confirmed the target's demise and the destruction of critical assets. The agreed upon amount has already been transferred to your account."
"I'm glad to receive payment for a job well done." Sakura said before giving a mockingly-contrite appearance. "Though I apologize if that comes off as too…mercenary."
"HA!" Lummiki gave a laugh at that, one shared by her niece. The day an Edelfelt would seriously apologize for having a mercenary attitude would be the day hell froze over.
"In any case," Lumikki continued. "Return to Finland for now, as currently there aren't any job offers floating around that we can give you. At least, none that would be worth your while."
"I understand, Aunt Lumikki." Sakura said, before leaning forward. "Though, with that said, perhaps I might pass by London, and pay Luvia a visit?"
Lumikki hummed in thought for a few moments. "You'll have to pay for your own accommodations while you're there." She finally said.
"I have some money to burn." Sakura said with a nod.
Lumikki nodded back. "Very well then," she said. "I'll update your status, though keep in touch just in case something comes up that we need to send you on."
"I understand."
Lumikki nodded again. "Alright, then," she said. "Pass on my regards to Luvia as well, but aside from that, enjoy yourself. Oh, and be careful: The Clock Tower's a nest of vipers. We might play our own games with other families here in Finland, but the Clock Tower's intrigues are on a completely different level."
"I'll keep that in mind." Sakura nodded, and with a final nod, Lumikki cut the line.
With a sigh of satisfaction, Sakura sank back into her couch, even as a maid arrived and served her a parfait. "Thank you, thank you," Sakura happily expressed her gratitude, already eyeing the icy sweet with delight. She gushed wordlessly as she spooned fruit and cream into her mouth, followed by more one after the other. "Want one?"
Elisa laughed and shook her head. "No, thank you." She said from where she was sitting at the bar. "It's too sweet for me. I'll stick with coffee and a chicken sandwich."
Sakura pouted at the notion of a parfait being too sweet, but then shrugged it off. To each their own, and all that.
"We'll pass by Belgium first," she said instead. "My arrival could be a pleasant surprise, but just in case, I'll bring something along to sweeten the deal."
"Do you have something in mind, my lady?" Elisa asked.
Sakura just smiled and continued to eat her parfait.
"Belgian chocolate," Elisa remarked a day – not counting passing through different time zones – later, as Sakura returned to her Learjet after shopping the whole day in Belgium. Nothing remarkable had happened while they were there, if you didn't count a Finnish-Japanese aristocrat and her Latina bodyguard as remarkable. "And Belgian beer…well, they do say food and drink make the best gift to give and share."
"Hmm…eight kinds of pralines, and four kinds of truffles," Sakura cheerfully said as she watched the maids bring in her purchases. "And seventy-eight kinds of beer. Cost quite the penny, but it's worth it all buttering up my dear elder cousin."
"…permission to speak freely?"
"Granted."
"Butter her up for what, my lady? Do you plan to ask a favor of some kind?"
Sakura smiled while settling into her couch. "Rents in London are among the most expensive in the world." She said. "I might have spent plenty to buy everything I bought earlier today, but I'd have to pay up to five times that amount for a single night in London."
"Hmm…so in exchange for these gifts, Lady Luviagelita will let you stay at her mansion." Elisa remarked.
Sakura shrugged. "She probably wouldn't mind if I asked even without giving her gifts." She said. "But, I'd rather not come off as a freeloader as the Americans would call it."
"Good point."
Sakura nodded. "Once my purchases have been loaded aboard," she said. "Have the captain fly us to Heathrow. No point in dallying around further, and I'm looking forward to meeting my cousin again after so long."
Elisa gave a small smile. "If I might point out," she said. "It hasn't been more than a few months since you last met Lady Luviagelita during your family's New Year's celebration."
"Maybe…but that's still a few months away from family. I'm sure Luvia is feeling quite lonely herself."
"I'll defer to you on that, my lady."
"Please pardon the interruption, my lady," a maid diffidently said with a curtsy. "Lady Sakura is here to see you."
Luviagelita 'Luvia' Edelfelt blinked from where she was enjoying a session with her hairdresser and manicure and pedicure artists. "Sakura?" she asked in surprise. "What's she doing here?"
"You won't see her then?"
"No, of course I will." Luvia snapped. "Send her in immediately."
"As you wish, my lady." The maid said with another curtsy.
It took a few minutes, Luvia's mansion being quite large, and then Sakura was walking in, wearing a full dress of blue brocade with elaborate embroidery in white lace, along with a matching pair of white leather boots with gilt buttons. White velvet gloved her hands, one of them rising in greeting.
"Hello, my dear cousin." Sakura happily greeted Luvia. "How are you today?"
"Fine, thank you." Luvia said before giving a sigh. "Though, I could be better."
"Oh?"
"Someone tried to have me killed earlier." Luvia admitted with a sigh. "They're all dead now, of course, very dead, in fact. I'd be surprised if there's anything left of any individual assassin that could fill a can of sardines. Though, it left me looking quite disheveled, hence my current situation."
"I see…still, count your blessings, if I may say so." Sakura remarked.
Luvia smiled. "I suppose so." She said. "I'm alive and well, and unscarred for all that. Superficialities aside, victory was overwhelmingly mine."
"As you say."
Luvia smiled wider, and gestured for Sakura to sit. A maid arrived, bringing tea and biscuits. "You can go ahead and have tea, if you want." Luvia said. "I'll need to finish getting touched up first before I can join you for dinner. Or will you be joining me?"
"I'd be honored."
Luvia laughed. "I'm glad to hear it." She said. "So, now that you're here, I assume your latest mission in South America went well."
"There was a minor complication." Sakura said with a shrug.
"Oh?"
"A jumped-up spell-caster thought he could take me on."
"And how did it end?"
"With a crater smeared with blood and viscera."
Luvia laughed. "Well done, cousin." She said.
Sakura just smiled and took a drink of her tea. "But apart from that," she continued. "The mission went as well as could be expected. The target was killed, critical assets destroyed, no evidence left behind that could implicate us, and the methods used circumspect enough that no matter how many stones the local law enforcement tip over, they won't find anything out of the ordinary. Well, apart from a pair of corpses left in bloody shambles."
Luvia nodded. "Sounds good," she said before raising an eyebrow. "Did you bring me any souvenirs?"
Sakura smiled wider. "From South America, no." she said, and causing Luvia to pout. "I passed by Belgium on the way, though. Elisa…?"
"Yes, my lady." The Latina woman said, stepping forward and presenting Luvia an open box of Belgian chocolates, while a nearby maid had a tray with a bottle of beer and a cold-frosted glass on it.
"Hmm…Belgian beer and chocolate…" Luvia happily said. "Thank you, Sakura."
"Oh don't thank me yet." Sakura said with a wink. "That's just a sample, and there's plenty more where it came from."
"Oh?"
"How does twelve different kinds of chocolate and nearly a hundred varieties of beer sound?"
Luvia laughed. "Sakura, I'll get fat." She mock complained.
"But you'll still enjoy them, won't you?" Sakura asked back.
"Of course I will." Luvia said with a grin. "Thank you for the selection. I'll be sure to enjoy it, and with you too, while you're here. You'll be staying for a while, won't you?"
"Not for too long, I'm sure the rest of the family will want me back in Finland before the month is out at the latest." Sakura said with a sigh. "Maybe sooner, if something comes up."
"Hmm…well, until then, I'll be glad to have you here in London." Luvia said firmly. "Do you have any arrangements yet?"
"I was looking into local options…"
Luvia tutted in disapproval. "They might as well be robbing you blind, as you should well know." She chided before giving a smile. "How about you stay here with me then?"
"I don't wish to impose…"
"Oh not at all."
"…then allow me to take you at your kind offer."
Luvia grinned. "Splendid!" she said.
A/N
Il Mondo: The World, the twenty-first card of the Major Arcana. It's traditionally depicted as a woman in the nude dancing above the Earth, holding a pair of staves in her hands. A green wreath surrounds both the Earth and the woman, while animals look on from around the wreath. Its traditional associations include the end of cycles, completed achievements, fulfilled possibility, and new beginnings.
Thanks to [USER=87080]Cubia[/USER] for helping write this chapter. Well, indirectly, at least, as he pointed out that while Edelfelt are one of the more benevolent magi families out there, they're still a magi family with all that implies. Their latent sociopathy as magi is at full bore here, with Luvia and Sakura completely nonchalant at their casual brutality against their enemies.
