Nervous!
An excitement unlike anything he'd ever felt. Even breathing was difficult.
Waver stared up at the enormous dragon head, his mind an avalanche of half-formed ideas.
'A wish can be granted...'
'ANY wish can be granted!'
His hands trembled involuntarily. The gazes of Lelouch, Kariya, and everyone else faded into meaninglessness.
Become the strongest mage? Become king of this world? Possess bottomless wealth?
Grandiose ambitions flooded his mind, but he couldn't commit to any of them.
'No, maybe I should wish for maturity? A stronger physique?'
'That would be laughably small-minded!!'
'Waver Velvet! Keep your head on straight!'
He shook his head violently, looking for all the world like someone having a breakdown.
"..."
Lelouch observed in silence. Knowing Waver as he did, whatever wish the boy chose would be far less "selfish" than his own.
Waver might talk big when his temper got the better of him, but it was always just bluster.
Give him a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and he'd hesitate at the threshold.
"Haah..."
After a long deliberation, Waver finally exhaled.
What followed was a sheepish expression, directed upward at Shenron.
'Just as Rider said...'
'I really am too naïve.'
'But grand, far-reaching wishes don't suit me anyway.'
Thinking of what he was about to say, his emotions were tangled beyond description.
This war had put him through more than he could have imagined. To say it hadn't changed him would be a lie.
After all the deliberation, he chose a wish that had nothing to do with himself.
"Please bring back everyone who was caught up in the Dragon Ball War..."
"Bring them back to life!"
He forced the words out with everything he had.
His wish carried across the city for all to hear.
"Hey, hey! Rider's Master -- looks like a bookworm, but turns out he's got a heart of gold."
Floating in the sky where they'd been spectating, Jonouchi crossed his arms in pleasant surprise.
"This is wonderful!"
Kyoko beamed with relief. During her rampage as Ophelia, innocent lives had been lost.
If those people could be revived, the crushing guilt on her shoulders would finally ease.
"Looks like that confession did the trick!"
Their cheering reached Kenshin's ears. He, too, breathed easier.
The war's devastation had been immense. Between the extermination battle and Archer's final onslaught, the civilian toll was significant.
If the dead could return, that brought a measure of peace.
Committing Waver's face to memory, Kenshin found reassurance that "kindness" still existed in the world's future.
"So that's your choice, Rider's Master."
"In that case... I wasn't wrong about you two."
Saber stood in the street, holding the hand of a boy she'd just pulled from a damaged building. She heard Waver's wish and whispered her approval.
"Thank you, miss!"
"Hurry home. Your parents must be worried."
"Yes!"
Watching the red-haired boy run off with a wave, Saber let herself smile.
But the next moment, a familiar presence washed over her.
"This is... Irisviel!"
"Am I really alive?"
Still wearing her habit, Irisviel sat on the ground, unable to process her situation.
"Madam!"
A familiar voice from across the way. Her heart leapt.
"Where...?"
Maiya surveyed their surroundings. She clearly remembered the moment of her death.
"The war produced a victor."
"Rider's Master wished for the revival of everyone affected by the Dragon Ball War."
"He truly is a kind person."
Recovering herself, Irisviel offered a relieved, if shaken, smile.
"..."
Maiya was speechless. The idea that the dead could simply... return. It defied everything she knew.
"Hmm?"
"Madam?! What's wrong?!"
Irisviel's suddenly stricken expression alarmed her.
"I..."
"I've become a real human."
The answer left Maiya frozen.
"Thank God!!"
"Sola!!"
"Kayneth..."
Abandoning every shred of dignity, Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald clutched the dazed Sola-Ui in anguish.
"It seems... your 'worthless' student saved us."
Her memories ended at the gunshots. But the reason for their resurrection was now clear.
"Come on. We're leaving!"
"This backwater -- I refuse to stay a second longer!"
"Huh?"
Watching him seize her hand without ceremony, Sola understood.
Only by losing everything did one learn the value of life.
Not just hers. Kayneth's own certainties had been stripped away.
Death and rebirth had taught him how precious the present truly was.
"There's no rush, you know."
"The war is over."
"No! Right now! Immediately! We're leaving!"
"You really are..."
"Grail Wars, Dragon Ball Wars, whatever! Ridiculous!! I, Kayneth, will NEVER participate again!!"
"That empty gun you're pointing at me is rather pointless."
Kotomine Kirei sat calmly on the dockside, regarding the hyper-vigilant man before him.
"More importantly -- a killer with as many lives on his hands as you... does he truly deserve resurrection?"
"!"
The barb struck home. Emiya Kiritsugu fell silent.
"But then, that's not for us to decide."
"A second chance at life..."
"Be grateful to His Majesty's Master."
"The weight of living -- you should feel it fully now."
Rising, surveying his own nearly naked state, Kirei had arrived at something new.
Seeking amusement was undeniably pleasurable. But paying with one's life for it seemed... excessive.
Only through death did one grasp how heavy life truly was.
Splash!
Kiritsugu watched, stunned, as Kirei dove straight off the dock and swam away.
A man like himself, given a second life. Inconceivable.
Cough cough...
"Is this my punishment?"
"Not allowing me to die so easily..."
"So... THAT'S the wish you spent forever deliberating?"
"How absurd."
"Sorry for disappointing you! That's just the kind of immature, naïve idiot I am!"
Responding to Lelouch's dry commentary, Waver crossed his arms petulantly.
"Naïve indeed."
"But the world would be finished without people like you."
The familiar lecture. Waver turned to face him.
"You know... you're still thinking too idealistically."
"Did you even consider that the wicked would come back too?"
That doused Waver's fire instantly.
He'd blurted it out in the heat of the moment, never once considering those who "deserved" to stay dead.
"So learn to think before you act."
"But at this moment, you have every right to be reckless."
"After all--"
"Right now, you are the victor!"
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]
PS: Kirei and Kiritsugu's revival serves the story going forward. Regarding specific cases: Ryuunosuke died from his own accident (tripped and hit his head), not from being "affected" by the war, so he's excluded. Matou Zouken is too far removed from "human" to qualify for resurrection.
Irisviel was directly "rebuilt" -- from a homunculus into a true human being.
As for the ghost trio (Jonouchi, Kyoko, Kenshin), they were already in spectator form and get sent home once the war concludes. Waver's wish conveniently covers the civilians and combatants who died, and that someone like him would use the wish this way is exactly why he was the right person to win.