Author's Note: Okay! Before we delve into the good epilogue and close the curtain on "Fate/Gender Reversal," I just want to thank everyone who has reviewed, faved, alerted, and/or read this fic. I never would've thought that this little self-indulgence of mine would end up being my second most popular story. *does a victory dance*

On another note, I've gotten a review from xenocanaan about writing an F/GR spin-off. To be honest, I have been thinking of making a sequel, but any sequel material would be a collection of one-shots; I think that would be easier than trying to think up a fully-developed plotline. In any case, I have quite a few ideas for one-shots (not all of them taking place in the main F/GR-verse), some fluffy and lighthearted, others more angsty, but I can't promise I'll get them posted any time soon. I'd need a title, for starters, and a summary, and maybe something to use as a cover art... *shameless subtle nudge to any talented artists out there to draw Saber/Shira fanart—one is not nearly enough! :3*

Good Epilogue: Dawn of a New Life

Shira counted off the days in her head.

Six weeks, a month and a half, forty-two days—no matter how it was worded, that was how long it had been since the Holy Grail War concluded. Peace had returned to Fuyuki City: the news on TV no longer had any mysterious "accidents" to report, repairs on buildings that had taken collateral damage during the War were either complete or still going on, and life had, for all intents and purposes, gone back to normal.

Well, not quite normal. For the past several weeks, Shira had thrown herself into her daily routine in an attempt to distract herself from dwelling on Saber's departure, but it hadn't worked nearly as well as she'd hoped. Whether she was cooking, doing chores, attending school, or practicing magecraft, the thought of her former Servant would appear in her mind, and with it came a fresh wave of pain threatening to consume her.

Her grief was a battle she was slowly but surely losing. These days, she felt almost like a machine, mechanically going through her life without any real enjoyment, and no amount of forced smiles and empty assurances to Taiga, Ilya, Rin, and Sakura that she was fine could fill the void in her heart that Saber had left behind.

And that was during the day—the nights were so much worse. Shira's dreams were haunted with nightmarish visions of Saber disappearing, Saber bloodied and beaten, Saber being killed. She'd already lost count of how many times she had woken up in the middle of the night, screaming his name.

How long will this go on? Shira wondered at present, staring sightlessly up at her bedroom's ceiling, not daring to fall asleep. How long would she have to live with the agony she felt over Saber's disappearance combined with the knowledge that he wasn't coming back? Would there come a time where she'd just...shut down? Go crazy? Or would she wake up one morning to find that she didn't miss him so much anymore?

She just didn't know.

The sound of the doorbell's chime broke Shira out of her thoughts. She quickly sat up in her futon, startled, then groaned as the doorbell rang again. There was only one person she knew who'd be insane enough to come visit her at this hour—Taiga. She must have gotten into yet another fight with Ilya (who had been staying with Shira's brown-haired guardian ever since the Grail War ended instead of going back to the old Einzbern Castle) and come over to vent.

Frustration replaced Shira's melancholy as she got up and threw a robe on over her short, sleeveless nightgown before stalking out of her room and down the hall, already prepared for what to say when she chewed Taiga out.

She reached the front door and shoved it open. "Fuji-nee, if you've come to complain about Ilya, can't you—"

Shira suddenly cut herself off with a gasp as she realized who she was talking to, and it definitely wasn't Taiga.

Tousled blond hair. Blue-green eyes. Thin, lean frame. The clothes were different—red shirt, black long coat, and matching black pants—yet there was no doubt about who the young man was.

But...it just wasn't possible.

It wasn't possible that he was standing before her, dropping the suitcase he'd been carrying as he flinched back and held up his hands defensively. It wasn't possible that he was staring at her, the initial joy in his eyes slowly giving way to unease. It wasn't possible that his hands were lowering to his sides, a small, tentative smile forming on his face.

Shira knew she had to be dreaming. Because this wasn't possible.

The seconds crawled by in silence. The being that looked so much like Saber did not vanish. No one—not Berserker, Rider, Assassin, Gilgamesh, or anyone else—appeared out of nowhere to cut him down. Shira's heart raced as she continued staring at him, the irrational part of her brain urging her to consider the possibility that this wasn't a dream. After all, even in her most vivid nighttime visions, Saber had never looked so solid, like she could touch him and not have her fingers pass through him. His eyes had never looked so bright and raw with emotion he was fighting to contain.

"Hello, Shira."

And his voice had certainly never sounded so beautiful.

Those two words snapped the redhead from her stupor. She tried to say Saber's name, but only a dry, choked sob escaped from her mouth, and she flung herself into his arms and burst into tears.

"You're real...you're real, you're real, you're real, you're real!" she cried as she desperately clutched at him. She felt him place one hand at the back of her head while the other rubbed slow, soothing circles on her back, and she held him more tightly. She didn't know how long they stayed in each other's embrace, her weeping into his chest and him whispering comforting nothings into her ear, but eventually, his hands made their way to her hips and she lifted her tear-stained face to look up at him.

"How...how are you alive?" she asked, breathless with amazement. "How did you come back?"

Saber smiled as he untangled himself from Shira's grasp and picked up his suitcase. "I can explain, but shall we go inside first?"

Shira mumbled out an agreement, and she and Saber went into the estate and headed to the living room. She sat on the floor while he dropped the suitcase again, kneeling down to unzip it.

"Remember this?" Saber presented the all too familiar blue and golden scabbard to Shira.

"Avalon..." Her lips parted slightly in shock as she took Excalibur's scabbard in her hands. She examined it momentarily before returning her gaze to Saber. "But what does it have to do with you being back?"

"Everything," Saber answered simply. "When I destroyed the Holy Grail, I was transported back to my time. I had returned to that forest, back to my wounded body, fully expecting to die...but I did not." He spared a quick glance at the scabbard. "Before the final battle, you returned Avalon to me, and it was taken back with me when I disappeared from this world. It was shortly after I woke up to find myself miraculously alive that I discovered the scabbard and realized what must have happened."

A moment passed in silence as Shira took in Saber's words. Her astonishment over his incredible return was slowly replaced with euphoria. The pain of the past six weeks was already fading from her mind like a half forgotten memory. Just when she was thinking that she'd never see Saber again, he had come back to her. He was here—he was alive, truly alive—and that was all that mattered.

Shira set Avalon aside, grinning as she crawled over to Saber and wrapped her arms around him again. She leaned her head against his chest while he hugged her back, enjoying the steady rhythm of his heart.

Saber's fingers ran through her hair, and she felt rather than heard him let out a sigh. "I have missed you, Shira. It has been so long..."

"I know," she said quietly. "It's only been over a month, but it feels like it's been forever."

"Actually..." he hesitated, "for me, it has been fifteen hundred years."

Shira's eyes, which had closed due to the lull of Saber's heartbeat, snapped open at once.

"What?!" she exclaimed, pulling back from the hug to stare at him, appalled. "Fifteen hundred years? Please tell me you're joking."

"I'm afraid to say I am telling you the truth," Saber said seriously. "Avalon may have saved me from death, but I was still in my era while you were in your own. If I wished to see you again, my only option was to wait out the centuries with Avalon in my possession."

Shira bit her lower lip, looking down at the floor. Fifteen centuries—Saber had to spend fifteen centuries without her. The six weeks she had spent mourning him were nothing compared to that.

She let out a shaky laugh. "So, for you, it really has been forever."

"Indeed it has," Saber answered.

Her gaze drifted back to him, and she frowned as a thought occurred to her. "Saber...before you left, you said you loved me, but..."

"What is it, Shira?" Saber prompted when she didn't continue.

"It's just...fifteen hundred years is a very long time, and...well, a lot can change...Um..." She paused awkwardly, looking down again. "Your feelings for me...they really haven't changed?"

It wasn't a wholly unreasonable question, was it? Sure, Shira's love for Saber was as strong as ever, but their separation had only been a month and a half for her, while for him, it had been well over a millennium. Feelings would inevitably cool during such a long period, if they hadn't died completely (but she didn't bother to entertain the latter possibility—why would he have arrived at her house in the middle of the night if he didn't still care at least a little about her?), so could she really expect him to remain so devoted to her centuries before she was even born?

"Of course not. Why ever would you ask me that?"

Saber's reply was so immediate, so sharp, that it caused Shira's head to shoot up. Incredulous, she opened her mouth to speak, but he leaned forward to put a finger to her lips, his brows furrowed.

"Yes, fifteen centuries is a long time, but I find that to be quite irrelevant. I don't care how long I had to wait—I would gladly do it all again if, in the end, I knew we would be reunited."

His finger lowered from her lips, his face still stern. "When I said I loved you, Shira, it was not a lie, nor said in jest. From the moment I thought I was to die in that forest, I wanted nothing more than to be with you, and that wish never changed in the last fifteen hundred years. Now that my wish has been fulfilled, we have our whole lives to be together."

It was at that moment that Saber stopped talking, and his severe expression faded. "That is..." he added, softening his voice and looking as uneasy as he'd been when Shira had practically thrown the front door open, "if you will have me."

More silence followed. The redhead, who had mutely stared at him during his heated speech, now felt her lips quivering upward. "'If you will have me,' he says." She chuckled as a full-fledged grin crossed her face. "Let me put your doubts to rest."

And with that, Shira moved closer to Saber, put her hands on his chest, and kissed him fully on the mouth. He responded quickly, surprising her with his fervor as he kissed her back. From there, it was all taste, touch, and even sound as their lips reacquainted with one another: his mouth opening for hers, their tongues gliding together, both gasping and shivering as their hands explored each other's bodies.

The kiss ended much too soon for Shira's liking. At some point, she had ended up in Saber's lap, her arms around his neck, his hands on her waist, and both panting as they took a moment to catch their breath.

"Shira..." Saber gazed at her as if spellbound.

"Did that convince you?" she asked, a teasing glint in her eyes.

A small smile graced his features. "You are quite persuasive, I admit." His smile faded. "But it is late; we should be turning in."

"Ah, right." With some reluctance, Shira removed her arms from Saber and got off his lap. She stood up as he went to return Avalon to his suitcase.

"I put your futon up after you left," she told him. "If you want, I can get it back out. Or you could always—wait, no, never mind."

Saber got to his feet after zipping up the suitcase, turning to see Shira nervously playing with her hands and staring at the ground.

"Is something wrong?" he questioned.

She looked up at the sound of his voice, feeling heat rush to her face. "No, no, nothing's wrong. I was just thinking that maybe...maybe you could..." Her voice trailed off as she thought of the most subtle way she could say it. But all notion of subtlety seemed to have deserted her, and she decided the best course of action was to just be blunt.

"Sleep with me."

Saber's eyes widened significantly, but Shira proceeded to ramble on before he could do anything more.

"No, listen—I'm not talking about having sex, we can hold that off for as long as you want, I just mean that you could sleep in my bed with me, at least for tonight. It's just...you've been gone all these weeks and now you're back and I don't want you out of my sight and...and..."

The stream of words coming out of Shira's mouth came to a premature end, and she once again stared at the floor, her insides churning with embarrassment as she waited for Saber's response.

"Shira?"

"Yes, Saber?" She lifted her gaze to him.

He smiled, and as he gestured to the door, all he said was, "Lead the way."

A few minutes later, they were lying beneath the covers of her futon. She had taken off her robe, he had removed his coat, and they were now on their sides facing each other. Neither of them spoke as they gazed at one another, their smiles saying more than words ever could.

The current mood was one of contentment, quite unlike the passion that had seized them during their kiss earlier. Both were satisfied to simply bask in each other's presence, in the knowledge that they were together again, something they hadn't believed possible during what should have been their final encounter.

At last, Shira Emiya spoke. "Promise you'll be still here when I wake up?"

Arthur Pendragon took hold of her hand, which was resting near her head. "I promise."

She fell asleep shortly afterward, and for the first time in weeks, she had no nightmares, only dreams of a bright future with the man lying beside her.

Author's Note: Anyone who's seen Fate/Prototype will recognize the clothing Saber's wearing as the civilian clothes that Proto Saber has. Since I figured that Saber would have to ditch his armor eventually if he wanted to make even the slightest effort to blend in with society (and because F/GR's Saber is an AU Proto Saber), I decided to give him those clothes.

Fate True, as well as the anime's ending, leaves us with an apparent plothole: Shirou returned Avalon—the real Avalon, not a projection or something magically constructed by the Holy Grail—to Saber, which means that she must have taken it back with her to the moment of her death (because it doesn't make sense for it to just disappear; again, this is the real Avalon). And that means she should not have died, except she did. Why? The only answer I can come up with is from Fate/stay night's Headscratchers page on TvTropes:

Well, even with Avalon, Shirou can still die if the wounds are serious enough...or, more importantly, when he gives up (see Bad End #11 in Fate). Arturia's job was finished and her fate was fulfilled, so it's plausible that she chose to die after making sure Bedivere returned Exaclibur to the Lady of the Lake.

Ultimately, the difference between the true epilogue and the good epilogue is whether or not Saber allows himself to die in the true ending. Remember how his last thought was Shira's name? In the universe that leads to the true epilogue, Saber gave one last farewell to the woman he loved and accepted his death. In the universe that leads to the good epilogue, his desire to see Shira again won out over the fact that he was supposed to die—for once, he let his emotions rule over him.

(...Or, if my explanation is too romantic for you, just assume that Avalon went back to wherever it went when it was originally stolen in the universe leading to the true epilogue or something instead of being with Saber. Ya know, the beauty of having two epilogues is that you can choose the one you like better. *grins*)

In summary, Shira is officially in Stepford Smiler territory, Saber shows up on her doorstep, there are explosions of feels among the exposition, Saber convinces Shira that he still loves her by using his King Voice, Shira and Saber get to at least second base, and it ends with them in bed together (in only the literal sense).

So, all in all, they live happily ever after.

That is, until Ayaka Sajyou prances into Fuyuki City.

Just kidding. (Or am I? ;D)