Martha soared through the air, robes flapping, with Sakura huddled in her arms. Down below, water lapped against the rubble of the bridge over the Mion river.

Although Martha's Riding skill was more than enough to make sure she could handle any modern vehicle with ease, the roads were still impassable, wrecked cars still in the process of being dragged to one side – and even without that, there was no way to drive from Shinto to Miyama any more, not since Berserker had wrecked the bridge at the start of the War, so long ago.

There was a lot of work to do. But as Martha looked, she began to notice details. There was a line leading down to a small jetty, and a tired-looking salaryman with a clipboard waved people forward. An old man extended a hand to help a pair of schoolchildren into what looked like his own small boat, and set off for the far shore. Across the river, a pair of women chatted in the ferry coming the other way.

Further back from the river, gangs of burly young men were lifting and shifting large pieces of debris while children handed out bottles of water or food wrapped in paper.

No, the work wasn't done, and wouldn't be for a while. But, slowly, the city was starting to get back on its feet.

It seemed tonight would be a night for rebuilding bridges.


Usually, entering a church gave Martha feelings of comfort. In life, this was usually because she had inspired its construction, after spreading the good news and converting enough of the locals. Often, she'd personally overseen that construction too, or even worked on the site until the priest prised the hammer from her fingers and reminded her she was supposed to be a holy woman and not some sweaty builder.

(Martha had always felt that was a little unfair, considering that the Lord Himself had seen fit to descend to Earth as the son of a carpenter.)

This particular church, however… well, her friend Risei was here, and that wasn't nothing, but every time Martha came here it wasn't under great circumstances. Still, it wouldn't do to worry Sakura, so Martha squeezed her hand, ruffled her head, and pushed open the door.

On one side of the central passage, as close as possible to the other without actually crossing over, was Matou Kariya. He looked even worse than the last time Martha had seen him, and that was saying something – hair thinning, skin pallid where it wasn't discoloured by long bruises snaking their way along where his blood vessels ran closest to the skin, and hands trembling where they clutched at the back of the pew.

His eyes were fixed, with mad intensity, on the pew opposite, where Tohsaka Aoi and Tohsaka Rin sat. Aoi sat primly, hand protectively round Rin's shoulder, looking directly ahead. Rin fidgeted, casting occasional looks at Kariya – at these times, Kariya's expression softened.

At the head of the church, serene as always, was Kotomine Risei. He didn't seem inclined to make small talk with either side, instead simply waiting with bowed head.

As Martha and Sakura entered, all four looked round. Rin's face lit up in delight as Sakura emerged from behind Martha, and she almost threw herself out of her pew and raced towards them.

"Sakura!" she shouted, slowing to a stop just in front of her sister. "… and Rider. Hello again, thank you for taking care of Father so far," she added, sparing Saint Martha a whole two seconds before turning back to Sakura. "It's been ages! Come on, we have so much to catch up on… have you started your magecraft studies yet? You were meant to receive the Matou Crest, what's that like? Oh, silly me, obviously you can't say... I'm so jealous, I won't have access to Father's crest for years. He's teaching me magical control right now and I think I've almost got it, if you're having trouble I bet I could… oh…"

Sakura, whose eyes had been slowly filling with tears as she stared at her sister, suddenly wrapped her arms around a surprised-looking Rin.

"Um… ah…" Rin floundered, before rallying, smiling, and patting Sakura's head. "Dummy. I missed you too."

Meanwhile, Aoi had followed Rin, at a slightly more sedate pace. She looked very much like she wanted to hug Sakura too, even reaching out, but at the last minute she winced, dropped her hand, and turned to Martha with a watery smile.

"I suppose we'd better let the children catch up for a moment," she said. "I would also like to thank you for taking care of Tokiomi, Rider. …how is he?"

"Oh, um, fine, I suppose," said Martha. Aoi didn't need to hear about the whole 'putting him through walls by his lapels' thing. "There hasn't been much to do lately. And, of course, Kirei and Lancer are extremely capable by themselves. Master shouldn't be in any danger with them around."

"I see." Aoi looked distracted, looking at where an excited Rin was proudly holding out a jewel to a confused-looking Sakura.

"I think he enjoyed having Sakura back," offered Martha. "More than he expected, actually. Um…" She really didn't want to say this but it had to be said, so she lowered her voice, "Did you… know? About… what Sakura went through?"

Aoi's eyes widened just a fraction. Then she bit her lip. Then she smoothed her expression and said with an apologetic smile, "Ah, is this a magecraft thing? I never got involved in any of that. My family has something of a history, but I left it all to Tokiomi." She glanced down at Sakura, then back up. "Sorry."

"No problem…" Hmm. Martha had thoughts, but none of them were polite ones and they were in a church, so she said only, "Well, I'm sure it'll be nice for her to come to stay with you for a while. For you too, I imagine."

"Oh yes, certainly." Aoi seemed to cast about for something to say, before finally noticing Risei approaching. "Ah, Risei!" she said, with some relief. "Rider was just saying how well Kirei's doing, isn't that nice?"

"Yes, I'm very proud of him," Risei said. "Rider, lovely to see you again. Ladies, might I suggest we give this evening's other reunion some space? I won't suggest we leave the room, but perhaps some privacy might be appreciated."

Martha noticed Kariya dragging himself closer, eyes fixed on the two girls. Yes, that was the look of a penitent if she'd ever seen one – and while she was more than happy to take confession, in this case she probably wasn't the right person. She withdrew with Risei, while Aoi lingered a moment more.


Her mother was acting weird, Rin decided.

Obviously, it was quite weird that she had taken Rin back into Fuyuki, when both she and Father been extremely clear that Rin was absolutely not to go home, or visit her friends, or go anywhere apart from school, until Father said that the Holy Grail War was over and everything was OK. But Rin hadn't questioned it that much. Parents were allowed to change their minds, and if they thought she would be safe then it was probably fine.

Rin had assumed she would be meeting up with Father – in her head she'd been trying to think of reasons why, and had come up with scenarios ranging all the way from 'a super-secret mission to help out in the War' to 'Father is about to die and wants to pass on the Tohsaka crest'. Instead, they'd gone to church of all places.

Seeing old Father Kotomine there wasn't a surprise. Seeing her mother's friend Matou Kariya was.

Rin was fond enough of Kariya, but she wouldn't have described them as particularly close. She'd never understood why he was so close with her mother, and how he seemed to want to push himself into their lives. At least Sakura had seemed to like him – except that even after she'd gone to live with the Matou, he still wasn't around! Worse, according to Shinji he'd even rejected his background as a magus, which was the whole reason Sakura had to go and be the Matou heir in the first place.

(Usually, pretending Shinji didn't exist was the best policy – it stopped you from getting annoyed at everything he said, and also made him super angry, which was hilarious – but Rin was prepared to believe him on this one. His uncle had certainly never displayed the same elegance and discipline that Father had, and those were essential qualities for a magus. According to Father, at any rate.)

Still, that same elegance demanded Rin be at least polite, so she had greeted him nicely and accepted a pat on the head, even ignoring how his hand had lingered possessively until her mother cleared her throat. According to Father Kotomine, they were still waiting for someone, although when she'd asked who Kariya had just said it was a surprise and her mother had smiled a brittle smile.

And then Sakura had come in with Rider, and Rin didn't really care anymore.

Now, her… their mother was kneeling next to the two.

"I'm going to be just over there with Father Kotomine and Rider," she said. "There's… some grown-up stuff going on, but Kariya has asked to speak to you two."

"Why?" asked Rin, quite reasonably she thought.

Her mother looked pained. "I think it's best he just talks to you, dear. But it'll only be for a few minutes, and then we're going straight home… and Sakura will be coming with us."

"What!?" Rin squealed. "Sakura, is that true?"

Sakura shrugged, then nodded. Rin nearly knocked her over with another hug.

"Amazing! I can show you my room, and the new books I got, and we can stay up…" she noticed her mother looking at her, "… until a reasonable hour and definitely no later. Okay, bring on Mr Kariya, let's get this over with."

"Alright," her mother said. "I'll be right over there. … be nice, Rin."

With that confusing comment, she withdrew, and Matou Kariya approached, with the fakest-looking smile Rin had ever seen.

"Hi, girls… Sakura."

Rin had already greeted Kariya, so she simply nodded. Sakura grabbed her hand, and when Rin gave it a squeeze she spoke too.

"Hello, uncle."

Her voice was flat, and when Rin looked at her in surprise the blank expression on her face was like nothing she'd seen on her sister before. She almost looked… disappointed?

It brought Kariya up short, and he paused before rubbing his head. "Ahah… I don't think Rin's worked out why I wanted to speak to you so bad yet, but I bet you have, Sakura. Wanna guess?"

Huh? Rin looked between Kariya and Sakura, vaguely insulted. What had she missed?

"I did," Saura said, voice still as impassive as if she was commenting on the weather. "You failed Grandfather, and now you'll die."

"Heh… yeah, you got it, kid. How'd you know?"

Sakura looked at Kariya like he was stupid. "Because Archer didn't come to fetch me. She'd only have stopped if she were dead. You don't have any use to Grandfather any more."

"… yeah, that's about the size of it."

"I can't go back," Sakura said.

"I know… I'm sorry, Sakura, I said I'd get the Grail for you and I couldn't-" started Kariya, but Sakura was shaking her head.

"No, I mean I don't have anywhere else to go. Assassin killed our house."

Rin blinked. Who did what to the what?

Kariya chuckled, then broke off, coughing. When he finally stopped, he wheezed, "Yeah, I know. Sorry about your stuff, I guess. Honestly, I don't know what happens next. Grandfather's still around, for now… but I'm leaving instructions with the priest for your father, to try and deal with him. You shouldn't need to go back, Sakura. I may be a shitty magus, and a worse uncle, but I've done everything I could to get you out. You hear me? You don't need to go back to that goddamn place."

"No swearing," said Sakura, still in that dull tone… but for the first time, there was a hint of something else in her expression. A tremble of the lip, a crinkle of the eyes…

Kariya looked shocked – then he laughed, and this time it actually seemed natural. For a moment Rin had a flash of a dark-haired young man, joking with her mother. Then he broke off into a violent series of coughs, lungs heaving with each wracking shake. Rin waited for him to stop – and kept waiting, for almost a minute. Eventually he straightened up, wiping his mouth. Rin saw blood at his sleeve, and the little spark of something in Sakura's expression was gone.

Wait. Wait, wait, wait.

"Hang on," she said, a horrible suspicion growing. "You said you'd die – you didn't just mean that your grandfather would kill you, did you?"

"Yeah," said Kariya, turning to her. "There's no need for him to get involved in the first place. The Matou magecraft… isn't very kind on the body. At least, the kind I had to use to get myself up to scratch after ten years without training magic wasn't."

"To be a magus is to walk with death," Rin quoted automatically, then cringed internally – it was one thing to say that, and another to actually watch a man live it out before your eyes. Worse… "Hey, wait, Sakura, are you OK? You're not dying, are you?"

"I'm fine," Sakura said quickly. Rin narrowed her eyes, because she wasn't stupid and she wasn't buying that in a million years.

"Oh, don't you worry about that, Rin," said Kariya. For a moment, the warm man from a moment ago was gone, replaced by a wreck with eyes filled with a cold hate. "Sakura's in no danger of dying from the Matou magecraft. Sakura, why don't you tell your sister how much magecraft you've learned so far?"

Sakura looked from her uncle to Rin, then at the floor. "None."

"None!?" shrieked Rin. "That's… what even…" She had about three thoughts all trying to get out of her mouth first, and all of them seemed to be the most important. In the end what came out was, "Why?"

"I… I…" Sakura said to her shoes.

"Not you," Rin said hurriedly, then rounded on Kariya. "You! Why weren't you there? You could have helped her!"

To her fury, the man stayed as calm as ever… although whatever those hateful eyes were seeing, it wasn't her. "Yes. I could have. But I didn't know she was there, and as soon as I did I stopped her training."

"You stopped-" Rin felt a squeeze on her hand, and looked down to see Sakura shaking her head. "Sakura, how are you not furious about this? This is… a waste! You're so much better than this!"

"I never asked to be better," said Sakura. "I didn't mind stopping."

This was baffling. Magic was the best thing ever, who wouldn't want to learn everything they could? Sure, it hurt when your circuits lit up, and Father had been warning her about what the Crest would feel like for as long as he'd been teacher her, but to just give up was simply alien to Rin.

But, looking at the broken mess that Kariya had become, looking into Sakura's eyes – had they always been so lifeless? – Rin had a horrible feeling that there was something she wasn't understanding, maybe something she didn't want to understand. She covered the feeling with indignation, and rounded on Kariya again. "Ugh. Well, if you didn't want Sakura learning in the first place, why did you even leave? You're the whole reason she was there!"

"Yes, I was. If I had known Sakura would be chosen in my place, I would have stayed. Same for you, Rin. But I didn't know, and I didn't stay."

"You don't seem very upset!"

Kariya quirked one eyebrow. "I just told you I'd arranged for your father to kill my grandfather… but beyond that, Rin, you're not saying anything I haven't said to myself every day for the last year."

"Then why are you even here? What's the point of dragging Sakura and I all this way, if none of us can change anything?" Rin stomped her foot, then did it again for emphasis.

Kariya blinked, looking honestly confused. "Isn't… isn't it obvious? Rin, I just wanted to say goodbye."

…oh.

"I've got no reason to cling to life, Rin. Nothing at all to live for. I'll die soon, whether I want it or not, so may as well just accept the fact. But I felt this was important. You needed to scream at me, hate me for what I did. I hoped Sakura would too, but she was always more polite than you were."

Rin choked out an unwilling laugh, and Kariya smiled.

"And then, even if it was just a wild hope, after you'd both said everything you needed to say, I hoped you'd both forgive me. I don't need that, though. You do whatever you want."

Unwanted tears sprang to Rin's eyes. She wiped them away angrily. Adults were so unfair. "Idiot…"

She felt Sakura let go of her hand. Slowly, her sister put her arms around Kariya.

Hmph. Well, she couldn't let Sakura be the only one hugging, she'd just look clingy.

Fine, she'd give Kariya a hug. Just because it was his last wish, and so as not to make Sakura feel awkward. No other reason.


"That went about as well as could be expected," Martha said to Risei, watching Aoi prise two bawling children off a depleted-looking Matou Kariya.

Risei's face was heavy, but he managed to smile at her. "Yes. There has been a lot of tragedy in that family. I'm glad to see at least some of it is drawing to a close."

"Quite. Speaking of drawing to a close…" Martha glanced out of the window. "Sun's coming down. Best that I get Aoi and the children were out of the city before nightfall." She stepped forward, and clapped her hands.

"Alright, everybody! Time to go." This prompted another round of wails from Rin and Sakura. "I said it is time to go." Dead silence. "Thank you! Now, I'll escort you as far as the train station – Aoi, will that be alright?"

Together they exited the church into the cool evening air, Risei supporting Kariya on his shoulder to wave them off. Martha took a deep breath, savouring it. There was a lot to dislike about the current state of things, but it was good to be alive again, if only for a short time.

It occurred to her that, in all likelihood, this was also the last time she, Martha, would be able to see Sakura, Rin or Aoi again, but she decided not to mention that. It would rather rain on Matou Kariya's parade, and besides it wasn't like this was the last time she'd see them all again.

Just the last time on Earth.

Yes, this evening hadn't been a waste of time at all. Quite apart from Kariya's promised information – which he was even now passing on to Risei in a low voice, to be transferred to Tokiomi later – this kind of reconciliation was the kind of thing that gave Martha hope for the future.

Martha hadn't known Kariya all that well. For most of the War, he'd been the madman, hellbent on revenge, trying to kill her Master. But, even so, it wasn't like there was no room in her heart for compassion, even towards such a man – even one such as him could find peace, after all the shouting and recriminations were through. Martha bowed her head to say a prayer…

… and jerked it back up again, drawing her staff from nowhere and swinging it to deflect a searing blue energy blast into the ground.

Ahead of her, three figures emerged from an orange portal.

"You," Martha snarled, white robes swirling as she took a stance. "What are you doing here?"

"Um, it's a Holy Grail War, sweetie," said Caster. She tapped her staff on the ground, and the earth rippled on either side of her, two intricately decorated gold and blue cannon rising from nowhere and swivelling to face Martha.

"I'll give you three guesses."