Rin lay on her side. Her pajamas had been thrown off; they were too soaked with tears and snot to be worn. Naked, curled up under a soft blanket, and crying.

I have no sister. I have no sister now, and never did. Because if I did, this would not be possible. In fact, I have never had a Father either. I have a mother, but no Father. If I had a Father, this could not be real. But that's fine! Because this isn't real. Nothing is real. That Servant is just a liar. Just like Father.

But there is no Father? There never was? Am I alone in this world?

Can I go downstairs and see Sakura again? Can we embrace as we used to?

There was a rustling in the air, and Rin felt a hand on her shoulder. It caressed her, kneading its fingers into her skin.

"Mother?" she whispered, though she could never believe her mother could be here. That woman was always too cold and distant; no matter how much she cared about Rin, she was separated from her by some gulf. Some uncrossable ocean. Father, though. Father was always warm.

"Shh," the voice said. It was soft, and Rin felt no malice behind it. So she let it happen.

She felt the warmth of the touch, and pretended Father was here with her. And Sakura.

And then she let the warmth take her away, and the fantasies in her consciousness mixed with the memories of pain that still dogged her steps, and she slept.

XXX

Ciel sat on the chair in the room, watching the girl sleep. Her breath was soft, fluttering through the air.

Rin's eyes fluttered open. Filled with hazy memories of the night before, she let her eyes focus. The image they saw didn't make any sense, but neither did anything else the past twenty-four hours. Before her there was a woman, clad in blue, her head bowed. She bore tattoos; intricate things, resembling illustrations Rin had seen in her Father's books. Rin looked at her, and remembered.

"Who are you?" she asked. Though she knew, she wanted to be wrong.

"I am the Servant Assassin," said Ciel. Her head remained bowed, her eyes shrouded by her short blue bangs. "Rin, I need to talk with you." Though she needed to talk, she did not know what to say.

"No, you aren't," Rin muttered. "I saw Assassin die."

"Yes," said Ciel softly. "I did."

A moment's silence.

"Is death nothing, then?" Rin asked. "Is it something to be stepped over like a shallow creek?"

"For some, yes," said Ciel. "But Rin, I must -"

Rin closed her eyes and returned to the pillow. "You killed Father, did you not?"

"He would have died no matter what," Ciel said. "I made sure you survived. You may not believe me, and you don't have to, but it's true."

"Do you hate me that much, then?" Rin asked. "Do you think I want to be alive right now?"

"Oh, Rin, I know you don't," Ciel said. "But that will change. One day you will want to live, and you will be glad you did."

"Why are you here, then? If not to kill me too."

Ciel brushed her hair out of her face. "Rin, I like you. I want to help you."

"So everyone says," Rin said. "But somehow I'm having a little difficulty trusting anyone, let alone you."

"Doesn't surprise me," said Ciel. "But let me prove my good intentions. You can reject my help if you want, but if you do, do it because you don't want or need it, not because you suspect me."

"Come on, then. Let's hear it."

"My Master told me you heard about what is going on with Matou Sakura," Ciel said, unsure how to broach the topic. Best to just run in, guns blazing.

Rin was silent.

"Do you want to help her?"

Rin opened her eyes, sat up, and regarded Ciel. "Oh, can I? Can I, then? Redeem my family's honour, save my sister from the evil vampire wannabee who's captured her? Assassin, you don't seem to understand what's going on here. I lost. My Father died, and I lived, but I have no reason for it. The only reason I haven't tried to kill myself yet is that I simply don't have any energy to do so. If I could save people, we wouldn't be having this discussion. I'm nothing but a child, and all I can do is cry. No matter what you, or that Archer bastard says. So why don't you all just leave me alone so I can drown in my tears?"

"You have to understand, Rin," Ciel said. She felt like she was pleading, but she didn't know why. "You still have a chance to do good. Just because something bad happened, doesn't mean that everything is lost."

"Everything is lost! Why don't you understand that?" Rin pushed her face back into the pillow. "My Father is everything I had. Everything I have ever had come to me through him; my mother and my sister were with me because he wanted them to be, and when he sent them away, they left. There isn't anything else, and there never will be." She peeked up at Ciel. "I know what you people are trying to do, you know."

"What are we trying to do?" Ciel asked.

"You, all of you, you're trying to replace him in my life. You're trying to take the place that Father had. That stupid priest probably thinks he learned everything there is to know from Father, and feels qualified to just be him. Archer treats me like I'm some sort of pet. It's creepy."

"And me?" Ciel asked. "Am I acting like your father?"

"No," Rin said. "You're trying to be my mother. And that's even worse. I don't get it. Are you trying to control me for your own sake, or do you just wish you had kids and are trying to pretend I'm yours?"

Ciel sighed. "And if I did, Rin? Would that change anything about your situation?"

Rin was silent for a moment. "What do you mean?"

"Well," Ciel said, "You're still, as you say, without anchor. There is nothing in your life to provide you with security; you are entirely alone and you feel this cold, encroaching world upon you. You know what is happening to your sister, how the worms are violating her. You know the pain she feels, because you feel it too. But you don't feel worms, you feel life intruding, blocking you from escape. You feel railroaded into your destiny, with no hope of getting out. So what if I feel like I'm trying to mother you? Even if that's true, even if I am violating your mother's memory by doing so, it doesn't change the reason I'm here right now and what I can offer you."

"And what's that?"

"Escape. I can offer you an escape from this hell you have been dragged into. For it is painful that you have been put in this situation, and regrettable, but you know what? You only stay here for as long as you want to. Believe me, Rin, I have been in a similar situation in the past. And hiding in your room won't solve it; once this process is begun, it will continue, creeping up on you, extending its tendrils until it either drives you to madness from keeping your feelings turned inward, or else they will explode and you will become a monster, and wish you had died when your father did. The only way to confront it - and I do not mean to defeat it, for that is really impossible - is to struggle. To struggle against your destiny. You may not win. In fact, you probably won't. But you must try, since that is what makes you human."

Rin choked up, holding back the tears. "And if I escape, as you say, where can I go? Where else is there but here?"

Ciel tentatively reached out to Rin, touched her hair, and tucked it behind her ear. "Rin, I'm going to be honest with you. I don't know. There may be nothing else out there. There may be a beautiful place, a heaven, or only deeper hell. But I think that what you find there is what you choose to find. Empowering, isn't it?"

Rin chuckled. "Scary, more like." She leaned into Ciel's hand on her head.

Ciel took her in an embrace. "As if there's a difference."

Rin cried softly, sweetly into Ciel's breast, and Ciel bent her head and kissed the crown of Rin's hair.

Then, Rin's crying slowly abated, and what was left was a quiet girl who sought comfort. She laid her head on Ciel's breast, and her breath assumed the soft rhythms of sleep. Ciel let her own eyes grow heavy, caressed as she was by the warmth she felt on her chest. And she dreamed.

XXX

She used to play in the fields, in the meadows she gathered flowers. She had seen a bee taking nectar from a dandelion, and followed it to its hive. She had bent over the hive, and waved to the bees doing their work inside.

And then she had walked away from the hive, and the pain had struck.

She had felt it in her chest, a sickening sensation of her blood freezing and boiling, a cycle of hell and perdition. She heard the voice rise up in her.

Come, you know you want to be just like them.

She shook her head, and rubbed her eyes, in the hopes it would make it stop. She turned around, and saw a squirrel, covered in honey, being attacked by a swarm of bees. It was bleeding, thrashing, but there was no way it could win this fight. She saw its eyes punctured, its stomach forced open.

She fell to the ground, and she could only lie on her side and watch.

Come, Elesia, the voice continued, sweet like honey but stabbing through her soul. Look at them, perpetuating the circle of life. You want to kill as they do. Yet something within you knows a higher destiny awaits. For even these bees will die, but you? Oh, you, girl... you will live as no being ever has.

She didn't know if the voice was real or not, so she did not reply. She just waited for it to stop. She tried to close her eyes to the carnage before her.

But her eyes remained open, and despite the revulsion she felt in her heart, her lips pricked into a smile.

And then Rin appeared, a girl lying in the meadow, in a soft white shift. Ciel's eyes saw her, and though her soul wanted to go to the child, and hold her, her heart was squeezed by claws, and started pumping tachycardically. The veins in her face bulged, and her vision became hazy. She approached the girl, panting, and the sweet crooning of her new father in her ear goaded her on, pushing her like a feather tickling her back.

Such perfect beauty, in the earliest flowering of life - Do you not lust for it, Elesia? Do you not envy her vitality?

Ciel could not respond, could only desire.

Then take it, my daughter, and love.

And Ciel lifted Rin's head, and felt the ribbon tying her hair, expertly affixed. But she was blind to the finery, or to the woven cotton of the shift. She saw only a neck, and precious lifeblood flowing in it. It pulsed with magical energy, and Ciel brushed Rin's hair away, lowered her face, and drank deep, hoping to sate her lust.

But her lust was not sated; instead it only grew as she drank.

When the girl was exhausted and emptied, Ciel discarded her.

"Father," she said to her soul, to the one who cohabitated with it, "What now?"

If you want more, Elesia, go find it, and grow drunk in it. If you are already broken, then break completely.

And so the little bit of humanity left in her, the reason, left, and was replaced by the animal. She lusted, she lusted, she lusted - for life, for she was not one without life. On the contrary, she *was* life, and thus sought her own, sought to magnify herself by taking the life of others.

She eyed a village in the distance. Windmills, vineyards, and a market square. People. Happy.

And ignorant. Weak. Defenseless.

She licked her lips of the last drop of the girl, and broke into a run.

XXX

Rin woke, covered in sweat. She was alone.

The woman who had been here... she was so strange. Why did she want to help me? She killed Father, but was protecting me? How is that possible?

But who cares about that.

I can't... I can't believe this whole thing about Sakura.

It must be a lie. They must be trying to deceive me. How could Father do this? It is impossible to think of him, the Father I knew, degrading his own daughter for no reason. It just... doesn't make sense. I either have to reject everything I knew, everything I held dear, or reject this new information.

Coming from the people who were there when Father died.

But she was so kind to me.

How could she be so kind if she wanted to hurt me?

But how could Father be so kind to me if he wanted to hurt Sakura?

Maybe it doesn't make sense.

It's not as if Sakura ever did anything wrong to make her worthy of... that, horrible suffering.

When that golden Servant told me, all I wanted to do was kill him. But I couldn't. I couldn't move, I couldn't speak. My face was just frozen, and I wanted to go back to the time before. I begged him to stop, but he kept telling me, just adding more and more detail.

I... I can't resolve this right now. I can't wrap my head around it. It makes no sense.

I haven't left my room in a day.

I need to get out.

Rin sat up, wiped the tears and mucous from her eyes, and thought about her situation.

Okay... I'm covered in sweat, I need to pee, and I'm hungry. Let's address that.

She went to the en-suite bathroom, and looked at herself in the mirror. She was surprised to find her ribbons tied. She remembered them being undone when she fell asleep.

Did she...?

She grabbed a comb from the stand next to the mirror, and got to work.

After about twenty minutes of showering, relieving herself, and picking some clothes, she was ready. She went down the stairs and tried not to think about the blood covering them.

When she got to the bottom, she heard a voice behind her, filled with the fat of ancient wealth.

"Good morning, girl. Finally decided to join the living?"

She turned around to the golden sparks coalescing into a man.

"Quiet, Servant," she said. "Or have you forgotten your station as a familiar summoned by the Tohsaka?"

She trembled as she said it. The Servant seemed bemused.

He leaned against the banister. "Careful, girl. I've killed slaves for less than that." He cocked his head. "But I will forgive you, this time." He put his hand on her shoulder. He leaned in close to her ear, and whispered. "Now what will you do? Will you reclaim your authority? Or was that taunt just now the empty growling of a mangy mongrel?"

"I will do what I will do, Servant. Now go." She walked forward, and his hand fell away from her.

Rin went on to the kitchen. She had been growing used to cooking for herself, as Father had not only sent Mother away, but also the household staff. He had cooked his own meals, and for the two of them when they occasionally ate together, but more often than not, Rin was alone.

She reached into the fridge, and pulled out some eggs. Then she got a pan from the cabinet, turned on the stovetop, and thought about the blue fire that emerged from the grate. It looked almost holy to her.

Then she put the pan on the fire, got some oil from another cabinet, poured some in, and cracked the eggs.

She let them sizzle, and added spice. Pepper, oregano, basil. When the eggs were done, she plated them, along with a slice of bread, and sat down, and began to eat.

The eggs were good, skillfully prepared.

She finished eating, and cleaned the dishes. Soap, sponge. She left them to dry, and walked to the front door.

"Rin," the voice said.

"What is it, Kirei?" Rin asked, annoyed.

"You look lovely," he said.

"A Tohsaka must always be presentable, Kirei," she replied. She turned to look at him. "Just another way you fell short of my Father's teachings: You never did learn to dress better than those depressing suits, did you?"

"Rin, I cannot allow you to go out alone."

"Kirei, who is the heir to the Tohsaka name?" she asked. "Is it you? No, it is me. So let me do as I will."

"Your father entrusted your care to me, Rin," Kirei said. "He told me to make sure you were safe, if anything were to happen to him."

"Well," Rin said, "My Father's gone now. So you are no longer bound by his word, but by mine, if you are even attached to this house at all. So if you are, then let me do as I want. And if you are not, get out."

"Rin, your safety is paramount. You must agree that that is what your Father would have wanted, to safeguard his heir."

Rin sighed. "Kirei, understand this well. I don't care what my Father wanted."

"Do you understand that there are dangers lurking outside, new enemies who would not hesitate to kill you at the first opportunity?"

"Yes. And that is my decision, not yours. Now leave me alone."

She opened the door.

"Goodbye, Kirei."

He said nothing, she walked out, and slammed the door.

She collected herself after the stress that whole morning had placed upon her. She started walking to the street. She didn't have any particular destination. She just wanted to walk, and let her synapses be spurred into action by the movement. As her feet moved in that familiar rhythm, she thought about the Servant Assassin. Who was she? Why had she killed Father, and why was she so nice to Rin? Rin didn't really know if she was a good judge of character or anything, but she was fairly certain that the two people who she really instinctively hated - Kirei and that golden Archer - were in fact bad people. Maybe even evil.

And when she met Assassin for the first time, she felt no such sudden animosity towards her.

So maybe, maybe it was the contrast between Assassin on the one hand, and Kirei and Archer on the other, that made her feel like Assassin was trustworthy. Even if she had killed Father.

Oh God, that's sick, isn't it? Trusting the person who did all that to me? She uprooted everything I was!

But I look at her, and I can tell that she cares.

It just doesn't make sense...

Rin walked a bit more, trying to let the wind caress her cheek, when she realized something else.

Wait a minute. Didn't Assassin get killed? Or did I just imagine that? Was the trauma of the event so bad that I manufactured memories? Then again, Servants are weird.

They don't make sense either. Nothing about my life, or this fucking War does.

She walked a bit more, and sensed a presence behind her.

She kept walking, afraid to reveal that she knew she was being followed. If she didn't let on, if she ignored it, maybe it would just go away.

She wished there were a corner she could turn and lose her tail, but the road was entirely straight for miles.

She regretted having left the manor.

But, she was glad to think she would be freed from this endless absurdity she had been plunged into. Better oblivion, where she can be with Father and Mother and Sakura again, than this lucid, conscious hell.

She heard a whisper.

"Rin, you okay?"

She relaxed and turned. "Assassin."

Assassin was there, hair tied back in a ponytail, wearing a black t-shirt emblazoned with the logo of the band L'Arc~en~Ciel, and jean shorts. She wore white sneakers. She was smiling, and waved. "I saw you leave so I figured I'd join you. What's up?"

"Assassin," Rin laughed, despite herself, for the first time she could remember, "You look ridiculous."

Assassin looked shocked, and the shock gave way to indignation. "Are you telling me that just because I'm a Servant I can't dress like a normal person? I refuse to be fitted into your cookie-cutter moulds of the way things should be."

Assassin put her arm around the girl, and hugged her. "Come on, Rin. Let's take a walk."

XXX

"So what you're telling me," said Rin, "is that you're actually from around this time?"

"Yep!" Ciel walked on, holding Rin's hand, admiring the trees lining Miyama's avenues. The sunlight filtered through them and lent the environment the sense of a clearing in a busy forest. "I actually grew up in Europe, but I spent some time in Japan in my life. Never been to Fuyuki though, not until I was summoned here."

Rin thought for a moment. "So," she said, "Heroic Spirits can be from the modern era too? My Father never told me about that."

"Well, Rin, I guess we're pretty rare; you know about the Throne of Heroes, right?"

Rin smiled, and answered with excitement. "Yes! It's where the crystallized, personified ideals of Humanity are preserved after the dissolution of the physical people and objects that generate the legends."

"Exactly! One point for Miss Tohsaka!" Ciel laughed. "So, obviously, in our modern world, there isn't much around that's worthy of legend anymore. What with mass communication disseminating actual knowledge of how people lived - which tends to get in the way of large numbers of people believing in fanciful, supernatural stories - and the general ebbing away of Mystery as technology becomes more and more advanced, it's pretty hard to make the case to the collective unconscious that the Throne of Heroes can admit another ideal."

"Then how did you get in?" Rin asked.

"I..." Ciel looked away from Rin, at a nearby tree, and imagined what it would have been like to lie in its shade long ago, in the days before she became who she was. "I got mixed up in some things. I'd rather not talk about it, you understand?"

"Yeah, I get it," Rin said. "I know what it's like to not want to talk about things that happened." She looked at the ground, and let go of Ciel's hand.

They walked in silence for a bit.

"Um, Assassin?"

Ciel looked at her, and noticed her hiding her eyes from view.

"Yeah?"

"What's your name?" Rin asked. "I know revealing the True Name is something that makes a Servant vulnerable, but since you are Kirei's Servant and - I think - he's on my side... I just want something to call you besides for Assassin. Something, more personal, you know?"

Ciel could sense the girl's need for human contact. "Yeah, I know what you mean." She reached out and squeezed Rin's hand again, and was happy to feel Rin move closer to her. "Call me Ciel."

"Shieru?" Rin said, trying to pronounce the foreign name.

"Yeah, sorry about that..." Ciel said. "It's French, if that helps."

"Oh, I see," Rin said. "It's a very pretty name!"

"Thanks," Ciel said.

"What does it mean?" Rin asked.

"Heaven."

"Where the gods live? Or just the sky?"

"I'll let you know when I get there, Rin," Ciel said. "Anyway, what brings you out on this morning stroll in the first place? Too cramped inside?"

"Something like that," Rin said. "I just can't... I can't make sense of anything."

"Yeah, that's how it is," Ciel said.

"Ciel, have you -"

"Yeah, Rin, I lost my parents," Ciel said. "And no, I don't really want to talk about it. I'm sorry. I just can't. But I want you to know that I did, since I think it'll help, at least a little bit, to know that you aren't alone."

"Thanks, Ciel," Rin said.

"Wanna go home, Rin?"

"Okay."

They walked together. By the time they returned, the sun was already setting, and bathed the earth in a red glow. Rin could see the Tohsaka manor in the distance.

"Ciel."

"Yeah?"

"I really don't want to go back in there."

"I know."

"Can we just sit?"

"Sure, Rin." Ciel sat down on the sidewalk, and Rin sat next to her, and leaned her head on Ciel's shoulder.

"Will you protect me?" Rin asked.

"Yeah, I will."

"Thanks, Ciel," Rin said, and closed her eyes.

XXX

Ciel considered her situation. First, she had been forced to kill a - well, not really innocent - man, but one who didn't deserve to die when he did. It offended her sense of justice to kill a man when his back is turned, when you are posing as his ally. And now... her Master has descended into madness, but for what? He is seeking something, and whatever it is, he has not seen fit to tell her. She looked down at the sleeping girl in her lap. A very cute girl, who deserved far better than this. Ciel wanted to take care of her, tuck her into bed at night. Even now, in the midst of all this craziness surrounding the Holy Grail War, she took some comfort in the girl's sleeping peace.

And Ciel remembered what it was like to see your father lying dead before you. Even if you were not the one to have done it, the shock is the same. When she had awoken after her first vampiric fit of rage, she didn't recall that she had been the one to enact that horror. All she knew was what was before her eyes, which was her father's corpse. Bloodied, mangled, with his ankle-bone poking out through his skin.

But Ciel also knew that, while she wished she could have prevented the murder of her parents, she was powerless to do so. So too, she was powerless to prevent Archer from doing what he wanted. At best, she could have stood in the way, and been skewered alongside Tokiomi; or else, she might have tried stabbing Archer in the neck, but there was no guarantee that that would have worked. He could easily have summoned another blade from a golden portal to skewer her where she stood.

Not that it mattered! She ended up filleted like a salmon, made to be Kirei's patsy. And why? Ciel suspected that the only reason it was done was to cause her more pain. Which brought her back to the issue at hand: Kirei has gone off the deep end. And Ciel had to do something about it.

But if Archer caught wind of it, he would kill her over and over again, and even Roa wouldn't help her get out of that. Plus, Kirei would just bind her with a Command Spell. No, there must be some other way around this.

An idea came to her.

She nudged Rin.

"Hmmmdfhf?" the girl made questioning noises, as she refused to wake.

"Rin," Ciel whispered. "Wake up."

Rin opened one eye angrily. Ciel made a mental note never to wake her again, unless the situation absolutely required it.

Her expression softened, however, once she recognized the Servant.

"How long was I asleep, Ciel?"

"Not too long," Ciel said, quickly. "Now listen, we haven't much time. There's something I need you to do."

"What?"

"So, I know this is going to sound weird, so just know that everything I'm telling you is so that we can help Sakura."

Rin was silent.

"Sakura, your sister? You want to be with her again, right?"

Rin started to cry.

Ciel held Rin's head to her breast, and soothed her.

"Come on, you're a strong girl, just like me, right?"

Rin wiped her face of its tears on Ciel's garb, and stood up. She nodded. Her face was level with Ciel's, who was still crouching.

Ciel resisted the urge to pat Rin's head, and instead spoke to her with a serious, adult tone. "Rin, I'm going to need you to remember something. Just for a few minutes."

Rin nodded.

"Remember that I wanted you to go somewhere. I don't know where yet; I'm going to do a ritual, and then you tell the person that comes what I just told you. Can you do that?"

Rin nodded.

Satisfied, Ciel went to the dagger at her waist. "Now, don't be afraid." She took the knife, and hoping that the girl was already inured to gore, and wishing there was another way she could do this, she stabbed herself in the abdomen.

She bent over on herself, hoping that this way at least Rin wouldn't have to see the blood spurting from the wound.

She saw that Rin wasn't screaming, or crying; instead, her face was blank. Which certainly wasn't ideal, and possibly worse than the alternative, but the long-term impacts of her trauma would have to wait. Immediate danger was more pressing.

Ciel felt all the lifeblood flow from her body, and silently prayed to the other half of herself.

XXX

Is she calling me again? Come on, Ciel... I had finally gotten to rest after dealing with those annoying pricks from last time. And then she had the gall, the absolute fucking gall, to get stabbed again. And I had to get out in order to bring her body back, and then when she was done with me, it was nothing, not even a word of "Thanks, I really appreciate you being there for me all the time, Roa." No... it was just, "get back inside". Well, I say this, and I say it now: I have had it up to HERE with this treatment.

Listen, girl. Either you let me out when I want and in when I want, or I will fucking boycott this entire enterprise.

Don't think I won't.

I can.

And without me, everything that makes you special, or strong, just falls to nothing.

What do you say to that, blue BITCH?

Ciel mulled this over, or rather her soul did, in the murky blackness that was the psychic treasurehouse she shared with the ancient vampire. She then did the psychic equivalent of turning around and ignoring him, putting her fingers in her ears, and singing loudly of her preoccupation with literally anything else.

Roa growled. Psychically.

"Hey, cuntbreath," he called. "I know where you keep your curry. And not the fantasy stuff you eat in here when I'm out in the real world. I mean the real thing. As soon as you let me into your body, I can piss all over your stash, and make sure Kirei keeps you busy enough that you can never get any more."

Faster than a blink, Ciel was on him. He saw fear in those metaphysical eyes, and smiled.

"Do we understand each other?" he asked.

"Fine..." she grumbled. "Just don't do anything stupid; remember, if somehow we're banished back to the Throne, not only do you lose your chance to pursue the Princess, but you will be entirely alone again."

"Oh, how terrible that would be," he sighed theatrically. Though, in truth, he had hated that solitude. Maybe it was the Princess' influence, but ever since he came close to reaching her in life, he lost the taste for the lonely feeling of being at the top. It would have led him to abandoning his immortal form, perhaps, had he not forcibly abandoned it with the aid of a certain kid with weird eyes. And Ciel. Fucking Ciel.

"And whenever you're done out there, make sure you don't tell me anything that you saw or did. Not even telepathically. That's super important. And don't let Kirei see you."

"So I should refrain from relating my exploits in the brothels of this one-horse town? Aww, man... you drive a hard bargain, my dear."

"Call me that again. Just once."

"Okay! Your eyes are like unto sapphires, glowing below the Holy One's Throne of Glory, my dear. I wanna spray my essence in your face and all over them. There, how's that?"

He dodged her Black Keys.

All right, milady. Here goes nothing.

XXX

He realized that he would have to push harder this time than usual, since there was a weight on top of Ciel's cavity to get through.

Having shoved it off, he realized it was Ciel's torso. Why had she gone to the trouble of covering the wound? Was there someone she didn't want to see the ritual, or...

He wiped the blood off his face and hair, and saw a little girl in red standing opposite him. She was strangely calm, considering that what she had seen was not only in direct contradiction to all known laws of physics, but also most of the more famous tendencies of Magecraft.

He peered at her, quizzically.

"Hi," he said.

...

He was annoyed. What did Ciel even send him up for?

"Come on, it's rude not to respond when someone greets you."

She blinked and shook her head. "Sorry," she said. "Umm... Ciel told me to tell you that she wanted me to go somewhere. She didn't know where, though."

Well, this was strange. Why would she summon him just for this? Is it that she didn't know the right place to send the girl? Or... no, she could have just communed with him telepathically, if all she needed was advice. There must have been a reason. Much as Roa liked to joke about her, she was in fact an exemplary pupil. Not that he'd ever tell her that to her face.

"So you know Ciel, huh? How's my favourite damsel come to the acquaintance of such a pretty little girl like yourself?"

Rin's cheeks flushed a little, but she kept her composure. "She's... my friend."

Roa's eyes opened wide in recognition. "Ah! Well, far be it from me to inquire too deeply into a lady's business!" He could tell that this whole courtly flattery thing was working, like a charm. Must be that the kid had pretensions to aristocracy, real or imagined. Okay, then. He knew how to deal with those types. But first, he had to find out: "Tell me, with whom have I the honour of speaking?"

For Rin's part, she was delighted that someone was respecting her newfound authority, so she would finally have the chance to make Father proud. It was infuriating to be treated as a burden by Kirei, a... toy? by the golden Servant, and while Rin did love Ciel a lot, she got the feeling that the Assassin didn't see her as quite an equal. Which, perhaps she wasn't, seeing as she was just a fledgling Magus and couldn't fling swords or perform arcane rituals involving men coming out of your corpse. But that didn't mean that she didn't enjoy it when someone saw her the way she wished she saw herself, the way she had seen Father.

She puffed her cheeks and put her hands on her hips, hoping she wasn't overdoing it. "Rin Tohsaka, daughter of-" and here her poise threatened to run away, to reduce her to a snivelling baby, so she pushed it down. "Head of the Tohsaka family, and thus Second Owner of this land."

Oh, well this made things interesting, although it also made a certain kind of sense. Whatever Ciel had gotten up to since he had last been given access to her memories - that is, after he popped up just long enough for her to explain how she died, and force him back inside her - she was alone with the daughter of her Master's theoretical teacher. Seeing as there was no Kirei nor Archer around, though, and the weirdness of the whole situation, Roa speculated that this may be a bit of a clandestine operation.

Which, frankly, explained a lot.

He covered his mouth in a theatrical gesture. "No! You speak the truth? The famous Tohsaka? I've heard so many things of your family, but you can be sure that your dignity and noble bearing justify everything I have heard ten times over." He took note of her difficulty holding his gaze, and knew that she wished she could instead stare into the floor, to escape the nervousness she felt at this praise, which couldn't be appropriate to the girl before him - but he also knew that she wanted so much for it to be exactly so. God, humans are always easy to manipulate, and sheltered children doubly so. "Please, allow me to introduce myself in turn. It is only proper, that you know the identity of your humble servant."

"Very well," Rin said. "State your name, young man."

Clearly, the incongruity of her being far younger than he appeared to be was either lost on her, or conveniently abandoned for the sake of the little play they were acting. Not that Roa minded. This Holy Grail War had been far more fun than he could have expected, and it was only getting better.

Roa knelt on one knee, and inclined his head to the ground. "I am called Michael, Lady Tohsaka."

"A fitting name," Rin said. She looked around for something vaguely long and thin, and found a stick on the side of the road. She grabbed it and quickly ran back to him, tapping him on the shoulders with it, first the right, and then the left. As she tapped, she solemnly intoned: "I now pronounce you Sir Michael, of the Tohsaka."

"The honour is far more than I can bear, Lady Tohsaka!" Roa cried in a mock distress.

Rin was severe. "I have assigned it to you, so know that you can bear it. I wouldn't have given you the title if I thought you couldn't, you know."

He shook his head. "Truly foolish of me to forget your wisdom."

She dismissed his concerns with a wave of her hand. "Forgiven, Knight."

He smiled at her. "Thank you."

Though she tried to hide it, there was real bliss on her face. He could only imagine what the kid had been through these past days; considering all the vile forces surrounding her Father, with the Grail War, and Ciel's Master, and everything... This must be a welcome reprieve for her. And hell, maybe he had to admit it to himself. Maybe he was enjoying it too.

There was nothing wrong with a little harmless palling around.

But Ciel would give him an earful if he didn't at least *try* to help her out, so there wasn't much choice, unfortunately.

"Now, milady," he said. "Tell me, what led to your Grace spending some alone time with Ciel?"

Rin told him, leaving very little out, what had happened over the past day, with her Father and how Ciel had comforted her. She felt she could trust Michael, since, after all, he was Ciel's friend, and he was being very nice to her, unlike pretty much everyone else she'd dealt with in the past days. If nothing else, he was a welcome contrast to Kirei and Archer.

Roa smiled and nodded at all the right points, and realized that Ciel assumed that Rin wasn't safe around Kirei. He didn't think this was quite true; Kirei had no reason to kill Rin, and doing so would attract needless attention if anyone found out about it. The Church itself might be persuaded that since Rin was a noncombatant, her murder would be grounds to organize all other Masters in an alliance against the priest.

However, he had a personal distaste for Kirei and Archer both, so Roa decided to bring Rin to the only place he knew he could find a friend: Waver Velvet's house.

Heyo. It's been a while, ladies and gents. So for our typical updates/acknowledgements, we'll start with a shout-out to TungstenCat for looking this over and giving excellent advice and encouragement.

I've been reading Psychological Types, by Jung. So long. So hard to get through. But for those of my audience who appreciate a good mystical understanding of traditional Christian symbols, I can't recommend his Answer to Job highly enough. It's short too.

I've also been playing/reading Witcher stuff. And watching the Netflix series. Geralt is a good boy. He and Ciri are adorable.

In terms of a more ethical work, I've been enjoying Paul Tillich's Courage to Be. He's beloved by the existential psychologists, and it's not hard to see why. Speaking of, I really need to get to Also Sprach Zarathustra. I dunno, it feels like the fact that I haven't yet read it is almost a contradiction to who I am. In a way.

Finally, before I forget, I watched the newer Batman movie. Enjoyed it, but I've since begun the Dark Knight trilogy, and I have to say, that is 1000 times better. Highly highly recommended.

Next update will probably come pretty soon, folks. Till then!