Rin paced nervously, every so often glancing over at Shirou and the odd shuffling, ducking, and stretching dance he was doing. He was practicing moving fluidly through the maze of trip wires strung like an invisible steel spider web in the area all around the abandoned apartment building. He ducked under and around them, leaped over them with gangly stretches, and generally looked foolish as he cavorted around memorizing where they all were and plotting out routes to quickly move through them.

As ridiculous as he looked Rin knew that the practice served a deadly purpose. Alone Shirou couldn't hope to compete with the speed and power of a fully fledged Servant, not even with his admittedly impressive self fortification magic. Especially not against Lancer, whose primary attribute was her blinding speed. But with the trapped field of wires and with an allied Servant in the fight his chances climbed dramatically. The close quarters and nearly invisible field of booby traps would transform Lancer's magnificent speed in to ta crippling liability. Rin wasn't sure what Caster's combat acumen was but between the Caster, Shirou, and the trap field Rin thought they stood a pretty good chance against Lancer. At least, she hopped they did.

Her thoughts were interrupted at the sound of a motor and she looked up as Caster and Ilya pulled in. Shirou jogged over and waved them around to the back of the building where they planned to hide the car. When Magnus and Lancer arrived all they would see would be the Bentley and hopefully they would assume that Rin was alone. As they came back across the lawn Shirou was having an animate conversation with Caster about the upcoming battle.

"..th of you already know what I can do. I'm pretty scrappy, I can take one on the jaw and not go gown. But if we're thinkin' tactics we gotta make some plans. Your gimmick is time controlling magic, right? Can you just, I dunno, freeze 'er in place while we bag Magnus or something? Because that would be superb. If we can get this done without a fight that'd be great. I, er, I dunno how comfortable I am hittin' a girl."

Rin rolled her eyes. Shirou's ridiculous sense of honor would probably get him killed if she wasn't around to save his neck.

"Alas, such a feat is beyond even me." Caster said. "I tried something similar on myself and it took every ounce of mana I had and every bit I could stockpile and convert. Add to that the fact that the ritual took twelve hours and had to be performed directly atop a leyline and you can see how it doesn't have much practical application in combat. With the power I have available I could only stop her for a fraction of a second." The white haired Servant said in his erudite and academic sounding drawl.

"Well, help me out here. I'm gonna be right in the tussle mixin' it up with Lancer. What can you do to help?" Shirou asked.

"I may not be able to freeze her in time but I can affect the way she moves through it. If I slow her passage through time while speeding yours up it will serve to level the playing field. A haste spell is relatively easy to maintain, as is a slow spell. I can also put some fortification magic into your traps here to prevent her from simply bull rushing through them. A very clever tactic, if I might add."

"Awww shucks, you're making me blush." Shirou said jokingly, his grin as wide as ever as they drew up alongside Rin.

Rin nodded to them but Ilya avoided her gaze, rubbing her arm as if she were bashful and staring at her navel. She was obviously still upset from the other night. Rin sensed that something was very wrong. A tension seemed to stretch between the two friends that made the situation palpably uncomfortable. Caster had the tact not to say anything and the socially oblivious Shirou didn't notice anything at all, so Rin was left suspended in a field of guilty tension with Ilya.

I'll have to have a long talk with her when this is over. Explain what happened and try to patch things up. She thought. But the tactical conversation going on overrode her awkwardness around Ilya and she chimed in.

"Are you sure that's wise?" She said cautiously.

"We all know about Shirou's powers. What will happen if he calls on them while he's being accelerated through time? Will that drain your...your lifespan even faster?" She said, almost blushing. She liked him so much that just thinking about his dramatically shortened lifespan and the toll it cost to use his powers frightened her.

Shirou just shrugged and was about to say something flippant when Caster interrupted him.

"Eh, life's too..."

"Actually I had thought about that." Caster cut in. "If I accelerate Shirou's physical form only instead of applying the magical concept of speed to his entire person it shouldn't be any more draining than normal. Of course, it will mean that your physical speed is increased but your reflexes and reaction times won't be. You'll need to be careful not to overshoot when you jump or run for the duration of the spell."

"Awww, heck. Hit me with the juice. Can't go skipping out on tactical advantages just 'cause it might be dangerous, right?" Shirou said jovially.

He yelped as Rin trod on his foot and glared up at him.

"You might not care if you live or die but...s-s-some of us do!" She said, her ferocity faltering for a moment and then returning with full force. Ilya nodded halfhearted agreement and Rin was surprised that she hadn't thrown her arms around Shriou's neck and burred her head in his muscular chest. Something big was definitely bothering her.

"I can also project fields of physical force to slow and hinder, as well as..." Caster trailed off and narrowed his eyes.

"They're here." He said flatly.

A moment later Rin felt it too, a spike in Grail energy that could only mean a rapidly approaching Servant.

"Quick, you two gotta hide." Shirou said, hustling Ilya and Caster to their ambush positions in the building.

He and Rin quickly took up their agreed upon spots. She leaned up against the side of the abandoned apartment and Shirou lay at her feet, sprawled awkwardly face down and feigning unconsciousness. There was a narrow open space free of wires and traps leading from the road to where Rin stood. Everything depended on Magnus and Lancer approaching to within the perimeter of the traps without noticing them. If they saw the wires before they were close enough to be hampered in a fight a major part of Team Rin's advantage would disappear.

Magnus's expensive cream white town car purred around the corner and approached smoothly, pulling to a halt at the edge of the unkempt lawn. A chauffeur in a black uniform stepped out to open the door and Rin was suddenly reminded of the day she had met Shirou. The dark circumstances were brought back to bear as first Lancer then Magnus stepped out. They were both immaculately dressed in expensive designer suits. Lancer's silhouetted her toned form, her regal bearing. It flowed along the lines of her figure and made her look like a hero shrouded in silk, ready to rip away the veneer of civilization at an instant's notice and spring into action. Magnus wore his with the disdain of long affluence and the drooping creases of a lazy man.

"Drive around the block Hector, but don't go anywhere. This won't take long." Magnus said smugly, waving off his driver with a dismissive gesture.

He sauntered up lazily with Lancer trailing a few steps behind him, a triumphant grin on his haughty features.

"So you've considered my deal at last have you, pet?" He said as he advanced with a grin like a cat who had stolen cream and gotten away with it.

"I don't know though. What good are you to me now, I wonder? Your servant has been defeated and now you're bargaining your last chip in a last, desperate effort for...what, exactly? Oh, don't look so surprised. The Barthomeloi spy network is second to none. I know all about your Berserker sacrificing himself to beat Saber. The fool. And thanks to our mutual friend Kotomine I know all about the Omega weapon too." He said, lazily examining his fingernails and pointing at Shirou's prone form with his chin.

"You're willing to bargain it to me now that your Servant is defeated. Pathetic. Maybe I'll keep you as a play thing. Until I tire of you, that is." He said, eyeing Rin salaciously.

Rin gritted her teeth in an effort not to send razor sharp ice shard down the smug idiot's throat. At least his overconfidence was playing in Rin's favor. He had wandered right into the trap. She was just about to launch a fiery retort when Shirou rolled over and sat up.

"Jeez louise. You weren't kiddin', Rin. I can't decide if this guy is a bigger idiot or a bigger pervert." He said, pushing himself up to his feet with a fierce grin.

"What!" Magnus shrieked, leaping back.

"I don't know what you hopped to accomplish. Lancer! Kill them!" He commanded shrilly.

There was a torrent of grail energy as Lancer transformed, her shredded suit fluttering to the ground around her. She stood there for an instant like a paragon of old, her burnished breastplate and helm glittering in the afternoon sun while her spear flashed fire. And then she charged forwards and battle was joined.

From behind her Rin heard a door slam open as Caster leaped into the open and Magnus's eyes bugged with panic. There was a second cascade of energy as he transformed into his robed original appearance. Rin felt the hairs on her neck begin to tinge as he channeled one of the most powerful spells she had ever witnessed, focusing it on Lancer. Reality seemed to sink inwards, drawing in as time itself constricted in around the servant, jolting her from its flow and slowing her every movement.

The discarded pieces of Lancer's suit fluttered to the ground in slow motion, almost frozen in the air. But the Servant herself merely snorted and readied her spear. When she moved it was with the grace of a viper and the speed of a lightning bolt. The slowing spell only hampered her to the point that Rin could follow her movements with her naked eye. Barely. It was better than nothing but Lancer was simply too fast to stop entirely.

At the same time a nearly identical but subtly different field enveloped Shirou. Time around him dilated and pulsated as his movements became swift, almost erratic. He seemed to vibrate with every movement, darting here and there across the battlefield like a humming bird. The fact that Caster was able to generate such a spell spoke of powers over the fabric of reality that bordered on true sorcery. The fact that he could maintain two such spells at once elevated Rin's respect for the servant to astronomical levels.

But even with Lancer slowed, even with Shirou's haste, Lancer was far, far faster that he could ever hope to be. The only things preventing her from dashing forward and slaughtering them all outright was Shirou's trap which hampered her movements and the fact that he had a single central point to defend while she had to circle around through the trip wires looking for an opening. She had to cover twice the ground that he did through the traps and tricks to seek an opening. If she could manage to get to Caster everything would be over. His time controlling magic was all that was keeping her in check.

But Rin had no time to devote to the intricacies of the battle unfolding in front of her. As Lancer launched into her attacks Magnus turned his cowardly tail and began to flee as fast as he could. Rin bolted after him, leaping over one trip wire and ducking under another before lashing out with a wave of force to ensnare his feet.

Magnus felt the spell but wasn't able to react in time and the trip sent him sprawling head over heels. He scrambled to his knees and sent a bolt of magical fire in Rin's direction that she easily deflected with a hastily woven shield spell.

Her mages duel against Sakura had been a life or death affair. Sakura was as cunning as she was powerful, and even more determined to kill Rin. Magnus, on the other hand, was like a child trying to fend off a hungry predator. He was as powerful as Rin but he wasn't nearly as creative. He was slow. Predictable. Like so many other bullies he didn't know anything beyond brute force. He lashed out again and again with flame spells that Rin countered as soon as the prana formed in his hands. He tried to cut off her prana supplies but Rin was already prepared with a mana trap that he fell into blindly. The spell became an uncontrollable torrent that sapped nearly half his mana before he managed to counter the flow. As he became more desperate his moves became more and more erratic, and easier and easier for Rin to counter.

Magnus frantically backpedaled and Rin bore down on him, casually deflecting his attacks as she tried to get a hit in that would disable him but not kill him. Eventually she settled on a risky idea. It wasn't anything that would work against a half competent mage, and probably not even against Magnus were he in his right mind. But with his panic and with all the mistakes that he was making Rin saw her chance. She quickly conjured a mana tap tuned for shielding spells but didn't bother to mask her casting, then sent an icy bolt ripping towards Magnus. He saw the obvious trap that she had set and, instead of pulling up a shield that would be purged by her mana tap, reached out with a counter spell of his own to fizzle the ice bolt in the air.

"Ha!" Rin cried triumphantly.

A pure mana spell like a counter spell left the caster temporarily vulnerable to direct magic attacks and Rin pounced on the opening. She sent a whip thin lash of pure mana to tangle with Magnus's flows and then poured a torrent of magical energy, drawing from her gems and from her own reserves as she overloaded Magnus's mana capacity. It was a tactic that would only work against a vastly weaker opponent and it left the caster vulnerable to backlash. But Rin's gamble paid off. Magnus screamed as his magic circuits began overloading and rupturing from the reverse torrent of energy ripping through. It wasn't possible to burn out someone's spell casting ability entirely but Magnus's magical abilities would be severely hampered, possibly for the rest of his life.

"No!" He cried, dropping to his knees, his eyes wide with shock.

Rin sprinted up to him and seized him by his expensive lapels, dragging him up face to face.

"Call off your Servant. This is over. You're going to tell us everth..." She began but Magnus wasn't listening.

His eyes darted left and right, a bewildered look of shock and panic plastered on his face. He had no retort. No witty rejoinder. He had only one option open to him.

"Lancer! Kill her! Kill her!" He shrieked over Rin's shoulder.

Rin dropped Magnus and whirled. There was a spike of grail energy from behind her and Rin realized with a sinking feeling that whatever attack was coming would be fueled by the full power of a command seal. From within the wire trap Rin could see that things were going well for her compatriots. Between the magically strengthened piano wire and Caster's time control magic Lancer couldn't maneuver past Shirou's defenses to attack Caster or Ilya.

It was a sound battle plan and they would have been able to hold her at bay indefinitely. But the rules of engagement had just changed.

There was a deep splintering noise and Caster cried out from the backlash as Lancer roared out a powerful challenge and shattered his slowing spell on her. She dashed forwards and the wires that had crippled her movements just seconds ago snapped in her path like cobwebs. Even with his enhanced speed Shirou couldn't hope to catch her. Lancer stopped just outside of the trap and readied her harpoon like spear. It glowed with an unearthly blue tint and all Rin could do was throw up a hasty shield before Lancer's arm shot forward.

"No!" Shirou and Ilya cried in unison.

Rin could only watch as the weapon thundered towards her heart. It passed through her shield like there was nothing there and she couldn't help but stare in horrified fascination as it pierced her body. She expected a jolt of pain, to be knocked from her feet, to be instantly obliterated. None of that happened. There was no blood. There wasn't even any pain. And yet Rin could see the glowing spear lodged in her breastbone, impaling her completely.

What ? She thought. Why am I not dead?

Rin was a creature of curiosity and almost reflexively she pulled up her grail vision to see exactly what Lancer had done to her. What she saw was not encouraging.

NOBLE PHANTASM: Marathon

TYPE: Anti-Unit

DESCRIPTION: The Lancer pierces her target with a spectral harpoon that does no physical damage but snares the target's soul. The Lancer then runs at top speed for a distance of 24.8 miles, dragging the target behind her. The target is free to act during this period and if they can keep pace with Lancer the attack ends after 24.8 miles have been traveled. If the physical body cannot keep up it is left behind and the soul is pulled from it, killing the target.

Ah. Rin thought. She felt oddly calm. So her killer was Pheidippides, the soldier who had run from Marathon to Athens and collapsed in death after delivering his message. Or Pheidippida, as it turned out.

Perhaps it was shock, perhaps it was acceptance, but the prospect of her impending death didn't seem to phase Rin at all. She felt numb, like the world was shut away from her behind a pane of ice. Her life didn't pass before her eyes. She wasn't haunted by visions of a future that she would never have. She didn't desperately cast about for some way to save herself. There was simply no way out. She couldn't hope to keep up with Lancer for five seconds, let alone 20 miles.

But then a thought struck Rin. She had seconds to live and her thoughts were dwelling on her friends. Her father. Ilya. Shirou. And suddenly it occurred to her that no matter how hopeless the situation, no matter what the odds were against him, Shirou would never give up. Rin wanted that. She wanted to be a person like that.

And so, her eyes steely, with Lancer turning to break into full sprint, Rin got ready to RUN. Knowing that she would fail. Knowing that she would die. But she prepared herself to run for her life anyway.

Half a heartbeat had passed.

And just as Lancer readied herself to drag Rin to her death Ilya's voice rang out, high pitched and pure.

"Caster! Freeze her!" She pleaded. Rin knew it wasn't any use. Caster could only stop Lancer for a fraction of a second. He could only delay the inevitable, and only by a very short margin.

But even as she steeled her self for her coming death Caster flung out a hand. What happened next was too fast for Rin to follow. Lancer was briefly enclosed in a field of prana, Caster completed his spell, and then with a whoosh Lancer was consumed in a pillar of fire.

Rin blinked.

Lancer was gone without a trace, in her place was a curving arc of flame that reached up into the sky.

"Wha..." Rin gaped. She looked down at her chest. The spectral spear that had pierced her was gone.

She glanced over at Caster who looked as bewildered as she felt. Then sudden realization dawned on his face and he burst out laughing.

"How unexpected." He said.

"A fire spell? Not that I'm not grateful but that seems a bit out of your area of expertise." Rin said.

"I did just what Ilya asked. I froze her in place. The fire must have been caused by friction as she left the atmosphere." Caster said jovially, the sudden tension dissipating into relief.

"Left the atmosphere? What are you talking about?" Rin asked.

"Think about it. I froze her in place. She was stationary. We, on the other hand, are on the surface of a planet that is rotating at thousands of miles per hour, orbiting the sun at millions of miles per hour, the sun is orbiting galactic central point at billions of miles per hour, and the galaxy is moving god knows where at god knows how fast. We simply...left her behind." He chuckled.

As the true magnitude of Caster's power began to dawn on Rin the enormity of what had just happened hit her like a brick. The whole thing had only taken a couple of seconds but Rin had almost died. She had almost died. Suddenly her hands were shaking and she hugged herself to keep the tremors from sweeping through the rest of her body. She might have collapsed if Shirou hadn't reached her just then, sweeping her up in his strong arms and hugging her against him fiercely.

"You had me scared for a minute there. Guess I owe Caster big time." He said, holding her up as she calmed down.

They didn't have any time to cool down though. Over Shirou's shoulder Rin could see Magnus crawling away.

"Oh no, you don't!" She said.

She marched over to him and grabbed him by the back of his collar, jerking him around and throwing him down on his back. He gulped as Shirou and Rin leaned over him menacingly.

"P-p-please don't kill me. I'll do anything!" He blubbered, holding his hands up defensively and trying to worm his way into the ground beneath him.

"Jeez. What is it with you people? We aren't gonna kill ya. But you are going to tell us where Kotomine is." Shirou said harshly.

Rin rolled her eyes. Telling Magnus that they wouldn't hurt him wasn't exactly the best way to get him to talk. Still, it didn't seem to matter. In moments Magnus was falling over himself to sell out Kotomine.

"Th-there's a safehouse. It's at number 6 Revelacion Manara. Apartment 8. I met him there twice but I don't think he stays there. He keeps himself surrounded by body guards. They wear masks and they rotate shifts so I don't know how many there are. That's all I know, I swear!" He gushed.

Shirou and Rin gave each other long looks at the mention of masked body guards but said nothing. Magnus was beside himself with terror. Shirou leaned in close, one eye lidded suspiciously. Magnus's heavy breathing was all that could be heard

"Fine. Get out of here." He said at last.

"But if you ever lay a hand on Rin, heck, if I ever hear you coming within a hundred yards of her, I will hunt you down and give you such a beating that you'll...well, I'll beat on you. Severely. Now go." He said, sending Magnus scampering for the road.

They both watched his retreating back until it disappeared, still wary for treachery. When he was gone Shirou worked his shoulder around and stretched out his neck.

"Phew, you had me scared for a minute there. If Caster and Ilya hadn't 'a been...Ilya? What's wrong?" He said, his tone dipping into concern as he turned.

Rin followed his vision and saw Ilya standing in the wiry remains of the trap. Her lip was trembling and her eyes brimmed with tears. Whatever it was that had been bothering her had come to a head and Rin was suddenly wracked with guilt that she hadn't been paying attention to her friend.

"Ilya? What's wrong!" She asked, concern heavy in her voice as she moved forwards.

Rin barely had time to react as Ilya lashed out. A razored blade of wind sliced through the air, halting Rin in her tracks and digging a furrow into the earth. The blow cut Rin's movement short and sent her stumbling back a step. If Ilya had been aiming for her she could have sliced her in half as neatly as a sushi chef slicing salmon.

"Stop! Don't come any closer!" She sobbed, her body coursing with power. One hand was raised to send another razor wind spell slicing into Rin if she so much as moved.

Caster, who had pulled himself to his feet and dusted off his robes, moved to stand at Ilya's shoulder.

"Now, master?" He asked quietly. His tone was subdued. Regretful. But Rin still sensed killing magic rising in his form.

"Y-yes. No! I...I don't know. I can't!" Ilya cried.

"Ilya! What's going on?" Rin asked, trying to keep the alarm out of her voice. Her head reeled. Just when they had a lead to finally find Kotomine they were betrayed by Ilya. Why? She raised her hands cautiously, showing Ilya that she meant no harm.

Tears rolled down Ilya's porcelain cheeks and she fumbled in her pocket for something. She hiccuped in a most unladylike way and flung it to the ground in front of her. Rin cautiously inched forwards to retrieve it. Her eyes widened. It was the letter that had been delivered to Ilya the previous day. With trembling fingers Rin's fingers dipped into the tear at the top of the envelope to pull out a single thin sheet of paper.

Ilya,

Your progress in the war has been most heartening. I see that an opportunity has presented itself and your orders have changed. Without her Servant the Tohsaka girl is of no further use to you or to us. This is the perfect opportunity to rid ourselves of the heir of a rival house while blaming it on the War. Kill her.

It was short and direct, signed in flowering script by the head of the Von Einzbern family. Rin let the pages slip from her fingers. So Ilya had been ordered to kill her. That was why she had been so distraught.

How blind I was! Rin thought.

"Ilya, you don't have to do this." She said, carefully keeping her voice neutral. She took another step forward.

"Stay back!" Ilya said in alarm, sending another blade of air slashing at Rin's feet. Her voice was filled with fear, not of Rin, but of what it would mean if they confronted each other.

"Just say the word, Master." Caster said. He had his hand raised in Rin's direction and she could sense energy pulsing through him.

"No. Wait. Just wait. I...I can't." Ilya said.

Rin took a hopeful step forward but Ilya held up a warning hand.

"I won't fight you. But I can't...I...Just get out of here." She said.

Rin was about to speak when she felt Shirou's cautious but insistent hand on her shoulder.

"I think we should do as she says." He said softly.

Ilya looked up sharply, a look of hopelessness filling her eyes as tears rolled out of them.

"You too? You have the information you need. You don't need Rin any more. I...I thought that you could stay with me. We could be..." She began. Her words were already trailing off in uncertainty but Shirou gently interrupted her.

"You're wrong. I do need Rin." He said.

Rin looked at him with wide eyes but for once his face was unreadable.

Ilya stood with her head bowed for a long moment, her hair falling in front of her eyes. Then he head snapped up and she was filled with tiny scorned fury.

"Fine then! Get out of here! Both of you! Go. Go!" She screamed.

Shirou took Rin by the arm and quickly turned around, pulling her with him as he walked away. Rin's head was reeling. Lancer banished, Magnus crippled and ousted from the war. Caster and Ilya's betrayal. And Shirou had said that he needed her. It was the closest thing to a confession that she had ever heard from him. Her heart didn't know weather to soar or plummet and settled for doing little somersaults in her chest.