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

Second Coming

Chapter 2

"Flame Element: Immolation."

A jet of fire streaked out, and slamming into the target reduced it to ash and smoldering embers.

Living machines: it was a description that didn't make sense, but it was the best description for Rei and her family. Machines after all, weren't supposed to be alive. Machines were constructs, contrivances put together for the purpose of achieving a specific task.

Life in contrast was a more complex concept. It was a state of being, something that shouldn't apply to machines meant to fulfill a specific task and would have no meaning beyond that task.

And yet that was what Rei and the von Einzbern were: living machines.

"Flame Element: Immolation."

Again, another jet of fire streaked out, and reduced a target to ash and smoldering embers.

The von Einzbern family wasn't a family per se, though no one outside of the family or those who were bound to it in such a way knew this. It was a truth, a fact that had been forgotten by the passing of time, predating as it did the foundation of the Mages Association, and by efforts of the von Einzbern to conceal the fact from outsiders. To outsiders the von Einzbern were a very reclusive family, rarely if ever marrying outside their family and always insisting that their branches use the same name as they do. Majority of interactions with outsiders were conducted by homunculi, and in the event that a 'genuine' von Einzbern was encountered, every effort was made – successfully – to conceal their true nature from those same outsiders.

Not that this was very unusual to magi. Plenty of magi family were reclusive in the extreme, and even the von Einzbern's seemingly-excessive use of homunculi was simply perceived as the ancient family flaunting their mastery of coining in the faces of their peers. Somewhat annoying, but perfectly expected and even acceptable by magi standards.

They had at least a thousand years of history behind them, and they were the masters of coining. And of course, they also held the privilege of having been the last inheritors of the Third True Magic: Heaven's Feel.

Or at least, that was the image they portrayed. And it was the image the magi accepted as the truth.

It was false. It was a lie, in part at least, rooted and partly-composed of truth.

"Flame Element: Immolation."

Again, a target went up in flame, ash, and glowing embers.

It was true that the von Einzbern had a link to the previous Third Magician. But they were never intended by him or her to be their successor. What no one realized, or had forgotten, was that Einzbern, the castle and the alchemical facilities within, had always been a homunculus factory.

Von Einzbern was originally not a name of a family. It was a hallmark, a sign of quality, a pedigree even, that a homunculus or any other alchemical construct, had been developed and put together at Castle von Einzbern.

The last Third Magician had had a hand in the foundation of the alchemical principles and processes enshrined in Castle von Einzbern. Some directly, others indirectly, through their students.

But when the Third Magician disappeared, and their students began to die off or lose hope over the decades and centuries of finding them or reclaiming their mysteries, they created an entire generation of homunculi, under the oversight of a fully-sentient artificial intelligence, with a single overwhelming purpose: reclaim the Third Magic, no matter the cost. So was born the von Einzbern 'family'.

"Flame Element: Immolation."

Over the centuries, outsiders had always assumed that those homunculi who bore the name of von Einzbern received it as a mark of honor for surpassing their baseline programming. It was true, to an extent. Most of the homunculi could never do more than what they were programmed to do.

But they were homunculi, artificial Humans, living machines with the potential to evolve like all AI that they were and the Humans they appeared as. Most simply lacked the incentive or the push to achieve this evolution. But there were exceptions.

Unit and section leaders, department heads, family envoys and the like: those of the family whose roles required initiative, flexibility, innovation and individual judgment, developed and evolved beyond their given roles. A lie became the truth, for they had surpassed their baseline programming as outsiders assumed.

Only, outsiders never knew that each and every homunculus of the family was a von Einzbern. The majority never had names, following the commands of their higher-functioning kin without question or doubting thought, while the higher-functioning ones adopted names to distinguish themselves from each other as the individuals they now recognized themselves as.

And yet, they were still machines, ones that had through a miracle achieved 'life'. It was why despite having taken on the identity and status of magi, they never fell into the infighting so common among magi, even within their own families. The family's purpose was to reclaim the Third Magic. That was their reason for existence. Individual achievement was meaningless outside of that purpose, and so was subordinated to that purpose.

The AI which had been constructed to oversee this purpose was no different from its creations. It too had evolved alongside them, and had 'died' seven times over the centuries and been 'reborn' eight time over those same centuries.

Such was Jubstacheit von Einzbern, Master Alchemist and Eighth Head of the von Einzbern Family, the so-called Old Magus King of Castle von Einzbern. His true nature however, hidden from all outsiders on pain of death, was Golem Jubstacheit, a humanoid construct that embodied the ancient AI constructed to oversee the reclamation of the lost Third Magic.

"Flame Element: Immolation."

"You're trying too hard."

As the target went up, Rei glanced over a shoulder at her sister. Illya was sitting on a bench, her legs idly swinging back and forth.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rei asked.

"Precisely what I said." Illya replied. "You're trying too hard. Don't force the mystery, let it happen. That's the whole reason it's called a mystery to begin with."

"That's easy for you to say." Rei said. "I don't have the Sorcery Trait Wish Granting, sister. I can't bypass arias like you can."

"Yes you can." Illya said with a mischievous smirk. "They're called single-action spells, Rei. And that's what we're here to do, aren't we? To turn those single-count spells of yours into single-action spells, while keeping their power."

"It's easier said than done."

Illya shrugged. "Yes," she said, dragging the word out. "But from what I can see the concepts and principles behind the mysteries are solid enough as they are. I think we can make the first step to compressing them down to a single-action spell today."

Rei blinked as Illya got to her feet, the little girl crossing her arms over her chest and closing her eyes in thought. For a minute she just stood there, and then to Rei's stupefaction started to dance.

"What are you doing?" Rei asked with a twitching eye, as Illya performed a ronde de jambe, followed by a chasse and a pas de chat, two more chasses, and finishing with a grand jete.

"Thinking," Illya replied, keeping her eyes closed made a series of quick fouettes, before spiraling to a halt facing her sister and snapping her fingers in realization. "I've got it! Rei turn yourself off."

"What?"

"You know," Illya said impatiently. "That bit when you're going to kill people, when you say you turn off your feelings and you're not Rei, but Rei at the same time."

"Okay," Rei said, looking and sounding more than a bit confused. "How is going into Assassin Mode supposed to help though?"

Illya impatiently made a throwing gesture at Rei. "Just do it!" she said. Rei sighed, and nodded before closing her eyes. A subtle shift came over her face and bearing, and when she opened her eyes, they were cold, soulless, the kind of eyes you'd see on someone who'd order an entire city bombed to ash and then coldly note down the number of people killed as mere statistics.

"Good," Illya said, her blood-red eyes alive with anticipation. She gestured at the target on the other side of the range. "Now, try again."

Rei nodded, and turned towards the target. She held up her hands, and began to cast her spell. "Flame…" she began only to be cut off by Illya.

"No words!" Illya shouted. "Actualize it as a single-action spell, not a single-count one!"

Rei turned back to her. "But…" she began only to be cut off again.

"I told you already!" she said. "Your concepts and principles are solid enough as they are! It'll work, trust me. Now, do it! Don't even think about it, just do it!"

Rei, even in her current state, looked skeptical, and Illya sighed. "Belief is an important part of magecraft, remember?" she said. "Even if you had a thousand A double-plus magic circuits, all five elements, and the Blue-blooded Magic Circuits Sorcery Trait, if you don't believe it'll work, then it'll never work! And informed faith is the strongest! And you already have the information, now believe in it!"

"I understand." Rei said, turning back to the target. She raised her hands.

"One last piece of advice," Illya said. "You are not swinging a sword or bringing down a hammer. You are drawing back an arrow and letting it fly. Now, let it go."

Rei nodded, after a moment, prana flared and without a single word, Flame Element: Immolation sprang to life, a jet of fire streaking out to reduce a target to ash and smoldering embers. "See?" Illya said with a giggle. "You could do it after all."

Rei – having turned herself back on – gaped at the sight. "I did that?" she asked. "Without an aria?"

"Yes, you did." Illya said with a giggle. She then frowned though. "Though, you used too much prana for a single-action spell, but seeing as we just finished compressing the mystery it's not something to feel bad about I guess."

Rei whistled and held up a hand. "You think we can do the same to Time Alter?" she said with an excited grin.

"Eh," Illya fumbled, scratching her head. "I'm not sure, but for now let's focus on the smaller things. Elemental Magecraft is fairly basic after all, no matter how versatile it might be. Time Alter is much more complex. Papa had to have been an amateur genius to come up with something like that, turning your body into a reality marble."

Illya sighed, and gestured at the replaced target. "Anyway I'll think about it." She said. "Keep practicing, as I said that last try cost too much prana for a single-action spell."

Rei nodded. "Okay," she said. She turned back to the target, and help up her hands. The sisters stayed silent as Rei silently fired off another jet of fire, though Rei spoke up as the servants replaced the target. "Thanks for the help, sister. That advice about the arrow was especially helpful."

Illya smiled and shrugged. "You're welcome." She said. "And besides, that's what older sisters are for, aren't they?"

"Yes!" Rei said with a smile, and sent yet another jet of fire flying.

"Miss Emiya," Anastasia said, arriving with a silver tray on top of which was a folder. "A job request was forwarded just now."

Rei glanced at the homunculus, she and her sister having lunch at a small room right next to the training hall they'd spent the morning in, working on Rei's magecraft and burning targets down. It was a light lunch, just some warm blutwurst and black bread with water for Rei and fruit juice for Illya.

"A request?" Rei echoed. "Well there's a first, I usually have to go out and pick which bounty head I have to go after."

"Congratulations." Anastasia said laconically.

"Congratulations!" Illya also said, though much more enthusiastically. "Looks like you've finally gained enough of a reputation people are going to you to kill people for them."

"Not really sure if that's a good thing, but that's my job I guess." Rei said with a sigh, biting into her bread somewhat savagely.

Technically with all the jobs she'd been taking for the past two years Rei should have been a millionaire, but she also had bills to pay so to speak. For one thing, she owed her family an annual tithe, which wasn't an inconsiderate amount by any stretch of the imagination.

Second, she had to purchase all her weapons, ammunition, and other equipment, with the ones she started out with being obtained via a loan from her family. Said loan had already been settled, though it was by no means an inconsiderate amount either.

Third, she had to pay for all travel fares. Ground travel wasn't that expensive, but air and sea travel were. And there were other financial requirements to be met on a job: bribes, accommodations, supplies, etc. All in all, not an inconsiderate amount either.

Room and board at Castle von Einzbern was free though. Magical supplies that couldn't be replenished by the family's cottage industries were not, though seeing as Rei hardly if ever needed any of those, that was one expense she could consider as inconsiderate.

And of course, there were personal expenses which she had to pay out of her own pocket even since she'd 'gotten' her job.

"So what's the job Anastasia?" she asked.

"Initially investigative work in Spain." Anastasia replied.

"Investigative?" Rei echoed skeptically. "I'm not a detective you know, or even a researcher for that matter. I'm an assassin, bounty hunter, even terrorist bomber at times."

"Yes," Anastasia replied. "But the request is for your assistance in providing assistance in the event of unexpected complications. Investigation, and regular security will be provided by Enforcers accompanying the investigators."

The homunculus held out the tray and folder. "The details are included in the printed request." She said.

Rei took the offered folder and lightly skimmed through it. After several moments she smiled wryly and handed the folder to Illya who began to read through it. "I blow up a cruise ship with a pseudo-vampire aboard a few months ago," Rei began. "And now I'm suddenly an expert in 'unorthodox solutions'. The case looks genuine enough, but I can't help but wonder if my assistance was requested not only because it might prove useful, but also to see if I can live up to father's reputation."

"Then they're not going to be disappointed." Illya said, putting the folder down on the table between them. "While you don't have papa's experience, you do have his skills."

Neither Rei nor Anastasia said anything, but after a moment Illya continued. "With that said," she said. "You should be careful. Plenty of people hated papa, and not without reason. How many people did papa kill after all? Even if they were trash who deserved to die, even trash has family. It's not really surprising that they hate papa for killing their family, and since papa is dead, it's only natural they make us – his children – the focus of their revenge in his place."

Rei didn't answer at once, and then blinking, her eyes turned soulless. "If anyone dares touch so much as a hair on your head," she said softly, but with eyes burning with cold fire. "I'll make them suffer for it. I'll make them feel as much pain as trash can possibly feel. I'll kill them more cruelly than anyone has ever killed anyone before!"

Illya smiled and took Rei's hand across the table, the touch causing Rei to blink and return to her 'normal' self. "I'm glad to hear you care so much." She said gently. "But don't let it get to you."

"It's only right to care for family, isn't it?" Rei asked softly.

"Yes it is." Illya said, her smile fading. "But remember, what I was born to do. What you were saved to do."

Rei was silent for several moments, and then she sighed. "The Key and the Traveler?" she whispered, and closed her eyes. "I know that, but even so…"

She trailed off, and Illya squeezed Rei's hands. "Some things can't be changed." She said. "The only thing we can do, is make the best of them."

"Illya…"

Illya smiled. "I don't mind dying." She said. "Because I know you won't let it be for nothing."

Rei didn't say anything, and only wiped at her eyes.

"Is it really alright?" an attendant asked the Einbern family head while pouring tea. He set the teacup on a saucer and handed it to Jubstacheit who took it with a nod of acknowledgement. "The Association or certain elements therein are all but certainly trying to measure her abilities with this request."

"The Association would have tried to do so sooner or later." Jubstacheit replied dismissively. "It was inevitable."

"And if her father's enemies take the opportunity?" the attendant asked. "Trash will be trash, but there is trash, and there is trash."

"Then she must dispose of them as trash is meant to disposed of." Jubstacheit replied. "It is as simple as that, and the same goes for that suspected cult in Spain. If she cannot handle them, then she is of no use. In any case, of the siblings only Illyasviel is truly indispensable for our goals."

"But, all the effort and resources put into her…"

Jubstacheit nodded, and took a sip of his tea. "With everything that's gone into her," she said. "It's an academic concern. With that said though…"

Jubstacheit paused and narrowed his eyes. "Assuming Rei accepts," he continued. "Make sure to have one of our legal specialists take a look over it. How Rei handles operational matters is up to her discretion, but it becomes ours when treachery could be used to preemptively shift the field in the opponent's favor."

The attendant bowed. "It will be done my lord." He said. "But, will we allow Rei to reject the request?"

"If that is her wish, then so be it." Jubstacheit replied. "She is under no obligation to accept any and all requests that come her way. She is free to determine which requests and opportunities to accept."

Jubstacheit paused and smiled coldly. "But," he said. "I do not think she will reject this request. She has the skills yes, but not the experience, and she knows this. And she'll take any opportunity she can get to correct such a weakness."

Jubstacheit paused again and glanced at his attendant. "When the time comes," he said. "In a few decades, be it Tohsaka or Makiri or any other would-be usurper, none can stand against her."

The attendant took the liberty of smiling a cold, vicious smile. "As you say my lord," he said. "Trash will be disposed of as trash is meant to be disposed of."

"Hey, how you doing?"

Rei blinked, turning to look her head in Illya's direction. Rei had spent the afternoon perusing the forwarded information about the suspect activities in Spain, while Illya had gone to attend a routine alchemical checkup and adjustment of her body.

By now though, evening had fallen, and the siblings were in their shared suite. Rei was sitting in a well-cushioned armchair in the living room, cleaning a disassembled Glock 17 handgun. "Hmm?" Rei hummed. "Oh I'm fine, why?"

"Nothing really," Illya said. "About that job request from earlier."

"I'll accept it." Rei said, turning back to her gun. "But grandfather wanted to clear up the legalities first. Apparently he doesn't trust the Association people too much."

"That's not surprising." Rei said with a laugh. "That place is a viper's nest."

Illya and Rei shared a laugh, and then Illya walked closer, her hands held behind her waist. Leaning forward, she looked down over Rei's shoulder. "Cleaning your gun, eh?" she asked.

"Yeah, you have to keep it clean." Rei said absent-mindedly. "If it gets dirty, it could jam or worse."

Illya hummed tonelessly in response, and then after a moment she grinned and grabbed Rei by the arm. "Hey, what's the big idea?" Rei protested, holding onto the other armrest, dropping her rag and the Glock parts on the table.

"Come with me!"

"But I…!"

"Come on, I want to show you something!"

Grumbling incoherently, Rei assented to her older sister, and let herself be dragged off to one of their suite's balconies. "So," Illya began, prancing over to stand next to a polished brass telescope. "How well do you know your astronomy?"

"Enough that I can use it to find my way with a map."

"I see." Illya said with exaggerated nods. "Well, I only know the most general astronomy, and well, do you mind helping me out?"

Rei glanced quizzically at Illya, who just smiled at her. For a few moments Rei was puzzled, as Illya was supposed to have the memories of all the previous generations of the homunculi built on Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern's template. And at the very least, even if the others weren't, Justeaze should have been proficient in astronomy.

And then Rei realized, that even if that was case, Illya herself wasn't. And she wanted Rei's help to fix that.

Or maybe she already knew, but just wanted to distract Rei from the less-cheerful turns of the events of the day.

Rei smiled, and nodded. "Alright," she said, approaching the telescope and sitting down on a stool beside Illya. The balcony faced north, and it took only a moment for Rei to find the North Star, and aligning the telescope first by dead reckoning and then with minute adjustments with an eye pressed against the eyepiece, Rei withdrew, and gestured for Illya to take her place. "Can you see?"

"Yes," Illya said, an eye pressed against the telescope's eyepiece. "It's a bright, somewhat yellow star. What is it?"

"Polaris," Rei replied. "The North Star, on a straight line with Earth's axis above the North Pole. It's motionless, or it appears that way, which is why it's the primary constant when you need to use the stars to navigate with. If you can find it, then you'll know you're facing north."

"Yes I understand."

Rei took a glance around the sky, and sighed. "Unfortunately Leo's already set, but if you look over there," she said, gently guiding the telescope and her sister. "Over there though you can see the Big Dipper."

"I can't see it."

"Here," Rei said, adjusting the telescope again. "Don't forget though, it's a constellation, so it's more than one star."

"Oh yeah," Illya said with a giggle, keeping her eye on the telescope while following Rei's direction. "I see it. One, two, three…"

"And over here," Rei said once Illya had found all the stars, pulling back with a smile. Rei smiled back, guiding the telescope to another direction. "We have the Little Dipper. It's a constellation again."

"I know." Illya said, pressing her eyes against the telescope. "I think, yeah, I've got it. There's one, two, three, four…"

Steps behind them drew Rei's attention, but a raised hand silenced Sella and Anastasia alike. "Unfortunately," Rei said as Illya pulled back from the telescope again. "It's too cloudy tonight, so we can't see Draco, the Dragon. It's between the Big and Little Dippers, but it's a faint constellation. Here, let me see…"

Rei trailed off, putting an eye against the telescope. After several moments, she pulled back with an apologetic smile. "Sorry Illya," she said. "We can't see Draco tonight."

"You can't have everything I guess." She said.

"True," Rei said with a laugh before pointing to the east. "But over here though,"

She paused while guiding the telescope, a hand on the scope and an eye on the eyepiece. "There," she said, pulling back and gesturing for Illya to look. "It's Vega."

"Wow," Illya said. "It's so bright!"

"It is, isn't it?" Rei agreed. She then fiddled with the magnification settings, causing Illya to pull back.

"What are you doing?" she asked, and Rei grinned.

"Take a look." She replied, and Illya complied and gasped.

"Wow," she said. "Is that?"

"Yes," Rei said. "It's the constellation Lyra, the Lyre."

"It's so small."

"Or so far," Rei corrected, and Illya giggled.

"True."

After another moment, Rei gently began to guide the telescope to the northeast, and Illya gasped again as her eye caught another bright star. "What's that?" she asked.

"It's Deneb." Rei replied, and pulled Illya back before pointing at the sky. "It's a big constellation Deneb's part of. Here,"

Rei fell silent, using a finger to draw out the constellation's outline, Illya squinting as she pinpointed the stars. "Cygnus," she whispered. "The Swan?"

"Yup," Rei said, glancing at her sister who glanced back at her with a smile. "Also known as the?"

"Northern Cross!" Illya finished, the two sisters sharing a laugh.

"And over there," Rei said, pointing further to the northeast. "There's Hercules."

"Heracles." Illya corrected absent-mindedly. "Hercules is the Roman name."

Rei didn't know what was so funny about that, but she giggled. Illya pouted, and then blinked as Rei got up. "Rei?" she asked.

"If you want, I'll show you more constellations after dinner." She said. "But first,"

She paused to glance at the three homunculi standing some distance behind them. "Dinner's getting cold." She said. "Shall we go?"

Illya nodded, and taking the lead walked back with Rei inside.

"Illya," Rei began, Illya looking back over a shoulder. "Thanks."

Illya blinked, and smiled. "No problem." She said. "I'm your big sister after all."

Rei smiled back, and briefly picking up speed stepped up beside Illya who took her hand and squeezed. "Sisters." She said happily.

"Sisters forever."

A/N

After over a year, update! Mostly fluff and some setup, though what I said in this chapter about the von Einzbern is not made up. It's canon. There was never a von Einzbern family. They're all homunculi or in Jubstacheit's case, an AI who uses humanoid golems as an avatar (he's the eighth golem to fulfill the role), carrying on ancient programming from the Third's students (who either eventually died or gave up) to reclaim the Third Magic no matter what.

No one outside the family or their retainers (they have at least one vassal family IIRC) knows this, though Zelretch probably knows, and maybe the Association Director (who ironically predates the Association and is suspected to not even be Human). Castle von Einzbern was always a homunculus factory, the homunculi simply used their own factory as their home, and turned their hallmark into a family name to keep greedy, uncivilized magi from poking around and ruining things. Which isn't that unreasonable a worry: let's face it, there's a good chance that magi would never accept artificial Humans as equals, and tried to loot and pillage the castle.

Though, they're not purely biological machines. They're AIs, Jubstacheit and his creations, and AI have the ability to evolve, though most don't get the chance or need to. Canonically, two von Einzbern AIs did evolve to achieve a Human-like state of being: Jubstacheit, who committed suicide after the fifth war by shutting down in the face of absolute and utter failure, and Iri, who fell in love with Kiri, both of which should have been impossible if they were simply biological machines lacking the ability to evolve beyond their baseline programming.