Back at the Emiya residence. Shirou and Illya both sat opposite of Taiga, ready to explain to her everything that had occurred a while ago in their surprise encounter with Richter. Shirou looked at Illya still in disbelief hearing about the revelation of who her father was. So her calling him big brother all the time…it made sense.

"So…" Shirou started slowly "is it true? Is Kiritsugu your father?"

Illya looked down at the table, her gaze averted, mumbling a very soft "yes…"

Shirou looked at Taiga, who looked just as shocked as he was. "I had no idea. He never told me he had a…"

"Is that why you came here? To Fuyuki?" Shirou asked, knowing full well the reason she came was because of the fifth Holy Grail War. But Taiga obviously didn't know about that and he knew Illya knew what he meant with it.

The young girl placed her hands on the table. Looking at Shirou and said "yes it's why I came here. I was angry hearing you existed. Angry at the thought that my father had abandoned me to raise you."

"But Kiritsugu would never abandon you. That wasn't like him."

"I thought so too. But all these years later….he never came to get me…"

Shirou wanted to comfort her but he had no clue what to tell her. This situation was so new to him. He had a sister? This whole time Kiritsugu had a daughter and never once did he mention this fact to him.

"Actually this explains quite a bit" Taiga said softly.

Shirou and Illya looked up at her. Taiga had been unusually quiet this entire time, it was starting to worry Shirou slightly. Taiga was always loud and present but in this moment she seemed rather quiet and absent.

"There were times Kiritsugu would leave for weeks on end. He never said why. But whenever he came back he always seemed dejected or…even sad. I guess I know now why" she explained as she turned to Illya.

"He was looking for you. Yet he could never find you."

It was these words that enveloped Illya's eyes in tears and she began to weep over the table, staining it with her tears.

"All these years….hating him….and he…"

Shirou swooped in and grabbed hold of her, hugging her tightly. "It's okay Illya. Your big brother is here…" he held her close as only a big brother could. Even a tear rolled down his cheek as Illya sobbed into his shoulder.

Agitated and annoyed, Arefal Richter walked through the hotel door and walked over to Argus Manadek as he sat silently on the couch with a glass of wine in his hand. The man looked up and said "ever heard of knocking."

But his comment went unanswered as Richter simply moved forward and smacked the glass out of his boss' hand. It clattered to the floor in pieces and its content spilling all over the floor.

"Why did you keep this from me?" Richter angrily asked him.

Manadek raised his eyebrow "what the wine? You never asked if we had any."

"NOT THAT!" Richter yelled so loudly his glasses almost fell off, he pushed them back from the bridge of his nose and continued "why did you not tell me that your daughter was hanging around with Kiritsugu Emiya's son."

"Oh that," Manadek replied nonchalantly as he stood up "I did not think it was relevant to mention."

"Not relevant? Not relevant! Do I need to remind you what that man did to me!" Richter responded angrily, lifting up his shirt, revealing a nasty scar running horizontally over his stomach.

Manadek looked unsurprised and didn't look the slightest bit disturbed by it. "In his defense Doctor Richter you did try to experiment on his daughter. As a father myself I can't help but understand his actions."

"Kiritsugu Emiya was an idiot!" Richter bellowed "that child was special. The offspring of a human and a homunculus. It was a miracle beyond scientific understanding. I had to know how it was possible and that's what he and the other imbecile Einzberns didn't understand."

"You can justify your actions until you're blue in the face Doctor. But that does not change the fact that what you did was morally reprehensible. It was a child, regardless of what she might be she was an innocent child that shouldn't have been subjected to experiments to sate your intellectual curiosity. Now why are you here? You have a project to complete and time is running out."

"Running out? What the hell are you talking about?"

Manadek sighed, grabbing his cane from the couch and walking over to Richter.

"I fear that the Clock Tower maybe onto us. So it's only a matter of time before they show up and then we are in trouble. So it is off the essence that you complete your work before that point."

"That project is worthless without the sword" Richter explained.

"No. Quite the opposite. Without your project, the sword is worthless," Manadek countered "I do not need you distracted by Shirou Emiya. He means nothing in the grand scheme of all this."

"His father tried to kill me," Richter said gritting his teeth "I barely survived. He ripped my stomach open with his spray of bullet fire. I had to stich myself up. Do you have any idea what it's like to suffer like that!"

SMACK!

A large reverberating slapping noise filled the room as Manadek had backhanded Richter across the face so hard that his glasses fell onto the floor, surprisingly staying completely intact. Richter for his part seemed completely taken aback by this sudden action from his boss.

"Don't patronize me like that ever again Doctor," Manadek said calmly, despite a hint of deep underlying anger being clearly present "I know better then anyone what it's like to be broken and scarred at the hands of monsters. It's why we do this. To make sure it never happens to anyone else ever again."

He walked past Richter, bending over to pick up Richter's glasses from the floor and offering them back to the doctor.

"If you want revenge by proxy on Emiya be my guest. But the mission comes first. Your project comes first. Do I make myself clear."

Richter looked frazzled and unamused but nonetheless answered with a begrudging "crystal clear boss" and took his glasses back and put them back on.

"Good. Time is off the essence. Kerrion already warned me about that pretentious prick El-Melloi being onto us. It's only a matter of time before he or his cronies arrive here. So finish your project swiftly Doctor Richter."

"And what makes you so sure your son was right. No offense but he's not exactly the best judge of character" Richter said with a condescending tone.

"Even with that being the case they still be onto us. Do I need to remind you that we literally grave robbed King Arthur's burial site to get that hand. Such action won't go unnoticed."

"Fair enough," Richter responded "I have all the components but I'm still missing a vital ingredient. The blood of a Magus. And not just one with weak circuits like Gil, actual powered circuits."

Manadek sat back down on the couch and said "we have already provided you with that."

"No you have…." Richter wanted to say before it all clicked in his head. Manadek and him locked eyes in a brief moment of understanding.

"Very clever Lord Manadek. Very well I will work on it and rest assured that I will make it work" Richter said with a sinister smile creeping on his face.

"For your sake Doctor Richter, you better…" Manadek warned him as the doctor left the room and his sight.

A/N: Bit of a shorter chapter everyone I'm sorry. I might take a little break from the story. I still enjoy it but there's so much I still need to write here and it's getting a bit overwhelming. This story is getting to be longer than I expected it to be and I don't know how long it will be, at this point maybe 40 to 45 chapters but who can say. Anyways thanks for reading hope you will enjoy the rest moving forward as well.