Night of Fate

"What?" Saber asked flatly.

Rin almost didn't heed the Heroic Spirit as he buttoned up his uniform and brushed the front of it gently to get rid of some imaginary wrinkles.

He turned to face the exasperated Servant and stated plainly, "I said, I'm going to school."

"I know what you said." Saber replied calmly.

"Then I don't think further explanations are in order." Rin replied, smiling in sincere manner, "I'm telling you, not asking you and I fully expect you to accompany me."

"I hope you remember that we're in the middle of the Holy Grail War." Saber said drily.

"Oh, really? Gee, I totally forgot." Rin said, still smiling.

"Rin, I don't know how you spontaneously developed an attitude problem," Saber said, aghast, "But please be reasonable, it's suicidal to be in public without protection."

Rin cocked an eyebrow, "You're with me, what more protection do I need? We'll just mow down anyone who dares to face us." Rin said simply.

Saber looked at her Master, awestruck. There was silence for a few seconds where Saber seemed to process what Rin had said, and was soon bursting with laughter.

"I was right yesterday." She said between chuckles, "You are suicidally stupid."

"Don't forget "a fickle creature"." Rin said as Saber vanished, going into spirit form so they could leave.

"Why the sudden change of heart?" Saber couldn't help but ask as they passed the road lined with western-style houses, "How did it go from "mediocre" to "we'll mow down everyone in our path"?"

"I didn't use a catalyst." Rin said simply, "And the Grail chooses the most compatible Servant for the master when they lack a catalyst for the summoning. There's no way that a mediocre Servant would be compatible to me of all people."

There was a brief silence as they reached the intersection, and Saber sighed palpably before saying, "Unbelievable. So your confidence in me is just spillover from your own self-confidence?"

Rin rolled his eyes, "Spillover? You're making it sound like we're in a game."

"…You're not even trying to deny it now. And you call me twisted."

"Don't have a cow, Saber. I've been in the school for a year now, if there was another Magus capable of becoming a master, I would've sensed it long ago. Besides, the only Magus family in Fuyuki besides the Tohsakas has declined to the point that the supposed "heir" doesn't have a single magic circuit in his system." Rin said matter-of-factly.

"If you say so… But, hypothetically speaking, if there was a Master-" Saber started shrewdly only to be cut off by Rin.

"I'll just beat the crud out of him or her and remove his or her command spells. Simple."

"Simple-minded, more like."

"Hypothetical situations are hypothetical precisely because they're unlikely. I'm rather thorough about the Magical happenings in Fuyuki because my family is the second owners of the land." Rin replied calmly. There were more and more people in Homurahara uniforms around them as they approached the school.

"Having connections with the Church and Mage's Association also helps. Though, I do recognize that I wouldn't be notified about the Master representing the Association. But I doubt someone from the Association would have the audacity to risk exposing magic by picking a fight in a school." Rin continued.

"Hmm… Fine, then. But still stay on your guard." Saber said as they reached the gates, "Better safe than sorry."

As soon as they passed the threshold, Rin felt Saber come to a stop. "What's wrong?" He asked, frowning and disregarding some looks from the passersby.

"I feel… something." Saber said rather unsurely. There was a hint of unease in her voice which worried Rin.

"Can you specify what you mean by "Something"?" Rin asked, frowning heavily.

"Don't you feel it? There seems to be more ambient mana here… The mana in the air also feels like there's something mixed with it. Almost like magecraft..." Saber said, rather unsure now that Rin didn't seem to feel anything.

"Let's go to someplace a bit more discreet." Rin said urgently, "We can investigate a bit before class."

They both scurried off to a secluded part of the school near the archery range. Rin hid beside the archery range, just out of sight. He could just make up an excuse if discovered here thanks to his semi-regular visits to the archery club.

Rin closed his eyes and extended his senses outwards. There… really wasn't anything wrong. He concentrated harder, trying to detect even the slightest traces of magecraft utilizing of influencing the mana in the air.

Nothing.

He notified Saber that he didn't find anything. There was a brief pause at that, and Rin could feel that Saber was thinking intently.

"Are you sure? I have this nagging feeling…" Saber's voice trailed off, as though even she was having a hard time believing herself.

"Actually, I'm sure about the fact that I can't detect anything." Rin replied simply, "I'm not sure that there actually isn't anything. Making undetectable traps and bounded fields is the mark of a first-class magus."

"Aren't you a first-class magus?" Saber asked a bit bemusedly.

"I am." Rin said without a hint of hesitation, "But I also admit that I have a lot to learn. I'm using conventional means of detection, but it's not always foolproof. I assume you're quite sensitive to magecraft even though you're not a magus, so you can detect… whatever you're detecting."

"So, what do you intend to do?" Saber asked, as Rin crossed his arms beneath his chest in a pensive manner.

After a few moments of tapping his feet on the ground, Rin replied, "Saber, can you scout around the school and find the approximate locations of where the feelings are the strongest?"

"I could, but wouldn't it leave you defenseless?" Saber said, reluctant to leave his master open for attacks.

"I've got something arranged." Rin said, grinning confidently, "I might not be able to defeat a Servant, but I sure can survive long enough for you to come to my rescue."

"Geez, this overconfidence of yours is going to get you killed." Saber said, more amused than annoyed as though to say "That's my Master for you."

It was nearly night by the time Rin and Saber had returned to Homurahara. Wisps of navy clouds littered the violet colored sky and the last traces of vermilion on the western horizon was rapidly fading away. Rin stood at the gates of Homurahara High for a moment, "The school sure is creepy during the evening… Hey, Saber, where did you get the strongest feeling?"

"There were a few points, like in the library, faculty office, the third corridor of the second floor, near the field behind the school and on the roof." Saber said, in a way that made it seem she was checking each name off a checklist.

"Sounds bad… Almost all of those places are usually really crowded during school." Rin said, his fists clenched. "Let's go check out the second floor corridor first."

Both of them calmly walked towards their destination as though to mask the urgency they felt. When they reached their destination, Rin looked around the area Saber had indicated.

Again, nothing.

Rin was getting frustrated. He couldn't actually find any form of magecraft. But even he had a kind of inkling that something was wrong. It was more of an intuition than anything, but he decided to have faith in his instincts and his Servant.

For a few minutes, he tried every possible method to locate magecraft, but all his efforts were ineffective.

"I can't find anything." He told Saber dejectedly.

"Well if tha-"

"I didn't say that I'm giving up!" Rin snapped, and his Servant sighed in exasperation.

"Think, Rin, think…" He told himself in his head as he thought, resting his chin against the back of his right hand.

"Saber, can you tell the exact location where you're getting the strongest feeling from?" Rin asked again.

"I've already told you where," Saber replied, "but I'll try to narrow it down."

The scarlet-clad woman looked around the area, occasionally kneeling down and feeling around the floor. Finally, after five minutes of searching, she called urgently, "Rin, I think it's here!"

He was looking at the wall facing classroom 2-B. Rin scurried over and faced the wall. He placed a hand on the wall and concentrated. Instead of trying to detect abnormal magical energy, he began to infuse his own prana into the wall.

"Aha…!" He whispered as the prana he was providing was absorbed into a magic circle, which glowed a faint purple as it absorbed the energy.

He kept a steady trickle flowing, and inspected the magic circle. The circle, lined with some ancient letters Rin couldn't identify, seemed to hover over the wall rather than carved onto it. He added a fire and metal aspect to the prana, and faint chain-like lines spread from the magic circle to the air around them. They looked almost like spiderwebs spreading through the air, only the fine threads hung in the air in a ghostly manner as the prana dissipated.

"…! Saber, this is a Bounded Field." He whispered, taking his hand off the wall.

"Bounded Field? What does it do?" Saber asked with a frown.

"It's… too complicated for me to tell." Rin said rather begrudgingly, "This is top notch magic; nothing like I've ever seen before… The most I can say is that it's supposed to change the space it confines."

Saber was dumbstruck for a moment, "You mean… like a Reality Marble?"

Rin raised an eyebrow at his Servant. How a Saber knew about something as advanced as a Reality Marble was beyond him, but decided to postpone asking about this. There was something more important at the moment.

"Almost… But there's a big difference." Rin said, "Reality Marbles are unique to the individual and more or less static in nature, thus are called "Innate Bounded Fields". This Bounded Field sits above reality unlike a Reality Marble, which replaces reality altogether within the area of effect. It's like the person made a completely different reality from scratch to sit above the World. It's magecraft, but magecraft taken to such extremes that it's almost on par with Sorcery."

"How do you know the Bounded Field effects reality? It might be something else entirely, like a bloodfort, for example." Saber said, rather impressed at Rin's knowledge.

"Because the Bounded Field is inscribed onto the space, not any solid area." Rin breathed, "I've never encountered this kind of magecraft, but I did read about it. Found it in one of Master Zelretch's books on Multi-Dimensional Refraction Phenomenon and Spatial Distortion. But this kind of thing is almost on par with Sorcery or True Magic… Not just any mage could make this."

"Caster, eh?" Saber asked grimly.

"It could be Berserker for all I care," Rin breathed, quite enraged, "how dare they making something like this in my territory!?"

"Can you remove it?" Saber inquired.

"I might… I can't remove the individual nodes such as this one." Rin told her, "Even I'm not that skilled... If I could find the anchoring point…"

"Anchoring point?"

"Remember how I said that the Bounded Field was inscribed onto the space? Well, the Earth is constantly moving, right? Technically, if we inscribe any magic circle onto a space without a fixed point of reference for it to anchor itself against, it'll just drift away."

"So essentially the anchoring point is like the origin of a three-dimensional coordinate system?" Saber said, and Rin nodded in response.

"We have to check each point, though." Rin grumpily, "This'll take all night."

"No need." Saber replied, "I think I know where the anchoring point is."

"Really?" Rin asked, impressed. Saber nodded and led them towards the staircase. They climbed up to the third floor, and then to the roof.

"I should've known." Rin said, disappointed in himself for not figuring it out.

"Don't worry about it." Saber said, smirking, "It's the geniuses who make the stupidest mistakes."

"Gee, thanks." Rin said sarcastically as Saber began to search for the point again.

After a few more minutes, Saber called Rin to attention. He approached Saber who was kneeling near the center of the roof. He prepared to pinpoint the anchoring point more accurately, but was interrupted when a voice called to them, "Yo, what are you two looking for?"

"Oh, just the anchoring point for-" Rin started before whipping around to look at the source of the voice.

There he was on the roof of the stairwell, a man clad in blue spandex with matching hair flying messily around his face. His eyes were a bright crimson and showed a hunger for battle. A bestial kind of scent came from the man, and his lean body was crouched onto the ground to mirror a beast ready to pounce on its prey.

Rin felt the inhuman amount of magical energy coming from the man, and he was without a doubt a heroic spirit… But which class?

"The anchoring point for…?" He asked, cocking his head in a kind of mock-curiosity.

"None of your business." Saber said, standing in front of Rin in a protective manner.

"Lively one, aren't you?" He said, grinning, "I like that in women."

"Argh…" Saber rolled her eyes, "Did you come to fight or to flirt?" Saber took a fighting stance and a pair of short swords appeared in her hands. She held both of the swords in reverse-grip, which Rin guessed was a sign that Saber was going to fight defensively.

"Of course we're gonna fight, but that doesn't mean that we can't have other kinds of fun, does it?" The man said, calling his own weapon to his hand. It was a scarlet spear, almost two meters in length. The blade was also a shade of scarlet with groves at the base of the spearhead which resembled thorns.

"Lancer, eh?" Saber asked, her expression stoic.

"Maybe…" The man smirked. A light breeze flitted through, and the man's flyaway hair fluttered lazily.

Suddenly, a suffocating feeling engulfed Rin. It was an instinct beyond instinct, and it was screaming to him to get away from this place as fast as possible.

He could only register the man's muscles tense up for a fraction of a second as he pumped all the prana he could to his legs. He leapt sideways, and in a flash of scarlet he felt a slight pain in his cheek and a warm liquid run down it.

Lancer had almost impaled him through the throat, but a combination of him leaping away and Saber deflecting the blow allowed him to escape with only a scratch.

His heart still throbbing from the close call, he activated his Magic Crest as he leapt over the fence to create distance between him and the man. But as he plummeted headfirst downwards, his fall slowed down by the spell he activated from his Magic Crest, a sound of clashing steel prompted him to twist his body to get a look at what was happening.

The man had swept Saber away with his Spear and was charging towards him with incredible speed. Just before he was out of Rin's sight, he saw the man jump onto the partitions around the roof, and using that as a platform to spring downwards towards him. But Rin was already retaliating.

"Gandr!" He reacted without thinking, and he simultaneously cast a spell to increase the speed of his fall.

He was astounded when the spell actually did cause the Servant to flinch ever so slightly, but he concentrated on fortifying his body to withstand the fall as he was propelled backwards from the recoil of his Gandr shot.

As he fell down and rolled on the ground, he was able to catch a brief flash of Saber kicking the man from behind to ground him. There was a huge crash and tremor as the Servant hit the ground.

Ring scrambled to his feet just in time to witness Saber shoot into the plume of dust rising from the place where the man in blue landed and cause the cloud to dissipate. A clang of steel meeting steel followed as the scarlet spear and twin short swords met.

Rin looked on in awe as clang after clang of their weapons meeting filled the air. It was as though watching two whirlwinds, one blue and one scarlet clash into each other. Sparks flew with each clang of steel, and it was only those brief moments when Rin could get a proper look at the Servants before they became blurs of movement again.

Rin watched the fight rage on in front of him, he could barely follow them, but he could see that Saber was being pushed back by the ferocity of the attacks of the blue spearman. The scarlet clad female was only able to parry the savage spear as it thrust towards her relentlessly, and her efforts to push back the spearman only caused him to close the distance between them with his superior speed and the reach of the spear.

Saber was twirling and twisting to bring the two swords in front of each thrust, and the spear was deflected from its course only to find another place to pierce. Again and again she defended, but the ruthless attacks went on. But a different sound rang, and it was reminiscent of someone running a sharp knife's blade over a metallic surface forcefully.

And the tables were turned as Saber was relentlessly attacking, the swords weren't in reverse grip anymore. The spearman's superior reach from his spear was turned against him as Saber went full melee, disallowing proper movement of the spear.

Rin understood; the shaft of the spear, instead of clashing with the sword, slid on the flat of the blade by which it was being parried, causing the spear to not lose momentum and the blue spearman to get too close to the scarlet knight, allowing a reversal.

Another grand clash, and Rin was able to discern the two figures once more. The spearman was blocking the two swords with the pole of his spear, and Saber was pushing against him with all her might. Saber briefly looked over the spearman's shoulder to give Rin a look.

The fact that his magic had some effect on the spearman hit Rin, and he brought out three of his jewels, a ruby, a sapphire and an emerald and held them between his fingers.

"Schneidlicht!" He called, and the different colored prana mixed to glow a brilliant white. He tossed the three jewels at the blue spearman with all his might, and they transformed into three white hot beams of light. Just before they reached the spearman, Saber pushed him backwards and escaped herself.

The three beams of light hit the spearman, causing a huge explosion where he was standing and both Saber and Rin were blinded for a moment by the intense light.

But-

"Heh… You shouldn't have done that, boy." The spearman said, shrugging off his bloody back like it was a minor injury, "You see, I'm angry now. You should never make a Berserker angry!"

With a bestial roar, the man seemed to transform. His face became contorted with rage, and his scarlet eyes began to glow with an animalistic kind of fury. It was as though the spearman had lost all of his humanity in those few seconds, and like the monster he resembled, he lunged at Saber with twice the speed he had possessed before.

It had turned into an uphill battle. Now with Berserker's Mad Enhancement activated, his power had ascended to a league of his own. Instead of those measured thrusts of a seasoned warrior, Saber was now facing a barrage of swings of a barbarian devoid of all reason. The spear had become more of a bludgeoning stick as it was swung around without regard to the shaft.

But it seemed that the more time went, the less bleak the fight began to look. Saber was getting used to handling those chaotic swings, and the lack of technique and finesse couldn't be compensated through the extra power alone.

It was not long before both of the Servants were at a stalemate. Yet, Saber couldn't get past the Mad Warrior, as his strength and speed were still well beyond her own. Rin, realizing that the fight was going nowhere, began to provide rear support by firing Gandr at the area of the duel.

Berserker, lacking any form of Magic Resistance, was hit by the bullets of condensed curses, but Saber had just enough Magic Resistance to cancel the single-action spells.

However, the Gandr shots was unable to do anything more than slightly inconvenience the spearman. Rin was at the point of contemplating the use of a command spell, but a shriek brought him back to reality.

The spearman, seeing a silhouette, promptly disengaged from the fight and like a whirlwind ran off after the witness, who Rin saw flee into the building.

Rin sighed in relief as he approached Saber, "That was a close one."

"We're lucky that some idiot came to investigate the commotion." Saber said, "They saved our lives… for the price of their own."

There was a moment when realization struck Rin, and he felt lightheaded. Someone had witnessed the fight, so according to the rules of the War, they were to be eliminated.

"Saber! After him!" Rin all but yelled, and Saber wordlessly rushed off to the rescue of their unwitting savior.

Rin couldn't stay here. He began to spring towards the building himself, and another vaguely familiar shriek came from the second floor. When he was about ten feet from the building, the sound of breaking glass made him look up and two figures came plummeting down.

"Aufsteigen!" He yelled, putting his right palm towards the ground beneath them and a whirlwind rose beneath the two falling figures. The winds slowed their fall, and they landed safely just in time for another round of clangs to begin anew on the second floor.

He approached the figures, "Emiya-san, Sakura!?" He gasped, finally able to see them in the darkness.

"T-Tohsaka! What's happening-" Emiya tried to ask as she and Sakura got up, but Rin swiftly picked them up by their waists and sprinted off towards the gates as fast as possible. He had to save the both of them. There wasn't any time for explanations.

Emiya was trying to speak to him in flustered stutters as he raced towards the front gates, fortifying his arms and legs as much as possible.

Rin heard a distant sound of breaking glass over the wind howling against his ears and Emiya and Sakura's shrill squeaks, and a sense of dread filled his heart. He came skidding to a stop and unceremoniously dropped both the girls on the ground.

"Both of you, keep away! Hide, run, anything. Just don't stay here!" He told them urgently and brought out two more jewels; and amethyst and a sapphire.

Before either of them could stop him, he was running full pelt back towards the school. A figure in blue was quickly approaching, and he began to chant with the jewels in his hand,

"Dünn wie band noch stärker als stahl,

durch Gleipnir-Anleihen Ihr Schicksal Ich versiegeln!"

He tossed the jewels which were glowing lavender. The spearman swerved to avoid them, but the jewels exploded into ribbons of talisman cloth made of energy and ensnared him.

Berserker struggled against his bonds, and Rin was horrified when he saw that he was escaping them through sheer brute force. Tears appeared in the ribbons, and even as he reached for some more jewels, Berserker was able to break free of his bonds and lunge at him with his spear.

It was as though time was going at half its pace. He felt the dread of certain death as the shaft of the scarlet weapon flew towards him. Dimly, he noticed Saber screaming something as he tried in vain to reach him.

Yes… there was screaming, but the white noise in his head was blocking it all out.

But before he could react, a girl dressed in the Homurahara High uniform stepped in front of him.

The scarlet lance pierced the girl in the heart, and he felt warm liquid splash onto his face. The spearhead was protruding from her back, and blood was leaking out in a steady stream. It was a brilliant shade of red, just like her hair…

"Emiya…" He heard himself croak out. Even Berserker seemed shocked as he pulled his spear out of the girl, his eyes returning to normal.

Emiya toppled forward, a pool of her own blood starting to collect around her body.

Rin's own shuddering scream mingled with a shriek from behind him, and as Berserker was slashed by Saber and kicked away, Sakura scurried to Emiya before kneeling beside her unmoving body.

The fight was about to restart just a few feet away from them, but Rin had had enough. "Anfang…" He said, and the Command Spells inscribed on the back of his hand lit up, "Saber, have no mercy; I order you as your Master to destroy Berserker."

With the command, Saber received a spurt of power. Through the haze covering his senses Rin saw her not only match Berserker blow-for-blow, but also wound him a second time. It seemed that the fight was sealed, but-

"Tsk… Let's finish this another time." Rin heard Berserker say over his own shuddering breaths as the spearman made an escape. Saber made to chase after him, but she looked Rin in the eyes and remained in place.

Rin took some wobbly steps towards the bloody body of Emiya Mashiro and dropped onto his knees. Soft sobs which he guessed was from Sakura was the only sound he could hear.

...The heart was pierced, and it was only a matter of minutes before the girl was beyond saving even by means of Magecraft. He turned Emiya over, at the same time thinking of the complexity of repairing a destroyed heart. He knew very well that the chance of success was low, since he had little experience in this particular type of magecraft...

But the jewel warmed by his body, the pendent of the necklace he had inherited from his father, which was resting against his chest near his own unharmed and still-beating heart, had enough power to make skill irrelevant.

He pulled the scarlet jewel out from under his shirt with shaking fingers as he tried to steady his breathing and silence the screaming inside his head. He clenched the jewel in his fist and put the palm of his other hand behind it before bringing it near the gaping hole in Emiya's chest.

Scarlet light filled the area as he used all the prana stored in the jewel to craft a new heart from the remains of the destroyed one. As the light subsided, he saw the hole in the chest fill out and knew he had done it; the feat would've allowed him instant admission into the Association were there any official of the organization present.

A moment of silence.

"Senpai…?" Rin heard Sakura call him after stifling her sobs.

"A-are you okay, Sakura?" Rin asked her, finally able to look her way.

His mind was in too much of a disarray to wonder why Sakura was looking him with such a strange look on her face. "I'm… Fine, Tohsaka-senpai."

"Good… good…" He heard himself murmur. "Do you… do you know where Emiya lives?"

"Yes. She took me there yesterday, I think I still remember the way there…"

He absently nodded. Without a word, he picked up the bloodied girl in his arms in a bridal carry.

"Rin, let me-" Saber started, but was cut off by Rin, "You keep guard… I'll handle this."

Saber didn't respond, and Rin looked at Sakura, who nodded and began to lead the way.

Berserker:

STR: B+
END: C+
AGI: A+
MGI: C
LCK: C
Noble Phantasm: ?

Class Skills:

Mad Enhancement: B- - -

Raises basic parameters in exchange of hindering mental capacities.

Every time Berserker receives damage, this skill activates after a successful luck check. Causes the Servant to go into a blind rage in exchange for enhancing Strength, Endurance and Agility. For every wound inflicted onto a target by the Servant, a successful luck check is required for the continued activation of this skill.

Note that the skill deactivates when the Disengage skill is activated.

Personal Skills:

Disengage: C

Disengage is the ability to break away from combat.

Bonus effects of this skill include disabling Mad Enhancement and returning battle conditions to what they were at the beginning of the match.

A/N:

Apologies for the crude German.

This chapter has been updated, the Author apologizes for the earlier version which was quite shabby and lacked flow. Thank you all for the reviews, favorites and follows!