Okay, let's see how badly I can accidentally piss off any major Fate-verse fans with my ignorance or mistakes…

THE FOLLOWING THINGS ARE THE PROPERTIES OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS; I DO NOT OWN THEM AND MAKE NO MONEY OFF OF THIS STORY

Mahō Shōjo Lyrical Nanoha (Teana, various other characters) – 7Arcs

Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni (Shion and friends/family) – 07th Expansion and Studio Deen

Shuffle! (Kaede Fuyō and associated characters) – Navel and Asread

Erika's New Perfume (Marie, Sarah, Erika, Timmy, Veronica) – DeviantArtist 'Lance the Young'

Mai-chan's Daily Life (Mai, Kizuna) – Waita Uziga

Star Wars (Ahsoka, Cody, Rex, Force Unleashed cast) – George Lucas, Lucasfilm

Halo (Forerunners, UNSC, Sangheili Alliance) – Bungie, 343 Industries

StarCraft (multiple characters, events, and devices) – Blizzard Entertainment

Naruto (characters, techniques, abilities) – Masashi Kishimoto

Mahō Sensei Negima (characters, spells, abilities) – Ken Akamatsu

Kingdom Hearts (characters, weapons, enemies, concepts) – Square-Enix

Neon Genesis Evangelion (characters, concepts, tech) – Studio Gainax

Elfen Lied (Kaede K., others) – Lynn Okamoto, Arms

Red vs. Blue (The Blood-Gulch Crew, the ex-Freelancers) – Rooster Teeth

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic – Hasbro, Lauren Faust

Transformers Film Series – Hasbro, Michael Bay

Transformers: Beast Wars – Hasbro, Mainframe Entertainment

Yu-Gi-Oh! – Kazuki Takahashi, Viz Media

Sonic the Hedgehog – SEGA

Gears of War – Epic Games

Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles – Columbia Tristar (I think)

Mass Effect – Bioware

Metroid – Nintendo

Puella Magi Madoka Magica – Gen Urobuchi, SHAFT

The Legend of Zelda – Nintendo

Tōhō – ZUN

RWBY – Rooster Teeth

Pretty Cure / PreCure – Toei Animation

Kill La Kill – Trigger

Cross Ange – Sunrise

Cardcaptor Sakura – Clamp

Sailor Moon – Naoko Takeuchi, Kodansha

Sailor Nothing – used with express permission of Stefan "Twoflower" Gagne; please visit his website for SN and his other original works

Fate/Stay Night, Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya – TYPE-MOON

PLEASE READ & REVIEW, AND TEND TO THE TROPE PAGES

-BOOK 33 START-

Realm LN-34 – Midchilda

During Events of Book 32

Beneath the thick, dark clouds, as the rain poured down, one bruised and bloodied young girl sat on the steps outside a tournament hall, quietly sobbing. She'd lost her only friend; the girl who'd once been like a sister to her was now cold, merciless, cruel… The person she'd once been was dead and gone. And their friendship was now unmistakably over.

She had no home. She had no family. She had no friends. She didn't have the power to keep the one person who mattered to her from becoming someone else, someone who stood against everything her old self had cared for. …What good was she?

Suddenly, though her face was buried in her arms, she felt as the rain stopped falling on her. Raising her head, she looked up to see a boy around 16 or 17 looking down at her, and from his body a large, purple spectral skeleton arm had emerged, the hand held over her as an umbrella. Though it was difficult to tell because of his naturally-stoic expression, the youth looked at her with empathy, curiosity, and… strangely, understanding.

And as Fuuka Reventon looked up with curious awe at this stranger, whom she could faintly 'sense' the imposing presence of, the young warrior known as Sasuke Uchiha looked and saw the great potential slumbering within her…

-Break-

Present

Just because the threats posed by Embryo and Malcolm Hargrove had been dealt with, and Jul Mdama and Master Xehanort were keeping a low profile for the moment, didn't mean that the people of the Dimensional Defense Force sat and waited for things to happen. People were still on the lookout for any signs of trouble, scryers and magitech probes combed the unvisited Realms for potential friends or foes, and science was had. The technology recovered from Requiem before its destruction, combined with continued discoveries from Onyx, were already beginning to bear fruit. Joint DDF science teams were preparing to embark on a few rather ambitious undertakings. The latest hybrid TSAB/Protoss/Forerunner technology was being prepared for real-time internal and external monitoring of a few old supergiant stars that were nearing the ends of their lives, ready to gather all sorts of data before and as the ancient giants destroyed themselves in supernovae – perhaps even directly witness, at 'close' range, the birth of a pulsar or black hole, or the devastating power of a gamma-ray burst.

An even more extraordinary plan was in motion using nigh-indestructible, slipspace-capable armored probes, which would be made to send real-time data out via slipspace comm streams to waiting science vessels at a safe distance. These probes would be far, far more ludicrously durable than anything ever made before. They would have to be, for they were to be deliberately sent into a couple of 'intermediate'- and supermassive-class black holes, using Forerunner slipspace comm-channel tech to "cheat" the rule of "all information within a black hole's event horizon is lost forever" to send what data their scanners and all-spectrum cameras could before they got close enough to the singularities that even they could not survive any longer. …And they would also be capable of slip-spacing data from one probe to another, which would theoretically allow one probe closer to the core to send its final data to a farther-out one which would 'relay' it out to the waiting ship… or the 'outer' probe could then open a slipspace rift while inside the event horizon and 'slip' out back into safe space to be salvaged and maybe even reused, having used its Forerunner-augmented magitech to twist time in such a way that it was able to observe and 'record' the inner probe's final destruction, so that DDF scientists might actually get to find out what happened to something that 'hit' the singularity (or close to it) instead of just speculating and calculating and imagining like human scientists had had to do for centuries due to being unable to actually observe these 'unobservable' phenomena.

Granted, there was no 100% guarantee that the 'unmanned black hole exploration mission' would actually work, even with the absurdly advanced proto-tech they were using. But the value of the potential data was deemed worth the gamble.

On a more personal scale, the seven 'Numbers' who'd defected from Jail Scaglietti's service shortly before the big battle against him had long since been cleared of charges. Like Teana, they were dual UNSC/TSAB citizens, living on Midchilda but also working for the TSAB as a special ops pseudo-Spartan team, complete with upgrades to their cybernetics and GEN-2 Mjolnir armor. They'd built up a 'modest' but still impressive service record. Lutecia Alpine, meanwhile, was a TSAB/PLF citizen, she and her mother helping the Phoenix League with this & that and also interacting with some Midchildan figures. Already the change in little Lutecia thanks to having her mother back in her life was dramatic, the formerly quiet and cold girl now fast becoming an energetic and cheerful child, full of curiosity and a lust for life.

Teana, meanwhile, had come under scrutiny from some of her 'superiors' (Nanoha and the other RF6 trainers, some of the high-ranking Konoha shinobi, her brother and older cousin…), due to a discovery being made about her abilities: for a long time, she had been neglecting her "Fake Silhouette" and "Optic Hide" spells, due to dubbing them as tactically worthless in the face of her 'newer' powers and technology. But in fact, they still held considerable value; Fake Silhouette duplicates were proven to be more convincing and lifelike then those of the similar illusory Bunshin no Jutsu, and the Optic Hide spell could fool infrared as well as visual-light sensors – a step up from Sangheili-designed active camouflage and most other cloaking methods (other than the similarly all-encompassing 'Void Cloak' used by Nerazim-trained persons). Nanoha, Hayate, Tiida, the Master Chief, Tsunade, and others had urged Teana to reacquire her skills with her long-atrophied Illusion Magic, bringing her into an intense 're-training' regimen to get her back into 'shape' with them.

In addition, Teana's individual 'standard' Shooting Magic bolts were nowhere near as powerful as they could be – Nanoha's, for example, could hit with the force of mortar shells, while Teana's bolts could barely hit low grenade-level explosive/concussive strength, necessitating that she use them en masse in dozens or hundreds to do real damage. Nanoha had started 'helping' her with this as well.

-Break-

Teana sighed as she flopped down onto the couch in the lounge, feeling a bit drained. The training and study that she was being put through recently, having to "re-learn" how to effectively use and improve her old, old skills, was surprisingly almost as hard as learning it all the first time. It was like someone who was bedridden for months having to get their body used to walking around again. Though, they were telling her she was making progress, even if she couldn't yet see it…

"Hello, cousin."

Teana turned to look, as a familiar young-adult man with short black hair strolled in.

"Hey, Itachi-nii" she waved. "Any news?"

"Yes, actually" the older Uchiha sat down beside her. "We've found the next world that could use the DDF's assistance, especially since it seems Xehanort's monsters are already skulking around there for recon. It's another Earth, another Japan – a city called 'Fuyuki' this time. If the energies our people detected are correct, that location already has at least a few magically-adept locals, and they use Light magic, so odds are they're potential allies."

"More allies? That's good. Who're they sending over there?"

"Well, you've been picked as part of that team, as have I, and our respective siblings."

Teana's eyebrow raised. "You, me, nii-san, and Sasuke? That's quite a bit of firepower."

"One of the High-Templar foreseers claims it will be necessary to have some of our 'big guns' present and involved. In any event, we leave tomorrow. Be ready."

"As always" the girl replied.

-Break-

The next day, the 'departure group' was gathering. Besides the 'Uchiha Quartet', they were joined by the three shinobi of former Team Kurenai (Hinata, Shino, and Kiba), the young Keyblade Master Riku, Salia Tereshkova of the Awakened (she and Riku had been fast forming a friendship of sorts as of late), and a new young face.

"Oh?" Tiida looked at the new girl – young, her bluish-green eyes looking around with curious awe at the gathering of heroes, dark-brown hair in a ponytail, wearing a simple outfit of jacket over shirt, long pants, and a brand-new sheathed sword similar to Sasuke's hanging from her waist. "Is this your newest student, Sasuke?"

"Yep" the youth replied, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder. "This is Fuuka. She's local; I found her a little while back, took her in. She's actually got tremendous potential – just needs a little help bringing that out. I'm taking her along for this op – getting her some field experience."

"W-Working forward to looking with you all" the girl stammered nervously with a slight bow, and then winced & blushed at her mix-up; she was obviously still nervous about working with such famous figures.

"Relax, kid" Teana said with a soft smile. "You'll do fine. Now… Let's go see what kinda trouble we can get involved in this time…"

-Break-

Realm TMN-5

Earth – Japan – Fuyuki City

A large rune-circle appeared on the ground in the middle of a small, presently-deserted clearing on the edge of town, and with a flash of light the DDF team was teleported down from the orbiting Starshot. The sun was setting, casting everything in an orange hue. Before anyone could do much more than get their bearings, Cross Mirage spoke up.

"Alert" the A.I. announced. "Heartless and Unversed detected active; local mages have engaged them in combat."

Everyone snapped to alert, readying their energies and weapons.

"I can sense them" Riku spoke up after a few seconds. "Follow me!"

The young Keyblade Master took off, moving with magic-enhanced speed as he leapt through the trees, with the rest of the group following close behind. Within a handful of minutes, they reached a forested area on the city's outskirts, and combat became directly detectable – flashes of light and concussive blasts of magic. Arriving on the scene, they found five people engaging the Heartless and Unversed.

Two of them were girls around the age of Teana, Sasuke, and Team Kurenai. One had dark hair held in pigtails, wearing a long dark-red sweater and a black miniskirt with thigh-high stockings, a calm yet fierce look in her blue eyes as she pulled out a thumb-sized gem, charged it with mana, and tossed it at a pack of Soldiers; the gem exploded, destroying all but one of the 'basic'-level Heartless. The other girl was clad in a deep-blue dress with bits of white here & there, wearing white boots, her long blonde hair made into large ringlets that hung over her shoulder. She pointed her finger like a gun, and fired a small bolt of red mana that hit a Flood right between the eyes, taking it out.

But the heavy lifting was obviously being done by three younger girls, around 10 or 11 in age. One had long white hair, and was wearing a predominantly pink mana-forged outfit that included high pink stockings, a few 'wings' formed by a split cape, and pink-tinged feather hair-ties. She was wielding a pink staff tipped with a circular golden piece that had a large five-pointed star inside it, and six pink-tinged white wings on either side of the 'head'. She swung the staff, releasing a slicing wave of dark-pink magical force that cut a trio of Armored Knights in half, destroying them.

The second young girl had short black hair, clad in an outfit somewhat similar to the first girl's but a bit more revealing, and in a purple & black color scheme. The staff she wielded was similar to the first, but blue instead of pink, the 'wings' like those of a butterfly instead of a bird, the star 6-pointed instead of five. Pointing her staff, she fired a cluster shot of bright blue energy bolts, blowing away a handful of Red Nocturnes.

The third young girl's attire was quite different. She was wearing a dark-red cape and matching waist-cape, together with sleeves, over a very risqué top that only barely covered her young chest, leaving her shoulders and belly (which had an odd red symbol on it) fully exposed, along with short-shorts that were little more than underwear, together with black heeled boots. Her long pale-pink hair was tied up in a rough bun behind her head, and her skin tone was darker than the other girls'… but other than that, she looked startlingly like the girl in pink in terms of facial features and body shape, like a twin but with darker skin and subtly-different hair color. She was wielding a pair of swords, identical except for one having a black blade and the other white, moving with superhuman speed & agility as she cut darklings down left & right.

Riku made the first move, throwing his Keyblade in a Strike Raid, cutting through a freshly-spawned trio of Darkballs. This drew the locals' attention, leaving them quite surprised to see so many new faces on the edge of the battlefield. It also drew the Heartless' attention, the dark creatures sensing the threat of a Keyblade and rushing at Riku. In response, Sasuke wreathed his hand in Lightning chakra and then swept it outward, releasing a wave of Chidori Senbon that pierced through several of the Heartless, destroying them. Salia rushed in next, eyes glowing blue and green as her psi-blades ignited, clashing with a pack of Armored Knights and quickly carving through them.

Tiida and Itachi leapt in, the latter destroying a Scrapper by making it into his landing pad while the former fired a charged mana shot from Aster that blew a Large Body's head off. Tiida then drew an odd-looking blue weapon from his back – his new Sangheili T-53 Plasma Caster – and charged a shot. The glowing blue plasma charge fired out, latching onto the face of a Soldier and then detonating in a chain of cluster blasts that tore apart that Heartless and four others around it. Teana was in the fray as well, the bright orange energy blades of Mirage Longsword slicing a flock of Air Soldiers to ribbons. A flash of movement accompanied Fuuka drawing her new sword and blitzing forward, a speed-strike that struck down two Scrappers in one blow; in addition to honing her unarmed combat, Sasuke had been intently tutoring her in swordsmanship, which she was already showing promise in. The members of Team Kurenai contributed as well; Shino did not even deem these foes worthy of his bugs, using chakra-enhanced physical strikes to dispatch anything that got close to him, while Kiba & Akamaru happily bulldozed through a pack of Shadows and Floods, and Hinata punished a group of Scrappers that tried to pounce on her from all directions by using Hakkeshō Kaiten to shred the lot of them. All the while, the local group looked on with mixed wariness, confusion, and awe as the newcomers made sport of the mysterious dark creatures.

The last enemy soon fell, a Scrapper vertically bisected by Riku's Keyblade. The DDF group coalesced, as they and the local group now looked at each other, the latter with some wariness.

"We come in peace" Itachi said.

"So does using that line mean you're aliens?" the darker-skinned girl said in a half-joking tone.

"Depends on your definition" Tiida replied. "We're humans, but some of us weren't born on Earth. And all of us are from different Realms – 'universes', some use."

"We represent the Dimensional Defense Force," Teana spoke up, "an alliance of various sovereign powers and people of special ability, joined together to fight against common threats that endanger multiple Realms. Those creatures we just fought, the Heartless and the Unversed, are both under the control of a major enemy of the DDF; their presence means he is at least somewhat aware of this world. So now, we're here to help you locals fend off these enemy forces. And if any major threats pop up here 'locally', we'll see if we can help you with those, too."

After a few seconds, the young girl in pink stepped forward.

"Hey, hold on!" the black-haired older girl said. "We don't know enough to trust them yet!"

"They helped us" the first girl turned and said to her. "They're friendly; I can feel it. I don't know how, just…"

"Plus," her staff spoke up with a synthetic voice but natural-sounding intonation, "judging by the power levels I'm scanning on some of them, if they wanted they could flatten us regardless of if we had our guards up or not."

Teana raised an eyebrow. "A fully sapient magic-based AI? Those are pretty rare to come across. My 'partner' Mirage started out pretty… 'basic', and even now it took months after his core matrices were upgraded for his intelligence & personality to grow to where they are now."

"It is not something that can be rushed" her Device chimed in.

"U-Um…" the white-haired young girl fidgeted a bit. "M-My name is Illyasviel von Einzbern, but everyone calls me Illya. This is Ruby, my partner"

"Hello~!" the 'staff' waved one side's wings. "Magical Kaleido Ruby at your service! And pleased to see such fanservice in some of you – outfits that are the perfect combination of making you look imposing and showing off your fine figures!"

As a couple of the female DDF members either blushed or gave the staff annoyed looks, Illya flicked Ruby's head, earning a soft "Owie…" from the central star.

"Chloe von Einzbern" the darker-skinned girl said, arms crossed. "'Kuro' is fine."

"Miyu" the black-haired little girl said, her voice soft and high but in a flat tone.

"I am Sapphire, Miyu-sama's partner" her staff introduced herself. "Please forgive my elder sister's exuberance; she means well, but rarely thinks before speaking."

"Rin" the older black-haired girl said. "Rin Tohsaka, in-training mage of the 'Clock Tower' Mage Association."

"Luvia Edelfelt, same" the blonde said. "If you're offering to help us deal with the troubles we encounter all too frequently, I'm all for it."

The orange-haired girl nodded with a little grin. "Teana Uchiha-Lanstar, and over there is my big brother Tiida."

"Itachi Uchiha."

"Sasuke Uchiha, Itachi's younger brother. And this girl is my student, Fuuka Reventon."

"Riku." "Salia" "Kiba Inuzuka! And this is Akamaru!" "Shino. Aburame." "H-Hinata Hyuuga; pleased to make your acquaintance."

"Hmm…" Luvia looked over the group. "Why don't we all head to my dwelling to discuss things and share details?"

-Break-

Edelfelt Manor

Gathered in the main foyer of the 'humble' abode Luvia had constructed upon her arrival in this area a couple months ago, the DDF delegation had given some more detail about their background, goals, extent, and enemies, promising to let the local group view the 'archival footage' tomorrow since it was getting late for tonight. In return, the local group – 'Team Illya', Ruby insisted on calling – told them of their abilities, the adventures they'd faced, and such. The 'Class Cards' were an intriguing phenomenon, and Kuro's nature – an independent 'fragment' formed of Illya's sealed-away babyhood memories of her 'original purpose' (conduit for the power of an extremely powerful high-ancient magical artifact) and based around the Archer Card, developed into a fully separate individual with her own Heart – was remarked as unusual as well, though Riku made comparisons to 'good' Nobodies like Roxas, Axel, and Laicixa. The fact that, due to her unique nature, Kuro could not gradually draw in mana from the world around her to replenish her reserves like 'normal' people automatically did was seen as something to think about… though they politely chose not to dwell on the issue of her preferred method of taking the mana she needed from others…

While everyone was sharing stories, Fuuka had been gently persuaded to tell hers, considering that no-one of the DDF group besides Sasuke, Itachi, and Hinata knew her story yet. Hearing of how her former best friend Rinne had been mysteriously 'corrupted', becoming someone who valued strength above all else and seemingly looked upon those weaker than her with scornful disdain, even attacking Fuuka and beating her into the ground when she tried to call her out on her attitude…

"Okay, then" Illya said. "Explanations have been given, introductions made… There's just one thing left." And then she got on her knees in front of a surprised Teana, looking up with hands clasped and stars in her eyes. "Can we see your spaceship?-! I wanna see what it's like to be on a spaceship! Please let us see it!"

After a second, the redhead chuckled. "Lemme call the Shipmaster, see if he'll let us take you guys on a quick tour."

-Break-

The next day, after the local five (well, seven counting the two Sticks) watched the entire collection of 'footage' (with a temporal distortion field so the days of intel took only a few hours in the outside world), Tohsaka had gone alone to inspect the leylines of the area. Fortunately for her, upon learning that she used gems as a medium for her magic but this was prohibitively expensive for her, the TSAB had started working on Devices for her and Luvia, and in the meantime Celestia had been glad to donate some gems for her to use until then (considering that 'precious' gems were so much more common on Equestria than on any of the Realms' various Earths).

As the day wore on into night, the DDF group split up to observe different spots in the city, keeping a lookout for any trouble. Unfortunately, they had neglected to leave anyone stationed at the area of Luvia & Illya's houses…

-Break-

Taking the Rider card from the fallen Miyu, the woman known as Bazett began stalking towards the tired and injured Kuro across the courtyard.

"I won't ask again" she said to the girl. "Give me the Archer Card."

"…Sorry, but I can't do that" Kuro replied with a tired little grin. "To put it simply, the nature of my existence is kinda… unique. The Archer Card is stuck in immaterial form inside my heart; we can't make it come out. It cannot be removed without killing me. Are you really willing to murder a child for your 'mission'?"

For a moment, Bazett stopped. But then, she closed her eyes with a slightly self-disgusted expression on her face, took a deep, slow breath… and continued slowly walking towards Kuro, her right hand glowing green with magical power as she shaped the hand & fingers into a spearing shape. A look of increasing terror formed on Kuro's face as she realized that yes, Bazett was willing to murder her for the Card in her heart.

With a flash of movement, Illya appeared standing in Bazett's path, right in front of Kuro; the pink-clad girl was battered and beaten, one hand held to her stomach area, but she glared at the approaching enemy with unyielding defiance. In response, Bazett's approach quickened, closing in on the two girls…

Suddenly, Bazett had to leap back a few feet as a large object came spinning in, embedding itself in the stone pathway she had just been standing at. Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be a large poleaxe, with an intricate, elegant and sweeping design for the bone-white blade which had blood-red markings on it, the same going for a pointed tip emerging from the top. Then, the group (including Miyu, who had regained consciousness and was watching from her place on the ground) became aware of footsteps coming from the direction the huge weapon had been thrown. Looking toward the source, Bazett arched an eyebrow in curiosity, while the three girls' eyes widened in deep surprise at seeing the familiar woman with a very un-familiar look of focused hostility in her eyes.

"L… Leysritt-san…?" Illya murmured.

"Who are you?" Bazett demanded, taking a ready posture.

"Do you know of the Einzbern clan?" the normally-lazy maid asked to the suited woman in her sights.

Bazett nodded. "One of the old mage families, responsible for helping to create the Holy Grail War ritual centuries ago. They were wiped out around 10 years ago, at the climax of the Fourth War."

"Not completely wiped out. Just the ones who were willing to sacrifice and ruin innocent lives for their pursuit of the Grail's power, including those of their own children – so, most of them. They were exterminated by one of the few kind members and her husband, seeking to give their daughter a normal life free of the clan's manipulations. …Those two girls you were just planning to kill were originally one person: that 'newborn daughter' that the clan was near-totally wiped out to protect. My sister and I, her mother's servants, have helped raise and care for her… and are sworn to protect her from any threats. So, to sum up…"

Then, Leysritt's body flared with magical energy, cratering the stone beneath her feet.

"You've tried to kill my charges. For that… you die!"

For an instant, Leysritt seemed to vanish as she briefly moved too fast to track. Eyes widening, Bazett brought her arms up in a guard a split-second before the white-haired maid's punch hammered home, the force behind the blow making the ground beneath Bazett's feet crack. The two women then went into a furious exchange of rapid-fire blows, each one strong enough to kill a 'mundane' human, blocking and dodging and countering. Leaping back to avoid a strike aimed at her neck, Leysritt grabbed her axe and charged in, unleashing a barrage of high-speed stabbing strikes with the pointy bit at the top that Bazett barely managed to dodge.

Illya and Kuro watched in awe as the normally-lazy maid matched Bazett blow for blow, actually pushing the 'berserker woman' back a little. Not only were the two caretakers they thought to be 'mundane' already in on the world of magic, but one of them was fighting on even footing with an opponent who'd trashed them with little effort. Bazett leapt back to dodge an overhead axe-swing that would've split her in half down the middle, and then was nearly blindsided by a blast of mint-green magical energy from the side. She looked, and saw a red-eyed, white-haired woman striding onto the scene, calm anger in her eyes. It only took Bazett a second to realize she was looking at the mother of the two girls. Then, Irisviel snapped her fingers, and Bazett was nearly pancaked by a massive fist made of glowing green 'strings' of magical energy that tried to flatten her from on high.

"You were trying to kill my daughters" the woman said in an icy tone. "Did you really think I wouldn't take that personally, 'Enforcer'? I've been married to the 'Magus Killer' himself for 10 years. Allow me to show you some of what I've learned from him…"

As the Einzbern matriarch joined the fray, a third person appeared: Stella leapt in, scooped up the injured Miyu, carried her over to Illya & Kuro (thus further away from the fighting) and set her down, and then the maid's hands glowed with healing magic as she started working to repair some of the damage Bazett had dealt. The enemy in question was steadily being pushed into a corner, taking more and more hits as Leysritt pressed her attack with Irisviel providing supporting 'fire'.

However, Bazett noticed what Sella was doing. Knowing that if those three girls got back into fighting shape and joined Leysritt & Irisviel in the fight, her chance of victory – or even survival – would go down even further, she abruptly pulled out and threw one of the two Flash Gems she kept to enable quick getaways, triggering it to briefly stun the two combatants. She then charged at where Sella and the girls were, as those four turned just in time to see her coming, Iri & Ley regaining their senses in time to see her but not fast enough to intercept in time…

And then, a male figure in a black cloak lined with red flame patterns along the sleeves and bottom hem appeared in her path. His crimson eyes glared at her, and then before Bazett could react he struck. A single rising punch to the gut made a sound like a cannon going off, the air behind Bazett briefly distorting from transferred force. Eyes wide, Bazett let out a squeaked gasp as she collapsed to her knees, hands to her midsection as she tried to make her body breathe again; that blow had nearly ruptured a few organs, and were she a normal, magic-less human it would've punched clean through her torso. As she hunched forward on the ground, Itachi then formed a rapid series of hand-seals, and then placed his palm – with a bit of Kuro's blood that she had shed earlier in the fight – down on the back of Bazett's neck. Light and chakra flared, and when it faded Bazett felt whole new pains all over.

"W-What did you… just do?" she gasped out.

"A 'shared pain' seal" the Uchiha replied. "Connecting you to Kuro. It is also connected to her life-force; if she dies, so too shall you. And it is one-way, so killing you will not harm her. You will not be reclaiming the Card that sustains her existence; attempting to do so will end your life as well. You have lost, 'Enforcer of the Magus Association'. Yield, or be struck down."

After a few seconds, Bazett relaxed her body, releasing the magic she'd been charging herself with; she was done. Even if she tried to fight, she could tell that this newcomer was even stronger than the two adult Einzberns were; if he thought her a continued threat, she'd stand no chance.

"Just following orders…" she grumbled.

"If that is the case, my associates will make whoever gave you this 'order' our next target, if needed. Either way, should you attempt to harm these children again, the contents of your skull will litter the ground. These children and their allies are under the protection and guidance of myself and my comrades, and your 'organization' will not bring further harm to them. So speaks Uchiha Itachi, Jōnin of the Village Hidden in Leaves."

Nearby, there was the sound shifting stone as the secret exit of the ruined mansion's underground escape tunnel was pushed up and aside. Rin Tohsaka emerged first, followed by Luvia being supported by Teana, and then Kiba & Tiida helping August, Luvia's butler; the latter two were barely on their feet, after the injuries Bazett had inflicted on them earlier. The rest of the DDF team arrived seconds later, securing the perimeter.

"If you still have ideas of causing trouble, Bazett," Rin spoke up as she came over, "I've got something to show you. Take a look at this 'portrait' of the local leylines, taken just this morning."

She pulled out a parchment with a complex pattern burned into it, like a network of interwoven tree branches. Upon closer inspection, a small point in the lower left, in the middle of a thick leyline, was empty – a perfect-shaped square of blankness.

"Taking a look at the readings I got," the young mage continued, "it all adds up to solid proof of something that should be impossible: an eighth Class Card."

Bazett's eyes noticeably widened, Illya & Kuro looked slightly surprised, and Miyu, for some reason, looked deeply shocked.

"T-That… shouldn't exist…" the girl whispered, staring into space. "Impossible…"

"…It seems there is far more going on than what I was informed of" the 'Enforcer' spoke. "…Do you propose a truce?"

"I do" Tohsaka replied. "At least, until we figure out what's going on, and the eighth Card is dealt with. Unfortunately, it's presently deep underground; it will take a while before we can engage it. And all that time, it's slowly but steadily absorbing planetary mana, for reasons unknown."

Straightening up, Bazett looked the group over. Then, with a small sigh, she withdrew the Assassin, Berserker, and Caster cards, and handed them over to Rin.

"I'm keeping the other three for now" she said. "Consider it as insurance, a sign of our armistice. …I'm leaving."

Watching the woman leave, Luvia glared. "She'll pay for what she did to my house…" the rich girl growled.

"How you gonna make her? After what she did to us…" Rin asked.

The blonde allowed herself a vindictive smirk. "When I say she'll 'pay', I'm not exactly being metaphorical. Even for me, rebuilding this place will be slightly costly. Someone that high in the Association's rank is sure to have a healthy bank account… but not for long…"

"Well, then" Irisviel spoke up. "I suppose there's lots of info-sharing and story-telling to be done by both sides, hm?"

-Break-

"They're called 'Class Cards'."

With the whole group gathered for a seat underneath a tree in Luvia's estate grounds (since Shirou, who was not 'in the loop', was home at the Emiya/Einzbern household across the street), the DDF group had first given a brief summary about themselves, and then the 'local five (seven)' got to explaining to Irisviel, Sella, & Leysritt about the events Illya had been dragged into; learning that Illya and Miyu had essentially been forced into these life-or-death situations because Rin & Luvia's feud had driven Ruby & Sapphire to abandon them and seek new masters had earned the two older girls some disapproving glares from Iris, Sella, & Leys.

"They are used to tap into a fragment of the power of 'Heroic Spirits' contained within the Throne of Heroes" Sapphire continued her explanation. "Using myself and née-san as mediums, Illya-san and Miyu-sama are able to use the cards to call upon those Heroic Spirits' weapons. In rare cases, they are able to instead use themselves as mediums for the Spirits' power; Illya-san once used the Archer card to fight against the Saber Card's corrupted spirit, while Miyu-sama has 'Installed' the Saber Card to fight the Berserker-Card's spirit, and the Rider against Bazett a short while ago. Kuro-san could be said to be in a permanent 'Install' with the Archer card; in fact, it is in immaterial form in her heart, and is serving as an 'anchor' for her existence. If it were dispelled or removed, she would die. Nobody knows where the Cards came from, and there are only 'supposed' to be seven. The existence of an eighth is most unexpected."

"Cards that summon the power of the seven Classes…" Sella said, some shock in her tone.

"The names and abilities of the Classes you mentioned…" Irisviel said to 'Team Illya'. "I know them all too well. They are the names of the seven types of Servants used in the Holy Grail Wars. Caster, Archer, Berserker, Saber, Lancer, Assassin, Rider… During the Grail Wars, mages didn't simply call upon the power of Heroic Spirits in the Throne of Heroes; it actually summoned the Spirits themselves, seven Master/Servant pairs fighting and killing each other for the right to access the Holy Grail's power."

"S-Summoning the… Heroic Spirits themselves…" Miyu breathed out, in awe.

"There were only ever seven Classes of Servant. This business with an eighth Class Card… It's puzzling, and worrying."

"Whatever it is," Leysritt spoke up, "we've got you girls' backs. And now that we know exactly what kinda trouble you girls are involved in, we can better help you – even if it's just providing support."

"Right. And as for these 'Heartless' things… You say their leader is a 'Fallen' Keyblade Master?"

"Yeah" Riku nodded. "Xehanort. He's ruined a lot of lives in his plots over the years… mine included; it took a lot of work for me and my friend Sora to get me out of the pit of darkness Xehanort's machinations led me to falling into…"

"H-How do you know what the Keyblades are, mama?" Illya asked.

Irisviel smiled. "There was a lone, traveling Wielder who visited this world during the Fourth War. She was instrumental in helping me and Kiritsugu get out of that mess alive. Though, she was unable to stop the Grail's corruption from causing a hellish fire. The only survivor Kiritsugu found was… a young five-year-old boy named Shirou."

"Eh? …Ehhh?-! Onii-chan?-!"

"That's right! Honey and I took him in, since he'd lost everything else, including virtually all of his memories of his short life before that night… The Keyblade lady helped Kiritsugu save Shirou, though we had to seal a powerful healing-based magical artifact inside to do it. She also managed to heal the damage from the slight 'exposure' Kiritsugu got to the Grail's corruption. Then she left, saying there were other people out there who needed her help. I never did get her name…"

"Maybe she was the same one who found Kanba Kanade when he was little and performed the Rite with him…" Teana mused.

"Well, whatever comes next," Salia spoke up, "we'll help you guys handle it. At least this 'Grail War' thing can't happen anymore, right?"

"That's correct" Sella replied. "In addition to wiping out the more… 'troublesome' members of her clan, Irisviel-sama and Kiritsugu-san sabotaged the leyline convergence point needed to trigger the Ritual. The chaos and death of the Grail Wars, of the Holy Grail's dark corruption, can't happen anymore."

"…How did it get corrupted, anyway?" Tiida asked. "Was it always like that?"

Iris shook her head. "From what little I understand, it was a result of something that happened in the Third War, 90 years ago. I don't know the details, sorry."

"In any case," Sella said, "I suppose things are settled for now, at least until this 'Xehanort' makes his move, or the Eighth Card goes active. Miyu-san, you can stay at our house until Ms. Edelfelt's house is rebuilt. After the exhausting beating you girls took, I think we'll be calling you out of school tomorrow so you can all rest and recuperate."

"Alright" Kuro replied. "In a couple of days, though, we're gonna go with Illya's friends and get some swimsuits & stuff; summer vacation's only, like, a week away."

-Break-

Unknown Location, Unknown Realm

"What do you have for me, partner?"

At Xehanort's address, Ganondorf smirked. "I have built up enough energy to resurrect two of my former champions, to add to our forces. I believe they will prove most useful in providing some extra 'muscle' to our side."

"Very well. Let us see…"

Ganondorf nodded, and then channeled his dark power through his Keyblade and his Triforce of Power. A black light formed in the center of a slowly revolving dark-purple rune circle, growing in intensity. Finally, with a dark flash, two figures formed. Opening their eyes, they immediately understood that the 'man' before them was their lord and master, and they bowed.

"Welcome to the Seekers of Darkness, my warriors" the 'King of Evil' said. "You will serve me and my partner well."

"Of course, milord" the rogue Twili known as Zant replied, his voice somewhat muffled by the chameleon-esque metal helmet he wore. "At your command, the darkness shall conquer all."

"It has been so long since my last life…" Ghirahim said, a small wicked grin on his pale face. "I can't wait to see what our enemies have to offer…"

"And of course," Xehanort spoke up, "there is also my own newest underling. I admit a bit of anticipation to see how they'll do…"

-Break-

Under the moonlight, the girl known as Sakura Matou walked along an empty street, heading for 'home'. Suddenly, as she walked past a shadow-hidden alley, a lone figure stepped out of it, to her side. Their whole body was shrouded in a black cloak, hiding their identity. Looking at her, the figure abruptly reached out, and Sakura gasped and stiffened as a black-gloved hand was laid upon her head. For some reason, she had an instantaneous recollection of everything that had happened to her over the years. Then, the figure released her.

"Apologies" the figure said in a deep, contralto woman's voice. "I mistook you for someone else."

The figure then turned and walked away, back into the shadows, leaving a perplexed Sakura behind, the purple-haired girl staring into the darkness for a few seconds before then hurrying on her way.

-CHAPTER END-

Quoth TV-Tropes: "If Leysritt's abilities are anything like her mainline counterpart, she's actually strong enough to potentially take on Heroic Spirits. Not to mention she may also be keeping her massive poleaxe around. Chances are she could possibly take on Bazett in a straight fight." Me: "…Well, okay then."

The bit with Teana's skill-set is partly because I… well, kinda realized that I myself had been underestimating Canon!Teana's versatility with those things, and… well, the Vivid anime's rendition of the big mock-battle shows that Canon!Teana's Crossfire-Shot bolts can hit with a lot more force than Travels!Teana's presently can – comparing an AP grenade to an artillery shell, almost.

Regarding Fuuka's appearance: Vivio and Einhart being younger – and closer in age – than in the 'canon' timeline is not the only "background" change in the DDF-verse. Fuuka & Rinne were born earlier here, so their stories begin a few years ahead of in canon… and thanks to Sasuke finding Fuuka, that story may face further changes in the months to come…