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

Purified by Fire, Dancing with Fairies

Pilot Chapter

"When I was young, I dreamed of becoming a Hero of Justice."

Two people sat on a veranda, dressed in yukata and eating watermelons while looking up into the night sky in the middle of summer. One was an older man, with greying hair and a face lined with wear, while the other was a little girl, with blue eyes and bleached white hair. "You sound like you've given up." The latter said.

The man didn't answer at once. "When you save someone," he finally said. "It also means not saving someone else."

The little girl didn't say anything, instead taking small bites of her watermelon. "Dad…I…" she hesitantly said.

"It's alright." Kiritsugu Emiya said with a smile, and placing a hand on his daughter's shoulder. "I'm not asking you to follow that path. It only leads to suffering. Its sole fruit is ruin. I know that very well. That's why, I want you to choose your own path, to make your own future, and for you to be happy. That's all I wish for you. Alright?"

Ayame Emiya stared at her father, and after a moment she smiled and nodded. "Yes," she said. "I understand. I'll definitely be someone you can be proud of, dad."

"That's a good girl." Kiritsugu said with a laugh, and turned back to the sky. "But, don't get so hung up on making me proud either. I'm not perfect, and I make mistakes too. Yes…so many mistakes…"

Kiritsugu trailed off, Ayame staring at him in silent surprise. Kiritsugu stayed silent for several more moments, and turning back to his daughter smiled at her. "My expectations shouldn't have to decide your choices for you." He said. "As I said, I make mistakes too. And if my expectations are wrong, and you met them, then what?"

"Dad…"

"So instead," Kiritsugu continued. "Just be yourself, and be happy. Be all you can be, someone who can look back on her past ten or more years from now without regrets…can you do that, Ayame?"

Ayame nodded slowly. "Yes," she said, also looking back to the sky. "Definitely, I'll be the best I can be, whether as a person, or as a magus. And when I look back at everything I've done, I won't regret them."

Kiritsugu smiled, and closed his eyes with a soft sigh. "That's good to hear, Ayame." He said softly.

Father and daughter sat in silence for a long while, but as the silence stretched, Ayame blinked and glanced at her father. Kiritsugu just sat where he was, arms loosely crossed over his chest, head and body slightly slumped, eyes closed and mouth fixed in a weary smile. Ayame stared for several moments, her father's peacefully sleeping appearance burning itself into her memory.

He never woke up again.

Ayame blinked awake, the young woman lying on her side in her futon. Rolling onto her back, she placed an arm on her forehead, and stared up at the ceiling for several moments. And then turning her head, she glanced at the wall clock, and with a groan forced herself to her feet.

"That dream again…" She thought while stretching her body, and running a hand through her hair. "I really hate dreaming about that time. So many other things I could dream about, after all."

Sighing as she finished her stretching exercises, Ayame fetched some clothes from her closet before leaving her room to take a shower.


"Really, Ayame-chan," Taiga Fujimura said with a sigh. "So frugal…as usual. You really should cook some more for breakfast, you know? It's not like you can't afford it, and you should eat some more too. You're quite skinny, after all."

Across the table, Ayame blinked and sighed at the usual chiding. "Onee-san," she said, sounding as though she was saying something she'd said so many times before (and had). "First of all, there's only two of us for breakfast, so this is enough, isn't it?"

"But…I…that is…"

"Your bento is in the fridge."

Instantly Taiga's air made a complete one-eighty, turning from chiding to happy in the blink of an eye. "Well, in that case I suppose this is enough breakfast for the two of us!" she said with a laugh, and then hurriedly eating the rice in her bowl, handed it out to Ayame with a grin. "Seconds!"

"Yes, yes," Ayame said, taking the bowl and filling it back up. "Here you go."

"Thank you!"

Ayame shrugged, before resuming eating her breakfast, albeit at a more sedate pace compared to her (surrogate) sister. "Anyway, you don't need to worry about me, onee-san." Ayame said. "I eat enough you can be sure of that. Also, I'm not really sure you can really call me skinny."

"And why not?"

Ayame's response was to briefly press her arms against a certain…well-endowed, part of her body. "I get a feeling this is going to be a literal pain in the back someday…" Ayame muttered before raising her voice. "Not skinny…definitely not…"

Taiga fumed, a vein throbbing on her forehead. "You don't have to rub it in, you know!" she finally exploded.

"…I'm not rubbing it in." Ayame replied while eating. "We used to bathe together when we were younger, remember? You're not flat by any stretch of the imagination."

"That may be so," Taiga crossly murmured, tearing into her rice with some frustration. "But you're still bigger than I am there, and as I said there's no need to rub it in."

"Well, it is true." Ayame said, and causing Taiga to choke. "But, I'm still not rubbing it in. Just stating a fact…and you were the one who brought it up…can we move on?"

"Yes, yes," Taiga crossly conceded. "Have you finished filling up your future careers and prospects form yet? It's due within the week, you know."

"No, I'm still thinking about it."

"What?"


A girl's laughter echoed in the classroom, merging with the rest of the background chorus of voices filling up the classroom. Ayako Mitsuzuri patted Ayame on a shoulder, the former leaning against the latter's desk. "Sorry, sorry," Ayako said. "But, that's just like Fujimura-sensei though. And seeing as she's your guardian and all, it can't be helped, right?"

"Maybe…but…"

"And," Ayako continued. "It's not like she doesn't have a point, does she? We'll all be graduating at the end of this year. We really need to start thinking about what we'll do after graduation, and even start making the important decisions."

"It's not that I haven't been thinking about the things that need to be done after graduation, Ayako." Ayame said. "But, I…don't really want to make any life-shaking decisions…yet…how to say this…"

"Just say what you said to Fujimura-sensei."

"…I'm still not sure what to make of my life after graduating, that's all." Ayame said with a sigh, leaning back with her chair at an angle against the desk behind her. "Yeah…I know what it sounds like, and yeah, I should have expected onee-san to explode at it…yeah…"

Ayame sighed again, and putting her chair back in its proper position, smiled at Ayako. "Anyway," Ayame said. "The closest I've come to a concrete decision for after graduation, is I might make a trip across the country. Get some perspective, you know? After that…we'll see."

"Ah…I see…that's not a bad idea, at least I don't think it is." Ayako said with a slow nod. "But…how do you think Fujimura-sensei will take it?"

"Good question," Ayame said with a grin. "But I can guess. Though, if that is what I'd do after graduation, I'll just have to convince her to let it go."

"Good luck with that." Ayako said with a snicker, and Ayame rolled her eyes.

"Thanks," she said. "No really, I appreciate the thought."

"No problem." Ayako said, getting up and stretching her arms. Ayame looked on for a moment, and then turning to the windows, looked down at the students making their way across the quadrangle to the school. She watched in silence for several moments, and then blinking, leaned closer to the window. "What's wrong? Ah…Tohsaka?"

"Yeah, Tohsaka." Ayame said with a nod, staring down at the pigtailed girl below.

"She's not really as cold as you think she is." Ayako said cautiously. "She just likes to…put up a front. I'm sure if you give her a chance, you can be really good friends with her too."

"Maybe," Ayame said noncommittally. "I'll think about it."

Ayako sighed but decided not to press. Ayame smiled apologetically. "Sorry, Ayako." She said. "You'll have to stay between us for a while yet."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it." Ayako said with another sight. "Can't be helped, I guess…oh?"

"Hmm? Ah…and there's my other 'favorite' schoolmate," Ayame said, eyes fixed on a boy slowly making his way across the quadrangle, the only other person in school apart from her with naturally-bleached white hair.

"Shinji Matou?" Ayako murmured. "Well…I guess…I can't…blame you, for not liking the guy. He's a rather unscrupulous sort, after all. For all that he's supposed be sickly and all that…"

Ayame nodded, her eyes narrowing. "Sickly, eh?" she thought. "With all that dad's told me about that family, I really doubt that."

The warning bells rang, and with a wave, Ayako returned to her seat. Minutes later and the first teacher arrived, sitting at her desk and arranging her things during the remaining minutes before morning classes started. "Rise," the student on duty said after the bells rang, the students rising to their feet. "Bow."

The students bowed, and after they sat down, the student on duty called attendance before classes started for the day.


Ayame stretched as she returned home at the end of the day, and slipping off her shoes for her slippers, picked up the bag of groceries she'd bought along the way before entering her house. The rest of the day had gone well, without any incident, be it during class or club hours. Well, there was that argument over mushrooms in the cooking club, but it wasn't really of note.

"I don't understand what they have against mushrooms," Ayame found herself muttering. "Sure, it can be expensive, and I've been cooking mushrooms year after year, but it's not like they complained about it before so why the sudden hostility…"

Trailing off, Ayame sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration, having inadvertently answered her own question. "Alright, enough about that." She finally said, walking over to wash her hands. "Let's prepare dinner first, so when the tiger gets here she won't have to wait and get an urge to start yelling out of hunger…"

Still muttering to herself, Ayame dried her hands, and taking the rice cooker washed and began cooking rice. Vegetables were washed, cut, and then washed again, before being set aside to drain. Meat was cut and seasoned, and placed in the refrigerator to marinate. Washing her hands again, Ayame walked out of the kitchen and further into her house.

"The meat needs to marinate some more," she thought, glancing at a clock on the wall as she did so. "I…yeah, I think I have the time to freshen up."

Nodding to herself, Ayame hummed as she went to her room, got some fresh clothes, and then headed for the showers. Washing off the dirt and sweat of the day, a refreshed and clean Ayame left the toilet and returned to the kitchen, and after checking on the rice began cooking in earnest. Well…not after turning the TV on and setting it to a music channel to provide some background.

"Pan needs to heat up," Ayame murmured, "And then…GAH!"

Springing back from the stove, Ayame clutched at her right arm at the sudden sharp pain, as though someone was carving something on her arm with a tip of a sharpened knife. It wasn't that she was unused to pain – there's a reason her hair was bleached white to say nothing of the legacy her father had reluctantly left to her – but this one caught her by surprise. "What the hell?" she snarled, pulling back her sleeve, and causing her eyes to widen at the trio of tattoos that had inexplicably appeared on her right forearm.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?"


A/N

Seems like a slice of life for now, isn't it? Still, I daresay it makes for an interesting set of butterflies. Who knows where I might take it, seeing as I just thought of this on a whim of my muses…