"Can't sleep?"

I threw the question out to Saber without needing to turn around and see him. Despite everything we went through tonight, and how drained he must be, the presence he gave off was as noticeable as ever. The idea that Saber, the strongest of all classes, wasn't even his preferred class; he must be quite the Heroic Spirit.

"Unfortunately, no" Saber sighed, taking a seat alongside me at the edge of the roof. "I was on the move quite often in life; afraid that restlessness is still with me now, as a Heroic Spirit. Can't shake the feeling that my body should always be moving forward."

"An itch for adventure? I could certainly relate if that were the case; was always seeking new adventures when I was alive."

"To bring an end to the chaos that engulfed my homeland" Saber had a weary smile dance across his face. "A simple adventure wasn't in the cards for any of us, sadly."

"…Sounds rough."

"Ah, forgive me. I don't mean to make it sound all bad. It could be very rough at times, but from the very beginning I had my brothers by my side. In time, I found myself among many friends as well. In a lot of ways, I consider myself a very fortunate man."

"Having good company certainly makes things easier" I laughed. "The time I spent alongside my fellow knights is the time I treasure most, despite how it all ended."

A silence grew between us as we sat under the night sky. It wasn't uncomfortable though; quite the opposite, in fact. I found Saber's presence… calming.

Saber reminds me of you quite a bit, my king. If only you two could meet; you'd probably be good friends…

"They identified Rider, if you weren't aware" Saber eventually spoke up. "Or rather-"

"He did."

"…Yes."

"You still don't trust him, do you" I asked, laughing a little. "Which is fair enough, I suppose; not like I completely trust him either."

"That man is always thinking; always scheming. He reveals only what he wishes to reveal, and only when it brings him benefit. In those ways, he is not dissimilar to the man who stood opposite me in life. The only thing that truly separates the former from the latter is-"

"Wealth" I threw out, trying to guess. "Prestige? An army?"

"...Ambition" Saber answered. "All that master lacks is ambition. Take his words at face value, he has no wish that the grail could grant, so he sits back and watches. Yet all the same-"

"He must have a wish; grail wouldn't have selected him to fill the spot otherwise."

"Yes… He may be unaware of what that wish is, but somewhere within him, he has a wish he seeks to have granted. Should he ever become aware of that wish, well… ambition can be easily obtained, under the right circumstances."

"Would we even know, if he finally realizes his wish?"

"I doubt so."

"That's why you can't bring yourself to trust him?"

"Let's just say I have no desire to fall prey to any schemes" Saber let out a slight laugh. "I have neither my brothers nor my friends by my side to assist me, should that end up the case."

The night sky… not a lot of stars on display in the modern world. Master had said that something called light pollution was the cause for it. I couldn't help but find that a bit sad.

"See, I'm not too worried about him suddenly having the desire to obtain the grail" I started. "Of course, I have no desire or intention to lose this war, but I think if it was just that, I could deal with it."

"You said he also reminded you of someone you knew. What was that person like?"

"Heh, a know it all" I mused, thinking back. "Annoying at times, and that's putting it lightly. A prankster too. Never fully explained anything either, despite knowing everything. Really though, all of that was fine; could even be fun at times to deal with his antics, despite the trouble. But the important difference in the two, the one that makes me hesitate, is that… I believe they don't share the same outlook on humanity."

"Oh? What do you mean by that?"

"The man I knew… didn't care for the fate of any individual person. Whether one succeeded or failed, lived or died, it ultimately didn't concern or really bother him."

"…Doesn't sound very good at all. I would think, then, that not sharing the same outlook would be a good thing."

"One would think that" I laughed slightly. "But, at least with the man I knew, while he didn't care about any individual, he cared about humanity as a whole. If all of humanity was threatened, even he would stand and fight to defend it, in his own way. This master though… the more I hear him speak, the more I think that he just doesn't care about, well, anything really. Besides his own interpretation of beauty, maybe..."

Saber remained silent as I finished, seemingly deep in thought.

"You think he'd be ok with just letting humanity fall" Saber eventually asked, breaking the silence.

"…I think he'd be ok with not just humanity, but all things in the world, being burned to ash" I admitted. "That's what troubles me about him; not the question of what would he do himself, but the question of what wouldn't he be willing to watch unfold."