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

Different Fates

Chapter 6

The robbery should have gone off without a hitch.

It was almost like something out of an action flick, the way it had been planned.

Part 1: a suitcase loaded down with rocks was left at the edge of the only police helipad in Fuyuki City. It hadn't been noticed at the time, which didn't matter at the time and would actually be helpful in the long run.

Part 2: a helicopter rented under a false name was used to fly the team over the bank building, where they would use guns to blow the glass roof in. Then the team would rappel into the building, and excavate the vault before attaching lines to it while holding guards inside the building off.

The doors were strong. You wouldn't be able to rip them off even with a truck. The security systems were also strong. Cracking them would take too long. That was why the team didn't need to open the vault either by cracking the lock or by ripping the doors off.

The helicopter would simply rip the vault itself out of the bank, and the team would fly off to the city outskirts where they'd abandon the helicopter and use a stolen truck to get away, and break the vault at their leisure. It should have worked.

Too bad they didn't count on a teacher related to a local yakuza family who could get her police radios, and whose ward also happened to be a resident spell-caster. Said spell-caster also just happened to have an obsession with the idea of 'justice'.

At first the plan worked as smooth as fresh milk. They rented a helicopter, stole a truck, and left a suitcase at the police helipad. They managed to break into the bank, and killed or pinned down the guards while 'excavating' the vault and hooking it to a line.

The police had scrambled as soon as the reports of a robbery in progress had come in, and had called for helicopter backup once they learned the thieves had a chopper of their own. Naturally the suitcase was discovered as the pilots rushed to their machines.

No one knew – apart from the thieves – that it was filled with rocks. And so until the bomb squad had checked things out, the cops would be getting no machines of their own in the air.

The thieves meanwhile had managed to finally get rid of the last of the guards, and the helicopter finally managed to pull the vault clear. Ropes were dropped for the team to get back aboard, and thence to the getaway part of the heist.

All-in-all, the heist – not including the yet-to-be-accomplished getaway – lasted for about thirty minutes.

It was about twenty minutes away from Shirou Emiya's home, the spell-caster using reinforcement to move quicker and by jumping roof-to-roof.

No one saw the reinforced arrow that ripped the helicopter's engine apart, and no one would find it later, given that it had dissolved into prana shortly after taking the thieves' chopper down. The cops would instead six dead thieves, and two more injured ones among the wreckage.

The latter would go on trial and eventually hang for attempted grand larceny, fraud, and murder.

Shirou Emiya would only hear about that later. After taking the thieves down he collapsed on his vantage point, breathing heavily and panting away the burning in his legs. Just because he could move quickly on reinforced limbs it didn't mean that there wasn't a price to pay.

Equivalent exchange was in effect after all, and in addition to prana another cost on bodily reinforcement was exhaustion and pain after the spell's effects wore off and the body 'caught up' with reality.

After about five minutes, the fourteen year-old boy finally staggered to his feet and stowing away his bow, made his way home. Unlike the twenty minutes of accelerated travel, by normal means it took him about an hour to get back.

"Tired…?" Taiga Fujimura asked as she placed a steaming cup of tea on the table between her and Shirou.

"Yeah…" Shirou answered as he gratefully took the cup and took a drink.

When Taiga had learned about magic four years ago, it had led to a talk that had lasted for hours. She wanted to know about magic, how it was done, what it could do, and most importantly, about why Shirou had never told her about it.

Shirou – not knowing how to alter memories – had obliged (not that he could have ever brought himself to alter her memories even if he knew). It wasn't much really, Kiritsugu had only ever taught him about the basics of both magic and the secret world, as well as why it was secret and the consequences if the truth ever got out.

And Taiga quickly realized that knowing what she knew was effectively a bull's eye not just on her back, but also on Shirou, for not being able to keep magic secret.

This had later led to an argument between the two of them.

Somehow Shirou had got into his head the idea of becoming just like an anime or manga superhero, using his magic to help by taking down the bad guys.

Apart from the fact that vigilantism was against the law (although as the scion of a yakuza family Taiga knew that she was being more than a bit hypocritical) there was also the risk of getting exposed.

Shirou was already running a lot of risk being exposed, not knowing how to alter memories. And finding a magus to teach him was easier said than done: Kiritsugu had warned Shirou of the treacherous nature of their kind, and Shirou had passed the warning onto Taiga.

Taiga of course understood what Shirou could not. Shirou clung onto the idea that magic being what it was should be used for everyone's belief. Taiga on the other hand saw that magi were still all too Human, clinging jealously on what power they had all the while lusting for more than what they already had.

Between the danger of getting stabbed in the back, and the secretive nature of magi (which made them even harder to find), finding a teacher just wasn't an option. As for being a superhero, in the end Taiga had to pull rank so to speak on Shirou, though it was clear that the idea still lingered in his head and Taiga had worried that he might go behind her back in time.

All that had changed two years ago, when a thief had snatched Taiga's purse while they were in town. She'd given chase of course, but had nearly lost the thief in the crowds. In fact she would have lost him…

…if Shirou hadn't used a fire escape to get to higher ground, from where he had used traced arrows to shoot the thief's knees out from under the man.

Said thief was still spending time in prison, though he'd probably never walk again as the damage caused by barbed arrowheads on his knees was too great to completely recover from.

No one ever found out who had shot the arrows, or why they had since gone missing from the evidence depository. The police filed it away as a break-in, and those in the know had no intention of enlightening them.

Taiga had ultimately decided afterwards that Shirou could 'help out' but never directly, usually by using a bow and arrow to take down fleeing criminals or on the spot thereof. It was a compromise between Taiga's concerns about the consequences of being exposed, and Shirou's desire to be of assistance.

But while Shirou tried to avoid killing people…

"Do you want to talk about it?" Taiga asked quietly.

"Five people died." Shirou said just as quietly. "I saw them: the two in the helicopter and three of the ones on the ground."

"And…?"

Shirou looked at her quickly before looking down. "It never gets easier." He said.

"They say that it should." Taiga responded, and when Shirou looked at her she smiled reassuringly at him. "I've told you before haven't I? Not getting used to killing isn't something to be ashamed of. If anything you should take pride in it, pride that you're different from the ones you've killed. It's proof that you're not in this for your own ego, but because you genuinely want to help in what little way you can."

"Thanks Fuji-nee…" Shirou said with a small smile. "…although…"

Taiga snorted. "Yeah, I know." She said. "You're still a vigilante, which still makes you a criminal. On the other hand, well many of the ones you've helped bring in or the ones you've taken down, they're not exactly people the world will miss."

"That's still just an excuse though."

Taiga smiled sadly and nodded. "It is, isn't it?" she asked. "So do you want to give yourself up? Do you want to stop?"

"As if you'd actually let me do the former." Shirou answered, and Taiga chuckled.

"And you won't choose the latter either." She said, rising and moving to sit beside him. "It's your choice Shirou. I've let you go this far, so I don't think I've the right to stop you. The only ones who can do that now, is you."

Shirou nodded. "That's what you always say." He said. "And I can't make that choice. Not yet anyway…"

Taiga laughed at that. "Well there's something new." She said, leaning forward and resting her chin on an elbow. "This is the first time you've actually voiced the idea that you might grow out of this 'superhero' phase."

"It was dad's dream too."

Taiga's smile went out like a light. "Oh…" she said softly. "…I didn't know that. I mean…I didn't…"

"Don't apologize." Shirou said with a reassuring smile of his own this time round. "As you said you didn't know."

The two of them sat in silence for a while, and then a few minutes later Taiga sighed as she gathered her courage. "So…about Kiritsugu…" she hesitantly inquired.

"Dad said that…he said that when he was a child he dreamed about being a hero of justice." Shirou said. "But eventually he learned that saving someone means not saving someone else."

"You can't save everyone." Taiga said, and Shirou nodded.

"But…" he said, clenching his fists. "…I can't accept that. I…just like how dad saved me years ago….I want to save people. And yet…"

Taiga looked at Shirou, who was looking down at his clenched fists. "The day you first saw me use magic…" he said. "…I passed by a store where the police had gunned down a criminal in a shootout. And for two years now, I've killed more than a few people. I might have saved lives in the long-run, but…but what about the ones I've killed? I can't help but think: could I have saved them too?"

"Oh Shirou…"

Shirou stayed silent, brooding on the contradiction between his dream and the reality brought crashing down by his own attempts to make the dream come true. Taiga pulled him into an embrace, patting him on the back.

"You're still a child Shirou." She murmured. "That's why enjoy the dream while it lasts. When you grow up, the dream will disappear just like what happened to Kiritsugu. Dream while you can."

"Dad…" Shirou thought as he took what comfort his guardian could give him. "...what made you wake up from the dream? And were you able to recognize yourself when you woke up? Will I…?"

"I won't be home tonight." Shinji Matou said over the breakfast table the following morning, and his sister turned towards him. "I'll be spending the night over at a friend's house."

"Is that so?" Rin Matou answered. "Alright…it's not like the two of us eating dinner together is that important, isn't it?"

We're not really a family, even after all this time. And we never will be.

Shinji finished his juice, and then rose from his seat. Taking his things to the sink, he turned back to her as he filled the sink with water from the tap. "I'll be going on ahead." He said. It wasn't really that important, but going through the motions was something they'd practiced for years. It made no sense to stop now, just as it made no sense as to why they even did so. "You'll be fine by yourself, won't you?"

"Yeah, I will." Rin said, waving him off.

Shinji turned the tap off, and after wiping his hands dry stalked off on his own. Rin kept eating at her own pace, even as she heard Shinji go up the stairs to his room and then back down with his things, followed by the thump of the front door closing. She kept eating for a while past that, and just like he did brought her things to the sink for washing.

She caught sight of her reflection in the water, red eyes and white hair staring back up at her. "I'm not sure if I liked the purple better." She thought, though not for the first time.

Her hair had started turning white and her irises turning red when she was eleven, as puberty began full swing and she constantly pumped prana from her surrounding into the crest worms in her to keep them from messing with her hormonal balance. The changing coloration had come as something of a surprise, and she suspected that somehow her grandfather had managed to acquire and integrate Einzbern mysteries, resulting in this…interesting side-effect.

And now she was fourteen, and her irises red as blood and her hair white as snow.

Well at least her hormones were under control, so this side-effect wasn't all that unwelcome, just a small price to pay to avoid losing even more of what little dignity she had left.

Zouken Matou watched from the shadows as his granddaughter left the property for school. The experiment had been a complete failure, the girl's status as an Average One ultimately useless for his original plans for her. But it wasn't a complete loss.

Her blood was potent, and her will and body strong. She would make for excellent breeding material to continue the bloodline. That much alone was a gain in his book.

But it was her assimilation of the fragmented Einzbern mysteries that had fused into the crest worms when he'd taken the remains of the Lesser Grail of the Fourth Holy Grail War that completely made up for his failure to create his own Lesser Grail.

The girl could never sync with the Grail, but as a Human-modified Homunculus, she had virtually-infinite prana, though the amount she could actually use and channel was limited per unit of time. But between her assimilation and his own follow-up experiments, she could sustain up to four Servants on her own, three if one of them was a Berserker, and still possess enough prana and control on her own to fight as a magus.

Anything more though would greatly strain her, and might even incapacitate her.

Zouken wouldn't push the issue. He'd already gained much as he was, and he was pragmatic enough to know that pushing could cost him more for little gain. And it wasn't like she was a real threat to him. Despite the girl's cold character, between the worm in her heart and the psychological conditioning he'd put her through over the years he'd ensured that she'd never turn against him.

And if she did…well she wouldn't be around for long…

And she knew it.

She'd always known it, ever since the fool Kariya had been devoured in front of her as a child.

"What an idiot…to defy grandfather's will…" the words were as delicious now as it was then, and Zouken smirked at how fitting that while Rin could probably never hope to match Sakura Tohsaka in terms of magical finesse, in terms of output Rin far outclassed the Tohsaka heiress.

The Matou had always depended on large numbers of familiars to compensate for the relative physical weaknesses of their mysteries. And now Rin would continue that tradition.

Yes, things might not have gone as he originally planned them to, but they were still going his way one way or another.

"Shirou…!"

Shirou turned at the shout, then smiled and stopped to wait for his girlfriend to catch up to him. "Good morning Ayako." He said cheerfully as they resumed heading for school.

"Good morning to you too." she asked. "Did you hear?"

"No, not really…"

"Apparently someone tried to rob the Centennial Bank downtown, and they say it was like something from a movie."

Shirou fought to keep his face straight. "Oh…?" he managed to say. "Why do they say that?"

"Turns out the crooks had a chopper, which they used to break into the bank from the roof. That's already amazing on its own, but the really amazing part is this: you know how those safes are really hard to break, don't you?"

"That's the whole point behind a safe isn't it?"

"Well yeah…never mind that! Apparently they planned to use the chopper to fly the safe somewhere else so they could take their time cracking it open."

Shirou whistled. He'd guessed all this from the chatter on the radio last night, along with what he'd seen. And then a thought occurred to him, which made him frown. "Don't the cops have a chopper of their own? I didn't see or hear any mention of police choppers on the news." He asked.

Which wasn't really true, it was more of the fact that he hadn't paid attention to the news about the robbery – attempted robbery – since he assumed that having been there – sort-of – and finished it there wasn't anything more he needed to know.

And he also wanted to get it behind him as soon as he could.

To his surprise though, Ayako laughed at the question. "You must have missed it, maybe when you went to the toilet or something." She said. "Apparently the crooks left a suitcase near the police helipad."

"Oh no…"

"Relax…" Ayako said. "…apparently it was just full of rocks, but you know how bomb threats go, right? The police had to wait until a bomb squad could check it out, and so the cops couldn't get their machines up in the air."

"Clever bastards…I mean…!"

Ayako laughed again and patted him on the back. "Don't sweat it Shirou." She said and winked at him. "I'm one of the guys remember?"

"Oh really…?" he said with a smirk of his own. "Why are you wearing a skirt then?"

She stuck her tongue out at him. "It wasn't literal." She said, and then she smirked. "Although if it were literal…I didn't know you swung that way."

"What the…!"

Ayako laughed and patted him on the back again. "Got you, didn't I?" she asked.

Shirou's response was to cough in an effort to regain his exposure, though his cheeks remained heated for some time. "Anyway…" he began. "…I'm not sure if we're supposed to be impressed by criminals being clever."

"I don't think we are." Ayako replied seriously. "It's still impressive for all that though. Too bad all that cleverness was wasted on them, eh?"

Shirou nodded his agreement, and they continued to school in silence. At the school gate they met another one of their friends, the representative from Shirou's class Issei Ryuudo. "Good morning Ryuudo-kun!" Ayako cheerfully greeted him, and the bespectacled boy nodded at them.

"Good morning Mitsuzuri…Emiya…" he returned the greeting, and they returned the nod.

"Good morning Issei…"

The conversation stalled as a ruckus broke out nearby, and heads turned to see an albino girl being harassed by a trio of tanned and overly-preened girls. The albino looked unhappy and even a little angry, but was refusing to give way. "Not again…" Ayako snarled angrily, her fists cracking as she stomped over, preempting even her boyfriend from interfering. "...hey you three…cut it out…!"

"Look at this, girls…" one of the three said, turning to face Ayako. "...Miss up-and-coming kyuudo club member Ayako Mitsuzuri is defending the freak."

"And that's after she's settled for that Emiya doormat." The second girl followed-up.

"Oh woe is us!" the last girl concluded dramatically, and as the three of them burst out laughing Ayako ground her teeth as she fought to keep her temper under control.

"Well at least I don't have to bathe in chemicals to look pretty." She snapped. "Or sleep around to feel appreciated!"

"Why you…! Come on girls, let's leave these losers!"

The trio stomped off, Ayako looking dirtily after them. "The truth too much for them to handle, huh?" she murmured before turning to face Rin.

"I didn't need your help." Rin said without preamble, and then her face softened. "Thanks."

"No problem…" Ayako said. "…it's not your fault you've got something that makes you look like that. And in any case, no one deserves to get treated poorly just because of what they look."

"Something that makes me look like this…?" Rin echoed with a bittersweet smile, and Ayako patted her on a shoulder before rejoining her friends.

"That…was surprising." Issei said, and Shirou rolled his eyes.

"Just goes to show how much you know me, eh?" Ayako asked with a smile, and laughed off Issei's attempts to apologize. "I'm surprised too Shirou. Normally you'd be the first to go in looking like the hero."

"First of all I was about to." He said, crossing his arms and leaning towards her. She raised an eyebrow, and planted her hands on her hips. "And second, I hesitated because…well…"

"Because…?" Ayako pressed, and Issei made his excuses and left while Shirou began to look flustered.

"Well I…I didn't want to look like I was…acting like a white knight for another girl…"

"Aw you're so sweet." Ayako said, patting him on a cheek. "Thinking about me first, eh?"

"That's not supposed to be bad."

"It isn't." Ayako said. "I'm grateful to be honest."

The two of them resumed walking towards the main school building. "I'm surprised you spoke up for Rin though." Shirou said as they took off their outdoor shoes and switched them for indoor shoes. "I thought you didn't like her."

"I think that might be an exaggeration at this point." Ayako admitted with a bit of shame. "I still don't feel…comfortable around her, though that's probably only because of how cold she can be. She's not really all that bad when you think about it. And besides, she gets bullied because of a medical condition. That's not right."

"Bullying is never right."

"No, it isn't." Ayako agreed. "But some reasons are worse than others."

The two of them went up the stairs together, and parted at the landing on their classrooms' floor. "See you at lunch, Shirou." Ayako said, indicating the left hand corridor.

"Yeah, see you later." Shirou said, before heading in the opposite direction.

A/N

Back to Rin and Shirou…! Shirou's trying to become a hero, though he's getting conflicted over the cost, what Kiritsugu Emiya once called the 'path of least bloodshed'.

Rin…yeah a bit of a stretch, but considering Zouken's new goal of creating a perfect Master following the failure of his efforts to create a Lesser Grail of his own, having Rin become a Human-modified Homunculus isn't too out there. Rin Matou's forte is pure output, only Illya having more prana than her (AFAIK Illya could support all seven Servants if she has to), though in terms of quality/finesse when it comes to using that prana, only Illya would be inferior to her (since Illya was never actually trained as a magus).

Der Grossadmiral: right now I have three sprites in mind for Sakura Tohsaka. One: her Fate/Zero sprite…which is her pre-Matou canon appearance, maintained through AU Fate/Zero up until she leaves for London. Two: early years in the Clock Tower casual – as described in chapter one, a long-sleeved, collared white blouse over a calf-length pleated black skirt tied behind the waist, white knee socks and black leather shoes. Her hair is worn long, but Rin's ribbon is tied around her neck, not at her brow. Three: adolescence onwards casual – her association with German magi has built up her assertiveness and affected her style, as such she usually wears a long-sleeved and collared dark-red blouse over a pleated, calf-length black skirt, a black cravat, along with black socks and black knee boots. Her hair is cut short, and she no longer wears Rin's ribbon, though she keeps it with the rest of her jewelry.

Andrew Greaves: thanks for the tip on the Einzbern, and edited. Louise Francoise has classic Hohenzollern features (so no pink hair), and her name is actually derived from her late uncle, Louis Ferdinand, the Prince of Prussia (she's a cousin of the current prince though).

Servants…I have Saber, Archer, Rider, and Assassin with their Masters lined up, though I have trouble with the remaining three. Meh, we're still a while off from that, so I still have ample time to think about it.

Damn…long A/N…I apologize for that.