She would always remember that day- the day when a dragon fell from the sky, when snow fell in summer. Rin counted the years as she watched the deserted streets of Tokyo for trouble. Twenty-three years since that day. Twenty-two since the last Grail War. Now another Grail War loomed. The thought brought tears to her eyes. This time, it would be different. The last had been different than any Grail War she could have expected, but this time she would win.

Rin was heading home. Not to her ancestral home in Fuyuki, but her new one in Tokyo. Not that it was easy to get there. Who would want to leave the safety of struggling, poor, overcrowded Kyushu, unless they had to? Honshu was closer to an apocalyptic hellscape, and it got only worse as Rin drew farther away from Fuyuki and closer to Tokyo. Cities crumbled from years of abandonment and the endless fighting between soldiers and Legion. Rin had stayed close to the Hamelin outposts, hating them as much as she needed their supplies of fresh food and water. Every one of the soldiers had eyed her warily. Rin was ancient in a land where most did not survive to adulthood.

She clutched the red pendant of her necklace closely. After how the last Grail War ended, she had been hesitant, for all her bravado, to return to Tokyo so quickly. Even now she hesitated, slowing pace as she approached the apartment she had taken in the mostly-abandoned neighborhood nearby. She could have summoned her Servant in Fuyuki, but that was no longer a seat of magical power. The ley lines had shifted when the dragon fell from the sky, when it fought a grotesque giant only to be shot down by human weapons. What was once Shinjuku was now a mass of ley lines drawn through where Tokyo tower used to stand. If she had one wish, it would be a chance to see either of Saber or Archer again. It was a wish she felt she would need the Grail to accomplish, and yet she would have to squander on a greater goal.

The sky was a bright, pearly grey as Rin climbed the outside steps to her apartment, even though her watch told her it was past midnight. That was not unusual anymore. Night had not fallen over Japan in over two decades, not since that day. In some ways, it was a blessing. It was hard to fear walking around late when it never got dark. Now, she picked up her pace and cursed the omnipresent sun. If she didn't hurry, she would miss the strongest tide of mana and her best chance of summoning a strong enough Servant to win.

When she entered her apartment with a jingle of keys, Rin cast off her coat in a pile to the side of the door and kicked off her shoes roughly, barely breaking stride as she made her way with two heavy bags of ritual materials to the large bedroom she had repurposed for the summoning ritual. Along the way she navigated through stacks of old books she had taken with her from Fuyuki. There had not been enough space to begin with to install enough shelving to house them all. Then she had no time to put back the ones she removed for study. One more week, Rin promised herself, and she would have time to put away the books and moving boxes and the piling trash and laundry. The offending mess was far less important than what lay ahead.

Rin checked her watch once more as she set up the ritual space. Outside the sky would always be bright grey. The inside of the interior bedroom was more often than not pitch dark. As Rin prepared, mindful of time slipping through her fingers, it began to glow with the soft light of candles and the pungent, spicy smell of incense. The candles cast a flickering silhouette of Rin against the walls and ceiling that darted this way and that. A part of her wanted to laugh, but she grit her teeth to bite back the memory of the last time she had cast this spell for real. She could still remember every element, the feel of mana flowing through her and the sound of her slight mispronunciations. It had been the effort of a child—crude, pure, and arrogant. This time would be different.

The time had come. Rin began her chant, commanding a Heroic Spirit to answer her call. She could feel mana course through her body, at times cold, at times warm, at times tingling like electricity. The pendant that she had once used as a catalyst to conjure Archer to her side reflected the light of the ritual and responded with its own. The scabbard she had rescued long ago to serve her now as a more potent catalyst for the Saber-class Servant she had desired shimmered. The words of the ritual dripped off of Rin's tongue in a syrupy contralto that resonated in her chest.

"Hello? Is anyone there!?" a young man's voice called out from the living room.

Rin fought to retain control of her magic. She was so close, she thought in a panic. If she failed utterly, she would make sure that this intruder would pay. The mana flowing through her sputtered as Rin heard footsteps drawing close to her ritual room. It was impossible, she thought, straining to regain the ritual's power even as she could feel it collapsing around her. She must have left the front door ajar in her haste, but even then, she had set up so many wards to ensure she would not be disturbed.

With a creak, the door to her ritual room opened. All the power Rin had fought to create turned dead and ice-cold in her veins. Her cheeks burned with rage at the young man who stood in front of her and the little girl that clung to him.

"You idiot!" She screamed at him. "I was so close!"

His innocent eyes grew wide with shock and embarrassment as if he had walked in on Rin changing clothes. Rin suddenly considered that he might not be so innocent after all. He had barged in. He must be a formidable mage if he had been able to ignore her barriers in the way he had. A mage like that would be a likely participant in the Grail War. It was only a pity that he had the little girl with them. Rin steeled her heart as she readied a spell. If she had been as ruthless as her father in the beginning, she thought, she might have won the first time.

Magic bloomed out of Rin's hands, deadly petals of flame that shot towards the intruders. Their white-blond hair was bathed in a red glow. As suddenly as it appeared, the fireball was torn apart like cherry blossoms in a strong wind before it even struck them. A new figure interposed itself between Rin and the intruders, gripping the hilt of her sword tightly. Above the crossguard, where there should have been a blade, was only the shimmering suggestion of one in the air. Rin knew her at once and knew her summoning had once more failed to achieve the desired effect.

"Saber!?" Rin cried in a mix of despair and relief. If Saber was defending this stranger, it meant that she was his Servant, not hers. If she was defending this stranger, it meant that somewhere out there, Shirou was still alive after all this time. They had made a pact, as Angelus had urged. The death of Shirou would mean the final death of Arturia as well. At the back of her mind, Rin wondered if the entire point of her ritual had only ended in the summoning of an adversary. She would not have enough mana to attempt to summon a strong Servant a second time.

Saber's eyes widened at Rin's recognition. She hadn't aged a bit, not that Rin expected her to. Magecraft had slowed Rin's own aging a little, but lines still haunted her face. Saber still did not look a day over fifteen. Saber opened her mouth to speak, but Rin cut her off.

"Stand down." Rin ordered as if she had command spells to wield against Saber, "If you are both going to be my adversaries, this Grail War hasn't yet started. Nor is it right to fight outside Jericho."

"Jericho?" Saber asked.

"Grail War?" The boy asked simultaneously.

Rin frowned. Again, some idiot boy would be in her care. At least this time, she didn't already love him. He was far too young for her anyway.

"I guess the night is still young, isn't it?" Rin said as she stood up. She gestured to the boy and the little girl at his side, waving them away, "You should be ashamed, walking into a lady's room like that. Can't be helped. You're in this now, I might as well let you know what you've done to yourself. Find someplace in the living room and I'll explain."

"I'm sorry." The young man blushed, "Yonah and I were looking for food. When we saw you climbing the stairs, we thought you might have some. Our parents were survivors two cities over. They got WCS and turned us away."

If they were words meant to gain sympathy, it worked. They would not have parents now, not for long. They'd succumb to White Chlorination Syndrome, one way or another. If there was a kind God, He'd let them turn to pillars of salt and not into red-eyed, unthinking berserkers. If He was kinder still, they might be casualties of the Grail War before either fate befell them.

"Do you need tea or anything?" Rin asked as she started up the kettle in her kitchen. The boy and the girl Rin assumed was named Yonah had taken places on the loveseat, and Saber stood at the boy's side, waiting with one eye on the glass door to the balcony and the other on the front door. Rin checked the back of her hand. Command seals marked it like angry red burns. So she had a Servant of her own, and the ritual was not wholly in vain. Rin decided she would meet him or her when Saber had left. She could not show her hand so soon, even to an innocent novice.

"Tea would be nice." Saber spoke up. Rin had forgotten how comforting the woman's voice was. A ruler's voice, decisive yet compassionate.

Yonah coughed. Rin listened, watching the kettle as she heard the little girl choke back the first few breaths. It wasn't out of politeness but dread. It crescendoed into a fit that rasped painfully at the little girl's lungs and drowned out Nier's words as he tried to comfort her. By the time Yonah stopped, the tea was done.

"Has she been sick a long time?" Rin asked as she filled four cups. Yonah's face was flushed with exertion.

"Yeah. Dad said there was a lab here. I was hoping if we find them, that they might have a cure."

Rin looked out the glass door to the balcony. It was an urban wasteland, worst in the direction of Jericho where it had been almost flattened by battle, firebombing, and finally a nuclear blast. Rin suspected if there was a lab, they would have little concern for curing any sickness other than WCS.

"There's a lot to explain about the Grail War, but the most important is that if you win, the Grail can grant a wish." Rin said, thinking of her own sister and what Sakura might have wished for from the Grail, or what Rin would have wished for Sakura, "The Grail could cure Yonah."

"It could!?" Nier's eyes widened.

"Or anything else you would wish for. What would you want, Yonah?"

"Can I have a cookie?"

"Take some."

It was a childish wish. Rin thought. A cookie. To be a hero, Rin thought. To destroy mankind. She rubbed the command seals on the back of her hand nervously, wondering if using the power of the Grail to save one's sister was also childish and if she was wrong for suggesting it. The Grail War would start soon and last a few days, she told herself. Nier could change his wish. If nothing else, she hoped the dream of it would be enough to keep himself alive.

Over an hour passed while Rin and Saber explained the Grail War. When she could tell no more, she bade Nier and his sister leave. Yonah tucked the cookie tin under her arm tightly.

"Wait, Saber." Rin called out as the Servant was beginning to disappear from view down the stairs. Saber paused and turned back to face Rin. Rin stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Saber, holding the woman as close as she could with cold armor in the way "Keep him safe. Promise me." Rin whispered in Saber's ear. Saber grew tense.

"On my honor." Saber nodded.

"Good. Let me see you first if we must be allies, and last if we must be enemies."

Rin watched the three disappear through the ruins of the city. They would find somewhere safe, she was sure. Tomorrow, no, today, at dawn, the Grail War would begin. Rin entered her apartment again, this time making sure that the door was closed tightly and locked. She sagged against it when she was finished and rubbed the back of her hand.

"You've been listening all this time, haven't you?" Rin asked aloud.

"Indeed."

There was a shimmer in the air in front of Rin as if it was boiling, and a man appeared in front of her. He was dressed in red, his skin so deeply tanned it made his white hair seem even brighter. Rin knew him well and rushed up to hug him in spite of herself.

"Shirou…" She whispered into his chest.

"Archer." He corrected. "I am not your Shirou."

"You're the Shirou I have." Rin pouted, squeezing her Servant ever more tightly. "I never thought I would have the chance to see you again."

"'Again'? What happened?"

Rin felt a physical pain squeezing her heart and spread into cold lumps that closed off her throat and filled her stomach with a feeling of illness. Archer didn't remember the last war. Neither did Saber. Rin had blinded herself to the lack of recognition in Saber's eyes and what should have been the obvious discomfort she had with Rin's apparent familiarity.

"It's too much to go over now." Rin said dismissively, wishing she could push off her feelings of disappointment just as easily. "I'm exhausted. We'll head for Jericho tomorrow. Well, before noon today."

Rin yawned, watching Archer disappear into a shimmer of mana in the air through squinted eyes. It was well after midnight. Once more she threaded through the mess on her apartment floor, and rolled into bed without even bothering to take off her normal clothes. As she waited for sleep to claim her, Rin wondered if Archer would see or know or even care that tears were streaming quietly from her eyes. If this was the start of her war- a string of errors and alone in her memories of the past—she despaired that she would win as surely as she had hoped.

The touch of a warm, strong hand on her shoulder jolted Rin out of her sorrow.

"You say you have summoned me twice. That's not coincidence." Archer whispered, "That bond may be the edge we need."
Rin smiled and squeezed Archer's hand. He wasn't the arrogant Servant she had summoned long ago, nor was she a foolish little girl. He wasn't "her" Shirou, but neither was the real one.

Archer was with her now. That was all Rin needed.