What Once Was (A Steins;Gate 0 Story)
Chapter 12-The Gift
Disclaimer:I don't own Steins;Gate, only this story...
The next morning, Okabe was jolted awake when he tried to roll over in the bed, only to fall flat on his face on the floor. Now wide-awake, he looked up to see how he had fallen out of the bed. Last time he checked, it had plenty of space. He was more likely to roll into Kurisu than off of its surface. In shock, he examined his surroundings. He had just fallen off of a couch, and it was exactly the same as it always had been. His surroundings, though they were familiar, didn't add up. After going to sleep in Kurisu's bed, it didn't makes sense for him to wake up on the couch he had spent so many nights on in the Lab. How did this happen? Had he switched worldlines while he was asleep? If so, which one was it?
"Whatever is going on, I won't be able to make heads nor tails of it, unless I gather more information about the situation. I should examine things a little bit further before I try to come to any conclusions."
Okabe picked himself up off of the wooden floor, dusting himself off. He went around the room, examining every little detail to see if anything was different than he remembered. All of the inventions were still there, and Daru's computer sat in the same spot it always did. Nothing seemed out of place, that he could tell. It didn't seem like anyone was currently in the Lab except for him, but he thought he heard the faint sound of running water nearby. He decided to investigate the source, moving into the hallway. It seemed to be coming from the bathroom, since the closer he got to it, the more the sound increased in volume.
When he was standing outside the door to the bathroom, he tried the knob and found it to be unlocked. Without a second thought, he grasped for the only clue that something was different so far, turning the doorknob and opening the door. A cloud of steam poured out from the room, obscuring what lay within. Now that the obstacle keeping it in was removed, the steam started to clear, making its way out into the hallway. Within seconds, Okabe's view wasn't obscured, allowing him to see what lay inside.
The shower was running, and Okabe (like the idiot he is) stepped closer, approaching the curtain. He thought some stranger might have broken in and was using their shower, since there were no signs that anyone was visiting. Unfortunately, he had failed to notice the black boots in the corner of the room next to the front door. He jerked the curtain to the side, revealing the one behind it. He stared in shock at the completely nude form of Kurisu, as she screamed in fright. Okabe probably should have gotten out of there at this point, but he was frozen to the spot.
His eyes couldn't help but take notice of her body in all its glory. He really should have been paying more attention to his surroundings, but that was the last thing on his mind. As it was, he saw the fist coming but was not able to move in time, causing him to be hit in the face full force. Her fist impacted right between his eyes, the force of the blow sending him flying into the air, landing out in the hallway, where his skull collided with the wall. He never would have expected her to be that strong, but he didn't have much time to think about it, since he was knocked out instantly upon making contact with the wall.
When he came to, Kurisu (now in her usual outfit) was leaning over him in concern. At first she had been mad, but that emotion had been overwritten with worry, hoping that she hadn't hurt him too badly. His vision was blurry, but he could tell that he was lying down on the couch. After a moment, his vision cleared, but he noticed that he had a major headache. She must have dragged him to the couch while he was unconscious.
"Are you alright, Okabe? I'm sorry for hitting you so hard, but you can't just go barging into the bathroom when someone's taking a shower. Although, some of the blame lies with me, since I really should have locked it. At the time, no one was here, though, so I didn't see any harm in it." She blushed a little, giving him a stern look. "If I had known you would be stopping by, then I definitely would have. What brings you here, anyway? I haven't seen you for months! Not since Mayuri died, at least. I have a hard time believing that your only reason for coming here was to get a peek at me in the shower."
That was a lot to process for someone who had just regained consciousness, but Okabe did his best to sort through what had been said. "This may sound strange, but I didn't come here of my own volition. I don't know HOW I got here, I'm afraid. When I went to sleep, I was in a different location entirely." Okabe struggled to shift into a sitting position, his feet now touching the floor. Kurisu scrunched her face up in confusion, taking a seat next to him on the left side of the couch.
"What do you mean? You're acting kind of strange, Okabe."
"This is so weird. She's acting like she never saw me in the hospital a few days ago! It's like she lost all memory of the time we spent together since I've been back. I suppose this does support my worldline theory, but I should have felt 'Reading Steiner' activate even if I was asleep at the time. I'm not sure what else it could be, though."
Okabe knew that if he explained what had happened to him so far, it might be hard for her to believe, but it was the only thing he could do. What other choice did he have? "Kurisu, if I appear to be acting strange, then there's a good reason for it. I have quite the story to tell you, and while it may sound crazy, it's all true." With that introduction, he began explaining everything that happened since he left up until now. This was becoming tiresome. It seemed like all he was doing these days was explaining where he came from over and over to different people. Over the course of his story, Kurisu's eyes got bigger and bigger until they almost bugged out of her head. If it had been a cartoon, or some other form of animation, then they probably would have. She was surprised, to say the very least.
"You know, if I had heard the same story from anyone else, I wouldn't have believed it. But coming from you, this type of thing makes sense. Ever since the whole incident with Mayuri, my mind is a little more open to accepting the idea that things like this can happen. Before I never would have believed such a thing was possible." She glanced over at his arm, curious about the mark he talked about.
She couldn't see it, since the sleeve of his lab coat was currently covering it. She looked back over to him, eyes sparkling with fascination. "Would you mind if I took a look at this mark you told me about?"
Okabe nodded, "Sure. I don't think you'll be able to find out much about it, but you're welcome to examine it."
Once she got his approval, she rolled up the sleeve on his right arm, revealing the bandages still wrapped around it, along with the constantly glowing orange hourglass mark. She gasped as it was revealed, being more impressive than she thought it would be. It was very interesting to her, since she had never seen anything like it.
While she was doing that, Okabe was still thinking about where he was. Last time he did that, he had seen the divergence number of the worldline. Perhaps if he concentrated hard enough, then maybe he could do it again? He closed his eyes tight and started thinking about the worldline as hard as he could. A series of numbers floated into his mind, providing his desired outcome. Sure enough, they were the same as what he had seen the other day. If he was still on the same worldline, then what had actually happened to him? Kurisu shielded her eyes with her hand like she was blocking out sunlight. It might as well have been the sun, as the glow that was dim at first got so bright that it blinded her.
"Whoa! I don't know what you're doing, but can you turn down the brightness? I can't see anything!" Once Okabe stopped focusing, the light reverted back to its gentle glow. Kurisu frowned at him, obviously not happy that she had the equivalent of a flashlight beam shined in her face. She blinked her eyes and rubbed them, trying to get the dark spots out of her vision. "What did you do just now? It wasn't that bright before, so you must have done something different."
"I'm not 100% certain, but I assume that it happened because I was using its power."
Kurisu raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "That WOULD explain it. Mind telling me what kind of power it has?"
Okabe wished he knew all of the secrets it held, but it seemed that he couldn't access all of it just yet. What he DID know about it, wasn't anything to write home about, despite the usefulness of the function. "While all of its secrets have not revealed themselves to me, there is one use that it has so far. It's the only one I know of, and I only discovered it accidentally when I was in the hospital. Now that I know of its existence, I can access it whenever I deem it appropriate to do so. That is the ability to see the divergence number of the worldline, so I know which one I am currently on. Just now, I was using it to see if I switched worldlines or not."
"That's not the only thing it does, apparently. Now we know that it glows brighter when you tap into its power. Although, if my theory is correct based on the information you have given me, then it has one other power. This one is a big deal if I'm correct. Did you find out if the worldline is different?"
Okabe grinned, proud of his assistant. "The worldline is the same as before, so there's no need to worry. I see that you're the same Kurisu as ever. Coming up with theories before anyone else even has an inkling of what is going on. I suspect that your theory this time may be similar to the one I thought of as soon as I knew that the worldline hadn't changed. There's only one thing that it could be, even if I don't see how such a thing could have happened."
Kurisu's expression turned serious, knowing that this wasn't something to be taken lightly. "The reason I don't remember seeing you for the time you've been here is because…you time traveled. Somehow, and I suspect it had something to do with your mark, you traveled back to before you had even arrived here. That doesn't really explain how you ended up in the Lab, but I don't think that the location is as important as how you arrived."
Okabe nodded, "My thoughts exactly. This has to be the gift our mystery person spoke about in his letter. I suspect that the reason I can see the divergence number is because of the meter's energy that I absorbed. It must have given me this, as well. The gift I have been given is mastery of time!" Okabe grinned even wider than before, truly excited by the thought of all that he could accomplish.
Kurisu, who was still examining the mark on his arm, noticed something that she had missed in her initial examination. She knew that this wasn't something that he would be happy to hear. "Slow down, Okabe. This is probably the last thing you want to hear right now, but I think you need to know this. It appears that the mark functions like an actual hourglass, only it doesn't constantly lose sand. The mark looks like it used to be completely filled in, but now the top right corner isn't filled in. I'm certain that this means that every time you use it, it will deplete. Until it is completely unfilled, at which point, I don't know what will happen, but it's safe to assume your power will be gone. I would advise you to be careful, since we don't know how much energy it takes to use your power. Keep in mind that it's not unlimited, and use it wisely."
Okabe deflated a bit at this news, slumping over on the couch. "Of course in my naivete, I thought that I could simply travel through time whenever I wanted to. One does not gain the power to undo every mistake they make like some sort of god, without there being a downside. Mankind was not meant to wield such a power on a whim."
With everything that had been going on, Okabe hadn't even noticed it, but he could move with no trouble. Kurisu had been watching him though, and could see that he was feeling better. The way he moved made it seem like he wasn't feeling any pain, which clashed with the details in his story. She put an arm around his shoulder, patting him on the back. "Cheer up, Okabe. At least your injuries are healed now! That HAS to be better than being in a wheelchair."
Okabe tested moving his arms around, and other than the headache, which was starting to go away, he felt no pain. "Oh, so they have. I suppose that having all this energy flowing through me must have accelerated my rate of recovery. That would explain why I seemed to be feeling better much faster than the doctor's expected. Instead of 4 weeks, it was 4 days! I guess I won't be needing these bandages anymore." He stood up from the couch. "I'll be right back." He took a trip to the bathroom, unraveling all of his bandages, then taking care of his business, and throwing the strips of cloth into the trash. Fixing his clothes back the way they were, he exited the bathroom, returning to the main area.
"Now that you've traveled back in time, what do you plan to do?" Kurisu inquired, as soon as he walked through the doorway from the hall. Okabe stopped, cupping his chin with his hand in thought. He hadn't planned that far ahead.
"Before I do anything, I need to figure out what day this is."
"According to what you told me, this SHOULD be the day that you arrived."
"I'm not sure if it works that way, since I traveled from another worldline, but I need to be careful not to meet myself. It would cause a paradox, and we definitely don't want that. I need to figure out why I was sent here. I need to go out and take a look around." Okabe decided, preparing to leave. Kurisu stood up as well.
"I'll come with you. We make a pretty good team, you know? Besides, you probably need my help anyway. Right?" While that may have been the case, he knew that she couldn't go with him or it would mess up the future.
"Yes, we DO make a good team, but not this time. No, I'm afraid that you can't come. As much as I would like the company, it would be a very bad idea. Sometime soon, I'll arrive outside your apartment, and you need to take me to the hospital. Just act like you did when you met me this time and it will be fine. It goes without mentioning that you shouldn't tell him about me, so just act like it's the first time you've seen me in a while."
Kurisu was a little disappointed, but even she knew how dangerous it was to mess with the intended order of events. "Alright, I better get going too, if I'm going to pull this off." She walked past Okabe, heading out the door first. "Good luck finding what you're looking for." Okabe followed her out, as they both headed in separate directions. It went unspoken, but he knew that it was the last contact he would have with her for a while. Although Okabe was a little worried about her performance, there was no reason to be. When she saw him lying in the street outside the apartment, the tears came flowing naturally at the horrifying state he was in. Everything from then on happened just like it did before, except that she didn't have to act during it, since her reactions were the same, despite meeting the other Okabe first.
He took a stroll down the sidewalk into the heart of Akihabara, looking for anything that was different than he remembered it. Anything that stood out could be something that would justify him coming back here. Perhaps there was something he needed to see, something that he was unaware of, something that was necessary if he wanted to see the bigger picture. When his walk took him past a certain building, he got a chill down his spine. This happened every time he saw it. The only thought that went through his head was that this was the place that Makise Kurisu was murdered. HIS Kurisu. Even though it was the Radio building, it would always be known for another reason to him. For some reason he felt like facing it this time, so he stared it down head-on. As he took in the sight of the whole building, his eyes slowly reached the top.
The last thing he expected to see was there. He never thought he would see it again, but he had a strong feeling that this was why he was here. The reason he was sent back was to see this. A hidden truth of the world he had jumped to.
On the roof of the building, like it had always been there, was a time machine.
