AN: Okay, here is the next chapter. Now, unfortunately, I am much more familiar with Fate/Stay Night than I am Fate/Zero, so these chapters are likely to come out a lot slower than the Grail War in the previous story. Of course, if my dear readers would like to give me some advice or suggestions, then I would be very grateful. I hope everything seems okay so far, but if not, let me know, okay?

Beta'd by: NIX'S WARDEN

Chapter 14 - Opening Moves

Lily Potter shivered slightly as a cold wind blew past her.

She looked over as her two daughters sat on a bench in the park, quietly talking about something, though what that was she didn't know. Lily was a little... disheartened to realise she didn't really know her daughters well enough to even guess what they might talk to each other about.

Boys? Jewellery? Gossip? She didn't recall either of them ever being particularly interested in any of those things. Were they discussing magic, perhaps the things the 'other' Harry had been teaching them? Were they perhaps even talking about the current 'war' with Voldemort?

'War', she mentally snorted to herself, this wasn't a war at all. Voldemort simply didn't have the numbers for a true campaign against anyone really. Instead, his Death Eaters used hit and run tactics on isolated targets, spreading terror throughout magical Britain.

"So, is everyone ready to do their Christmas shopping?" James asked, interrupting both Lily's thoughts and the twins' discussion.

Lily smiled at her husband, but there was something missing from it, like it was just an expression, no emotion behind it, or at least less emotion behind it than there should be. "Sure, dear, let's get going."

Rose and Blake both came to join their parents, though they did continue to murmur something to each other, too softly for Lily or James to pick up, but... Lily decided that she should ask them what was on their minds, the two of them were usually so isolated from others, by their own choice true, but it wasn't good for them.

Rose blinked at Lily when the question was asked, but it was Blake who answered.

"We were wondering about what happened yesterday, with Harry and his Servants." She said.

James made an indistinct noise in the back of his throat, and a frankly painful look crossed his face, twisted as it was, as if unsure what expression to make. "Yeah, that happened..." He trailed off for a moment, putting his thoughts in order. "A version of my son summoned Mordred of the round table, a traitor."

Lily frowned. "History isn't always fact." She said. "I mean, King Arthur and Mordred, it seems, are both female, so... things might not quite be the way we know them to be."

"Still, he summoned someone who is most famous for betraying their own 'father', for Merlin's sake." James grimaced.

"Traitors aren't always betrayers." Rose spoke up.

"Medea of Colchis is known as the 'Witch of Betrayal', but she was more of a victim than anything else." Blake added.

"Harry told us several stories like hers, and even summoned some of them to give their side of the story." Rose told them.

"He did?" Lily asked, surprised. "But I thought he could only have so many Servants bound to him?"

James frowned as well. "I know Magi are supposed to be rather powerful, even if they tend to be rather dark, but even they can't just summon someone up like that."

"Harry is The Master of Heaven's Feel, the materialisation of the soul." Rose replied.

"He can enter contracts with the dead, and with his sorcery, summon them." Blake finished the explanation.

"Necromancy." James spat. "A disgusting branch of magic that violates what wizards should leave alone. All necromancers want is to subjugate people and become immortal."

"Not true." Rose shook her head. "From what we can find, necromancy is actually the art of 'giving and taking life', it's all about balance."

Blake nodded along with her sister. "Necromancers do not wish for immortality, they wish to live long enough to accomplish something, and to choose when they die, rather than putting it off forever."

"Really?" Lily asked. "That's pretty different to the 'muggle' idea of a necromancer, which are all evil people that have zombie armies and steal life from others to live forever."

"Yep." Rose nodded. "Harry gave us some books on the theory and philosophy of all sorts of magic."

"You can have a look at them yourself later if you want." Blake offered.

"Can I take a look too?" James asked with a frown, perhaps... perhaps reading something like that might help him understand this alternate of his son, as it was blatantly obvious that he perceived the world in a different way to James himself.

""Yes, father."" The girls chorused.

James grinned slightly at his daughters. While one part of his mind, a rather large part, was wary of Harry, even fearful, there was a tiny part of it that also ached to have his son back, no matter how impossible that was. Yesterday had really thrown it in his face that Harry was just so different. James, and the other wizards there, had been shocked silent merely by the 'feel' of power coming from what Harry had summoned, and Harry himself had been just so casual about it that James' mind was still trying to comprehend it.

Harry, the one he had known, always stood up for what was right, was admittedly somewhat stubborn and a little prejudiced, was of above average intelligence, and was an all round good kid. Good at academics, good at sports, popular, a prankster, and pretty much everything James could have wished for in an heir and child. He wondered just what sort of Servant that Harry would have summoned, a knight? A general? A king?

Whatever he would have summoned, he had no doubt that they would have been a more traditional hero, perhaps a Norse warrior who would enjoy drinking in a hall, boasting of his feats, while also being a strong and skilled warrior. Maybe he would have summoned a powerful mage, one of arcane power, who wielded his magic in defence of the innocent.

He would not have summoned what was, at best, an 'anti-hero'.

A voice in the back of James head wondered what exactly Harry was doing now.

xxxxx

James Potter was not the only one who was thinking of Harry Potter. Up in his office, Albus Dumbledore was staring at a bowl of lemon drops with a forlorn look on his face. Whenever he tried to pick one up, his body didn't react properly, and he would end up grasping the desk next to them, or the air above them. He couldn't even levitate one into his mouth, and he wouldn't try it again after his last attempt had given him a black eye.

In addition to his deprivation of lemon drops, Dumbledore was dressed, shock of shocks, stylishly! His clothes didn't clash, they weren't eye searingly bright colours, and they weren't flamboyant in the slightest. In actual fact, as he was now, the man looked quite distinguished, even dignified.

Of course, his childish pout kind of ruined that image.

"Oh, woe is me. What worth is my life if deprived of my previous candies and my wonderful clothes." Dumbledore sighed, earning him a look from Fawkes that basically said 'what are you on, old geezer?' to him.

"Oh, stuff it, you." Dumbledore said. "How would you like it if he'd turned your plumage mud brown and denied you your special berries, eh?" Fawkes squawked at that.

"That's what I thought." He harrumphed.

Another sound from the phoenix, a chirp this time, had Dumbledore humming in thought.

"I honestly don't know." The elderly human stated. "On one hand, he could be very easily be considered the darkest being I have ever met, but on the other... there is a core of unbending steel in him that refuses to totally lose himself in evil. It's quite the interesting contrast held inside of one being."

Fawkes let out a trill.

"No, I don't think he'd appreciate you trying to 'save his soul'." Dumbledore chuckled. "In fact, I imagine he's quite happy as he is, and any attempts to either redeem or damn him would be met with equally ferocious defiance. It's a delicate balance, but it is a balance all the same."

The phoenix twittered back at Dumbledore.

Frowning, the old man sighed. "No, I don't know what he's doing now, and I don't believe flaming there would be at all to your advantage. This 'Grail War' sounds like a very nasty business, and it's possible that a Servant will possess a Noble Phantasm capable of destroying you. Just wait, you impatient feather duster, and check him out when he gets back. He hasn't been gone a full day yet and you're already being a worry-wart."

Fawkes trilled sadly.

Dumbledore seemed to get older at that, until the weight of the years almost seemed to crush him. "No, it wouldn't surprise me if Harry's hands were being stained with blood already. Despite the fact a full day has yet to pass, he's not one to hang about when he's made a decision."

Fawkes had no reply to that.

xxxxx

A wet thud.

A muffled whimper.

A resigned sigh.

Harry glanced down at the body of Ryuunosuke Uryuu, before his gaze flickered over to a frightened out of his mind child. He couldn't help but sigh a second time, this was going to be a pain, and he kind of felt a bit displeased with having taken Gilles de Rais out of the war this early, before he'd even done anything but get summoned in fact.

Sure, what he did to children pressed pretty much every berserk button Harry had, but there was no denying the fact that he was a driving force in the fourth Grail War, someone who acted instead of waiting around for others to make mistakes, and without him, it was possible the Grail War would drag on for ages now.

Helel looked curiously at the dark blue glowing orb that Servant Caster had been reduced to, before Harry tucked it away in a dimensional pocket. She then looked at the book Harry had taken from Caster, the one that appeared to have a cover made of human skin.

"What is it about that book that fascinates you so?" She asked. "Surely it is something other than the fact it is a Noble Phantasm, or the distasteful way it has been decorated."

Harry looked up at Helel, blinking in surprise, it seemed he'd gotten a little lost in thought there.

"It's less of what it is, and more of what it does." Harry explained. "When Caster has used it in other worlds, and indeed as he would have used it here, part of the incantation used to activate it is 'Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'yleh wgah'nagl fhtagn', and the implications of that is rather worrying."

"I don't even know what that means, so you'll have to explain it to me." Helel said. "Not to mention I'm not going to even guess at how you managed to pronounce that."

"It means 'In his house at R'yleh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming'." Harry told her. "It's referencing a 'Great Old One' from a supposedly fictional pantheon of gods by the famous author Lovecraft. This is highly disturbing because Azathoth, their primordial, is supposed to exist at the centre of existence, sleeping, and when he wakes, all of the multiverse will end."

"I thought the 'Root' was supposed to be the centre of the multiverse?" Mordred spoke up.

"It is, I checked." Harry replied. "However, there is more than one multi-verse, and Azathoth does exist at the heart of others. This is disturbing because this tome is capable of summoning creatures from said places, when even the Kaleidoscope is limited to a single multi-verse."

"Interesting, but this isn't the place for such a discussion." Helel interrupted, glancing pointedly at the room around them.

Harry sighed. "Sure, I'll sort things out right now." He then began to examine everything. "Let's see, they died recently enough I am able to revive them, the kid I can let go simply with erasing his memories of all of this..."

As he wandered around, Harry healed the physical bodies of the frightened child's family, before grabbing hold of their souls – which had yet to fade from the world – and stuffed them back into their bodies. A twitch of his wrist and all of their memories, along with the boy's, regarding the last two hours were erased, and they were put to sleep. Another twitch had the house returning to pristine condition, as if a serial killer hadn't broken in, killed all but one of the residents, and proceeded to use their blood in a ritual with the intention of summoning a demon.

A click of his fingers had Harry's magic completely erasing Ryuunosuke from existence.

"There, done." Harry nodded, before vanishing along with his Servants, only to reappear on top of the largest building in Fuyuki. "Now, you want to talk about what I mentioned before?"

"Yes, I am curious about the pantheon this 'Cthulhu' belongs to." Helel said.

"Well, there's the Outer Gods, which exist on a cosmic scale, and then there's the Great Old Ones which exist somewhat on a planetary scale." Harry told her. "There's a lot of them, and their abilities vary a lot, so if you want to know about them, we'll need a lot of time to go over everything."

"Forget that, just tell us how powerful they are." Mordred interjected.

"Sure." Harry shrugged. "Outer Gods are primal forces that exist on a scale greater than even TYPEs do, and thus are rather beyond me in power. This does not, however, mean I am totally helpless, just that my chances against are, well, rather slim to say the least. Great Old Ones, on the other hand, are more along the lines of being equivalent to this world's gods, and thus much more easily manageable."

Harry paused. "Let's take Cthulhu as an example. He's large, often described as mountainous in size, has the physical strength one would expect from such a large being, possesses rapid regeneration, capable of reforming from complete destruction, and those whose minds are weak or otherwise open go mad at the sight of him."

"And how would you deal with such a being?" Helel asked.

"Well, for one, there are a number of Noble Phantasms I can project that prevent regeneration. Secondly, I have the pure, brute strength required to easily lift and throw something weighing several mountains. Thirdly, I could just keep up a barrage of attacks to keep Cthulhu down, as he has no resistance to damage beyond what is 'natural'. Fourthly, I don't even need to kill him, simply restrain, and my curse chains can do that easily. I could even leave a duplicate of myself there until the end of time itself if it proved necessary." Harry informed her.

"And an Outer God?" Helel prompted Harry, who merely gave her a flat look.

"Considering they're worshipped as Gods by them, with Cthulhu himself being a 'high priest', they're the sort of beings you avoid if at all possible. Remember what I said back at that house? If Azathoth even wakes up, an entire multi-verse will end. That's not the sort of thing you can really prepare for when your limited to a galactic-scale of power, like I currently am." He said.

"Enough." Mordred spoke up again. "There's no reason to worry about deities from such distant places. The spell book only allows you to invite them, no? Therefore, if you don't invite them, they cannot appear here, can they?"

"True." Harry sighed. "I apologise, I was rather focused on the mechanics of such a thing, as it is truly amazing."

Harry looked at Prelati's Spell book, before he brought his immense power to bear on it, forcefully transforming the cover of human skin into a plain black cover. He then slipped it into a small portal that had appeared, putting it away for later study.

"Now, should we make plans for this war?" Harry asked.

Mordred frowned. "How soon can I face my father?" She questioned him.

"Tomorrow evening, I suspect." Harry answered her, the golden threads of Fate appearing in his hands. "We haven't made enough of an impact here to really alter all that much, not yet at least, but taking Caster out has caused some discrepancies already."

"What is happening tomorrow?" Helel asked.

"Well, tomorrow evening is when Lancer pretty much sends out a challenge to any Servant that can detect him, Saber is simply the first one to arrive, outside of Assassin that is. However, Kirei Kotomine is going to stage something tonight to make it appear as if he lost Assassin, but in truth Assassin possesses eighty separate bodies, and all must be destroyed to properly kill him." Harry informed her. "What actually happens at the docks, where Lancer sends out his challenge, are irrelevant, as we will obviously be a new and unaccounted for factor."

"So we wait for now?" Mordred asked. "Can't we at leas- Someone's here!"

"I know." Harry replied, having detected the soul moving their way long before Mordred had. "Hello, Gilgamesh."

Turning around, Harry saw the casually dressed King of Heroes standing there, but what made him curious was the fact that, judging by the fluctuations from the Servant's soul, he had looked at Harry with recognition.

"Harry Potter." Gilgamesh greeted him. "It is strange to see you here, as I know for a fact you have not become a Servant. Yet still my senses are telling me that you are just that, and those priests have already relayed to Tokiomi how this war is unique, for not only have two Sabers been summoned and no Caster, but Servant 'Avenger' has also made an appearance."

"So it did work." Harry smirked. "I thought that attempting to resonate with the Grail would allow me to affect what information can be gathered from it, but it is always good to have confirmation."

Gilgamesh walked up to stand beside Harry, completely ignoring both Mordred and Helel. He looked out across Fuyuki City with bored eyes.

"The same performance done a second time, how dull." He said.

Harry chuckled. "Things are already different to last time, and will only change further as the ripples become waves."

"But will the waves grow large enough to wash away the old drawings in the sand?" Gilgamesh continued.

"You're sounding awfully poetic." Harry commented. "Would you mind telling me what your purpose was in coming here to see me?"

"I recognised you, even from as far as Tokiomi's manor." Gilgamesh answered him. "I'm curious as to just how far you've grown, and what your purpose here is."

"My purpose?" Harry wondered. "I did not intentionally end up in this world, but now that I'm here, I have... four goals in mind. I wish to slaughter Zouken Matou, protect Sakura Matou, ensure Irisviel von Einzbern survives the war, and... I wish to destroy the grail and tear the corruption out of it."

"The worm, the broken child, the doll, and my treasure." Gilgamesh summarised. "The first is a parasite, and so should be removed. The second has had her progress stunted by the first. The third his disgustingly fatalistic. The last is mine."

"It is broken, damaged beyond repair." Harry countered.

"It is, but it is still my own treasure." Gilgamesh agreed. "However, it is up to me what is done with it, and I accept that you wish to dispose of the trash it has become. It does not matter to me, I am the King, and so I don't require any device to fulfil my wants."

Harry paused for a moment, as if something had caught his attention. A moment later, a small smile appeared on his face.

"I believe I can do something for you, something that would be at the least difficult for you alone." Harry said, before a shape began to appear next to him, taking on a human-like appearance, though the gender was almost as hard to determine as Harry's own.

"E-Enkidu!" Gilgamesh exclaimed, and it was one of the few times that Gilgamesh had ever stuttered.

The androgynous Enkidu with light green hair, smiled at Gilgamesh. "I am just as much Enkidu as you are Gilgamesh." He responded.

Gilgamesh turned to Harry, who shrugged.

"He'll be around as long as you are. Please, though, keep him out of Tokiomi's sight, I could do without that headache." Harry said, aware that Tokiomi was the only one who may potentially recognise Enkidu for who he was, de to the dream cycle.

"Acceptable." Gilgamesh agreed. "Tokiomi does not leave his home, and rarely sets foot even outside his cellar. It is a simple matter to avoid that dullard."

Enkidu turned and smiled warmly at Harry. "I thank you for this opportunity, and if you wish to call on me in the future, I will gladly awaken at your call."

"No problem." Harry waved him off, before another portal dropped a bag filled with currency next to him, all of it Japanese Yen. "Here, this is the currency of this country, there's enough of it there to buy half the city, so it should last you some time."

Enkidu picked the bag up and slung it over one shoulder. "Once again, thank you, Lord of Knowledge."

The Gate of Babylon opened, and Gilgamesh grabbed something from within it, which he handed to Harry.

"A true king rewards those who fulfil his wishes." The golden king said. "Here, perhaps these will be of use to you."

Harry looked down at what was in his hands, quickly flicking through it. "These are schematics of the Vimana! You would really share such a thing with me?"

"For returning Enkidu to my side, such things are nothing." Gilgamesh stated, though his eyes never left his old friend.

Harry quickly flicked through the pages in his hand, memorising them, before a portal opened up and swallowed the designs, to be stored in a safe place.

"Thank you." Harry grinned. "Now, if things go as they did before, I will see you tomorrow evening at the docks."

"Farewell, and good luck with achieving your goals." Enkidu waved him off, Gilgamesh adding his own unique goodbye to his friend's.

xxxxx

Less than an hour later, Harry could be found sitting on the roof of a regular home, silently watching the one opposite it, the Matou residence. On either side of him stood Mordred and Helel. Both of them could feel the 'unpleasantness' that seemed to emanate from the building across from them, and when Harry had told them why they were there, it just made them all the more eager to get down to business.

Helel, when she heard of what Sakura had been forced into, was on the verge of asking Harry whether there was a method of unlocking all of her power from when she was alive – the power of an Ultimate-class devil was nothing to sniff at, and she even eclipsed that – but she would deal with this thing first.

Mordred was simply disgusted at what went on in there. It reminded her of the many loathsome things the magi of her time sometimes did, and she was as willing to spill Zouken's blood as she had been those twisted bastards'. It also brought to mind some of the things Morgan, her mother, had done that she had borne witness to, and she had few pleasant memories of the woman who had used her as a tool for her own ends.

Still Harry waited, though his reasons for doing so became apparent when Jack materialised next to him.

"I've put the devices in place, father." Assassin stated, before hesitating for a moment. "Also... I have a request."

"Thank you, Jack." He smiled at his 'daughter'. "What is it you wish for?"

"I... I want to be the one who deals with this war's Assassin." She said. "I want to prove that I can do it."

"If that is what you want then I will help you however I can." Harry replied. "However, I want you to be careful. I don't care if I can revive you after another 'death', it would hurt me if you got injured. Will you promise me that?"

"I will, father." Jack agreed, a slight pink tinge of embarrassment on her cheeks, but her eyes were alight with joy.

"Okay then. Come to me if you want to know your progress. Right now, there are seventy-nine bodies left of Assassin." Harry told her. "Happy hunting."

Jack smiled, gave Harry a hug, and then astralised once more.

"Hehe, she's such a cute little thing." Tamamo said, as she also materialised. "Such a dear to her mummy and daddy." Harry didn't even need to guess who she was referring to. Even without knowing the fox-girl's personality, Jack did refer to Tamamo as mother, and the kitsune did indeed act the part too.

She then turned serious as she gave her report to Harry. "The talismans are in place, a barrier has been erected around the Matou manor in a complete sphere, and no worms will be getting in or out. As long as none of them started outside the barrier, we've got him fully contained."

Illya then appeared, though she was distracted, like something was on her mind. "I placed the tag on the Kariya Matou." She told him. "I've never been more thankful for your little inventions that let me do it without Berserker noticing me." She shook her head. "Anyway, apart from convulsing slightly and gagging a little, he showed no negative side effects."

"Good." Harry nodded his head. "I haven't examined him yet, so I don't know how much of a chance he has, or whether the damage he's taken is irreversible – it's his mind I'm worried about more than his body – but that's at least a good start."

He stood up. "Now, it's time we retrieved Sakura." He gestured to Helel. "Us two are the only ones with wings, so we're going to attack from above, causing a distraction. Mordred can smash down their front door, leaving Tamamo and Illya to go after Sakura."

They all made noises of agreement, and Tamamo held up the talisman she was going to slap on Sakura, putting her and anything that might be inside her into stasis.

You couldn't be too careful after all.

"Everyone ready?" Harry asked, getting nods or agreements from everyone around him.

"Well then, let's do this!"

xxxxx

The first thing that made Zouken aware that not everything was as it should be was nothing more than a shiver running down his spine. That was unusual, as his body didn't normally do something so mundane and pointless, making it something to take note of. Perhaps it was a forgotten instinct of his telling him the situation had somehow spiralled out of his control.

Frowning, the old man went to check up on his most valuable project at present, his 'granddaughter' Sakura.

He did not manage to take more than two steps before his front door, and a good deal of wall on either side, was smashed in by an armoured knight wearing a horned helmet. Simultaneously, two sections of the roof collapsed, with two more beings dropping in, each one possessing far more power than Zouken himself ever would.

Immediately, knowing when he was outmatched, Zouken turned to flee, instructing his worms in the basement to do the same. So long as a single one of them remained, he could come back. He was brought up short when his worms came up against an invisible, but impassable, barrier.

"Naughty, naughty." The purple-haired little girl sang at Zouken, like she had noticed what he'd attempted. "Do you really think that we'd assault your humble abode like this without making sure you remained here?"

"Such fools don't usually think of such things." Zouken replied, outwardly calm, but internally frantic. He knew there was nothing he could do against this being, and now his escape had been prevented. All that was left to him was to somehow talk his way out of the situation he had found himself in.

"Ah, the 'rush in and hope for the best' types, yes, I know a few of those." Harry spoke easily. "In fact, I am a little similar to them, though I at least make rudimentary plans beforehand, ensuring that I at least have an idea of what to do, rather than simply hoping I'm lucky enough for it to go off without a hitch."

"It seems that it is at least effective." Zouken acknowledged. "Usually, I would be fleeing from this place with all haste, but alas, I am incapable of doing so at present."

A loud crash, and some mad laughter from Mordred, downstairs was ignored by all three of them.

"I know, it's why I had that barrier put up in the first place." Harry smirked. "Now, this conversation does nothing but prolong what little time you have left, so it's time for you to die. Deceiver, this body is yours to do with as you wish, I am off to... purge the worm chamber."

"Oh, I will enjoy this." Helel answered, her eyes flashing darkly as she stalked towards Zouken.

xxxxx

Sakura looked up when the door to her room opened. Her eyes were dull and hopeless, but nevertheless she was surprised when an albino and fox-girl entered her room. What was even stranger was the way they looked at her, not just the pity there, but anger also, though not directed at her, and the firm, focused look of those who were determined to do what they came here to do.

"Hey, Sakura-chan!" The fox girl greeted her cheerily. "Now, a lot of things are going on right now, and we're not the only ones here. In fact, the others are either breaking stuff, killing your grandfather, or utterly destroying every crest worm that exists in this place. Now, I am go-"

"Oh, get to it." The albino girl huffed, before looking at Sakura. "Your grandfather is being killed beyond anyone's ability to come back, this house is going to be annihilated, and we're kind of taking you with us... man, if this was pretty much any other situation, that would make us the bad guys."

"You mean we're not?" Tamamo asked with wide eyes. "Then I baked all those cookies for nothing?!"

"Dimwit." Illya insulted her. "Besides, Harry's cookies are far better than yours."

Tamamo's fox ears drooped at that, though her tail wagged from side to side at the thought of Harry's delicious baking.

Both of them internally grinned when they saw the smallest of smiles appear on Sakura's face. Their 'mission' accomplished, Tamamo managed to slip her arm around Sakura and place the talisman on her, forcing her body and anything inside of her into stasis.

"Now to get her out of here." Illya sighed. "She'll be a lot happier back home than she ever was here."

Tamamo put Sakura on her back and began to carry her out of there. "Yeah, I'm more worried about the guy who's fighting to save her. What's his name, Kariya? He gave up Magecraft and then underwent an intense, year long 'training' period. That can't have been good for him."

"No, especially with what the Matou Magecraft is." Illya shivered. "Not pleasant at all."

A few more loud noises were heard, making Illya sigh. "Well, it sounds like Mordred is having fun, so we should probably get going."

"Sure, sure, let's go." Tamamo agreed, the two of them exiting the room by going through the window.

xxxxx

It didn't take Harry long to arrive in the worm pit, and he found it difficult to not let his lips curl into a sneer at the sight of them all. They weren't really going anywhere, but the way they crawled all over each other, in a writhing mass of soft flesh, was not a pleasant sight at all.

"Alright, little creepy things, time to burn." He said, the black fire of Amaterasu igniting in a line in front of him, before racing down to devour every last one of the rather phallus shaped creepy crawlies. Seriously, these particularly nematodes were revolting!

Harry searched out every last worm, sending the black flames into every nook and cranny, not letting a single one escape complete and total destruction. A distance away, a clone of himself checked Sakura over, finding some small worms and eggs inside of her, before destroying them as well.

He looked up and to the left when he felt Zouken's physical body die, his eyesight shifting until he could clearly see the old man's – if he could even be called human – soul. It was the work of a moment to apply several 'unpleasant' curses to him, ensuring that even death was no escape for him, before he added one more with a timer on it, to erase his soul once a certain amount of time had passed.

He left the worm pit without looking back.

xxxxx

When Sakura awoke, it was to find herself in a comfortable bed, in a room that was definitely not hers at the Matou residence. For one, the walls were painted different colours, a deep purple in this case, and someone had painted star constellations on the ceiling too. The furniture was also different, and very solid looking.

Cautiously, she got out of the bed, slipping on a pair of fluffy slippers that were next to her. Slowly, she started to walk to the door, where she paused, before opening it, revealing a hallway. From there, she could see more doors, and a closer inspection showed they had nameplates on them.

Looking at the door to the room she'd woken up in, she saw that her name, 'Sakura', was inscribed on the nameplate, with trees etched into the metal on either side of it.

Another door opened, startling Sakura, and from said doorway came another person, a female. She looked about fourteen, with waist-length black hair, and delicate features. She wore a white blouse, a black skirt, black stockings, and plain shoes. All in all, she looked like a European schoolgirl, and it wasn't until she looked up that Sakura saw her red eyes.

A sharp intake of breath had Altrouge looking up.

"Ah, so the sleeping beauty awakens." She said. "You're probably pretty confused about things right now, so if you want answers, come along with me. I'm kinda hungry and I'm pretty sure you are as well, so let's see what's been left lying around in the kitchen, eh?"

"Wh-who are you?" Sakura asked.

"Me? I'm Altrouge Brunestud." Alt replied, making Sakura freeze in place. Alt simply rolled her eyes at that. "Don't worry, I haven't bitten you, and I have no intention of doing so. Like I said, I've got some answers, so you might want to start asking questions."

Sakura hesitantly began following the Dead Apostle Ancestor, knowing that aggravating such a being was a very bad idea.

"Ah, where am I?" Sakura wondered.

"A home of a friend of mine, though a lot of others live here too, more so than he some of them. I guess you could say this is where I live, and you can call it home as well." Altrouge told her. "I'm guessing, though, that you have a more pressing question you want to ask."

"Why am I here?" Sakura responded. "What... what happened to me?"

"Well, my friend wasn't at all happy about what was happening to you, so he kind of invaded your home, kidnapped you, and killed your grandfather. Don't worry about the others, Shinji and Byakuya aren't in Fuyuki City right now, so they avoided the whole thing."

"Grandfather... is dead?" Sakura whispered, following Alt round a corner.

"Yeah, and all of his worms have been either destroyed or had their connection to him severed. Harry, my friend, was the one to remove the ones inside of you, so you're free of them now." Alt replied as they entered the kitchen, her eyes darting around for something tasty. "Want something to drink?"

"Ah... I don't know." Sakura hesitated. "Do you have something that isn't... blood?"

"Of course." Altrouge answered her. "You're too young for anything alcoholic, but we've got plenty of different juices, milk, lemonade, and almost anything you can think of."

"I'll just have juice then." Sakura answered, her mind still not fully comprehending the situation she was in, as she saw Altrouge Brunestud pouring her, Sakura Matou, a drink of apple juice.

She accepted the glass from the vampire girl, and watched as she poured another glass out, this one was either red wine or, more likely, blood. Once that was done, Altrouge began rifling through the fridge, before she emerged with a plate of pastries of some sort.

"These will do as a snack. I'd offer you something more, but cooking isn't exactly something I'm good at." Altrouge said, leading the way through to a sitting room. Once there, she set the plate of pastries down on a coffee table, taking one herself.

Nervously, Sakura took a seat as well, sipping from the glass in her hand.

Alt raised an eyebrow at her. "You know, I did offer you some of the pastries. I'm sure you must be hungry, so eat. They're not poisoned are anything if that's what you're worried about."

Sakura reached for one of said pastries, taking a small bite as she did so. It was really good, and as she actually was hungry, it quickly disappeared. She reached for another, and seeing how Altrouge wasn't stopping her, ate that one as well. Several more pastries disappeared like that, neither girl speaking as they did so.

Eventually, Sakura became full, and she asked a question that had been on her mind for a while now.

"What's going to happen to me now?" She said.

"Good question." Altrouge replied. "For starters, there's no way you're going back to Zouken, even if he hadn't already been killed. Aside from that, your options are either Kariya or us. However, before that, we're going to have Nel check out just how... mentally stable the guy is first."

Sakura frowned slightly. "Uncle Kariya is not well?"

Altrouge tapped a finger on the arm of a chair as she got her thoughts in order.

"It's not that he's unwell, exactly, though he is that too." She said. "The Matou Magecraft cuts down on your lifespan to grant you power, and even if he survived the war, it's unlikely he'd live long afterwards, even if he had a healthy body. No, what we're concerned about is his mental state. For the last year, he underwent an intense 'training' period, and with the pain caused by the worms, as well as the methods Zouken used, it would be no surprise if he was somewhat insane."

Altrouge paused, before continuing. "Personally, I believe that Kariya is unlikely to be mentally fit to be your guardian. His jealousy towards your father, for getting your mother, Aoi, and you and Rin, has quite likely developed into an obsession, whereupon he has decided that your father must pay for his transgressions. Of course, I find it rather foolish that his only reason for fighting in the Grail War is to return you to your original family."

"Why?" Sakura asked.

"I mean no offence when I say this, but your father gave you away once, there's nothing stopping him from doing so a second time." Altrouge bluntly told her. "In addition to that, you would be in an environment that is not the best for your own development, as you may possibly develop some form of inferiority complex from knowing your sister gets preferential treatment, due to being the 'heir' of the family."

"A-and what can I get here?" Sakura prompted, though she only understood parts of what Altrouge had said, the message itself was clear.

"There's a lot of people here, and from all walks of life." Altrouge answered. "If you want to do something, as long as it's not harmful to yourself or others, you can expect us to approve and even help you where we can. If you want to be a magus, you can be. If you don't, then you won't have to be. We will expect you to try your best at whatever you do though, as if you go at life half-hearted, then you're only screwing yourself over. Okay?"

"I understand." Sakura nodded, now feeling somewhat more comfortable in Altrouge's presence than she did before. In fact, she was comfortable enough to take notice of how, well, laid back she was. She was acting like an ordinary person, not a centuries old vampire princess, or at least what Sakura thought such a being might act like.

"Good." Altrouge grinned. "Oh, just so you know, this place is actually an alternate reality roughly twelve years ahead of yours. You can wander about the house and grounds as much as you want, but if you want to go into Fuyuki proper, you'll need to take one of us with you. If you don't want it to be me, ask one of the others, not everyone here is a Dead Apostle."

Sakura nodded silently, contemplating what her new life would be like from now on.

xxxxx

Nel, in her cat form, stalked after Kariya Matou, silently wishing he would go to bloody sleep already! Human minds were so much easier to enter when they weren't conscious, and she could go a lot deeper a lot easier if he was asleep rather than simply knocked out.

It was hard enough simply ensuring Berserker didn't notice her. After all, she was a white cat, and not a black one like Len, who could much more easily hide in the shadows. However, of the two succubi, she was, by far, more verbose than her opposite, who barely spoke a sentence every century or two, and as they would be relaying what she found to the Sakura girl personally, it just had to be her.

Nel took another look at the human she was following, and couldn't help but shiver in disgust. Simply the knowledge of the many parasitical worms that resided in him was enough to make her nauseous. His physical state only served to make him seem even more pitiable.

Kariya Matou may have, at some point, been a fairly attractive man, but now his skin was pale, waxen, and stretched far too tightly over his bony body. He looked like he hadn't had a good meal in goodness knows how long, and his emaciated form only made him look more like a zombie.

Of course, what Nel found most revolting about him was the way his body sometimes bulged and shifted, knowing that it was actually one of the damn disgusting parasites moving about inside him. It was different to the nano-machines Harry had created and put within himself, they were small and unobtrusive, as well as being purely beneficial, unlike the Matou worms which extracted a very high price for their usage.

Nel had to stop herself from sighing, even though she was in cat form, when Kariya began pacing backwards and forwards, muttering things under his breath. Whatever he was muttering, however, Nel couldn't hear it, as it was both quiet, mumbled, and seemed to stop and start randomly.

At this point, Nel was almost tempted to ask Harry to use a spell or something to put the man to sleep, even if that would interfere with her own mental skills. It wasn't like she needed to go that deep into his mind, right? Surely any damage would be noticeable further out, wouldn't it?

Of course, Nel knew that she wouldn't do that. Harry had asked her to look as deeply into Kariya's mind as she could, and faithfully report its condition to both him, and to the Sakura girl. She was a little confused why a young kid was being given such information, but considering the man was her uncle, it was kind of understandable, though Nel doubted Sakura would be able to comprehend the complete scope of what she would relay to her, she was only a kid after all.

A small part of Nel's mind reminded her that Harry was also a kid, but another part countered with the fact he had been using mental enhancement magic from a young age, and he had matured quicker than most, even if he still had bouts of childishness at times.

Nel perked up when she saw Kariya collapse against the wall in the corner. He had one leg drawn up to his chest, on which he rested his head, while his other leg was laid out straight. Both of his arms were wrapped around his left knee, and she could hear his ramblings become quieter and more intermittent.

Several minutes later, he was asleep, and Nel could finally do what she'd been tasked with.

It was time to see just how mentally stable Kariya Matou was.