This is a short piece that I wrote mostly for the purposes of getting it down on paper so the idea would stop bothering me. Since I wrote it, I am publishing it on the chance that someone may enjoy it. I have no plans to continue this story. Standard disclaimers apply.

Some minor prereading was done by Bloodhawk and Mashadar, but I take full responsibility for any remaining errors.

To readers of Continuation of the Dream who are wondering about the next chapter, I would like to remind you that I post status updates to my profile approximately once a week.

Enjoy the story.

From my vantage point on top the temple gate, I stare out over Fuyuki City as the rising sun slowly illuminates it. This is the end, more or less. There is nothing left for me to do here, and my body won't last much longer anyway. The war is over, the Servants defeated, the Masters slain. More or less, anyway. My master is amongst the fallen, and although I shed no tears for her, her loss accelerates my demise. This doesn't bother me as much as it did the last time I died, though. I did not ask to be here, and winning has brought me no joy. My interest in the Grail was short-lived, at best.

The idea of an omnipotent wish-granting machine appealed to me, of course. Despite how powerful I was in life, there were things I could not accomplish. That must obviously be true of all the Servants, if the promise of getting some wish granted was enough to draw them out of the Throne. Of course, I'm a special case. I've always been a special case, though. I found that out from my Master, soon after she summoned me. But I had a wish all the same. I would bring her back as she once was, and we could live together again. Of course, things didn't work out so nicely. They never do.

My Master was my first victim. She exploited a loophole in the rules of the Holy Grail war to summon a Servant, even though she herself was a Servant with no Master. She should have known such an action would backfire on her, but I don't think she expected it to happen so fast. Although I have no Noble Phantasm, my Mystic Eyes are second to none. Where most Assassins are silent killers, I am an assassin of a different sort. Where a more traditional Servant Assassin would target the vital points of the body, I target the mind. Within moments of being summoned, I had assimilated the information given to me by the summoning ritual, and identified the woman before me as my summoner. As soon as she met my eyes, I was the true master in our relationship. From there, it was a simple step to meet her Master and gain his allegiance as well.

As soon as my position was secure, I interrogated my Master on the details of my summoning. The truth was... Have you wondered that maybe reality... isn't? That you're just a figment of someone's imagination? Being told that I was a fictional hero with a soul created out of whole cloth was somewhat disconcerting. Discovering that the only people I'd ever loved had never actually existed upset me at first. But then I realized that it meant they had never suffered as I remember them suffering, and that was some comfort. But it left me aimless.

What's the point when you're not real? I already conquered one world, even if it didn't exist. I have no enemies in this world, and no reason to care about it. That man is not here, and never lived here. I have nothing here to live for, to kill for, or to die for. I spent a day moping around the temple before Caster pointed out that even if I had no interest in participating, the other Servants and Masters would still be interested in killing us. While I had no interest in winning, losing without trying seemed too... embarrassing. Besides, I have to admit, the opportunity to pit my wits against the powers of Heroic Spirits of legend appealed to me. Even though the people I wanted to prove myself to never really existed, it was still an irresistible opportunity.

Once I decided to participate, we set to planning. The first thing to do was to experiment with my abilities. Caster was able to tell me what my parameters and abilities were, and from there, a plan presented itself. The easiest way to win would be for me to find and capture the enemy Masters. Even though it was low-grade, my presence concealment skill would let me move undetected throughout the city. Unfortunately, I quickly discovered the limitations of my summoning. My inability to leave the temple grounds without rapid loss of prana was annoying, but then, it was probably the only thing that made this War an interesting game.

Since I couldn't leave, we had to resort to stratagem. I actually had to apply myself. Caster had some interesting ideas, but they were focused on winning the war without conflict. She intended to simply hide in the temple and draw in enough energy from the surrounding town to create her own grail. I put a stop to that quickly. At the time, I had no interest in playing the villain again, and I feared it would draw the attention of the enemy. Instead, we simply bided our time and used her ability to scry to search for our enemies.

Berserker was the easiest to find, and the most intimidating. Our combined analysis indicated that we had insufficient power to defeat him. However, the Servant Saber had been able to fight him to a near draw. If we could gain her power, we would probably be able to defeat him. In this case, my erstwhile Master's abilities proved useful. She had the power to draw in the weak-minded. Although Saber arrived to rescue her Master before he reached the temple proper, I could still meet his eyes from the gate. From that point on, I think my victory was inevitable. But I get ahead of myself.

That wasn't the first step of the War, of course. Other Servants came calling, and I discovered that my ability would not work on the unprepared unless they lacked both luck and magic resistance. Lancer was the first enemy Servant to fall to me. He came straight to the front door and introduced himself, as it were. I materialized to respond to his challenge, and he looked me straight in the eye to declare that he would kill me. I suppose, given his identity, that it was almost inevitable that he would lose to me. I sent him out to kill his Master, and although he seemed quite happy to comply. After he returned, Caster claimed his contract, and he joined our defense the temple grounds. The addition of someone who was actually capable of combat was invaluable. But I already knew that. I've never been physically adept myself, and I've always relied on others to protect me. There is no shame in that. My talents lie elsewhere.

Lancer's addition was timely. Rider, as it turned out, kept her eyes covered, so I had no method to attack her. I simply hid within the temple and waited for Lancer to return while she prowled around the forest outside. She was too slow to stop Lancer from entering the temple, and her decision to follow him in was ill-conceived. The combination of Medea's magic and Chu Chulainn's lance was sufficient to end her participation in the Grail War.

I'll admit freely, what came next was mostly a mistake due to my boredom. But then, it's not like I had anything to lose. So when Berserker approached the temple, I met him head-on and commanded him to serve me. It turns out that I cannot control the mind of one who has no mind to speak off. His Master was presumably observing, because she withdrew him without revealing herself as soon I deployed Lancer to hold him off while I fled back into the temple. Lancer turned out to be well-suited for the situation. His lance couldn't harm Berserker, but it could hold him back. However, my power and potentially my identity were revealed to the enemy. And that brings us to Saber.

Caster's plan was originally to kill Saber's Master and acquire his Command Seals. However, she agreed with me that it would be much better if we kept our control over Saber a secret. That would allow us to deploy her as a trump against Berserker, something his Master would not anticipate. With Saber to impede his retreat, we would trap and kill him the next time he came to the temple. Of course, Saber interfered with that plan, and I was forced to have her Master to use his remaining Command Seals to prevent her from killing me. While my power to command obedience brought instant, unflinching respect, the Command Seals were different. Saber resisted with all her might, such that I feared she might die from the effort and ruin all her plans. In the end, I had to promise her that no harm would come to her Master as long as she obeyed me in order to gain her grudging allegiance. And she still promised she would kill me eventually. That didn't bother me much. Depending on how things worked out, I'd be inclined to let her. Even in my fictional world, King Arthur was a great hero. It was difficult at times to command her. What right had I to command King Arthur? She was King Arthur. I was just the ruler of a fictional empire that conquered the world, and in the end, it was only my death that unified it.

Acquiring Saber's Master granted me the power to safely confront Berserker, and it came with a bonus. He was collaborating with Archer's Master. Apparently the two of them went to school together. Although I had found out that my luck was not particularly strong when I asked Caster about my abilities, this was still a great stroke of fortune. He was able to bring the girl to the temple under the pretense of an alliance with Lancer, and as soon as she met my eyes, she too was mine. Unfortunately, commanding the two of them caused me some faint twinges of conscience. Perhaps they reminded me of my own friends from school. After all, I had no problems ordering the deaths of millions, so why should the temporary enslavement of two children bother me? I think now that it was the lack of true motivation that weakened me. It's one thing to commit genocide in the name of peace, but toying with the minds of children to prove my abilities is something my sister definitely would have disapproved of.

It turned out the girl's Servant was too wounded to be useful in direct combat, but even a wounded Archer has some utility. This one had great utility. Rather than waste the girl's Command Seals for imperfect control, and unwilling to take the risk that he would resist like Saber, I left him to Caster's Rule Breaker.

Now with a force of five Servants under on our side, Caster and I felt prepared to face Berserker. However, perhaps because his Master was aware of our preparations and schemes, he never showed his face at the temple again. The stalemate lasted most of a week before I tired of it. It was simply my inability to leave the temple that restricted me from attacking; I did not want to command my forces to engage in a battle I could not direct. However, stalemate accomplished nothing and I had already determined that my time here was limited, so I expended a limited resource and let Caster use a Command Seal.

With information gained from Archer's Master, we were able to determine the location of Berserker. Caster, Lancer, Saber, and Archer set forth to storm it, and their Masters accompanied them. I didn't think there was a high probability that Berserker would attack the temple while we were attacking his base of operations, but there was no point in taking chances. As soon as the group of them reached the castle in the center of the forest, Caster summoned me to her side. I couldn't stay long, but I easily had enough time for the battle.

Berserker turned out to be everything we had feared. Lancer's Noble Phantasm and Caster's magic couldn't even harm him. Archer was able to do some damage, but he just shrugged it off. His master, who refused to even look in my general direction, happily explained that we would have to kill him twelve times, or something ridiculous like that. Since he wouldn't die when he was killed, I let Saber use her Noble Phantasm. I wasn't actually expecting it to kill him, but I was hoping it would keep him down long enough for me to get to his Master. It turned out Excalibur is more powerful than I expected; an anti-castle Noble Phantasm indeed. Caster had to expend a significant amount of her stored prana to keep Saber from vanishing after that, but I didn't think it relevant. After all, Berserker had been blasted away by the light of the holy sword. I controlled all the remaining Servants and Masters. The war was as good as won.

So, of course, I was quite surprised when another Servant appeared. It should have been impossible. The knowledge I had of the Grail system had not indicated an eighth Servant could be summoned. Therefore, I obviously should have expected something like this. In my life, I would have. But for some reason I thought that the rules made by some all-powerful magical machine were absolute. It was a mistake, and I paid for it.

He cleared up his presence when he addressed Saber. The Archer from the previous war, given life by the Grail. He monologued at great length about how despite the corruption of the Grail, it was insufficient to corrupt him, and about how he would rule the world with his second life and cull humanity. That actually got to me. Survival of the fittest and rule of the strong was my father's philosophy, and I spent my life and my death overturning it. I won't say anything as melodramatic as it motivated me to fight him. I was already maneuvering to destroy him to the best of my ability. Hearing his plans just increased my satisfaction with my impending victory.

Then he tried to claim Saber. The idea was ludicrous. Saber was my Servant, and I wasn't about to hand her over. Especially not for something as ridiculous as a marriage proposal. How dare he try to claim King Arthur as his bride! Fortunately, she seemed to find the idea as offensive as I did. His indignation at her refusal would have been amusing, if it weren't for the fact that he was brushing all my attempts to command his obedience. Brushing off isn't really the right term. It's more like he didn't even notice me trying to rewire his brain with my Mystic Eyes.

Curiously, he'd brought the grail itself, Berserker's former Master, with him, and offered her to me before demanding Saber. He claimed he had no interest in it, given its nature, and that he would let me have it. As if I'd have any interest in such a thing either. Eternal life in this world? That would never appeal to me, especially from such a corrupted source. I took the grail anyway, of course. I had to do something to distract him so he wouldn't notice Lancer stabbing him in the back. Besides, there was something about the poor girl that just tugged at my heartstrings. Probably because she reminded me of my sister, not that I would ever admit it. After that, it was just a matter of waiting for him to succumb to death. Of course, it wasn't so simple. Even with a cursed lance through his heart, he still had some fight in him. He killed Lancer with his own lance. Not the one in his heart. He made a copy of it appear out of thin air. Caster tried to flatten him with magic, but that didn't work either. It might have dinged his armor a little, but then he just waved his hand and filled her with sharp bits of metal.

That only took a few seconds, but the time it took him to kill the two of them was enough time for Saber and Archer to engage him. Saber was barely able to match him in hand-to-hand combat, and she didn't have enough energy to use Excalibur again. His armor was more than just for show, apparently. It let him shrug off blows from Excalibur, the sword that could cut through steel, and counter-attack freely with that strange sword of his, keeping Saber on the defensive.

On the other hand, Archer was having a field day. Every time he brought some new weapon out, Archer copied it and countered it. The first few times annoyed the other Archer. Pretty soon, he was foaming at the mouth and bellowing about Fakers. I think the foam was mostly blood from a wound to his lung, though. It indicated he was wearing out. For a man who called himself the King of Heroes, his death wasn't terribly impressive. He eventually just collapsed, coughing and cursing us mongrels. I slapped him in the face for that. My mother may have been a commoner, but her blood was still pure. Besides, he insulted King Arthur. And I do so enjoy taunting my defeated enemies.

Of course, once he was dead I had the distinct problem of having the Holy Grail and nothing to do with it. And that brings me to my present situation. Here I am, sitting on the gate to the temple, watching the sun rise. The mana that sustains me will dissipate soon, and I have to figure out what to do with the people I've collected. I have two Servants, three Masters, and one little girl left to deal with. Archer is a problem. He wants to kill Saber's Master for some reason, but I promised Saber I would protect him in her place to keep her from killing herself fighting the command seals. I can respect that kind of dedication, after all. And have I mentioned she's King Arthur? She may not be the King Arthur I grew up hearing stories about, but I can't just go breaking promises to her.

In the end, I suppose I really only have one choice. I doubt they'll forgive me for it, but he is the only one who still has any will to fight. Caster is dead, and her Master has no ambition to fight on his own. I think I can trust King Arthur not to do evil, and she has enough energy to sustain herself as long as she doesn't use Excalibur again. Archer, however, has the Independent Action ability, and the will to start a fight with Saber.

With a sigh, I hop down off the gate and command Archer to follow me. He does, and I can see in his eyes that he knows what's coming, and accepts it. With a faint smile, he acknowledges the correctness of my decision. After all, if two deaths can bring salvation to three lives, that is obviously the right course of action. Especially if one of those deaths is inevitable anyway. Then, he surprises me. He creates Medea's Noble Phantasm and pricks himself, and I feel my control over him vanish. At the same time, there is a faint cry from the other side of the temple. I suppose his Master felt the end of her contract as well. She comes running around the building, but stops short when she sees Archer is still alive. I give him his last command, then I walk back to the front of the temple to give the two of them some privacy.. I turn back at the corner and he quirks an eyebrow at me over her shoulder, ignoring her fists thumping his chest. I nod. I'll accept all the sins here, and my departure should free those who remain from them.

When I return to the temple courtyard, I find that the remaining outstanding issue has been resolved. Saber's Master has decided that he will take care of the girl. That spares me from having to order him to do something of the sort. Apparently, they are some kind of family, and it's a brother's job to take care of his little sister. With this, I think I can finally rest, and the sun is almost over the horizon. The girl in red returns to the temple gate and stands with the others. Her eyes are puffy, but she meets my gaze. I am honestly impressed by her spirit, given what happened to her the last time she did that. It also conveniently keeps her from noticing that my legs have begun to vanish. I suppose it is time then. I turn my back to the rising sun to address them. It took some carefully maneuvering to line them all up like that, but this is my last performance, so I think I can be forgiven some cheap theatrics.

It's time for me to fulfill that promise I made to Saber. I won't give her the chance to take it back, though. I command her to carry out her promise without any warning. The cold steel entering my body is uncomfortably familiar, and I stumble against her. The last words I must say are to absolve her of any guilt for this. She was a hero of mine growing up, and if I must play the villain, then it is an honor to die by her sword.

Even as I finish speaking, I push my body off the blade and throw myself backward down the stairs, arms wide. I'll vanish before they reach the edge of the stairs to see me go. I disrupted their lives enough already without making them watch me bleed all over. From here, it's up to them to fix things. I've done what I could to ensure their future. It's what Nunnally would have wanted, after all.

I don't think I can really do Lelouch justice. I think there was an opportunity here to really explore how he'd feel about discovering that his life and suffering was written for someone else's entertainment, and how he'd feel about realizing that even with the Grail, he still couldn't live together with Nunnally in a peaceful world.