"What do you think of this Kel?" Elijah asked.

"Clueless. Weak. Rash. Dangerous." Alexander responded bluntly.

They were watching as Kel and his summoned allies were being taken away by the soldiers on the terrorism charges.

"Dangerous? How so?" The Drakon cocked his head curiously.

"He has potential. And potential is dangerous for anyone with the means to take advantage of it. And he isn't lacking the means." The former Emperor explained, leaning against a wall.

"Took us a while to track him down. Caius is keeping an eye on the bastard." His companion commented irritably.

"And unfortunately, the standard execution method is more effective in this timeline. The Thousand Gauntlet could be damaged during the process." Stepping down from the ledge he was using to watch his prey, Alexander paced about quickly.

"Ah, yes…the ol' "microwave magic". My favorite. How about we swipe the Gauntlet and watch the human fry?" Elijah cackled evilly, twirling his spear.

"Unfortunately, Yuna's companion wasn't the only one to integrate themselves into the timeline. The Grand Maester is the second of the Renegades." He mused as he paced.

"It would be imprudent to reveal ourselves to Jager at this point. Father Elijah is formulating a plan to turn him over to our side, but any interference on our part could have severe consequences on his idea." Alexander twirled his double-saber in the air as he went about.

"What about Him? Was the offering delivered?" Elijah broke in suddenly after a moment of thought.

"Yes. Two dozen. Twelve evil-hearted men and twelve virgin women. There are only two more cycles to go before the Master is ready to enter this universe and consume it whole." He responded impatiently.

"…We will need the full Triumvirate for this. The Purgatory aren't strong enough to face the Thousand Gauntlet, despite their immortality and innumerability. We will…silently aid Kel. We will assault their fortress, assassinate the Grand Maester…and finally kill Kel for the Gauntlet." The decision was made finally.

"So that means the two legions given will be combined…that means over three hundred thousand of the Purgatory will assault the fortress." Elijah smiled in anticipation.

"No. We will attack with a force of three hundred. Moving two legions would attract Caius's attention and derail the plan." Alexander shook his head.

"Damn it…I mean, sounds like a great plan. So, should we inform the rest of the Triumvirate of this plan?" Elijah cursed quietly.

"Yes. The boy will survive long enough for us to convince the others. Come." He readied his giant serrated battleaxe and lifted it over his head. With a single swipe he slammed it downwards. Time itself shattered into glass, opening a portal for them to move through.

Elijah cackled in anticipation, giving Kel a final look before he was dragged off and following Alexander into the portal.

It sealed itself after the two entered, the only evidence of their existence here being a large crack in the ground.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

…The Slender Man…

…An insatiable monstrosity that consumes entire universes…

…Nearly unstoppable…

…Immortal…

…More dangerous than any form of life you would find in the folds of the universe…

…The reason why you see him on your planet is because of the echo he leaves on time and space. The death of a universe is not something taken lightly. Children are especially vulnerable to changes in the timeflow. Ripples across the multiverse take his shape, a faceless human body with long arms wearing a black suit. They see him and are compelled to join him. They disappear into the Paradoxial Void, a place of nothingness that cannot be described with words…

…You must live…

…YOU…

…MUST…

…LIVE…

…Hello…Undying Crystal…

…You know me…as Slender Man…

…JOIN ME…

"GAH!" I let out a gasp, awaking just at the last moment.

I had seen him. The faceless monster…the consumer of existence…he had come to me while I slept. Just before he could take me.

I then noticed where I was. Instead of the torture chamber, I had been clothed in my dress once again (even with my cloak) and put in a cell.

"About time you woke up." I heard the strangely familiar voice coming from the cell next to me. I didn't recognize her through the bars, though.

"Gabriella Thomas." She introduced herself with a sigh, taking a puff from her cigarette.

She was in her twenties and definitely military. She wore a deep blue uniform that had several pieces of bullet-proof armor integrated into the design. It also was apparent that she had been tortured for a decent amount of time as well, judging from her scars. Her hair was black, cut short, and left casual in terms of hair style.

"Gabriella…Gabriella…never met anyone by that name…nor did I create anyone…" I muttered, confused at this odd turn of events.

"You will, though. The timeline being altered by those idiots is starting to affect newcomers. I'm from the same place that Elijah and Mat are from. Worked for the government and Weyland-Yutani as a diplomat, interspace policewoman, and a commanding officer." She sighed.

"Mat?! How is Mat here? I didn't create him." I exclaimed.

"Yet you made him into your own image. You were given him by someone else, but you melded him. Changed him. Despite your best attempts to keep him the pure character someone gave you, you changed him in many ways." She explained, taking another puff.

"Where is he?" I asked quickly.

"Captured by the Triumvirate. The minute Elijah gets back from whatever mission he's on, Mat is a dead man. There is no way that Drakon will let him live a second longer." She responded dismissively.

"And there's nothing we can do to change that?" I groaned, gripping the bars tightly.

"There is. Do you see that gun near your cell? They tried to take it from me, but it got wedged in the door." She gestured to the weapon in question.

"What about it?" I asked curiously.

"I want you…to shoot me." She replied simply.

"WHAT?!" I yelled angrily.

"I have a lockpick that can get you out. In exchange, I want you to shoot me." She repeated.

"But WHY!?" I pressed desperately.

"I'm done…done with all this. I've seen too much death…and caused much of it. I'm no use to you, either." She shifted her body, and I saw. By then, tears were running down her face.

One of her legs was useless, put in a makeshift brace made up of bandages. It apparently had been bleeding, because the bandages were blood-red.

"They did that to you?" I gasped.

"No. You did." She replied blankly.

She shifted her leg back and took another puff from her cigarette.

" Your…story ends with this. I was shot in the knee and it was permanently gone. I lost the use of my leg because of it. They simply wanted to torture me some more, so they cut my leg up a little." She explained slowly, her voice breaking.

I could only sit back and close my eyes.

"…I'm sorry." I whispered at just the right volume for her to hear.

"I don't care about it anymore. I just want to die, like I should've died then." She waved my apology off, drying her tears quickly and trying to get her voice back to the normal tone that I had first heard from her.

It was with hesitancy I pried the gun from the jammed door and cocked the hammer back.

"Thank you." She smiled gratefully, and with a shaking hand she slipped a bloody lockpick into my cell through the bars.

"…I…I promise to change your future…Gabriella…" I closed my eyes, choking out the words. I squeezed the trigger three times, and ended Gabriella Thomas's life out of mercy. The moment the third bullet was out, I dropped the gun.

She was still in her lying-down position, with a peaceful look on her face. Her brown eyes were closed.

I took the lockpick and got to work on unlocking the door.

Even for me it wasn't that difficult, and within a few minutes the cell door opened and The Undying Crystal was free once again.

My swordstaff had been unceremoniously left outside the prison room, dumped like a walking stick in a corner.

I reclaimed my favorite object and took off through the Triumvirate's fortress.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

After retrieving my belongings and the Baronocompaso, it was relatively easy to escape the fortress hidden between the folds of time. The Triumvirate's fortress bore the appearance of a unbelievably expansive medieval castle, with hundreds of battlements, towers, and walls that thirty tall men stacked up wouldn't even match half the height. It sat on a island that seemed to float in space itself, and nothing else remained in this small pocket of existence between existences. Even Caius himself would be hard pressed to locate this fortress defended by millions of the Purgatory, but it would take a gigantic force to even hope to take the fortress. I made my way to the very edge of the island in order to escape.

"Hmm…now what? Kel beat me with the damn Thousand Gauntlet, so I'll have to strategize. One…I'll have to locate him, but he'll likely be at the main junction point in time; a thousand years after the destruction of Zanarkand. Two…find a way to overcome the Thousand Gauntlet and retrieve the cursed thing…and three…figuring out what to do with the damn thing afterwards." I mused, standing at the edge.

I lifted my staff and uttered the word I needed.

"Almagest." A shell of black energy formed around me, only to create a white explosion of energy that shattered time itself and created the portal I needed.

While others used their artefacts to travel through time, more experienced and more well-informed users shattered the timeflow itself to create a corridor that would lead to their destination. It prevented anyone from tracking the traveler and was much faster.

I stepped in, the portal sealing behind me and the Triumvirate's fortress finally devoid of the Undying Crystal.