Reverie
by SMYGO4EVA
Sakura knew, Shirou recognized, and they both understood.
She knew that she couldn't change the past, no matter how much she disliked it. Shirou let her know that she couldn't change what had happened, how she had endured, or what she had done. There was no way around it; even if there was, she already paid a terrible price to endure any further. He did let her know that she could change her future, she and she alone. With her own hands, she could color her world from the blackened grey, baleful green, and the crimson that was all she knew. She could color over it, to the lotus-pink, lilac, and snow white that she wanted.
She knew that she could change it, especially with Shirou by her side, in their own little world.
After all that had happened, time and time again, Shirou gazed at Sakura, softly, and he still smiled. Sakura embraced him and Shirou held her close, her form no longer shaking. He knew, with great relief, that she was no longer tainted by the black, boiling crimson which plagued her for so long. The crimson from the flames of his past no longer burned him, threatening to consume him, and no longer waiting for him to walk into Hell, as he already had seen it.
They couldn't change what had happened, no matter how much they wanted it, but it was their future that they could paint with a new color, together.