Author's Note: Over the river and through the woods, to Nana's house I go—oh, hey, readers. Remember back in chapter twelve when I said I was going to visit my grandparents? Well, I'll be leaving to visit with them again tomorrow and won't get back home until Monday, so here's the true ending as a going-away present.

True Ending: Continuation of the Dream

"Shira."

She turned her head in Saber's direction to see him looking at her hesitantly, as though he wasn't sure what he wanted to say. But the pause only lasted a few seconds before his face went blank and he continued walking. It took all of Shira's control not to reach out and touch him as he passed her.

"Give me your order with your last Command Seal," Saber said stoically once he was in front of the void. "Without that, I will not be able to destroy the Holy Grail."

Shira did not reply right away. A lump formed in her throat as she looked down and squeezed her eyes shut, unconsciously tightening her hold on Ilya. Even now, she wanted Saber to stay with every fiber of her being. She wanted to shower him with love, give him the life he had been denied as the King, and to be together with him until old age parted them.

There was nothing Shira wanted more than Saber. For the first time in her life, she wanted so badly to think only of herself.

But she couldn't, could she? She couldn't have him stay with her, not with the Holy Grail looming over their heads, threatening to pollute the world with all the evil it contained and destroy all of humanity. As much as she loved Saber, Shira knew she could not bring herself to essentially murder a countless supply of innocents simply because she was feeling selfish.

And there was another, more important reason why she would have to let him go. He was someone who sacrificed so much of himself to protect his people, who persisted in fighting no matter how wounded and scarred he became, and who drew forth Caliburn and never looked back. As tragic as his life ended up being, there was also something beautiful about how completely selfless he was, and when he returned to his final moments, he would be able to believe his path was the right one.

Who was Shira to stomp all over the pride of King Arthur?

She opened her eyes and looked up at her Servant. Her final Command Seal glowed. "Saber...fulfill your duty." There was no emotion in her voice.

Saber held Excalibur in front of him, and golden light surrounded the blade, becoming brighter by the second. He lifted the glowing sword over his head and swung downward with a great cry. The light from Excalibur engulfed the void, breaking it in half and causing it to disappear without a trace.

The light faded, and the sun peeking out from the eastern horizon had replaced the black void. Just like that, the fifth Holy Grail War had officially ended.

Shira's left hand burned for only a split second, then the Command Seal faded from her skin. It was a reminder of what she was so painfully aware of: that her time with Saber was nearly up.

His back was still turned to her, a slight breeze brushing past them, and she heard him sigh. "Everything is over now, is it not?"

"Yeah," she answered quietly. "This is the end."

"As your Servant," he told her, "I have defeated all your enemies and protected you without fail. I am glad I was able to carry out that promise."

"And as my Servant," she said, "I think you're amazing." She wanted to say that, to her, he was so much more than her Servant, but decided it would be unnecessary. After all, he already knew that.

Saber was silent for a few seconds before he next spoke. "There is one last thing you need to know."

Shira felt her breath hitch as he turned around to face her, the rising sun haloing him in its light. He stepped closer to her, his blue-green eyes not straying from her brown ones, and a small smile formed on his face.

"I love you, Shira."

Her heart seemed to both soar and break at his confession, and instead of replying verbally, she gave him a smile of her own, although it did not reach her eyes. She hoped it would be enough to convey everything that she couldn't put into words:

I love you, too.

I'll miss you.

Goodbye.

Saber took Shira's hand in his, lifted it to his lips, and kissed it—a gift from a knight to his lady. He proceeded to gently rub his thumb over her knuckles, causing her skin to tingle, and they continued gazing at one another, both determined to memorize every detail of the other's face.

The sun was steadily rising higher, and Shira was forced to close her eyes against the glare. She felt Saber's hold on her hand disappear, and her heart gave a jolt as her eyes flew open.

In the spot where he had stood in front of her merely seconds before was nothing besides the flat ground and the sunrise. In the very brief time her eyes had been closed, he had faded away like dust in the breeze, leaving only his memory behind.

He's gone, Shira thought, lowering her hand as her eyes filled with unshed tears. He's gone...

Saber would be lying underneath that tree now, his body sustaining the fatal wound given to him by Mordred, and soon, he would be dead, his destiny as the King of Knights fulfilled.

It was something Shira had been forced to accept, but it did not lessen the grief she felt at losing the man with whom she had fallen so quickly and so hopelessly in love. The multiple times she had been stabbed and slashed at during the Grail War had not hurt nearly as much.

You'll have to mourn Saber later, Shira, a voice told her. What about Ilya and Tohsaka?

Ilya and Rin; of course. The former would doubtlessly not be entirely recovered after almost being used as the sacrifice to summon the Grail, and the latter had been covered in a frightening amount of blood the last time Shira had seen her. No, this wasn't the time to dwell on Saber's disappearance. Right now, there were other people she needed to worry about.

Steeling her resolve, Shira turned around, mentally pushed all thoughts of Saber into a tiny corner of her mind, and left Ryudou Temple without letting a single tear fall.

As he slowly returned to the waking world, the first thing he was aware of was the throb in his stomach. I'm wounded? But how...? While he had gotten quite a few injuries during his fight with Gilgamesh, they had all healed, so why did—?

"King Arthur, I will go and fetch the troops immediately."

He knew that voice; it belonged to one of his knights, one of the men who had pledged his loyalty to him and who maintained that loyalty even when many others had betrayed him. It was the voice of a comrade, a friend, one of the few he'd had during his reign.

"...Bedivere."

And if Bedivere was here, that meant Saber had returned to his era at the moment of his death. He managed to open his eyes enough to know that he was in the forest, lying down with his back against the tree, and the knight who had just begun to walk towards his horse turned back with a startled gasp.

"Sire!" Bedivere exclaimed. "You have regained consciousness?"

"I..." Saber paused. His thoughts turned to Shira, how she had smiled at him after he'd told her he loved her, and how she never looked away from him in their final moments.

Their final moments...he felt his heart constrict painfully.

"I was merely...dreaming for a short while." The lie came easily to Saber's lips. There really wasn't any time to explain to Bedivere about his experiences during the Holy Grail War and how he had fallen for his Master; even if there was, he doubted he would be believed, anyway.

"Dreaming, Your Majesty?" Bedivere repeated, a bit puzzled.

"Yes." Saber smiled, certain that the fondness in his smile, or even that he was smiling at all, only increased his friend's confusion. "It has been a long time since I have had a good dream, so it was an invaluable experience."

Indeed; if his time with Shira had to be put in the context of a dream, then it had been a very sweet dream.

"In that case, please rest without worry," Bedivere said. "If you close your eyes again, you will surely begin the dream from where you left off."

"Continue the dream...?" Saber sensed his hopes rising despite himself. "Is it possible to continue the same dream?"

Bedivere hesitated for a few seconds. "Yes," he finally answered. "I myself have done it many times, sire. You just have to want it enough."

It was another lie, one told for the sake of a dying and possibly delusional king, but Saber appreciated it all the same.

"I see. You are a man of great knowledge." Saber's smile faded as he remembered what still needed to be done. "Listen to me, Bedivere. You must take my sword. Ride through the forest and over that blood-soaked hill, and you will come across a deep lake. I want you to throw Excalibur into that lake."

"But my lord, that would mean—!" Bedivere began to protest.

"Go," Saber interrupted faintly, wishing he had the strength to make his voice sound more firm. "When you have done as I command, return here and tell me what you saw."

Reluctantly, Bedivere picked up Excalibur from where it had rested by Saber's side, mounted his horse, and rode through the forest. As the minutes crawled by, Saber stared without really seeing the trees all around him, ignoring the pain in his wound and waiting for the knight's return.

His eyelids lowered, and he was about to doze off when he heard the trot of Bedivere's horse.

"Sire, I have done as you wish." And it would seem as if he had, since Saber did not see Excalibur in Bedivere's hand.

"And what did you see?" Saber questioned.

"I saw the lake flowing and the sun shining on the water."

Saber knew Bedivere lied about throwing Excalibur into the lake, but he did not waste his breath scolding him. "Follow my command," was all he said.

Bedivere nodded and returned to his horse. As Saber watched him ride away, he allowed himself to reflect on his choice to destroy the Holy Grail. On one hand, it hadn't been a difficult choice; the Grail had been corrupt, and in any case, Saber had by that time let go of his wish to redo the selection of the king.

On the other hand, destroying the Grail had meant that he could not stay with Shira, something he had tried to think of as little as possible. He'd known that the instant he allowed himself to think too deeply about having to leave her, his emotions would override his reason and he would be unable to do what had to be done. For him, his duty had always come before his desires, and his decision to destroy the Grail was no exception.

Saber was on the verge of drifting off again when Bedivere returned on horseback for the second time.

"Have you followed my command?" he asked.

"I have," Bedivere replied.

"What did you see?"

"I saw nothing but the sunlight shining on the lake, my lord."

Once again, Saber did not chide his knight for lying to him. "Do as I say."

For the third time, Bedivere rode through the forest. The pain in Saber's stomach suddenly spiked, and he resisted the urge to flinch or cry out. This was it; it would not be long before his death was upon him.

In his mind, he could see each and every moment he had spent with Shira: being summoned by her, sparring in the dojo with her, having meals with her, fighting to protect her, fighting alongside her. He saw her laughing when he told her that hunger was the enemy, her smiling above him as Rin performed the transfer spell, her tear-streaked face when she discovered what Morgan had done to him, her desperation in trying to get him to reconsider his wish. He saw their date, her confession, their kiss, their reconciliation after he rejected her, and his own confession, something he'd only gotten the courage to do because he knew he would not get another chance.

Saber's eyes grew heavy. Perhaps if his last thought could be of Shira, then he could die content...

"It is done, sire." Bedivere's voice, heavy with sorrow, jerked him back to the present. "I have thrown your sword into the lake."

"And what did you see?"

"An arm shining with golden bracelets emerged from the lake and grabbed Excalibur. The hand brandished the sword three times before it sunk beneath the water."

"Very good," Saber said. "It means Excalibur has been returned to the Lady of the Lake. Thank you, Bedivere, for carrying out your King's final order."

He sighed as the last of his strength ebbed away. His vision was beginning to fade; he hardly noticed his wound now.

"I'm sorry, Bedivere..."

"Your Majesty?"

The smile on Saber's face was sad. "I fear that my slumber this time...will be a...very long one..."

The world slowly went dark, and the final thought of Arthur Pendragon, King of Knights, was of nothing but the name of the young woman he so cherished.

Shira...

Author's Note: Only the two epilogues left, y'all! (Man, what am I gonna do with myself after this is over?)

In summary, Saber Excaliblasts the Grail to Kingdom Come and gives Shira the love confession she's been waiting for since chapter nineteen, Shira is just rolling in angst even though she's trying to not let it get to her, Bedivere says hi, and Saber follows the history books.