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

Ayame/Zero…NOT

Part II

Geological personnel both from the city and national governments swarmed Mount Enzo, which had collapsed in on itself and losing a nearly a third of its height in the process. Helicopters from both the media and various government agencies crisscrossed the sky above, while both city policemen and even soldiers from Japanese Self-Defense Force (JSDF) surrounded the mountain, closing off the roads and other approaches on the ground to the mountain.

It wasn't every day that a mountain just literally blew up from the inside, and then collapsed in on itself. At least not in a volcanic way…

…which was probably fortunate, as far as most people were concerned. Considering how close it was to the city, if Mount Enzo had been a volcano and had erupted, the city would likely have been destroyed in minutes…if not less, considering how fast pyroclastic flows could go.

As it was, there were all too many assumptions and possibilities and too little evidence to determine what had caused the incident. The most plausible one was an underground gas pocket which had somehow exploded, though there were still too many holes in the picture for that to be a satisfactory solution.

Naturally, the government didn't even suspect that whatever it was, it involved magic, specifically the explosion of a centuries-old magical artefact, which in turn was based on even older and more profound mysteries than itself. And which had been saturated with enough magical energies to summon Heroic Spirits from the Throne of Heroes, and grant them limited incarnation within the World once more.

And why would they? For one thing, it was an outlandish idea, so much so that anyone bringing it up with immediately be laughed off at best…or sent to the mental hospital at once at worst. For another thing, there was no evidence of such…at least, none that the government people would notice as such.

And finally, even if they did, two magi residing in the city, one of them a centuries-old archmagus (though his ally didn't know this) and vampire even, would immediately take action to turn their thoughts elsewhere. Literally: magic and the supernatural must remain secret no matter the cost after all.

More to the point, both magi were well aware of what had been inside the mountain, and the moment it had exploded, they were both aware of it. The magnitude five earthquake the explosion and the subsequent collapse had caused aside, they had mysteries attuned to monitoring the artefact, the so-called Greater Grail.

Even before the government had arrived, they were there, and even now, with the government all over the place, they were still there. Shrouded by magical means to be sure, but they were there all the same.

"It's no good." Tokiomi Tohsaka said with a broken voice, wearily dropping a precisely-carved pendant of quartz crystal into a wooden box. "The Greater Grail is completely ruined. There's nothing left, or even if there was, we couldn't hope to repair it without first finding what's left…if there even is."

"And we can't find out unless we excavate the whole mountain." Zouken Matou growled angrily. He had been one of the architects of the Holy Grail, literally one of those who had built it in the first place, not that anyone knew that, and had been counting on it to achieve his goal of immortality. For all his plans to go up in smoke like this…

…someone was going to die very painfully for it. Very, very painfully.

"What of your familiars, Magus Matou?" Tokiomi asked politely. "Perhaps they might be of use in this matter, in a subtler fashion than outright excavation?"

"True," Zouken conceded. "But it would take time. This mountain is…was, big. The Greater Grail was buried deep underground too. And we can't get too focused on it. There's a chance this may not have been the result of an accident at all."

Tokiomi blinked, and while decades of experience keeping his emotions and their expression in check kept it from showing, there were the faintest hints of alarm in his eyes and in his tone of voice. "You think this was deliberate?" he asked. "That someone deliberately sabotaged the Greater Grail?"

"Yes, I do think so." Zouken said with a nod, fingers tightening over his cane. "I don't have any proof, but I feel it in my bones that's what this is. And when you've lived as long as I have young man, you'll have learned to trust these things."

"Yes, of course." Tokiomi said with a nod. Indeed, he understood the concept of 'feeling' over 'thinking', both as a magus, and as a master of the martial arts. "But…how?"

"How, you ask?" Zouken asked with a raised eyebrow. "The Greater Grail is an incredibly complex system, and by this point in time had stored a truly immense amount of energy. Sabotage would be incredibly easy for any magus worth the title."

"I…see…" Tokiomi said with a slow nod. "But, why? What motive could possibly drive them to do…this?"

Tokiomi paused to gesture over the smoking and ruined bulk of the mountain around them. "And I for one cannot believe anyone who can seriously call themselves a magus would do something like this." He continued. "The Greater Grail being what it is, to destroy such a profound and mysterious artefact, which reaches into the realms of True Magic even…no magus could be able to bring themselves to do such a thing."

Zouken would have rolled his eyes if it weren't so impolite to do such a thing. Not that he really cared, of course, but…appearances. "This assumes a magus was even behind this to begin with." He said, before raising a hand to preempt Tokiomi. "I did mention earlier that any magus could do this, but perhaps I could have worded that better. I should have said that anyone who knew what they were doing could sabotage and even destroy the Holy Grail."

This time, Tokiomi couldn't stop his face from twisting with distaste. "A spell-caster?" he asked with a tone marked by disgust. "Yes, I can see that…but why would they do such a thing? No, there are clearly plenty of possible motives behind this, but which one is truly behind this travesty remains to be seen."

"Have you bounded fields picked up anything or anyone entering the city recently?"

"None, unfortunately." Tokiomi said with a shake of his head. "Of course, there's a small chance I might have missed something, but I will have to check."

"No offense, but if that's the case, then your bounded fields need to improved."

"None taken, and it is well-given advice." Tokiomi said with a nod. "Thinking on it a little bit, it may be that our culprit was able to shroud himself from detection, but even the best shrouds will leave traces of the one beneath it behind. There is no such thing as a completely foolproof disguise or cover, after all. It'll have to take the closest scrutiny to find, but it should be there."

"And…should you find them?" Zouken asked with a low and dangerous voice. "What will you do then?"

Tokiomi's eyes and face were cold as ice. "They will be made to explain themselves, of course." He said just as coldly. "That goes first, without saying."

"And afterwards?"

"They will be made to take responsibility for defiling both an ancient and irreplaceable artefact, and our families' legacy."

Zouken smiled cruelly. "I would be most grateful for the chance to extract my family's pound of flesh when that time comes." He said.

"Of course," Tokiomi said with a nod. "As I said, it's our families' legacy. You have the right to just compensation for damages incurred."

"Well said."

Ayame sat on a roof in the suburbs, watching through star-shaped glasses at a pair of children playing in the backyard of a large, western-style mansion. "Hard to think that sweet kid over there will eventually become such a bitter and spiteful woman." Ayame thought, focusing on the older of the two children, probably five or six-years old. "…okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but not by much."

Ayame then turned to the other girl. "So that's Sakura, huh?" she thought, watching as she caught a ball and threw it back to her older sister. "I've never seen her before, but now that I have…I can't let her die as a guinea pig and be turned into literal food for worms this time around. Now then…how to go about it…"

Ayame crossed her arms in thought for several moments, and then lay down on the roof to stare up at the afternoon sky. "This is nice." She said, folding her arms behind her head. "The tiles are pleasantly warm, the wind cool, and the sky has a nice color."

Taking off her glasses and placing them in a pocket, Ayame covered her face with her hat and closed her eyes, dozing off within a few minutes. It was hours later when she woke, her breath steaming in the cold winter air, well and deep into the night, the stars twinkling in surprisingly-clear skies overhead.

In the distance though, helicopters could be seen buzzing over the skyline, and in particular over Mount Enzo. There were also plenty of lights there.

"What a hardworking bunch our government is." Ayame remarked while rubbing her arms to get her circulation going. "Right then…"

Getting to her feet, Ayame stretched before pulling out her broom and mounting it. "Time to get to work." She said with a smile, and soared off into the sky.

Making her way across the city, Ayame arrived at the public records office, which given the late hour, was naturally closed. There were security guards in the lobby and the nearby security office, but the roof was unguarded and unwatched. Putting her broom back inside her hat, Ayame casually melted the lock on the service door, and carefully and quietly made her way down into the building.

"Step one to saving our little sisters," Ayame thought as she crept down the stairs. "Draw Tokiomi Tohsaka away and far from his house. And to do that, I need a distraction."

Again melting a lock to enter the building itself, the corridors and hallways were dark and empty, and while needing to move quietly and wary for any patrols, Ayame made her through the building, following simple directions on wall-mounted panels to reach the land titles and records archive. "The Tohsaka Clan are the Second Owners of Fuyuki." Ayame thought as she melted the lock and slipped into the archive. "And considering the family is supposed to go back to the Tokugawa Era, I'm certain they have plenty of land and titles to it. That will be enough."

Over the next several hours, Ayame pored over the records in the building, jotting down notes on pieces of paper as she found numerous holdings belonging to the Tohsaka Clan. And from there it was a simple matter to concretely put together a plan to get Tokiomi Tohsaka out of his house.

Several times over those hours, patrolling guards noticed the melted lock on the archives and rushed in…only to be persuaded to go away and forget about the encounter through the use of simple and straightforward mental interference. In hindsight…

"…I should have just gone that way from the very beginning instead of creeping around." Ayame sighed as she hypnotized another guard before entering the office of the chief archivist. "What a waste of time and effort…oh well, no point in crying over spilled milk, I guess."

The office was further inside, with the outer office having a desk for the chief archivist's secretary. Ayame held her finger against the desk, and cast a two-layer spell on the desk. The first would reach into the mind of whoever touched the desk, and see whether or not they were the secretary in the first place.

If not, then the real spell wouldn't activate. If they were…

Ayame grinned as she pulled back her hand. "Fake and genuine at the same time," she said. "Magi are so fond of contradictions, so let's see how that son of a bitch likes this one."

Nodding in satisfaction and stifling a yawn, Ayame left the office and then the building itself.

Ayame sat on a roof in the suburbs, watching through star-shaped glasses the Tohsaka mansion in the distance. By this point, Tokiomi Tohsaka would have received a phone call from the public records office, concerning a series of discrepancies recently uncovered with regard to the family's holdings, and requesting an urgent and immediate face-to-face meeting to resolve them.

"Now then old man," Ayame thought. "Will you take the bait or not? If yes, all well and good. If no…then I'll have to come up with another plan while scratching my head."

Ayame watched for nearly an hour, as the Sun climbed higher into the sky and the morning grew warmer. The Tohsaka children emerged into the backyard to play in the sunshine, watched over by their mother…and then finally, Tokiomi emerged himself.

Ayame leaned forward, watching as Tokiomi spoke with his wife for a bit, and approaching his daughters and kneeling down spoke to them before sharing an embrace. He disappeared back into the house after that…and several minutes later, after a shiny black car drove up in front of the house, emerged and entered the car to be drive off to the public records office.

"Part one is done, then." Ayame thought, taking one of her pocket watches and looking into the polished glass of its face. "Five minutes…I'll give five minutes in case Tohsaka doubles back, and then it's on to part two: getting my sisters out of there, long enough for me to work my magic."

Ayame blinked, and then laughed in self-mockery. "Sisters?" she thought with bemusement. "Looks like Edelfelt might be right, I am a hypocrite. I don't care about my lineage or anything and everything that comes with it, and yet here I am, calling Rin and Sakura my sisters and trying to pull off a miracle for their sake. But…it's not about lineage or whatever bullshit and other big words magi throw around. It's about doing what's right, and making a difference when it counts. And making sure two lives which would otherwise get wasted won't this time around counts as a difference, there can't be any doubt about that."

Ayame watched as the clock ticked away the minutes, and then putting her pocket watch back into her pocket, nodded. "Show time." She said, pulling out a mirror from her hat and pressing her finger against it. "Behold, the Illusion of the Parallel Mirrors."

The glass rippled like water, and continued to ripple in tune with Ayame's heartbeat. And then the reflection in the mirror closed her eyes…

…and appearing for all the world like an ordinary mailwoman, Ayame jumped off the roof onto the street, and stuffing the mirror inside her again, strolled towards the Tohsaka mansion while whistling a jaunty tune.

Arriving within a few minutes' walk, Ayame pressed the doorbell. She waited for a couple of minutes, and then a maid opened the front door. "Yes, what is it?" she asked.

"Good day," Ayame greeted. "I have some letters here for…Mister Tokiomi Tohsaka, but they need to be signed off on. I apologize for the inconvenience."

"Master Tohsaka is out right now." The maid said while coming closer.

"An authorized representative will be fine." Ayame said.

"Oh I see. Alright then."

The maid stepped closer, and politely opening the front gates, stepped out of the protection and senses of the Tohsaka bounded fields. Ayame smiled, and then her irises began to glow. The maid started, and then her face turned blank.

"Are the children still playing outside?" Ayame asked.

"Yes, they are." The maid said.

"Who is with them?"

"Mistress Aoi is watching them."

"Good…I'll be doing something shortly, but when I'm done, bring the children here. Make sure you aren't noticed by the other servants, and when this is all done, you will remember nothing of this matter."

"As you wish, my lady."

Ayame nodded, and the maid stepped back inside and towards the mansion. As for Ayame, she quickly walked around the property, and stopped just outside the back wall of the property. Over the wall, she could hear children playing, and a woman's voice asking them to not be so rowdy.

"Here we go." Ayame whispered while pulling out a trio of canisters.

"The bounded fields will detect intruders and – probably on command – shut them out, along with hostile and invasive spells." She thought. "But…considering the way magi tend to think, and how…stupidly orthodox, Tokiomi Tohsaka is, they probably aren't keyed towards non-magical intrusion. If so…then this will be perfect."

Twisting the caps on the canisters and reinforcing her arms, Ayame tossed the canisters into and across the backyard. There were curious sounds from inside, followed by the hissing of pressurized gas escaping and the alarmed shouts of children and their mother, the latter quickly turning into coughing and then silence.

Hurrying back to the front, Ayame waited, ready to leave on a moment's notice. A few minutes later and the maid from before returned, Rin and Sakura Tohsaka clutched under her arms.

Ayame nodded and took the children from the maid. "Thank you for your help." She said. "Now go."

The maid nodded and left, while Ayame quickly made her way to a deserted alley. There, her visage rippled like water until she had returned to the aspect she'd worn for decades: The Black and White Magician. Taking out her broom from inside her hat, Ayame mounted it, and placing her sisters securely in front of her, gently but quickly blasted off into the sky.

A/N

This was longer than expected. I hope it won't be longer than three chapters, but we might get to four. Definitely not longer, though. This should only be a short fic.