Time Goes On

By:

Mystwalker

A/N: I loved Steins;Gate and couldn't get the idea of this one-shot out of my had (one-shot because I've been awful about continuing fics lately). This fic is set about 22 years after the original Steins;Gate, in 2032, and shows a snapshot of the group's future in the Steins;Gate world line. Enjoy!

Regarding Suzuha, I figured in a normal future she'd end up using her father's surname, since she did start using it in the Alpha world line after finding out who he was.

Disclaimer: I don't own Steins;Gate. I do own Fuyuko and Fumiko though.

It was the last day of school before the summer holiday began and a heat wave had gripped the streets of Akihabara. Okabe Rintarou, now 40 years old, stood in front of the New Future Gadget Lab's A/C and cursed the fact that everything in the lab-slash-house seemed to know to break only when Kurisu was away. He propped himself up against the wall with his arm, pressing his forehead into the sleeve of his lab coat as he raised his new phone to his ear.

"Hello, it's me. The Organization has begun targeting my experiments. I have attempted to reach my assistant and Experiment 03, however it appears they are trapped in a temporal distortion and are unable to respond. Experiments 01 and 02 are currently in a volatile state and react explosively to external stimuli. This may be the last message I send to you. El. Psy. Congroo."

He slipped his phone back into his pocket, letting out a despairing sigh as just below him, the A/C continued to blow uselessly tepid air back into the room.

"My life is over," he muttered, standing in front of the useless breeze.

"Okarin," said Daru from behind him. "Don't you think you might be overreacting a little? Ah, it's hot." He reached up, removing his hat and wiping his forehead with the back of his hand.

"Shut up," said Okabe, turning around and walking over to where his fellow lab member was seated cross-legged on the floor. "I don't want to hear that from someone who took the last working fan for himself."

"Well, assembling a teleporter isn't easy," said Daru, holding up two pieces of the device he was working on and examining their fit. Beside him, the basement lab's one working fan continued to spin, blowing cool air over him. "And are you going to help me with this, or are you just going to complain?"

"Hm," said Okabe, a smirk on his face as he crossed his arms. "A simple task such as assembling Future Gadget 204 does not require the assistance of a mad scientist such as I, Hououin Kyouma."

"Whatever," said Daru, his tone resigned. "You always get like this when Miss Makise is away."

"Oh?" asked Okabe, frowning down at Daru. "Makise? I don't know a Makise. I know two people, my assistant Cristina and Okabe Kurisu. Do you perhaps mean one of them?"

Daru sighed. "Okarin," he said in the tone of someone long-suffering. "You know it's common in America for female scientists to continue publishing under their maiden names."

"Be silent, Lab Member 003!" said Okabe in a commanding voice, holding out one hand. "The name Okabe is only a smokescreen, designed to throw the Organization off of my trail. I hold no attachment to it. Now if Kurisu wished to take on the name of Hououin Cris—."

"—Not going to happen," said Daru, leaning back.

Okabe blinked down at him, cut off in mid-sentence. He opened his mouth to respond, but stopped as he heard the sound of the front door being thrown open upstairs, followed by the sound of shoes hitting the wall as they were discarded hastily. A young girl in a school uniform came flying down the stairs into the Future Gadget Lab, taking them two at a time before sliding down the banister the rest of the way and coming to a stop at the open door.

"Big trouble incoming!" Hashida Suzuha exclaimed, running into the room. Her single braid of brown hair swung behind her like a pendulum. "Yucchi and Micchi are arguing again!"

Daru sat up straight and folded his arms, light reflecting off of his glasses. "Suzuha," he said. "Don't you think you should change out of your uniform?"

"Huh?" Suzuha blinked, looking down at herself. "But Dad, I just got out of school. And I'm wearing cycling shor—."

"You don't know what kind of perverts are running around with a schoolgirl fetish," Daru said. "Trust your father on this. Change."

"But we don't live here," said Suzuha.

Daru smirked, as if anticipating her answer, and reached behind him, pulling up a small backpack and tossing it to her. She caught it in both hands, hugging it close to herself and blinking at him.

"Bathroom is that way," he said, indicating the space behind him with his thumb.

"Mou…" Suzuha let out an annoyed sigh, walking past them and carrying the bag with her. Okabe watched her go, looking back at Daru when he heard the click of the door closing.

"Hypocrite," he said.

"You're the last person I want to hear that from," said Daru.

Upstairs, the front door slammed open again. Okabe cringed, flinching back and throwing his arm up to protect his face as the sound of angry voices filled the stairwell. As footsteps began to descend, the words of the argument started to become clear.

"I still can't believe you did that!" said one angry female voice. "What the heck is wrong with you?"

"I was protecting you," said another voice, very similar to the first but significantly less angry. "He had impure designs."

"He was just asking me on a date!" said the first girl. "Finally! And you ruined everything!"

"Hmph," said the second girl, a hint of self-satisfaction in her tone. "He wasn't good for you anyway."

"I can't believe you!" Angry footsteps descended the next few steps, and a young girl in the same school uniform as Suzuha appeared in the doorway. She was slender and fine-featured, the same as her mother, but with her father's brownish-gold eyes. Long black hair fell down her back almost to her waist.

"Mo—," she began, then stopped, looking around the lab. Her eyes fell over Okabe, still shrinking back from the doorway and Daru, watching her from the floor, and her shoulders slumped slightly. "Oh, that's right," she said. "Mom left this morning. Mou, why couldn't she have taken me instead of Shuntaro?"

Okabe cleared his throat. "The—uh—the Organization had set it up so that your brother's elementary school let out two days before yours," he said. The girl's eyes turned towards him, narrowing in a familiar expression that almost made him forget she wasn't Kurisu. He took a step back anyway, keeping his arms raised. "Is—uh—is there something wrong…Exp—Fuyuko?"

"Something wrong?" asked Okabe Fuyuko, eyes narrowed. "My sister—." She shook her head, changing her mind. "Your daughter—." She shook her head again, whirling around and pointing at the stairwell. "Okabe Fumiko is a delusional maniac!"

The delusional maniac in question blinked in apparent surprise, one hand on the banister as she paused at the foot of the stairs. In height and appearance, she looked identical to her sister, except for the trench coat hanging over her school uniform and the cap on her head.

"I'm not a maniac," she said. "And my name isn't Okabe Fumiko. It's F, and I am all top three greatest detectives in the world."

"Oh, you're an F, alright!" said Fuyuko, rounding onto her sister.

"F, what is wrong with Expe—your sister?" Okabe asked, quickly changing the last few words as Fuyuko glared back at him. Still standing on the stairs, Fumiko gave a dramatic sigh.

"She's upset because I interrupted a plot by a criminal organization to use her against me," she said. "Their agent was very cunning. She got attached."

"He wasn't an agent!" said Fuyuko. "He was just a boy, and you're just insane!"

"I have evidence!" said Fumiko, reaching for her phone and scrolling through the pictures. "See? Here he is meeting with his organization behind the schoolyard. They have meetings three times a week."

"It's swim practice!" said Fuyuko. "He's the captain of the swim team!" She let out a long sigh, pressing her face into her palm. "I can't believe I'm still having this conversation with you…"

"The swim team is just a cover-up," said Fumiko, stepping into the lab. "It's not even a very good one. Ten years without a victory?"

"Just because they're a bad swim team, doesn't mean—," Fuyuko sighed, shaking her head and folding her arms. Her shoulders slumped in resignation. "Forget this. This isn't getting anywhere. I'm just going to go cut all of my hair off so I don't look like you anymore!"

"Ah, then you'll look like me," said Okabe, almost casually.

"I—uh—I'll dye it, then!" said Fuyuko. "I'll dye it pink!"

"Faris will be so happy," said Daru.

"Then I'll—I'll—!" She balled up her hands into fists, then defeated, turned around and stormed past her sister, heading towards the stairs. "Forget it! I'm going to my room! Don't try to follow me!"

"You'd think the legendary warrior Foxfire would be more controlled," said Fumiko, letting out a sigh.

"And don't use my in-game name in public!" Fuyuko shouted from the top of the stairs.

The door slammed again, and then it was quiet. Okabe listened to his daughter's footsteps as they faded away, slowly relaxing. Across from him, Fumiko let out an exasperated sigh, leaning against the wall and folding her arms. "Teenage girls are so moody," she said.

"Oi, Fumiko-chan," Daru muttered. "What do you think you are? A fish?"

"No," said Fumiko, her eyes lighting up as she grinned. She pushed away from the wall, facing them. "I told you already, Uncle. I'm an ace detective!"

Okabe stepped forward, his expression solemn as he placed a hand on Fumiko's shoulder. "Agent F," he said. "I take that outburst to mean that you have successfully distracted the Organization agent targeting your sister?"

"Of course," said Fumiko, grinning. "Mission accomplished."

"Good work, Experiment 01," said Okabe, nodding. "As a reward, you may have the last two puddings in the refrigerator upstairs. Don't tell your mother."

"Yes, sir!" said Fumiko, raising her hand in salute before hurrying up the stairs. Okabe watched her go, listening as the door opened and closed again.

"I told you," said Daru from behind him, now going back to work on Future Gadget 204. "You were the last person I wanted to hear that from."

"Is it over?" asked Suzuha from behind them, finally stepping out from the bathroom. She was dressed now in a dark-colored long-sleeved shirt and a pair of knee-high shorts. As Okabe watched, she dropped her backpack on the ground, coming to sit cross-legged next to her father and start looking over the pieces in front of him. Daru glanced at her as she picked up two pieces and a screwdriver, starting to work on putting them together.

"You were in there a while," he said.

"Can you blame me?" Suzuha asked with a grin, looking through the pile for a screw. "Ah, the wires got all tangled up while I was gone!"

"Blame Okarin," said Daru.

"Uncle…" Suzuha began.

"Silence," said Okabe. "It wasn't me. It was the Organization. They possessed Experiment 03 and brainwashed him to come downstairs and start touching things against our orders."

"Meaning that Shun-kun started trying to help," said Suzuha, sighing as she pushed a few loose strands of hair out of her face. "Alright!" she said, rolling her sleeves up. "Let's do this!"

"Hm," said Okabe, turning to the side.

The phone in his pocket buzzed twice, a sound that echoed through the room. He reached for it, opening up a message from Kurisu.

His eyes widened as he read what was on it, all the color draining from his face. Daru looked up as he walked over to the nearby couch, plopping down onto it and lowering his head.

"Something wrong?" Daru asked.

"I told you," said Okabe. "My life is over." He reached out, handing Daru the phone.

Daru frowned, glancing down at it. There were three messages from Kurisu there, all arriving at once. The first was a picture that showed a red-haired boy, about nine years old, peering excitedly out the window of an airplane. The second was a response to an earlier message. He read it.

If you're asking me whether Shuntaro and I made it to our hotel safely, the answer is we did. He's asleep now. Sorry, I didn't let you know sooner. There were complications. Speaking of which…hypothetically speaking

The message stopped there. Daru's frown deepened as he clicked through the phone, opening the third text.

How would you feel if I told you we might be starting Experiment 04?