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

Different Fates

Chapter 38

The gems glittered with stored prana in Sakura's hand, and she tossed them into her mouth, swallowing them and using the stored prana to replenish her reserves. Her hand shook for a moment, and she glanced at it. It shook again, and she clenched it while rhythmically sending prana through her crest. It flashed several times, and she swung her arm back and forth.

Sighing she reached up and untied her ribbon, staring at it before stuffing it into her pocket. "I was unaware that you affected such…childish ornamentation." Kirei observed, walking out of the church and closing the door behind him. He joined Anika and Sakura where they waited outside of his church.

"Normally I don't…" Sakura replied. "…but…it seemed to fit when confronting Zouken face-to-face…I think."

"Do not falter." Kirei reassured her. "Each of his familiars bears a fragment of his soul. In a way you did confront him face-to-face."

"I want him dead."

"He's probably on his last legs by now." Kirei replied, leading the way away from the church. "That little display of pyrotechnics would have ripped his heart out so to speak, and you took out even more when he tried to ambush you on your way to meet me."

He paused and smiled. "A little flashy, wouldn't you say though?" Kirei asked. "Even I was surprised you'd go that far. Though perhaps I shouldn't be, you are an Association magus."

"I wasn't about to go charging head-on into a fortress' teeth." Sakura replied shortly. "I simply took the quickest, most effective path to victory. But don't misunderstand: I take no pleasure in what I've done. War is war, even if I had to conduct this part of it as an extermination operation with everything that comes with it. And I hope I never have to do it ever again."

"But if you should need to do so…" Kirei asked with a smile. "…would you?"

Sakura did not reply, and Kirei shrugged, his smile growing a fraction. "As you say…" he said. "…this is war. More than that, it is a Holy Grail War. Keep that in mind from now on, and I've no doubt you will reach its end and the promise thereof."

Again Sakura did not reply, and Kirei fell silent afterwards. They walked in silence for the next hour, a Japanese priest and young lady accompanied by a blonde foreigner making their way through the northern districts into the suburbs. They finally stopped at an empty lot, the ground cleared of rocks and grass, a massive magic circle carved into the centre, and its grooves filled with a mix of iron filings and powdered quartz crystal.

Flora stood waiting for them at the entrance to the lot, the maid carrying two staves of iron-infused wood glittering with specially-attuned quartz crystal and geometrically-aligned diamond resistors and power reserves. The maid bowed and handed one of the staves to Sakura.

"I'm guessing you've been working on this since you learned of Matou's betrayal." Anika said dryly. "Mystic codes like those take time to make."

"I didn't spend all that time in my workshop moping." Sakura replied, examining the stave and then returning it to Flora. She took the other and began examining it too. "Actually I've been working on this ever since I came back to Japan, and regained access to my family's own records on jewel craft, as well as what little I understand of Nagato Tohsaka's records on the Second Magic. The whole thing is full of non-Euclidean calculations and counterintuitive principles, but then again it is based on True Magic. As I said, I barely understood a fraction."

Sakura handed the stave back to Flora, and took the first one back. "Well it's not entirely unique…" she said. "…and I owe just as much to the Department of Spiritual Evocation's records on teleportation. I'm hardly the first magus to look into the possibility after all. With that said, I never expected the first experiment on fixed-point teleportation to involve moving my entire house across the city. Hopefully my preparations will be enough."

"And if they aren't…?" Kirei asked.

"Then either my house got burned down earlier…"

"Rest assured my lady…" Flora cut in. "…it was not. I myself witnessed the property folding into null space shortly after I left. All that was left was a crater."

"…in that case if things go wrong, it'll be stuck in null space forever. Among other possibilities…"

"Should I ask?" Anika asked dryly, and Sakura shrugged.

"That's up to you." Sakura said before a shadowed expression appeared on her face. "Anika I…I'm sorry."

"Sakura…?"

"Kirei…" Sakura said, hefting the stave and preparing to throw it. "…if the worst happens, make sure Anika Freiin von Derfflinger wins."

"Sakura…? Hey Sakura…?"

Sakura ignored Anika's queries and Kirei's raised eyebrow before throwing the stave into the magic circle. It stabbed into the middle, and the circle flared a bright blue. Static arced and crackled between iron filings, while the atmosphere thickened with near-intolerable pressure, popping their ears and their skins tingling with static.

"Brace yourselves…" Sakura said. "…by my calculation, the temporal-spatial rift will be…"

A loud thunderclap and a blinding flash cut her off, the four of them – Kirei, Flora, Sakura, and Anika – violently blown off of their feet as the air in front of them was just as violently displaced. The unnaturally-heavy air pressure immediately vanished, the static grounding as well. The thunderclap shattered windows several metres around though, and Kirei swore colourfully as he looked to Sakura who was getting to her feet with Anika's help. The air stank of ozone.

"You should be thankful." He said grumpily. "If I didn't alter the memories of people living in this block beforehand, we'd be having more trouble than simply explaining that thunderclap just now…"

He trailed off as Sakura grabbed the other stave from Flora and ran into the house, which Kirei belatedly realized as rippling with distorted light. "That can't be good." He thought to himself as he ran after Sakura along with Anika and Flora.

Sakura ignored the shouts behind her, running through her house's corridors and down past storerooms, her workshop, all the way to the cellar. She'd had Flora clear the space, and engrave a magic circle on the stone. The circle was a match to that of the empty lot before she 'swapped' everything within an area equal to her property with her property, kept in null space since earlier in the afternoon.

The circle glowed bright blue and white, the stone cracked and rumbling with barely-contained temporal debt held in place by the geometrically-aligned concepts which made up her teleportation mysteries. But not for long…and Sakura stabbed the stave into the circle while throwing all her prana into her circuits.

And then she began to scream, engulfed with magical energy as she forced cause and effect back into alignment. Her energy…Gaea's energy…concepts and principles…Imaginary Numbers…every contradiction caused by time, space, and matter being moved around in ways that did not conform with the natural order of things – even if allowed on a fundamental level – she corrected them, forcing them into aligning with the form of her miracle, a miracle that had moved an entire house and its grounds across a city.

"Sakura…!" Anika shouted in alarm, only to be held back physically by Kirei.

Skin and cloth blackened as bolts and tendrils of static electricity caressed Sakura all over, the gems on her staff glowing bright as they reduced the strain to manageability, increased her control by fractions, and provided her with additional energy.

Outside the Tohsaka mansion rippled with light, the distortions growing faster and faster as contradictory causes and effects were reconciled. Finally, after twenty seconds – though it felt like hours – it was over. The rippling stopped, and an invisible wave rippled outwards.

It would case no physical effects, but it would smooth out the wrinkles in space-time caused by such large-scale teleportation.

Sakura staggered to her feet, her blackened and smoking staff falling to break against the ground. And then she toppled backward, Anika and Kirei rushing to catch her. "Sakura…?" Anika shouted as she caught the exhausted and panting girl. "Sakura…? Sakura…!"

Kirei made a sound of consternation as he noted the second and third-degree burns covering Sakura's arms, and probably elsewhere if the burnt patches on her clothes were any indication. To Anika's consternation, he began tearing at Sakura's blouse.

"Bastard…! What are you doing?"

Kirei glared at her. "Unless you have formal training in spiritual surgery…" he said. "…let me do my job if you want Sakura to live."

Anika subsided, Kirei opening Sakura's blouse and beginning to run a series of tests. "Critical heart damage…" he said aloud. "…moderate to serious nerve damage – though thankfully not the central nervous system – as well as moderate internal bleeding…I'll need to stabilize with emergency surgery before I can work on those burns, and of course fix you up completely."

Sakura's eyelids fluttered open a fraction, her lips twitching into a smile. "Well…" she whispered. "…that's…better than dead…"

"Yes…" Kirei said with his hands glowing as he worked on Sakura's heart. "…and if I don't start working soon, you'll be dead."

"I got Zouken…" Sakura whispered. "…Rin…nee-chan is free…that's worth it I guess…"

"Idiot…!" Anika exclaimed, holding Sakura's head in her lap. "Do you really think she'd be happy if you died?"

"She hates me…" Sakura replied. "…I don't blame her…I took everything from her…so yeah…but I don't mind…if it makes…her…makes her happy…"

"Honestly…" Anika said. "…you really are sisters…hiding how you feel behind strong or hateful facades…"

Sakura smiled, her eyes closing to Anika's alarm. She was still breathing, but still…

"Sakura…hey Sakura…! Sakura…!"

"Try and keep her awake please…" Kirei said. "…I'd rather she still be awake when I stabilize her nerves. Easier for us all…"

He broke off as Sakura suddenly began coughing up blood, and Anika could only watch in horror. "Can't you work any faster?" she demanded, and Kirei gave her a dirty look.

"With all due respect baroness…" he said acidly. "…fixing a Human body isn't like hammering iron into shape. It'd be a real waste of effort if I rushed things and severed a major artery as a result wouldn't it?"

Anika growled at the implications, but Kirei ignored her to focus on stabilizing Sakura's heart. "Just a bit more…" he thought to himself. "…just a bit more and I can begin working on her nerves. After that the internal bleeding is next, and then the burns."

Surprisingly he found himself caring ever so slightly for Sakura's wellbeing. Whether it was about the loss of potential entertainment if she died or the fact that he was responsible for her current existence as a magus – he did help her get that reference book all those years ago which would lead to her father recognizing her talent – didn't seem to matter, he just didn't want her to die.

How curious…

Or maybe…he didn't want her to die just yet…?

"Her heart's stable…" he finally said before beginning on her nerves. "…I'll have to work on it some more later, but for now this will do."

Sakura gasped in pain as Kirei began healing fused and burnt nerves, reconnected severed ones, and forged replacements for destroyed ones. "Sakura…" Anika said in concern.

"Hold her please…" Kirei said. "…this is delicate work."

"Why go this far?" Anika asked as she held Sakura in place.

"I'm…the only one…who can do it…" Sakura replied, breathing heavily while dabbing her bloody lips with her tongue. "…spatial manipulation…maybe even time manipulation given…what we've seen and know about Time Alter…the biggest enemy is causal reconciliation after use. A causal reflector can be used to catch and scatter temporal debt into background echoes but…"

Sakura grit her teeth in pain for several moments as Kirei fixed bundles of nerves at a time, and then the pain subsided as he worked elsewhere. "Success rate of creating a causal reflector is…0.00007 per cent…stopped counting failures at forty…" Sakura babbled as her eyelids grew heavy. "…but…effectiveness is low…anything requiring more than a single-count to work can't be reflected by the current design…I have to personally reconcile causality…Imaginary Numbers…you see…"

Sakura sighed and then her eyes closed. "Sakura…?" Anika asked fearfully. "Sakura…? Sakura…!"

"She's fine." Kirei said, beginning to work on the internal bleeding. "I've managed to stabilize her nerves, so let her sleep for now. As with her heart, I'll still have to work on those later."

He broke off and glanced at her. "You're untrained with spiritual surgery…" he said. "…but you should be capable of dealing with burns magically, aren't you?"

"I am." Anika said, and without a word she gently laid Sakura's head on the stone before working on the burns. Most of them were on her arms and hands, while others covered her thighs, torso, legs, and even patches of her neck, face, and back.

"The internal bleeding's stopped." Kirei said several minutes later. "I'll have to clean up later but this is enough for now."

Anika nodded as she finished healing the last burn. She then picked up Sakura bridal-style. "You'll need someplace bright and spacy to work, don't you?" she asked, and Kirei nodded. "Follow me. Flora, place the staff or what's left of it in Sakura's workshop."

The maid bowed and did as commanded, while Anika and Kirei rushed off to where the latter could perform spiritual surgery in earnest.

Rin Matou lay in her bed within her and Caster's hideout. She was asleep, and had been for the whole day. The serenity of sleep, as false and delusional it was as it changed nothing of her tormented existence, was broken at a single command from Zouken Matou.

The girl's body jolted violently, Rin screaming as the worms worked into a frenzy. Not to drive her into heat to rut and produce prana for them – there was no need for that as her partly-Einzbern physiology allowed to provide them with enough – no this time they tore into her organs, ignoring the prana she offered them for something more physical.

Zouken was desperate. So much of his soul had been destroyed, both from Tohsaka's bombardment and his failed attack on them as they retreated. It was like a crack in a glass windshield. A crack was bad enough, it obscured vision and refracted light into blinding rays, but the problem was that it created a weak-point in the whole construct that with sufficient force could grow and break the entire thing.

The same went for his soul. As more and more of it was destroyed, the faster the rest of his soul was rotted away by the merciless flow of time.

And it was already very much rotted through, death delayed by well over a century.

But he didn't want to die.

He needed more time, time he would use to better learn how to stave off the inevitable end. And he wasn't asking for much. Only the Grail could save him now, and he just needed a little more time to get it.

And after that, what then?

It didn't matter. All he needed was time. Once he was immortal, he could figure what he'd do for the rest of eternity at his own pace.

Surely he wasn't being selfish? He'd given the girl a home when her family had discarded her, he'd fed her, clothed her, provided for her education, even given her power and abilities beyond those possessed by the rest of their family, and which the Tohsaka could never have and even if they did would never have given to her.

Surely her giving her body so he could have the time he needed wasn't asking much?

Compared to everything he'd given her, it was so little.

And he needed a new body…NOW.

Rin Matou screamed, violently thrashing and clawing at herself as she fell off of her bed and fell to the ground. Her flesh bulged and contorted obscenely, blood and ichor leaking from her orifices as the worms tore her apart from the inside out, breaking her will with a red haze of excruciating agony and making it easier for their master to impose himself over her base template – her soul – while others fused with her nerves the better to rewrite her existence when the time came.

She resisted however, ignoring the pain and using prana to dominate some worms and sending them against the others. Those fused to her nerves were the quickest to fall, but others remained true to the worm wrapped around her heart, turning her body into a battleground with worms poisoning and consuming each other, and further damaging their surroundings.

For Rin it only increased the agony even further, but she persisted, ignoring the fact that she was damaging her own organs. No matter what she would remain her. She was she. It was her body. She'd let him use her as a guinea pig, even as a nest for the damn things…but she would remain she. Even if she had to die, she would endure.

I will end it all.

The heart worm throbbed, sending the worms further into frenzy. Ignoring the attacks of those worms under her control, they turned against her organs, tearing them into shreds while others fused into her nervous system while stimulating her pain centres and increasing the pain tenfold.

I will give you everything you want.

It didn't matter that they were compromising their host's life, once their master was finished taking it over, most of them would fuse together into organ-analogues to replace those destroyed or would no longer operate.

I will make all your dreams come true.

A group of worms severed the nerves connecting her brain to her right arm, preventing her from using her command spells. Another group tore holes into her respiratory system, flooding her lungs and airways with blood, ichor, and themselves, drowning her in literal despair. Others tore into her womb, while others crawled under her skin towards her head and face in a painful, relentless tide of despair.

You just have to give me this little thing first.

Rin couldn't see anymore, and she could barely remember who she was. Worms were crawling out of holes inside her mouth and then out onto her face, from her nostrils, and even bursting from an eye. All was pain…disgust…despair…faces and voices…memories and recollections blurred past incoherently…

No…! It can't end like this! Not again…not again…not again…not again…not again…it can't end like this! Not like this…!

What?

The worm-ridden form of Rin Matou, which had collapsed in stupor, suddenly thrashed violently as two damaged souls fought for dominance. One was rooted in the worms which called the violated girl home, while the other was rooted in the concepts engraved by those same worms into the violated girl's flesh.

Both fought with ferocity born of despair, the worms fighting not to die as they should have long ago, while the other fought not to die again...helpless…just like last time…

Not again…!

What…WHO ARE YOU?

The two souls fought for control, the body jolting out of control as prana manifested as wild bursts of nervous energy while worms thrashed all over their host. Neither of the souls noticed a golden-masked figure approach, kneel down, and stab a golden needle into the girl's dying heart.

NO…!

Worms exploded violently from the corpse in a spray of blood and ichor, only to burst one after another at a wave of Caster's hand. All except for one which less resembled a worm, and more an amoeba. This one Caster took and brought before his face, ignoring its weak struggles.

"Pathetic…" he thought, the telepathic words thunderous to what was left of Zouken Matou. "…truly the depths lesser magi would sink to…"

For a moment Zouken feared the hand holding him suddenly tightening, only for it to loosen and he felt himself falling into something cold, clean, and narrow. But as the cylinder was sealed, he realized that there were much, much worse things than death.

"I wonder if I'll ever get anything useful out of you." Caster thought as he slid the test tube into a pocket, and injected elixir into Rin's body at the same. "Oh well…no harm ever came out of trying."

Caster stayed silent, regarding the living ruins of his Master. She was alive, and had plenty of prana, but still…considering what had just been done to her, could she still be considered truly alive?

Perhaps he should simply take her and remake her into a prototype core? A Master wasn't an imperative for a Caster Class after all.

He thought on it further, but ultimately discarded the idea. For starters, prototypes didn't always pan out. If the prototype made out of her failed, then all the effort and resources put into it would be wasted. But if he fixed her up, then he could harvest material from her – with her blessing too (probably) – and produce and test prototypes as needed.

Not to mention if Tohsaka finds out I turned her into a prototype core, she'd probably have that Archer of hers bomb me into oblivion. I've come this far. I can't fail now.

Sighing at soiling his robes even further, he picked up Rin's mangled form and took it away. She'd probably need several hours at least in a regeneration capsule…and hopefully there was still enough of her mind to work her body afterwards.

Lancer silently watched as Bazett put her gloves on. "You're really going to go." He said. It wasn't a question.

"As an Association Enforcer I have a responsibility to uphold the execution order issued against Zouken Matou." She answered. "And while Tohsaka's actions are…regrettable, there is precedent for them."

"Precedent…?"

"The Association's turned entire towns to ash before." Bazett replied. "If it meant capturing or killing a heretic or a vampire, and then covering up what happened or just as collateral, the deaths of people – even nearly a thousand as happened here – is not unknown. It's not regular, but it's not as rare as I'd like it to be."

Lancer made a sound of disgust. "You're not suspicious that she'd pull something like this off in the middle of the war?" he asked. "And against one of her rivals…?"

"There is that." Bazett agreed. "However her evidence and order has been approved by the Church Overseer. I'll trust in his judgment."

"I don't trust that man." Lancer said bluntly, and Bazett smiled with amusement.

"Pot calling the kettle black, Lancer?"

"Say what you want…" he said grumpily. "…but that man reeks of blood and death. Maybe you're right, and I'm just seeing a reflection of myself, but…"

He paused and looked at Bazett in the eyes. "I'd sooner trust that Berserker over that priest." He said. "Something about him sets off alarms in my head, and I'd say you shouldn't trust him so easily Bazett."

"True…" Bazett agreed with a glance to the side. "…officially the Church is neutral in this contest which allows them to take on the role of mediator, but they're also the Association's rival. As with all things involving two major powers – be they mundane or supernatural – there are layers upon layers of complexity beneath the surface. The Church might have its own agenda here, though what it is I don't know."

"I wouldn't know either." Lancer said. "I'm a warrior, not a courtier. My place is on the battlefield with steel, blood, and fire, and not in those snake pits. Sorry to say, but I can't help you there."

"You're right maybe I shouldn't trust him so much…" Bazett said thoughtfully. "…with that said, there's no need to be overly paranoid either."

"That's fine with me. But after you deal with that would-be bloodsucker, what's your plan?"

"We're going after Tohsaka." Bazett replied at once. "After what's just happened, even if I can't fault her legally for it, I want to get her out of the way as soon as possible."

Lancer looked curiously at Bazett at that, but she didn't continue until several moments later. "I know that Tohsaka's taken part in extermination operations in the past." She said. "But she was just a participant, and her responsibility for taking part in those isn't nearly as heavy as those who gave the orders. Here though…"

Bazett sighed and shook her head. "If she were ten years older…" she said. "…maybe even five…I wouldn't have to worry. But right now, she's still a child. And I worry at what the pressures of the war and the responsibility of ordering the deaths of nearly a thousand people will do to her."

"Children – well those around her age – have fought before." Lancer said softly.

"Yes they have…" Bazett agreed. "…it's not as common as it used to be – thankfully – in the mundane world, but in ours it's still fairly common. But while they fight, they don't lead. They can't handle it yet, both during and what comes after, not properly."

"Trying to save an enemy from herself and one who nearly killed you before…" Lancer remarked. "…you surprise me Bazett. But I guess that means you won't be aiming at killing her."

"Not unless I absolutely have to…" she said. "…if I must I will, but even then, in the worst-case scenario I'd rather just chop her arm with the command spells off. I'll take her and her friend to Kotomine Church, and have her sit the war out before it gets to her."

Lancer sighed. "That's really merciful of you." He said before smiling. "You should take that as a compliment."

"So I will." Bazett said with a smile before hoisting Fragarach's container behind her. "Now, let's go hunt a vampire."

A/N

Sakura now lives in northern Fuyuki City, about an hour's walk from Kotomine Church. Think about it, and consider who else lives in that area.

In case you didn't get the note from the previous chapter (I edited it in), I retconned the six kilometre blast radius to blast area of six square kilometres. The latter was too big in hindsight, and thanks to thiple for pointing it out.