Not Really a Reunion
(Matou House)
(Rin)
"Are you awake?"
Ah, it's that dream again. A familiar memory of long ago, when times were simpler.
"Nee-san, you are awake right? Don't pretend."
A time before they were seper- Wait, what?
Rin's eyes snapped open, not to the sight of her room in the Tohsaka house, but somewhere not too far either, physically at least.
"That's good," the girl sitting on the ground in front of her, legs to one side, said softly as their eyes met. "I was about to get a little... angry."
Her first impulse was to move, towards or away from Sakura she didn't know, but it didn't matter because she couldn't. A quick glance to the side showed she hadn't just been sitting in the room's only chair, but had been tied to it. Resting on her hand, covering the Command Seal markings was a purple blindfold?!
"Do you remember now?" Sakura asked, watching her with great interest.
"Rider..." the magus muttered, before realizing that besides the blindfold, the two of them were sitting in a Bounded Field like that in the school!
"Sakura, we have to get out of here," she said in a panic. If what Sasaku had said was right, this wan't just a Field that absorbed magical energy, but one that rose to the level of being a Drain attack.
"Untie me and I'll..." Do what exactly? Even if Sasaku could break apart the focal points nearly instantly, she was a Caster and not being drained while doing so.
"You misunderstand," Sakura replied while standing up and patting Rin's head with a mocking sense of sympathy. "Rider and I constructed this."
Then she understood why the Matou was totally at ease.
"You're the only prisoner here."
"Kuro, what happened? Where are you?" She couldn't contact her Servant for some reason, probably the field. In that case...
"By my Command Spell, Archer come here immediately!" The sound of Sakura's uncharacteristic giggling barely registered over the surprise as... nothing happened.
"Let me guess," she played with her purple hair, "you just tried to summon your Archer?" She frowned before continuing, "I was quite upset to discover that Rider didn't finish the job, but no, it's all for the better."
"What happened to-" Rin shut up before revealing anything, but was quite disappointed when Sakura, with a smile sharp enough to cut with, continued her line of thought. "Emiya-senpai, right? Don't worry, you'll get to meet him when Rider gets back."
As I thought, she's definitely besotted with him. Since she wouldn't harm Shirou, as long as Kuro and Sasaku can team up, they should be able to do something. Or so she thought, but at that moment, she felt something snap, followed soon after by her thin hope.
It was the contract between her and Sasaku.
"That look... yes, it's as wonderful as I thought it would be." Sakura paused in the middle of toying with Rin's hair, which was hanging loose as the ties had been lost somewhere. Or removed by her. She wasn't talking about her elder's hairstyle though.
"Fufu~ to think nii-san was actually right about something," she continued to herself happily. "I will have to give him a bonus for winning that bet."
"What?" Rin grumbled, off-put by Sakura's ramblings. There was a moment of opportunity before Rider returned, but it didn't seem her magecraft worked any better than the Command Spell had. She turned her glare downward. That blindfold of Rider's must be the cause.
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(Sakura)
"You need to be careful, there's always a chance to escape any prison," the now-familiar dry voice resounded in her mind. "Even the stupid pet might get outside on its own now and then."
"-I hardly need the warning given my life depends on being able to use her as a prana generator.-"
Sakura frowned while watching a motionless Rin. "Grandfather might volunteer his expertise, but no..."
Not only would that waste prana I desperately need, it's counterproductive since he would gain control, not me. And I don't want anyone getting their hands on nee-san but me.
Rin didn't respond at all, so she probably didn't know. Not surprising, since it was not only the secret of Matou magecraft, but Zolgen's personal development on it. Even if Sakura had been on the recieving end, it didn't mean she knew how to use it.
"If there was some way to steal his familiars from him, you could probably use it too."
"Considering the familiars basically are him, that's no easy task. Especially since he's kept me in the dark precisely to prevent such a possibility."
"Can Gorgon Breaker prevent him from using them to control you? If should break the link between him and the worms in you."
"But they'd revert to being normal worms which would probably instinctively kill me."
"Hmm, well... as long as you're alive and yourself there's always the chance that a chance will come up. Fuahaha" With that her companion fell silent.
"Why so quiet, nee-san?" Sakura spoke up partially to vent her frustration. "I thought you liked the sound of your own voice. Of course, no one outside this field would hear even if you screamed, but you needn't hold back on my account."
Fiddling idly with the long dagger in her hands, she thought about more important matters. Namely her earlier conversation with Rider about, and, Shirou.
(A while ago, before Rider and Shinji left for the Emiya house)
"Here," Rider said in her silky voice while handing over one of her daggers. "A failsafe."
"I don't quite understand," Sakura muttered while receiving it. "Does it do something special?"
"It's not much more than a piece of steel," the Servant replied. "But if something goes wrong, you might have to kill her with it."
Sakura just looked over at the still probably-unconscious Rin. "Enough about nee-san. About what you're about to do with nii-san..."
"You don't trust his word." Rider's tone said that she agreed with such a sentiment.
"I don't trust any magus, or anyone who knows and wants to become one."
"Does that include your senpai? Well, once you've got him under lock and key..."
"Shut up, prison spirit."
"There's no reason to suspect it will be as easy or neat as he said though. There's still a Servant in the way..." Rider trailed off, perhaps uneasy at coming to the same conclusion as Shinji.
There was also the fact that Shinji held the Command Spell authority, and if things went wrong, might, no certainly would, immediately resort to Rider's pegasus, which would undoubtedly wipe out everything, in order to secure his victory.
"Rider, I've told you before how important Emiya-senpai is to me." Sakura paused and fixed the Servant with a surprisingly steely gaze, while her fingers tightened on the hilt of the weapon.
"In case you didn't quite get it, let me show you..." She brought it up to press the edge against her neck. No further words were necessary.
"Wait a moment," Rider said quickly with a hint of nervousness. "There are things like necromancy, you know?"
"After seeing what Grandfather became just to stay alive, forgive me for not being willing to bet on anyone coming back," she laughed darkly. But seeing the message had been heard, she lowered the dagger, to Rider's relief.
"I understand your instructions perfectly, Master."
"Don't call me that," Sakura retorted automatically. "Since you're following nii-san's orders."
"Didn't you just give me an order though?" Rider replied before beating a quick retreat.
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(Outside the Emiya house)
(Shinji)
The pair stopped a short distance away from the front door. Rider had described the Bounded Field around the Emiya estate as dissipating, which boded well for them.
"Like we discussed," Shinji said simply. Nodding, Rider walked forward confidently before pressing herself against the wall. Reaching out with the full length of her arm, she extended a finger towards the doorbell...
*silent explosion*
Even before she had touched it, the wall burst outwards, along with half of the door, sending out a massive shower of deadly fragments. Rider, sensing something just before this, tried to move but being caught flatfooted, dropped to the ground as roughly the left half of her upper body was shredded by what struck her.
A mass of black spears traveling at a little above the speed of sound. As they were purely mundane, there was no obvious magical energy approaching to warn their target, and due to their speed, even the sound of the attack only arrived after it did.
Shinji, who had been some distance back reached out a hand instinctively as his Servant was blasted away from the door along with the door. As the mass of now-subsonic spears (and debris) spread out, one of them caught his hand, ripping easily though bone and flesh as the sudden air pressure threw him to the side.
Appearing through the cloud of dust like a demon being summoned, Sasaku walked out and immediately spotted Shinji's prone figure.
Thinking quickly, he thrust his remaining hand into the pocket where his ((Book of False Attendant)) was. "Rider, help me!"
It was more like a prayer of desperation than anything else.
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Details:
Sasaku was standing way far back, basically against the back wall of the kitchen, and sent the spears through the kitchen, dining room and main corridor. Her use of magical energy might have been what tipped Rider off, however it would be at quite a distance, making the detection harder. Plus it occurred right as the attack did, meaning if she was flatfooted, she would have to begin accelerating out of the way before the spears crossed the length of Shirou's house at about the speed of sound (and Sasaku shot them like a shotgun blast).
Someone with -((Protection from Arrows))- like Cu would probably be able to avoid it, as I think the moment the attack begins they are warned in no uncertain terms that an attack is incoming. He should also have the advantage in terms of accelerating - Medusa has a higher top speed, but acceleration is what you need for dodging if the enemy can lead their shots.