We walked down the staircase for what felt like hours, it seemed neverending, the walls looked the same, the distance between the torches on the walls was the same.

"Hey, Keeper. Does this thing actually lead somewhere?" I spoke up after ages of silence.

"Of course it does, but if you wish to be impatient, I can just get us there." With a snap of his fingers the area and the staircase, changed to a flat surface with a massive room filled with all types of gear.

"You do really keep stuff huh..." Sam looked around, going ahead of us. "How do you even make sure it's all in order?"

"I have my ways, not like it matters, we're here for the two of you" He pulled out an old map and looked through it.

"You're not a DT are you?" I was confused, all DTs had a hud.

"I used to be...a DT is only really the fighters...and I don't really fight anymore...I severed my ties to DT magic ages ago...the only magic I have now is the ones I was born with." The gear ranged massively, I saw some ancient knight armor, samurai armor, and even some gear from other cultures back on earth, it was all jarring to see but it still all looked amazing. "Here we are, could you call over your friend?" We were in front of a locked wall, from the looks of it, all gear had a door on them, yet this one remained locked. I looked around for Sam, until I saw her crouched down, looking at one of the armor sets.

"Sam!" My voice echoed through the room, and it easily caught her attention. She waltzed over.

"Yep?" She looked at me, then to the wall, piecing it together. The Keeper walked up to the door and put a weird-looking key in. The padlock didn't open, instead it shattered and a slight humming could be heard.

"Here we are" He pulled open the door and quickly took a step back, encouraging us to do the same. After the wall door creaked open, a bunch of other panels quickly launched out, causing me and Sam to jump backward, and as we did we hit another panel that appeared behind us. I felt cautious and was about to fight with how much of a trap this seemed like, until. "Do not worry, it's simply too much gear to hold on one panel...after all, 68,998 timeline is a lot of gear." Sam and I looked around, each panel had both of our gear on it, the left side of the panel was hers, while the right was mine. One panel caught my interest, it was the only pristine one compared to the clearly dirty panels like the others. Sam's daggers were like sickles on this one, it seemed more effective at pulling people...yet probably means less quick attacks...not like she'd be able to handle CQC unless someone trains her, but clearly this means that someone did. Her side of the panel also had her sniper, which was weird considering her sniper comes from her daggers. "Ahh, this one" The Keeper walked up to my right side. I looked around "Don't worry, she's fine."

"Huh?" I looked at them as they motioned their head behind them. No wonder why I couldn't find her, she was right behind them. She seemed interested in all the panels.

"This panel is the most recent one, the one where you had the best chance of surviving the end, this is probably what I'll give you." The clothing on the panel was also fastly different from the uniforms that everyone wore...clearly, I became a higher rank in this timeline. "Too bad you can barley have any of it"

"What!?" I looked at them.

"This wasn't man-made gear, you and Sam manifested it out of nowhere when you both were on the verge of death...of course, you can use the weapons, but it'll be treated as if it didn't have magic."

"So how do we use it like they used to?"

"Simple, either manifest it yourself or gain the title, Star of The Multiverse" They took a sword scabbard from the panel, my sword didn't really have a scabbard, I've been using whatever.

"What is that?" I referred to the title.

"Star of The Multiverse...a title that anyone can achieve...but...is really hard too, to put it simply. You must make an impact through the entire Multiverse, one that makes you a living legend, it doesn't have to be from fighting, it could be by helping others, being the best business owner...or even being a Multiverse musician, which suits you best...well, I don't know if it fits you you.

"And the Scabbard?"

"One of the only things you can use with magic" They extended their hand out to me, clearly telling me to take the scabbard. I could see Sam approaching us, most likely wondering what was going on. I took the scabbard. "If you will" I thought they were talking to me until I saw them extending a hand out to Sam, telling her to wait. "One of the most basic things you can do is what you in the future referred to as a delayed assault. Get into a stance" I got into my normal stance, I turned right, put my right foot in front of my left, and had my sword on the left side of me. "Won't do, stand up straight" I listened getting out of my normal stance and standing normally. "Bend your knees, right foot forward, left foot back, put your sword in its scabbard and keep your right hand on the handle of the sword, then place any of your left-hand fingers on the trigger"

"There's a trigger on this!?" I looked at them.

"Yes" It was the only answer I got, I did exactly what they said, feeling a trigger on the scabbard was a weird feeling, as it was also wrapped with the cloth that the rest of the scabbard was. "The stance you're in now is the stance your future self is always in before beginning a fight." This stance was painful to hold, my legs felt like they were gonna buckle under me. "I don't expect you to pull the trigger and catch the sword in mid-air, after all, you haven't mastered time manipulation yet. So for now, stay in the stance, but I'll allow you to ignore the trigger." I took my left hand off the trigger and just put it on the scabbard. "Now, I want you to concentrate" Wait did they just say time manipulation! "Remember your attacks and think of it before you do it. Now when you're ready, and you remember, strike the air and do exactly what you thought of it as, then, put your sword in the scabbard." I closed my eyes and imagined the attacks, I took a deep breath and opened my eyes, I felt like my right eye twinkled a bit, my corruption probably having a reaction...fuck it, Let's get cocky. I put my left hand on the trigger and pulled it, only for the sword to get sent flying and ricochet off the walls and get sent right back towards me, I felt paralyzed as the sword came flying towards me, yet, before it could hit me, I noticed a hand on the handle, The Keeper's clothing was flowing as they caught it.

"You goddamn" They flipped my sword around, grabbing by the blade, they raised it, and I had a feeling I knew where it was going. "Dumbass!" They swung it at my head, hitting it right in the middle.

"Ow!" I held my head as they put the sword back in my scabbard. I realized Sam wasn't talking so I looked over where I saw her last, and saw her training with her future self's daggers.

"Cockyness won't save you, nor will it help you. Try again." They took a few steps back while I returned back into the stance I had been told earlier. "Bend your knees more!" I hear them shouting at me, but I still listened. I closed my eyes again, repeating what I had did earlier, repeating the attack I did in my mind. When I had opened my eyes I felt the same twinkle, only slightly weaker, maybe because I hadn't taken a deep breath. Using my right hand I ripped the blade out and swung exactly vertically, then spun around and when reaching my original angle, swung horizontally with the momentum I had gained. I spun my sword around, then flicked it towards the ground, like someone would do to get off any blood. I got back into the stance, only this time, putting the sword into the scabbard instead of taking it out. The second I put it back in I noticed a pink light quickly flashed with a slight hum, and it was like I heard the same sound over where Sam is. "Oi! Pay attention, to where you attacked!" I looked back over and noticed two lines, exactly how I attacked, it seemed like when I looked back at them and remembered they existed, they grew brighter and bigger.

"Now strike again, in any way this time, while thinking about those things in the air." I thought about the cuts in the air, and attacked vertically again, clanking my sword against the floor. The cuts from before launched, and a training dummy appeared getting struck by the lines, yet when I did, it almost seemed like the dummy's recoil was slowed as it was flinging back to its original position. I heard clapping, I looked left and noticed the Keeper and Sam both clapping for me, seems like she was done.

"It looked cool!" Sam as usual was hyped up yet something seemed off.

"Hey Sam, did your daggers glow at all?"

"It glew this whiteish color for some reason, yeah" So, it seemed like my attack caused something

"Yes, it makes sense, considering you both manifested the gear in the same place, and at the same time, and don't get me started on the partner link. From what I've seen, whenever either of your weapons glow, it resembles each other, hinting that you can combo off of their attack, think of it as a quicker way to plan attacks, you don't have to use TTS, PTS, or speak at all, the weapons themselves will tell you." I looked at my sword.

"But, I'm using my normal sword still."

"That sword will one day turn into the Star of The Multiverse one, either by manifesting it, or by using the scabbard enough. By the way, both of your weapons and the scabbard have names." I was more focused on the fact that Sam could use her future daggers while I couldn't...it also seemed that she had a sheath on her waste, there weren't even two, only one. "It's called Composer of Fate" I waited for Sam's... "Both of your weapons share the same name, they are the same weapon after all." 

"Huh?" Sam looked at the Keeper.

"Here" They grabbed Sam's daggers and walked over to me, I couldn't tell what they were doing, but it seemed like the daggers molded into a sword. They took my future sword off the wall. "Look" There was a slot in my sword, seemingly meaning my sword was hollow. They held Sam's dagg- well sword now, against the slot, and after some humming, both of ours weapons fuzed.

"Why would we want that, then I don't have a weapon" Sam was rig- no...

"No I don't think so" I looked back at the sniper on the panel "Clearly, the future you changed how your weapons change, considering the sniper is here, it can probably transform."

"Regardless" The Keeper spoke up "The reason why either of you would use this, is because some magic and powers can only be used when the swords are fuzed, after all, your weapons and equipment are from your souls, so fuzing the weapons, fuze the souls as well, making it even stronger. Not like it matters, a DTs weapon can't break unless the user dies" We've heard that last part before, but the weapon fuzing...was certainly new to me. I felt a pain in my eye and held it. It was burning just like when I first got it.

"You alright?" I felt a hand on my shoulder as I held my eye

"I...don't think so" These bursts where my eye would hurt seemed to be the same, the time in between them didn't seem to change...yet I still couldn't tell when it would happen.

"It usually happens when you're straining yourself, has something in your life changed?" The Keeper walked in front of me.

"Well, I'm a DT now...so there's that..." I slowly moved my hand away as the pain seemed to subside.

"Anything else?"

"Well...I guess I don't sing anymore" I could feel Sam perk up as she took her hand off my shoulder.

"Oh? And what does that have to do with straining yourself?" They asked.

"Well...The main reason is that we winged our songs...so we really sang off our emotions"

"Maybe singing again could help, what was the band called?" We never really had one...

"Well...We never really had a theme...so we couldn't make our name based off of it...but, if I had to give the group a name...It would be...Project Projection" I don't know why, but I felt really proud of the name.

"Oh! I get it! We're projecting our feelings with music, so Projection...where'd the Project come from though?" Sam caught on the meaning for the most part.

"Hehe, I guess the name just sounds better with project in front of it." The Keeper seemed to walk off and let us talk.

"I guess...Hey! Where are you going?" They looked back as Sam called out for them.

"Well, you two know Eaxura, so you two can leave whenever, I have nothing more to teach you until you reach a higher status." They continued walking backward.

"What does status have to do with what we know?" The Keeper stopped and looked at Sam.

"Certain ranks are capable of certain things, the uniform for example, wouldn't it be weird if 'recruits' waltzed back to Eaxura in Star of the Multiverse gear? Hell, Lee's Scabbard is risky enough with its power."

"I guess that's a good point" Sam put her new daggers away, though...I don't think they can be called that now considering they were sickles...she didn't have the chain anymore...well...it looks like she doesn't, she now had cloth attached to it, yet it seemed durable, maybe the chain was under it with the cloth on top to look cuter, I wouldn't put it past Sam to do that.

"Now then, I wish you two well, and you should probably come up with an excuse on how you return to wherever you go, after all, I don't think it's a good idea to go where...that thing is" They went back to the stairs and left us be.

"I guess we should come up with one...they're probably looking for us inside that compound, so we need to explain how we got out...we could just tell the truth and exclude the part where we came here, and instead just say we escaped the thing." Sam nodded at my suggestion.

"Yeah, I think that's the best we can do...well, you're the one who knows how to do it...so..."

"Right" I grabbed my sword a swung it out of the scabbard, I swung in the air while thinking back to the facility that we were watching over before, on the hill we were on. After I slashed twice in the air, the portal opened, there was probably an easier way to open one, after all the ships can hop through dimensions without cutting the air...so there was probably something I just didn't know, the sword way was good enough for now though if not dangerous considering I need to be focused. "You first" I took a step beside the portal and gestured my hand towards it.

"Why thank you" She walked inside of it while I readjusted my hat, the thing needed cleaning at this point. 

I joined Sam through the portal, and was met with a destroyed settlement, or at least a heavily damaged one. The walls to it were still intact if not a bit ruined, yet the gate that the others went through at the start was completely destroyed...and yet, it seemed silent, not a single sound could be heard. I wondered what Sam was thinking as she stood where we were earlier, providing cover fire. I could only ask questions in my own mind. When did we wake up? To be this late to the fight, where was everyone, even if I'm not using a sniper or any long-ranged scope to see, I should at least be hearing things...

"Let's head down." I stood beside Sam, while I looked down the mountain.

"Hm" She only nodded and took out her little swords. We both hopped down, sliding down the mountain while using our weapons to keep us steady. A few rocks hit both of us while we made it to the bottom, but we made it all the same. There was a wall in front of us, of course, yet there was a few holes in it, holes that maybe for people as small as Sam and I could fit through, and considering the state of this place, I wouldn't doubt if The Reunion were here. I stood with my back against the wall, bent my knees, and coupled my hands together.

"Come on, I'll boost you in."

"You sure? All this gear is heavy..."

"It can't be that bad." I fidgeted a bit so my legs stayed awake.

"Alright..." She walked up and placed her left foot on my hands, it seemed fine until she placed her right one near the same place.

"I don't think...you're meant to put both on the same area..." The gear must've been a massive weight change considering I could normally pick her up easily.

"I'm sorry..." She pressed her arms on my shoulder as I tried lifting her up, her arms got off me as she grabbed onto the hole...I hope. She placed her legs on my shoulder. "You know...why didn't we just teleport through? I know over would be hard, put what about through this hole?"

"Are you good at darts?" I felt her weight get off so I took a step forward and turned around, she was climbing through the hole, then turned around and extended her hand down for me.

"No."

"So it wouldn't be possible" I ran towards the wall and jumped, I pressed my right foot against the wall to boost myself which worked slightly but only gave a small boost. I reached for her left hand with my right. I missed just barley and was starting to go down, until she reached down more and grabbed my wrist...it kinda hurt, but it was a good catch.

"Gotcha!" She seemed proud of the catch and lifted me up.

"Luckily, even with the gear we barely weigh a thing." We dropped on the other side of the wall and dusted ourselves off.

"Well, your food was surprisingly filling, without doing much harm...wait a sec" She looked over to me. "Why'd you stop cooking, we got to high school and you did it a lot less, only on special occasions."

"Well...I guess I just took less of an interest. Remember Sam, I didn't have parents to help teach me, and getting ingredients...and failing with them, got expensive"

"Right...why didn't you go to an orphanage?" She adjusted the cuffs of her outfit while I patted down my hat, then put it back on my head.

"None I trusted...it always seemed like they were sketchy, I heard there was one that charged the kids every Sunday."

"And if they couldn't pay" I could tell she didn't want the real answer, so I didn't give it, I only shrugged.

"I doubt it's positive" Yet, that slipped out my mouth. "Let's just focus on the positive stuff...actually, why are we doing this now? If you really want, we can just talk after this is over."

"Right, my bad" She seemed to be apologizing a lot more now than when we were human... We walked through the settlement, the small homes that were inside seemed intact, so maybe they didn't lose...yet they seemed to evacuate. No blood, no bodies, no traces of anything, besides for small fires that seemed to be getting bigger as time went on...nothing either of us could do about it, our magic would just make the fire worse. 

"Found ya!" To our left sounded a familiar voice. We both turned but I quickly stepped in front of Sam as I saw Kyle with his axe digging into someone's back.

"give us a sec" I whispered to Sam, she seemed to understand.

"Heard you two went missing on the mountain, so I decided to tag along in the search, but decided to stay after The Reunion started using explosives on the walls." He ripped his axe out of the guy and walked towards us, halfway through he looked confused. "Why is Sa-" He looked at himself  "Oh! I-my bad..." He used his hud and changed into new clothing, I don't think he realized that the body behind him was dissolving.

"Kyle..." I pointed over to the body, he turned around. 

"the fuck?" He was going to walk over to it, but I ran towards him and blocked his path by holding my sword in front of him.

"Don't go towards it, it seems..." I looked at the air slightly above the body. It seemed like small glowing particles were floating somewhere.

Kayla: Lee and Sam! Is this thing getting through yet!?

It had been awhile since I heard from Kayla, didn't expect it to be in my skull though.

Lee: What's wrong?

Kayla: The Reunion were using MEMPs, so the magic turned off. Nicholai and Alice went to turn it off, it seems like they made it

Sam: And the others?

I made sure to keep focusing on the particles, even going as far to follow them, I heard footsteps behind me as Sam subconsciously followed, while Kyle desummoned his axe and made sure to stay ahead of us. I didn't mind that, he could take more hits than us...actually, the stats we have say one thing, yet me and Sam getting knocked out immediately meant another...and the name too, it glitching out and all that with my name...was that menu just a lie? Yet it sensed when I used magic, and from what I heard it did it for Kenneth too in the first timeline, so at least, a part of the menu is false...or true.

Kayla: I think Matt went with Kai and Kenneth after they left looking for you. From what Kyle told me, those turrets did a number on The Reunion, so they were able to leave it to the Settlers for a bit.

Kyle: Yet, none of them returned.

Kayla: Hence, why he's here.

Lee: Not even the settlers are here though.

Kyle: Place was mostly abandoned when I got here, except for a few people who didn't know how to fight.

Sam: So you handled them yourself?

Kyle: There weren't many, but yeah

Sam: That's amazing! I wish I could do that...

Lee: ...Well, you could...yeah...yeah...

Kayla: Lee?

Lee: I'm fine, listen, we're just following this weird particle thing that's in the air 

Kayla: No you don't! Stop right now!

All of us came to a halt, the things in the air kept moving.

Kyle: Woah, what's got your-

Kayla: Listen! Do any of you know about that weird guy? The one that spits out weird poetry...fucking edge lord...

She mumbled the last bit...but you know since it's in our heads we could hear it.

Lee: I think we all do

Kayla: Supposedly, any time any of their men die, they become particles that the edge lord absorbs

It seems like she subconsciously said that last bit.

Sam: So he's here!?

She sounded off, but it made sense, we saw the guy's massive pet thing, see we should've seen this coming

Kayla: Yes! So get out! Kyle, get the settlers to return to Eaxura. Lee and Sam. I'm sending you coordinates to Kenneth, Kai, and Matt...and I'm sending you coordinates to Nicholai and Alice. Whoever you go to first is your choice.

I looked at Sam, she seemed to know what I was thinking.

Lee: We'll sp-

Kyle: No, Partner-link remember? You two have one now, so going on separate missions isn't the best idea

Sam: We barely know how to use it though.

Kayla: Can't learn to use it if you don't try.

Kyle: I'll go to whatever you don't do after I'm done here, it shouldn't take long.

Lee: We'll do Alice and Nicholai then.

Sam: Huh?

Kayla: Leaving your cousin huh?

Lee: No, I know Matt, trust me, he's something, he can handle his own, and Kenneth and Kai are also there.

Kyle: A Prodigy in tech, a District ruler, and a walking nuke...yeah, they'll be fine.

Kayla: Well, there we go then, good luck you three. And get back safe

I guess in this timeline, Kayla kept her job as an operator.

"Alright then, Let's get to it Lee!" On our maps appeared two coordnates, Sam and I started the treck towards Nicholai and Alice's...I haven't even realized we balanced it out. Sam, Me, Alice, and Nicholai make four. Kyle, Matt, Kenneth, Kai make four...I guess it balanced out in the end.

"Alright, alright. Good luck Kyle"

"I'll make it" Kyle began sprinting through the wood as Sam started walking in front of me.

"Come on! Let's go!" I felt uneasy for some reason, Sam felt...like she wasn't being honest with her feelings...like she just flipped a switch and became joyful...whether to interfere with that...I didn't know. Either way, we started the treck, once again to some place we had no idea about. It wasn't far, so it wouldn't take long, but it was getting annoying, having to go place after place, after this, I'm taking a break and resting easy in Eaxura.

"Right, I'm coming..." I took a look back towards the settlement, it seems like everyone had already left, hence why Kyle left as well instead of dealing with the settlers...too bad...this place seemed like a peaceful place to settle down when all of this fighting is over...I haven't even been a part of it for long, and I already feel tired of it...I don't even recall why we're fighting The Reunion if there even was a reason. All my life I was taught to get both sides of a story so I didn't do something I'd regret...yet I've already killed members of The Reunion...getting both sides...may just be impossible.

"Lee!" Sam as well, if I learned that we were killing innocent people, could she handle that knowledge again? Last time...last time was bad enough, it was what gave her the fear of blood...and a life adjustement like that was hard to handle considering the amount of medication she needed... I sighed and turned around back at Sam.

"I know...Let's get this over with."