Author's Notes: I should really stop deluding myself by thinking "small" scenes will actually stay at their ( 2000) allotted word limit. If it does seem like I'm focusing on the OC too much, please note I hadn't planned on this. This entire night scene was supposed to be one chapter instead of three. My writing has a way of expanding and growing on the fly. Anyways, the next few chapters should be some Shirou, Rin and Caster action. Assuming small scenes stay small... oh crap...

- Threads of Fate -
- Chapter 8 -

- Thoughts of Fire and Words of Steel -

Rin Tohsaka stared into the bright fireplace, embracing the warmth that it brought to her chest and face. Besides the sound of crackling firewood and the clink of fine china, the house was silent. Rin placed the empty china cup down onto the silver tray. She didn't normally use the houses fireplace, the houses heating normally being sufficient, but on this cold winter night it seemed appropriate.

She had modified her three friends' memories after finding them in the bathroom. It had taken her long moments and a considerable amount of her own prana, but she had done it with enough time to escape while the sirens were still in the distance. The memory alterations had take a lot of energy out of her, but the alternative would have been...

Blood. Blood draining down the drain. Blood splattered against the bathroom tiles. Blood on the curtains and blood stained against their clothes. It was everywhere...

Tohsaka shook her head to clear the images from her mind. It wasn't real. She knew Makidera, Himuro and Saegusa were safe; she'd seen to that. However, she knew they had been lucky. Without the intervention from those two strangers, Rin knew things could have been much worse. The illusion she saw could have been reality. And for what? Because some Servant might ambush them? She was the best. Let them come and damned be the consequences. She would kill them all.

One of the blocks of wood collapsed in the fireplace, sending cinders into the air and shooting flames even higher upward. The sudden motion distracted Tohsaka and she unclenched the fist she hadn't known she'd been making. Taking one of the blocks, Rin tossed it into the fire. She found an odd catharsis in watching the wood slowly being consumed by the fire.

Tohsaka's mind wandered to a conversation several days ago. Archer had been talking to her about what her wish would be. Her response was that she had none for the Grail. She wasn't in this war for any wish, she was in it to win. Victory was the objective and the prize. People often asked why men and women climbed mountains and risked their lives to reach Everest's peak. "Because it's there," a climber had said. Her response was no different... and yet... this victory wasn't everything.

Archer had asked her before about using her wish to 'rule the world' instead of letting it go to waste. "The world is just another word for the things you value around you, right? In that case, I've ruled the world ever since I was born. If you're telling me to rule the world, I already do," was what she had said.

She already ruled everything in her world. It was perfect. However, what happened if something dared to attack her world? Even destroy it? Her mind wandered back to the image of her friends, sitting in pools of their own blood... To the girl who was now orphaned, without a sister, father or mother to guide her. What if that had been Ayako? Or Taiga? Could she live with herself if she could have stopped their deaths and did nothing?

The clinking of china interrupted Tohsaka's thoughts once more as Archer laid a new pot of tea on the table while removing the empty old one. It was the third pot Archer had made. "Rin. It was already late when we returned home. I think you should sleep or else you'll be tired if we're forced to fight a Servant tom..."

"Archer, you said you knew a lot about hunting down vampires, right?" Rin asked, cutting her Servant off. For the first time since she returned, Tohsaka made eye contact with Archer.

"Uh, yes. Why do you ask, Rin?" Archer said.

"Back when we were on the skyscraper in Shinto, you were right. I've been ignoring this Dead Apostle for far too long, handing off the responsibility to Kotomine when it's obvious he's too busy with the Grail War. I am the supervisor of Fuyuki. It is my responsibility to oversee the people's safety from these threats. From tonight onward, we change our night patrols," she said. Her gaze returned to the flickering fire.

"How so?" said Archer. A small crease of worry bent his brow.

"It's simple. We're going to hunt this Dead Apostle down. We're going to find her and corner her until there's nowhere left for her to hide. And once we do, We. Will. Kill. Her," Tohsaka said, her words clad in steel.

Archer watched the light and shadows of the flames dance across the room and reflect in Tohsaka's aquamarine eyes. The Servant had fought demons and vampires of staggering might without hesitation in his previous life. However, at the moment Archer felt a shiver of fear run up his spine.