Chapter Thirteen

Sorry it's been so long everyone! I was having some technical issues that I was being very lazy in addressing. I will get back to posting every few days now until this is all up. I have everything done but some epilogues so it is just a matter of actually posting things now.

The air between the three of them was tense as they made their way through town, travelling towards the Matou estate. They stopped briefly at Tohsaka's residence to disguise their purpose in to this part of town, to let Tohsaka gather some of her jewels, and to rest from the walk for what might be their final confrontation. Not that Shirou felt that he needed a rest personally, but he wanted to make sure Rin and Sakura got one. Well, for some reason they insisted that he was the one who needed to take a break. But as long as they were resting while they thought he was, that was good enough for him.

Each of them was tense for a different region. Rin was scared because of her training. She knew they were walking into the home of a magus that was several hundred years old, and that having two Servants on their side didn't necessarily mean they would be ready for all of his tricks. Sakura was afraid because of her personal experience. For so long her Grandfather had been an impossible barrier and she had never truly imagined that fighting back was possible. Shirou was tense because of his anger. The rage building within him was forcing him to clench his fists, and his heart felt like it was pumping blood entirely too fast.

So, when they got to the Matou estate and felt no sign of the old Magus's presence, they were not relieved. Each of them had their own reason to believe that finding no trace of him at all was suspicious in it's own way.

"Sakura." Shirou said. He gestured towards the front door.

"Yes, Master." She responded, beginning to move ahead. It frustrated him to no end that she was taking the front and not him, even though that meant putting her in danger, but he had no idea where he was going. She and Rin were now both dressed in their Servant outfits, ready for combat to break out at any moment.

Rin watched their backs as Sakura pushed open the solid wooden door of the Matou mansion. There was no response. He wasn't good enough to detect magical energy, after all he'd been in school with Rin without ever realizing that she was a magus, but even he felt it was a little odd how little tension there was in the air. It didn't feel like they were steeping onto enemy territory.

Just a graveyard.

The interior of the house was dark and empty. The air was stale, like nobody had even cracked a window in days. With Shinji dead and Zouken fearing sunshine that was more than possible. Sakura lead them towards a hidden doorway, which she had to brace herself before opening.

Shirou did the same. It was his duty as a Master to ensure Sakura never had to come back here again after today. It was his duty as a Hero of Justice to wipe this place from existence. Inside they found...

Nothing. It was like a burial tomb with no corpses. The worm breeding ground was a massive pit of stone that was notably empty of any kind of crest worm, or indeed life of any kind.

"What?" Shirou asked, unclear of what to make of this. "Sakura, is this normal?"

She shook her head, lost for words.

Rin grimaced, and Shirou tore his eyes away from the room to join her. "I figured something like this might happen. Zouken has gone into hiding."

"Hiding?"

Rin's seemed to think that her expression was neutral and impassive, but it was anything but. "He has to know you own... I mean, that Sakura is your Servant now. And so am I. With all the reason we have to destroy him, it wouldn't take a genius to figure out that we might launch an assault. Why take the risk? All he has to do is hide until the Grail War is over and he'll avoid facing the wrath of two Servants."

Her words were too logical. Shirou punched a wall, shouting in pain as he bruised his skin against the cold bricks. Rin and Sakura flinched, looking at him with sympathy, but he didn't know why they cared about something so minor.

He ran a hand through his hair. Well. There was nothing they could do now. "Sakura, gather up everything you want to keep. We're going to burn this place down."

"Y-Yes, Master!" Sakura shouted. She seemed very eager indeed to be free of the worm pit.

It took them about an hour to gather everything. Sakura focused mainly on clothing and other basic necessities, like her school uniforms and toiletries. Rin however insisted that they might as well rob the place blind of valuables while they were at it. It took him quite an argument – and a promise of a spanking later tonight – to get her to limit herself to just a few bag fulls of books. Anything that might slow them down was a no-go in his mind.

What was so strange was that everything went off without a hitch. They gathered everything they carried outside, and then Rin shot a flaming arrow into the open house. It ignited instantly, beginning the blaze that would take down the whole building. By the time the flames were visible, the three of them were already running away. It wouldn't do to be seen carrying valuables away from a burning building, after all. But nobody stopped them.

Shirou took only one look back as they left. The blaze stirred memories within him that he hated to even think about. But this was a natural... well natural-ish fire. There was no risk of it spreading. And it was worth it, to deny that bastard his comfortable footing.

They didn't go straight home, instead dropping off the books and everything else in Rin's home. They could retrieve it all once the Holy Grail War had ended and they had time for leisurely sorting through their misbegotten goods. And besides, Rin needed to call Kotomine and get him to run damage control on the burning building. Well the way she worded it was by saying that they needed to pretend the struggle had been part of the War, in order to get the cover-up done free of charge.

"Nee-san, isn't that a little too miserly?" Sakura asked, too quietly for her sister to hear.

And then it was time to head back home. Their mission technically accomplished, but leaving Shirou feeling hollow inside. No matter what he did, he felt like he was missing something obvious.

X X X

Ignoring the sirens as the firefighters made their way to the scene of the crime, Shirou kept a careful eye on Sakura as they walked back towards their home. He thought he was being discreet, but her rapidly growing blush suggested otherwise.

"Master? Is there something I can help you with?" Sakura asked. Rin had projected her a large fur coat, far more stylish than his simple yellow raincoat, and she looked adorable all bundled up and warm.

"No, sorry." He shook his head. "I was just wondering how you were feeling. Are you still worried about Zouken?"

Her silence was answer enough.

Rin ran a hand through her twin tails. Her projected coat was just as fancy as what she had made for Sakura, and Shirou wondered if she was making up for lost time after all of her previous frugal living. "If you're worried, all you have to do is win the Holy Grail War to wish for his destruction. Even Zouken can't hide somewhere so far away that the grail can't get him."

Sakura looked at her sister, hope beginning to appear in her eyes. "Nee-san..."

"Ohohohohohoho. What a foolish wish!" A pompous, strangely familiar, female voice called out.

Shirou froze as Rin and Sakura jumped into battle positions. Their fancy coats vanished into thin air, as they covered themselves with their Servant clothing once more.

The three of them had made their way over the bridge and into the western part of town without really noticing. Now they were at the intersection where the path diverged between his school, his home, and the town's temple. As far as Shirou could tell they were the only three people there, but that voice... Was it some kind of puppet?

"Assassin!?" Rin yelled. "Sakura, protect Master!"

"Yes!" Her sister responded.

All three of them kept their eyes peeled for the threat. The sense of hostility in the air grew stronger by the second, but their was no sign of their opponent. Shirou kept his eyes locked in the direction the voice had seemed to come from, but there was nothing there.

And then, all at once, two figures appeared before them as their illusory cover vanished.

The sight of one of them sent a chill down Shirou's spine. It was Berserker, the murderous child riding on top of a polar bear who had tried to kill Rin and him once before. She looked like a snow-fairy, a very unnatural appearance for such a plain town like theirs. But he did think she must have at least been warm in her snug winter clothing. He didn't know why he cared, but there it was.

The other... Shirou momentarily lost track of his thoughts while he stared at her. She was a gorgeous blonde woman around his own age, wearing an ostentatious outfit of gold that revealed deep cleavage and much of her lightly muscled body. She looked a little like a wrestler, and a little like a goddess. For some reason that Shirou couldn't understand, she felt so strangely familiar. But with his life on the line he couldn't have named where he knew her from. Perhaps she was some kind of idol? She was certainly pretty enough.

He shook his head to distract himself from those thoughts.

"Ohohoho!" She laughed again. Whoever she was, she was absolutely rich. Nobody who laughed like that had ever had to worry about something mundane like paying grocery bills. She was holding a large scale in one hand that caught Shirou's attention. Her Noble Phantasm? He couldn't imagine why else she would be carrying something like that. "What a sorry trio! Is this what you threw everything away for? Such a waste."

"Onii-chan! I've come back to see you!" Berserker yelled. She sounded just like a child playing in the streets. She put a finger on her mouth, like she was urging him to keep a secret. "I wanted to kill you myself, but Caster is very angry you know. This is the price you pay for infidelity!"

"Caster?" Shirou asked, turning to look at the woman. Did he know her from somewhere? No, he couldn't possibly.

"Master, stay back!" Sakura yelled, throwing herself in front of Shirou.

"Master, retreat!" Rin called out at the same time as her sister. She had a bow in her hands with an arrow knocked before he could even shift into a defensive stance.

Shirou gasped. He could see the fight about to break out, and he wanted nothing to do with it. There was no point in anybody dying before he even learned why that Caster woman was glaring at him like that. "Wait – "

He didn't even get to finish saying the word before Berseker lunged into action. The polar bear went from standing completely still to dashing towards them at absurdly high speeds with acceleration that even a Cheetah would be jealous of. Although he couldn't react in time to dodge out of the way, he didn't need to. Rin loosed an arrow directly at Berseker's head, which she ducked to avoid. In the brief half a second time lapse created by that interaction, Sakura grabbed Shirou and hauled him to one side. He yelled in shock as they moved, just outside of the path of the charging bear.

There was no time to catch his breath. "Look out, Master!" Sakura shouted, all but dropping him on the ground. Shirou rolled across the pavement, losing his breath as he skipped on the pavement. "Nee-san, hold off Berseker! I'll take care of Caster!"

"Got it!" Rin shouted. Even as she spoke she was already rapidly firing a series of arrows at the back of the retreating polar bear. Only one connected through the shields of ice Berserker was throwing up, but that was enough to make the bear roar in pain.

Sakura brandished her daggers, lining up a shot on Caster. The blonde woman was chanting. "Master, stay here while I - "

"I think not!" Caster called out.

Her scale began to glow with golden light, and that was all the warning Shirou had before he was being hauled up into the air. Everything was turning black. The buildings, the street, everything was slipping away aside from the stars.

"MASTER!" Sakura cried out. And then she was gone.

X X X

Sakura's blood ran cold. He was gone. Her Senpai, her Master, the man she loved more than anything was gone, right before her eyes. And she hadn't even been able to react. Practically growling with rage she tried to hurl herself towards Caster, but the woman was already gone as well.

Her only comfort was knowing that her Master wasn't dead. Not yet at least. As a Servant, she would know when he passed away.

Praying that he had enough freedom to use a command spell to summon herself or Rin, Sakura did the only thing she could in the meantime. She threw herself at the only target available.

Berserker was gearing up for another charge at Rin, but when she saw that Caster and Shirou had vanished, she smiled innocently again. "So, your Master has ditched you already? You have only yourself to blame. You know what they say, if he'll cheat with you then he'll cheat on you!"

"Who taught you to talk like that, you damn brat!" Rin yelled back. Her bowstring sang out as a rapid stream of arrows were released.

Berserker didn't retreat from the onslaught, instead she summoned a spear made of ice and used it to bat aside the arrows before they could reach her. The spear was destroyed by each arrow it came into contact with, but that didn't matter since Berserker was able to create a new one with each swing of her arm. And every arrow she deflected she got a step closer.

Before the enemy Servant within striking range of her sister, Sakura launched into her counter attack. She tossed her dagger chain at a low angle, between the legs of the charging bear. She tugged, using supernatural skill to force the chain to wrap itself around the bear's back legs.

The bear roared. Sakura expected it to at least lose it's balance but it held it's ground, slowing to a halt without falling. "Wha- !" Berserker yelled.

"Nice one, Sakura! Hold her there!" Rin called out. A glimmer of light appeared in her hand, that quickly morphed into the form of a long spiral sword. "I am the bone of my sword!"

Sakura heard Berserker gasp. The bear roared, trying to charge forward. Sakura grit her teeth and dug her feet into the ground, holding with all of her might to prevent the beast from being able to move towards her sister. Even with her enhanced strength she couldn't hold out forever.

But she didn't need to either.

"Caladbolg!" Rin cried out.

The arrow loosed. Sakura abandoned her grip on the chain and threw herself backwards, trying to make as much distance between herself and the detonation zone as possible.

Berserker had the chance to shout only two words before her imminent death. "Pohjola Fimbul!"

A wall of ice two stories high built up, surrounding the girl. The broken phantasm collided with the ice, creating an explosion of ice and steam that blocked out the entire world.

X X X

Shirou screamed as he was taken away from his Servants, and the world itself.

His surroundings had completely transformed. Above him the night sky was brighter and more visible than it ever truly was in the middle of the city, and he was no longer standing on the street but in the middle of a disk of metal. He was so disoriented that it took him at least a minute to recognize the disk as a scale. He was standing on top a giant version of Caster's Noble Phantasm.

The enemy Servant herself was here as well. Shirou had no real way to measure distance here, but she was standing on the lid of the opposite scale, which was perfectly balanced with his. Her arms were crossed, and she was staring at him almost like a jilted lover.

"Hmmph." She said. He didn't know how he heard her, from such a distance. Something about her really was driving him a little insane. Where did this sense of familiarity come from?

He backed up, trying to work out what to do next. Should he call Rin or Sakura over with a command spell, like Shinji had tried to do?

He didn't get the chance to finish the thought. Caster shouted and jumped across the empty void, landing in the space behind him. She had the dignity of a goddess, but all of her movements reminded him of the showy style of professional wrestlers. Her glare did not cease. "Nothing to say?"

"Am I supposed to know you!?" Shirou called out.

It was, apparently, the worst possible thing that he could have said.

Caster's centre of gravity sunk, and her leg swept upwards to kick him square in the stomach. He went flying backwards, all of his training utterly worthless in that moment.

"Trace, on!" He shouted. In his mind he heard the pounding of a gun's hammer, and his magic circuit switched on just as Rin had taught him.

Caster followed up the kick with a flip and a body slam. Shirou threw himself to one side, dodging her offensive move by only a hairsbreadth. Her falling body left a dent in the metal scale they stood upon, and created a reverberating shock through the environment.

Shirou pulled himself up, hoping that he had at least a second or two to catch his breath, but that was a fool's hope. Without even bothering to pick herself up off the floor, Caster stood on her hands and began to launch a series of kicks into his torso.

"What kind of Caster are you!?" Shirou shouted, as he ducked and blocked the rapid series of purely physical attacks. Each one swung with enough force to break bones, and it was only by flooding his arms with magical energy that he was able to stay alive despite the assault.

"Haah!" Caster shouted in response. She flipped up onto her feet again once we was too far away to kick, and threw a right hook at his skull.

Shirou felt panic rising in his throat. He was going to die.

He didn't have one of Rin's Noble Phantasms to protect himself. He was going to die.

He didn't have the means to even block this punch. He was going to die.

He was going to fail Rin. He was going to fail Sakura.

He was going to die.

If only... if only he had a weapon...

His body was burning with pain, screaming at him like he was depriving it of oxygen.

He was going to die. He needed a weapon. A weapon that could withstand such brutal attacks. A weapon that would let him defend himself.

It didn't matter that it was impossible, or that doing so would cripple an inexperienced human like him. He wasn't the only one who was in danger here, so he couldn't lose!

Emiya Shirou called upon his magic and projected two twin blades into his hands.

"Wha –" Caster's surprise was the only reason he was able to block her attack. With instincts that weren't his own, his burning body brought one blade up to act as a shield by pure instinct, but he never could have made it in time if it wasn't a surprise attack. Her fist punched through the blade like glass – no it wasn't her strength but his own poor image that had failed the weapon. If he'd imagined it properly it would have survived far more than one hit!

Even as the cracks were beginning to spread over that blade, Shirou found his other arm swinging forward in a small arc. As the shards of Kanshou fell to the ground and disappeared, Bakuya was cutting deep into Caster's stomach.

"AGGGHHH!" She shouted. Shirou raised the blade again, but she was already jumping away. His mind was fogged, and his body was too weak to pursue her. But that didn't matter, because there was fear in Caster's eyes.

Everything felt like it was falling, and the distorted world slowly returned to normal even as Shirou's grasp on reality began to fade further and further away.

X X X

"No way..." Rin said, wishing that she could pull her eyes away.

Sakura landed beside her. Her sister was uninjured by the blast, but she looked shaken in another way. Like Rin, she was no doubt worried sick by the disappearance of their Master. Yet, they couldn't afford to focus on that until they had defeated the enemy before them. If they turned their backs even for a second, they would be risking their own lives.

"That was an A ranked Noble Phantasm..." Rin said. Sakura tensed up, not wanting to believe what Rin's eyes were already confirming.

In the centre of the blast, where there should have been nothing but a smoking crater, that young child still sat on top of her polar bear mount.

"Unbelievable." Berserker said. Her eyes had turned from grey to a perfect blue, and her hair was frazzled, but she was otherwise unharmed. "To think that two pedestrian Heroic Spirits could force me to reveal my Noble Phantasm's name to survive. Hmmph!"

The sheer arrogance of that statement was mindboggling. She had just survived Rin's strongest attack without a scratch. Could nothing penetrate that impossible shield of ice? "Just what the hell kind of Heroic Spirit are you!?"

To her surprise, Berserker answered. "I'm the strongest Servant, you know? Sitonai. Freyja. Louhi. These three Divine Spirits inhabit my body. Understand now, Archer? There's no arrow you possess that can harm me."

"...!" Rin wanted to scream. Sakura gasped beside her, looking up at her older sister for confirmation. That was impossible. That had to be impossible. Three Divine Spirits in one vessel! Power like that was beyond anything any one Servant was supposed to be able to handle!

Even as she spoke, Berserker was gearing up for another attack. The bear seemed to grow even larger beneath her, raising the child further up above the ground. "Opta – "

"BERSERKER!" Caster shouted. Rin's head wheeled around, and she was the blonde bitch running towards her more powerful ally. Her stomach was red with blood. Impossibly, Shirou was standing back on the road with one of her twin swords in his hand. He looked more than a little unsteady, like he didn't really know where he was. "We're leaving!" Caster called out.

Berserker sighed. "Haa... Fine. It's not like I can't finish them off anytime I want." Caster jumped onto the bear behind Berserker, and it turned to carry them both away.

Rin looked at their retreating backs, considering her own bow. From this distance she could hit them again. But no, she couldn't take the risk. Not with her Master potentially still injured.

As Sakura ran over to catch Shirou before he fell to the ground, Rin watched Berserker and Caster disappear from sight and wondered what she was going to do. Because Berserker was right. She was the strongest Servant.

But Rin had realized something ever since Shirou had become her Master. It didn't matter that she wasn't the strongest. As long as she could create a weapon that was the strongest, she could always win.

And at last, we have Shirou Projecting weapons for the first time. My original plan had been to have him do this against Shinji, but I felt like this was a better choice.