Author's Musing:

*Searches desperately for a defibrillator for this story*

*Finds one*

Success!

Welcome back everyone! I finally got off my ass enough to finish chapter 13. And once again, despite my intentions of trying to write shorter segments, I have written over 8k words. Whoops. But I doubt you readers will be complaining... Anyway, I suspect there will be some errors below (whoops) as I am not the best proofreader for myself and I decided I had to draw the line somewhere and stop staring at the chapter and publish it. Otherwise it would have been another couple weeks until anything happened.

That aside, I've pretty much said everything that needs to be said in previous chapters, so I won't let this run on.

As always, Enjoy!

Std. Disc.

I do not own any of the source material for this story. It all belongs to the original creators.

Chapter 13: Monsters

An Alternate Universe, Einzbern Forest:

Shirou wondered if Baker had ever felt this helpless due to the women in his life. He had seen enough scraps of memory to know that his servant had many of them around, but did not know exactly how they interacted…

Nah. No way. Baker was far too awesome to have to deal with that.

Though Rin probably still scared him. But she was a special case…. He shivered involuntarily at the memory of several lectures and hoped his Rin didn't turn into Baker's Rin. She was already bad enough.

"And I still have no reason to not kill you, Matou," declared one of the sources of Shirou's tangential thoughts about scary women. She was sipping tea from a provided thermos in a most delicate manner.

"Ah, but you have not done so yet, Einzbern. I must wonder if it is because you do not think you can?" and that was the other source, primly snacking on a scone.

Shirou experienced a strange moment of vertigo as he realized he feared the two speakers more than the obsidian incarnation of rage crouched just a short distance away.

At least they had managed to explain most of the situation to his… sister, still an odd thought to get used to, before the barbs started flying. Illya now knew the general identity of Shirou's new allies as well as the truth of the grail war and their family history. Whether or not she believed it remained in question.

"I should think it obvious that the last, desperate attempt of a dying family would be of little trouble for me, let alone Berserker."

"Be careful, assumptions can be deadly and there is much you can't see with such an ego in the way."

He should probably step in. Even if they both turned on him, a likely event, but it would at least stop the back and forth.

"I-I'd prefer if we didn't fight like this," an involuntary stutter marred Shirou's words, but he managed to keep his face passably stern.

Illya and Amethyst both turned level gazes on him, clearly displeased. The two servants appeared to not be bothered at all.

"Shirou," "Oni-chan," both women began in unison, voices surprisingly calm and lecturing. He had expected a bit more of a reaction, so this was a good thing? After sharing an incomprehensible look with Amethyst, Illya inclined her head slightly as if to say 'after you'. It was the most polite gesture Shirou had seen happen between them. Amethyst took her cue and continued.

"Despite how things seem, we are not actually about to fight. Miss Einzbern has just received shocking information that contradicts a majority of what she has been told. That is never healthy for someone's stress level. Our comments back and forth are an enjoyable means of relief, not anything serious. She has decided to see where this goes and learn as much as she can. To that end, she tentatively trusts us to, at the very least, not break the peace. If she were going to attack we would already have an angry Berserker on our hands."

Illya tilted her head in consideration of Amethyst's words.

"Just so," she tersely agreed after a moment, raising her thermos for another long sip.

"And I would never hurt my alterdimensional sister-in-law anyway," Amethyst added cheerfully, ignoring Illya's sputtering as the homunculus choked on her tea, "Shirou, I mean Baker, always did feel guilty about not saving her in our world." she sighed, putting a hand on one cheek.

"I thought you said you weren't supposed to share certain things in this world?" Shirou asked, somewhat dazed from the casual revelation.

"It's only a problem if certain people find out, right?" the innocent sounding question carried more than a little threat.

"Y-yeah," gulped Shirou. Illya, finally recovered from her drink based mishap, did not seem overly concerned and pushed back into the conversation.

"Let's go back to the part where I'm your sister-in-law, Matou," her tone bordered on accusatory.

"It's simple. My Shirou, Baker, is quite the ladies man," the woman looked sideways at Shirou, "and this one will likely go the same way. You might be able to get in on it this time Illya, since you aren't actually related by blood."

"I-Y-You-What!" Illya stammered through a few responses before her face contorted in barely withheld anger. At least, her face turned red and Shirou wasn't sure what else that could mean. She looked as if she desperately wanted to destroy Amethyst, but knew she shouldn't, or couldn't, for the moment. Berserker, picking up the feelings of his master, rumbled menacingly.

"..." Shirou made several things that could charitably be called noises while all his thought processes ground to a halt as he fully processed what he had heard.

"Oh this is far too easy," Amethyst clapped her hands together and giggled, "but we really must focus on the company we are about to have rather than my own amusement."

At her words a solitary figure in blue emerged from the trees to the side of the group holding a crimson lance across his shoulders with casual ease. Despite his history with the man, Shirou did not react. He was still processing Amethyst's previous statements.

"Does this one matter in any of your plans?" Illya asked with serene calm. It was clear that any answer other than 'no' would be met with violence.

"Not a bit!" Amethyst obliged happily.

Illya shifted her gaze from the infuriating woman in front of her and focused on the new, far more expendable, target.

"Berserker," the diminutive mage growled and her servant answered.

"[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]"

Berserker launched through the air, the explosive force of his leap finally jolting Shirou out of his dazed state in time to witness Lancer's response.

A red blur surrounded the spearman as he wove his weapon in a complex twirl, striking the ground in rapid succession fast enough to outpace the barreling form of Berserker. Just as the two servants collided a brilliant glow erupted from the marks carved into the earth before dust from the impact swallowed the pair.

"Algiz. Nauthiz. Ansuz. Ingwaz." came the voice of Lancer from the cloud of debris, "fellow spirit, hero of old, by Ath nGabla we fight in single combat," as the declaration finished the air cleared and revealed the two servants facing one another. Berserker, instead of attacking in a mad frenzy, paused for a moment as if thinking and grasping for something just out of his reach. Some forgotten instinct or knowledge...

"And what is that supposed to do!" demanded Illya, now standing and visibly upset that her servant had not obliterated the enemy yet, "Berserker will still crush you!"

"Maybe so," agreed the servant in blue as he dropped the formal pattern of his first words. He laughed joyously as Berserker gave him a single, slow nod. An acceptance of sorts, "but I doubt it's quite as hopeless as you seem to think lassie," he tightened his grip on his spear and grinned a challenge against his fate, "as much as this is going to hurt. It's also going to be. So. Much-"

"BERSERKER!"

"-Fun!"

"[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]"

The two servants dissolved into a cascade of destruction as their fight carried them into the surrounding forest along with laughter and the occasional roar. Shirou stared after them, shocked at the rampant damage to the environment despite both his own and his inherited experiences.

"Shouldn't you be concerned about sending your servant away so easily?" inquired Amethyst. She turned away from the fight to look at Illya who glared after the two servants as if she could help Berserker by incinerating Lancer with her eyes alone.

"Nonsense," the homunculus remained keenly focused on Lancer as she replied sternly, "Berserker will finish this quickly and you said yourself that you will not harm me. You also said that I have already decided to trust you," a hint of mockery made its way into Illya's voice, "do you doubt your own words?"

A shadow shifted between the trees away from the ever growing clearing around Berserker. Shirou only noticed the disturbance because Amethyst had spun towards it with her usually relaxed eyes open wide and fiercely focused. He felt that things were approaching, or perhaps far past, the point where he would be out of his depth once more. It was not a pleasant feeling.

"So you won't mind if I take a moment to deal with another problem then?" Amethyst ignored Illya's needling question entirely and began walking away without waiting for a response. Shirou wondered if he should follow, but reconsidered as he had been told explicitly, multiple times, that he should not leave Illya's side once the plan had started.

He winced, remembering how Ruby had introduced him to a whole new meaning of the phrase 'get the point across'.

So he instead turned to Illya, his sister (of some kind), and left Amethyst to vanish into the trees.

"So…" Shirou began, not completely sure of where he was going to take this conversation.

"Shhhh Oni-chan," Illya voice was sweet, "I just need to watch Berserker destroy someone who doesn't matter. That way I won't be tempted to do horrible things to you and yours. OK?"

Shirou wisely kept his mouth shut as Berserker slammed Lancer through another dozen trees.

Illya cheered.

"Disappointing," interrupted a smooth voice from behind the pair and everything fell silent.

Golden light gleamed from between the trees and a man of fair skin and golden hair stepped into view. He tutted and crossed his arms, causing his golden armor to clink and shift with the movement.

"This kind of plan is utterly beneath me, but I suppose a King must indulge his lessers on occasion. Kotomine has earned that much. Though," the man's crimson eyes crinkled and his fair features looked pleased, "this will shorten the wait until the true spectacle begins. So I suppose it is acceptable."

With this declaration he snapped his fingers and a golden ripple formed in the air above his shoulder. From it protruded a glimmering blade of brilliant make and deadly intent.

"I will be taking what is mine now. The lesser grail has been stained by maggots long enough."

Shirou finally found enough thought to swallow the lump in his throat. He knew who this was. He had seen him in memory and had him described. His mind stalled in a chaotic combination of fear and awe.

The King of Heroes, Gilgamesh, had arrived.

"BERSERKER!" Illya, unlike Shirou, still had the presence of mind to act.

"[][][][][][][][][][][][][][][]" the mad spirit soared high through the air, his trajectory aiming him directly at the golden man.

In response to the descending bundle of muscle and rage, Gilgamesh smirked.

A blur of blue tackled Berserker out of the air, carrying the servant through several of the trees that had remained standing.

"Leaving already?" came the jovial tones of Lancer, "I thought we had something special big guy," blood dripped from his mouth and several other wounds. His left arm hung awkwardly, bent in two places too many. On his face was a wide and satisfied smile, "you can't leave until we are finished, such is Ath nGabla."

"[][][][][][][]" Berserker, unlike his opponent, showed no signs of injury as he charged the servant in blue and swung his weapon high. The instant before he was crushed or cleaved in two Lancer rolled backwards with absurd speed and extended his legs up to meet his opponent. The kick used Berserker's own momentum to send him flying further into the distance as Lancer completed the roll and ended up on his feet.

"Nauthiz. Uruz. Raidho." glowing runes flashed briefly through the air and crawled across the spearman's skin. He grinned a bloody grin, "round two. FIGHT!"

With a leap that shattered the ground he bounded away towards the distant yells of Berserker.

"For a dog with such a taxing personality, he does know a few, lesser, tricks," observed Gilgamesh, "now. Where were we…" he turned back to Illya and Shirou.

"Y-you," the white haired homunculus quivered with anger to match her servant while Shirou tried to force his body to move despite feeling completely overwhelmed.

"As yes. My grail."

And the sword still hovering over Gilgamesh's shoulder launched like a bullet straight for Illya.

Shirou finally wrenched his body into motion, diving in front of his sister, who shrieked in rage and fear as she desperately summoned her own magic.

A chain rattled and wrapped once around the flying weapon, yanking it off course to crater the ground beyond the shocked pair of Emiya siblings.

Rider landed softly on the ground between them and Gilgamesh. Her hair settled softly across her shoulders, then shifted slightly of its own accord.

"You. Will not. Touch. Them," she hissed.

Gilgamesh raised a golden eyebrow.

"As if you could stop me. I know what you are, Monster. You are not worth my time."

This time a small arsenal of weapons emerged from the air forming a small pond of golden ripples.

"Begone."

Rider did not attempt to stand against the tide. Even before the rain of metal began she had leapt backwards. Pushing her speed to the limit as she hauled her allies clear of the kill zone and weaved through the trees. Mocking laughter nipped at their heels.

"A futile effort that will only try my patience. Your deaths need not be swift."

Rider set Illya and Shirou down, whispering a hurried, "summon Baker," before vanishing in another flash of movement. Shirou staggered from the rapid changes in momentum, his head spinning. Used to travel by servant, Illya recovered quickly, reached up, and grabbed the front of her brother's shirt. A rough yank using strength beyond her small size brought Shirou's head to her level.

"Summon Baker. Onii-chan."

The tone brooked no argument and triggered some instinctive, or perhaps memory derived, response. Shirou broke free from his confusion and focus returned to his eyes.

"R-right," he shook his head briefly, raised his hand, and focused his intent into his command seals, "Baker, Come!"

Crimson light flashed and a wave of prana surged through the air, commanding reality itself to bend to its might.

And nothing happened.

Rider flickered back to the edge of Gilgamesh's attack, standing clear of the damaged ground and shattered trees. The arrogant king had not yet shifted from his spot. He stood, arms crossed, wearing a disdainful expression complete with narrowed eyes.

"You return, but that does not excuse the act of turning your back to me."

Rider straightened, but did not respond. The silence stretched, broken only by the distant sound of Berserker and Lancer continuing their fight. Crimson eyes narrowed further in irritation, gold rippled through the air.

Rider reached up and with an effort of will, cut her flow of power to Breaker Gorgon. The blindfold fell away into her waiting hand and Cybele, the mystic eyes of petrification, looked once more upon the world.

The gaze of grey eyes with pale violet irises and square pupils bore into Gilgamesh.

And he blinked.

In the face of something bordering the divine, the King of Heroes laughed.

"Oh, I see. You are but another one," he gestured his arms wide, unconcerned and unhindered, "you will fare no better than Humbaba*."

With no visible command more weapons rocketed forth from the rippling air behind Gilgamesh. Rider blurred as she wove through the bombardment. She knew that defeating the King of Heroes was beyond her, especially with her eyes failing to impact him at all. Should he choose to become serious, she would be annihilated. Even her Pegasis would fall beneath the weight of the King's armory.

Fortunately, he just needed to be distracted until Baker arrived. A few seconds at most to prevent him from turning his attention to Sakura, Shirou, or Illya.

Resolve firm, Rider cast one of her chain-linked nails towards Gilgamesh's face only to have it deflect off a golden gauntlet held in the way. The expression of confidence did not change as the hand, completely unmarked from the impact, lowered.

"Such hideous eyes hold no place in my world. Hold still that I might pluck them from you," Gilgamesh commanded, "This will not take long. Heroes and Kings slay monsters all the time."

The golden glow above the man intensified as more and more portals, bristling with golden swords, axes, spears, and other exotic items, blossomed into existence.

Rider yanked her nail back with one hand, deftly wrapping the chain around her arm while her other hand affixed her blindfold once more. Her eyes did not harm Gilgamesh, but the same could not be said for her approaching reinforcements.

Her reinforcements that should have arrived by now.

Where was Baker?

Golden weapons, more than even someone as fast as Rider could possibly dodge, angled to point directly at her.

Rider tensed in preparation, uncaring of the odds against her.

The golden rain fell.

*For those of you who are curious, Humbaba is a monster slain by Gilgamesh in his original epic. Though it may vary depending on translation and source, he is usually described as having a lion's head, a scale covered body, clawed feet, and a tail that ended in a serpent's head. Humbaba's gaze is also described as "a gaze that brings death". Does that sound somewhat familiar?

Also, Gilgamesh's golden armor is enchanted to an absurd degree (much like most of his possessions) and is made to prevent petrification. Thank you internet. Thank you Type Moon Wiki.

Moments Earlier, The Same Location

"Rider, watch Shirou and Illya please. I am sure somebody will try something."

Sakura felt the presence of her servant pull away from her shoulder and bound back towards the other two masters. They would be safe under her watch. What Rider could not fight she would be able to escape from easily enough.

But right now, walking amongst the deepening gloom and looming trees, she didn't need to worry about that.

A triplet of long blades attached to short, cross shaped hilts flew forth from the shadows.

She had something else to worry about.

A band of solid darkness swept the weapons from the air in a single motion. Sakura smiled and turned just in time to reach up and nimbly catch another blade on course for her head. She spun it lazily between her fingers and called out to her surroundings.

"It's rude to try and stick something into a girl without her consent."

Fingers flexed and the metal snapped, dissolving into motes of prana.

"It's surprising that a priest wouldn't know that."

"Not as surprising as finding out just who you have allied with… Sakura Matou," the voice of Kotomine Kirei oozed implacably out from the trees accompanied by the man himself clad in his usual vestments.

"I'm afraid I don't quite take your meaning,"

"For one such as yourself to tie themselves so closely to magi. For was it not mages that made your life the way it is? Mages that made you so… unclean," the man's words were slow and measured as if stalking a deer, "you hold close the ones you should hate."

"Ah, I see. You are right, you know," agreed Sakura easily, "I do hate them. As a whole I find mages to be a waste of space. Perfect examples of just why 'all the evils of the world' is so extremely potent. Normally, I would be more than happy to hand all of them to you. Even as depraved as you are…" she trailed off.

"Then perhaps we could come to an arrangement? I'm sure it would be most… beneficial," The man began to pace, traveling in a loose circle.

"I was not finished," Sakura's gentle voice hid the sharpened edge of her smile.

"Oh? My sincere apologies." nothing in Kirei's voice betrayed anything other than true contrition.

"I said normally. There is, however, a problem that makes this situation far from normal."

"And that is?" honest curiosity radiated from the false priest.

"Those mages, my allies, are an exception. There are two I could never hate," Sakura's voice softened even as her expression grew sharp.

"Then if they were to be spared, would you…" the beginnings of an offer were brushed away.

"That is not possible," a flash of irritation at being interrupted crossed Kirei's face before being quashed back into easy neutrality.

"You did not even listen to what I have to offer you, my dear," he smiled gently, encouragingly. Sakura's smile grew wider in response.

"That is because it does not matter. You will not be leaving here alive after all," It was the most polite of death threats between two fake smiles.

"And why is that?" he did not appear concerned in the least.

"You killed my father," she stated simply, then struck.

Whips of shadow lashed across the distance between the two, seeking to bind and twist and break. They shattered as more blades, held easily between Kirei's fingers, swept through them. A tide of darkness tinged red followed after in a sweeping wave that forced the man to leap backwards. He threw his weapons before vanishing among the trees as a black blur.

Sakura sighed and swayed to avoid the flashing projectiles.

"Hide and seek Kirei? I did not think you would be one for such simple games,"

A hint of Kirei's true disposition leaked into the forest as his low laughter echoed about the area.

"I always say I am but a simple, humble priest." his voice came from no discernable source.

"Does anyone believe you?"

"The masses do."

The man's form could not be seen, but Sakura was not worried in the slightest. Her eyes followed hidden movements among the trees. She had other ways of keeping track of Kotomine.

But those ways were not fast enough.

In the blink of an eye, Kirei appeared standing before her with an arm cocked back to deliver a crushing blow. Sakura's eyes shot fully open with surprise. He had moved so quickly and timed it so well that he may as well have teleported before the woman. His foot stomped into the ground as his fist rushed forward, a powerful force wielded by one whose entire body could be considered a weapon.

As deathly quick as the priest was, he could not outpace thought and a shimmering wall of energy blazed into existence between the two combatants. The barrier shined bright with the blue light of prana, more than most magi would ever be able to conjure, and held firm with its creator's will. Yet Kirei's fist did not slow, even when it looked as if his flesh and bone would crush themselves against the shield.

Crimson energy blasted out from the right arm of Kirei's coat, shredding the fabric and revealing jagged, segmented lines glowing upon his bare skin. A single piece of the intricate tattoo, his command seals, became incandescent and the energy condensed around his moving fist. Red met blue in a flash and the wall of power shattered like glass.

Sakura had barely begun to flinch when Kirei's fist connected with her abdomen, directly above her heart. His fist twisted as the impact occurred, a move intended to crush and collapse internal organs beneath the blow.

Sakura flew backwards with a misshapen chest but remained unnaturally upright and came to rest on her feet. Her wound flowed with liquid darkness before settling into the proper shape. Color returned to the shadow and Sakura stood untouched and pristine. Kirei only smiled at the setback.

"Your father?" he asked before closing the distance once more with lightning speed and spinning a high kick, strong enough to decapitate someone, through Sakura's head. Her body distorted into shadow around Kirei's leg, reforming as the limb passed. Kirei continued to flow, bringing around a fist clasping three hilts that grew blades as he swung.

This time Sakura leapt away as fast as she could. The blades, black keys in truth, still managed to slide along her left arm and this time her body did not shift away. A cry of pain escaped her lips, forced out by weapons forged to fight evil. Kirei's smile grew satisfied and he did not pursue.

"Why would you strike me down for that man?" a flutter of his coat, minus the missing sleeve, and more hilts found their way into his empty hand. He grinned, "He was yet another mage. The same as the rest."

Sakura's expression did not falter from her fake smile, but her eyes grew stoney. She clutched at her bleeding arm as shadows tried, and failed, to flow over it. They were repulsed by some lingering force, leaving blood free to continue oozing out of the wounds. Abandoning the attempt at healing the darkness rose from her body into the air and curled into spears that flung themselves towards Kirei.

The priest stepped forward at an easy pace, one that didn't change as he batted aside the coming projectiles. He had no need for haste. Blood was already in the water.

"Tokiomi Tohsaka. An exemplary mage," Kirei stated before he blurred forward and swiped at Sakura with mocking slowness. She dodged aside and the blue light of prana gathered in her healthy hand, shooting out in a ragged beam.

"Ruthless," a command seal glowed crimson and imbued Kirei's blades with light as they grew thick and unwieldy.

"Devious," the heavy blades cut through the oncoming rush of power before shattering. More black keys quickly replaced them.

"Pragmatic," Kirei moved and once again attacked with deliberate delay that allowed his prey to escape. His smile grew with each word even as Sakura's smile became ever more brittle. He could feel the rage and pain within her and it was marvelous.

"You say you will kill me for a man not fit to be a father?"

Kirei's arm lit crimson for the third time. He launched a final verbal barb before attacking with intent to kill.

"A man who sold one daughter and left the other to-"

"ENOUGH!" for the first time Sakura's voice rose to a shout and a burst of raw, invisible power threw Kirei back before he could reach his target. Blood dripped onto the ground from her wounds as the woman reached out towards her opponent, grasping at far more than the empty air. Kirei Kotomine froze, his black keys fell to the ground as his body arched in pain and his insides twisted, "You are correct. I care not at all for Tokiomi Tohsaka, but she does. And I care about her."

"You," Kirei's voice hissed into the air as his body contorted and fought itself, "mean the sister who left you to rot i-"

"Be silent," Sakura hissed as she clenched her hand tight and the black beating heart inside of Kirei, formed from the corrupt grail of the previous war, compressed yet further.

You've…" revelation filled Kirei's eyes and a hacking cough sprayed blood into the air, "connected with the grail? So fully," a sanguine smile bloomed on the priest's face, one of the few genuine ones he had ever displayed, "perfect."

"Oh? That is what you wanted?" Sakura's head tilted to the side.

"Yes. You will be the vessel, the source, of the one thing that must exist in this world. The Grail is proof that someone like myself has a purpose in this world. It will consume you. I wish I could have lived to see it," a wisp of melancholy wove through the priest's words as his body fell limp, held aloft only by the grip on his heart.

"I'm terribly sorry," Sakura did not even feign sympathy, "but Angra Mainyu will not be making any appearances here. The Grail and its contents will be dealt with tomorrow, once tonight's business is done."

Kirei chuckled wetly.

"Even if you do find victory tonight, as unlikely as that is against Gilgamesh, your mind will succumb before dawn. If you are able to pull at my heart then you are far too deeply connected with the Grail. The burden is too great," the priest's words rasped from his breaking body, "It is too late, you will destroy everything, even what you love."

This time Sakura chuckled.

"If I were still a child your words might wound and worry me, but that burden you speak of?"

She serenely closed her eyes and thought back.

"It is nothing that I have not borne before. I came to terms with who and what I am years ago. Both here and in London."

"But… you have never been to…" Kirei's eyes widened in surprise and realization, "who…"

"Die with your disappointment."

Sakura's fist closed and Kirei's body crumpled to the ground. There was no special sign or sound. Nothing definitive to signify his end.

Sakura sighed as she lowered her raised arm and lifted the other to examine the wounds upon it. Blood flowed freely from the cuts and nothing happened as she concentrated.

"Even dead you are a nuisance," she commented aloud, "guess this will have to heal the old fashioned way."

Ribbons of blue light poured from Sakura's upper arm and wrapped tightly around the damage. The light faded, leaving white bandages that immediately stained red. The process repeated twice more before a sling joined the magical constructs. Sakura nodded to herself, checked the knots on her bandages, and strode back into the woods.

Nature would clean itself up given time, and Kirei didn't deserve anything less.

T̷͉͛h̶̙̎e̷̲̽̚ ̴̨̛̔R̷͎͋̎ǫ̸̙̃̿o̷͔̩͋̕f̸͕̹̌t̷̯́o̸̯̺͆p̴͈̻̎̊š̸̳̟ ̶̢̒̏o̶̧͛́f̸̖̈́͆ ̸̥̀̐L̷̎ͅȯ̸̗̭n̶̠̐d̵̨̯͛̃o̸͎͒n̶̥̜̄:

Rider swept across the districts of London like the wind itself. A brief tap of her foot on a roof and they were launched skyward yet again under the crimson sky and its looming, smiling face. She mulled briefly on her luck that her master had become much less fragile than their early days together. Leveraging her true speed would have been impossible otherwise, but this was not the time for such idle thoughts. They had more pressing concerns.

She focused upon the impressions given off by her surroundings. Even though her Breaker Gorgon sealed her sight in addition to the magic of her eyes, much could be determined through other senses. Sound bounced around her, echoing in minute nuances that could be parsed. The scents of fire, fear, and blood swirled through the air from their respective sources. Ambient mana flowed over, around, and through everything in a pattern she could feel.

Yes, she might be blind, but Rider knew she could see more clearly than most.

As she scanned the chaotic city, minute movements from Sakura told her that her master was contributing as well, still looking every which way for some sign of what they needed. For some hint at the source of this corrupt reality and through that, a way to find Shirou.

Shirou... Shirou Emiya.

A curious individual indeed, and one similar to her own master.

Though the circumstances differed, both had been broken by their own pasts and though they both functioned, neither was normal in any sense of the word.

Rider knew what that felt like personally, which made it all the more impressive that Shirou had been able to help Sakura even when burdened by his own troubles. Or perhaps his own troubles were the reason he could help? But that didn't matter. A broken boy had seen a girl forced to become a monster, a girl corrupted beyond comprehension by the efforts of others… and he had reached out a hand. Sakura loved him for it.

If only someone like Shirou had come to her on the island… instead of that man.

Rider forced the thought down. The past held no importance here. She had not been saved, but she could ensure that the same fate did not befall her master. And for that they needed Shirou back.

Plus, he wasn't unattractive in his own way.

Rider let a small smile cut her face. Her master had good taste.

And none of that took into account his power…

No, that was the wrong word. In terms of power her master held the most. Shirou held something different, something hard to describe. The best word for it would be…

Potential.

That young man embodied a frightening amount of raw potential. The growth she had witnessed from her first meeting with him till now, and the difference between that and his possible future scarcely made sense. For someone from this time period to have the raw capability of becoming a heroic spirit? Even as a Counter Guardian? It bordered on the unreal.

And yet... he was real.

And he had found her master and helped her.

She would be forever grateful for that even as she watched him like she watched all the others.

Rider held her master a little tighter.

She would protect Sakura from anything… anyone.

Luckily, it was unlikely to be a problem in this case if she had judged the red haired youth at all correctly.

She shook such grim thoughts aside as her feet touched upon another roof and bent her knees to keep Sakura steady during the impact. She sprung upwards into her next leap only for her trailing foot to be held fast for a moment before tearing free from something. It destroyed their forward momentum forcing Rider to tuck herself around her charge as they tumbled down into a cobblestone courtyard.

Her 'sight' came alive with seething magical feedback. A concentration of the oppressive atmosphere coated every nearby surface in a matter of moments. They landed with a squelch in something mercifully softer than stone. Even counting servant physiology, landing on your back was never pleasant. However, what truly worried the servant were the invasive fingers of something trying to worm its way into her mind.

Sakura gasped in surprise and pain causing Rider to wince in sympathy. Her master shivered violently and began to breathe erratically.

Rider could feel corruption oozing from the thick muck they had landed in. It reminded her far too much of something she had thought destroyed along with the Grail, but that didn't matter at the moment. All that mattered was getting Sakura somewhere safe. She pushed aside the whispered doubts invading her thoughts and rose to her feet in a swift motion.

Or at least, she tried to.

The sludge gripped tight to her body and continually tried to flow higher and reach her cradled master. It fought her every movement and Rider barely managed to leverage herself into a mostly upright position. Brute force couldn't solve this problem unless she drew upon the monstrous side of her power to raise her strength.

That was not an attractive solution, but Rider knew they needed to leave this area as fast as possible. Her senses could track the substance flowing around them and it was only growing deeper and spreading further, subsuming the surrounding city block. She could even feel several knots of the energy spiraling tighter and tighter with every moment. Plus, her master continued to whimper quietly and shiver. That was the greatest worry of all.

They really needed to leave, so she took a different option. Ignoring the grasping tendrils of muck Rider shifted to hold Sakura with one arm and called forth her chain nail before driving it viciously into her own throat. Blood sprayed into the air and hovered along invisible lines to form a complex seal of crimson lines. The sigil exploded outwards with a burst of light that pushed back the crimson twilight and was shortly followed by a thunderous neigh that split the skies.

A white pegasus, pure and pristine, hovered serenely above the courtyard radiating light and magic. Its mere presence caused the corrupt mud to burn and recede even as the mighty beats of the phantasmal beast's wings scattered the sludge about.

Rider strained once more against her weakening bonds and broke free. She leapt gracefully into the air only to have her master ripped painfully from her grip by the clinging sludge.

"No!" Rider shouted her frustration as she landed atop her loyal steed and grasped the golden reigns that appeared in her hands. With a gentle nudge she directed the pegasus to dive towards her master. It would be simple to scour the area clean and pull her friend to safety despite the still growing knots of power surrounding them. Rider could sense one forming directly on the path to her master and she pressed her mount to greater speed, intent on blasting the shape rising from the mud out of existence.

Then the shape sprouted a face. A familiar face.

The pegasus whined in surprise as Rider yanked backwards on the golden reigns, struggling to stop as its wings beat wildly at the air. The mound of mud shifted, smoothing into a human shape to match its new face. Pale skin and lavender hair, a match for Rider's own, blossomed from and across the child sized figure.

"Hello sister," the girl spoke as she stood between Rider and her master.

"S-stheno…" Rider whispered in disbelief, frozen atop her pegasus as she stared, or rather sensed, at the impossible figure. Golden reigns slipped from her fingers. How was she here? How had this happened?

Sakura whimpered and shuddered, still held fast to the ground.

Rider buried the thoughts of her long dead sister and the tumbling emotions that came with them. They did not matter. Not now. Her master needed her. She grasped the reigns to rush to Sakura's aid, but arrows pierced through her pegasus's wings, shredding the joints and drawing forth a scream of pain. More projectiles found their mark across the beast's belly and neck as it floundered in the air.

They fell in an ungainly tumble, Rider barely managing to roll clear of her mangled mount as it slammed into the ground. Its aura of power flickered and vanished, letting cursed mud thicken and flow over the stones once more. Another familiar figure, nearly identical to Stheno and carrying a bow of glittering gold, strode past the weakening beast held fast by the rising sludge.

"Euryale?" gasped Rider, her senses flickering between her sisters. Or at least, facsimiles of her sisters. They were dead and gone. They could not be here. Not after she had…

Rider grit her teeth and shoved the memories aside. She couldn't be distracted. She needed to help her master. These tricks could not distract her.

The image of Euryale let the string of her bow relax and favored Rider with a malicious smile.

"Hello sister."

"Hello sister." Stheno spoke in an eerie echo and the two voices together pulled on things long suppressed in Rider's memory.

"Rider!" Sakura, voice finally found, cried out in distress and concern. A flare of power bloomed from her, brilliantly bright to Rider's senses, but it was snuffed out like a candle. Something had stopped her master from helping, likely the growing lumps of muck surrounding the girl that felt just like the images of Rider's sisters.

Rider tensed to leap to her master's side but a wave of Stheno's hand called forth blasts of magic that forced her back and drew her attention.

"We wish to speak with you sister," Rider flinched as the voice turned accusatory, "about what you have done."

No. It hadn't been her fault. Rider's breath began to quicken.

"We wish to tell you the truth,"

She shouldn't listen to them. She only had a duty to her master.

Yet she did not move, even as sludge flowed over her feet as a nagging presence compelled her to listen.

The corrupt constructions of Stheno and Euryale strode forward, their voices slashing forth like blades.

"You couldn't save yourself!"

"You dragged us with you!"

"You destroyed us! Ate us!"

"You will do the same again!"

The voices of Stheno and Euryale alternated in waves of seething hate, growing towards a crescendo unleashed in unison.

"You Monster!"

Rider trembled and her hands clenched repeatedly, grasping for her weapon, but nothing came. Illusions or not, they bore the faces of her sisters. She needed to destroy them. To go help Sakura.

But they were her sisters!

But they were wrong! They had to be wrong. Rider knew she had failed in the past, but she had been given a second chance. She had helped save Sakura from repeating her own fate. Sakura was saf-

A piercing scream raised ripples in the mud. A familiar scream.

Sakura's scream.

A swelling bubble of corruption rose before Rider and formed into the body of Sakura waist deep in the mire and identical to the real one yards away. The fake raised a shaking hand towards rider, despair plain on her face.

Rider knew it was an illusion.

"Why!? Why couldn't you save me!"

But the voice of her master crying out with such pain. With such accusation…

It hammered home every doubt, every fear. It brought forth the images of her former family and all her past sins. She felt tears prick at her eyes behind the cloth of her blindfold.

"Rider!" the voice of Sakura cried out once more from behind her, "don't listen to…"

The plea faded away as Rider dropped to her knees with a splash. What could she do? What had she already done? Was someone like her even capable of saving anyone?

Why did she keep trying? Just now she had failed again. Her pegasus, her powers. Useless. She had doomed her master.

What could she do?

What should she do?

She should...

"Come now sister, you have done it before. When you became a monster."

"You should just give up."

She... should just give up.

"Rider!"

Sakura reached futilely towards her servant who was now kneeling in the muck, slumped and lifeless. She felt tears wind down her face, matching those leaking from beneath the blindfold of her friend and protector. The sludge filling the courtyard gripped tightly about her arms and legs, pulling her against the ground

A more insidious pull grappled with her mind and powers. Energy called to her aid drained away in moments, siphoned off into the liquid pooling around her. Dark memories came forth unbidden from the depths of her mind. Images and thoughts she had thought long dealt with called for her to listen and despair.

She felt it stir in the depths of her soul. The lingering lake of dark power. The silent shadow of the grail, no longer still, but seething as if under storm.

"Just as helpless as always."

The disdainful voice shocked Sakura into looking away from the fate of her servant.

"And you wonder why I never came to save you," smirked Rin Tohsaka.

Her sister gazed down with a mix of pity and disgust.

"You always thought it was because I didn't know what the Matou's were doing, but in reality, it just wasn't worth it. You are useless and weak."

"S-sis?" Sakura choked out.

"It's true. I only ever helped you out of pity," Shirou Emiya stepped out from behind Rin, "Really, what else other than pity could be felt for someone like you?"

Sakura opened her mouth but could not speak. Hot tears flowed down her cheeks.

"You should be left, forgotten, in the dark."

"You are not needed, and never will be."

A third figure, dark in color but for the red runes across its skin, rose to stand with the images of Shirou and Rin.

"The most you ever were was a vessel for me," spoke Angra Mainyu.

"Begone."

"Vanish."

"Submit."

Sakura sank helplessly into her memories, ever closer to the carefully contained remnants of her own darkness. Ever closer to her own portion of All the World's Evil, the dark lake of despair frothing in her mind. She tried to struggle, to push back against the tide of emotion and apathy that crushed her and tore her apart, but to no avail. She felt herself go limp, both physically and mentally, and sobbed silent tears as the cursed waters of the lake rose in curtains to claim her.

She had lost. She had failed. She was a monster. She…

In her mind's eye her foot touched the lake of Evil in her soul and ripples spread throughout the raging surface, leaving stillness behind.

And she remembered.

For an instant she felt again the true weight of All the World's Evil…

And she laughed.

For this imitation. This world of blood. This fake. Was. Nothing.

Her hair bled white and her veins pulsed crimson.

Her eyes burned red.

And she laughed.

Sakura's frame shook as her laughter rang across the courtyard. Laughter filled with pain and sadness and anger.

Filled with amusement.

As she stood, black and crimson clung and rose with her, but it was not the colors of the muck thick across the ground. No. It was far deeper, far more real than that. If the muck was black, then the ragged dress now covering Sakura's body was cut from the abyss itself. If the muck was crimson, then the jagged lines that cut across Sakura's skin were the bloody flames of hell.

The echoing laughter faded, leaving the courtyard silent but for distant screams. Sludge poured off of Sakura as she rose from the ground to turn her gaze upon the specters before her. A mocking smile graced her lips and memories of the true Angra Mainyu danced freely through her mind.

"You thought to fight me with betrayal? You thought to fight me with Evil? You are a mere imitation! Nothing you could produce, nothing you could show me, could ever approach the true form of All the World's Evil. I have seen the infinite darkness of man, lived with it, and borne it within me. Everything you can do. Everything you can make me feel," her eyes narrowed,

"I've felt worse."

And she had beaten it too.

She strode forward and the cursed sludge covering the ground parted before her, rippling away from her steps as if afraid. The specters stood still in shock and indecision except for the image of Rin, which took a single step backwards. A path cleared to the struggling figure of her servant, still kneeling in the muck amidst her own past demons.

"Stand up Rider," Sakura commanded, "we will not be held back by these pitiful shadows. We have moved past that and we have people counting on us."

The head of the Matou family, clad in a dress of flowing curses and host to the remains of a corrupt grail, stood tall above her servant and friend. She extended a hand downwards and smiled gently.

"Stand up Rider," she repeated, "we must face who we are with pride."

Medusa of the Gorgon Sisters, daughter of the sea god Phorcys, grasped the hand of her master and the weight bearing her down vanished. The red and black sludge peeled away from her body and pulled back from her feet to leave her standing free.

"We are monsters," Sakura admitted to the world, but the word was not said with scorn, "We have been beaten, betrayed, and broken both within and without. Yet here we stand, together. We have found a place with each other and with people who accept us and our nature, not just in spite of it. And that is enough. Now we fight another monster who seeks to take that from us," she looked across the figures arrayed against her that wore the faces of her friends and family, "but it has forgotten something important."

"You words mean nothing!" scorn dripped from the twisted voice of Rin Tohsaka.

"You words change nothing!" Shirou's words were a lashing accusation.

"You will die here!" the red runed figure growled a promise.

Sakura did not waver, she just kept speaking.

"In a fight between monsters," the clear ground beneath her bare feet began to bubble and froth as malice filled the air, "the biggest one wins."