Fate/Zero: A Different Path

Chapter 27

3 weeks ago. Germany

It was a snowy day. Outside, raging snow storm is blaring across the sky, painting everything outside with the pristine color of white in its passionate embrace

The winter of Germany comes and goes every year, bringing with it the chilly cold of the European country that she have gotten accustomed to after the very first year of her production here

A woman and an old man walked across the corridor inside the castle. Both their features are identical, from the white hair to their ruby red eyes

If one is inside the castle in that moment, they would have noticed the smell of fresh Homunculus blood permeated the air, akin to a butcher's back-house on its most active hour

She does not remember much from that day. However, what little she could recall, it was something the woman would never forget

Irisviel walked in the Einzbern family's traditional Mystic Code. A cascading piece of cloth with straps loosely placed around the toso, chest, and upper thigh, connected into a robe 

It was made with the purpose of aiding one's Magecraft proficiency in combat, and, in some case, a necessary tool for initiating greater rituals

As for the reason for wearing this outfit, only the one walking in front of her know. He is, after all, the one who told her to put it on

Irisviel gazed disinterestedly outside the window, at the bland-colored scenery that always seem to repeat itself every year

She longed for the day she would be free from this cage

Finding nothing to focus on, she turned her ehad back forward to look at the elder leading the way upstair

"Avalon has been stolen"

The old man's voice reached her ears, and she couldn't help but shake her head

"Avalon has been stolen, taken from our grasps when we least expected it"

The line was repeated. Not for the first time nor the last. 

Sometime it was uttered in indignation. Sometime disbelief. Now it took on a darker tone with every repeat coming from him. Before long, a shadow had casted itself on the his face

"Kiritsugu Emiya. Magus Killer...I wish all the world's evil would come to haunt him...for his body to rot in hell...to suffer such humiliation..."

Agitation. Worry. Most noticeably, rage. Negative emotions that Irisviel's homunculus is incapable of understanding tainted the elder's voice

"The sacred scabbard Avalon was taken...that thriced damned, lowborn assassin...I will kill him!"

Stomping furiously on the stone tile, he spat with venom. 

This is what Jubstacheit von Einzbern has become

The venerable family elder is reduced to a short-tempered old man who only speaks of incoherent profanity for every occasions preparations the War was brought up, as though something about that notion immensely incensed him

Irisviel's lips subconsciously twitched to that. Sometime she wonder about this individual named Emiya, and what kind of person he would be if she ever happen to meet him

For a wanted fugitive, it was, without a doubt, of an impressive caliber

Irisviel's crimson ruby eyes gaze up at the pristine ceiling above her, tracing the intricate pattern that adorns it

"Elder Jubstacheit, where are we going?"

She voiced her question. As though just regaining his sanity, some coherence returned to the older Einzbern's eyes