Ch. 6.1 Fate: Charm of the Devil Fae (Patreon)

“I’ll be going now. You understand what to do now, right?”

Those were Father’s last words to me, although I didn’t know it at the time.

Fate: Charm of

the Devil Fae

This fic is inspired by Sticky Situation by Professor Quill, In Bloom by Flight of Fancy,  and to a certain extent Benefits of Saving a Veela by WD_ONeill. Please check them out.

Story Starts

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Rin Interlude:

The Second Owner

[Part 1 of ?]

“I’ll be going now. You understand what to do now, right?”

Those were Father’s last words to me, although I didn’t know it at the time.

November 1994.

I sat in the foyer near the entrance of our residence. I had been pacing worriedly around the house for two days; my mother hadn’t come home. She had made me promise not to step out of the residence under any circumstances due to the Holy Grail War, assuring me I would return after checking on Father.

My eyes are struggling to stay open. I had been awake since Mother left a day ago, peeking at the grandfather clock. It said it was 4:35 a.m. Maybe she had to stay for safety.

I  had already called the church several times, to no avail. I even called the Matou residence, but unfortunately, apart from the single instance where I heard only breathing, I didn't get a response. All my calls, before and after, went unanswered.

The person who answered that one time dropped the receiver as soon as I overheard someone calling for Sakura. My frown deepened, and my worry grew. It had been a year since Sakura was given away, and I had not seen her since, following Father’s explicit orders not to disrupt Sakura’s magecraft training.

Currently, for the past few hours, I’d been looking through the eyes of a familiar—a mechanical-looking bird powered by a jewel. While warnings about magi always walking with death flashed through my mind, I didn’t think that learning how to make a familiar would be that difficult.

It involved imbuing the element of water, for fluidity and life, a magus’ essence, and finally, wind for swiftness and communication. My single familiar had been patrolling the area around the church, trying to find any sign of anyone. 

I’d even managed to get into one of the rooms, but the door was unfortunately closed, and I couldn’t proceed inside the church. The only other rooms I could easily look into were those where moonlight peeked in.

At this moment, my familiar is perched atop a tree, giving me a perfect view of the entrance and some of the moon-lit rooms.

“Urgh..”

The sun was now glaring at my face through the glass pane above our residence’s entrance. My neck hurts, and I wonder why I was sleeping in the foyer.

Still groggy, I cracked my neck, yawning loudly as I stretched my arms up, trying to remove the stiffness in my body.

“...!”

My head snapped towards the clock as I remembered my current predicament. 11:45 a.m., the clock read as I quickly looked around, calling for my mother. I checked every room of the residence to find that I was still alone in the house and that my Mother had not returned yet.

Mother would not have left me sleeping in the foyer if she’d come home last night. Still, a quiet panic was starting to bubble inside me.

I tested my connection with my familiar, but unfortunately, due to my connection being cut—I could no longer look through its eyes.

Sighing, I entered my room. My bed was still untouched from two days ago; my worry had driven me to sleep in Father’s study and last night, on the floor.

I changed into warm clothes, unsure of what to do next. Opening our shoe cabinet near our entrance, as I tossed a pair of boots onto the foyer floor, I sat down, and quickly slipped my feet into them—

“...!”

I rushed to my Father’s study, grabbing for the phone. I must try calling again. Unfortunately, like the day before, all I heard was persistent ringing, which somehow gave my mind a second to calm before the busy signal finally came. I put the receiver down, sighing, feeling a little steadier now. 

Opening the door, I raised my arm above my head to block the sun. I paused, thinking about what to do first. Then, my anxiety started to climb again, and I began walking faster towards the station.

Walking towards the shopping district and the nearest station, I paused at a corner. My eyes drifted left, landing on the Matou residence. Father’s command not to interfere rang in my mind, but I pushed it away. This was an emergency.

I walked towards the Matou residence. It looked just as creepy as the first time I saw it, with vines crawling up the walls and the big black gates. As I reached for a handle and pulled, a muffled ringing sound filled the air.

I angled my face, trying to see into the house, searching for any sign of movement. I could feel the edge of the Matou’s bounded field, a subtle hum against my senses. I gave a small pulse of my circuits, a test to see if it would draw anyone out.

“....”

“....”

“....”

Just as my hand moved to ring the bell again, the front door slowly creaked open, and a girl’s face appeared. I blinked, then widened my eyes. Sakura. It had been a year. Her face held none of the kindness I remembered, replaced by a vacant look. And her hair, once dark, like mine, was now that unsettling purple.

“Sa… Sakura—” I began. But the moment her name slipped out, she vanished inside, pulling the door shut with a heavy thud. My hand reached for her, catching only air. Our meeting was cut short before it truly began. My gaze lifted to a window, where Zouken stood, looking down at me with his hands clasped behind his back. He held my stare for a moment, then turned and disappeared.

Creases formed on my forehead as a large frown formed on my face; the voice of my father, ringing in my head, was now being ignored. But for now, I had something important to do.

Vowing to get to the bottom of Sakura’s situation, I rang the bell one last time in defiance, then stalked away, heading quickly towards the train station.

Something is certainly strange today, as not many people were up and about. However, official-looking individuals mingled with shady-looking ones, roaming the area, as if they were patrolling.

I locked gazes with one of the shady-looking men wearing dark-tinted glasses.

“Hey, kid! Why—”

I immediately channelled Od through my eyes, hypnotising the man to ignore me as I quickly trekked towards the Church.

I’ve been hearing sirens towards the centre of the city as another ambulance passed me by, alarms blaring. Could this be the aftermath of the Holy Grail War?

A sense of dread filled me. If that was the case, why hadn’t Father contacted me yet? Why isn’t there anyone from the church available to answer the calls?

Perhaps everyone was too busy with the aftermath, I rationalised, as I stepped into a small alleyway beside a convenience store, avoiding the large group of those suspicious-looking people heading my way.

The tiny detour made it convenient for me to cut across a block, leading me to the road that provides access to the church.

I walked through the cobblestone path and into the intimidating white building. Entering the place of worship, rows of pews split by a central pathway. I beelined towards the door at the back, entering the part of the church reserved for the priest and their guests.

“Hello? Mother! Father!” I called out, peeking into the various rooms. Many of them seemed to be used for storing different supplies and equipment, and I found nothing, or rather no one.

I looked at the stairs leading up, and another, eerie-looking set at the back of the large hall—which probably headed towards the basement. I decidedd to head up the stairs. 

I paused, taking a moment to gather my bearings. I remembered the rooms to my left were those I’d managed to peek into earlier, through the eyes of my familiar. Nonetheless, I still decided to check them, just in case Mother was somewhere there.

My heart grew heavier with each empty room. Moving to the other side, I spy a door that stands open, unlike the rest. Heading towards it, my heart sank at the sight of dark stains on the carpet. The stain was dried and caked over, but a hint of iron still lingered. My hand shook as I knelt over the large stain, thinking the worst, yet simultaneously denying the possibility. 

“No… My father even summoned the strongest possible se…”

I denied it, hurriedly calling out for Father and Mother, opening all the remaining doors, but still finding them empty.

Tears started forming in my eyes as I opened the final door at the back of the Church, the priest’s office. I could smell the musk of old books and the varnish on the wooden shelves. Sunlight cast rays towards the phone at the left of the desk, mocking me, ringing out loud with no one to answer it.

As I approached the desk, I heard activity through the window pane, a glimmer of hope filling me. That glimmer was quickly lost as I spied several more suspicious-looking individuals, accompanied by officials, walking about.

Below, I spied two mounds of freshly dug soil, beside which were shallow holes—an indication of where the earth had been excavated. To the right, under the shade of a tree, two white blankets were splayed atop something.

Approaching the blankets was a pair that stood out: an old man in a yukata, holding a lit pipe, and to his left, a petite woman with long, red hair tied in twin tails, not unlike my regular style. My hair was currently down as I hadn’t had time to fix it. 

They stopped before the two blankets, the old man nodding to a pair kneeling on either side of the blankets.

In one swift move, performed by both kneeling men, both blankets were pulled back, revealing two heads. My hands became clammy, shivers ran up my spine; I couldn’t seem to grasp the current situation.

Underneath the right blanket lay my mother’s face, her eyes shut, unmoving. To its left lay my father’s…

“Noooooooooooo!” I screamed, drawing the attention of everyone working below. They looked up at me as my eyes swelled with tears. I pounded my fist into the window pane, cracking the glass and wounding the bottom of my fist.

“No…” I weakly repeated.

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AN: I also know that this supposedly all happened in the Tohsaka Residence, but here I’m changing the venue to the Church, it makes more sense that he wants to keep his family safe during the HGW, especially when it’s confirmed that the known Magus Killer Kiritsugu Emiya is participating. I know Kariya was the one who strangled Aoi, but due to the limited information given at the time, they assumed that Kirei was the one who killed Aoi as well. Though they, of course, have their doubts, given that Tokiomi was stabbed and Aoi was strangled, both were buried, which implies some form of guilt. 

END

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