Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.

Purified by Fire, Dancing with Fairies

Chapter 4

"I'd like to ask a question."

"Go ahead."

Rin and Archer stood on top of a skyscraper, staring down at the city below. They'd spent the evening scouting out the city, getting a feel for its layout, and at the end had ascended this building to conclude their little expedition. A stiff breeze was blowing, driving ahead of it clouds stained by light filtering from below, and whipping through Rin's hair and at her and Archer's cloaks.

Rin had been about to ask Archer a question herself, but had preempted by her Servant. Oh well…she'd ask later. He did ask first…kind of.

"It's rather personal, just so you know." Archer said.

Rin curiously raised an eyebrow at her Servant. "Really?" she said. "What is it, just spit it out already."

"Do you have any relatives I might need to know about?"

That…was not what she was expecting. And yes, it was very personal, and it took every inch of self-control Rin had to not show…anything, about how she felt about her family. It was a far from simple matter. So…how should she answer Archer's question? Should she even answer it at all?

Rin briefly closed her eyes, and then turning to the city's skyline opened them. "Not really," she said. "My parents died a long time ago. And I don't have any siblings."

Archer didn't reply, though he kept staring at Rin. There wasn't anything…particular, about the gaze, though that was probably something in itself. After a few moments, Rin glanced back at him. "Why do you ask?" she asked.

"It's probably nothing." Archer said, though he continued before Rin could press an expected evasion on his part. "It's just that…earlier, at your school, I scouted out the third Servant. I stayed in astral form, and so did they, not that they seemed particularly belligerent. Protective though, of what was probably their Master."

"I see." Rin said after a moment, narrowing her eyes. "So…I'm guessing that their assumed Master, is also a student like me and Matou?"

"Yes."

Rin stared at Archer for a moment, and then turned back to the city. Archer stayed silent, and then after another moment, Rin continued. "Well," she said. "If students like Matou and me could be Masters, why not anyone else? Though, about the third Master…you're referring to Emiya, aren't you?"

"…I am."

Rin nodded slowly. "There is a strong resemblance, isn't there?" she asked. "I've noticed before. I've even looked into it."

"Oh?"

"An orphan…a survivor of the Great Fire from ten years ago," Rin said softly. "Adopted by one Kiritsugu Emiya…"

"Is that all?"

"She didn't seem to be anything special." Rin said after a moment. "I sensed no prana coming from her, or any indication that she even possessed magic circuits at all. As for the resemblance…well, my family's lived on this land for centuries. Maybe…at some point in the past…"

"A common ancestor?" Archer asked, and Rin nodded.

"Yes," Rin said. "It happens, coincidences where people who've never met each other before, aren't even related at all, or don't even live in same area still manage to somehow look very similar to each other. I've always seen it that way, and Emiya and I have also never been particularly close. So I just let it be at that."

"But if she is a Master…"

"Yes," Rin said with a nod. "It's quite impressive, I'll admit that much. She was probably using some kind of spell to mask her prana and magic potential alike, and it was good enough to fool me all this time."

"What do you plan to do?"

Rin didn't answer for a few moments, just staring in silence out at the city beyond. "We'll see." She finally said. "We'll see first, what she's really capable of. It's too reckless and even stupid to go all in from the start, especially when she's already proven herself able to hide from me for so long. So, we'll be cautious, and force her to show her hand. And then…we'll see."

"Prudent…" Archer said, turning to look out over the city as well. "Alright, I don't have problems with that. Let's do it your way, once this war starts properly."

"You're late."

"Is that really so unusual?" Shinji responded to the gravelly voice speaking out of the shadows, the young man descending the steps into the ominous darkness below. "You know as well as I do that I need an external source of prana…especially now."

"…perhaps," Zouken Matou said, seeming to melt out of the shadows as Shinji reached the bottom floor. Most of it was covered with squirming masses of worms, squelching and slipping over and around each other. Crude mouths chomped as they sensed fresh meat, but a flicker of prana held them back. "However, that is exactly why it is worrisome if you come home so late."

"The Holy Grail War hasn't even begun yet." Shinji said, unbuttoning a cuff and rolling up his sleeve. And then sinking down into a crouch, he reached forward and plunged his arm into one of the heaving mounds. Pain flickered across his face, the part of his arm not buried in worms distending as worms entered and left his body, chewing through muscle and shoving nerves and blood vessels out of their way, damaged flesh unnaturally growing back and knitting together in their wake…only to be consumed again by even more worms, grown back and then consumed once more, in a macabre cycle. "Not properly. And even then, that is what Rider is around for."

"I see." Zouken murmured. "And how is your body?"

"The strain is still there." Shinji said. "I'll prepare a report for you before the weekend, just in time for maintenance. However, I can say this much right now. Compared to immediately after summoning Rider, I can ignore it now, much like the crest worms or my circuits."

"But it does act up from time to time, does it not?" Zouken asked.

Shinji didn't answer for a few moments. "It does." He admitted. "Using magic is still more difficult than normal. The danger of a backlash caused by a failed or an improperly actualized mystery is still greater than it should be. Honestly…that mother of mine…"

Shinji trailed off, his expression one of veiled resentment. Zouken didn't comment on it, indeed, he felt similarly about his grandson's mother. The woman had been specifically allowed to marry into their family, as her sorcery trait should have allowed her child to inherit Byakuya's magic circuits.

Well…she'd failed and succeeded in equal measure.

Failed, because traditionally magic circuits were 'inherited' by the child having an equal or greater quantity of magic circuits as their parent or parents. Indeed, Zouken would have been satisfied even if Shinji had been born with less magic circuits than Byakuya, so long as he could use magic.

As it was, he was born with magic circuits…all of which were duds. A backhanded insult…and for which the woman had paid with her life, made into fodder for the worms.

But, she had also succeeded…because once the defective Tohsaka material had finally given way in its entirety, Shinji had been able to 'inherit' its magic circuits, along with those of his father's. It was crude and inefficient, each circuit barely able to operate at ten per cent of their capacity at first, but over the years, improvements, refinements, refits and overhauls of the implants had increased that percentage to twenty-five per cent.

In all, between the Tohsaka circuits and those of Byakuya's, Shinji could boast the equivalent of having twelve magic circuits. Add the crest worms to that, and Shinji could – if he pushed himself – at his best work with the equivalent of twenty magic circuits.

Better than what he'd started with certainly…and better than nothing, indeed.

Still…a substitute was still just a substitute, for all that Shinji was a fine substitute…after Zouken had beaten some iron into the boy's spine. He'd always been intelligent, but he'd lacked will, resolve, and had always taken his legacy for granted.

That was all in the past now, and Shinji could finally and properly fulfill the role he had been born to fulfill…but again, he was still just a substitute. And it was likely he could not pass on the legacy either, unless they were willing to create more artificial magi in the future. And even that begged the question of where they would get the magic circuits to create artificial magi with. And there were plenty of other limitations to artificial magi too…

…if only the Tohsaka material had not proven so defective…and it had so much potential to it too…

"Certainly," Zouken said. "It'd have been better if you'd been born with actual potential of your own, without having to resort to such roundabout methods."

To his credit, Shinji kept his face clear, but Zouken could feel through the crest worms the spike of bitter resentment at the reminder of his true nature as a magus. Artificial…fake…a stopgap and a substitute…

"With the power of the Grail," Shinji managed to say. "That won't be a problem in the future. The Grail should be able to do that much, shouldn't it?"

"…it should." Zouken said. It should…six, no, seven fallen Servants should be able to provide enough prana for two wishes. One, to restore the potential of the family, and two, to grant him immortality. And after that…after that…

…then what?

Zouken blinked, trusting in the shadows of his workshop to hide the expression of unease and veiled confusion on his face. It felt like…like he was forgetting something…something important…immortality…and then…and then…

…after immortality…something…important…was missing…but what?

"Speaking of the Grail though," Shinji continued, unaware of his grandfather's troubles. "Tohsaka's summoned her Servant…finally. Don't know which class it is yet, but she's taken them around the city to get a feel for the layout."

"And you didn't bother to put a few familiars on her trail?"

"I did…but she destroyed them all quickly enough." Shinji said with a small smirk. "Clever girl…seeing as it would have been pointless to put more when it's clear ordinary familiars aren't enough to escape her attention, and I didn't want to push this early…might as well let it go."

Zouken shrugged in agreement. "New opportunities will appear soon enough, especially in the chaotic tempest of war." He agreed. "I have to say though it almost seems like you're looking forward to facing off against Tohsaka."

"I am." Shinji admitted. "She's a born prodigy and a natural genius at magecraft…which means if I take her down…"

"Don't get overconfident, boy." Zouken said sternly. "After all the effort and resources put into your training, it wouldn't do to just throw it all away so you can go down in flames and glory."

"I don't plan on dying anytime soon, at least not until I've got an heir to succeed me." Shinji shot back. "And in any case, me and Tohsaka facing off is something of an inevitability in this war anyway."

"Not necessarily." Zouken countered. "It might be best to let her be taken down by another, more powerful and experienced magus. For all her genius, she's still just a child…and lacking experience and advanced training on her side, even an average magus with years if not decades of experience behind them would easily overwhelm her. And the same goes for you: use your head. Against most magi, you wouldn't stand a chance in a fair fight."

"I know." Shinji said, his eyes hard and cold, his neck pulsing as worms slithered up between his arteries and tendons. "I need to find a way to even the odds, or better yet, to turn them in my favor. And besides…just in case, any magus I fell is another source of magic circuits."

"…yes, that is true, I suppose."

Shinji smiled and then coughed, spitting out blood. Biting down hard, there was a small squeal of pain, and chewing a couple of times, Shinji spat out a mangled worm. "Don't worry," Shinji said. "I won't underestimate Tohsaka or any other magus involved in this war. And you know in which direction I steered my personal research towards, and have even contributed to it. You know how I plan to fight, especially against…superior, enemies."

"So I have," Zouken conceded. "Alright…so long as you don't get into more trouble than you can handle, then deal with Tohsaka and any others as you please."

Shinji nodded. "Thank you." He said. "On another note, I've discovered another Master in my school."

"What?" Zouken asked, clearly surprised. "Who?"

"Ayame Emiya."

"The Emiya girl?" Zouken echoed in surprise. "But she doesn't…ah, I see. So, she's been pulling the wool over our eyes for years then, if that's the case. Her father too…wait, how did you find out?"

"Rider sensed the presence of a third Servant, apart from himself and Tohsaka's." Shinji said. "He followed it, and found the third Servant in astral form, hovering protectively around the Emiya girl."

"Hmm…" Zouken hummed in thought for a few moments. "Well, this is…troubling. Though, it's not nearly as bad as it could be. We can be thankful, I suppose, that Kiritsugu Emiya died while his daughter was still quite young…if she's capable of this much with only a scant few years of proper training before having to go the rest on her own, how much more formidable could she have been, had Kiritsugu Emiya lived to complete her training?"

"Do you think he was grooming her as his successor?" Shinji asked. "The next Magus Killer?"

"…possibly…" Zouken said after a moment. "At the very least, it seems among the things her father taught her, was how to avoid detection by other magi. And she seems to have done it well."

"…Kiritsugu Emiya was a Master in the previous war, wasn't he?" Shinji said after a moment's thought. "It might be possible then, that Emiya would have summoned the same Servant as her father, or one with a similar background."

"Kiritsugu Emiya summoned King Arthur as Saber, if I remember correctly." Zouken mused. "A first class Servant, she was."

"She?"

"Yes, she." Zouken confirmed with a nod and an amused smile. "It seems a certain amount of historical revisionism was practiced by the Britons at the time, seeing as King Arthur was actually a woman. But, that is academic…what matters to us is that Emiya may have summoned the same Saber as her father once did…"

"…or," Shinji continued. "Any other one of the Knights of the Round Table."

"Of those, the most dangerous would be Gawain, Bedivere, and Lancelot." Zouken said. "The others, while formidable, are shadows of those three."

"…Mordred was a Knight of the Round too, wasn't he?"

"…yes, he was." Zouken confirmed after a moment's thought. "Though…no, it's possible, I suppose…"

"How do you think he'd rate, against those three great knights?"

"Don't ask stupid questions." Zouken replied shortly. "Who was it who slew the great King of Knights in the end?"

"…sorry."

Zouken nodded after a moment, and then narrowed his eyes at Shinji. "So," Zouken began. "What do you plan to do?"

Shinji didn't answer at once. He lowered his head, crouched in the dark, one arm sunk almost to the elbow in a heaving mound of worms, the rest of the arm, his shoulders, and his neck throbbing obscenely as worms went to and fro under his skin. Zouken stayed silent, staring at his grandson deep in thought before him.

Finally, after several moments, Shinji raised his head. Blood trickled down from the corners of his eyes, and his face and temples throbbed every so often, wormlike silhouettes rising and sinking every now and then. And when he spoke, something…white, thin and sinuous, could be seen snaking around and between his teeth.

"It's tempting to focus on taking out the strongest known enemy, Rin Tohsaka." He said. "But, that would be a difficult battle, and considering the difference between us, a single mistake could prove disastrous."

"And?"

"Alternatively," Shinji said. "I could take out weaker enemies first, leaving the most powerful ones for later. In the process, I could find out which of my mysteries and tactics work and which don't, refine and improve them, or even come up with new ones…and when I face Tohsaka and other, more powerful magi…"

Zouken nodded in agreement as Shinji trailed off. "The latter seems a wiser course of action." He said. "Very well, I'll leave it to you."

Shinji nodded as well, but as Zouken turned to leave, he paused. "By the way," he said. "Where is Rider? I sensed his presence when you arrived back here, but then he just left."

Shinji smiled. "I need prana, and so does Rider." He said. "Since I'm limited in what I can give to him, I told him to find a…supplement."

Zouken smirked. "Taking risks aren't you?" he asked. "If Kotomine finds out…"

"If he finds out," Shinji emphasized. "If is a good word, and besides, Caster's already doing it, if in a half-assed way."

"True…on both counts." Zouken answered with a laugh, and after a moment, Shinji joined in as well.

"…another family was found killed in their home early this morning, with the perpetrators' methodology seeming to match that of recent…"

"Ayame," Saber said, looking over a shoulder from where he was watching the morning news, and to where Ayame was preparing breakfast. "What do you think?"

"If you're thinking another Master and their Servant are behind the killings and those gas leaks," Ayame said. "Then I'm in agreement."

"That said," Saber added, glancing back at the TV. "I wonder if it might be two different pairs of Masters and Servants behind these attacks. One behind the gas leaks, and the other behind the killing. The methods are too different…though, that could also be deliberate."

"Doesn't matter," Ayame said. "Once all seven Servants have been summoned and this war properly begins, we're going after them."

Saber nodded and glanced back at his Master. After a moment, he smiled softly. "That's very brave and noble of you, Ayame." He remarked.

"What?" she asked. "Not really, putting a stop to some asshole magus who thinks it's alright to kill innocent people just so he can get his hands on the Grail is just the right thing to do. Something like that, just doing the right thing, isn't worth being called brave or noble over."

Saber chuckled. "Well, I suppose not." He said. "Though, aren't you a magus too?"

"Generally-speaking yes, I am a magus." Ayame admitted, bringing a bowl of cut fruit to the dining room table, and placing it near Saber. "Properly-speaking, no, I'm what proper magi would call a spell-caster. Someone who uses magic not for its own sake, but simply as a tool for my own ends…or so they say."

"Oh?"

Ayame smiled wryly. "Proper magi seek the Root," she said. "And magecraft is their means to reach it. So what was that about using magic for its own sake, and not as a tool for their own ends?"

Saber laughed again. "I'm sure they'd say similarly about you." He pointed out.

"Oh I'm sure they would." Ayame said, walking back to the kitchens. "Though, I don't really care to be honest."

"About that," Saber said, leaning back against the table. "What exactly is your goal in this war? What do you hope to achieve, or what wish do you have to offer the Grail? Riches? Love? Fame and success? Power?"

"…would you really have accepted my call if my wish were for any of those?"

"If your wish was to save a loved one, then yes." Saber said without any hesitation. "The power to save your country, also yes. Riches, fame and success…I don't know. Again, it depends on the circumstances surrounding them."

Ayame stared in surprise from the kitchen, and Saber stared back, holding a piece of fruit in one hand. "I see." Ayame said, turning back to her cooking. "Alright, to be honest, I'm not really…sure, or even know what wish to offer the Grail."

"What?"

"Yeah, I know it doesn't make sense." Ayame said with a sigh. "I also know I wouldn't have been chosen a Master if I didn't actually have a…desire, I'd really want the Grail to grant. But…"

"But?"

"It's just…no, it's not…that is…"

Saber glanced back at Ayame as she fumbled. "Just say what you want to say." He said. "Don't worry, I won't be offended."

"…what's the point in your wish being granted?" Ayame said. "Can you really value something you never earned with hard work and effort?"

Saber stared at Ayame for several moments, the young woman staring back, and then Saber smiled. "I suppose I can't say it's wrong," he eventually said, and with a sad smile. "But…reality's rarely that simple and straightforward. It's sad, and I wish it were otherwise, but…that's the way the world is."

"…w-what?"

Saber smiled sadly at Ayame, and got to his feet. "Sometimes," he said, stepping closer to her. "For the sake of something bigger than they are, something more important than they are, people need to compromise, and let go of the smaller things. Yes, I know small things can be quite important too. But, as Merlin once said, sometimes justice is best served by staying silent, or to just look away."

"Big things are made of small things," Ayame murmured. "But, the needs of the many, are also greater than the needs of the few…is that it?"

Saber nodded. "Something like that," he said. "Based on what you said earlier, even if unearned salvation is unvalued, that piece of wisdom is meaningless when there's nothing left afterwards but the silence of the grave."

Ayame lowered her head in thought, and then to her surprise, Saber reached forward, and gently lifted her face by the chin to meet his. "Though," he added. "As I said earlier, it could also depend on the circumstances. A wish to be famed as the greatest artist of the age would be as you say, for what is your art without trials and difficulties faced and overcome that give life to your creation? Likewise, a wish to be the wealthiest man on Earth would be meaningless without the responsibility that comes with having earned it, and without which the wealth gained would likely be squandered or be put to ill use."

Saber paused, and tilted his head, smile growing wider. "There are no such things as absolutes, Ayame." He said. "Remember that."

Ayame blinked and smiled back, nodding at her Servant. "Yes, I will." She said, and Saber grinned. "Anyway, what about you? What's your wish, Saber?"

Saber hummed, crossing his arms and closing his eyes while adopting a somewhat theatrical pose. After a few moments, he opened his eyes, and beamed at Ayame. "Tell you what," he said. "When you find out what is it you really want, then ask me again. I'll tell you then."

Ayame stared and then blinking scowled at Saber. "Hey, wait a minute…that's…that's evading my question!" she snapped.

"Perhaps," Saber admitted. "But something for something…oh, and the oil is on fire."

"Huh…AAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

As Saber said, the oil on the frying pan was burning merrily, and turning the bacon strips she'd been cooking to charcoal. Ayame, her mind elsewhere, was at a loss, fumbling around for water or a pot cover to put the fire out with…and which Saber helpfully offered, having taken it a few steps away from Ayame where it had been sitting on the countertop.

"Thanks." Ayame huffed and puffed, as she covered the pan and starved the fire of oxygen. And then remembering what she'd been about to argue about with Saber, glowered at him for a moment before conceding defeat, too tired at present to continue. "Fine…you win…for now! When I figure out what I want to wish for, I'll ask you again. And I expect a proper answer then, Saber!"

Saber gave a small, courtly bow. "Yes, my lady." He said with a smile.

A/N

Short and straightforward chapter, but necessary to bridge the gap between summoning and the war's beginning.