I don't own Fate. Fate is the property of Type-Moon, and no financial gain is made from this or is sought. This is for entertainment purposes only.

Divergent Fate

Chapter 10

"This is boring."

The student delegation were sitting on balconies surrounding the conference chamber, gathering notes while below them on the conference floor the Lord El-Melloi II and the Wizard Marshall held court. Or so it appeared, with the vampire and the lord sitting with their aides at a table at the head of the room behind a raised podium facing the assembly of Japanese magi.

One by one the magi would air out their concerns with regards to Association interests, and it would then be discussed upon and boiled down to salient points. These would in turn be further discussed as to whether or not they would be considering as agendas of the conference. In fact that was the agenda for the first day of the conference, to decide the agendas to be discussed over the week.

One agenda however had already been decided upon. The Tohno Clan would break ties with its branches and align with the Association, in exchange for assistance in controlling their Inversion Impulse. In return they would provide the Association into insights as to the nature of half-Human hybrids, a rarity in modern times. The question would be the details of the resulting relationship.

The students were taking notes of everything that was going on, as they would be expected to provide formal reports regarding their insights and learnings from their role as observers in the conference. They were also expected to maintain proper decorum, and as such any speaking was done in hushed whispers.

The Pentagon however was not taking notes. A mummified scribe from Ancient Egypt was taking notes for all of them (courtesy of Susanna Carter), hidden in a shadowed corner and masked by one of David's illusions. David himself and Christopher were playing poker, while the girls were busy trying to peer past the masks worn – figuratively of course – by the conference speakers.

Instead of speaking, they passed notes in a cipher known only to the five of them between them.

"You think…?" Cattleya responded to Miranda's complaint. "Most of the old generation are amoral backstabbers and hypocrites with conflicting agendas. They have no choice but to sweeten their words and to mask themselves with formality or nothing will get done."

"We're all devils and black sheep…" Susanna quoted shamelessly. "...really bad eggs…"

Miranda and Cattleya alike gaped at Susanna who fixed her glasses and glanced at them as though asking why they were surprised. "Okay…" Miranda said. "…that was weird."

"Moving on…" Susanna said. "…I know we're supposed to be making formal reports on insights about this, but I doubt we can exactly report that 'we are not backstabbing, silver-tongued liars and we will prove that magi can succeed without cheating each other' or something along that line."

"I don't know." Cattleya replied thoughtfully. "I'm tempted to do just that, if only to see my brother's reaction, and a chance to go down in history for sheer nerve."

"You'll end up cleaning floors for sheer nerve." Susanna said but with an amused smirk. "Still I can't help but be thankful that we're not sitting in that nest of vipers…no offense intended to present company of course."

"None taken…" Miranda replied with a shrug. "…and I agree. 'Observing' is quite boring already, can you imagine how much more if we actually have to participate?"

"Let's not tempt Murphy shall we?"

The Enforcers standing guard outside the Tohno property perked up as a pair of black cars drove up and came to a halt a short distance away. Several burly Japanese men came out, all of them with swords strapped to their waists. The Enforcers tensed, but their leader – Ilse Steinheil – stepped forward without any hint of worry or discomfort.

"Ah, the Touzaki I presume." She said confidently as she strode in front of the Japanese. "May we be of assistance?"

"What are you doing here?" one of the Touzaki – an older-looking one at that and probably their leader – asked belligerently.

"We're here to secure the Tohno property." She replied, and the Touzaki traded glances with each other.

"Our business is with Akiha Tohno." The leader finally said. "Regardless of what she may have said to your leaders, her leadership role is not absolute, and family interests – which do not concern you foreigners by the way – will be ensured."

Ilse nodded mockingly, and briefly paced between her Enforcers and the bristling Touzaki. "We were informed that you might say that." She finally said. "Lady Tohno then asked us to tell you that she was severing ties between her family and your families, and that the Tohno will be joining the Association independently."

The Touzaki traded glances again, but their leader didn't flinch. Instead he placed his hand on his sword. "And I told you, foreign witch…" he sneered. "…our family interests do not concern you, no matter what that short-sighted little girl has said."

Ilse nodded again and walked partly back to her men before turning to face the Kishima again. "Then you will die." She said.

The moments she said those words, the older Touzaki shouted incoherently, his irises flashing red as he drew his sword and charged. Ilse's crest flashed as she held out her hands, everything for several feet before her exploding in a shower of heat and debris. Secondary explosions followed as the wrecked cars exploded in their turn.

"That's that I suppose…"

"Ma'am…behind you…!"

Ilse turned in shock, and was barely pushed aside by a younger Enforcer who was promptly cut down in her place. As he fell gurgling and dying to the ground, she snarled as she drew her mystic code. "Murderous bastards…!" she roared as she aimed and fired her miniature crossbow, the magic weapon taking the head of one of the Touzaki.

"Kill them all!" the Touzaki leader shouted, and staggered as another explosion engulfed him to no effect. He began to laugh as he emerged from the smoke cloud.

"That's impossible!" Ilse shouted as she dodged his attacks.

"Foreign witch…!" he spat as she narrowly avoided losing an arm to him. "Fire cannot harm us, for it flows in our veins!"

Those were the last words he ever spoke as he was promptly reduced to a smoking husk by an arrow made from lightning. "Fire's just the common element!" Hildegard Lustenberger shouted as she pulled back her bow, lightning flickering between her hands and forming an arrow of pure power. "It's nothing compared to wind, and wind rules over lightning. Heil Kaiser, dir…!"

The aria boosted her spell's power, and Enforcers dove out of the way of the charged bolt as it immolated five men all at once. "Kill the witch!" the survivors rallied, and Ilse cracked her neck.

"Fuck this…" she said while pointing her crossbow forward. It extended to the left and right, and six arrows of flame came to life. "…heilig feuer pfeil!"

The bolts shot forward, throwing the remaining Kishima back. It didn't really hurt them, but it never meant to. It was just a measure to gain time. "Heil Kaiser, dir…!" Hildegard cast yet again, discarding her bow to clap her hands together. As she separated them, lightning crackled between them and merged to form a javelin. "Heil Kaiser Wilhelm…!" she thundered as she expertly threw the javelin.

The crackling bolt slammed into the middle of the Touzaki mob, the explosion enough to rip through the road and to rupture the water main. As the Enforcers dove for cover to avoid debris and steaming chunks of Touzaki, Ilse spotted a bloody and wounded Touzaki running, using his demonic strength to jump from rooftop to rooftop. "Stop him!" she shouted, pointing at the runner.

Several Enforcers immediately obeyed, while others rushed to get the wounded into the safety of the Tohno property. Ilse eyed Hildegard for causing so much damage briefly, and then shouted after the pursuing Enforcers.

"Move…! Go after him!"

"I can't believe you guys."

Cattleya stifled a giggle, and then left the room as her brother shot her a glare. Shut up.

"I said to secure the property, not to fight pitched battles in broad daylight!" Waver thundered at the flinching Enforcer before him.

"But the Touzaki they…"

"It doesn't matter if the Touzaki attacked or not, my issue is that none of you had the presence of mind to set up another bounded field on the street! It doesn't matter even that the water main was ruptured we could have fixed that and covered the whole thing up! What matters is that because you forgot to set up a bounded field during the battle, people noticed that something was going on, and called the cops, who then spotted the damage before we could even begin with repair and cover-up!"

Waver pointed at the TV, which was showing a live report of the damage outside the Tohno property, and humorously at that moment, an oblivious Arcueid getting dragged off from the red-faced reporter by an equally red-faced Shiki after telling them of their 'activities' and why they hadn't noticed what was going on outside the house at the time.

Not that Waver found it amusing, especially since there were also Touzaki corpses being wheeled away by the forensic examiners.

"And to top it all of you left the corpses on the street! How could you just leave corpses on the street? Now I have to go and retrieve those corpses, fix up all the records, change memories, and pull all sorts of stunts to cover this whole mess up!"

Cattleya returned, along with a tray of ice and brandy. She wordlessly offered the ice and brandy to her brother who took a drink before sinking into a convenient chair. She immediately got behind him and began to massage his back. "Now, now bro…" she began. "…getting angry won't solve anything. Instead of getting angry…or shouting, perhaps you could use the time to figure out how to solve this mess instead?"

The Enforcer nodded eagerly at the suggestion, and Waver again glared at Cattley who just smiled impudently at him. "Oh alright…" he said while placing his glass down on the table before him. He then turned back to the Enforcer in front of him.

"Now then seeing as Ilse and Hildegard caused this mess in the first place, then they're the ones going to have to fix it." He said. "Ilse will take half of her team and retrieve the corpses from the medical examiner's office, while Hildegard will take the other half to purge the records. I'll send someone else to handle memory alteration, and to do that they'll need to question some of the cops as to where and who the witnesses are. And don't forget to keep the guard up around the hotel, the residences, and the Tohno property. And this time tell them not to fight pitched battles in public!"

"So Touzaki attacked did they?" David asked as the Pentagon sat down for a late lunch.

"They did, and they got theirs." Cattleya confirmed. "The Enforcers caused a lot of damage though. They punched a hole through the street, and ruptured one of the mains."

"I imagine your brother got real pissed then." Christopher grinned.

Cattleya snorted. "No…" she said. "…he got angry over the fact that they didn't take sufficient measures to avoid getting noticed. No one saw magic being performed, but they left corpses on the street, and the sounds and lights caught attention, and by the time the Enforcers began cleanup the whole place was crawling with cops and paparazzi."

"Idiots…" Susanna signed with one hand while slurping up some hot ramen. "…I imagine your brother going to put them in for disciplinary reprimands when we get back to London."

"I wouldn't say that they're idiots…" Cattleya said. "…more…careless…?"

"Careless is right." Miranda agreed, and the boys nodded.

"Damn straight." Christopher said.

"So what now…?" David asked.

"Now we finish our lunch." Cattleya said in jest, and David rolled his eyes as the rest of the Pentagon laughed including Susanna. "Seriously though the Enforcers are spread thin cleaning things up. But…"

"This is just the beginning isn't it?" Miranda asked, and Cattleya nodded. "First blood is to us then. But they'll probably be back, and while I doubt they could win in a frontal battle, they'll probably try to pick us off one by one. So keep your guards up everybody."

"My thoughts exactly…!" Susanna signed, and the others signaled their agreement.

An elderly Kishima slammed his fist against a table in a darkened room. There were other men sitting around it. "Damn them…" he snarled, fighting against the blazing fire in his blood and yet drawing strength from it at the same time. "…damn those foreigners and the race traitors consorting with them, and that bitch Akiha too!"

"Well…" one of the other men began. "…even if you say that, I think we should just let this matter go."

"What was that?"

"I am in agreement with the Arima." Another man said. "This isn't just some random uppity local we're now dealing with the Mages Association, one of the three premier supernatural organizations in the world. They might not have enough influence here, but I can assure you that in the long-term their international influence would have an indirect but detrimental effect on us if we challenge them."

"Lord Makihisa didn't help matters other, crippling the Demon Hunter Organization by destroying the Nanaya." The other dissenter added. "That's basically what's drawn the Association's attention, as without them to keep us in check…well you know how magi are when it comes to the supernatural bleeding into the mundane."

There were murmurs at that, until the Kishima representative slammed his hands against the table. "What are you people murmuring about?" he snarled. "Have you forgotten what we are? We are the ones with the blood of the demon in our veins. Lord Makihisa's actions might have brought the Association down on us, even more so given the treachery of his weakling daughter, but I do not regret it. The Nanaya would have destroyed us eventually, and so we destroyed them first, simple as that. If it means being branded an enemy by those who fear us, then let them come. We will destroy them too, or we die deaths worthy of our lineage. What greater end is there for us than to die in fire and blood?"

There was a chorus of assent at that, and the Arima and the Kugamine representatives looked uneasily at each other. "Foreigners have no business in Japan anyway." The Kishima said. "We have tolerated their presence enough, so long as they stayed away from that which does not concern them. I think it's time we showed them their place, like we showed the Nanaya."

"Are you serious?" the Arima asked aghast. "We cannot defeat the Association! It's madness!"

"Only for a defeatist like you…!"

"Kugamine will not partake in this." The other dissenter responded. "Do not forget that our strength is economic in nature. We simply do not have what it takes to join the battle."

The man paused and sighed. "It seems that you are all set on a course of conflict." He said. "If so, then we will undertake measures to preserve as much of the family's assets as best we can."

The Kishima made to say something but was preempted by the Touzaki. "That is not unreasonable." He said. "Very well…we will accept your planned course of action."

Kugamine nodded, and the Kishima reluctantly gave his assent as well. Eyes then turned to the Arima. "The Arima declares itself neutral." He said. "Our combat strength is almost nonexistent and this course of action will only lead us to destruction. I will not have my family become cannon fodder. Kill me now if you want for being a defeatist, but my decision is made."

The Kishima snarled, his killing intent flooding the room, but was suppressed by the Touzaki who partly drew his sword and glanced warningly at him. "You came here in trust…" he said coldly to the Arima. "…killing you now would make us no better than you. Leave, and never return. Should we meet again, you will taste my blade or the Kishima's claws."

The Arima bowed, and then rose and left. The rest of the family representatives stayed silent until he'd left the room. "Now then let us discuss our plans to teach these foreigners and their collaborators their places." He said.

The Kishima snorted. "I've already called the family together, including Kouma." He said. "We should be ready in two days."

"We should be ready by then as well."

"We shall be as well by then."

"I agree."

"The same can be said for us."

"In the meantime a preemptive strike might be useful." The Touzaki said. "The better to show these trespassers that their confidence is meaningless against us, and that they should wash their necks while they have the chance."

"How do intend to carry this out?"

The Touzaki smiled. "Once I heard of what they did to my nephew and his men, I had gathered some of our best infiltrators." He said. "Tonight, the foreigners will know the price for spilling blood worth more than they could possibly know."

Miranda Carnarvon had gone to make a special order to the kitchens – the conference for the day had been extended somewhat over some trifling matter (at least in her opinion) – for her and her friends, when she heard what sounded like a scream that was quickly cut off. Quickly washing her hands, she stepped out of the comfort room, and her eyes widened in surprise.

Standing over the corpses of two hotel staff were a group of men in what looked like stereotypical ninja gear, bloody bone swords in their hands. One of them shouted something and pointed at her. "Oh shit…!" she swore as she reinforced her legs and ran.

More shouts came from behind her, along with the pounding of feet as they pursued her. "I need to warn the others…" she thought and then an unexpected amount of bravado spiked through her. "...but then again I'm also a member of the El-Melloi Pentagon. I should be able to handle this much."

She'd forgotten that these people had managed to slip past the Enforcers guarding the hotel, even if they were rather spread thin at the moment.

She slammed, locked, and reinforced the door behind her. As heavy pounding began against it, she took sight of her surroundings. She groaned…it was the same stateroom that Cattleya and her sister had used when they had their falling out during the previous night. Wood began to crack, and Miranda quickly opened up the distance.

Now then…how to make this as memorable as possible…?

The door burst open…and the first man had a thrown vase shatter on his face. He stumbled back, but the second man was through before she could grab another makeshift projectile and was charging at her, shouting and with sword held high. "Can we talk about this?" she managed to say as she scampered across the room, avoiding slashes and thrusts even as more of them poured into the room. "Okay we can't talk about this…can I at least ask one question though?"

The answer was a booted foot to the torso, and one that sent her staggering into a corner. The man raised his sword to take her head off, only to be stopped by one other. "You don't seem to be afraid of us." He said.

Miranda snorted. "Not much point in getting afraid is there?" she asked, and the man chuckled impressed by her apparent bravery in the face of death.

"You have spirit girl…" he said. "…to face death with dignity…"

Feel free to think that way if you want, but I'm not dying here. I'm not afraid because there's no reason for me to be afraid.

"…ask your question then."

"Won't you show me how Japanese die with honor?" she asked, her normally dull gold irises glowing a bright gold as she activated her Mystic Eyes of Enchantment.

"Gladly Your Majesty…!" they said with deranged grins on their faces, and as one they turned their swords on themselves and promptly disemboweled themselves. Miranda covered her nose at the resulting stench of blood and viscera as she gingerly made her way back to the corridor.

"Well so much for that…" she began to say to herself, when she heard something behind her. Thinking it to be nothing more than a death gurgle from one of the men she killed behind her, she ignored it…and then a bone sword stabbed into her heart from behind, the blade emerging dripping from her chest.

"Eh?"

A/N

And that's a rap!

Please refrain from asking for updates for Divergent Fate in reviews on my other works. Talk about rude…if you're not going to review properly (constructive criticism, complements and the like), then don't review at all. And no, I don't intend to abort this work of all works. This is after all, my highest-hitting work, and one that has special meaning to yours truly, as it's the original sequel to my original work.