Chapter Thirty One
When the field of blades vanished, they were returned to the normal world. It was a mess. There were holes everywhere in the ground like someone had using this area as targeting practice for some cannons, and the cobblestones had been torn up beyond hope of repair. Normally the church would cover up something like this, but Sakura didn't know who would be in charge of this now. Nor did she care.
Sakura did her best to hide the burns on her arms and legs that the chains had left behind, and hurried over to Luvia's side. "Luvia?" She cried out, checking on the older girl.
"I'm fine! We have to get to Master!" Luvia shouted back. Wincing, she was holding on hand over the serious wound on her arm, but she didn't seem like she was out of magical energy yet at least.
The same could not be said for Rin. Sakura turned to her as soon as she was certain that Luvia was going to be okay, and her sister had clearly seen better days. She was wobbling on her feet as she made her way towards the rest of them. But at least she was uninjured.
Bazett was just smiling, like she was proud of a particularly well done job. "It was nice, to fight beside reliable allies for a change."
Sakura couldn't help but smile back. "Yeah. We have to have each other's backs right? After all, we all belong to the same Master."
Bazett's cheeks went pink, and Sakura couldn't help but smile even wider as the enforcer turned away to hide her emotional reaction. The contrast between her tough as nails battle face and her far too easy to tease relaxed face was just too sweet.
"I don't hear fighting, do you?" Rin asked. She had reached them at last, travelling the meters between them like they had been a marathon. "Master..."
"I'll go check on him." Bazett said. She was gone in a flash, running around to the other side of the temple in the quickest route possible.
Sakura picked up Rin, ignoring her sister's undignified squawk, and followed after her.
The grounds behind the temple were just as much of a mess as those in front, but more unison. There was a large patch of dirt where the grass had once been, but no other signs of injury. More worrying however, was Illya's naked form which was floating in the air over the lake. Cursed grail mud poured out of her and into the water below.
There were too bodies. One was the body of the priest, laying on his stomach with two swords in his back. Sakura almost didn't see the second, the body of her Master, because Bazett was busy kneeling over him.
"Is he - ?" Luvia asked.
Sakura's heart froze. She put Rin down gently.
"He's slipping!" Bazett confirmed, and Sakura felt like a massive weight had been placed on her back.
"What about Illya?" Rin shouted. They could all see her hanging above the lake, which was growing larger every second.
"Let me take care of the grail, and then I can get her down!" Luvia shouted. Holding up her scale, she began chanting. Soon her and Illya both vanished from the world. Sakura didn't know how exactly her cleansing ritual would work, but she had complete and utter faith in Luvia.
All she cared about right now was her Master. Supporting Rin, she hurried over to his side, kneeling down beside Bazett once they arrived.
"His circuits are overworked." Bazett said. She was tying gauze around him again, and it took Sakura a second to realize why the wound on his body looked so familiar. How had he managed to get stabbed in exactly the same place twice in a row?
She studied his face for a second. She'd always loved his sleeping expression, and this looked no different than he had on all the nights where she had woken him up from his spot in the shed. But she'd seen death before, and it didn't always look so different from falling asleep. Sakura forced herself to back up, letting Bazett and Rin take care of providing medical attention. Crowding around him right now would be of no help to anybody.
"Is Master..." Her heart felt like it would fall into a million pieces. She couldn't even say the word.
"He's dying." Bazett confirmed.
Rin scowled, pulling something from her pocket. "No." She declared. Sakura saw a flash of jewellery, as her sister pulled out a necklace with a large red jewel. "He's not."
Magical energy poured out of the jewel that was so intense it could have brought a man back from the dead. Years of wealth and time had gone into that jewel, making it into a potent battery that could even produce a miracle like this one. Sakura sagged as relief flooded into her. Master was going to be okay. They all were.
She sat back, and watched.
It was over. They had won.
What came next?
The Holy Grail War had transformed her life so much that it was hard to believe it had only taken a couple of weeks. No, had it even taken a full two weeks? It wasn't like she'd been counting the days and besides she'd been unconscious for much of it. It felt longer though. It felt like a lifetime. She had almost nothing in common now with the Sakura of even a month ago, who had been expecting to live a short and painful life under Zouken's thumb. She'd changed so much. Aside from how deeply she loved her Master of course, that would never change even if the world ended.
What did she do now?
No matter how Sakura looked at it, what she wanted and what the world wanted from her was incompatible. It was something she'd been wrestling with every since her conversation with Rin before fighting Luvia and Illya. She just wanted to be her Master's pet. But doing that would doubtless mean cutting off her connection to normal society, and Fujimura-Sensei who she loved dearly.
Was there no solution?
Yes, there was one.
It was selfish beyond belief. Sorry, sister. But Sakura didn't care. It was time for her to take something from the world, rather than the other way around.
They waited for a while until Luvia and Illya reappeared. During that entire time Master didn't stir at all. Neither did Kotomine for what it was worth, although his blood soon stopped dripping free into the ground.
"Done!" Luvia declared. She was holding Illya in her arms. Instead of pouring out mud, she was now shining with pure white energy. Energy that could be used in a million different ways. "How's Master?"
"He's going to be fine." Rin said. She was hovering far closer to him than Sakura was, under the excuse of checking his vitals. "Illya?"
"She will be fine. Whatever those goddesses did to her made her tough enough to survive ten times worse than this." Luvia said. She set Illya delicately down on the ground. "I imagine that she'll wake up once the grail energy has been used."
Bazett backed up from their Master to allow Luvia to take her place watching over him. "What do we do with the – hey! Wait!"
Sakura didn't hear the rest. In that brief moment where everyone else was too busy worrying about Master, she claimed the prize.
Endless white energy surrounded her.
I wish...
She could have anything. This was the omnipotent wish granting machine that so many magi had fought and died over. A source of magical energy intense enough to give her anything.
I wish that the whole world would accept love like ours...
Everything drifted away.
X X X
Two Months Later
Shirou hummed as he examined the sear on his chicken thighs. They'd come around nicely, although he'd been worried about making enough food to feed everybody after their extra participant had been added, he'd managed to save things at the last minute and put together enough food to feed everybody. As he finished putting the final pieces together, he listened with one ear to the conversation in the kitchen.
"Look, look! It sparkles in the light!" Illya declared, waving her finger around.
"Woooow!" Taiga responded. She was as easily excitable as a child. "Since when does Shirou throw around so much money!?"
"He said it was natural when you love somebody so much." Illya said, holding her new ring up for further inspection. It had taken most of Shirou's savings to buy that, but it was worth it when he saw how much it made her smile. "Onii-chan might not look like it, but he's secretly a big softy."
"So true!" Taiga agreed, clapping her hands together. Shirou grumbled as he thought about how she knew that he could overhear him. "Shirou is so weak to this sort of thing! Did you know that he refuses to buy you all flowers in bulk and instead makes individual purchases?"
Shirou glared at the wall. He'd taken Fuji-nee shopping with him one time, and now he knew never to make that mistake again.
"Sakura!" He called out, mainly to drown out the sound of their conversation. "Come help me set the dinner table!"
In response, all she could do was whimper an affirmative. Shirou looked through the living room to watch her slow arrival. Sakura entered the room on all fours, her arms and legs once again held together in her pet outfit that reduced her to an animal. This time Shirou hadn't bothered giving her any clothing beyond the dog ears, and so she was completely naked aside from the collar and the coverings on her limbs as she enthusiastically crawled into view.
Taiga looked straight at her... and smiled. "Ah, Sakura! I was thinking you would miss all the fun."
"She means she was planning to eat your portion." Illya said, with a mocking smile.
"Wh-what me? Never!"
Shirou didn't entirely understand how it had worked out, but somehow Sakura had been the one to make a wish on the Holy Grail. Instead of asking for power or money, she'd requested understanding. Everywhere, all over the world, BDSM and poly relationships had become completely accepted. It didn't mind control anybody into taking part in the fetish, although he was sure more people became interested once it had stopped being so stigmatized, but it did stop people from judging them. His love for all of his Servants and Illya was now seen in the same way that people would regard any other kind of wholesome love.
As his sister and fiancee bickered, Shirou let Sakura crawl up to him and kneel at his feet. He rubbed her head a few times to make her smile, and then snapped his fingers to remove the projected bonds that were holding her still. "Good girl." He told her, which made her smile brightly. "You did good. Come help me set the table."
"...Yes... Master." Sakura said, once she had finished wiping her face clean on the bottom of his apron. That sight made him grow excited, but he could always get a blowjob during dinner. For now he had food to worry about.
Although she had been in pet mode for two full days, she didn't seem to have any difficulty returning to acting like a human being. All of his Servants still had their Heroic Spirits lurking inside of them, but as Sakura had been exposed directly to the grail she was the only one who could manifest her power completely and easily without draining herself. The others had to spend huge amounts of magical energy to get results that came to her without breathing.
Completely uncaring of her nudity, Sakura began to gather together plates and utensils while Shirou put the finishing touches on dinner. He admired her body from the corner of his eye. In many ways, his relationship with Sakura was the easiest of all his relationships. Her desire to be owned overpowered everything else. Sometimes she spent entire days as a pet, even coming to school with him, or was left at home tied up and waiting for him to come home and use her body. Other days she acted as his maid or secretary, happy as long as she was serving him.
Shirou didn't think that would last forever. Eventually she would develop hobbies and interests outside of him, especially as she was exposed to more of the magic side of the world, but for now they were comfortable as things were. She'd had a hard life for so long. She deserved to take it easy for a while.
"Sakura, put everything out." He said. "I'm going to go get your sister."
"Yes, Master!" She said, cheerfully.
As he walked into the kitchen to see Illya and Fuji-nee wrestling, he sighed. "Have either of you been listening for the phone?" He shouted. Their new arrival had been supposed to arrive much earlier.
"It's been quiet!" Fuji-nee responded. Then she screamed as Illya dug an elbow between her shoulder blades.
Shirou would have to get out Illya's collar tomorrow. They were around eight days without it now, and she always started getting more difficult the longer she went without wearing it.
Keeping that in mind for later, he walked through the halls of his home until he reached his destination. "Hey! Dinner is going to be ready!" He shouted.
"Ah, yes Master!"
"Coming, Master!"
He grinned as he listened to their responses. Rin and Luvia were still a little argumentative with one another some times, so it was always nice to see them getting along. Not that they felt that way about it. It was obvious to everybody else looking in that the two of them were slowly falling in love with one another, but they'd both die before they admitted it.
"How was the studying?" He asked.
Rin grinned at him, like she was feeling particularly proud of herself. She was dressed in nothing but red lingerie and her collar, which was her default outfit when staying around the house unless he'd given her something else to wear. "Good! We hit a breakthrough."
"But it left me exhausted, Master." Luvia complained. Like Rin she was dressed in lingerie, but hers was purple instead. She also had a lot more flesh to fill in the clothing, although Shirou thought they were both equally gorgeous. "I think that's enough for one day, after this I need to relax."
In retrospect, the fact that he'd ordered them to spend so much time together in tight spaces while dressed in such revealing outfits might have been a large part of why they were slowly falling for one another.
After he'd forced them to start working together, Rin and Luvia had begun making massive strides in their respective magecraft. They were both geniuses, with similar paths of magic and a lot of tricks stored up from their heroic spirits, so they were advancing in leaps and bounds. Shirou suspected that one day soon they would be scary enough that even the Clock Tower would think twice before starting a fight with them.
"That can be arranged, after dinner." He said, smiling at the two of them. "I've got some new ideas in mind."
Both of them seemed excited about that, and eagerly followed after him.
However, just before they got back to the kitchen, he heard the doorbell ring. He frowned. "I told her not to ring the bell." He said. It made him furious that she felt she still had to.
"Sorry Master, she's just that type." Rin said.
Shirou nodded. He gave each of them a quick pat on the behind to urge them onward, and went to answer the door.
He slid the door open to find exactly the person he'd been expecting.
Bazett looked exactly the same as she had when she'd left a week ago for a mission, even wearing the same suit she'd been wearing then. As soon as she saw him, she dipped into a quick bow. "I've returned, Master. I'm sorry for my late arrival."
"It's fine, it's fine. You know, I told you to come on in. You don't have to ring the doorbell." He said, waving her inside.
She grimaced just a little bit. "Sorry, Master. I still felt like it would be rude."
"This is your home too, you know." Shirou said. She ducked her head a little, too embarrassed to respond to something like that. Shirou sighed. "How was the mission?"
"The hostile was eliminated without incident, Master." She said. "I did need to manifest my Demi-Servant form to deal the final blow, but the energy used was well within my limits. Ah... is it alright if you get my collar, Master?"
He raised an eyebrow. "You usually wait until you've gotten a good nights sleep first, right?" He asked. He hadn't been expecting her to join him in any of that sort of activity until tomorrow. She usually wanted the time to rest before she went into full play mode.
"The flight back was delayed... so I got some sleep on the plane, Master." She said. He saw her cheeks get a little colour, and knew she was growing excited.
He hadn't known her to ever be the type comfortable enough to sleep in public, but he didn't ask any further questions. He was too excited thinking about getting his hands on her sooner than he'd expected. "Well, alright. Strip and I'll make you some clothing."
As he projected a playboy bunny suit a completely carefree smile spread across Bazett's face. Seeing her so at peace never failed to make him feel warm inside.
By the time they got back to the kitchen everyone was waiting inside. Sakura had set the table, and was busy handing out drinks to those who wanted one. Illya had completed her victory over Taiga and claimed some food, while Fuji-nee herself had taken a plate and started planning her revenge. Rin and Luvia were bickering about something while pretending not to be checking each other out, and when he sat down they each cuddled up to him from either side. Bazett took her customary place, looking far more comfortable and at home here in her erotic costume than she ever did outside.
Shirou looked at everyone and found himself smiling.
Life was perfect.
THE END.
Thank you so much to everybody for reading. This story is now complete. I will come back at some points to add individual epilogues for Rin, Sakura, Luvia, Illya, and Bazett, but I wouldn't wait up for those. For now, this story is complete.