Section 9: "Returning to Tranquil Slumber"

No... Not yet... I can still fight... I haven't given up yet... This isn't over...!

Yes, it is. Dreams end, people die, and heroes rest in peace.

Wha...!

Kazikli Bey.

You... You were copied too!? No... It can't be...!

I sealed you away! I made sure you could never be copied!

You should have been no more than a puppet based on battle data!

How could you possibly manifest as a Servant capable of thinking for himself...?

It should have been impossible, Lancer!

After tens of thousands of battles, this was inevitable.

Well done, all of you. Your valiant efforts succeeded in summoning me...

...a Servant capable of defeating Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia.

Laaannnceeerrr...!

My anger is long gone; my modest ambitions are long since quashed.

Is that not true for you as well? The time has come to accept your fate.

Indeed, you MUST accept it. Otherwise, you will never move forward.

Your thoughts and dreams can go no further.

Darnic, my Master, and my sworn enemy.

What...? You...you have your memories...!?

Indeed. Of all fourteen Servants, I am the only one who retains memories of the Great Holy Grail War.

Perhaps that is thanks to your absorbing me. It is not, however, why I wish to defeat you.

No, my wish to defeat you stems from neither a desire for revenge, nor anger, but my duty as a hero...

...and the mercy I feel for you as your Servant.

Mercy...? Don't give me that nonsense, Lancer!

You expect me to believe you no longer bear a grudge!?

I trampled your pride as a hero into dust! You MUST despise me for that!

...Then let me ask you this.

If I strike you down now, will you die despising me?

...What...?

Do you truly not understand, Darnic? You would hold no grudge.

You may be angry, but that anger would not persist eternally.

We both have dreams we have chosen to pursue, even as we have resigned ourselves to the fact that they will not be realized.

Even though, deep down, we have given up on our dreams, we still fight to pursue them.

It is an act of irreverence. We do not do so out of respect for anyone or anything else.

We do so because our ambitions...our dreams...

...are the one thing to which we will always be loyal.

Even if others decry you as fork-tongued for your scheming, or fear me as the Impaler for the mountain of bodies I piled up...

...that loyalty is the one thing we cannot change. That is why our dreams stay with us.

...I'm afraid this is likely beyond your understanding, Custodian. But perhaps, in the fullness of time...that will change.

... ...

I understand you all too well, Darnic.

I know that your hard work, your betrayals, your plots...are nothing to be ashamed of.

And that is precisely why this scheme of yours must end now.

For if it does not, you will have betrayed even your own dreams.

And dreams that have been compromised will never shine bright again.

... ...Ahh, dammit.

...It's no wonder I summoned you, Lancer... Vlad III...

...If you find my dream beautiful...maybe...that's enough...

Yes... I can finally stop walking... I'm exhausted... This is hard work for an old man...

I suppose, in the end...dreams that have been tainted and broken...simply can't be mended...

Is it...over?

It is. The Great Holy Grail War has well and truly come to an end.

Custodian.

Y-yes?

I do not know you, but now that you have taken the Greater Grail, you are responsible for it.

...Though I'm sure you are well aware of that.

Yes. I promise I'll take good care of it.

Now, let me give you a word of advice. Not as a hero, but as a human.

Humans will come. It is inevitable.

And they WILL discover magic, with or without the Greater Grail.

But regardless, an excellent ending awaits you. Take solace in that, and sleep well.

Now then, I think I shall take my leave. Farewell.

Hmph. I never thought he would have the nerve to act like a king in my presence.

That is why I was magnanimous enough to stay silent during his little speech. ...Besides, the gardens are about to collapse.

Here, I will teleport the lot of you back to the ground.

I will remain here, and spend what time I have left with my gardens.

Try to stop me, and your already short life will end even more abruptly.

...

...I heard that, you insolent fool! Now be off with you!

Hey, I didn't say shit!

？！

Never mind that. Go on, all of you! Back to the ground with you!

Hmph. They certainly were a noisy bunch.

Ahh, I can finally relax now.

...The Great Holy Grail War, huh.

When I was summoned here, did I have a wish of my own? One worth creating these gardens for...?

And if I did...what was it? Was...it for someone in particular...?

...Heh. I suppose none of that matters now...

That damn stink bug woman!

Ah, piss off! Just seeing face of hers...she NEEDS to be insulted!

？！

...Well, whatever. At least all THAT'S over with!

Welp, see you around, Chaldean! Oh, hey, am I there too?

If I am, make sure you ride my ass into the ground!

Bye for now!

Uh! (Salute)

Uhn!

Uhn♪

？！

？！

That they did.

The oppressor is dead. The mage's dream has now gone.

My work here is done.

Now, I must be off! There are oppressors in other lands that must be defeated!

...Farewell!

Well, that certainly...happened.

Much has transpired, but I believe I have done all I could.

Young speedster. You...

On second thought, you can wait. I will go on ahead.

Huh? You're leaving already!?

Goodbyes are best kept brief, and reunions celebrated heartily.

See you around.

Hmm.

...Not nearly tragic enough to suit me.

Isn't that a good thing?

Don't be silly! A great tragedy is just the thing to spice up a happy ending!

...Still, that Darnic fellow did bow out rather beautifully, so I suppose that must satisfy me.

Even in death, he was a man so driven to make his dream come true that he went to the trouble of recreating us.

Being as I rather walked the straight and narrow in my lifetime, I cannot but feel the touch of the green-eyed monster myself...

Straight and narrow, huh?

That was no joke!

Good sir, I do believe you have offended me...

？！

...At any rate, this is goodbye.

Hmm. Master of Chaldea, I don't know about the Custodian...

...but I have a feeling you and I will meet again someday. In fact, perhaps we already have.

...Hm. What an odd thing for me to say...

Very well then, everyone! I bid you all farewell!

... ...

Since brevity is the soul of wit, and tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes, I shall be brief!

I believe that will suffice to fill my quota for quotations! Farewell!

Good grief...

All right, I'd better be on my way too. I have nothing else to say.

？！

...Am I that easy to read...?

Ohhh... This means we have to say goodbye, doesn't it, Mommy?

I'm sorry... I'm sure you'll miss him.

No we won't.

We already have a connection with Mommy.

Even if WE aren't in Chaldea...we're sure Mommy will keep our connection alive with the other us.

So it will be fine. Right, Mr. Custodian?

...I see.

...Thank you, Jack. You were a big help.

Oh! You're welcome! We will let you off the hook for killing us, then!

!

Just kidding.

We don't know what happened back then, and we don't remember it either.

So we have nothing to forgive or not forgive you for.

Ever since we were born, we just like to play!

Well, bye-bye, Mr. Custodian! Maybe we'll see you again sometime?

An endlessly wandering Assassin, all because they don't remember her, huh...

Hey! Hey! Custodian!

...Y-yes?

Were you avoiding me?

No, of courseokay, maybe I was.

I thought so. But not 'cause you don't like me, right?

Why would I dislike you?

HEY! N-no answering questions with questions!

Now I get it. You were just shy!

...Yes, I suppose I was.

It's sort of awkward to meet someone again after you've already said goodbye, even if they don't remember having done so.

...Gotcha.

But hey! The me you knew was still meee, right?

Of course.

You helped me out so many times. I was proud to have you as my Servant.

...Thanks.

Well, see you again sometime!

All right, I suppose I'd better be on my way as well.

Sir Custodian...had you been the evil dragon I faced, perhaps we could have resolved our differences peacefully.

That way, I would never have had to bathe in the blood of a dragon.

？！

I know.

If I hadn't been immortal, I might have died in a ditch somewhere, without anyone ever knowing my name.

No, I don't think so...

Even if you never bathed in dragon's blood, or came into possession of Balmung...

...I'm certain you would still have been a hero.

...Thank you, Custodian.

Thank you for thinking so well of me, and for fighting alongside me.

Welp, guess we'd better hit the road too, Teacher.

Indeed. For a while, I was rather uncertain how this would all turn out...

...but it ended up being much more fun than I anticipated.

This battle lasted but a few days, and is unlikely to become part of history in any real sense.

So I hope that, if nothing else, it will remain in your memories, Sir Fujimaru.

？！

We have a connection now.

Once I have been summoned, I will spend every free moment I have holding classes on

Hm? You already have a great many teachers?

Hmm, interesting. In that case, I would love to pit our different teaching styles against one another!

...So, we really won this, huh?

Back when I was alive, even though my life was one battle after another...or maybe even because of it...

...I couldn't ever really relax after winning, 'cause I knew the next battle was never far off.

But now...I guess I don't have to worry about that anymore.

...That's actually kinda nice, in its own way.

？！

Yeah. I'm...satisfied.

I don't have any grudges, and no civilians around means there were no massacres or other atrocities.

Oh, and it's nice that Hektor's not here either.

Nah, not...exactly.

If you ever end up summoning me, I'll figure out a way to get along with him.

...Yeah, it'll work out. Just gotta think positive.

Hmm... Well, let's just say we went through a lot together, and most of it was less than friendly.

That said, I'm a Servant now. I'm sure if I got summoned, I'd forget any problems I had with him.

？！

...But that's not what I'm really trying to say.

What I really want to say is that I bet I could have a lot of fun fighting alongside you guys again.

So if you ever find yourself in a tight spot in Greece, just gimme a call.

I'll come running, no matter when or where you are. Promise.

Thanks for everything. ...This was a really good battle.

Now that the Greater Grail is stable again, this world is about to disappear.

Give me your hand. It's time we returned to the real world.

Here we are. Now, at last...I can wait here, secure in the knowledge that the Greater Grail will be safe.

？！

...I'm afraid I can't tell you that. It's a secret.

？！

I know I shouldn't be keeping anything from you, but...

？！

Are you sure?

... ...

I'm sorry, could you repeat that?

...Me... Your friend?

？！

...I see.

All this time, I thought that you and I...

...were more like an oppressor and his victim than anything else.

？！

So, you would call me your friend?

...Thank you. I will always cherish this memory. But, there's something else I need to say.

There is nothing I can do for you, nothing I can give you after all you did for me.

All I could do was stand around...even with all those heroes willing to risk their lives helping.

I can't tell you how sorry I am about that.

...That only makes me feel worse.

Fun, huh?

You're a very positive person, aren't you, Fujimaru? I'm afraid I...

...Hm? You know, now that I think of it, I had fun too.

Even though I genuinely feared for my life back when we were fighting... Strange.

？！

...Anyway, I'm sure you still have a long, difficult road ahead.

It may not be muchhell, it may not even be welcomebut, I'd like to help you on it, if I can.

So...since I am the Greater Grail's Custodian, I'm going to repurpose the terminal I made earlier.

？！

I can still function as a terminal, but since my connection to my true body will be cut off...

...I'll only be able to use my dragon power for a fraction of an instant.

...But, if that's okay with you...I'd still like to do whatever I can to help you out.

It's the least I can do for someone who considers me a friend.

There. Now I really can rest easy.

？！

Yes. I don't mind waiting.

Not even if it takes them a hundred, or a thousand, or ten thousand years.

You see, I know for certain that they will get here eventually.

I have all the faith in the world in them.

Farewell...my friend. And thank you.

We may not have spent much time together, but I'll cherish it forever. It will always be a precious memory to me.

Goodbye, Fujimaru. Take care.

I hope my terminal will be of at least some use to you.

You too, Fujimaru.

Goodbye, my friend. My new Master.

？！