Author's Note: Sorry for the long delay. I actually fell and injured my wrist the very day after uploading my other Fate fic. Check that out if you are interested in a less loosely written fic with a totally original plot set post 5th Grail War. I don't plan it being in the continuity of this fic, but there may be references (I do have plans to passingly mention Marrok in the other story) and characters from it might pop up in my eventual Fate Grand Order story. Anyway, welcome to the conclusion of the Fourth Holy Grail War. Sorry if it's a bit rougher than normal, my work schedule has been killing me this week.

Chapter Eighteen: Altered Fate

Artoria woke up in a large, soft bed to a familiar stone ceiling. It was the ceiling of a castle. Her castle. She quickly became aware of the arm draped over her and traced it back to the man it was attached to. He had hair the color of the darkest parts of a wolf's fur and an athletic build. He was not handsome or ugly, but closer to the former. He was also naked. As was she.

The man woke up with a familiar smile she hadn't seen nearly enough of, "Morning, my love. From the look of the rays coming in through the window it is another glorious spring morning."

Artoria slid out of bed, reaching for her clothes momentarily, before abandoning the idea, "Why am I here? What happened with the Grail?"

He stepped out of the sheets behind her an embraced her from behind. "We won it."

"I don't remember it."

"Probably for the best. It was not a pleasant thing. Kiritsugu ended up siding with Archer after he couldn't beat him in a fight. We had to kill them both."

Arthur pulled herself out of his arms and opened the window, looking out upon a thriving Camelot, "So you're saying I was able to bring us back? That we saved Camelot?"

"My Queen, you shouldn't stand there like that. What if someone looks this way."

She stood over to towards something she spotted on the wall, "Excalibur?"

"You haven't needed to draw it in years. Don't you remember?"

Suddenly she caught the sound of a rambunctious knight running playfully running amok in the courtyard, "Mordred?"

"We saved her too."

Artoria turned to look in a body length mirror that was never in her room in life. Within it was her... but her mouth a smirk and eyes golden. However, she knew that wasn't what the Grail was trying to show her. In fact, if she focused past what was being shown to her eyes, all she saw around her was darkness.

She called Excalibur to her hand, the one on the wall not moving, "Is this the true nature of the Grail? False promises?"

"My love?"

Artoria strode over to the man, her armor forming around her not truly naked body as the illusion faded, and she impaled him on her sword, "I'm not your love."

Sensing something, she looked over and saw a wolf in the seemingly infinite seas of darkness, looking around coldly at visions. Artoria could see them if she tried, and walked into the illusion he was being shown. She was immediately caught off guard as she found herself in a warm and inviting den with two chairs near a fireplace. A illusion of Sakura lay dead on the floor near some toys. An illusion of her was also dead in the other chair. In the first Marrok, in wolf form, lowered a newspaper he was reading to reveal him sitting like a human, smoking a pipe and wearing reading glasses.

"There you are." Marrok stood, taking on human form and throwing the paper, pipe, and reading glasses into the fire.

She caught the headline, ' Association Chairman Kariya Matou Introduces Magical Education Reform'

"I do not not think the Mages' Association puts out a newspaper."

Marrok shrugged, "I don't need reading glasses either. Maybe the Grail was going for the 'growing old together' dream."

"Why were you in wolf form?"

"I thought it would lighten the mood."

Artoria rolled her eyes, "Enough, we have to find Kiritsugu. The Grail is corrupted by something. We have to find it and stop it."

"Artoria we're in a conceptual space, immune to whatever illusions it is trying to use against us or not, this place is infinite. We're only right next to each other here because we share a Saint Graph."

"There has to be some way to find him in here."

"No we're pretty much in a stalemate. We're immune to nearly anything it can do, but we can't do anything to a concept either. He's not your master anymore so I can't think of anything. We were made into this form by a command seal after Irisviel became the Grail and that apparently broke your connection to Kiritsugu. If my guess is right, that means Irisviel, who is currently transformed into the Grail, is our master. She just can't do anything to us without any more command seals."

"But if she's the Grail, and corrupted..."

"Why not just give herself more? Exactly. If the corruption was in complete control it would just take control of the command seals assigned to the adjudicator and use them on us. That means her mind is likely still somewhere in here intact.

"You said that the master-servant bond might help?"

"If she had any command spells it'd be simple. She doesn't, so we'll have to see if we can figure out how to use the connection directly, which is hard since neither of us are incredible magi or able to manipulate conceptual spaces. We'll have to just try while hoping for the others to find a way. If Kiritsugu can do something, we may have this won."

"Right... we'll have to trust in him then. His new power might be just the trump card we need."

"There's another hope as well. One that I don't think the Grail stands a chance against."

Outside of the sea of black that was inching slowly out from where the community center had been, Maiya was pacing back and forth, staying away from the edge as she tried to decide on a course f action. It was certain that at least Saber and Marrok were in there. Maiya could sense them both somehow through her connection to the werewolf that had bitten her, Marrok. She knew they were alive too, but not if there was anything she could do if she went into the sludge after them.

It was then, perhaps by coincidence or by fate, that at the same time that Marrok mentioned another hope outside a blur of slightly purple-hued gray fur blitz by Maiya and dove right in.

"SAKURA!"

Maiya tried to grab at the girl to stop her but was not fast enough. She then started to go after her, but something, some instinct, told her that she should stay outside. There was something in the girl turned wolf's demeanor in that moment that commanded her to stay there to help her get the others out of there. As she processed that brief flash of visual information from the girl from that moment she realized that she could not only see her origin as usual, but that despite the fact that Marrok had refused her the service... Sakura's origin had somehow awakened.

When the girl entered the void within the black sea, the grail immediately tried to confuse her with an illusion. This one was clever, an illusion of the street as if she had just landed on the black sludge and not gone into it. However, she was a part of Marrok's pack. Afflicted with the same curse of lycanthropy that made Maiya immune to curses by proxy of Marrok's intruding origin.

"Give me back my family!" the little wolf demanded, "I can sense them in here! I'll find them even if you try and stop me!"

A large golem made of buildings formed and attempted to step on Sakura... but it was made of the corruption, and Sakura was immune to that. The black void had no power over her. Sakura did not even bother dodging, understanding the protection she was under, somehow sensing the mature of the magic being used against her. Such was her raw talent for magic and the strength of her magical senses.

"I SAID GIVE ME MY FAMILY BACK!"

The illusion exploded into tiny bits of debris as if blown apart by her willpower alone. The little wolf snarled and rushed instinctively for the enemy, a power that the Grail did not foresee guiding her towards the source of the illusion. Unconsciously using her magical element, she crossed conceptual space as easily as one would cross regular space.

It was there, in the core of the greater grail, that Sakura found herself in another illusion. A countryside village, incredibly ancient. She was on the outskirts of the town, and nearby several boys were beating on a younger, smaller boy. Sakura knew it was an illusion, but she also knew that the little boy wasn't one.

She turned into her normal human form, "Leave him alone!"

The largest of the boys turned around, "Oh shut up, the adults say we can do whateveer we want to him. He's tainted. The elders say he's to blame for everything going wrong so he doesn't deserve your dumb pity."

The bully turned and kicked his victim in the ribs, making an audible crack.

"He's evil! Just like his parents! They should just go to the far side of the world and leave us humans alone!"

"I told you to leave him alone!" she shifted her attention, imploring the small boy, not understanding what was truly going on, "Listen, you, they are illusions! I can get you out of here! It'll be fine I promise!"

The boy started crying even louder than before, "You can't save me. Nobody can. The village says I'm evil. They're going to torture me and eventually kill me, all because of a few bad harvests."

"What are you talking about? Listen, whatever this place is showing you, it's not real. You're not going to die! I can get you out of here!"

The largest bully kicked the boy in the teeth and sent him tumbling. Desperate, Sakura ran over and punched the jerk, sending him to the ground.

The small boy stood up and started chuckling, "Got you. That's how I get by that immunity."

Sakura was confused, and open to the stick striking her in the back of the head and sending her to the ground. She was dazed, and if she weren't a werewolf she'd have been knocked straight out by that.

"I have to make you want to interact with it enough."

Sakura was immediately beset by the bullies instead of the boy, the gang beating on the small girl relentlessly, seemingly intent on beating her to death.

"I can't corrupt you, yet. Maybe you'll crack if I make you live through what they did to me."

The girl looked up, fighting back the pain she was in, "You... what are you?"

"I don't have a name, they killed my mother before she gave me one, and blamed me for everything. You know myths right?" the boy grew fangs, "They blame everything on us."

"You... you're a werewolf too?"

"I'm what they called me before they killed me centuries ago. I am all the world's evils. I am Angra Mainyu!"

Across the void, Marrok reflexively moved into the way of a tendril of darkness that suddenly appeared and drove itself towards Artoria. It was an attack that he should have been immune to... and was instead impaled by straight through the torso. His instinctive desire to take the blow for his love making it bypass his origin.

"Marrok!"

Marrok coughed up some blood, "What the? Dammit!"

"How did-?"

"It figured that trick out fast... took Merlin seven years to think of that."

"Are you okay?"

"Fine..., but only because I'm a servant."

Another tendril shot out, at him this time, and Marrok preemptively shoved her away so she couldn't fall into the same trap. The tendril just bounce off him harmlessly.

"Just ignore everything. Mental discipline. It can't hurt us. It just used my protective instincts to lower my defense. It can't work long against a disciplined mind."

"I understand. So it can't hurt you again?"

"Yeah, but I have a bad feeling. How did it find that so fast? One of the pack might be in here, in danger. We have to find... find her. Whether it's Maiya or not, they might be overwhelmed by this in the moment and not be able to handle it."

Back in the heart of the Grail...

"Bad!" Sakura, covered in bruises and bleeding, chopped all the world's evils on the head as she scolded him, "Bad, doggie!"

Angra Mainyu stood stunned, gawking at the young girl. She had simply regained her composure, grown irritated and then bopped him. Even then the more startling thing was that she wasn't even really angry. The smack was sisterly if anything. He was put even more off guard when she hugged him.

"Those bad people can't get you anymore, so you don't have to act like this anymore."

"I... I was tortured my entire life, and have spent centuries in darkness, taking all the blame for the sins of man... and you think you can just save me with a hug?"

"Doesn't mean I shouldn't try. I'll get you out of here I promise, and you can start over. My daddy saved me from a terrible place, where they were putting insects into my magical circuits. I don't know all they did to you, but I can understand a little. You don't want to be like this, but you think you have to be. I felt like I had to be someone I'm not too, but I was given a way out."

"You think I can just walk away from everything they did to me?"

"You are hugging me back."

Angra pulled his arms away from her, not even having realized he'd done it.

"There's nothing in me but hate..."

"I know. So you just need to replace it with something else."

"It's too late for me. I died ages ago. I'm trapped in the Grail now." Angra tried to push Sakura away, but for some reason he couldn't gather the strength.

In another part of the void, the illusion Kiritsugu was facing of his wish corrupted, melted away as he was about to pull the trigger and kill it. All alone, he struggled to make sense of what was going on. The Grail wasn't what they'd been promised, if it granted his wish it would destroy the world. He had to stop it. He stepped forward, not sure of where he had to go to do that, but that wasn't about to stop him. What did stop him was his foot hitting a sword, Secace, and his realization that the Noble Phantasm was still active. Yet, he wasn't feeling any effects of the curse.

Instinctively he dodge to the side and avoided a clubbing strike from Gilgamesh, who beloowed at him in rage.

"What have you done to me? Where is my treasury? Thief! Infidel! Filth! Give me back what is mine!"

Gilgamesh swung again, and Kiritsugu simply weaved out of the way like a boxer and slammed the servant with a right hook.

"I hit you with an Origin Round. I guess it broke your link to your treasury like it did Kirei's contract with you and his body reinforcement. Now, all you've got to use against me is your fists. And Secace makes us physically equal. Come and get me, King of Villains!"

Gilgamesh ran at Kiritsugu, and it wasn't any sort of epic showdown or battle of the ages that drew the arc of the villain to a fitting conclusion. Gilgamesh was a king, not a warrior. He'd pretty much never used his fists and never with any sort of disciplined training to them. Meanwhile, of all the freelance mercenaries that killed outlaw mages, Kiritsugu was the one they called the magus killer. Even though Kiritsugu the magus killer preferred guns he was the kind of monster that was called the 'the' of that kind of thing. Some punk king too used to being able to spam an unlimited supply of the most powerful weapons in history could not hope to last in a fight with that kind of monster.

Gilgamesh threw a straight punch, and Kiritsugu simply weed his body slightly and sent his own counter punch straight along the line of the offending arm and into Gil's jaw. Rather than retracting his arm he instead coiling it slightly around the still extended opposing one and grabbed a firm hold of Gils shoulder in a form of weak armbar that only used one arm to apply it. Such a thing could be easily escaped if given pause, and that was not given. Instead Kiri pulled at the arm so that he was a bit behind Gil as he belted the king across the face with his free hand. No wasted movement, no retracting the arm to punch again. He only bent the arm as he moved his body closer, levering the elbow into the shoulder and moving the hand formerly holding it along the length of the trapped arm to reload that punch. Gil could pull back and try to swing at that moment, but the repositioning he needed to do to get back into a solid attacking angle was too much to stop Kiritsugu's follow through. Kiri slammed him in the face again, before the arm could even fully free itself, and simply reset the coiling and starting the process over. Kiritsugu didn't even need to bother using time altering magic. Gil had been snared and lacked the training needed to understand how to counter this unconventional positioning. He then became totally helpless as Kiritsugu's advancing steps and odd intrusion into his space took him off balance, and the strange coiling combo was tweaked to hold the servant up.

Gil tried to spin his leges around, but it was hard to think straight enough to time it correctly while getting constantly hammered in the face by someone of equal physical power. Kiritsugu just repositioned every time to kep him from doing it. It was only a few moments trapped in this lethal combination before Gilgamesh was knocked completely out and a moment after that Secace was used to take his head.

"I've got better things to do! Your petty ego can kiss my ass. To hell with the Holy Grail War! To heal with this corrupt piece of shit!"

The magus killer stomped away, rolling through the facts of the situation and looked around. High above was a circle of light, and he could feel the mana in the area was thick with dark energy. If th Grail was corrupt, and the area felt like this... he was probably inside the Grail. That dumping out of black sludge must have brought them all into this space. It was likely some kind of conceptual space or bounded field. Which meant...

Kiri pointed his gun at the ground, loading another Origin Round before firing it straight into the sludge at his feet, "Let's see what happens if I shoot a bullet of liberating and uniting into this stuff."

Once again... something seemed like some kind of magic bullet that solved everything too easily. Except this time it was a literal magic bullet. One that hit the ground and in the very same instant dispelled the void and left Kiritsugu back in the crater where the community center had been. Pretty much right in front of him were Artoria and Marrok. The sludge was gone.

Marrok walked over and slapped him on the shoulder, "You shot the Grail with your origin didn't you? I was hoping you'd think of that!"

Artoria nodded, "It seems you broke the corruptions hold on all of us."

Maiya came running into the crater and hugged Kiritsugu, "You're alright! Thank god!"

"Where's Iri?" he swallowed hard.

Artoria frowned, "Still a part of the Grail. If she was truly killed to be the Grail's vessel, then it's likely not so simply to free her."

"There has to be some way!"

A voice they didn't recognize spoke up, "Just wish on the Grail."

The group looked across the crater, some distance away was a small boy, being hugged by Sakura.

"Sakura! What are you even doing here? Who is that boy?" Marrok inquired, a little fatherly concern over her hugging a strange boy creeping in despite the situation.

The boy spoke up, "Angra Mainyu. I was the corruption in the grail... until you shot me. Thanks I guess?"

Sakura let him go and stood up, taking a protective stance in front of him, "He didn't wanna do it! He was tortured by bad people, just like me. I'm going to help him! I'm going to save him!"

Angra sighed, "What's with her? I tried to kill her."

"You were just mad at the world! I forgive you!"

Kiritsugu stepped forward, "You said I should just wish on the grail? It won't twist the wish against me?"

"No... apparently the power of hugs and bullets can just cleanse it no problem. You people are weird." Angra noticed Kiritsugu conflicted, "You probably can't decide between saving the world and saving that troublesome woman, right? Let me save you the trouble. The grail couldn't grant your wish to save the world even if it were fully charged. For a wish that big you need to know the method yourself. Plus, it isn't even fully charged. There's only five servants worth of mana in there."

"You re the one that showed me the path my wish would take?"

"That's the only method you know for saving people. The uncorrupted Grail would be more open for suggestions of course."

"Why would you do that to the world?"

"Hey, it's all I'm good for. All the world's evils right here you know. I even corrupted the Grail just by getting absorbed into it."

Sakura sun around and shook him, "Don't talk like that! Those evil people that raised you called you that. You don't have to be that! I saved you didn't I?"

Marrok sighed, "Sakura, I don't know if we'll be able to stay without a wish. We're servants. The Grail made us and we can't retain this form outside of a Grail War without large amounts of mana or a wish."

Sakura turned to Kiritsugu, "you won right! Wish for it! Please! I don't want to lose my family! Please, Uncle Kiri!"

Kiritsugu hesitated.

Artoria inquired, "Angra, is there enough mana for our wish to be granted as well?"

"We aren't eligible anymore remember?" Marrok noted

Angra nodded, "That Iri lady made you into a new class. Basically your the Grail's servant now. It and she decided it needed a rules arbitrator and you're it. So you cant be a competitor"

"Then I guess there's no helping it." Arthur sighed.

Sakura protested, running over ad grabbing Marrok, "NO!"

Marrok knelt down and hugged her back, "I'm sorry, Sakura, I didn't know it would turn out this way."

"Hard to believe it did." Kiritsugu frowned as he looked at the Grail.

Artoria nodded, "Yes. This was far more unpredictable than I expected."

"And anti-climactic. I wanted to save the world."

Marrok shrugged, "Such things aren't so easy it seems."

"Yeah."

"I have a suggestion." Maiya stated, "Five servants should be plenty for this wish: wish for your family to be alive and well at your side. Your daughter being held captive to force you into yielding the grail to the Einzberns. Such a wish should revive Irisviel and bring your daughter here correct?"

Angra interjected, "That's easy stuff."

"Could I include incarnating the three of you into that?" Kiritsugu asked.

"Three of us?"

"Yeah. Second chances aside do you think I'm letting you back into the Grail?"

"Good point."

"So can I?"

Angra shook his head, "No. That would be multiple wishes."

"Crap."

Artoria knelt beside Sakura, "I'm sorry Sakura, but Kiritsugu should revive his wife and save his daughter. We're ancient people from history. We aren't meant to be in this era."

"That's not fair!"

Marrok looked to Maiya, "Remember what you promised when I said there was a chance I might not be able to stay?"

Over Sakura's tears, Maiya replied, "Yes. I will take care of Sakura."

"Thank you. Kiritsugu... make your wish."

Sakura wailed, "NO, YOU CAN'T! NOT SAVING THEM IS THE SAME AS KILLING THEM!"

"Sakura we're already dead."

Kiritsugu frowned, taking a deep breath and walking over the the Grail.

Sakura tried to stop him but Marrok held her back.

"Holy Grail. Here is my wish: I wish for my family to be alive and well at my side."

The Holy Grail spoke in Irisviel's voice, "Very well. Your wish shall be granted."

In a large flash of light the Grail disappeared, and standing where it had been was Irisviel, and beside her was their daughter Illya, lookng very confused, "Daddy?"

"Yes, it's me. The Grail War is over!"

"Daddy! You won! I knew you would!" Illya dashed over and into her father's arms.

Irisviel meanwhile strolled over with a small laugh in her voice, "That's so cute."

Kiritsugu forced a smile in spite of the loss of his other companions, "Yes, she's the cutest."

Iri laughed, pointing behind Kiri, "No I mean that!"

Kiritsugu turned and behind him, closer than before, close enough to qualify as 'at his side' were Artoria and Marrok in their casual clothes. Angra was still where he had been oddly. Kiri was confused, "What the?"

Maiya spoke up from his other side, "Kiri, who is this woman?"

Kiri looked that direction and was nearly floored at the sight of a red-haired middle-aged woman, "Mom?!"

"Wow, you got old, kid."

Kiri's image broke as he was overcome by emotion and embraced her, "MOM!"

"Geez! I just got revived don't straggle me to death."

Marrok gave them some space, picking up the crying Sakura, "Well, I was going to tease him for thinking of us as family, but that would be rude since he also resurrected his mother."

"You're staying!" Sakura grabbed onto her papa tightly.

"Apparently."

"Yay!"

Marrok looked over to Artoria, "How about working on that growing old together thing?"

Artoria loked to her hand and flexed it, trying to call Excalibur, "I can't summon my weapons... so I might be able to age? Either way it sounds great. I still wish we could save Camelot, but... this isn't the worst outcome."

Marrok smiled, "I'd hope it isn't. Anyway... no weapons? What about-"

"Abilities?"

Artoria stepped closer and placed her hands on the pair, lifting them both casually then setting them down.

"I still have superhuman strength."

Marrok set Sakura down, then turned into a wolf, "I still turn into a wolf this way. So apparently we still have abilities. Just no equipment."

He looked around, spotting Secace.

"Except that one, I suppose because I didn't come with it."

Sakura took that time to jog over and grab Angra, "Saved you!"

He was naturally confused, "Now why was I incarnated? He did you guys by accident."

"Are you complaining?" Marrok shrugged.

"A little."

"Well, stop and get over here. You're getting adopted."

"I'm centuries older than you!"

"And had a terrible home life apparently. Do you want a second chance at a normal life?"

"After everything I've done?"

"Listen I don't know the full story, but I never will unless you tell me. Sakura wants to save you, she must see something in you."

Angra hesitated, glancing at the girl, then back to Marrok, "I... I guess I'll take you up on that offer."

"Good."

Sakura jumped for joy, "Yes! Saved him, got a brother! Dad, he's a werewolf too! Isn't that weird? It was meant to be!"

Elsewhere, as the group milled about with their unions and reunions (and Irisviel suggested they all go for karaoke) a darkness seeped through the purified waters of the Grail... a familiar dark water. Viviane had arrived at the core of the Grail at last, and could now begin to advance her ambitions. Pouring all of a the souls slain by her Avenger into the Grail she smiled and said to nobody in particular...

"When you start breaking the rules, you might let something else in the cracks."

Next Chapter: Intermission Q&A

Well folks, that's the fourth grail war. Next up is maybe some stuff in the intervening time between the two wars. But before that, feel free to post any questions you have and I'll answers them next chapter. In the meantime, should I just cover the Fifth War in this fic or post a new one and keep this one only for this war and the intervening stuff? It would allow me to do intervening events at whatever pace I wanted sine they wouldn't be mixed into the other updates, but I dunno. Anyway. I will be taking a short break before moving onto the Fifth Holy Grail War, as I will be trying to make that one a little less rough around the edges.

I hope you guys enjoyed this part of the story, which is sort of Part One of Two. Viviane gets resolved in the next war. But what will happen with Angra running around? Who will be in the Saber slot since Artoria incarnated? Is she still a Ruler? The biggest difference though... what about Shirou? There wasn't a fire!? Stay tuned folks. This timeline's Fifth Grail War is gonna be pretty different.