"Hello, Shirou."

His fists clenched. This…wasn't possible. How was- no, how did- this! This didn't make sense.

"How." He demanded.

Her smile was infuriating. Rather than answer, she stood up. "Come. I'll show you the kitchen. Before we begin what will undoubtedly be a long and pain filled talk, I want to have a drink of tea. Your tea, specifically.

It's been…a very long time since I had it." He wanted to demand answers, her wants be damned! But something about what she had said struck him as odd. The way she said it, he didn't think she was talking about the time between his execution and now.

Gritting his teeth, he simmered in silence as she showed him to what would no doubt become his home away from home.

Once the door was opened, she left him in his natural habitat. No doubt he was to reverse his steps and bring the tea back to her workshop.

Time had done nothing to temper her more bratty tendencies it seemed. Thankfully, despite somehow being in space, the kitchen all functioned like he expected. It took some digging to find the tea leaves, but he did eventually find a box.

Something he quickly noticed was that the kitchen was severally understocked. Outside of a refrigerator that kept packs of blood within. That…have him pause. Was Rin so wealthy now that she could afford a mansion ( in space!) but not a dedicated refrigerator for her ritual supplies?

At least it was kept separate from the poultry amount of food she kept. Anything less would be unhygienic. And he would be damned thrice over again if he didn't keep a clean kitchen.

Seeing the state of the leaves, it was his first instinct to preform structural grasp on them. His intention was to reinforce the aspects of the leaves that gave the flavor, while supressing any parts that would introduce bitterness.

What he found confused him to no end. According to the leaves history, they had been on this shelf untouched for nearly 40 years.

"That can't be right." He muttered. But a check again confirmed it. Was it possible that Rin had only recently gotten this seemingly impossible workshop? And speaking of, how was it possible to have a workshop in space? How was magic possible without the ambient Od being absorbed from laylines?

As the kettle heated, he placed his hand along the wall. When he attempted to view the history of the wall, he was struck with a headache.

Far, far too much information. And most of it was redundant. This wall had existed for longer than he could visualize.

Something was fishy here. As he placed the porciline on the tray, he determined himself to get to the bottom of it.

He entered the worshop to see his master preforming mysteries of some kind. A vast three dimensional map was in front of her as she dragged her finger though it forming a line. When she noticed him closing the door with his foot, she smiled and allowed the mystery to fade. Walking further inside, he placed the tea tray down on her desk.

With practiced ease he poured her a cup and placed the plate in front of her.

Her eyes were alight with anticipation as she took the plate and cup. Delicately, she took the cup to her mouth and took a sip. The plate clatter d softly as the cup was rested on it. Rin's face was…complicated.

Her eyes were closed and she looked to be caught in a memory. On her face was sadness and nostalgia. She took on a deep breath as if to ground herself in the moment and not fall back into whatever memory had been brought up.

Hearing her sigh, Emiya felt an itch at the back of his brain. He felt that he was missing something very important.

But all of that was disregarded in favor of answers.

"You've had your tea, Rin. Now talk. The Grail war was clearly some time ago. Why am I here? How am I here? I'm quite sure you used your father's Gemstone to save my younger self. You shouldn't have access to another catalyst."

The woman placed her cup down on the desk, addressing him fully. "How ever do you expect me to answer so many questions at once, my dear Shirou? It's a bit rude for a servant to be making demands of his master, don't you think?"

He grit his teeth. "I'm not playing games Rin!"

The woman then had the nerve to roll her eyes at him. Standing up, she took her tea and stood before the window.

"Very well. For the first question, I don't know exactly. But I do know it has been a very, very long time. As for why your here, I told you. I missed how you would make tea." He had the urge to throw the desk at the woman. He was stopped only by his thirst for answers and the fact that shattering the window she stood in front of would be their death.

"As for how, well, I got a hold of another of father's Gemstone's. With it, I summoned you. All of you. As you are now, you are more whole than you have ever been. It was quite the investment to drag your full Heroic Spirit out of the throne of heroes. Certainly, an act like I have done hasn't been seen since before the age of gods. Ah, but I am a genius. What else could be expected."

He paused. What she had said…shouldn't be possible.

"Not normally, no." She responded, and he realized he had said that out loud. "But I found a way. I just needed to wait until the last remnants of the world and humanity died off. Then, I summoned you through time until there was nothing to reject your existence."

He frowned. Nothing to reject his exi- wait! "Rin, where is the earth?!" He demanded in a panic. The near carnel smile on her face did nothing to belay his fears. Rin gestured out the window to a large collection of asteroids. He didn't understand. Where was…

His face grew pale. He appoached the window with the attitude of a man to be hanged. Which was ironic considering he hadn't minded his own hanging all that much.

When the full implication sank in, he wanted to drop to his knees. She stood to the side, calmly drinking her tea. How could she not be as deviated. "Rin…" his voice was raspy. Like he had never known water on his tongue. "What…happened."

His master set her tea to the side and placed a hand upon his shoulder. Even collapsed to his knees, he was almost at her chins hight. Odd. When had he fallen?

She shook her head. "My former masters senarios failed. The Lord of the moon got his wish by waiting out the timer. The OTS woke. Shirou, it's been just under two millennia since I saw you last. In that time, true magic and mysteries nearly completely faded. In that time, humanity not only threw itself towards extinction, but damned the planet too.

Resources ran out. War broke. Weapons so terrible that they split the earth in half were used. The earth struck the moon, shattering it into burned up dust. Honestly, the Spider was just the final nail in the coffin.

It took the last life of a dead world. After that, the earth just…broke apart."

That was…a lot of information to take in. Starting with the fading of magic and Mysteries. That, he could understand. Mysteries had long been weakening as mankind moved away from the age of gods. The OTS, better known as the spider, was an enemy he had never personally fought. It was supposed to be asleep. As a countergurdian, he could even feel a sort of twisted kinship with it. It would only awaken when all else had failed to save the planet.

But, that made him think of the other things she had said. That itch had returned with a vengeance. Rin had been apprenticed under Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg. He remembered that.

And Zelretch was an Apostle that had power over the second true magic, the Kelidoscope. A magic that allows the man to traverse the multiverse, and withdraw an infinite amount of magic from infinite worlds.

He knew all of this. So then how did-

He noticed it when she took another sip. His eyes watched her with intent focus, waiting for what he knew should be happening, yet didn't.

"Rin." His voice was as sharp as his origin. "You're not breathing."

How had he not noticed it earlier? Certainly, she sighed and took calming breaths, but those came off as expression. An emulation.

He was on his feet with a blad against her neck before she could even react. Kanshou gleamed in the light of the stars. Rin, for her part, hardly reacted.

With her eyebrow raised imperiously, she had the nerve to chastise him. "Would you mind allowing me to finish my tea before you remove my head? As previously mentioned, it's been a very long time since I've had some. My usually drink of choice is a bit more, let's say, on the heavy side."

This was wrong! Everything about this was wrong! Rin was-! She was-! "Why are you an Undead Apostle?!" She had better not play around. He would sever her head instantly otherwise. If only to spare her the pain.

"It's a long story." She said calmly, even as a blade bit into her jugular. "Would you make a deal with me? A simple one, with no strings attached?"

He snarled, pushing the blade deep enough to draw a blackened blood down its pristine edge. "I will make no deals with an Apostle, Rin. Explain yourself!"

Despite the lack of need for it, Rinlet out a long and suffering sigh. "Shirou, it is quite a long, and mildly complicated tale. I was only going to propose we sit down. If you must hold a blade to my neck, then purhaps I shall seat myself in your lap? That seems a worthy compromise?"

He wasn't flustered. He was a killer and a monster. Even if old memories resurfaced of an abandoned church for a moment. "No. Tell me now."

Her eyes became steel and he repaired himself to take the finishing blow. But instead, the world shifted in a sea of color. They weren't in her workshop anymore. Rather, now they were seated at a rooftop caffe of sorts. And from the tower in the distance, he guessed somewhere in France. His bearings were slow to come as he looked around.

This…wasn't he just in space? Had he been moved through a folded space without his notice? His eyes widened in paranoia. Where was-

"Shirou, put your knife away before someone calls the cops." The blade was pointed in her direction in an instant. Sitting on a patio table, acting as if nothing was wrong, was Rin. She was putting a knife down after buttering a crosant. Shamelessly, she began to eat the french pastry, unafraid of him. "You'd better hurry. I can hypnotise these men, but of the cops become involved it will be more difficult." She said in between bites. That's when he noticed the humans around him looking on in panic at the large man welding a Chinese falchon. One even had a phone out.

Sensing the mood, he dematerialize Kanshou and took a seat across from the undead Rin. With a wave of her arm, the people around them calmed and went back to their nightly going ons.

"Rin, what have you done? I thought you said the earth was destroyed? How are we in the capital of France?" He hissed to the woman calmly stuffing her face.

His eye twitched as he was forced to wait for her to finish. This was well played indeed on her part. By putting them smack dab in the middle of a bunch of normal civilians, she had limited his ability to take lethal force against her.

When she finally, finally swallowed, she began to speak. "Oh, I just love French quisine. I especially love that their eating habits take place so late in the evening. I'm sure you've guessed, but I've become an 'enjoys moonlight walks along the beach' kind of girl. Which, between you and me, I wasn't much of a morning person anyway "

" Rin" he hissed, thoughly done.

Playing with her knife between her fingers, she gave him a look like he was an idiot. "I don't know, Shirou. How would a master of the Second true magic be able to transport one from an asteroid orbiting the remnants of a dead planet to France at some point in the early 2000s?"

He was about to say yes, that's what he wanted to know. But then he reaized he was being dumb. Also. " Your a master of the Kelidoscope?" He asked disbelieving. He knew that the wizard marshell had interfered with her post grail trial, but he hadn't imaged that the most ecentric member of the clock tower was teaching Rin the second true magic.

Rin, however, took his statement another way. "Yes, Shirou. I'm a master of the Kilodoscope. One can only be an apprentice for so long before they either become a master, or are discarded."

He looked at her in a new light. "But then…how did …this happen?" He jestured to her, in a somewhat rude manner.

Before she could answer though, an old man in the uniform of a waiter arrived at their table. "Excuse me, sir and madam. Have you decided on a meal for the evening?" Subtly, he placed a note under the napkins he had placed before them. Unfortunately for the waiter, Shirou's eyes caught it.

"Just a bottle of the house wine please." Rin answered. "We have dinner plans for later."

"Of course, madam." The man said as he walked away. Shirou watched him go until he was out of site. Rin had finished reading over the note, and was now giggling slightly. Clearly amused at the content.

"So, what's it say? He give you a phone number? Maybe you you give him a call. Though, isn't he a bit young for you, old lady." Shirou jabbed. Any mirth on Rin's face was lost at the slight, and in fact she looked a bit peeved.

"If you must know, asshole, it's a note from the staff telling me that if I so wished I could order the 'american side dish' and have security remove you. Apparently your glaring at me when I've done nothing wrong is making the patrons and staff uncomfortable." She sneered.

He actually barked a laugh. "That's hilarious." Then he became serious again."Now fess up. What does this have to do with you having a sevaer need for sunblock?"

She rolled her eyes at his attitude. "I am…unique. A singularity with the infinite. There will never be another Rin Tosaka like me, and I'm alright with that." She looked up at the moon in longing. "My master, he was, and is, one of the greatest men I have and will ever know. When I was studying under him, that was some of the best, most terrifying times of my life.

You were a mercenary of the clocktower. I'm sure you'd have heard the rumors. Master Zelretch was a very eccentric man.

The day you were hung, it was one of the worst days of my life, Shirou. I was in the audience, you know. That bitch, Barthomeloi, she did everything in her power to make sure I was in attendance. And even then, had my master not specifically told me we would attend, I wouldn't have. " Her face was dark. Not quite to the point of tears, but saddened in a way that made it seem as if her tears had dried up. "I would have saved you, you know. I would have given up everything. My station, my wealth, my name and my research. You, me, and Artoria. We could have run away, gone to some backwater and lived until we both died of old age and saber faded into nothing.

I would have thrown it all aside for you."

He face had become dark and his mind was a dark stroming sea. On one hand, that did balm an old scared over wound. He wouldnt lie when he said that even if he held no regrets at his death, he was pained by her silhouette. "Why…didn't you?" His voice was softer than he would like. But it carried true to her ears. No doubt a benefit of her state.

Rin shook just her head. "Master Zelretch wouldn't let me. Made me sign a Geis.

I'll never forget how he looked at me sympathicly as I cried. Gods Shirou. Did you have to look so damn happy?

I…I lost Artoria that night. She couldn't stand the site of me. She broke our contract and returned to the throne. Did you know she was the true Artoria? Taken directly from the battle of Kamolat?"

He shook his head. He wasn't afforded time to rest within the throne. His was the work of a tool. He was sent from one hell to another without end. He reaped the lives of the innocent and guilty alike. He expected she would be just as, if not more disgusted with himself.

"Master Zelretch, he isn't like me. As the first weilder of the Kilodoscope, he exists in every timeline that hosts magus. He's like a hive mind, almost. His different lives have personal autonomy, but they all know that every other Zelretch knows.

At one point during my training, I made a mistake. I slipped with the coordinates of one timeline, ended up shearing my entire lower body off across time and space. Apparently, master knew it would happen. It's a common occurrence that Rin Tosaka makes that specific mistake. Master Zelretch had the means to heal me properly on hand. And in every other timeline, he would use them. But for me, master wanted to run an experiment.

Across infinity, as long as he has existed, he has been running experiments. Because of what he is, he only needs one version of himself to focus on each experiment. Collectively, he reaps the reward.

My master's experiment just so happened to be that he wanted to test if sireing me to become an Undead Apostle would grant me a boost or make it more difficult in my use of the Kilodoscope.

Long story short, the results were bout the same when you factor in my new lifespan. Certainly not worth recreating, apparently."

Shirou looked at her distant gaze. It was a sympathetic tale. One he could even believe, given what he knew of the wizard marshell. "So, you didn't pursue this path of your own accord?" He questioned.

She shook her head. "No. I won't lie. It was a massive violation of my trust in the man. I've never really forgiven him. Especially when, from my understanding, typically the relationship between Rin Tosaka and Zelretch is very good. I suppose you could consider that an extra twist of the knife."

They sat in silence. Neither spoke due to being caught in their own heads. This Rin, she was different than any he had ever met before. And yet, underneath, she was the same at her core.

The waiter brought the bottle and poured them each a glass. Shirou took a sip, frowning when he felt it wasn't up to standard. The acidity was way off from the fruit. Additionally, it was too sweet. Almost artificially so. A quick glance sound to check if anyone would see, he used reinforcement to make it more acceptable to his refined pallet.

Taking another sip, he found that it was indeed much better. It was fuller now, keeping the aspect of fruit without being drowned out by too much sugar.

"Ahem." Rin coughed. He looked her way to see her handing him her wine glass. With a sigh, he did the same for hers. This time breaking down the Sugers and better bonding them to the essence of the fruit. He knew she liked sweet things.

He handed it back, and the smile on her face after a sip made him feel all kinds of bitter sweet emotions.

"So then." He said, swirling the wine to introduce more air. "I suppose I can accept your existence. We are, after all in a reasonably crowded area. And you've not acted like the Apostles I am used to hunting."

"Should have seen me when I was fresh. Couldn't control myself at all. It took a lot of work to get to this point, you know. I feel like your not appreciating that, Emiya." She cut him off indignantly.

" And, seeing as you didn't seek out this style of life, I suppose I can keep myself from smiting your disgusting leech existence from the face of the earth."

She looked like she might throw a croissant at him. "How very kind of you, counter guardian EMIYA." He flinched at the flatness of her voice combined with his state as a countergurdian. Honestly, his and her existence wasn't that much different. She probably had less blood on her hands than he did.

He did wonder though. "You never answered me before. Why did you go out of your way to summon me? Where did you get the catalyst? Did you steal it from another Rin?"

She shook her head in denial. "No. The pendant I used to summon you came from a reality where father gave my counterpart to Zukan instead of Sakura. I'm sorry to say, my counterpart didn't have the strength my sister does. She perished early on, rest her soul. I took it from a box Sakura placed in storage."

He sighed deeply with conflict. "Hey Rin. You've seem across the different timelines, right?" She nodded, meloncoly.

"Have you ever…is there a world where Sakura has a happy ending? I don't…no, I confess, I've seen what happens when the worst case scenario happens. I've- as a countergurdian, I've had to…clean up. After the grail war, and it's corruption. I'm sure you know, but not every timeline has us win.

Sometimes other participants win, and they wish on the corrupted grail. And if Ilya is dead, well…" He let the implications lie. He wanted to know if the tortured soul of his friend ever knew peace.

Rin stared into her wine. "Sometimes. Rarely. But…sometimes. It all depends."

He frowned. "On what?"

She looked up at him and smiled. "On you. Or, rather, your younger self. That 'Old mirror' you hate. There are events that have to take place. Honestly, aside from a few outside variables, I've mostly mapped out the course of the fifth Grail War. All the awful terrible ways we all die. All the amazingly convoluted ways you get lucky. I have it all figured out. I know what lynch pins lead to what.

Ironicly enough, the best outcome for Sakura involves you saving Medusa from being hit by a car while she's pretending to be mortal."

His eye twitched. "That's odd. I distinctly remember that whenever that event happened, things always went pair shaped."

Rin nodded. "Yeah. You always die before seeing the finally. Which is a shame, because I look awesome. I summon the runic Sword, and fight Sakura's shadow tentacles. It's a whole rush watching it happen, so I can only imagine the high it must have been actually doing it." She took one last sip of her wine. Then she turned sober again. "But, that's not the usual route. Usually, Sakura just can't handle the worms and dies in the final act. Quietly, and alone."

They were both quiet. Not sure what to say. He imaged of Rin had seen it play out as many times as he had, she would be equally apathetic to the issue. Their hearts had been hardened. There was nothing either could do.

"Anyway, the reason I summoned you is this. I want to save you, Shirou Emiya. Right now, you are at the furthest point in your timeline. As far as I can tell, you are the original. Other EMIYA's exist all throughout time and space. But you exist as a singular entity. You don't reside within the throne of heroes. Not really.

You experience time in the third dimension. Linearly.

I won't lie, Shirou. Finding you, tracking your movements across time and space, it's been hard. It took me centuries of planning and research to get you here.

If anyone is qualified to save you, it's me. I can provide you with a literally infinite amount of prana. I pull it from timelines and worlds where I'm seconds away from death at an old age. You could exist forever alongside me!

So long as we don't ever visit realities that are adjacent to our origin thread, we will never have to fear you returning! Neither the world, nor the throne, nor the counterforce can follow us there.

We can explore the cosmos! There are infinite realities to see and interact with!

We can-"

"Rin." She was cut off from her excited rant by Shirou's calm, yet concerned voice. "Rin, how long have you been alone?"

She paused. The smile on her face that was approaching manic dropped a tad.

She was almost bashful, scratching the back of her head in a habit he was sure she had picked up from him. Picked up and carried for millenia. Gods, she had spent centuries trying to save him. But, had anyone saved her? She lived on a carved out asteroid, floating over the remnants of a exploded planet.

"Please." She said in a low and fragile voice. Her hand was outstretched, her eyes were on the verge of tears. "It's been so long Shirou. I've- I've traveled to other worlds. I even made friends. But, they all die so quickly Shirou. I blink and they're gone.

I need you by my side. Please. It was my fault you were dragged into this mess. I brought you to the clock tower. I can help you. I can save you. Then…then…" she was crying now. Her tears fell to the table. He was upon her in less than a beat from his glass heart. She was sobbing into his chest. The night had been an emotional rollercoaster. Partly his fault, certainly.

But, this had clearly been building for some time. They were attracting a scene, but he didn't care. Instead, he formed a gem out of the carbon in the cutlery. The world interestingly enough didn't even try to stop him. It seemed that the world had no greater will here.

Scooping the powerful magician up, he took a step upon the ledge, much to the shock and terror of those watching. With a mighty leap, they were flying through the air. They went from building to building. The cool night air doing nothing to sooth the sobs. Eventually, there were at the tallest point. He stood atop the effel tower. Below, the miles of city shined like the stars of the cosmos.

"Rin." He addressed the woman who had began to control herself down to sniffles. "There's no other way to say it. You and me? We're broken."

She pressed her face harder into his shround and armor. "You suck at consoling people." She whispered.

He grinned. "Yeah. A little bit. But listen. I don't know you I can trust that you've saved me. I made that decision, all those eons ago, to walk into hell. It was a stupid dream. Passed down to me by a foolish man. But I wanted more than anything to believe in it. Passed the point of all reason.

And in that task Rin, I've failed." She shifted in his grip, but he continued. "I don't know what the future holds. I'm not much of a thinker. Not on the important stuff. That was always all you. You came up with a way that you believe will free me.

I don't know if that's true. But I want to believe in it. Rin." He looked down at puffy green-blue eyes. "I want to believe in you." His gaze was back on the grounded stars. "My whole life, I was nothing but a tool. I am a sword. And I've become rusted and cursed from lack of care on the part of my master.

More than anything, what I need is a sheath. A place to rest within when the fighting is done. If you are certain. Then I'm placing my trust in you. And I ask in return. Will you be the sheath I rest in?"

Moments passed and he waited for her response. And waited some more. Until he looked down at her squirming for and saw she was doing everything in her power to prevent herself from laughing hysterically.

"Rin?" That was the crack it took to break the damn.

She cackled with laughter. A full bellied laugh that had her shaking. Worse still, whenever she looked up to his confused and bewildered face, she broke our laughing again. Up until he became angry, and simply threw her from his arms. She yelled and dropped around twenty feet before catching herself and propelling herself upwards with a mystery of some sort.

She was whole heatedly unamused. But that didn't stop him from smiling. "You better have been about to catch me if I didn't do it myself."

Instead of even pretending like he intended to do that, he waved her off. "Eh, your a fairly old and powerful Apostle. If you went splat, you'd just, reverse causality or something."

She gave him an angry pout. "Your a jerk. And a pervert."

He'd happily admit to the first, but the second came out of left field. "Pervert? How am I a pervert?" He demanded.

She got right up in his face, floating at an angle with her hands on her hips. "You just said you'd stay with with me on the condition I be your sheath. Sounds like what a pervert would say."

He crossed his arms annoyed. "That's not what I meant and you know it. Get your head out of the gutter. I was being literal. Or, wait no. Metaphorical. Or- just! You know what I meant woman!"

The deviant before him gained a cheshire grin that spread across her face. "I don't know. You sounded pretty intense. Brings back a few memories, doesn't it. Artoria was on her back, we were staring deeply into each others eyes." She had to dodge the swipe of a random mundane blade. It wasnt Kanshou or Byakuya, so even if it cut her it would be healed in seconds. But perhaps she had pushed too far. Or purhaps she hadn't pushed far enough. "Tell you what, if you throw in some of that Shirou style cooking I might agree to it."

He rolled his eyes. "The years have only made you worse, Tosaka." He grumbled.

She nodded, not even going to attempt to argue that. "So is that a yes? If I stay with you, make you feel safe, on occasion be your sheath" she hoped the sword he had thrown as her didn't hit anyone. "And occasionally send you off to worlds in need so you can play super hero, you'll stay?"

He raised his eyebrow at the superhero comment. What was he? A child. He felt she was ignoring that he wasn't the same boy who taught in the grail war. He was different. Older. Sharper. And disillusioned with the dream of his father.

Still. "Very well, Rin. I'll put my faith in you. It hasn't driven me wrong so far." Her smile was radiant.

Maybe…maybe if it only lasted a bit. If it was just a drop in the ocean of eternity. Maybe, just maybe, he come out of this hell still standing.