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

Aozaki and Tohsaka – The Serpent's Feathers

Chapter 6

Turn back, you who would follow the footsteps of the Feathered Serpent, turn away from the rising Sun. Return to your homes, to your wives and children. Feast, drink, and be merry. Live…die…and be born again. Not for you is the way of exile, in the lands beyond the sea, under the shadow of the Feathered Serpent's wings, and the vengeful reflection of the Smoking Mirror.

Keep on this way, then prepare to be tested. Follow the Feathered Serpent's footsteps, to the Mirror of the Sun, and behold and be judged by the reflection therein. Know, that should you fail, only madness and death await you. Succeed, and continue on your path, towards the last haven of the Feathered Serpent.

The warning is given. The choice is yours. Turn back while you still can.

Touko lowered the translation, and rubbed her eyes. "Well," she began. "That was an interesting read."

"So we're looking for something called the Mirror of the Sun." Sakura remarked. "How…fitting…considering how important the Sun was in Mesoamerican civilizations. Ironic too, considering we're Japanese. Land of the Rising Sun, and all that…"

Touko hummed in agreement. "…I assume the Mirror of the Sun is an artifact of some kind." she said after a moment. "Perhaps even a divine one…we'll have to be careful. While the gods have long since lost their Authority over the World, and reduced to the level of mere Elementals and Nature Spirits, divine mysteries are still potent things. Very rare in the Age of Man to be sure, but that only makes them more profound. Estray's influence and the potency of runes – depending on the practitioner's skill, of course – proves that much."

"Not that Elementals and Nature Spirits aren't powerful in their own right." Sakura quipped before grinning. "They have Marble Phantasm. Damn…if I could bind one of those…oh yeah…it'd be like having a God Mode cheat, only in real life."

Touko gave her apprentice an even look, but Sakura just kept on grinning. After a moment, Touko sighed and shrugged. She could understand the feeling, having once had an Elemental as a familiar herself, at least until her thrice-damned whore of a sister had crippled it and left it nearly worthless to Touko.

"Yes, well," she said with a cough. "Going back to the subject at hand…based on the translations, it seems like the Mirror of the Sun functions on a Delphic basis."

"Master?" Sakura asked.

Touko waved the translation in the air. "It says here that when we find the Mirror of the Sun, we should look into and be tested by our reflection in the mirror. It'll only show us the way to…the 'last haven of the Feathered Serpent', whatever that means, if we pass the test."

"That sounds rather…ominous." Sakura said. "Shouldn't we find some way around it?"

Touko looked at Sakura curiously. "Why?" she asked back.

"Master?"

Touko smiled. "Didn't you hear what I said?" she asked. "The Mirror of the Sun seems to operate on a Delphic basis. Not the oracular aspect of Delphi, true, but rather the…inscription, placed at the entrance to the Temple of Apollo: Know Thyself. Dangerous, true, but since when did danger deter magi such as ourselves? The…wisdom, that could come from looking into the mirror, and from learning, confronting, and overcoming our inner demons, would be an invaluable prize. Even if there is nothing at the last haven, just that wisdom alone would make this whole expedition worth it."

Sakura stared at her master, mouth slightly ajar. Touko noticed, and raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you're afraid of looking into a mirror, Sakura." She chided.

"It's not that." Sakura said. "It's just that…I'm not looking forward to finding something that could drive me mad. Or all of us, even."

"Hmm…" Touko hummed in thought. "It doesn't say that all of us have to look into the mirror. One of us would do…though in my experience, artifacts like these tend to have a way to keep people like us from getting around it."

"That's not very reassuring, master."

Touko smirked. "Maybe," she conceded. "But if so, just remember that I have every confidence in you, Sakura. I'm sure that no matter what form the darkness in your heart takes, you can face and overcome it with little difficulty."

"…darkness in my heart?" Sakura echoed incredulously. "Master, we're not anime characters. That said, thanks for the vote of confidence…I think."

Touko shrugged. "Regardless," she said. "It's completely sincere. Just remember that you are who and what you choose to be."

"I'll keep that in mind…should I start packing?"

"Yes, you should." Touko said with a nod. "We'll be leaving once Benedek finalizes our travel arrangements. Then it's off to Mexico!"

"…Mayan pyramids, mad artifacts of dead gods, and hopefully gold and jewels in the end, here we come…" Sakura dully said, and ignoring her master's disappointed look at her mood-killing vibe, walked off to start packing.

Several days later

"Ow! Damn mosquitos!"

Sakura grumbled as she swatted at yet another mosquito, sitting in an up-armored jeep in the middle of a convoy rolling its way along a dirt road leading into the depths of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. At the lead of the convoy was an open-topped jeep, also up-armored and sporting an M2 Browning with a gunner's shield at its back, manned by a Devil Dog on the lookout for bandits or whatnot that might try and jump the convoy at any time.

The rest of the convoy was composed of 4-ton trucks, apart from the command jeep where the magi and Captain Alba were sitting at. Supplies and Devil Dogs alike sat inside the trucks, jostling and bouncing as their vehicles struggled with the rough and uneven ground.

"We'll need to find some place to safely camp at tonight." Touko remarked, and ignoring her apprentice's grumbling at the mosquitos coming and going through the jeep's open windows. "The weather report says there's going to be a good chance for a rainstorm tonight in this region. I'd really rather not get washed away by a flash flood."

"Amen to that." Alba agreed from the front seat, while Benedek opened a map where he was sitting next to Touko. "And depending on how bad it gets, it'd be hell getting back on the move tomorrow, what with the mud and all."

"Don't you have off-road tracks for that?" Benedek asked while studying the map.

"We do." Alba admitted. "But even then it's still a pain in the ass to move. Off-road tracks just let you move in mud they still can't let you move as you normally could."

"Huh…"

Alba shrugged. "Look on the bright side." He said. "At least we can move. Without off-road tracks, we wouldn't be able to move at all."

"It's better than nothing." Sakura agreed with a nod, and then hissing, swatted at another mosquito on her neck.

"That it is…we've lost too much time already." Touko agreed, before giving her apprentice the stink-eye. "Sakura, did you even use repellent lotion like I told you to?"

"…of course I did!" Sakura said, before swatting at another mosquito.

Alba gave a barking laugh. "Sorry, little lady." He said. "But the mosquitos out here are a completely different breed compared to the ones in the city, or places where tourists usually go. Repellent lotion will only keep most of them off you, but the toughest ones will always get through."

Sakura swatted at another mosquito, before muttering a series of curses in a thick, Kansai dialect that had Touko rolling her eyes. "Cursing and swearing won't help." She said.

"It makes me feel better." Sakura retorted, before swatting at another mosquito. "Hey, how come you're not being bothered by mosquitos?"

Touko gave Sakura a look. "Puppet body, remember?" she answered.

"Oh right…wait, what?"

Touko sighed and rolled her eyes. "Mosquitos are primitive things." She said. "They have no minds to speak of, just pure animal instinct driving them. Get it yet?"

"…um…I think so…?"

"Really? Then explain."

Sakura made an uncomfortable sound, and then swatted at another mosquito. "Um…" she began. "I'm guessing they sense something…off, about you, and stay away…"

"…you could sound more professional, but the general idea is correct." Touko said with a nod.

"…should you really be talking about things like that in public?" Benedek asked, still studying the map.

"It's not the first time the captain and his men have worked with magi." Touko responded.

"Definitely not," Alba agreed. "Though I've since learned that no matter how interesting the conversation sounds, it's better not to know. Besides, whatever that puppet body stuff is, eh…I've seen weirder things…maybe…"

"Oh?" Touko asked, sounding amused. "Do tell."

"Crazy son of a bitch had a metal dick."

"…what?"

"Here."

Sakura looked up from where she was reading a book, and to her half-naked master holding out a vial of violet fluid. "Drink it up, Sakura." Touko said.

"Um…okay…" Sakura said while taking the vial. Briefly hesitating, she glanced curiously at her master who just looked impassively at her. Shrugging, Sakura took a breath and then drank the vial in one go. Her eyes went wide before she gagged, and held the empty vial away with a disgusted look on her face. "That was horrible! Master, what was that?"

"Just something to make sure you don't catch anything from all those mosquito bites you were getting the whole day." Touko said while taking the vial away. Walking to a nearby portable desk, Touko set the vial down while looking out the window of the enclosed pavilion set up for the two of them, and at the surrounding camp.

With the heavy sheets of rain and gusting winds blowing all around, she could barely see. Reinforcement would help, but Touko didn't bother just so she could look out the window.

"…thank you very much…" she heard Sakura murmur behind her, and with a smile, Touko turned to regard her.

"You're welcome." She said. "Just looking out for you, kid. You're my apprentice, after all. I wouldn't you to come down with something nasty like Malaria, or Dengue Fever, or Yellow Fever, or even something nastier like Ebola."

"…isn't Ebola only in Africa?"

"You want to take a chance on that?"

"…guess I don't."

Touko chuckled and then stretched her limbs overhead. "Here's to hoping the weather clears by tomorrow." Sakura said. "Even with off-road tracks, if the rain doesn't let up, we're not going anywhere."

"And we shouldn't." Touko agreed. "There's a reason we set up camp on top of a hill. This place's ravines and hilly contours means the lowlands are all but literal funnels for when heavy rains come. I wouldn't be surprised if we looked down the hillside and found a flash flood roaring past under the hill."

"…if I remember right, wasn't that how the ancient Mayans thrived here despite poor aquifers and no large rivers?" Sakura asked.

"Yes," Touko said with a nod. "Since the natural aquifers were insufficient, they dug bigger and deeper ones into the ground, and lined them with stone to keep the water from seeping out. Then they built canals and aqueducts with a degree of complexity that would have the Romans green with envy, to bring the water from their reservoirs to their towns and cities."

Sakura smiled. "Not bad for a bunch of savages, as the Europeans called them." She said.

"Indeed." Touko agreed, before briefly glancing out the window. "That said, I wouldn't worry. Rainstorms of this kind and in places like this tend to come and go fast but heavy. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the rain let up even before the Sun rises tomorrow morning."

Sakura nodded. "Though," she said. "With the bounded fields we set up – what with any sentries barely able to see in this weather – I don't think we need to wake any of the men up to stand watch, do we?"

"No, we don't." Touko agreed. "Not tonight, at least."

As Touko said, the weather cleared even before the Sun came up. When it did, it sent its rays streaming through clear blue skies, faintly streaked with white from clouds high up in the atmosphere.

Thin streams of smoke went up from the field kitchen, as the Devil Dogs prepared breakfast. It was simple and filling, freshly-baked bread with eggs and canned meat, washed down with water and coffee.

At the head table, Benedek spread out a map before his fellow magi, and the Devil Dogs' captain. "We should be passing through a village later today." He said, and indicating it with his finger. "Depending on how bad the road's gotten from last night's rain, that might be a good place to stop at so we can clean the tracks."

"That's not a bad idea." Alba agreed. "Does this village have a name?"

"If it does, it doesn't say so on the map."

"…unsurprising," Alba said after a moment and a drink of coffee. "Places like that tend to be nowhere as far as the people who write these maps go."

The man paused to take another drink, and then turned to Touko. "So," he said. "What exactly are we looking for? Or where exactly are we going? So far, all you've done is point in what you say is the right direction, but some details would be nice now."

"Whatever happened to better off not knowing?" Touko asked.

"The mystical stuff, sure, it's definitely better not to know." Alba said. "But I'm also sure the mystical stuff is surrounded by a whole bunch of non-mystical stuff. And even just a bit of the mystical stuff would be nice to know just so we don't get unpleasantly surprised if something goes off."

"…in other words," Sakura said as she swallowed a mouthful of bread. "So you'll know whether to run or shoot in case something like a pillar of fire shoots up into the sky, a monster crawls out of a crack in the ground, or a dragon or something like that swoops down from the clouds…right?"

"Eh…sure, let's go with that." Alba said.

Touko looked thoughtful, and nodded a few times after several moments. "Fair enough," she said. "We're looking for something called the Mirror of the Sun. I won't say what it does, but it probably isn't outdoors. It was something very important, after all, and ritual significance would dictate it occupy a place of suitable dignity."

"Such as?" Alba pressed.

"A pyramid, probably." Benedek said. "And one that's likely to stand at the heart of a ruined city."

Touko pulled out the reformatted map, and spread it out next to the modern map. Using a grease pen, she marked it out, and then gestured for Alba to look. "What we're looking for is probably around here, along this route." She said, indicating with her fingers. "Don't worry, we won't send you or your men to look once we're in the general area. We'll take care of that ourselves."

"Just watch the camp so we have someplace to operate from safely, huh?" Alba muttered. "Huh…well, I guess you told us that – kind of – before we signed our contract."

"If it's off-road…" Benedek said, only for Touko to cut in.

"It will be off-road, from the look of things." She said.

"…then we'll only ask for an escort detail to get us close." Benedek continued. "But not so close that you get to look into the mirror."

"…something tells me looking into the mirror is the kind of stuff I'd rather not do, or even know why." Alba said with a tip of his sombrero. "Okay…I can live with that. Better not to know, after all. And then what?"

"The mirror's not what we're after." Touko said. "Not really…it just shows us our final destination…at least the final one before we go home."

"And that is?"

"For convenience's sake, let's call it the Serpent's Haven." Touko said. "Captain, you know your native legends, right?"

"Kind of…Argentina's way to the south…"

"Ever heard of Quetzalcoatl…?" Sakura asked. "The Feathered Serpent who once tried to end the practice of Human sacrifice and was exiled by the other gods for it?"

"…who hasn't?" Alba asked figuratively. "In the Americas, at least. Quetzalcoatl is probably one of our most cherished legends, if a bit stained because the Spaniards trumpeted themselves as Quetzalcoatl to conquer us centuries ago."

"Well, the Serpent's Haven is supposedly the last place he visited before leaving across the sea." Touko said. "At least, according to our sources."

"And those sources are?"

"A dig in Teotihuacan," Benedek answered. "A small shrine plus a medallion with a map and inscription pointing to the mirror, and referencing the Serpent's Haven."

Alba whistled. "And what do you expect to find there?" he asked.

"Without going into the details?" Touko asked back. "Something worth all the time and effort put into this."

"And that would be…?" Alba prompted with an asking gesture of his hands.

"Mystical stuff." Touko firmly said.

"…okay, fair enough…" Alba said with a sigh.

"I don't know." Sakura said after a moment. "Even if there weren't any divine or whatnot artifacts there, just gold and jewels and other kinds of treasure would make this whole trip worth it."

"…I suppose just plain old treasure wouldn't be that bad a find…" Benedek agreed.

"…at the very least getting back all the money spent so far would be a good thing to a point…" Touko conceded.

"…and we get a cut…twenty-five per cent…" Alba said with a nod. "Yeah, no argument there. Treasure is a good enough find."

Touko coughed. "Let's not start counting our profits just yet." She firmly said. "We still don't know where the Serpent's Haven is, and we won't find it until we reach and pass the tests of the Mirror of the Sun."

Sakura nodded in agreement, while Alba shrugged and took a drink of his coffee. Benedek meanwhile was comparing the maps, and drawing lines and making calculations in his head. "Depending on how hard the rains have been," he said. "We should get to the Mirror of the Sun – or where it's supposed to be – by the morning of the day after tomorrow at the latest."

Nodding to himself, he picked up the grease pencil Touko used earlier, and drew lines and made notes on the maps.

"Well, isn't that a cheery place?" Sakura dryly remarked as their muddy and unhappy convoy got their first sight of the village about an hour past noon. As expected, even with off-road tracks the thick and clinging mud had badly slowed them down, and even worse were those times when a track had snapped and held up the entire convoy until they could be replaced. A hellish task, with the Devil Dog's boots sliding and struggling to get a grip in the mud.

In the end, Touko had been forced to use her fire magic and Benedek his water and ice magic to speed things up. Questions had been asked why they couldn't just dry the entire road to which a dry answer had been given.

That would take a lot out of us, so much so if our rivals attacked us, we might only slow them down at best, and you'd be all dead meat afterwards.

"Hold up for a bit." Alba ordered into his radio, and the convoy ground to a halt. Men jumped down, G3 Battle Rifles slung around their shoulders, spreading out to guarding positions.

Alba opened the roof of the jeep they were in, and hoisting himself up, took a look around with his binoculars. Meanwhile, Touko reinforced her eyes, and looking through the window found herself agreeing with her apprentice. Despite knowing the poor and primitive conditions of the countryside in this region of the world, the village below really was quite a miserable sight.

That said…

"…rather uncharitable of you, isn't it Sakura?" Touko remarked. "Pretty sure you have an even more cheerful background compared to the people down there."

Sakura opened her mouth to protest…

…and then closed it. Her master was right. The people down their might only live in mud huts and probably went around in coarsely-woven clothes, but at least they had homes of their own. They didn't have to depend on secondhand stores or even to steal from garbage to find clothes that could fit, or even to eat for that matter.

The fields of young maize on one side of the village proved that much.

"…sorry, master." Sakura said, genuinely shamefaced and regretful. "The…frustration from the day so far must be getting to me. I'm not someone to talk about living a miserable life, in hindsight. I just got lucky, after all."

"Hmm…that you did…" Touko said, placing a hand on Sakura's shoulder and squeezing reassuringly. "…and it's good you realize that."

"Hmm…" Sakura hummed wordlessly, while Touko squeezed her shoulder again. Benedek stayed silent, just looking on as master and apprentice shared a moment.

"…something's not right, here." Alba said as he clambered back down.

"What do you mean?" Benedek asked.

"I don't see anything wrong, but something about the place down there rubs me the wrong way." Alba replied. "I…it's hard to explain."

"Explain as best you can then." Touko said.

Alba gave her a dirty look. "…think of it as a sixth sense, something that keeps you alive on the bloodiest, dirtiest battlefields," he said. "And which is telling me right now that something is off about that village down there."

Touko immediately turned to Sakura. "Sakura," she said. "Send out your spirits, and have them take a look around."

"Right away, master." Sakura said, before getting out of the jeep and walking a short distance away. Portals into Imaginary Numbers Space opened, through which bound spirits emerged and ghosted away into the distance. After several minutes, Sakura turned and walked back to the jeep and leaned through the open window.

"The villagers are all hiding in their granaries." She said grimly. "I had my spirits look around why, and believe it or not, there's bandits or something like them hiding in the woods around the village."

"Bandits?" Touko echoed incredulously, and Alba groaned.

"Figures…" he muttered.

"Should I have my spirits deal with them?" Sakura asked.

"No." Touko said with a shake of her head. "There's a possibility that this was set up by our rivals to delay or even stop us for good. If so, they might be watching, and let's not give them clues to what any of us can do."

"If they are, then they know at least one of us can use bounded spirits." Benedek pointed out.

"They would already have known that much from the incident back in Guatemala." Touko responded. "Let's not give them any more beyond what they already know."

"Hmm…point…"

"What do those bandits look like?" Alba asked.

"Like bandits…" Sakura said with a shrug. "I mean…they don't have armor or camouflage like you guys do, and they don't look like foreigners either. They look mean though."

"Probably not mercenaries then…maybe really bandits…" Alba muttered.

"Any sign of battle damage in the village?" Benedek asked.

"None that I can see." Sakura said.

"I get the feeling the village is bait, for anyone who comes along." Alba muttered.

"But if so, then why didn't the bandits attack our rivals when they passed through?" Touko pointed out. "They're using the same map as we are, they should have drawn the bandits' attention like we would."

"Unless the bandits only recently set up shop around the village." Benedek pointed out.

"Or our rivals bought them off or something." Sakura chimed in.

"Or like boss lady here said," Alba remarked. "Our rivals pointed the bandits in our direction and route to cover their asses. That, or we're actually in the lead."

Touko nodded slowly in agreement. "All valid lines of argument." She said.

"So…?" Alba asked after a few moments. "What do we do, boss lady?"

"…just in case this is a setup," Touko said after a moment. "Let's not use any more magic beyond what we need to. Going around isn't an option, it'd take too long and I'd rather not assume we're in the lead."

"So we spring the trap and gut these bandits along the way." Alba said with a sigh before grinning. "Oh well, I guess that's what we're paid to do. Little lady, how many bandits are there?"

"About half as many Devil Dogs." Sakura replied, before preempting the next question. "As for weapons, they carry guns like the ones Russians use in movies."

"Huh…AK-47s or AKMs then…unsurprising, those weapons are as cheap as dirt and about as plentiful too." Alba muttered. "Any machine guns?"

"I think I saw a couple, but they look different from yours." Sakura said. "No RPGs, but they have those guns that look like a tube set up pointing into the sky."

"Mortars?" Alba said with wide eyes. "How the fuck did bandits get their hands on mortars?"

"I don't know."

"Right…sorry…"

"So what's the plan, captain?" Touko asked.

Alba cursed and grabbed his radio. "All squad leaders get over here." He barked. "We've got hostiles in the village, and we need to come up with a plan to root them out. Now move!"

A/N

Of course it isn't nearly as simple as following a map that leads straight to 'X marks the spot'. Or Tezcatlipoca – or even Quetzalcoatl herself for that matter (not that they know Quetzalcoatl is a she and not a he) – would allow Quetzalcoatl's followers a chance to follow her footsteps without proving themselves first.

And even then, the path to the Mirror of the Sun isn't as straightforward as it ought to be. Bad roads, bad weather, local wildlife (mosquitos are living things too), and of course, bandits (if they really are just bandits) can get in the way.