Chapter Twenty Two

Short chapter this time. No real reason for that... it was just a good breaking point and I wanted to save some of the more character interaction stuff for the beginning of Arc 3, when things will start to flow a lot better.

Ilya laid in a meadow, watching her own memories as her life faded away.

She saw herself as a child playing with her father through the snow, and being held by her mother on cold winter nights. Ilya hadn't aged at all, but she felt like those days had happened to someone else entirely.

She saw herself kneeling on the floor, being told that her mother was dead and that her father had betrayed and abandoned her.

She saw herself alone.

She saw herself completing the ritual to summon a Heroic Spirit into her own body. The family had told her much about her purpose, about the grand plan for the Holy Grail, but she didn't care about any of that. She only wanted revenge. Revenge against the father who had betrayed her mother and abandoned her, and revenge against the brother who had replaced her.

She saw herself frolicking through the snow with her polar bear, this time being guided by the three divine spirits inside of her. They had spoken only twice, and the first time they had conversed something had made them furious. Not with Ilya, but with her family. They'd asked her many questions, and encouraged her to ask Shirou if Kiritsugu had truly abandoned her or not.

She saw herself meeting Caster, and forming their alliance. She'd been looking for Shirou when it happened, funnily enough, and Caster had been doing the same thing. They'd fought, but soon come to an understanding. Or so she'd claimed. The truth was that Ilya had wanted more than anything to break Caster's faith in Shirou, in order to justify her own lack of trust in him.

She saw herself meeting Shirou near the markets, finally getting the confirmation that her father had been travelling the world. There was no guarantee that he'd been looking for her. Perhaps he'd had a mind to abandon Shirou just as he'd left Ilya... but her heart knew that wasn't the truth. He'd come for her. He'd failed, but he'd kept trying until he had nothing left to give.

She saw herself fighting Archer and Rider, throwing everything into the fight because she simply had no idea what to do with herself otherwise. She saw herself lose, and felt the imminent spectre of death approaching.

Ilya was going to die. She'd known about that for a long time. It was her purpose, to achieve the miracle of the Third Magic that the family had fought so long and hard for. That was waiting for her if she won, and if she failed... well the losers had to die so that the winners could retrieve the grail. There was no other way.

Things had ended exactly as they were always going to. Ilya was dying. That was that.

She wasn't sure why she was in a meadow, but perhaps that was what all people saw before they died?

"I'm sorry."

"We're working as fast as we can."

"Hold on, young one."

She recognized those voices. Sitonai, Freya, and XXXXX. The Divine Spirits inside of her. Were they taking her to the afterlife?

"No child, the opposite."

"We're working as fast as we can."

"Everything's going to be alright."

"What?" Ilya asked. Now she was even more confused. What were they talking about?

"You deserve to live Ilya."

"Just this once, it's time for life to go your way."

"We're sorry that we can't stay with you, but we're doing what we can."

"You can't stay?" Ilya asked. She still wasn't sure what they were talking about, but that stung more than she would have expected. She'd come to rely on them, even if this was only their third conversation. "But I have to die. One way or the other."

"Those are the rules, yes."

"But what is the point of being a goddess, if you can't change the world every now and then?"

"Close your eyes Ilya. We'll miss you. But you'll live a long and happy life after we're gone."

A wave of fatigue hit her, even though she suspected she was already dreaming. Ilya fought against it, but against her will her eyes sealed themselves shut.

X X X

When she awoke again, she was back outside of the castle grounds. Golden motes of light were floating around her, but they vanished as soon as she began to look around. Archer and Rider were watching her with distrustful but surprised stares, while Pegasus was licking at the remains of the large pillar of ice Ilya had summoned. Her own mount was nowhere to be seen.

She put her head back down. What was going on? Why was she still alive? And why was she so cold?

"Master!?" Rider called out, abandoning her post to run towards something Ilya couldn't see.

"Master!" Archer cried, following her fellow Servant. Ilya had expected at least one of them to stay and watch over her, but she supposed that they must have been able to tell that she was no threat.

Her hearing was no longer as good as it had been during the fight. Because of the hit she had taken, when Rider had burst through her fortress of ice? That had been enough to knock out all of her magical energy. Perhaps it had done something else to her? Come to think of it, she didn't feel as strong now as she had some time ago either. Fatigue. It had to be.

But what had that dream been about?

All that was to say, she heard bits and pieces of the conversation but only that.

"She's with me now – she's tamed."

"Oh-ho-ho... certainly... teach the two of you... submission..."

"Why... arrogant..."

"Nee-san... friends..."

"Hussy..."

"Oh-ho-ho!... poor... Servant..."

"Spanking... later..."

"...Master..."

Whatever they were discussing, it didn't sound like anything worth listening to. Ilya rolled away, doing her best to ignore them. After some time, they started walking towards her.

"Ilya!" She could hear Shirou's voice more clearly now, because he was closer and he was yelling. "Ilya! Where are – "

She saw him at the same time as he saw her. For some reason he froze. Although he looked as absolutely exhausted as she felt, he still had the strength to blush somehow.

"What happened to you?"

"Your Servants beat me up, Onii-chan." Ilya said, pouting at him. There was no point in rubbing it in. "Geez! Hurry up and finish me off already. You can't win the war without defeating the toher Servants."

"Berserker... no, Ilya..." Archer bit her lip, staring at Ilya like she was unsure of what she was looking at. "You aren't a Servant anymore."

"I'm not?" Ilya asked.

"...And you're naked." Archer said. She muttered something and a cloak appeared, that she tossed to Ilya.

Ilya ignored it, throwing it to one side. She stood, looking down at herself as she tested her limbs. For one thing, she was now far higher above the ground than she was used to. All of her limbs, her body in general, had grown tremendously. Enough to match her own age. She was – she looked like an adult. She had boobs! Smiling, Ilya put her hands against them, elated to discover that they were completely real. After years of being a child, she finally had the body she deserved.

"What happened?" Shirou shouted. He projected some clothing for her as well, a much more simple jacket. He tossed it to Ilya, and this time she didn't even bother catching it. She was too enraptured, exploring her new body.

"Hmm." She put a finger against her mouth, to let them know that she was thinking about it. "My Divine Spirits are gone. I had a dream, it didn't really make sense but... I guess this was their parting gift? To allow me to... live."

Luvia and Archer looked equally shocked, both striking almost the exact same pose. Archer spoke first. "Amazing. A Heroic Spirit just... choosing to leave a body? Is that even possible?"

"Perhaps being Divine Spirits, they had more authority than most?" Luvia asked. She was naked from the waist down, Ilya noticed only just now. "Fascinating in any event."

"So... we don't have to fight anymore?" Shirou asked. A smile spread across his face, and Ilya thought it was the most attractive thing she'd ever seen. "Thank goodness."

Aww, her heart just wanted to break looking at him. "Onii-chan!" She called out, throwing herself at him.

Of course, she'd forgotten that she weighed more than she used to. The two of them fell over together, since he couldn't support her. She'd also forgotten that she was naked, and when his knee ended up between her legs that stirred within her feelings that she had never truly experienced before.

His Servants were quickly to pull her off him, which was fair enough. Ilya was smiling anyways. If she was right... she had a full life time to be with him now. There was no longer any reason to be selfish.

She wanted to glomp Shirou again, but she couldn't. Not just because she was being held back by his three Servants, but because... well, because she physically couldn't. That fatigue she'd experienced in the dream hadn't gone away, it had only been superseded by her curiosity and confusion. Now that she knew she wasn't going to die...

Well it was hard to keep her eyes open. That was fine. It was her Onii-chan's job to carry her home, after all.