Disclaimer: I do not own the Fate franchise it belongs to Kinoko Nasu and Type-Moon.

Aurum, Sanguis, et Mors

Pilot Chapter

It was going to be one of those days. She just didn't know it yet.

The Scrap wasn't crowded today, and Adelheid von Falkenhayn was able to sit back and relax in her usual place, enjoying her whiskey while listening to the jazz music playing from the jukebox in one corner. What people there were quietly chatted and joked and laughed amongst themselves, sitting in other booths or at the counter, while a couple played pool at one of several billiard tables. Others sat in silence, nursing their alcohol while enjoying some respite to their busy lives.

Adelheid was among those who fell in the last category, and she sat alone in her booth, with a bottle of Scotch, a small bucket of ice, and a glass at hand. She slouched in her seat, legs stretched out under the table, and one arm folded behind her head.

She stared up at the ceiling, and at one of the tacky glow-globes that lit up the bar, if in a smoky fashion, though that was also due just as much to all the smoke that usually filled up the place. Adelheid herself smoked, though not now.

Ice tinkled against glass as the former melted and fell against each other and the latter, and reaching forward Adelheid took her glass and swallowed a bitter mouthful. Placing the glass back down on its coaster, the blonde woman sat back against the upholstery, eyes running over the crowd. It was the usual crowd, like Big Janny over at the counter, and Bellow and his three wingmen going through a porn magazine in another booth, Matilda and Helm snoozing at another booth with Joanna keeping watch (while reading one of her romance novels)…oh, and there was Tyrone the Imp flirting with a coy waitress…

"Captain!" a familiar voice said loudly, cutting through the smoky air, and drawing the bar's attention. They turned away back to their usual business as they saw it was just Hilda quickly walking over to Adelheid's booth, a familiar sight and nothing really to worry about.

"Hey, Hilda," Adelheid said, sitting up and holding up her glass. "Care to join me for a drink? If you don't want to share a glass, we can ask Rock over at the counter for a fresh one."

"What are you saying?" Hilda said, scandalized. "We've got work to do, work!"

"Hmm," Adelheid hummed while emptying her glass, and noting her subordinate's attire. The other woman had donned a flak vest, and while she was only carrying a sidearm, she clearly was dressed for business. "Alright, who's the client this time? Someone new? Or is it someone we worked for before?"

"The latter," Hilda replied. "Lady Schnee."

"Schnee again?" Adelheid echoed before sighing. "I hate working for that woman…damn it, still, work is work, we have to pay the bills somehow. Alright…Eckhart, Moritz! We have work to do!"

"Right, cap!" one of her two men shouted from the counter, and finishing their drinks rushed over.

"Put it on my tab, Jerry." Adelheid said as she walked towards the exit.

"Sure, sure," Jerry said, briefly looking up from his newspaper behind the counter. "Just make sure you pay by Christmas."

"Hey! You know I always do! And with a bonus too!"

"Just a friendly reminder." The bookish-looking bartender said, already returning to his newspaper and prompting Adelheid to mutter to herself while heading for the door.

Lady Schnee – which probably wasn't even her real name – sat on one side of the limo's passenger compartment, the platinum-blonde woman wearing a dress of blue that started with a midnight shade at the collar and paling down to a pale shade at her knees. A white sash was tied around her waist, and a white choker with a diamond centerpiece was fastened around her neck. One hand held a folding fan, also of blue that gradually lightened in shade further down the ribs, and trimmed in white.

In contrast, Adelheid was dressed for business, wearing a dark blue, sleeveless shirt over dark green combat trousers and dark-colored combat boots. Her flak vest was also colored a dark green, though in deference to her client, Adelheid didn't bring any weapons (or at least not obvious ones) with her to this meeting.

"I trust you've been well, von Falkenhayn?" Lady Schnee said as the limo's door was closed.

"I am." Adelheid replied, and Lady Schnee's lips twitched with amusement.

"Drink?" she offered.

"I'd be honored."

Reaching into a compartment beside her, Lady Schnee brought out two glasses, put ice in both, and poured bourbon into them. Nudging one glass at Adelheid, she picked up the glass and held it up to Lady Schnee. "To your health, my lady." Adelheid said.

Lady Schnee nodded, and returned the toast. "And to yours." She said, the two women emptying their glasses before putting them down on the table.

"Now then," Lady Schnee continued while refilling their glasses. "Shall we proceed to business?"

"Of course."

Lady Schnee nodded. "I have someone I need you to…terminate. Permanently," she said with narrowed eyes.

"The usual fee?"

"Of course," Lady Schnee said with another nod. "Something for something after all."

Adelheid nodded, and took a sip of her drink as Lady Schnee placed a folder on the table and slid it over to Adelheid. Placing her glass down, Adelheid took the folder and opened it, her eyes widening on the first page. "This is…!" she gasped.

"An Average One is wasted on that man and his family." Lady Schnee said with a magnificent sneer. "And while abduction is an option, and one that offers potential for considerably greater satisfaction in the future, it hardly seems worth the effort at present to invest in…properly, developing the situation that might develop from such an action. Kill the brat."

Lady Schnee paused, and narrowed her eyes again. "Or will it be a problem?" she asked.

Adelheid met Lady Schnee's eyes. "No," she said. "It won't be a problem. I've done worse, just…surprised."

"Oh?"

"I've never done a hit on a single kid before, though I guess there's a first time for everything."

Lady Schnee smiled with amusement. "Then allow me to give you a bonus," she said. "Just to…celebrate, the occasion."

Adelheid briefly frowned, and then shrugged. "It's just a job." She said. "Nothing to really celebrate."

"Is that so?"

"I apologize if I caused offense…"

Lady Schnee held up a hand. "No," she interrupted. "You did not. Still, I've made the offer, you rejected it, so I will modify it instead. Mark the brat's father, and I'll provide a twenty per cent bonus."

"Hmm…" Adelheid hummed, considering the offer for several moments before nodding once. "Very well, I accept. Any particular specifics you might request, my lady? To marking the girl's father, that is?"

"Don't kill or cripple him." Lady Schnee said. "The former is a mercy he does not deserve. The latter…it has its satisfactions, but having him…retain, most of his ability along with his life is crueler and more satisfying. For all his power and achievement, in the end it was for nothing, as he could not protect his greatest treasure. But be sure to leave him with a scar that cannot be removed, or at least not for a long while yet."

"I believe I can manage something of the sort."

Lady Schnee smiled with cold satisfaction. "And what of the spare?" Adelheid asked, after going through the file's contents.

"Spare the spare." Lady Schnee said with a dismissive gesture. "Her Sorcery Trait is valuable, but not nearly as much as an Average One would have been. And letting her live would yet be another example to that fool of his failure. And besides,"

At that, Lady Schnee paused and smiled, sea-grey irises sparkling with malice. "I believe…yes," she said, nodding slowly. "The girl…letting her live offers future chances to further punish that man for his insults."

Lady Schnee laughed again, and Adelheid turned back to the file in her hands. Reading through the details, she nodded, and placing the file on the table took a mystic code from one of her vest's pockets, and signed the geis scroll that was the back page. The skin on the back of her hand prickled as the mystic code cut into it, the blood magically flowing through the air in small, near-invisible particles, and were laid down onto the paper. They formed her signature, and binding her – and Lady Schnee – to the conditions laid out in the geis scroll.

Lady Schnee nodded, and smiling, raised her glass in response to Adelheid doing likewise after signing the geis scroll. "To success," she said.

"To success," Lady Schnee echoed before her smile widened. "And to revenge."

The Company, as they called themselves, stood around a table in their 'base camp', located in Rosenheim in Southern Germany. A former firehouse, the building had been set to be condemned when Adelheid had purchased it decades ago, had it renovated, and piled up bounded fields over and inside it.

The fields were constantly updated, and new ones added every so often, and turning the building into a fortress. The ground floor was largely occupied by the garage, along with the front office for Adelheid's front business (stock trading). The second floor housed the residential areas, where she lived with her niece, Hildegarde 'Hilda' von Falkenhayn, along with guest rooms for the rest of the Company, should they stay over.

The third floor was Adelheid's workshop and repository. The Company was rarely if ever allowed in there, except for Hilda.

The 'base camp' itself was located in the underground, and was second only in protection to the workshop. It housed their armories for one thing, and also held prison cells and an interrogation room with all the necessary tools and equipment for 'enhanced interrogation techniques', for both mundane and supernatural subjects alike.

Walther Henninger raised an eyebrow as he saw their next job's profile. "So we're killing kids these days?" he asked.

"What's the problem?" Hilda asked with a roll of her eyes. "We burned down that village in Chad about six years ago, and shot everyone who tried to run. Including women and children."

Walther tightened his jaw, but said nothing. Adelheid gave a cough. "In any case," she said. "None of you will be shooting the kid. I will be. Hilda, I'll need Big Hans."

Hilda smiled. "Understood, captain." She said, and Adelheid nodded.

"So what do the rest of us do?" Eckhart Steinheil asked. "From the look of things, this is an assassination job, and that you'll be the one to pull it off, won't you?'

"Quite," Adelheid said with a nod. "Big Hans should be enough to do the job, it's just a kid after all. A magus might be able to survive anything less than a headshot from Big Hans, but a six-year old girl? Ha! Not a chance. However, I'll need you to provide support for this operation."

Eckhart nodded. "Got it captain," he said. "What do you need us to do?"

"For now, we need to prepare an equipment, but that's Hilda's job." Adelheid said with a nod. "Walther, you'll prepare travel documents and all other bureaucratic requirements. Eckhart, Moritz, you two will work on a plan to covertly identify a pattern to the target and her family's activities over the next three or four months, and identify the best time to conduct the operation. In the meantime, I'll arrange for transportation and accommodation, as well as prepare additional resources. Understood?"

"Yes, captain!" the team chorused.

"Then let's get to it."

Within a week, the Company had arrived in Fuyuki City, on the island of Kyushu in Southern Japan. Holing up at a warehouse complex along the waterfront, they proceeded to conduct a surveillance campaign over the next three months as per their predetermined plan.

Commercially-available drones fitted with cameras were used to confirm and provide additional reference materials to 'official' materials such as maps and records, while members of the Company, either in pairs or in threes, went out to provide ground intelligence. Disguised as tourists, or as delivery boys, even as technical personnel from one company or another or even from the city government, and making good use of wax masks, contact lenses, wigs and fake beards to avoid presenting any faces that could become familiar, they built up information to determine the daily pattern of their target.

And then, during the third month, just as Adelheid was about to make her decision to finally take action, an unexpected development occurred. And it was one that had the German mercenary cum spell-caster making a call to her client in Britain.

"What is it?" Lady Schnee asked over the satellite link, heavily-encoded and masked to prevent tracking. The aristocrat's voice was impatient, possibly due to being interrupted doing something important or pleasurable, or at personally being made to use an item of modern technology. Or indeed, all three.

"Something unexpected has turned up." Adelheid said.

"You're not about to disappoint me, are you, von Falkenhayn?" Lady Schnee asked with just the barest hint of a threat in her ice-cold voice.

"Not at all," Adelheid said. "However, it seems that Mister Tohsaka is planning to give his younger daughter away for adoption to the Matou family."

There was utter silence over the satellite link for several moments. Only the status screen on the satellite phone's other components told Adelheid that the line had not been cut, or had failed. Finally, there was a sigh of utter disappointment and exasperation from Lady Schnee.

"Honestly," she said filled with suppressed rage. "You think the man wouldn't sink any lower, and he does this!"

Adelheid stayed silent as the aristocrat raged. "…but it is still quite valuable," Lady Schnee spat. "And he would give it to those wretched Matous? Traditional allies or not, I would think that he'd do better, if he were to give away his spare, than a family that has clearly spent itself, and is no longer worthy to be considered as one honored with the title and calling of magi!"

Adelheid continued to stay silent as Lady Schnee ranted for several more moments, and then…

"Von Falkenhayn!"

"Yes, my lady?"

"Do not allow Matou to take the girl!" Lady Schnee spat. "She is wasted on them! One of Ede…one as valuable as her, is not to be wasted on that wretched and rotten-through lineage! And Russians of all people! Helvetin Sl…!"

Adelheid blinked as Lady Schnee cut herself off before she finished the second word, but she recognized that language. It was Finnish.

Well, well, well…isn't that interesting?

"Von Falkenhayn," Lady Schnee ground out. "Did I make myself clear?"

"Understood, my lady." Adelheid said. "I will adjust my plans, and my objectives: kill Rin Tohsaka, mark Tokiomi Tohsaka, and deny Sakura Tohsaka to the Matou family."

"Then make it happen, von Falkenhayn." Lady Schnee ground out, and then cut the line.

"As you wish, my lady." Adelheid said, before lowering the satellite phone. "Well, that's that. Now, Hilda! We need to adjust our plans. The client wants…"

"There they go."

Adelheid and Hilda were lying prone on top of a water tower, a thick layer of cloth between them and the hot metal of the water tank. Both women were dressed for business, with pistols holstered at their waists and grenades strapped to their flak jackets. Submachine guns were lying within easy reach, and before Adelheid was the bulk of a M107 anti-material rifle, though right now both women were peering through binoculars at their target.

And as they watched, a white van with the logo of a local flower shop drove up the neighborhood, and drawing the attention of several black-suited and sunglasses-wearing men standing around the front of the Tohsaka mansion. And a priest.

Kotomine Kirei…to think that someone like Tohsaka Tokiomi had a man like that, a priest of all things, as his apprentice.

Lady Schnee was quite pleased to hear that bit of information. No doubt she'd find some way to use it to her advantage.

As Adelheid and Hilda watched from the distance, the van drew up in front of a house across the street from the Tohsaka property. Eckhart and Moritz (dressed in the flower shop's uniforms) went out the van's front, and tipping their hats politely at the men looking at them from the Tohsaka property went to the back of the van.

Opening it, they rummaged inside for a few moments, and then coming out, with Eckhart carrying a lovingly-arranged bouquet of flowers, and Moritz carrying a clipboard. The priest and the suited men turned away, as the two disguised mercenaries cum assassins cum spell-casters closed the van's back doors, and stepped up the closest house's lawn and knocked on the front door.

After several moments, the lady of the house opened the front door, but while initially perplexed she didn't get to say any word that could draw attention and throw off the disguise before Moritz's mystic eyes briefly flashed. Suddenly, the lady of the house was all smiles, and accepting the flowers signed off on them.

Moritz and Eckhart now returned to the van, and boarding it once more lingered for a few moments seemingly doing inventory and recordkeeping before starting the van. They barely moved a couple of meters before the engine seemed to throw something, and spluttered to a halt.

Again, the priest and the suited men turned to the van, but turned away again as Eckhart tried to restart it a few times. He and Moritz then went out, and then opening the hood sprang back as smoke erupted. Arguing for a few moments, Eckhart waved him off before seemingly trying to work the engine, Moritz returning to the van's front seat and fishing out a phone seemed to call someone and converse urgently about the van's condition.

Hilda laughed at the sight. "Not bad acting, isn't it?" she said.

Adelheid hummed in response. They continued watching for several minutes, and then Adelheid stirred as the front door opened, allowing the Tohsaka family to exit. Missus Tohsaka stayed with her elder daughter near the door, while Tokiomi Tohsaka held his younger daughter's hand while escorting her towards one of the black cars parked in front of the property.

"Showtime." Adelheid said, dropping her binoculars and positioning herself behind the M107.

"Careful captain," Hilda said, settling into the role of a spotter. "Looks like Tohsaka's handing his daughter to one of those Matou thugs. It's going to be close."

Adelheid didn't bother to respond, instead focusing on steadying her breathing and grip, and centering her aim at Rin Tohsaka's center of mass. At this distance, wind speed and direction weren't the only factors to be considered, but the Coriolis Effect as well.

"Sorry kid," Adelheid said as she compensated and held her breath, before pulling the trigger. "It's nothing personal. It's just business."

No one heard the shot that turned an already sad day into a complete nightmare.

But they all saw Rin's body fly apart in a shower of blood and gore, followed by Aoi's anguished screaming. For an instant it seemed as though time stood still, and then things went into high speed.

Another bullet flew through the air, and sent Tokiomi spinning to the ground with a shout of pain, blood and his right arm flying through the air. The black-suited men rushed to their vehicles, one of them lifting Sakura by her body despite her struggles to the car in the middle.

She and the man fell as a bullet tore through the latter's neck, and any of the others who tried to approach suffered a similar fate.

And then heads turned as the side of the van opened, exposing a man inside and manning a heavy rotary cannon. Kirei's eyes widened as he recognized it for what it was: a M61 20 mm automatic cannon. He dove for cover, moments before the cannon roared and tore through the remaining Matou guards in a glowing fusillade of high-explosive rounds, and sending blood and gore fountaining across the grounds.

Sakura screamed and curled up on the grounds, and then her screams were joined by that of metal and the hissing of hot gas and smoke escaping from perforated engines as the man behind the cannon swept it down the line of Matou vehicles. And unseen by Kirei, the man working on the van's engine closed the hood, rushed back into the vehicle and started it, while the man who'd previously held a phone pulled out the long bulk of a Panzerfaust.

Stepping clear of the van, he took aim, and pulled the trigger. The armor-piercing round slammed into the central vehicle, already shot through by cannon fire, and blew it sky high.

"Lass uns von hier verschwinden!"

Kirei heard the shout, and looked up from where he'd shielded his master to see the white van – its side closed up again, speeding away. "S-S-Sakura…where is…Sakura…Rin…" Tokiomi babbled, clutching his arm's stump in agony, tears flowing in anguish as he looked in the direction of his home, and saw his wife distraught and crying uncontrollably on the ground, next to a small and still figure lying lifeless next to her.

Making the sign of the cross, Kirei hurried in silence to his master's only remaining child and heir, the little girl crying and curled up into a ball, splattered as she was by blood and surrounded by corpses. And as he picked her up and carried her protectively to her father, all Kirei could think of was…was…

…deep down…

…as he listened to the Tohsaka's grief and pain…

…deep down…

…he could only laugh.

'Lady Schnee' received the report from Adelheid von Falkenhayn in her suite at London. Dismissing all her servants and attendants, one of them carrying the satellite phone with her, the platinum-blonde woman was left alone.

Rising to her feet, she walked over to the liquor cabinet, and poured herself a glass of white wine. "My dear cousin," Valkolumi Edelfelt said softly as she walked over to the windows. "I wonder if you finally remember that ancient piece of wisdom, that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."

Pausing in front of the windows, Valkolumi stood in silence, thinking of the child killed by her command. "If only your father had been smart enough to not scorn my hand, child," she said softly. "Your family would not labor under the shadow of our scorn, and you would have feared for nothing. Even your sister, she would have gone to a worthier family than those wretched exiles from Russia. But alas…your father was a fool. He rejected the offered hand of friendship and peace from our family, all for that weakling whore of his. What a waste…"

Falling silent, Valkolumi swept out with her arm, and splattered the white wine against the windows, in tribute to the dead.

Rest in peace, you who could have been my daughter in another life.

It wasn't going to be one of those days. She just thought it would be.

The Scrap was crowded today, and Adelheid von Falkenhayn could barely hear the jazz music playing from the jukebox as she sat in her usual spot. People in various clothes, ranging from clean and crisp business attire to biker apparel of all things, stuffed the bar to the gills, and keeping Jerry busy over at the counter.

The booths were all occupied, as were all the seats at the counter. Men and women thronged around the billiard tables, while others gathered around the dartboards, placing bets and jeering and cheering and booing with every turn.

Adelheid stared up at the ceiling, at one of the tacky glow-globes that lit up the bar, if in a smoky fashion, though that was also due just as much to all the smoke that filled up the place. At the thought, Adelheid fished out a packet of cigarettes, placed one in her mouth, and lit it with a lighter.

Ice tinkled against glass as the former melted and fell against each other and the glass, and reaching forward Adelheid took her glass of scotch and swallowed a bitter mouthful. Placing the glass back down on its coaster, the blonde woman sat back against the upholstery, eyes running over the crowd. A loud roar drew her attention, and she watched as the Imp did a victory lap while all around him men argued over and exchanged money over a round of bets won and lost at a round of darts.

"Captain!" a familiar voice said loudly, cutting through the smoky air, and drawing the bar's attention. They turned away back to their usual business as they saw it was just Hilda quickly walking over to Adelheid's booth, a familiar sight and nothing really to worry about.

"Hey, Hilda," Adelheid said, sitting up and holding up her glass. "Care to join me for a drink? If you don't want to share a glass, we can ask Rock over at the counter for a fresh one. Or how about a smoke?"

"What are you saying?" Hilda said, scandalized. "We've got work to do, work!"

"Hmm," Adelheid hummed while emptying her glass, and noting her subordinate's attire. The other woman had donned a flak vest, and while she was only carrying a sidearm, she clearly was dressed for business. "Alright, who's the client this time? Someone new? Or is it someone we worked for before?"

"The former," Hilda replied. "Some mook who got shafted, from what I hear."

"Is that right?" Adelheid asked with a chuckle. "Well, time to get to work. Eckhart, Moritz!"

"But captain…!"

"We were just about to…!"

"No buts, it's work! And put it on my tab, Jerry." Adelheid said as she walked towards the exit, Hilda and two grumbling men trailing after her.

"Got it, Adelheid." Jerry said, briefly looking up from where he was mixing up some cocktails. "Good luck at work."

"Thanks, we really appreciate it!"

"No problem!" The bookish-looking bartender said, already returning to his cocktails as Adelheid and company left the Scrap.

A/N

An experiment the inspiration for which is I'm not sure but what the heck…I don't lose anything by writing it.

The title is Latin, and it means 'Gold, Blood, and Death'. There's a certain irony to it, especially since according to Apocrypha Edelfelt and Tohsaka are related, which adds a certain degree of horror to Valkolumi's murderous scheme to inflict pain on Tokiomi for refusing a past offer of marriage to her.

Yes, there's a reference to RWBY. Even more so, as 'Valkolumi' is Snow White/Weiss Schnee in Finnish.

This story is a one-shot and will likely not see a sequel or additional chapters. Unless the mood grips me again.