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

Different Fates

Chapter 8

"How did the matter go?"

Rin Matou tripped in surprise at the gravelly voice, turning her head to look at her grandfather as he appeared to one side. "The vigilante's name is Shirou Emiya." She said. "I've impressed upon him the importance of secrecy, and we've agreed that he'll do everything he can to follow the rules from now on."

"Shirou Emiya…?" Zouken Matou echoed, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"That's right."

"I see. Was there anything else of import?"

"I suppose you could say that." Rin said. A part of her was tempted to keep quiet about the further details, but she knew better. Her grandfather would find out inevitably, and the punishment that would follow was not something easily endured. She knew that quite well from the first days of her 'training', when she learned in a most painful fashion what happened when one fought back.

Just lying there and letting Zouken and his worms do as they pleased was little better, but it was fractionally less painful, and as much as she hated to admit it (and only with a great deal of shame) the pain that came with 'training' was also accompanied by an equal amount of pleasure. It was still humiliating and torturous in the extreme, but it was better than the pure torment that resistance would result in.

Without something like the Grail, resistance is futile.

For now she had to play the old man's game. And for now, it seemed she had a chance to moderate her constant torment and humiliation by playing along. He had promised or at least expressed the possibility of 'leeway' over the matter of training. It wasn't much, but she'd take it.

"Shirou Emiya has had only the most basic of training it seems." She said. "He has no knowledge of how to perform mental interference, and from his own words his father died early on, which would be the reason why his magical education is so deficient. Changing memories is a basic skill after all."

"Indeed…" Zouken agreed with a nod. "…I can confirm that in part. Kiritsugu Emiya was a Master in the previous contest, and one of the few survivors. The contest did leave him a shadow of his previous self, and he died quite young only four or five years ago. Your conclusion appears to be correct, well done."

"You knew he was a magus?"

"The Emiya boy…?" Zouken answered. "I suspected but I did not know."

It was a lie, but she didn't need to know that.

"I did not know he was the vigilante either." Zouken continued before giving a dismissive gesture. "And in any case considering Kiritsugu Emiya's losses during the previous contest and his early demise, I did not consider Shirou Emiya as something worth interfering with, and which the true Supervisor should be the one to deal with upon her return. Until now, that is…"

"I see." Rin said, but while her eyes and face were blank, inwardly she just knew that there was more to it than what her grandfather was telling her.

"I imagine you've taken steps to correct his deficiencies?"

"Yes." Rin said with a nod. "I've agreed to help in bringing him up to speed, so I'll be swinging over by his house tomorrow after school. We'll also probably talk some more about the details then."

"Good, good…" Zouken said while nodding and turning to leave. "…for now everything seems fine to go at your pace. Very well, I'll leave you to conclude this matter at your discretion. I imagine you must be tired from today, so go and get some rest for the night. We'll hold off on any training until after this issue is completely resolved."

"Alright…"

Night and morning passed as they usually do, and the lunch bells rang to signal the end of morning classes. Shirou Emiya cleared his things off his desk, and then taking his lunch things and waving a goodbye at Shinji walked out of the classroom. As he stepped down the hallway Ayako ran up to him and with a nudge of greeting fell into step beside him.

As they walked towards the Student Council room where they usually ate lunch at, they found themselves pausing as the sounds of a ruckus filtered through a door. There was the sound of flesh striking flesh, a feminine squeal of outrage, and amidst the sounds of high-pitched feminine indignation said door slammed open and an angry-looking Rin stepped through, closing the door behind her.

The albino girl glanced at Shirou and Ayako's direction, and both had the grace to look abashed at being caught eavesdropping. Though to be fair they weren't the only ones, other bystanders inching away as Rin took a deep breath to calm down. "Can I help you?" she asked politely.

"Those girls again…?" Ayako asked after a cough, and Rin sighed before nodding.

"Yes, it's those girls again." She said with an exasperated tone of voice. "Same old, same old, but I have to keep reminding them just because I don't get along with everyone it doesn't mean I'll let myself get pushed around or be verbally-abused."

"Well I've got no problems with that." Ayako said with an approving smile. "Everyone's got the right to stand up for themselves, isn't that right?"

Rin smiled a small smile, with just a hint of bitterness to it. There were some enemies that couldn't be stood up to, at least not until the right time and opportunity. She sighed again. "Sorry…" she said to Ayako and Shirou both. "…I've held the two of you up for a while. I'll be fine you should go and enjoy your lunch."

Shirou took this opportunity to look at both Rin and Ayako's bearings, and making a decision spoke up. "Hey now Matou…" he began. "…you usually eat by yourself at the roof don't you?"

Rin blinked at that. "And if I do…?" she asked.

"Well…" Shirou said while scratching at his cheek, aware of both girls looking at him curiously. "…if you're going to eat all by yourself, why don't you join us instead? It's not like we've got a full table so…"

"I wouldn't want to impose…" Rin began after a moment, but Ayako cut her off. Shirou's girlfriend had spent the past moments trying to discern her boyfriend's intentions, and concluding that he was just being his usual helpful self, decided to back him up.

"Well Shirou's got a point there Matou." She said with a smile. "Come on, you're not imposing or anything. The more the merrier, right…?"

"Well…I suppose…oh alright, I'll just go and buy some lunch at the cafeteria. The Student Council room, right?"

"That's right."

"Alright then, I'll see you there."

At a nod from both Shirou and Ayako, Rin walked off and the pair resumed their way to their lunch room. The two stayed silent along the way, walking and entering in silence. To their surprise, Issei Ryuudo wasn't present, at least not yet. They shook it off, both silently reasoning that their friend probably had some business to deal with, and even if he never showed up, considering their well-known association with Issei, so long as they cleaned up after themselves there wouldn't be any problems with them using the room.

"About Matou earlier…" Ayako said while preparing tea. "…what was that all about?"

"Huh?" Shirou echoed. "Oh…I was trying to be friendly. I mean…she doesn't really have any close friends does she?"

Ayako snorted at that. "No kidding…" she said sourly as she walked over to the table with the teapot. "…between her cold nature – most of the time – and those damn 'high-class' girls, it's a wonder she has any friends much less acquaintances at all."

"Well, there you go."

Ayako grinned. "White knighting…?" she asked, and Shirou blanched before spreading his hands in a placating fashion.

"I wasn't…!" he began before breaking off as Ayako burst out laughing.

"Yeah, I know you didn't mean anything suspicious about it. Just…pushing your buttons…" she said, and her smile grew as Shirou scowled at her. After another moment he sighed, and smiled back at her.

The two of them turned to lunch, and silently enjoyed their meals and each other's company. The silence was eventually broken as the door slid open, and a diffident-looking Rin slipped into the room, closing the door behind her before quietly taking a seat beside Ayako. Ayako briefly fought down the now-normal sense of discomfort she felt about the other girl, and then flashed Rin a smile of encouragement.

Rin smiled back, and Ayako turned to Shirou who gave her a smile of gratitude. The three ate in silence for some time again, but Shirou finally decided to break the ice further. "So Matou…" he began. "…do you have any hobbies?"

"W-what…?" Rin stammered out a reply in surprise. Shirou scratched his cheek uncomfortably, but pressed on in the hopes of getting Rin Matou out of her shell.

"Well…" he said. "…Ayako and I are in the kyuudo club, so it's kind of self-explanatory as to our hobbies…"

Ayako doesn't really need to know – or at least not yet – about my other 'hobby'.

"…you're in the art club aren't you?" he finished lamely. "It's just that…"

Rin looked down for a moment, and Shirou wondered if he'd pushed too far. Ayako seemed to think so, and she was just about to flash him a glare when Rin smiled a small smile. "I wouldn't exactly call it 'art'…" she said softly. "…but I like to make dolls."

"Dolls…?" Ayako echoed, and Rin nodded with a small smile.

"I…I wouldn't say I'm very good at it…" she said, finally looking up. "…but I'm actually quite handy with a craft knife and other tools needed for carving wood, and painting and needlework of course."

Of course she could be better if she used magic, but her pride wouldn't let her use magic to make her dolls. Magic might be her birth-right, but the magic she had…she didn't want to touch her creations with what fate had doled out to her.

They might not be perfect, but they were the product of honest and clean effort on her part. It was something she took a great deal of pride in, cleansing away the slight shame that she'd originally taken to making dolls so she could 'talk' to someone or something that wouldn't or couldn't argue with her.

These days though, she could honestly say that making dolls was a way to while away her free time in a meaningful fashion.

Rin smiled wider, and she looked at Ayako. "If you visit my house I could show them to you." She said, and then she blushed as she realized what she just said. "Sorry, I didn't mean to show off."

Ayako broke out laughing. "Nah, it's fine." She said with a wave of her hand. "Though if you want to 'show off' as you put it, you can just bring one to school and show it to us. Something easy to conceal though, we wouldn't want those…prissy princesses looking down on you more for 'playing with dolls' at your age."

"No, I suppose we wouldn't." Rin agreed. "But I don't think you need to wait for me to bring one to school before I can show off."

"Oh?"

"Let me guess…" Shirou cut in as he finished his lunch and closed his bento box. "…you've got a few pieces on display in the art room, don't you?"

"Naturally…" Rin said, and Ayako laughed again.

"Great…!" she said. "Then we can have a look at them later, can't we?"

"I don't see why not." Rin said, feeling much lighter on the inside for the first time in a long while. She had hesitated to follow-through on joining them for lunch, but now that she had, she knew it had been the right choice.

Spending time like this…it felt nice.

"First of all…" Rin began as she sat at a table in the Emiya residence. As agreed in the previous night, she'd come over to instruct him in the art of mental interference, in order for him to be able to better cover up his use of magic during his vigilante activities.

They'd left school later than usual though. Instead of leaving immediately after club activities, Shirou and Ayako had visited her at the art room, and Rin had showed off some of her work. The two had been lavish in praise of her work, and while Rin resisted the effort to feel smug, she did not resist feeling satisfied.

Appreciation was something she rarely if ever received.

Afterwards they'd gone their separate ways, Shirou accompanying his girlfriend up until they parted to make for their respective homes, while Rin had taken a circuitous route to the Emiya property, arriving at roughly the same time he did.

"…I'd like to say thanks." Rin said to Shirou, who was preparing tea in the kitchen adjoining his dining room. "Thanks for letting me spend some time with you two. I…I don't really…most people…"

Rin fell silent, feeling irritated at her floundering with her words like this, but Shirou just laughed gently at her while taking a teapot to the table. "It's fine." He said while leaving to get some teacups for them both. "I know what you want to say, so you're welcome."

He poured her some tea, and then poured some for himself. They enjoyed the hot drink in silence for a while, and then clearing her throat Rin placed her teacup down on a coaster and decided to get started. "Should we begin?" she asked.

Shirou nodded. "Alright…" he said.

"Now, while I said that I'd be teaching you how to use mental interference…" she said. "…I think first of all we review what you already know that way I can gauge how much effort you and I will have to put into this."

"That doesn't sound unreasonable."

Rin smiled. "No, it doesn't." she agreed. "Now then let's begin: how many magic circuits do you have, and of what quality?"

"I have no idea."

"Excuse me?"

"I don't know how many magic circuits I have, or what rank they'd be at."

Rin stared at him, and then she pinched the bridge of her nose. "You don't know what level of magical potential you have…" she muttered in exasperation. "…alright, do you at least know what your origin and elemental affinity is?"

"No."

"What?"

"I don't know!" Shirou said with a flush. "I told you, dad was sick. It wasn't an ordinary disease either, it didn't just slowly kill him I think it also affected his magic. He couldn't teach me much, and so he only told me what I really needed to know."

"Such as…?" Rin asked, fighting down her irritation at such unprofessional behaviour. She might not like what she had gotten, but it was because of that that she felt the need to press the need for high magical standards. In her belief, the reason Matou had fallen as low as it had was because they had no standards whatsoever, or had lost what standards they had had in the past.

"He taught me the most basic concepts like Conservation of Mysteries and Equivalent Exchange." Shirou said with a shrug. "I know about Origins and the Elements, even if I don't know about mine. He also told me the basic rules about magic and the rest of the world."

"Is that all?"

Shirou flushed, and then he sighed. "He also told me that I had little to no chance of actually becoming a proper magus." He said, and Rin's eyes widened.

"He said what…?"

"You heard me." Shirou said. "He did say though that I had the exceptional talent of being able to perceive and manipulate the internal structure of matter, and that if I wanted to become a magus, I should focus on that. Here, let me show you."

And before Rin could say anything, Shirou spread his hands and with a clearly-spoken aria prana flared and formed a glowing framework around which yet more prana brightly coalesced into reality. "See…?" he said, holding a steel rod deftly in one hand.

Rin swallowed dryly and held out a hand. "May I…?" she asked, and with a nod Shirou handed her the rod. She examined it with both hands, crimson eyes narrowed as she examined what she held closely.

"It looks like gradation air…" she muttered. "…but it's not. There's no way this can be gradation air. The quality isn't as good as the real thing but…"

She looked up at him and then making her way over to him, she knelt down beside him. "Take it off." She said.

"What?" Shirou spluttered, his voice coming out unusually high.

"I can determine your origin and elemental affinity, but I need proximity to your body's core to get a clear reading."

"Can't you do it through…?"

"No, the cloth would interfere with the scan."

Grumbling under his breath, Shirou took off his shirt and Rin placed a hand on his bare chest. Muttering under her breath and fighting down the crest worms' response to being so close to a male – despite her pseudo-Homunculus' ability to draw on the World's mana to keep them sated – Rin cast the spell for determining Origins and Elements.

She neglected to inform Shirou though how it would feel, and with a yelp Shirou jerked back as what felt like electricity shot into his heart. Oh he'd felt worse pain in the past, but electric shock in the heart area was nothing something to be uncaring of. Rin however was looking at him in disbelief.

"That can't be right." She said. "It's just…"

Shaking her head, she repeated the test. And then she repeated it for the third time.

"Okay that's enough." Shirou said crossly as he pushed her away before putting his shirt back on. "I'm guessing there's something unusual about my origin and elemental affinity, and if the results are coming back the same for the past three times, don't you think that the result is accurate?"

"Yes…yes you're right…" Rin said while swallowing. "…what if I told you that your origin and elemental affinity are aligned?"

"I'd say that's fantastic…wait what?"

"You heard me."

"But…the chances of that are…!"

"I know that it's incredibly rare!" Rin snapped, massaging her temples. Her grandfather needed to be told, if only because he would want her to report her progress with Shirou, and Rin had no desire to risk angering him by keeping things from him. And if the result was accurate…well if she wanted to supplement Shirou's magical knowledge then she'd have to dig through the Matou library for references considering the rarity of an aligned origin and elemental affinity.

He'd only naturally be curious.

And there was the suspicion that he might know this already, and was…just…no…no, it couldn't be!

"I…" she began, and then licked her lips to moisten them. "…I think it's better if we call it a night for now."

"Eh?"

"Usually when an origin and an elemental affinity are aligned…" she began. "…the person in question will naturally struggle with orthodox magecraft. In fact they'd be incapable of mastering it to a satisfactory degree, but once they find a specific branch of magecraft suited for their alignment…"

"…they can push their mastery of that branch to a level infinitely-close to that of True Magic." Shirou said with his eyes wide.

Rin nodded. "I…I need to look this up." She finally said. "I…right now, I'm not sure if I can help you, but I'll certainly try. But first…"

Shirou nodded. "I understand." He said, getting to his feet and walking Rin to the front door. "And while I don't like it, I'll keep a low profile until we get this sorted out. As you said, I can't keep leaving evidence of magic lying around – even if it might all be circumstantial – can I now?"

"Yeah…" Rin said distractedly, and exchanging farewells the two of them took their leave. As Rin left Shirou wondered why she seemed so fearful and distracted all of a sudden.

"You're home early." Zouken asked as he met his granddaughter in the mansion's foyer. "Was the Emiya boy that skilled that he was able to master the skill of altering memories so quickly?"

"Not…really…" Rin answered weakly, and the old man raised an eyebrow.

"That's not really an answer, girl."

"He…he has an aligned origin and elemental affinity." Rin said, and this time Zouken's eyebrows lifted so high that if he had hair, they'd be hidden from sight. "You didn't know this?"

"No, this is certainly news to me."

"Is it?" Rin said, her voice dripping with fear and apprehension in equal measure. "You already knew he was a magus. You already knew he was the vigilante, wasn't he?"

Zouken smiled. "Clever girl…" he said.

"Why?"

"What do you mean why?"

"Once you have the Grail you'll be immortal." Rin said with her voice weary and resigned. "You…you're pushing us together. Why? Is there any need to continue...when you will live forever?"

Zouken smiled even wider at the girl's careful avoidance of mentioning anything specific to continue. Still…questioning was a form of defiance in a way. It seemed a little reminder was called for. But she deserved an answer at least.

"Yes, I will be immortal once I have the Grail." Zouken admitted. "But even so duty to the family doesn't end. Both my duty to preserve and advance its magecraft, and your duty to bring forth the next generation…"

Rin stayed silent, but firmly kept from looking at him. Zouken continued. "You know as well as I do that Shinji is unsuitable for providing an heir, and indeed the same could be said for most people in this city. And most other families would exact too high a price, or would otherwise be unsuitable for the task called for." He said. "The Emiya boy on the other hand…well, you don't have to marry him if you don't want to. Just get him to put a child in you when the time comes, and leave it at that if that's what you want. He already had a proven potential for magecraft before now, but with your findings…"

Zouken trailed off, but Rin stayed silent. Her shoulders were slumped, and while he couldn't see it, he was sure those crimson eyes were dead and lifeless as they should be. He opened his mouth to continue, only for an image of a woman in a robe of silver and gold with a golden crown, platinum hair and crimson eyes to flash into his mind. The same platinum hair and crimson eyes his granddaughter had.

Justeaze…

Zouken blinked and bit back his words. He spent a few moments regaining his composure, and decided to return to his inner place. "Go and get some rest." He said as he passed Rin. "There won't be any training until Saturday evening. I expect you to be punctual, understood?"

"Yes."

The voice was dead and resigned, and unexpectedly Zouken felt a pang in his heart at the tone. It would leave him restless for the rest of the night.

Justeaze…

For her part Rin listlessly made her way up the stairs to her room, passing Shinji in the hallway who unexpectedly gave her a look of sympathy. He didn't say anything, not that he could really say anything to make her feel better.

The door to her room closed softly behind her, and Rin leaned back against it in the darkness, and slowly slid down to the ground. She felt as though she were six again, remembering how the old man told her to leave her things in the foyer as he led her down to the basement, to that edge of that pit seething with worms, of how he threw her into the pit when she shied back.

They were all over her, bumbling and slithering and crawling over each other and over her thrashing form as she desperately sought to fight them off. She crushed many in her struggles but for every one she crushed a hundred more took its place.

They tore her clothes to shreds, coating every inch of her body in their disgusting fluids, getting into her eyes, her ears, her nose, her mouth, and even into places a six year-old girl couldn't and shouldn't know could be entered. And still they kept on coming, and when they couldn't get in they simply ate their way in.

"No, no, no, no…" Rin said, clutching her head as she thrashed against the door.

Fang-like teeth retracted, the little abominations squirming and growing and suckling as they imprinted themselves onto her and into her, changing her and remaking her into their image. The pain was excruciating, but there was more than just pain, limbs thrashing not in desperation or even just agony, the mind coming close to breaking as sensations that children should not experience burned through her nerves.

"…no, no, no, no, No, NO, NO…!"

Limbs thrashed and noises appropriate for near-terminal pain and pleasure heaved their way through the carpet of squirming filth...

Rin doubled-over, slamming her fists onto the floor with a flare of black and red lightning that left the floor scorched and smoking black. Something shifted in her, and she felt old.

She felt older than she was, and her body felt wrong, as though something was missing or if it was there it didn't feel right…incomplete…flawed. She felt…strange, as though she was and she was not. It felt strange.

But the mental image of a silver-haired and crimson-eyed girl lying naked and carpeted with filth touched a nerve. "I won't let it happen…" she whispered in a voice that was hers and not hers all at the same time, clutching at her head as red and black lightning flickered over her body. "…not to her…not to them…not again…never again…NEVER AGAIN…!"

A/N

This chapter was a bit of a pain to write, at least towards the end, since I had to have Zouken be cruel to Rin, reminding her that she's just a tool and a brood mare as far as he's concerned, which is kind of jarring considering how light-hearted the first part of the chapter is.

With regards to the ending, again I reiterate: she is not going Dark Rin. She doesn't have the affinity for it. But as Andrew Greaves pointed out, she is still in some way influenced by Angra Mainyu, due to her having been hybridized with what was left of Irisviel. She might not be able to call forth the shadow, but she can control the curse to an extent (a canon example is Kirei throwing mud at Shirou) as evidenced by the cursed lightning she manifests in this chapter.

As for what's really happening to Rin in the ending, well wait and see.