Rin Tohsaka stormed up to her garret apartment. Not that she spent much time there, but it was good to have a place that she could call her own, when she was back in London. She slammed the door, making everything shake.

She looked around the room – a bed, a bureau and a dining room table were crammed up against the tiny kitchenette. A thin layer of dust covered everything.

Rin opened the door and slammed it again for good measure. It had been that sort of week.

((yesterday))

"Sir?" Rin called out as her mentor paced, chanting around the outside of the magic circle. It had taken the two of them most of the morning to scribe the circle in his workroom, and all the runes that intertwined it. It was delicate work – the runes had to be placed just right to direct the magical energies that they were pouring into the circle. "Sir? I don't think the candles should be guttering like that." Two of the five candles looked like they were about to go out.

But Rin's mentor, Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg - The wizard martial, the Master of the Second Magic, the grand high poobah of all magus kind and a colossal pain in everybody's ass - just waved as if to say that it was not important and continued with his chant. His eyes were sparkling with excitement, and he was almost skipping. He had chosen what promised to be a fascinating parallel dimension to demonstrate dimensional travel to Rin. She had been working on dimensional magic for some time, but this would be her first foray into actually traveling 'elsewhere', so he wanted her to have the full experience, by doing it the old fashioned way.

And a candle went out. As Rin watched, wide eyed, smoke poured from the candle, forming a solid mass, like a smeared line drawn vertically through the room.

"Master!" Rin called and pointed as a huge clawed tentacle reached out through the smoky smear and made clenching motions, like it was feeling around for something to grab. There was something disturbing, something very wrong on a very basic level with that appendage, though. Even looking at it caused Rin's gorge to rise.

"Oh," The Wizard Marshal finally stopped. "That's not good." He glanced over at his student. "Rin, can you be a dear and keep that… whatever... from entering into our reality while I close this rift between worlds?"

Rin ground her teeth. Zelretch was always doing this. He never paid attention to details. And more often than not, she had to clean up the mess. She pronounced "Blitzvorhang!" and unleashed a curtain of lightning from her hands. It would have been better if she had a couple of gems handy for power, but oh no, mister high and mighty had said they might distort the dimension spell.

The lightning smashed into the nausea inducing claw, causing it to flinch back momentarily. But then it reached out again, this time directly towards Rin. The fur on the tentacle began to smoke as lighting danced along it, but the creature didn't care.

Rin edged back as the appendage stretched a good twenty feet towards her. 'How big is that thing?' She was backed all the way to the wall when it finally reached maximum extension and began flailing about, hoping to catch something vulnerable by chance.

Rin looked around desperately for something she could use to force the hand back. The lighting blast was her most powerful spell. She didn't have any gem with her, and her command of dimensional magic was limited (and besides, that WOULD interfere with whatever Zelretch was doing). Desperate, she fell back to the spell that she had mastered as a teenager. Gandr.

As the black orbs smashed into the arm, it flinched and shied, pulling back quickly through the rift. As soon as it was clear, Zelretch made a slashing motion with his wand (who used a wand in this day and age?), and the smoky rift dissipated.

"Hooh. That was something." He smiled, "That calls for a cold beer. And I know just the place – It's a little pub two dimensions over - they have over two thousand of the best craft brews in the entire universe on tap." He grabbed his scarf and headed towards the door, "I'll be back in a couple of weeks." he waved over his shoulder to Rin.

"Wait, what about me?"

"Oh, you should check to see if the spell opened any other rifts. Typically, when when a dimensional spell slips off it's moorings like this, you get a couple, scattered here and there." As he walked, he began to fade from view, dimension stepping. Just before he disappeared, he called out, "Oh, and don't cast any magic within a hundred yards of the closed rift for a bit."

((now))

Which was why Rin was back in London, instead of her work room at Zelretch's mansion in Austria. She was dressed in her typical work uniform – comfortable pants (reinforced, black) comfortable blouse (reinforced, black) and uncomfortable sweater (red). The sweater was her good luck charm, and the only thing she had retained from her teenage years. Her hair was cut in a bob that might have been stylish 50 years ago, but now just kept her hair out of her way.

Rin tossed her suitcase onto the bed and quickly set up the scrying spell that would find any other 'problems' from the disaster yesterday: A copper frame (careful not to bend the delicate rods), with a gold pendulum dangled from it (completely still, or the spell would take longer to zero in), a pair of incantations and a gem on top to power everything. She had gotten quite skilled at it. She set the contraption up on her dining table and let it run – it would take at least 24 hours to complete (depending on the distance of the rifts). And she had things she needed to do.

After a quick shower, it was off to the 'Arena' - there was always some Enforcers hanging around there. The arena was the part of the Clock Tower's gymnasium that was set up for sparring (both magical and mundane).

And pounding into the ground some smug, stuck up upper class twat who thought she was inferior for being Asian would make her feel better. She her lips compressed into an almost smile as she strode purposefully down the path from her apartment to the Clock Tower.

Rin didn't think of herself as being an angry person, but in the past few years more and more things irritated her. What used to be an exasperation when things didn't go according to her (meticulous) plans had intensified and become her default reaction to everything.

The universe just didn't measure up to her standards.

"Rin? How are you? It's been ages!" Rin turned in surprise - it was Luviagelita 'Luvia' Edelfelt. They had roomed together back when they were students. And competed against each other in everything. Luvia was dressed in one of her signature Victorian-esque dresses, blond ringlets bouncing with every step. If you didn't know her, you would think she was 19'th century ditz.

Luvia liked being underestimated.

Rin's eyebrow spasmed. "I will tell you all about it after I am done at the Arena."

Luvia dropped into step by her side, "Bad day?" From three years of rooming together, she knew how Rin's mind worked. And Rin was her friend, even if her mind didn't work like normal people.

Rin just growled by way of answer.

"I'll tell you what: I'll spar with you, and then we go get some coffee?" Luvia figured that saving some poor Enforcer's life would be her good deed for the day.

"Done."

^lost^

"Feel better?" Luvia helped Rin up off the floor.

"Yeah." Rin rolled her shoulder where she had hit the ground. "I'm done – I need to be fresh to deal with whatever disaster my mentor has let for me. After that, we can have a rematch so I can beat you."

"Please," Luvia rolled her eyes again. "Like you have ever beat me," she turned to walk with Rin towards the changing rooms. Despite her teasing, Luvia was glad to see Rin – the Tohsaka heir was one of the few people who completely ignored her family name and treated her like a normal person.

"Actually, there was winter break of our freshman year, then after that.." Rin began ticking off on her fingers

Fifteen minutes later, the two of them were at the cafeteria, sitting at a little wrought iron table, sipping coffee.

"So the Wizard Marshal has potentially endangered the whole world, and and then decided to go for a beer. Tell me again, why are you apprenticing with him?"

Rin sighed, but smiled. Despite their competitiveness, she could always trust Luvia to have her back. "One problem at a time – I'll figure out what to do about Zelretch later. Right now, I need to deal with the rifts. I just hope there aren't too many of them."

Luvia shrugged, her tightly curled blond ringlets bouncing. Rin couldn't understand how they stayed so perfectly wound, even after a spar. Magic had to be involved. "Let me know if you need a team on this one. I have been training with the Enforcers to get a little worldly experience, so I know some people."

Technically, a disaster of this nature was supposed to be reported to Barthomeloi Lorelei and the Clock Tower steering committee, but given how they handed out sealing designations like bubble gum, nobody actually did that unless it was clear that an eldritch abomination was about to cause a mass casualty event.

And that it was going to be too big to cover up.

"Thanks. I may take you up on that."

^lost^

"OK, guys, here's the deal." Rin turned around to face her team as they walked through Heathrow airport, forcing an upbeat and cheerful expression onto her face, "Zelretch screwed the pooch, and he's left the mess for me to clean up. I was able to find two places where his spell has weakened the boundaries of reality. One is in Poland, one in Japan. We'll take care of Poland first, as it's closer. I'll deal with sealing up the rift, but it's your job to make sure nothing bothers me while I do it. Got it?"

She took a moment to glare at the others, to make sure they were paying attention, and that they understood that 'bothering her' was a death sentence for them as well.

She then turned back around and headed for the boarding area, Luvia by her side. As they walked up the jet bridge (and the rest of the team straggled behind), she gave Luvia a dirty look. Some 'team' this was: In addition to Luvia (who admittedly was worth her (light) weight in gold), it consisted of Megumi Tohdoh, a bookish paper mage who looked like she hadn't set foot outside of the Clock Tower in ten years, and Alberto Octavio De la Cruz, a young enforcer who was so wet behind the ears that he was practically dripping – he had just graduated a couple of weeks ago.

The blond shrugged nonchalantly. "I got one more - Emile Leblanc. He's currently on another mission, but he will meet us in Poland."

"Well, I hope he's more promising than these two." Rin muttered. She wasn't worried about being overheard, as Alberto was talking animatedly and giving all his attention to Megumi, who remained withdrawn despite his concerted efforts.

Alberto picked that moment to expound on something with particular vehemence, talking with his hands in a typical Spanish fashion, and almost knocked a boarding sign down. A small smile quirked Megumi's lips.

Rin just rolled her eyes. She could already tell that was going to be a problem. Alberto wasn't even talking to her, but she found him grating. It was only a matter of time before Megumi exploded and took his head off.

"It's hard to get experienced Enforcers on such sort notice. And these two are pretty good. Alberto was top of his class, and Megumi is very talented."

As she walked, trailing behind Rin and Luvia, Megumi's mind was abuzz with excitement. This was the first time she had left the Clock Tower in the 7 years since she had arrived there as a precocious 16 year old. But she needed to get out from behind her books, and start advancing her career. And assisting Zelretch's protégé was a prestigious start. And the Edelfelt heir was also here! And the rather energetic young enforcer who was walking beside her... She hadn't had this much excitement in…. ever. She walked placidly up the up the airplane bridge.

Rin snorted, "So who's this Emile guy? Another romantic conquest?"

"Give me a break, I only did that back in freshman year. No, he was at the Clock Tower for a semester last year, taking a class on runic magic and that was all. He had no interest in research or anything."

"Runes? Isn't that a freshman class?" Runes were used in all magic rituals, but by themselves were very weak. Only a few old time masters had been able to use them as stand-alone spells.

"Usually, but Orrick Lundson was running a seminar on some of the more advanced application. I don't know much more than that – I didn't sit in on it. I had a series of experiments running, and my mother was driving me nuts." Luvia had originally gone to work with her family on their branch of magics (as is traditional) before getting fed up and striking off on her own. "But I saw him spar at the Arena. He was good. And I looked over some the texts that he was reading at the General Library, and they were pretty advanced applications." The pair sat down at their seats. Megumi and Alberto squeezed by, their seats were two rows back.

"So you did try to pick him up."

Luvia rolled her eyes, "Not that he noticed. He is more obsessive than you. Anyway, what about the second portal?" Luvia changed the topic.

Rin shrugged, "All I know is that it's in Japan. I set up a second scrying spell to triangulate, but that won't be ready for at least another day. Hopefully it will work well enough so that we will at least know which airport to fly into. Waver agreed to check in on it and give me a call when it's finished."

"You're really concerned about this, aren't you?" Luvia asked. Rin was usually really methodical. She hated multi-tasking like this.

"Zelretch didn't just go powder his nose. He ditched this reality. That means he figured there was a significant chance that his mess up would go apocalyptic."

^lost^

Once in Poland, Rin rented a Land Rover and set up a smaller version of her spell in the glove box – the one she had done back in London had only told them that the rift was in a forest somewhere, and gave them a location to within a hundred miles (Scrying was dicey work, especially over an ocean and lots of streams of running water). This spell was much more basic – it would just point them in the direction of the rift, and maybe give them a distance - but it was portable: all of the pieces were attached to a wooden board that could almost fit in her palm. There was a gold fob supported by fishing line hanging off of glass beads on an array of small bronze rods. It looked like some Rube Goldberg machine from Victorian times, but it would do the job.

"Should we wait for Emile?" Megumi asked from the the passenger seat. Rin had gotten fed up with the whole middle school drama between Megumi and Alberto and exiled Luvia to the back seat to occupy the young enforcer. Strangely, he had fallen silent when Luvia began to flirt with him.

Alberto sat, tense. This was his first big mission (he had gone on a couple of Apostle hunts when he was in training, but he had been relegated to the clean up crew, dealing with any Dead that slipped past the main team), and he wanted to make a good impression. Especially on Megumi. Unfortunately, when he was nervous, he tended to talk. Too much. But soon it would be time for action, and then he would have his opportunity to shine, and show them all his skills. He glanced sideways at the much too forward (and slightly scary) blond woman seated next to him. Impressing her would be good too. He just hoped that his nattering on didn't annoy Megumi.

"No, Emile's still a couple of hours out. I will give him the GPS coordinates once we are a little closer," Luvia called out from the back seat.

"I agree. There's no telling what has come through the rift. It's been almost four days." Rin glanced at the gps before swerving onto an unpaved country road that led into the depths of the Black Forest.

This used to be the frontier between Eastern and Western Europe, and it had been a 'no go' zone, so nobody had come in to cut down the primeval forest. Even now, long after the Cold War was over, the forest was still dark and impenetrable except for a few paths. The trees here were all huge and ancient, and even during the day it was dusk under their canopy.

The road was pitted, causing the Land Rover to shake and wallow as it slowly wended its way into the forest.

"Are you certain this is actually a road?" Alberto peered into the forest nervously.

"It is now, unless you would rather walk?" Rin replied as she steered around an exceptionally large pot hole. According to the GPS, this was their only option for going in the direction that the spell pointed them.

After several hours of slow, painful (literally) driving, with the passengers bounce up and down, Rin finally gave up. "I think we go on foot from here." Everything felt wobbly from the shaking.

"That's fine," Megumi inspected the scrying spell. "According to this, we are only a couple of miles away, and we can't get too much closed by car anyway."

"Grab your gear," Rin popped the trunk of the car.

Alberto pulled out a crossbow and a quiver of bolts. Some were plain wood, others had silver tips, and still others had runes inscribed on them.

Megumi grabbed what looked like an artists sketch pad and a courier bag full of stuff.

Luvia pulled off her floofy Victorian dress, revealing that underneath she was wearing a military style combat harness. She slipped on a camo vest and a bandoleer jammed full of little vials. Seeing Rin's raised eyebrow, she shrugged sheepishly "I can't afford gems on an Enforcer's salary, so I've been stretching what I have by turning them into potions."

Rin just jammed a small padded bag into the pocket of her favorite red velvet coat. "Let's go," She led the way into the woods.

"Just a second." Luvia sat back down in the car and fiddled with the radio transmitter that she had brought along. "OK, I sent the coordinates. Emile says he will be here in about an hour."

Rin jerked her head in a sharp nod.

The team trooped into the dark of the forest. The trees here were massive, old, and seeped in mana. It made walking easier, as there was almost no underbrush, except in patches were a tree had fallen, creating a clearing.

"Be careful with your spells," Luvia added, "The magic here is raw and undirected. A bad spell can go completely out of control."

"Well then, I'll just have to not lose control of my spells." Alberto smiled at her. Which is when a spear of inky blackness struck him in the chest.

"Holy.." Luvia dived for cover as another spear flashed through where she had been moments ago.

Rin dropped behind a bush and let out a spray of Gandr towards where the attack had come from (or so she hoped). Something moved to avoid the black spheres "There!"

Megumi flung a handful of postcard sized papers at the attackers. As these flew out, they folded themselves into darts that swooped around the tree cover, cutting into the enemy with their razor sharp wings.

Their attackers were a pair of featureless, pitch black humanoids. Spears of blackness shot out from their hands, but other than that they were fairly incompetent combatants. The paper darts looped around the tree that they were using for cover, driving them out into the open. Rin and Luvia took them both out promptly with Gandr.

"I see you're still using that spell you stole from my family," Luvia quipped.

"Yes, and better than you." Rin moved up to inspect the bodies. "These are definitely not from around here. Megumi, can you send out a familiar to scout ahead?"

The quiet woman nodded, pulling out a large sheet of paper from her artist sketchpad, which promptly folded itself into a bird.

Luvia helped Alberto up. His flack vest had stopped most of the attack, but it had still hit him pretty hard - he was having a hard time time taking deep breaths. "Can you keep going?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine," he grunted, adjusting the strap of his crossbow. There was no way he was dropping out. Being taken out like that was an embarrassment. He was better than than. He glanced at Megumi to see if she had judged him as inadequate, but the quiet woman was busy with her spell.

"OK, lets advance a little more cautiously." Rin moved to take cover by a tree, "do you see anything?" she called out to the paper mage.

Megumi shook her head, "No, it looks like the area immediately ahead of us is clear."

^lost^

An hour later, the group was hidden behind a stand of small trees at the edge of a clearing. The clearing was big, with a bubbling black pit in the middle, out of which more of the featureless humanoids were climbing out of. The most disturbing part of the scene, though, was the absolute silence. The creatures did not communicate through sound, if they communicated at all. Rin grimaced as she counted their numbers. At least their motions were slow and awkward.

"There are a lot of them," Alberto whispered as he watched the faceless move with some unknown purpose.

Rin nodded, "You go left and provide covering fire as Luvia and I make a run for the opening. I need to be closer to seal it up. Megumi, you send your birds to harass them from here."

Alberto slipped off to the side, heading for the base of a large tree. Rin counted to five and then she and Luvia charged in. As soon as they stepped into the clearing, all of the black figure whipped their heads around to focus on them and charged as one.

'Ok, so they do communicate' Even under the stress of combat, Rin was still observing and theorizing.

The dark men ran in a disturbingly loose limbed fashion. Luvia was certain that each step would see them falling down, but they didn't. And they moved surprisingly fast once they put their minds to it.

A crossbow bolt from the left took one out, and a swarm of origami birds swooped in to slow down a couple on the right, but the rest quickly converged onto the two women.

"Maybe that wasn't such a good plan." Rin threw a gem, detonating a pair of the creatures as they converged. Luvia splashed a potion off to her side as she ran, creating a rainbow of light that hung midair. One of the featureless humanoids tried to run through it, only to discover that it was more substantial than it appeared. As it stumbled back, it knocked a second creature off balance so that it caught the edge of the rainbow with its arm, slicing it open to the bone.

A third did make it past the barrier and stretched out its arms to grapple Luvia, but Luvia changed direction, slipping under its grab and throwing it directly on top of the rainbow arch. Dark blood pooled down as the body spasmed on top, cut almost in half.

But her advance was stymied as more of the figures were rushing to attack, heedless of injury.

Rin was also forced to stop and take cover, dancing around a bush as a silent figure tried to grab at her. It was strangely reluctant to just push through the flimsy vegetation. Rin didn't understand what was going through its head, at least not until she drilled its noggin with a concussive spell.

Alberto abandoned his sniping position (and his crossbow), as he tried to divert some of the attackers from Rin and Luvia. He ran in, casting flaming darts at the enemy. But the faceless ones did not seem to feel pain. Alberto soon found himself in hand to hand combat against a pair of faceless figures, both of whom were smoldering in spots from his spells.

A storm of papers swirled in, obstructing visibility and slowing the Faceless, but Rin and Luvia were still pinned down next to the rainbow, unable to advance.

"How many of these things are there?"

Rin didn't bother to reply. Her mind was going like a hamster in a wheel, alternating between futile plans and recrimination, 'I can't believe I just charged in. What kind of idiot am I? We need a distraction so that we can retreat. I can't lob a gem far enough to draw them away.'

The battle was unnaturally quite, so the sound of the single engine propeller plane was clearly audible as it swept in, just above the trees.

The passenger door slid open, and a person in a trench coat leaped down to the clearing. Before the Faceless had time to react, there was the hissing of arrows.

Sfft

Moments later, the battle was no longer quite as arrows flashed out across the clearing from where the man had landed.

BOOM

And detonating.

Sfft

BOOM

More arrows leaped across the clearing, but now the shooter was moving, so Rin couldn't pinpoint the source. Each one struck a Faceless and detonated, ripping it apart.

Rin kicked a faceless in the stomach before palm striking it in the side of the head. "Who?" She pointed towards their savior. Even with relief flooding through her, Rin was still the sort to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Emile?" Luvia called out, pushing her attackers back a step, but there was no reply. Instead a pair of arrows struck the Faceless confronting the two women. These did not explode, but they did not need to, as they took them both in their throats. The ferocity of the attack stunned the Faceless – the archer was everywhere, his explosive arrows rocking all sides of the clearing. And he wasn't scared to engage the Faceless in hand to hand if they got too close either. Luvia smiled 'I struck the jackpot with this one.'

"Ok." Rin ran for the edge of the pit, Luvia at her heals, Gandr-ing any opponent that crossed their path. But as they approached the pit, it bubbled vigorously, spitting out a stream of more Faceless.

Meanwhile, Alberto was struggling to keep the claw-like hands from his face. He was breathing hard from where another Faceless had stabbed him in the side, and was bleeding from gashes on his legs when a sword whistled through above him, decapitating his opponent. "Get to cover." Emile charged back into the fray.

"Blitzvorhang!" Rin unleashed her lighting, clearing a path to the pit. She immediately followed that up with a quick (miscast) dimensional spell, which caused the pit to ripple, tearing the black figures that were trying to crawl out in twain.

As the it subsided, Rin started casting more methodically, slowly sealing up the gap in reality.

Ten minutes later, it was all over. As the paper cloud cleared, the only people standing were the humans.

Rin looked over at Emile, and did a double take, "Shirou?"