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

Purified by Fire, Dancing with Fairies

Chapter 28

Ayame descended from the skies on her broom, and hopping off narrowed her eyes at the figure clearly waiting for her amidst the courtyard of Kotomine Church. "Father Kotomine," she said. "I thought you were dead."

"Word of my demise has been grossly exaggerated." Kirei replied smoothly. "As you can clearly see, I am alive and well, and stand ready to perform my duty as the Overseer of the Holy Grail War."

"Is that so?" Ayame asked. "Alright…I assume Tohsaka is here."

"She is." Kirei confirmed, and then gestured towards the ruined church behind him. "She awaits you inside, and for the final battle as well, to determine the victor of the contest, and with it the one worthy to hold the Holy Grail."

"…is that still even in question?" Ayame breathed in disbelief. "That woman used on anti-army Noble Phantasm on Ryuudo Temple! She reduced the entire mountaintop complex to rubble, and killed nearly half a hundred people who were inside! And she's still a viable contender for the Holy Grail?"

"Yes," Kirei said while folding his hands before him. "Were it simply killing for the sake of killing, then the rules dictate I must disqualify her immediately. But it was not, and their deaths collateral for the defeat of Servants Caster and Assassin. Furthermore, the distance of Ryuudo from the city, and the ease with which it was covered up as a…gas explosion, satisfies the requirements of maintaining the Masquerade. Based on that, the rules dictate that she only receives a reprimand for her actions."

"That's bullshit, and you know it!" Ayame shouted angrily. "Nearly half a hundred people dead, and she only gets reprimanded? Don't joke around!"

"I am not." Kirei assured Ayame. "That is what the rules of the contest dictate, and therefore that was the punishment she received. Your anger and indignation for the lives she has taken is understandable, commendable even, but are irrelevant in this matter. It is not your place to pass judgment, and even if it were, then you must abide by the rules regardless, just as I have in my position as the Overseer of the contest."

"…you bastard," Ayame spat after a moment. "You know as well as I do that that's a loophole, and that she's using it as a means to get away with mass murder, but even so, you don't care one damn bit, do you?"

"My duty is to oversee the contest, and see to it that the rules are obeyed." Kirei said. "They are. Caring and whatnot, are not factors that I must concern myself with."

"…damn you…"

Kirei chuckled, and gestured at the church behind him. "If you desire to make Rin Tohsaka atone for the lives she has taken according to your sense of justice," he said. "Then by all means, act on it by your own will and with your own hands. There is more certainty there than in relying on others. Myself for instance…justice, sympathy, vengeance, and the like for the fallen are of no concern to me. The rules of the contest are, and they are satisfied. Rin has been reprimanded for her excessive actions, and that is enough. Everything else is up to you."

Ayame growled angrily, and understood why her father had warned her not to trust this man. If he could easily overlook – and with a smile, even – the deaths of so many people and use the letter of the law (so to speak) as a means to excuse his disregard, what else would he overlook? What evils would be committed, and then subsequently allowed to stand, so long as they were done in a grey area that allowed the perpetrators to get away with but a slap on the wrist at worst? And through it all, the man would just smile and wave it all away with the excuse that the letter of the law was satisfied, and simply tell those who objected to act on their objections themselves?

Indeed, could the objectors even act as he encouraged them to? Freely, that is?

By Kirei's own reasoning, that could be construed as vigilantism, and which he would act to prevent according to the letter of the law. In so doing, even if the objectors attempted to bring evil to justice, then the latter's own official enforcer would doubly act to obstruct it, simply because in his eyes no evil had been done, no matter that there actually had been.

And what guarantee was there that he could not excuse his own vices and evils in the exact same way?

"None," Ayame thought. "There's no guarantee at all."

"Before you go and confront your sister though," Kirei began. "I must make certain inquiries."

"Oh?" Ayame responded. "About what?"

"Part of my duty as the Overseer is to ensure that whosoever holds the Grail has a proper desire for it." Kirei explained. "And…"

"Bullshit." Ayame interrupted. "I don't care what Tohsaka wishes for, but that she's willing to commit mass murder for it renders whatever…value, her wish has meaningless."

"Ah," Kirei said. "So you do not believe that ends justify the means. Curious…considering your Servant is King Arthur, I wonder if you…"

"I am aware of the sacrifices he had to make for the sake of his kingdom." Ayame interrupted again. "And I'm not nearly so childish to see the world in terms of black and white. Ends sometimes do justify the means…but not always."

"I see." Kirei said with a smile. "And? You're a smart girl, so it comes as no surprise that you've managed to deduce Rin's desire for the Grail. But of course: you are partly the reason for it. And now I ask: why? Why do you see it as meaningless?"

"Tohsaka wishes to set things right." Ayame said with a mocking tone. "She wants to prevent Sakura Tohsaka from becoming Sakura Matou, and thus being tortured to death as a guinea pig for those twisted, walking corpses from the Matou Clan. I'll admit by itself it's a selfless goal, and that I would otherwise support her for it."

"But?" Kirei prompted.

"She killed nearly half a hundred people for it." Ayame said. "And neither you nor she can pull off a 'greater good' excuse for it. One life does not excuse forty-eight lives, and this assumes Humans lives can be treated as mere numbers in the first place."

"Hmm…" Kirei hummed while slowly nodding his head. "An impressive reasoning but you forget that…"

"…upon making her wish the timeline will be reset." Ayame interrupted. "Do you think I'm stupid? Does she think I'm stupid? I'm not. And it's not the opposite either. I don't think she's stupid. I think she's just lost her mind."

"…an explanation would be most appreciated." Kirei said.

"Granting her wish would not reset the timeline." Ayame said with a scoff. "All it would do is make a new one, branching off from our own from where she plans as the point of divergence. In this timeline, all the people she's killed would still be dead. Murdered, if not at her own hands, then by her command. Someone like that…they cannot be trusted with the Grail."

"Judgmental, aren't we?" Kirei said with a chuckle. "And yet I notice you admit that her desire is noble and sympathetic, but you would stand against it regardless."

"I do." Ayame admitted.

Kirei chuckled again. "And yet you judge me for obstructing justice," he said. "Despite having the letter of the law on my side, while you do the same, obstructing justice for your own little sister, despite not having my advantage."

"Two wrongs do not make a right." Ayame hissed. "Sakura Matou…no, Sakura Tohsaka, would not rest any easier because her elder sister murdered nearly a hundred people so another version of her could live free of pain and suffering. That is the difference between us. You would allow half a hundred unjust deaths stand, and dare use the rules to excuse it. I stand for what is right, that half a hundred need not have died, and a better way found to save my little sister."

"Even if it means breaking the rules yourself?" Kirei asked.

"An unjust law is no law." Ayame said with a smirk. "Don't you know that?"

"…very impressive." Kirei conceded after a moment. "Perhaps there is a difference between us. But, that is ultimately an academic matter. Let us return to the matter at hand: Ayame Emiya, what is your desire for the Grail? What would you replace Rin Tohsaka's supposedly-selfish desire with?"

"I have none." Ayame replied, and for the first time since the conversation began, Kirei looked and sounded surprised.

"What?" he asked.

"Don't get me wrong." Ayame said. "I do have desires of my own. Wishes I would like granted…I'm still Human, after all. And I wouldn't be a Master if I didn't. But none of them are anything I would ask the Grail to grant…if it even can."

"…so your subconscious and unspoken desires were what led you to become a Master?" Kirei breathed, his face and voice carefully – dangerously – neutral. "Then, what is it that you consciously fight for?"

"…I fight to keep madmen like Tohsaka from getting the Grail." Ayame answered after a moment, and drawing herself up with a proud smile as she did so. "I fought to keep monsters like Matou from getting it. I fight to keep this contest from ending like the previous one did, with a city set on fire, and hundreds dead and thousands more injured. That is my reason for fighting, Kirei Kotomine."

Kirei's face twisted in disgust and contempt. "I see." He said. "You truly are the daughter of Tokiomi Tohsaka and Kiritsugu Emiya in successive turns, of men who desired merely to reach the Root and to lobotomize the Human race for the sake of a peaceful world."

"What?" Ayame breathed in shock, as her father's desire for the Grail was revealed.

"We shall discuss this matter further," Kirei contemptuously said. "As we witness Rin Tohsaka's desire being granted. You, however, I find unworthy of the Holy Grail. By my authority as the Overseer, and with the power of my command spells, I command…"

A blue bolt of light lanced at Kirei, and exploded where he had been standing on just an instant ago. Nearby, the priest landed into a crouch, face twisted in surprise. Both he and Ayame glanced to where a man had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, encased in black and gold armor save for his head. Instead of a helmet, he wore only a protective visor over his eyes, while one hand was raised towards Kirei, light pooling in its palm.

"Not so fast." He said.

"You." Kirei snarled, the word dripping with malice.

"The King of Heroes has decreed your death." The assassin said before drawing his sword from behind him. "And his will shall be done!"

With a shout, the assassin ran forward, and then jumping into the air, somersaulted and then landed with a blast of blue light. "Go, girl!" he shouted as he clashed repeatedly with Kirei, sparks flying from where Black Keys met his sword. "This man is mine! You take care of that crazy little monster inside!"

"R-r-right!" Ayame said while mounting her broom. "And thanks, whoever you and your king are."

The man smiled as he locked blades with Kirei, and then feinting to throw the priest off balance, kicked him away with a solid blow to the gut. "Li Xiaolang," he introduced himself. "And I'll be sure to pass your gratitude to His Majesty as well."

"Lancer, stop her!" Kirei roared as Ayame flew away, and over the church. Lancer materialized, but did not obey. Kirei couldn't do anything more, as Xiaolang pounced on him, sword flashing in the night.

Instead, Lancer just stared at Saber, who'd materialized just as he did. "Yo," Lancer greeted. "Nice to meet you at last, cousin from across the sea."

Saber smiled at that. "Cousin, huh?" he asked. "Makes sense…from what I know, you Irish have as much bad blood with the Anglo-Saxons as we Britons do."

"Seems that way." Lancer agreed.

"Hmm…now what?" Saber asked.

Lancer took his stance. "Only one answer for that, right?" he asked.

Saber also took his stance. "Seems that way." He said. "Care to give your name before we start?"

"Cu Chulainn."

"Arthur Pendragon."

Prana flared in brilliant flowers of light, and then with loud roars the Hound of Chulainn and the Once and Future King charged at each other, Gae Bolg and Excalibur meeting in a shower of sparks and the thunder of displaced air.

Unknown to any of the combatants, whether it was Ayame flying into Rin's prepared battlefield, or the Wolf of Babylon fighting Kirei Kotomine, or Lancer and Saber crossing blades, the battle was about to take a sinister turn. Well, Kirei was expecting it to, sooner or later. For in a cellar beneath Kotomine Church, golden flames ignited seemingly out of nowhere, and engulfing the still and lifeless body of Illyasviel von Einzbern.

Her clothes crumbled to ash, but her flesh did not, instead turning into magical energy which was then remade and solidified into golden metal, the flames dying to reveal a cup where her body once lay. Said cup floated in the air above the bench she'd been lying on, and moments after its formation and black mud began bubbling out of nowhere at its bottom. It took mere moments for the cup to fill, and still the mud continued to flow, overflowing the cup and spilling down onto the floor below.

There was no warning whatsoever when suddenly Ayame's broom shuddered and then failed, both the mystic code and the magus riding abruptly plummeting to the ground below. "She shut down the flight spells?" Ayame thought in panic. "How?"

Quickly fighting back into control, Ayame righted herself, and tried to ignite jets beneath her feet with her own fire elemental magecraft to at least slow her descent. Despite her best though, all she succeeded in igniting were spluttering sparks.

"A blanket counter-elemental spell?" she though in surprise and resurging panic. "No…it's a bounded field! It's a trap!"

Snarling, she clapped her hands and held them out as she fell. "Glitter, Fairy Lights!" she shouted, and with a burst of golden light fairies flew into reality, and surrounding Ayame formed a golden sphere around her. They fell through the air, and slammed into the Kotomine Church's atrium with a thunderous crash. Ayame was safe, however, suspended as though in anti-gravity fields inside the sphere.

Narrowing her eyes, she floated to the ground, but kept the sphere in place, wary of Rin's follow-up. She didn't have to wait for long.

There was a flicker of red and black at the corner of her vision, and Ayame turned to see Rin charge in, fist drawn back and glowing with power. And then she threw a punch, not so much as cracking the sphere, but with enough force to visibly displace the surrounding air and forcing Ayame and her spherical barrier back, through the ground and towards the far wall.

"A barrier?" Rin hissed, before drawing back. And then her entire body began to glow. "How useless! USELESS! USELESS! USELESS! USELESS! USELESS! USELESS! USELESS! USELESS! USELESS! USELESS! USELESS! USELESS! USELESS! USELESS! USELESS!"

"…WHAT?" Ayame breathed in shock as Rin let loose. Moving so fast as to be but a blur to the Human eye, Rin punched the Ayame's barrier again and again, landing several hits within a single second and dozens within a few more seconds after. Again, the barrier was undamaged, but all around them the atrium was visibly vibrating as Rin's blows displaced the surrounding air, sending cracks open over the walls' plaster and shaking damaged window frames loose and causing shattered panes to fall.

All the while, Ayame and her sphere were slowly pushed back, Rin refusing to let up. "USELESS! USELESS! USELESS! USELESS! USELESS! USELESS! USELESS!" she screamed, before drawing back for a single, overwhelmingly-powerful blow, her right fist's glow building to blinding. "I'LL CRUSH YOU FLAT!"

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Ayame shouted as she was bounced around in her barrier as Rin's blow sent the sphere – and Ayame inside – flying across the atrium. It slammed into the wall of Kotomine Church's apartments and through it into the interior, with much of the floors above collapsing down immediately afterwards.

The force of the impact also crumbled the atrium floor, and shook portions of the surrounding upper floors falling down. For several moments, only the sound of falling masonry could be heard, along with Rin's heavy breathing.

"I've done it." She breathed, staring at the cloud of dust over where she'd sent Ayame flying. And then her eyes widened as the dust cloud seemed to twist, an instant before two golden beams lanced out.

Shouting in alarm, Rin twisted through the air to avoid Ayame's counterattack, which blew past and through the wall into Kotomine Church behind Rin. Then there was a crashing sound as the church began to come down, the punishment done to the structure too much for it to keep standing.

"Give me a break." Ayame said with marked exasperation as she clambered out into the open, and flicked dust off her cloak, hat, and scarf. "Have you lost your mind, Tohsaka? Who do you think you are? Dio? From JoJo…?"

Ayame broke off as without warning, Rin blurred, and in the next instant was next to her, throwing a spinning kick at her face. "So fast…!" Ayame thought.

There was a flash of golden light as Ayame's shield came to life, and blocked Rin's kick. But Rin wasn't finished. Using the dome-like barrier as a springboard, she jumped off and away, while hurling a gem Ayame's way.

"Son of a…!" Ayame began before an explosion shook the air and filled the atrium with dust.

Moments later and Rin jumped out of the dust clouds, and up onto the roof. She narrowed her eyes, fingertips crackling with energy, ready to fire off literal lightning bolts the moment Ayame showed herself. The dust swirled and settled, and then in a sparkle of gold, numerous fairies danced out and into the sky.

"Oh shit…" Rin breathed as they formed up into formations, and then with flashes of light, began to rain down droplets of light her way.

Rin was no fool. She knew those would rip her apart if she let them so much as touch her. And so she danced back and forth avoiding the droplets of light as they rained down around. Through the air she spun, twirled, pirouetted, and every acrobatic form that existed, all to avoid the rain of light coming down from the fairies.

"Meteor!" Ayame shouted, and sent a blazing lance of golden light towards Rin.

Rin spun out the way in time, landing on her hands and then springing off and onto her feet before continuing to dodge through the rain of light. "How do you like that?" Ayame taunted as she charged another Meteor. "You want to roleplay as Dio Brando? Fine by me! I already look the part, so let's see how you well you can beat me at danmaku, you murderous little bitch!"

"Their sacrifices will be honored!" Rin shouted back, before firing lightning at Ayame. Ayame dodged, and loosed her Meteor in turn. "No…more than that…they will never have happened in the first place!"

"Meteor!" Ayame shouted as she fired off another blast. "Are you stupid? Can you even hear what you're saying?"

"Of course I do!" Rin shouted back. "Stop acting all high and mighty! You're the bad guy around here, refusing to help me save our sister! You refuse to let my sacrifices have meaning! And more than that…because you exist…you…my father…my father was a cheating traitor!"

"…how is the last my fault?" Ayame shouted back after a moment of incredulous silence. "And: IDIOT! You cannot reset the timeline! You'll just create a parallel one! Here and now, the dead will be the dead! Forty-eight people, Tohsaka! Forty-eight people are dead because of you! And that includes people we knew, like Ryuudo and his parents!"

"SHUT UP!" Rin shouted. "WHAT DOES A SPELL-CASTER KNOW ABOUT SACRIFICE? ABOUT FAMILY DUTY AND HONOR? YOU…!"

"METEOR!" Ayame roared and fired off a blast that Rin dodged by the skin of her teeth. "THAT HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH THE PEOPLE YOU'VE KILLED! IN NO WAY DOES IT JUSTIFY MASS MURDER!"

"IT WASN'T MURDER!" Rin thundered back, energy flickering between her fingers around a sphere of utter darkness. "THEY WERE SACRIFICES FOR A BETTER WORLD!"

"LIKE HELL THEY WERE! METEOR!"

Rin dodged and then clapping her hands spread them wide. "PUNKT!" she shouted her spell, gems shattering between her fingers. An invisible wave of force spread outward, and neutralized the light raining down and banishing the fairies.

"…counter-magic?" Ayame breathed in shock. "No…spiritual magecraft…or is it both?"

Ayame blinked, and then bit back a curse as she narrowly dodged a punch from Rin, and its follow up. "IF ONLY YOU'D DIE!" Rin spat as she threw gems in Ayame's direction as she sprang away. "YOU ARE AN EVIL THAT TWISTS THIS WORLD!"

"Gods damn it, Tohsaka!" Ayame shouted as she was buffeted by the shockwaves of exploding force. "This isn't an anime! Stop talking like it is!"

"THEN DIE!" Rin shouted as she jumped out of the dust cloud, fist drawn back for a punch.

"Damn it!" Ayame cursed as she sprang back barely in time, Rin's fist coming down to slam into the ground. The ground erupted all around them, and then Ayame was crying out, as a kick from Rin connected with her belly and sent her flying.

Through a wall and then tumbling through several rooms she went, and came to a rest coughing up blood. "Meteor…" she breathed as she saw Rin close in from a distance.

Golden light lanced out at a small fraction of its full strength, but enough to blow Rin away. Staggering to her feet, Ayame summoned several fairies which hurriedly began to heal her body. Biting back blood and bile and forcing herself to ignore the pain of bruised muscles and cracked bones, Ayame staggered back to the atrium.

Across from her, Rin also forced herself to her feet, the wall behind her cratered by her impact after being sent flying by Ayame's Meteor. "Why?" Rin spat out, prana flickering around her as healing spells worked on her burns and scrapes and other injuries. "Why do you keep getting in my way? Why can't you understand? I have to save her. Can't you see? I HAVE TO SAVE HER! I HAVE TO SAVE THEM ALL!"

"It's too late for that." Ayame breathed as she forced herself to stand at her full height. "You can't save them. It's impossible. Not even True Magic can do that."

"But I can!" Rin shouted. "And I'm not going to use True Magic! I'm going to use the Holy Grail! An all-powerful wish machine!"

"There's no such thing!" Ayame shouted back. "And even if you did, do you really think they'd be happy being saved at such a price? You committed mass murder! If your sister and parents really were as admirable as you remember them to be, do you really think they'd be proud of having someone like you as family?"

"SHUT UP!" Rin roared as she charged forward. Ayame gestured, her fairies flying all around them and firing off pulses of light from randomized directions. Others stayed with her, forming a proto-barrier around her, ready to be deployed in an instant, while her fingers crackled with golden lightning. "WHAT DO YOU KNOW? YOU'RE JUST A BASTARD! YOU'RE SOMEONE WHO SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN BORN! EVEN THAT POWER YOU HAVE…I KNOW…I JUST KNOW…IT'S NOT SOMETHING YOU OR ANYONE SHOULD HAVE!"

"That's not your decision to make!" Ayame spat. "Meteor! And what does it matter if I or anyone else is a bastard? Meteor! The kind of person we are should be and is more important! Meteor! Not that you'd understand, murderer! Meteor!"

"I…!"

Abruptly, the apartments exploded in a wave of black liquid, the two combatants turning to look in surprise. Rin didn't have the time to shout or even scream as she was engulfed, while Ayame barely had time to register her barrier be engulfed.

And then her eyes widened as the barrier cracked, and then collapsed, and she was drowned by a tide of utter darkness.

A/N

You might wonder why Arthur refers to the Anglo-Saxons as though they and the Britons were different people. Well, they were, and they still are. Britons are the original people of Britain, while Anglo-Saxons were – ironically – Germanic invaders of Britain during and following the collapse of the Roman Empire. And they're technically still around today. The Britons became the Welsh, while the Anglo-Saxons became the English.

It's an oversimplification, but it's generally accurate. It's actually lampshaded in an official doujin, where Altria passes herself off as an exchange student in Shirou's school. She introduces herself as from Wales, and when one of their classmates remarks its part of the UK, she gets annoyed and says Wales is an independent country. It isn't, though if Scotland becomes independent, Wales just might become independent soon after.