As Rembrandt leapt into the unstable vortex Quinn felt as though he wanted to scream, but much like when he last saw Wade he could do nothing but watch. Being trapped in the body of a fraternal double was a torture he wished on no one. He knew the last of his family didn't make the slide, and it made his already aching heart break all over again. He had promised to get them home, but he failed them. Soon the world around him grew dark, swallowing him until he was surrounded by an endless expanse of nothing.

That was when he felt it, his mind shifting, memories rushing through his mind. He recalled the world's they visited shortly after meeting Logan St. Clair. A world with potions and magic, a world with sentient fire and giant slugs. A world with a group of misfits who could enter dreams. When had their adventure shifted to concepts so foreign and unbelievable? Most importantly, why had he stopped noticing it until now? Perhaps it was because he still had his family to help him through it all. That was, until he didn't anymore.

How could everything fall apart so quickly? They landed on a world that was in the path of several pulsars. It was on this world on the brink of doom that Quinn watched the professor turn into a miserable excuse of his former self. He was attacked by Rickman and left permanently brain damaged, barely able to speak simple words. Then he was shot, murdered saving the life of the man who stole him from his home.

It was here that he felt his first significant change. He felt an attraction to Maggie, one so strong he would take her regardless of her relationship with Jensen, a man he would otherwise respect. He knew he shouldn't feel this way, after all what about Wade? Yet he didn't care, and it haunted him now that he realized it. Why didn't he care? The thought alone made him sick.

A few worlds later Quinn learned his double, the one who helped him to solve the GUT equation had gone insane with guilt. He was responsible for the Kromagg Dynasty's ability to slide. His world was destroyed and his family lost. Even he wasn't spared a dark fate. But this made no sense. The Kromagg Dynasty Quinn remembered meeting were not just getting on their feet. Even Mary had mentioned being raised by the Kromaggs since her youth. Was it possible this Quinn gave the equation to a parallel non-sliding Kromagg civilization or was he just insane over the loss of his family and world?

Eventually Quinn was able to get Rembrandt and Wade home. The professor in his dying breath asked him to get them home and Quinn had peace knowing he fulfilled that request. He stayed behind with Maggie and Rickman died trying to chase after them. Now all he had to do was make it back to earth prime himself. Not that his home resembled what it had been originally, something else he failed to realize at the time. Why now did he notice these things, when nothing could be done about it?

Thinking back, the next blow came when Quinn finally made it home months later. He learned he had not only lost his homeworld to the Kromaggs but he had also lost Wade. Because of his damned invention, his world was taken. Because of his damned invention, he lost Wade. Sent to a Kromagg breeding camp. Who knows what they did to her there. The things she was forced to do.

It was all his fault. He sent Wade and Rembrandt into this hell. The previous peace he felt at fulfilling the professors' dying wish was shattered. Tarnished as he imagined the horrors Wade felt at this moment.

Reunited with his mother he then learned he wasn't even from earth prime to begin with. The first good news in a while, he had a brother and parents out there, he would find them and save earth prime.

But, something was wrong here. The Kromaggs, they weren't the same ones he met before. They were different, everything was different. He even began to care less and less about Wade's predicament. He was prepared to abandon her. Then, after believing he found his real parents and true home, he lost Colin too.

It was all thanks to Dr. Oberon Geiger and his Combine machine. Colin had become unstuck, trapped forever in an endless slide. Quinn himself became trapped in the body of a double, forced to take a backseat and watch helplessly.

They found Wade inside a Kromagg lab, hooked up to electrodes, and trapped inside a high tech sarcophagus. Her forehead was removed, her brain showing for all to see. She was mutilated, being used by the Kromaggs as some kind of computer. Worst of all he was forced to sit back and watch as they left her. He could do nothing, say nothing. He couldn't even say he was sorry.

He had lost them all. He constantly promised to get them all home and he failed. The professor was killed, Wade was mutilated, Rembrandt may not have survived the journey through the unstable vortex, and Quinn himself was trapped in the body of another. He lost his world, he lost Colin, he lost everything.

He brought doom to them all. It was his fault, all his fault. All he had left was the insufferable darkness that weighed upon his shoulders. The waters that pulled him down as he struggled to swim.

With desperation, he reached out to the last bit of light he saw. A speck of light in the pit of unending darkness. He needed to reach it, he needed to escape. He needed to make a difference.

"Mr. Mallory! Are you paying attention?"

"...Professor?"

"...Professor?" Quinn asked, blinking rapidly as light and color once more surrounded him. In front of him stood none other than Professor Maximillian Arturo, book open as he skimmed through the pages. On the cover he saw the title, The History of the Crimson Order. A quick look around revealed they were standing in a hotel room. Wade and Rembrandt were also present, watching the professor with interest.

Arturo regarded Quinn with a hint of annoyance, looking up at him for a brief moment before turning his attention back to the book as he spoke. Quinn just stared back at him, his mind unable to comprehend what he saw before him. The professor didn't seem to notice.

"Mr. Mallory, would you do me the courtesy of paying attention? As I already said It would seem on this world the many religions we are familiar with, such as Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism...none of them exist. They may have at some point in this world's history, but as of now, they cannot be found in any texts or records. The only religion I can find seems to be this cult that refer to themselves as the Crimson Order."

Quinn heard the words but they didn't register, his mind running on overdrive. This couldn't possibly be happening. They were all dead, he was trapped in his double's body. How could he suddenly be here, standing before them? He lifted his own hands, staring at them in disbelief.

"Mr. Mallory?" Arturo looked up from the book once more, his annoyance vanishing and his tone carrying concern as he finally noticed something was off with his prized pupil. Quinn snapped out of his stupor, unaware that a look of horror had moments ago washed over his face.

He felt tears threaten to fall from his eyes, his wild gaze shifting between each of them as his body began to tremble. He felt a great weight crushing his soul, while a fire also burned in his chest. They couldn't be real, this must be just another Kromagg mind trick. He wouldn't play these monster's games. He took a single step back, his shaking growing more sporadic as he found it harder to breath.

"No, No you're all dead!" he screamed, wildly pointing a finger at them as he took another quick step away from them. Their eyes widened in surprise at the outburst, his back slamming into the wall as he attempted to make as much space between them as he could. Arturo was the first to move forward, reaching out to the young genius in an attempt to help him, but this caused him to only yell louder.

"Stay back! You're not my professor! You're not my Rembrandt! You're not my Wade!"

"Quinn?" Wade asked with a broken voice, reaching out for him. He flinched, causing her to lower her arm.

"We won't hurt you, Mr. Mallory. Please, calm down" Arturo said softly, putting his hands up in a placating gesture.

"Yeah, Q-ball, we're your friends. What's going on man?" Rembrandt asked nervously.

"You're not my friends! You're all dead! This is a lie, some Kromagg trick!" Quinn snapped at them, his voice filled with fury. "If I'm in my own body then I must have never merged with my fraternal double. Was that whole year a lie?!"

"Kromaggs? What the devil are the Kromaggs?" Arturo asked, doing his best to remain calm so he may help his student through this apparent panic attack. He looked to his fellow sliders, the three of them looking to each other in obvious fear.

"We've never come across something called a Kromagg, Q-ball" Rembrandt added.

"Lies!" Quinn replied with a loud growl, "how much of what I'd experienced actually happened? Is Rembrandt really dead? Was Wade really mutilated?! Where are Colin and Maggie?!"

"We aren't Kromaggs, Quinn. Please, what's going on? Who is Colin? Why would Maggie be here?" Wade asked, trying to keep her voice calm. However, it broke a few times, unable to handle seeing Quinn like this.

Ready to explode on them once more Quinn opened his mouth, only to stop as he heard loud beeps coming from within his jacket pocket. He reached inside, pulling out the last thing he expected to see again. The original timer, the Motorola MicroTAC Ultra-Lite cellular flip phone model. The numbers seemed to fluctuate for a moment, changing rapidly before going back to normal. 5 Hours 43 Minutes 22 Seconds showing on the display.

"What happened?" Arturo asked, eyeing the timer.

"I don't know," Quinn answered calmly for the first time, staring at the timer intently. "It just went haywire for a moment. But this isn't right, where's the Egyptian timer? Where am I? Why do I have this?"

Before anyone could respond the timer once again began fluctuating, the numbers rapidly rising and falling. Quinn suddenly felt nauseous, a pounding headache overtaking his senses. He fell to his knees, grabbing his head as the timer fell from his grip.

His friends were by his side in an instant, grabbing his arms to prevent him from falling face down.

"Quinn, what's happening? Are you okay?" Wade asked, terror lacing her voice.

He tried to answer her, but even looking in her direction made him feel sick. Everything was spinning, blood leaking from his nose.

"That's it, I'm gonna find a doctor" Rembrandt hastily told the group, rising from his position beside Quinn. Arturo was quick to take his place.

"Just stay calm, Mr. Mallory. Everything is going to be alright. We're right here with you, my boy."

No, everything was not alright, it would never be alright again. His mind harkened back to their deaths, their voices growing further away as he finally fell unconscious.

"I don't believe it. I mean what kinda world doesn't have doctors?" Rembrandt asked exasperated.

The former singer searched the streets relentlessly after Quinn's earlier ordeal while the others had been able to get him over to a bed to lay him down. They were thankful that the young genius was finally calm, but concerns still remained about his possible condition.

"This one apparently," Arturo answered, turning to his friend as he continued, "Now let's not overreact. It's entirely possible Mr. Mallory simply had a mental breakdown."

"Oh yeah?" Wade cut in, "Then how do you explain the timer going haywire right as Quinn began to lose it, or the nose bleed? Something isn't right here, professor."

It was then that Quinn began to stir. He heard their voices, opening his eyes to see Wade kneeling next to the bed, applying a wet towel to his forehead. Arturo stood at the foot of the bed, Rembrandt sitting in a nearby chair. Upon opening his eyes, Arturo turned to face him. Wade quickly turned to him as well, her face lighting up as she saw he was awake.

"Quinn, thank god. Are you alright?" She asked, placing a hand on his cheek.

He didn't respond. Instead he just stared at her, taking in her eyes, her face, her hair. She was alive, untouched. But this couldn't be his Wade, he knew what happened to his Wade. Or did he, considering it may have all been a trick. How much was a lie? What was real and what wasn't?

Looking into her eyes he found he couldn't break the contact. He felt so much guilt. She had been taken by the Kromaggs, touched, raped, mutilated. Turned into a weapon against her will. Had he really tried hard enough to save her?

"Quinn?" She whispered, not breaking eye contact with him. Arturo and Rembrandt watched silently, eyeing each other briefly before turning back to watch the two.

He hated himself for it. For not saving her, for not trying hard enough to find her. Even now he realized she had always been more than a best friend to him. Yet he had grown to care less and less for her situation as time went by, one he had put her in thanks to his timer. He couldn't even understand his thought process. In what universe would he abandon his friend when she was in danger? It just didn't make sense, yet he had done just that.

"I'm sorry" he whispered to her, tears spilling from his eyes as he reached out and placed a hand on her cheek. She swallowed at the touch, watching him intently.

"I'm so sorry, Wade." Even if she wasn't real. Even if she was some Kromagg trick, he needed to tell her. "I didn't save you. I couldn't save you. I lost you, all of you, because of my stupid invention"

His voice broke as he spoke. Wade was speechless, she didn't even know what he was talking about. However, she had no doubt he experienced whatever it was he apologized for. Even if she couldn't make any sense of it.

Before she could come up with something to say Arturo spoke up, his voice filled with disgust.

"Stupid invention? Mr. Mallory, your timer is absolutely remarkable! The product of a brilliant mind!"

Quinn turned to regard the professor then, finally breaking his contact with Wade.

"My remarkable invention stole you from your homes, got you all killed. Lead to the destruction of Earth Prime!" He yelled, breathing heavily as his failures ran through his tired mind.

"Were it not for sliding I would be dead!" Arturo countered, "alone, at that! Because of you I not only have a chance at life, but a family!" He gestured to the other sliders.

"What are you talking about?" Quinn asked in a defeated tone. "all sliding lead to was your murder. You were shot, professor, dying to save me."

"I am very much alive, my boy, thanks to you," Arturo calmly replied.

"Yeah Q-ball, don't you remember? The professor came down with a terminal illness, but we landed on that world with the medical tools to save him. If he never slid he'd have died for sure back on our Earth"

"and that's not all," Arturo added, " We saved the world ravaged by the Q. We saved a world destined to be destroyed by an asteroid. We've saved countless lives, and it's all because of your invention!"

"A more recent example could be the world with the pulsars" Rembrandt chimed in, causing Quinn's head to snap in his direction.

"What?"

"The world that was in the projected path of several pulsars. Were it not for you, many would have lost their lives to that terrible disaster" Arturo replied.

"What day is it, what year?" Quinn asked, eyes wide. "What happened to Maggie, Jensen, or Rickman? You weren't attacked, professor?"

"Relax Mr. Mallory, we will answer your questions" Arturo replied, trying to keep Quinn calm, "We worked with Mrs. Beckett and Dr. Jensen to slide people off-world to survive the pulsar's radiation. Nobody attacked me, and we never met someone named Rickman. The exact date is October 18th, 1996"

"Impossible," Quinn said breathlessly, "it should be February 2000. Not only that, we landed on pulsar world February 21st 1997. By your account, we landed there too early!"

The room fell silent, the sliders looking at Quinn with confusion and astonishment. After collecting himself, Arturo spoke.

"Mr. Mallory, perhaps we should start at the beginning?"