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

Adventures in Canon

Part I

"Oh I haven't seen this place before." Ayame remarked as she came to a halt outside a café with an old-fashioned façade. Well, the façade was old-fashioned, but the café certainly wasn't. She'd gone down this street many times in the past, and this wasn't here before. Unless of course, she just didn't notice.

That happens.

"Would you like to try it out?" Saber asked.

"Sure, why not?" Ayame said with a shrug. "Nothing wrong with giving it a go. If it's no good, then we'll simply not come back. But if it's good…then we know to come back."

Saber laughed and followed Ayame inside the café. The inside was just as old-fashioned as the outside, the floors paneled in wood, the round tables and their sturdy chairs also likewise made from wood.

The bar counter also seemed to be made from wood, and the wallpapered walls decorated with ornamental plates, displays, and even paintings. Small ones, but paintings still for all that. Together with the deliberate-seeming, smoky half-light of the interior, the café had a charming, old world air to it.

"Ten out of ten for ambiance." Ayame telepathically told Saber as they stood just inside the café.

"Indeed," Saber agreed. "I feel like I'm at a very well-to-do inn back home."

"Now, let's see if their food is good."

A waitress approached, bowing to welcome them in. Ayame bowed back, politely. "Table for two, please." She said.

"Of course," the waitress said. "Over here, please."

Ayame and Saber followed, sitting at the designated table, and after a couple of moments the waitress returned with a pair of menus. Bowing, she then left them to consider the offered options. Master and Servant perused the menus for a few minutes, and then Ayame closed hers. "Well," she said. "That was a lot of options. A bit overwhelming, to be honest, but variety isn't a bad thing."

Saber chuckled. "Back in my day variety was a very luxurious thing." He said. "You could say I'm quite inclined to call it frivolous. But…times have changed, and I must consider that."

"Do you know what you want?"

"Yes."

"Alright then."

Ayame gestured for the waitress, who arrived with pen and paper to take their orders. "I'll have a roast beef sandwich, and an iced coffee." Ayame ordered, before turning to Saber.

"I'll have the Shepherd's Pie, and a draft beer." Saber said, and the waitress nodded while jotting their orders.

"Very good, sir." The waitress said. "That's one order of the roast beef sandwich, one order of the Shepherd's Pie, one order of the iced coffee, and one order of the draft beer."

Ayame and Saber nodded, and the waitress nodded. "Very well sir, ma'am," she said. "Your orders will be ready within ten to fifteen minutes."

Ayame and Saber nodded again, and with a bow, the waitress gathered their menus and left. "The service is good." Saber remarked.

Ayame shrugged. "She was polite." She agreed. "And if the food is good too, then I'm definitely coming back here."

"With some friends?" Saber asked.

Ayame shrugged again. "Well, why not?"

Saber just smiled.

"Oh that was good." Ayame said cheerfully as their dirty plates and utensils were taken away, and counting out money from her wallet paid for their meal. "I'm definitely coming back, and bringing friends along."

"Yes, it certainly was good." Saber agreed, finishing off his beer. "The beer comes in nice amounts too. I wonder if I can get more…"

"…don't get too happy drinking, Saber." Ayame said. "Look outside, night's already fallen, and we could end up in a fight once we leave. Don't lose your head now."

"…Servants can't get drunk."

"…really?"

"Yes."

"…I didn't know that."

Saber chuckled. "Well, now you do." He said with a cheeky grin. "Still, I see your point. Let's not get too caught up in food and drink, and let our guards down. Besides, this place is filling up. And if we stay here too long, we might draw unwanted attention, and trouble with it, to this place. It would be most…irresponsible, and uncharitable, wouldn't it?"

"You said it." Ayame said with a nod, and then took a drink of water. Several moments later, and the waitress returned with Ayame's change. Ayame took it, and then left a generous tip. "Shall we go, then?"

"Yes, let's."

The waitress stood aside as Ayame and Saber got up from their seats, and bowed as they made for the exit. Exiting the café, Ayame and Saber stood on the street for a few moments, their breath steaming in the cold winter air. "Shame it's not snowing." Ayame said. "I like the snow."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Ayame said with a nod. "Dad always said my hair was like the snow…for all that my hair is a scar left behind by that fire, the fact that dad…"

Trailing off, Ayame sighed and shook her head slightly. "Well, never mind that." She said before turning to walk up the street. "Let's go, Saber."

Saber said nothing, merely sending a mental nudge of reassurance to his Master, and receiving a mental nod of thanks in return. As they left the café behind, Saber glanced back once, and committed its name to memory.

Its name was Ahnenerbe.

"There's a Servant nearby."

"Yeah, I sense it too." Ayame agreed. "I can't detect the Master though. Not bad, not bad, they're very good at hiding themselves. Anything you can tell me about the Servant?"

"Well, I can say for sure it isn't Berserker, which is a good thing." Saber said. "Not that I'm not confident in taking him on when I have to, but neither do I look forward to what will undoubtedly be a hard fight."

"At least we've finally recovered all the prana we spent taking on those Matou monsters." Ayame said, and cracking her fingers. "So we don't have to hold back any more than we really have to."

"I've already used my Noble Phantasm more than once." Saber said, light flashing around him as he donned his armor, metal-clad fingers closing around the hilt of a golden-bladed sword. "I'm sure they already know I am, and what I can do. Still, I see your point. No need to spend more prana than what this battle calls for."

"My thoughts exactly." Ayame said, crouching down and planting a hand on the ground. A magic circle glowed into life around her hand, and whispering the aria cast a bounded field all around them.

"There's no one around, is there?" Saber asked.

"They're all inside, asleep." Ayame replied. "And my bounded field will keep them asleep unless physically-roused. On the streets…just the enemy Master and their Servant."

Saber nodded. "Now, we wait." He said. "I'm sure the enemy already knows we're here."

"Yes, I think so too." Ayame agreed, and got to her feet. For the next several minutes, they silently stood in the middle of the street, waiting for the enemy to make the first move. And just maybe, the enemy was waiting for them to make the first move as well.

Leaves rustled in the wind as a breeze briefly picked up, and then died. Saber narrowed his eyes, and then whirling swung once.

Sparks flew as a chained spike flying through the air towards the back of Ayame's head was turned away, and Saber quickly put himself between his enemy and his Master. "What…no, who the hell is that?" Ayame snapped, backing away as she eyed their enemy, crouched down on the ground several meters away.

It was a woman with long…very long, violet hair, wearing a strapless and formfitting dress of matching color that barely reached her thighs and covered her breasts. A violet blindfold covered her eyes, while in her hands was a very long chain with long spikes affixed to their ends.

"It's an enemy Servant!" Saber snarled, incensed by the cowardly attack, though inwardly he knew it only made sense. It was war, after all. For the sake of victory, otherwise dishonorable measures were all too available for use.

With a burst of wind, Saber leapt forward, his sword held two-handed. The enemy Servant threw a spike towards Saber, but he merely turned it aside with another shower of sparks, before leaping forward and closing the distance.

The enemy Servant dodged Saber's opening blow, and lashing out twice with her feet with agile and powerful kicks, briefly forced Saber onto the defensive. Saber avoided getting hit, blocked a stab from the enemy Servant's weapon, and then riposted. The enemy Servant dodged, and then feinting kicked Saber in the gut.

Saber grunted as the air was knocked out of him, though his armor took most of the kick's force. As it was, he was forced back a couple of steps, the enemy Servant kicking off him to reopen the distance.

"I'll take care of this, Ayame!" Saber shouted. "You deal with the Master!"

"Got it!" Ayame said.

"I won't let you." The enemy Servant said in a quiet voice.

"You're not the one who decides that!" Saber snapped, before prana surged and with prana burst closed the distance with the surprised Servant.

"Glitter, Fairy Lights."

Golden light flared between Ayame's hands, and after a few moments fairies flew out and settled into orbit around her. That said, Ayame frowned in confusion, and likewise, there was a faint air of confusion coming from the fairies around her.

To be sure, they acknowledged her call, but at the same time, there was a…disconnection, between them. As if they were like old friends meeting after several long years, that they could barely recognize each other at all.

It was a strange situation, but then the fairies flashed with light, and Ayame understood. There might be something between them now, but that was of no real importance. They heard her call, and heeded it. And what she needed of them, they would provide.

Ayame rushed off, ignoring the battle behind her. Turning a corner, she extended her senses, but still found no sign of the enemy Master. Growling, Ayame turned to her fairies. They flashed, extending their senses, and found only one other Human awake nearby. But…he wasn't a magus, so…

…wait a minute…

Ayame growled and then smirked in approval. So that's how they hid themselves. They masked their magic circuits, keeping them from being detected the usual way.

Clever bastard…but I know where you are now.

Magic circuits flashed as Ayame reinforced her body, and leaping up, jumped from wall to wall, and then up to an electric post to look out over the suburb below her. Pausing to summon more fairies just in case, she bent her knees and leaped clear over a block to land with the crack of breaking stone in the middle of a street.

A figure hidden in shadows nearby jumped at her arrival, and then began backing away fearfully as Ayame got to her feet.

"Damn, that hurt!" Ayame yelled, rubbing her knees and legs. "That's the last time I'm doing something like that, reinforcement or not. Now then…who are you?"

The enemy Master ran. Ayame stared open-mouthed for a moment, and then ran after him. "You're not getting away!" she shouted, and then the enemy Master half-turned, holding a book out towards her. "A book…? What the…?"

The book flared with prana, and then streams of dark-colored energy streaked out through the air towards Ayame. Ayame's eyes widened, and coming to a halt she braced herself. The energy streams struck…

…and nothing happened. The fairies' protection barely even registered the spell as it struck, its mysteries just that frail and disconnected.

Ayame growled, and then jumped up onto another electric post. "Something's not right here." She said, watching as the enemy Master turned a corner and continued to run. "He could be leading us to a trap."

Ayame gestured, and a pair of fairies flew off in streaks of light, moving as fast as lightning. Ayame frowned as they reported no traps or anything of the sort waiting for them, and only the enemy Master cowering in another shadow.

"What the hell?" Ayame muttered before leaping down and from wall to wall before landing on the street in the distance, and again scaring the enemy Master out of his hiding spot. "Okay, I've had enough of this. Who are you, and…just…what…"

The hair was different. It was violet, not white, and he certainly looked healthier and stronger than he used to be. But the face…she'd never forget that face. Whether the mask of humanity that it wore, or the true, monstrous appearance beneath the mask.

Ayame's face twisted with hate, and the fairies around oozed malevolence as they too shared in what she felt.

"YOU!" she snarled, at the cowering form of Shinji Matou.

A/N

Dimension-hopping, this chapter is separate from the main storyline. Special thanks to our friends and acquaintances on SB, who brought up the idea in the first place. Thanks, guys! This was a great idea!

Route…probably Fate.