"Put these on." Rin said as she marched into the small motel room, throwing a bundle of clothing into Shirou's chest.

His customary grin faded to a questing expression as he saw how agitated she was.

"What gives? Are you alright?" He asked, his voice heavy with concern as she brushed past him into the bathroom. She could hear him pulling on his pants and hopping after her on one leg.

"I'm fine, but I just got attacked by Alpha." She said angrily.

There was a heavy thump from the bedroom and Rin whirled around. Shirou had toppled over in shock, one leg half in his jeans, a poleaxed expression on his face. He quickly struggled into his pants and jumped up, quickly moving to Rin. He took her face in his hands and anxiously looked her over, brushing some clinging rubble out of her hair and insisting that she spin around so he could make sure she was okay.

"Alpha?! Are sure you're okay? I saw him take down a full blown servant with no trouble at all. How did you get away?" He asked.

"Maybe I'm more resourceful than you give me credit for? Besides, he wasn't after me. I guess I should back up. I got attacked by Sakura first. She..."

"That blue haired chick from the church? Do you know her?" Shirou broke in.

"Yes. Don't interrupt." She said sternly. Shirou looked appropriately cowed and she quickly explained what had happened, the hinted revaluations that Sakura had made.

"Your sister? You never told me you had a sister." Shirou said wonderingly when she finished.

"I didn't know that I had a sister! She could have been lying for all I know. I need some answers." She replied.

Rin turned away from Shirou and marched into the bathroom. One wall was dominated by a large mirror and she pursed her lips in annoyance. She had no candles, no pre-established link, and the mirror was large enough to take two or three times as much prana to activate as the spell really needed. But Rin was too upset to delay her inquest by the time it would take to gather the necessary materials and so she simply began to brute-force a magical overlay onto the glass.

"What are you..." Shirou began.

"Hush." Rin said irately. She wasn't angry at him but at the situation had her on the ragged edge.

He huffed and leaned a shoulder up against the door jamb as he watched, his arms crossed petulantly. Rin concentrated and the edges of the mirror began to ripple and shimmer as if in a heat wave. Rin held in her mind the image of the pre-enchanted mirror in the library of the Tohsaka estate. She reached across the intervening distance, took a firm hold on the magical strands that enchanted it, and wrenched them forwards to meet similar strands that she wove into the fabric of the bathroom mirror. There was a sound like cracking glass although no cracks appeared and then a deep settling hum that gradually faded away.

"Rin? Rin, is that you?" Her reflection in the mirror asked. Her face took on an expression of curious concern and behind her she heard Shirou slip sideways and bump his head against the doorjamb in surprise.

"Genjo?"

"Yes, it's me." Came the voice of the elderly record keeper. Rin's expression in the mirror was quizzical with a hint of concern.

Rin took a deep breath.

"What can you tell me about Sakura Matou?" She said firmly.

In the mirror her reflection's eyes widened.

"Why...do you ask?" Genjo probed.

Rin's expression hardened.

"Don't play games with me, Genjo. You know something. Tell me." She said.

She held her own gaze for a long moment. Her eyes were harsh, intent. Her eyes in the mirror were questing. Silence reigned for a long moment and then Genjo sighed and Rin saw his shoulders droop.

"Very well." He said. His voice sounded tired, beaten.

"Years ago, when you were very young, your family was larger than you remember it to be. Sakura...She is..." He began.

"My sister." Rin finished.

Genjo nodded his head sadly, the gesture heavy with regret.

"Yes. Your father...he had no choice but to strike a deal with Matou. They wanted an heir but had none of their own. It isn't common practice, but occasionally a powerful mage family with two heirs will send one away to train while the other stays and is groomed to take over. Sakura went to the Matous, and you stayed with your father." He said.

Rin felt her fists clench.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She said through gritted teeth.

"Your father always intended to tell you of your sister but he passed before you were old enough. The Matou's hid Sakura away. Part of their agreement was that we keep her existence secret."

"You didn't tell me about my own sister!" Rin raged. She slammed a fist against the mirror. It was only providence that kept her from breaking it.

"They hurt her, Genjo! Tortured her! For years!" With each word she rammed her fist forward.

"Rin, calm down. I wanted to tell you, truly I did. You have to understand that the politics..."

"POLITICS! Don't give me that! You lied to me! You abandoned her! You let them take her!"

Wham, wham, wham.

Then, at last, the inevitable happened. Rin drew her fist back one more time and slammed it forward. The mirror shattered. Spidery cracks skittered out and there was a sudden dispersal of magical energy as the spell ended, cutting off Genjo in mid sentence. Blood oozed from Rin's knuckles and she collapsed to her knees on the cheap hotel room linoleum.

She felt hot tears stinging at her eyes. She didn't know Sakura. Hadn't grown up with her. She wondered what hurt more, the feeling of betrayal or the revelation that she had a sister who had been systematically abused for years. She felt guilty and awful. There was only one thing in the world that could lessen the sting.

Shirou seemed to sense his cue and moved forward. He sunk down behind Rin and gathered her into his arms, hugging her close and resting his chin on her shoulder.

"I don't think I understand what just happened." He said softly into her ear. Rin waited for him to ask the inevitable questions, to push farther, to force her to explain uncomfortable truths. But he didn't. He just held her there on the bathroom floor in the middle of a halo of broken glass.

Eventually his concern mounted and he pulled her to her feet, gingerly pulling her into the main room and away from the broken mirror. The blood seeping from her lacerated knuckles had slowed to a trickle. Shirou washed away the dried blood and tenderly bandaged her hand while she sniffled a bit and dried her eyes.

"Okay then. What's the plan?" He asked at last when she'd had a chance to calm down.

Rin scrubbed a hand across her eyes. They were steely when she opened them.

"We're going to find Kotomine and put a stop to his plans. Now. No more investigation. No more side stepping around the problem. We end this today." She said.

Shirou nodded grimly.

"Look, I know it may be a little awkward, but we'll need the help. We should go see Ilya. Having Caster on our side would go a long way towards coming out of this thing in one piece." He said.

Rin hesitated for a long moment but in the end she nodded hesitantly. Ilya had a few days to calm down. What Shirou said the other day was right, Ilya was her friend no matter what their families said. At least, Rin hoped she was.

It took them a couple of minutes to get things situated and head out. Shirou bandaged up her hand and pulled on the clothes that she'd gotten him while Rin cleaned herself up a bit in the largest fragment of mirror that she could find. They held hands as they walked and Rin tried to work through what she was feeling. She knew that she was scared. Kotomine had one of the most powerful magical resources on the planet at his disposal. He was a very powerful mage in his own right, he was clever and powerful and had been preparing for years.

She was also scared of talking to Ilya. Even with Shirou's assurances she didn't know how her friend would react. It wasn't just that their families pitted them against each other. Rin knew that Ilya had feelings for Shirou. Caster had called it nothing more than a frivolous crush, but who could know what was really in Ilya's heart?

Her grip tightened on Shirou's and he gave her hand a squeeze. She looked up at him. She was scared. She was terrified. She had this gut feeling that the conflict was coming to a head. She felt like she was helpless on a bullet train rocketing towards destruction, unable to veer it off its course.

Where did Berzerker fit in? She knew now why he had feelings for her. He was Shirou. What would happen when the war was over? Would he cease to exist? Caster had suggested otherwise when he revealed that he had a physical body, not a grail construct like a typical Servant. How did Rin feel about that? He had saved her life countless times. He was wise and kind and strong. What was the reason for his obsession with killing Shirou? Surely it couldn't be simple jealousy. She knew that something so petty would never drive Shirou to kill. If only she could just talk to him.

Rin was absorbed in her own thoughts when she felt Shirou's hand stiffen on hers. Her head jerked up and she immediately saw what had caused him to tense. The ugly black smear of a smoke plume squatted low over the houses, wafting upwards from some calamity hidden from view by back yard fences and greenery. Before Rin could say a word Shirou was running. She held onto him for dear life and he pulled her urgently behind him. His body radiated power but he slowed himself enough that Rin was able to keep up without too much trouble.

Her heart was pounding in her chest as they rounded the corner but sank to the soles of her feet at the sight that unfolded in front of her.

The Von Einsbern mansion was a ruined, smoking mess. Most of the east wall had been completely demolished. Rubble and fallen timbers littered the yard and the still smoking remains of the study smouldered and threatened to send the whole place up in a blaze.

"Oh no. No no no." Shirou said. He dropped Rin's hand and sprinted forward, his arms and legs pumping to a blur as he moved. Rin followed as fast as she could.

"Ilya! Caster! Melva!" She cried at the top of her lungs, her eyes darting frantically over the rubble.

"Over here!" She heard Shirou's voice from inside the smoking ruin and made her way towards him as fast as she could navigate the wreckage.

She arrived panting. Shirou was kneeling over the plump brown body of Melva the cook. She was so matronly and wise, now her eyes were glassy in death. Shirou closed them respectfully and laid her gently on the ground.

"What...what happened here?" He said soberly. His face was a mask but Rin could see the suffering pulling at the edges.

"It must have been..." She began but was interrupted by a sound behind her.

She whirled as it came again, a low moaning sound coming from a nearby pile of rubble. In an instant Shirou was there. He blazed with power as he tossed a heavy beam aside like a toy and dove in. He gingerly extracted the bloody, crushed form of Caster. The aged servant wasn't clad in his modern civilian clothing but in the plain white robe that was his natural garb. The snowy material was stained with ash and blood, bright red deepening to black as it soaked in his numerous wounds. He was riven with deep stab wounds and his hands clutched at a deep tear in his stomach. His breathing came in short gasps and the blood loss left his wrinkled old face as pale as his robe.

Shirou gently set him with his back against the remains of a wall. He tried to pull his hands away from the wound but Caster waved him off weakly.

"No...don't. It's...it's much too late for that." He said, his head lolling deliriously.

"Just water. Just some water. Please." He said.

Shirou bit his lip, his features tortured.

"I...I can't. You have a gut wound. If I give you water it will only..." He trailed off.

Caster coughed weakly and shook his head.

"It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter." He said.

"What happened?" Rin asked tersely, kneeling down next to Caster and probing at his wounds with her third eye. He was on the cusp of death. If Rin had more time maybe she could heal him. But as it was his body was simply too broken to be repaired.

Caster's eyes swam in and out of focus for a moment and then snapped to Rin's face. He coughed and blood flecked his lips. He reached out a grasping hand slick with his own blood and caught Rin by the collar, holding on to her like a drowning man clinging to a raft.

"It was marvelous." He wheezed.

"A warrior so powerful I could hardly look at him. A rain of swords like a tsunami of steel." He said, his eyes glassy.

"Ilya. What happened to Ilya." Shirou reminded gently but insistently.

Caster's eyes re-focused and a look of panic crossed his face.

"Have to...save her! He took her. Like she was a babe. He said nothing, but he called her...called her 'Grail Shard'. Talked about her like...like she was an object. He...he took her to...he took her..." He coughed and more blood bubbled up through his lips. A spasm of agony stopped his words and Shirou put up a hand.

"Shh, don't talk. We'll get you all patched up and..."

But Caster gritted his teeth and shook his head.

"No. Too late for that. Not enough...heh heh...not enough time. One more thing to do. Just one...more...promise...to...keep." He said, his words slowed and Rin felt his heartbeat ebbing.

And then, in a flash of fiery intensity, his eyes locked onto hers. Rin felt a sudden wrenching pressure exude from him in a magical torrent. There was a twang like a guitar string tightened until it broke and then, in the blink of an eye, Caster vanished.

Shirou started and looked around, suddenly on his guard for an attack. When nothing assaulted them he turned back to Rin.

"What the heck just happened?" He said, his voice full of confusion and anger.

"A Servant's body is comprised of Grail energy. When he dies he returns to the space between spaces, the place where legends go to rest." Rin said.

"Nuh uh." Shirou said, his brow furrowed.

"He said so himself, remember? He's like Berserker. His body is real, as in it actually physically exists. Some loophole with the summoning process, right? Doesn't that mean his body would stay here when he dies?" He said.

Rin's eyes widened.

"You're right. But then...he must have been wrong. Or maybe he lied to us, although I don't know why he would. Maybe he was pulled back to the realm of spirits, physical body and all." She said, still in shock.

"Whatever the case is, one thing is clear. We're out of time. No more extensions, no more waiting, or maneuvering, or picking the right time to strike. He's got Ilya. And he's got that Sakura person. Your maybe-sister. We are gonna go to that lab right now and put an end to this. One way or another." Shirou said.

He stood silhouetted against the sky, framed by the smoldering rubble of Ilya's mansion. Caster's blood smeared the front of his shirt. His deep, grooved scars carved hills and valleys of shadow over his face. His fists were clenched, his back straight, his feet apart. The look of absolute dermination in his eye made Rin think that maybe, possibly, somehow they could come out of this in one piece.

But then, she knew that was ridiculous. She knew what they were up against. She knew what powers Kotomine commanded. She knew how limited their own resources were. She knew that if they faced Kotomine the only outcome could be defeat and death.

But just as surely as she knew they couldn't win she also knew that Shirou would fight anyway. And just as surely as she knew that Shirou would fight she knew that she would never leave his side.

"Okay then." She said. Rin heard in her own words the same grim determination that she saw mirrored on Shirou's face.

He held her gaze for a long moment, his eyes intense. At last he nodded and pulled her forward for a quick kiss.

"I'm going to see if the garage is still intact." He said.

Rin nodded but didn't follow him. Instead she made her way deeper into the wreckage, past the demolished eastern section and towards where her guest room had been. The room was in disarray but mostly intact. She thanked the stars and began shifting through the splintered furniture until she found the attache case that she had brought with her from Japan. She opened it with baited breath and felt a slow grin spread across her features. Her mana gems were still inside it.

Here was her ace in the hole, a magical stockpile that she had been building up since she was a young girl. They wouldn't increase her power per spell, but they would let her cast continuously without running out of mana. It just might be the edge that they needed to come out of this thing in one piece.

With the case tucked under her arm she made her way back downstairs where she heard the sounds of mechanical clattering coming from the garage. She arrived just as Shirou slammed the hood on one of the project cars and jumped into the driver's seat. He twisted the key and it turned over begrudgingly, sputtering to life and then roaring as he let out the choke.

He grinned at her over the steering wheel.

"Well, I couldn't get the motorcycle workin'. It seems to me like the proper thing to do for the final showdown is arrive on a motorcycle. I guess this will have to do instead." He said over the roar of the engine. He leaned over and pushed the passenger side door open for her as Rin slid into the seat next to him. She rolled her eyes.

"Your sense of theatrics can wait. Let's just get there and get this thing done." She said, trying to put more confidence into her words than she felt.

Shirou seemed to catch her tone and sobered. He nodded, some of the grim determination creeping back into his manner

"One way or another. This ends today." He said.

He revved the engine and then sped down the driveway. The traffic lines looked like a countdown to the inevitable, a fuse disappearing beneath the car as the wheels ate up the road. The buildings ripping past made Rin feel disconnected. The sense of finality that settled in her breast terrified her. She glanced over at Shirou to steady her nerves. Just seeing him in the seat next to her reassured her. She wanted him to hold her, to tell her that it would all be alright. But she knew that their mission had to come first.

Rin glanced away for an instant and was slammed against her seat belt when Shirou stomped on the brakes. The car skidded to a halt, the acrid tang of burning rubber filled Rin's nostrils.

There was a figure standing in the road. The car skidded and slid, squealing to a halt just inches from the figures shins. He didn't move an inch.

Without looking Rin knew who it would be. Who it had to be.

Berserker put his hands on the hood and leaned over the windshield.

Shirou gritted his teeth and threw the car into park, jumping out and dropping into a fighting crouch. He held his fists in front of him and grimly circled.

"So. This is it, huh? You or me, big guy." He said darkly.

Rin was about to throw herself between them when Berserker raised hands non threateningly.

"I'm not here to fight you." He said.

God, how could I have missed it? Rin thought, watching the two men stare each other down. They were so alike. Their scars, their voices, but most of all their eyes, deep and intense.

"What, then?" Shirou asked suspiciously, still on his guard.

Berserker stayed quiet, his brow furrowed as he searched for words.

"I'm you." He said at last. "But I'm from the future. I know what's coming. I know what happens next. I thought the only way to stop it...to stop us, was to kill you. To erase any possibility of you becoming...me. But now I'm just here to ask. Just to ask you." He said, his words halting.

"Ask me what?" Shirou said, his guard dropping slightly. Rin moved to stand beside him. Berserker's eyes darted between them.

"Just...go. Take Rin. Leave this place. Get as far away from here as possible and never look back." He said.

Shirou folded his arms.

"You're me, right? Then you know why I can't do that." He said flatly.

Berserker pinched his nose in frustration and paced up and down in front of the car.

"You can! You can do that!" He said urgenly. "I know you! I am you! All you...all our lives we thought we had to do the right thing. To atone for all the awful things I did when I was Kotomine's creature. To stop him! To set things right!" He chopped his hand into his palm to emphasize his point.

"Then you know why I have to do this!" Shirou said, his voice rising.

Berserker grabbed Shirou by the shoulders and shook him. Rin reached forward but Berserker didn't look like he intended to hurt anybody.

"No! Think! Things have changed. Everything is different now. Maybe...maybe before we had no choice. But now..."

He trailed off miserably and his eyes locked on Rin. His gaze was intense and she could feel heat rising in her face. Berserker's eyes were questing, seeking. The moment stretched until Rin thought she couldn't bear it any longer. And then Berserker seemed to come to a decision. His eyes fell, his expression turned to bitter sorrow.

"I...We..." He began to speak but the words caught in his throat. He dropped his hands to his side and turned away from Shirou and Rin.

"You love her. Right?" He said over his shoulder, his voice hollow. Rin didn't know what those words cost him.

"I do." Shirou said gravely.

"Then your life is no longer about atonement, or vengeance, or justice. You have something...someone else now. She gives you one option that you never had before. The one thing that Emiya wanted for you more than anything else. The one thing that you can do now that you have her."

He turned back and took a step forwards. His eyes flashed fire.

"You can go and live your life."

Shirou looked stunned. He looked like a lightning bolt had opened up his mind. He looked like suddenly everything was as clear as day. His mouth opened and closed. His eyes darted between Rin and Berserker. He opened his mouth to speak.

But Rin never found out what he had to say.

At that instant a massive explosion echoed over the city from several blocks away. The shock wave sent rivulets of dust floating down from the buildings and jarred Rin and Shirou from their feet. Berserker howled in frustration.

"I thought I had more time. No!" He bellowed and turned on his heel.

"Wait! Berserker! Shi-Shirou!" Rin called after him as he sprinted away, his body blurring as only as Servants can when moving quickly.

Shirou scrambled into the car and Rin dove in next to him. The moment was lost, Shirou's epiphany buried in the tension of the moment.

"We're goin' after him. This is it." He said. Rin nodded grimly.

He slammed down on the gas pedal.