Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.
Different Fates
Chapter 37
"Mother, no…!"
"The southern suburbs…gone…how…"
"A gas explosion…what the hell are those idiots in the safety bureau doing? Letting something like this happen…?"
Shouts, murmurs, conversations and whispers filled the air as the displays showed the huge fire raging to the southern end of Fuyuki City, newscasters constantly updating their reports on rescue and control efforts, damage and casualty reports, and just about everything the worried public needed and would want to know to avoid a panic. Among one such crowd at a bus terminal were Shirou Emiya and Ayako Mitsuzuri.
"S-Shirou…" Ayako stammered worriedly, promptly leading Shirou to pull her closer. Normally she wouldn't act like this but after everything that had just happened, Shirou couldn't blame her. And they had been just about to go home when things had – literally – gone to hell.
"It's alright." He reassured her. "It's alright."
"Really…?" she asked, turning to him. He nodded at her and she buried her head against his shoulder before looking sideways at the nearest display. "Is this…could it be…is it?"
"Yeah…" Shirou said, his free hand tightening into a fist. Even his voice was filled with barely-controlled anger as he remembered the Overseer's announcement. "…it's one of them. Damn you Tohsaka…this goes too far even for you. But your house is in the same area isn't it? Just what…just what are planning?"
"Shirou…"
Shirou closed his eyes, focusing to bring his anger under control. But it didn't go away. It couldn't go away, instead simmering within and growing as he opened his eyes and saw the latest report scroll across a nearby display. Five hundred and twenty-three were dead, and that number was forecast to grow. Over a thousand cases of the injured had also been reported, and as with the dead it too was forecast to grow.
"In the end you're just like your father." Shirou thought angrily. "You can't be trusted with the Grail. Seeing this…I don't think I can blame dad for denying your father the Grail even if it meant sacrificing so many. If you would go this far with what power you already have for more, how could I trust you with something like the Grail?"
Shirou's fist tightened even further, blood beginning to drip from where his fingernails cut into his skin. Golden eyes narrowed as he watched the fires rage on the display, remembering similar scenes from ten years ago. Hungry flames…greasy smoke…the screams and pleas of the dead and the dying…dead and burning bodies everywhere around him…a boy walking through the ruins with only a single-minded, borderline insane desire to live keeping him going.
Don't think I'll let you get away with this, Tohsaka!
Lightning crackled as the great chariot rode high in the skies in the light of the Moon and the stars. Down below the lights of the city sparkled in the night, along with the ugly red glow of the fires raging in the south, partly-shrouded by rising clouds of rich black smoke.
"You disapprove Rider…?" Reines asked with her long blonde hair flying in the breeze behind her.
"Don't tell me you don't!"
Reines' eyes briefly flickered towards him, and then they returned to the city below. "Why did you burn Persepolis, Rider?" she asked, and he looked at her in surprise. When he didn't reply she continued. "History records two reasons: one, to impress Thais who was General Ptolemy's mistress. Second, you did it to avenge the burning of Athens during the Persian Wars. Which was it, Rider?"
Rider looked at her, still with a neutral expression on his face. "And if I said both…" he said softly. "…what then?"
"Then either way…" she said. "…you cannot condemn Tohsaka for doing as she did. You avenged Athens, just like she avenged her sister. And even if Athens was worthier of vengeance than a single despoiled girl, you still acted selfishly as per your other reason."
Rider was silent for a moment, and then he sighed mournfully. "Terrible things happen in war." He said. "But as I said, only its purpose and the purpose of those who fight it redeem it. But what is Sakura Tohsaka's purpose? Vengeance…? Personal advancement…?"
Reines' glanced at Rider. "True…" she said. "…you too seek war, but only as a means to bring about a new world. Compared to Tohsaka, it is not selfish. In that light, you can condemn her."
"And what of you Reines?" he asked. "What do you think of her actions?"
Reines was silent for a few moments, remembering watching through a familiar's eyes a scene from several days ago, of Emiya, Tohsaka, and Matou confronting each other in the light of the setting Sun. "I will neither condemn nor condone her actions." She finally said. "As a Supervisor she has the authority to impose sealing designations, the justifiability of which is for higher authorities than my own to question. However her evidence has been independently-verified by the Church Overseer."
"But…"
"Objectively-speaking this does go a bit far. Only the sealing designation she placed on the would-be vampire justifies destruction on such a scale, given there is precedent for maximum force to be employed especially when it comes to executions."
"That doesn't answer why you will neither condemn nor condone her actions."
Reines smiled coldly. "Because if Zouken Matou had done to my blood as he did to Tohsaka's blood…" she said. "…I too would do everything I could to make him pay. Blood calls for blood. And I cannot say how far I would go to answer the call."
She glanced sideways at Rider. "Could you say otherwise?" she asked, and Rider looked troubled. Several moments later and he shook his head.
"No…" he said. "…because when Hephaestion died, the man responsible for it was not given the justice of a trial. As a King…no matter how close Hephaestion was…it is unforgivable. I do not regret, but neither do I deny my error."
He sighed and looked at Reines with a sad smile. "Not so black and white, eh?" he asked, and she smiled just as sadly.
"No, I guess it isn't."
Zouken Matou raged inside his hideout. Centuries of collected material, writings and recordings, priceless and irreplaceable artefacts, mystic codes, and equipment, all gone in an instant. Oh he still lived, and while he lived he could rebuild, start anew even, and work to recover what was lost.
But he was no fool, and never had been. Most of what had been lost went back long before him, before he had taken the family from the Motherland for this Oriental backwater. And despite everything he'd done, he knew he hadn't much time left. Not enough to recover more than the slightest bit of what Tohsaka had destroyed.
The Matou family was already dead in form with Shinji – and by extension any descendants he might have had – having no magical potential whatsoever. And now it too was dead in essence as well with almost everything it had accumulated about the mysteries of the world and the path to the Root annihilated by the fires of Tohsaka's vengeance.
All that was left was what he himself could recall, and Zouken was no fool. He was old. He was barely hanging on as it was. He knew much, but he had forgotten even more though he would never admit to it out loud. His only chance now was the Holy Grail, though he'd known that for a long time now.
Once he had it, he would live forever.
And then…and then…
Zouken's mind blanked out, thoughts fumbling in the darkness of things lost to the endless flow of time. The image of a silver-haired woman came to mind, and then he remembered.
Rin…his granddaughter yet lived. She had the crest worm. More than that engraved into her were many more mysteries of the family, along with those Einzbern mysteries salvaged from the remains of the previous war's vessel. Perhaps not all was lost after all.
No, Zouken was no fool. So long as the girl lived, there was a chance to rebuild. The family would remain dead in form…or perhaps not. Alchemy was useful, and the girl was young. More than enough time – with the Grail's power – to find a way to personally have a hand in reviving the family.
But before that…yes, Tohsaka's insult would not be allowed to stand. His pride would not allow it. She had made sport of him, sending him a letter that implied she would seek his head in person. And he'd fallen for her trap, and had even sent Assassin in case of the unlikely event of her breaking through all the way to his home.
He'd underestimated her, and he'd paid the price.
There were ways to avenge it. Even now the girl retreated to Kotomine Church with her confederates, no doubt seeking refuge with her family's secret ally since her wrath had also destroyed her home. There was that consolation at least.
He could release the information on the pact between Tohsaka and the Church to the Association. But it wouldn't work. Tohsaka – or this generation at least – was affiliated with the Hohenzollerns. And so long as she remained useful they and theirs' influence would shield her. He didn't have the influence to fight the Black Eagles of Prussia on remotely even political terms.
There was Tohsaka's sister. He briefly toyed with consuming her then and there to spite Tohsaka – most of his soul was right next to his granddaughter's heart but bits and pieces of it existed in each and every last one of the family's worms – and his current body was rather…shaken given the collective trauma of the recent losses, but he fought the impulse down.
The girl's body was too valuable. If he consumed her, then even if he kept her form intact, his soul would eventually rot it to extinction. And with the Holy Grail's possession still in question, he couldn't risk losing what value she had.
And of course there was Caster to be considered. Consuming bodies took time, during which time he would be vulnerable. He didn't dare risk becoming prey for the Servant of the Spell.
No, there was only one way to avenge Tohsaka's insult. He reached out across the city, to every last form of the swarm that bore his soul. They stirred at his command, his eyes and ears with their faithful claws, and gathering in the darkness into a vast host. Nothing like that which had been prepared to meet Tohsaka's feint, but still enough to have a good chance of beating down Tohsaka before she could reach Kotomine's haven.
Yes, he would see that upstart brat broken and defiled, her young and vigorous form no doubt as useful as nests and wombs like her sister's was. In the darkness Zouken smiled. The fact that each of his familiars was also him made the thought even sweeter. Tohsaka was a beautiful young woman, and the same went for her friend.
He would enjoy this, and they would be very useful in times to come.
As for the Servant…simply take out the Master and the Servant will fall.
Gilgamesh stood on the roof of Kotomine Church, an amused smile fixed on his lips while he swirled a glass of wine in one hand. The sound of footsteps caught his attention, but he didn't turn to address the priest as he returned. No, his gaze was fixed on the fires to the south.
"How did the matter go?" he asked.
"It's something that I will need to follow-up on in the following days…" Kirei said with just a hint of weariness in his voice. "…between covering up Sakura's little display of pyrotechnics and preparing her little…experiment's resolution, I've chosen to focus on the latter and do only what needs be done for the former."
"Wise…" Gilgamesh congratulated the priest to his surprise. "…that girl is truly amusing. I would see more of what she can do. Can you see Kirei? That is how you deal with those which offend the King. Complete and utter annihilation, no mercy, no respite, demonstrating their helplessness against the King's might and those who bear his blessing…well done, rebellious child. You have pleased the King."
"There is a possibility that Zouken Matou might have escaped." Kirei said. "He is old and experienced in escaping from powerful enemies."
"And he will come seeking revenge…" Gilgamesh concluded. "…typical mongrel, failing to understand his place in the way of things…no matter, I am certain that the rebellious child and that tool of hers will finish the job when the worm comes out into the open."
"It is as you say, King of Heroes." Kirei said with a bow. "If I might ask, should she survive what it to come, what place would you give her in your new world?"
"Only Saber is worthy of sharing my throne…" Gilgamesh said with the slightest hint of annoyance, but sufficiently amused at present to forgive Kirei's impertinent questioning. "…but the rebellious child has a simple yet elegant beauty to her. Her spirit needs more tempering but…she cannot and never will be queen. But the King's court always has room for beautiful young ladies to bask in the glory of the King."
Gilgamesh chuckled, raising his glass in the fires' direction as a toast. "That assumes of course…" he concluded. "…that she survives the final test. Only the truly strong will endure, and only they have a place in the pure and perfect world that is to come."
Laughing echoed in the night air, along with the sound of metal coming together in regular intervals. The laughter was that of Berserker, and the sound of metal was her gauntleted hands coming together in applause.
"That's the way Tohsaka…!" she said in glee. "So brutal…!"
Beside her, Illyasviel von Einzbern looked out from the mountain road at the fires burning away in the southern suburbs and even certain districts of Fuyuki's urban areas. "I underestimated her." She finally admitted. "I wonder…if perhaps we can make her into an ally…"
"I wouldn't mind." Berserker said with a grin. "That Archer fights smart, always to win, and he's got a lot of power."
"Hmm…" Illya said thoughtfully. "…I'm glad you think that way. I'll have to think on it some more, but the idea is sound. But for now we've other things to focus on."
Berserker nodded, and gently picking her Master up and placing the little girl on a shoulder began leaping over the distances towards the city. "My familiars have already spotted Makiri gathering what little familiars he has left across the city." Illya shouted as she and Berserker leaped through the air. "There're a lot of them, and there's only one place they'll go to. Or rather, one bunch of people they'll be going after."
"Should we help them?"
"If they can't beat a worthless cloud of filth then they're useless as useless as allies."
"True enough."
"Still…" Illya said as she narrowed her eyes. "…it wouldn't do for things to be too uneven. The moment Caster and those dumb rocks of his make a move, we'll move as well."
"Breaking rocks…" Berserker said with a sound of disgust. "…I've fallen so low."
"Don't complain…" Illya chided her. "…work is work."
"Yeah, yeah…" Berserker responded. "…but if Caster doesn't move…?"
"Weren't you listening to what I was saying earlier?"
"So we'll just wait until you figure out where he's lurking, and then drag him out to die."
"Work is work."
Berserker made another sound of disgust, and then smirked. "I'm still a knight I suppose." She said. "Killing monsters is part of the job."
"That's the spirit! Let's go Berserker!"
"Yeah, yeah…"
A hawk flew high over the city, jewel cores and jewel-based augments pumping with prana as it kept an eye on the ground below. On the ground, three people – well two magi and one Servant – made for Kotomine Church as best they could on less-travelled routes. The lead magi knew that Zouken would be coming after them for the destruction of his stronghold, and wanted to avoid dragging in more people than already had been.
Hypocrisy she knew, after the many killed when she ordered Archer to crush Zouken's stronghold with overwhelming power. But there she had had no choice. There was no other viable way to break his fortress and rip the heart out of his power all at once. Every other strategy risked too much for failure, or just as worse, would allow him to catch a second wind further down the line.
"The enemy is closing." Sakura ordered as she strolled down the street, a hand on her sword's hilt. "They're coming in from all directions except from the front…"
"Zouken doesn't want to risk provoking Kotomine by passing too close, eh?" Archer said with a smirk.
"Prudent…" Anika said. "…though unsurprising: the Holy Church is even more violently disposed towards vampires than we are, except maybe for the Barthomeloi."
"But they're spiralling around on their final approach." Sakura cut in. "We'll have to be fast and powerful otherwise we'll be trapped and crushed."
"I've no intention of dying by bugs." Anika said dryly, drawing her compact crossbow.
"Good…" Sakura said, tightening her hold on her sword as the sound of buzzing became increasingly-audible. "…because neither do I…I have witnessed the transience of people. I have felt the hollowness of time. But the flower goddess still dances and sings, and so the Valkyries proclaim: behold – the tempest of blades!"
Prana flashed a bright blue as Sakura's crest came to life, visible on her right arm as she vanished from view…and then steel flashed – light still travelling faster than Sakura was – as she cut through the swarm, scores of Matou familiars falling to the ground in shreds in her wake. As she skidded to a kneeling halt several metres down the road, more familiars pounced on her, only to be shredded by the stresses of causal reconciliation that surrounded her.
Light flickered and distorted around Sakura as she rose to her feet, teeth clenched as she forced her muscles to obey and ignore the multiple micro-spasms rippling through her as Gaea forced her to pay the temporal debt accrued by her use of spatial manipulation. Normally she'd use a causal reflector to abrogate the debt, but while it worked for Illusive Precision and Hollowed Time, her understanding of causal reflection was still too rudimentary for it to be used for Tempest of Blades.
Ignoring the stress of causal reconciliation, she vanished from view again, the only indications of her presence the light flashing off of Starlight's blade, the shredded familiars falling in her wake, and the moving of the swarm as they sought to cut her off.
And behind her, Archer and Anika moved to join in the action. "Kanone…" Anika shouted while running and aiming her crossbow, telepathically-linked to Sakura and by extension to the high-flying hawk familiar providing targeting data. "…bereiten auf feuer: halbauto…!"
Moving by instinct, she fired three shots to her right and two to the left. Smoking cartridges fell to the ground, flash-forged mini-grapeshot rounds exploding in the middle of swarm concentrations and turning them to falling chunks of shredded flesh.
"Spatzen, beginnen brennen: salve!"
A wave of an arm and a wave of fire billowed out, which twisted and turned into a flock of flaming sparrows that threw the spiralling swarms into chaos. "Macht…" Anika cast, one hand rising to tap at her brooch, the ruby flashing as it released the stored prana inside. "…überwältigend...!"
Bracing herself, she aimed a hand at a nearby manhole, prana manifesting as a blue-white, pilot flame-like tongue of fire that presaged a larger jet of prana-fuelled flame. Steel glowed red, then orange, and finally white before melting away in a matter of seconds. With a cry of triumph, she sent a scouring blast of fire into the underground, the road and surrounding ground buckling up as drains spouted fire and flaming chunks of flesh.
Crouching forward, flame plumed beneath her before exploding behind her in great jets that propelled her down the road at great speed. As she skidded to a halt she gestured with her arms, the flames twisting around her like a flower burning everything it touched. "Spatzen salve!" she commanded, the fires exploding into even more burning sparrows that wheeled and flew around her in a curtain of flame.
Raising a hand she fired a blast at a curtain of familiars, burning it to ash before the blast exploded into burning sparrows as well. Sakura reappeared, her face contorted with pain as her form rippled with the accumulated temporal debt. The ground rumbled, and a giant…worm or snake-like thing emerged, writhing with cilia and a giant, Venus flytrap-like mouth opened up and bore down on her.
Red and black blurred through the air, falchions flashed, and the abomination was cut to pieces before Archer landed next to Sakura. Flourishing Kanshou and Bakuya, he smiled and flung them as more of the things burst from the surrounding ground, cutting their heads off in one blow. "You alright?" he asked.
Sakura nodded, getting up from where she had been kneeling, breathing heavily to catch her breath. And then she stabbed Starlight down into the concrete and stamped several times with a boot. Static arced and sparked from steel and leather to stone, her crest flashing in sympathetic patterns as she used prana and Imaginary Numbers to divert the remaining temporal debt into the ground.
Worms and others beneath the ground and in contact with the surface died, lacking the endurance and ability to survive 'paying' the debt owed to Gaea to reconcile the micro-paradoxes Sakura's manipulation of space had created. The ground itself twisted and buckled, and then Sakura pulled Starlight free, her crest flashing as she drained her reserves before vanishing and cutting into Zouken's swarm once more.
Anika followed in her wake, rushing past Archer surrounded by her flocks of burning sparrows. The sparrows formed a huge curtain of heat and light around the two magi as they fought, the baroness refusing to draw her sword in favour of jets, rings and plumes of fire. "Brats…" Archer said with a roll of his eyes, going into action and swinging Kanshou and Bakuya in a whirlwind of black and white. He rolled his eyes again as he felt multiple bounded fields fall into place, ghostly laughter echoing with triumph from the shadows.
He threw both weapons into the air, the two Noble Phantasms flying like boomerangs to their targets. "Rule Breaker…" he said as he traced the dagger and threw it to the ground. The bounded fields shattered, and Archer smirked as he traced both Kanshou and Bakuya again. "…I am the bone of my sword."
Shearing through the press – the familiars even more vicious now with Zouken's rage at having his fields cut to shreds at Rule Breaker's touch – of insects, fire and magi, he jumped up into the air, threw both boomerangs and traced a bow and arrow. He altered the Broken Phantasm and fired, shredding familiars by the hundreds as the falling star lanced into the sky. Sparrows of fire wheeled around him as he landed, Kansho and Bakuya reappearing as Sakura cut two Matou chimeras to pieces near him. "Don't push yourself." He said.
"I'm not." She said before stumbling, covered in sweat and breathing heavily, saved only by Archer's supernatural speed from the consequences of her weakened state.
"Ich bin der Schmied in ihrer Schmiede." Anika said nearby, a magic circle coming to life beneath her. "Ich zünde das Feuer die Erde zu reinigen."
Sakura took a handful of gems and swallowed them before vanishing and leaving mangled flesh in her wake. Cursing inwardly at headstrong young ladies, he too leaped into the fray, keeping up with her in a circle of steel and prana around the baroness, surrounded by duelling sparrows of fire and monsters of twisted flesh and chitin.
"Ich trage die Form um die Form zu formen. Mit Hammer und Amboss formen ich die Eisen." Anika continued to chant. "Mit Wasser zähmen ich die Flamme. Zur Reinigung und Form Eisen ist mein Handel."
"A ten-count…?" Archer shouted as he ripped into the swarm, more and more of the damn things blotting out the sky as Zouken threw almost everything he had into crushing his enemies beneath the weight of the swarm. "Sakura…! What is this?"
"Feuer ist mein Instrument, Erde meinen Lebensunterhalt, und Geschick und Geduld mein Stolz."
"How would I know?" she shouted back. "We're not married! But if it can stop this attrition, then all power to her!"
"Ich bin der Schmied in ihrer Schmiede."
The magic circle flashed blinding bright…and then it went out. Anika stood silent, breathing slowly but heavily, Archer and Sakura coming to a halt in stunned awe. Ashes…ashes fell softly in the suddenly-cold air, every enemy within Anika's area-of-effect reduced to ash in an instant.
Red eyes stopped glowing, and childlike lips twitched into a smile. "Impressive…" Illya said with genuine awe, gloved hands coming together in applause. "…very impressive…"
"Tohsaka and friends pulled through then…?" Berserker asked, leaning against a nearby wall.
"They've crushed Makiri's pets." Illya said before giggling. "She's good, that baroness. I don't know how she did it, but she turned all of them to ash all at once with a ten-count aria."
"I've no idea what that means, so I'll take your word that that means she's good."
"Yes, very…" Illya said with a nod while beginning to walk away. "…she even managed to kill my familiar, or at least the ones that were close. They managed to avoid detection by Makiri – well I prefer to think that rather than Makiri letting them watch for some reason of his – but not by her. Or maybe they just got caught in the effect…? Hmm…I should think on this some more."
Berserker watched as her little Master paced back and forth. Finally she stopped and snapped her fingers. "I think I'll play this safe." She said. "Anyway by tracing his prana from his familiars before they got burned Makiri's hiding out somewhere along the river, probably in an abandoned factory or waterworks but I can't be certain."
"So we'll wait until you find out which one?"
Illya nodded. "In the meantime…" she said. "…we'll wait for Leysritt to arrive. No offense Berserker, but Caster's got a lot of rocks. If she and the younger worm attack we might get surrounded and while I'm not worried about you – as if you'd need it – I…well…"
"I get the idea." Berserker said with a dismissive wave. "And I can't complain. There's not much point in me breaking all those rocks – and Caster later on – if you end up biting the dirt. And that Leysritt's pretty good with a halberd. Keep her close, and she'll keep you safe while I deal with those walking rocks."
Illya nodded, and along with Berserker moved along on their hunt.
A/N
Cherry Kariya: Given that background material states that Fuyuki is based on Kobe, I operate under the assumption that it's around a third or so of Kobe's size. That's nearly 200 square kilometres in area. Also according to background material Shirou's house is in northern Fuyuki, so it wouldn't be affected. The Tohsaka mansion (also from background material it and the Matou mansion are in southern Fuyuki) would be, but I have plans for that. Six kilometres is big, but not that big, and most of the blast was in the southern suburbs.
Q'Fox: the latter actually. He was never meant to accept, the sealing designation would have gone into force regardless.
Goose Attack: in canon, Rin would have been like Tokiomi if she had had a proper training as a magus. Ditto for Sakura here, given she grew up in the Clock Tower. More development in the future, as she and Archer come to reflect each other more as Master and Servant. However since canon Shirou is already 'broken' in his own way and Archer is a 'broken' version of him that may or may not be a good thing.
EDIT: credit to thiple for pointing out how a radius of six kilometres translates into area. Blast area is retconned into six square kilometres, though the firestorm would extend the damage beyond the blast radius.