A/N: Hi everyone! Here's chapter 27 hehe, the group finally makes it to the future and it's um…not quite what they expected! They run across a few people they weren't expecting to meet and notice some very strange things. Anyway I hope you all enjoy~!

—

" A-Are you kidding?" Ezio asked shakily as everyone just stared at him, he was their way home? This entire time it was him?

" Seriously?! The gutless wonder is the one who can take us back?!" Josslyn shouted in shock, Ezio blinked and turned to look at the pink haired girl.

" 'The gutless wonder'?!" He nearly shouted before the Witch Queen held up her hand to quiet the two down.

" I'm not kidding, and yes Ezio is the key to getting you all home. But right now the only ones going back are the ones I said, the rest of you will be staying here." The Witch Queen said as she walked away and sat back down.

" So, how does his magic work now?" Vanessa asked curiously.

" It works the same as it did before, just now he can go across space and time, but he has the same limitations as normal spatial mages." The Witch Queen explained, Finral frowned a bit.

" Then how can he go across space and time if he can only go to places he's been before?" He asked curiously, she sighed and glared slightly at him.

" Don't you think that's something Ezio should figure out for himself?" She asked sternly, Finral immediately stood up straight and nodded. " Now, don't you think it's time to start the mission?" She asked Julius curiously.

" Yes I think you're right," Julius turned to Ezio. " We'll discuss more about your magic when everyone gets back." He added with a smile, Ezio nodded.

Everyone stood up from their seats and followed Julius to the castle's basement. Everyone was nervous even if they wouldn't admit it. They had no idea what they could be walking into, they could walk into this grand and amazing future, or they could be walking into the one from Miku's memory. As Julius opened the door to the basement everyone stood around amazed at how much stuff was inside. There were books, scrolls, gadgets, everything you could have ever imagined.

" Here's the Time Gate." Julius said as they approached it.

It wasn't big nor was it small, what one could assume was the entrance was circular, there was an archway above it with writing that no one recognized. On the right side there was a panel big enough for someone to place their hand, and from what the Witch Queen said that person would have to be Ezio.

" So this is it?" Yami asked with a frown. " It looks like it could crumble at any minute." He muttered but Julius shook his head with a small laugh.

" It won't don't worry, it's as sturdy as the Castle itself." Julius assured them as he walked up to it. " Now from what the Witch Queen told us, all Ezio has to do is place his hand here and the portal will open." Julius added as he inspected the panel.

" Um question," Ezio started as he raised his hand. " How do I send them back to the right time? I mean, what happens if I accidentally send them too far or to soon?" He asked, Julius frowned a bit.

" I assume it works like your spatial magic," he told the pink haired boy. " So just think of the place you want to send them like you would any other time." He added with a small smile, Ezio looked back at the Wizard King nervously before nodding.

" O-Okay." He muttered before he approached the panel.

Yami turned away and looked at the people beside him. William, Charlotte, Hikari, and Alistar all had this steely, determined look on their faces. He was glad to see they were taking this just as seriously as he was, but he couldn't help but wonder if they were a little nervous, or uncertain, by what they were about to see.

" You alright, Prickly Princess?" He asked, Charlotte turned to him and nodded.

" I'm fine, just, there's something bugging me." She muttered softly, Yami frowned.

" What's bugging you?"

" I don't know," She admitted with a frown herself. " I just feel like something is about to change." She added with a small shrug, Yami nodded.

" Hopefully it'll be a good change." He said as the portal suddenly opened, everyone stared at it in amazement, including Ezio who was surprised at himself.

" Alright everyone," Julius said as he turned to the five. " I don't think I have to tell you to be careful when you go to the future, we have no idea what you're walking into and if it's anything like Miku's memory then it won't be pretty and it'll be very dangerous. You'll only have 2 hours before you have to come back since that's all Ezio can manage right now. Take these so you can communicate with each other if you get seperated." Julius added as he handed them Magical Communication devices.

" Now be careful and come back safely. That's an order." Julius said with a warm smile. Yami, Charlotte, William, Hikari, and Alistar all saluted him.

" Yes, sir!" They said in unison before they turned back to the portal. The group looked at each other for a minute to make sure they were all ready, when everyone nodded they each walked through the portal.

—

The group looked around as they walked through the portal. They were in the basement of the Clover Castle. Except this time it was pitch black, and no one was there.

" Is this the right place?" William asked curiously as he looked around.

" It better be otherwise Taxi Jr's got some explaining to do." Yami muttered as he looked around as well, Hikari shook her head.

" No this is the right place, we're in Clover. Our Clover." She explained as she took a couple of cautious steps forward.

" Why did he send us to Clover instead of Spade?" Alistar questioned curiously as he followed behind, Charlotte placed a thoughtful hand under her chin.

" Maybe there's a Time Gate in each country?" She suggested. " If there's one in Clover and one in Spade, who's to say there isn't one in Diamond and Heart as well?" The others looked at each other, none had considered that possibility before.

" That could be entirely possible, but for what reason would each Kingdom need them?" William asked curiously, that was the big question on everyone's mind.

" We can ask Julius and the Witch Queen about that later, right now let's just focus on the mission at hand." Yami muttered as he led the group quietly up the stairs.

As Yami opened the basement doors and looked around he noticed it was eerily dark and quiet. There wasn't a soul in sight. If this was supposed to be Clover Castle then there should be lots of people going around being busy, but Yami didn't see or sense anyone.

" Do you think we're too late? That the darkness Miku saw in her memories is already here?" Charlotte asked quietly as the group creeped along.

" It appears that way," Alistar whispered back. " But if that's the case then where is everyone? In Miku's memories everyone had turned on each other and were like these strange monsters, but I don't see any." He muttered, Hikari nodded in agreement.

" I don't sense any strange Ki around the area either, maybe everyone was able to evacuate?" She asked but Yami shook his head.

" No. There are people here, I think they're being told to avoid us." Yami said and William frowned.

" 'Being told'? As in, you think there's someone giving them orders?" He asked curiously, Yami nodded before they all froze in place. There were people nearby. Yami and Hikari could sense their Ki, while the others their mana. The only problem was they were in two seperate directions, but they were very strong.

" Which way do we go first?" Hikari asked, the stronger mana was to their left while the weaker mana was to their right. The group looked at each other.

" Maybe we should split up?" Alistar suggested, the others looked at him. " You three can go towards the stronger area, and Captain Vangeance and I can go towards the weaker area." He added but Hikari shook her head.

" No! There's no way we're splitting up!" She argued in a hushed tone. Alistar sighed.

" Then do you have a better idea? What if it's a person hiding over there and someone finds them before us and they get killed?" Alistar argued. " Or what if that person with lots of mana suddenly disappears?"

" It's stupid to split up! What are you going to do if this is a trap?" She asked, and the white haired shrugged.

" Then I'll just lose control again and that should take care of it." He said dead pan, causing Hikari to glare at him.

" I'm serious!" She nearly shouted when she and Alistar suddenly felt someone grab the top of their heads tightly. When they looked up they noticed it was Yami.

" How about you both quit arguing for two seconds before I make you?" He suggested in a low growl, both kids immediately went quiet. Yami let out a sigh before turning to Charlotte and William.

" What do you two think?" He asked, the other Captains looked at each other before turning back to Yami.

" They both make good and valid arguments," William pointed out thoughtfully. " It could be a trap, or it could be people that are hiding, or it could be both. We won't know until we see it for ourselves."

" I think Alistar's right. It may be stupid to split up, but what other choice do we have? We have our communications devices in case we need each other, and this is what we've been training for. So I think it'll be okay." Charlotte said thoughtfully, Yami nodded, so the Sukehiro's began to go towards the left as the Vangeance's went towards the right.

" Alistar." Hikari said softly as she reached out and grabbed his arm. This wasn't like her, they've split up before on missions. But there was just something different about this time, maybe it was because she was afraid he would accidentally lose control again?

" It's okay Hikari, we'll meet up back here once we find who that mana belongs to. I promise." He said with his usual warm smile, Hikari still didn't look reassured. " I'll be fine. I'll come back safe and sound as I normally do, besides my father's going to be with me so you don't have to worry."

" Go. The quicker we go, the quicker we'll come back." He told her light heartedly as he turned around and began to walk away. Hikari watched as he disappeared into the darkness with William.

" Let's go Hikari." Charlotte told her 'daughter' gentlh, the dark haired girl nodded and slowly turned around and followed behind her 'parents'.

—

Alistar frowned as he walked alongside his 'father'. He was beginning to feel paranoid. First the Witch Queen telling him that not everyone would make it out of this alive when they first met, then Captain Roselei saying something was bugging her before they walked through the portal, and now Hikari was acting strange. It was making him anxious.

" It's okay to be nervous, Alistar." William told him gently, Alistar nearly jumped, apparently he could sense his unease.

" Are you nervous?" He asked, in the future, he and his 'father' had these types of talks many times, and William always responded the same way.

" I'm always nervous before a battle, but the key is to not let it show." William explained with a soft chuckle, Alistar nodded and chuckled himself, his father really hadn't changed.

The two walked on cautiously for a few more minutes, the mana steadily getting stronger, but they still hadn't run across an enemy yet. Which just made the two more anxious, and it didn't help that the only light they had was from the moon outside.

William suddenly stopped and held a hand up to stop Alistar as well, he silently pointed to the door to their left. That was where the mana was coming from. Alistar nodded and they both pulled out their grimoires and stood in a defensive position. William used his tree magic to make a limb that would pull open the door, and on the count of three, he and Alistar nodded at one another as William opened the door.

Inside was a small girl, crying and shaking, she looked up at them, her purple and amber eyes wide in fright. Alistar blinked immediately recognizing her.

" Kya?" He asked quietly, his eyes wide in surprise, he had thought she had died along with the rest of her family!

Kya Grinberryall, the youngest of the Grinberryall's and the second daughter to the King and Queen, stared up at the Vangeances. She quickly jumped up and flew straight into William's arms.

" Uncle William! You're finally here!" Kya cried as she hugged him, Alistar noticed his 'father''s face grow red as he quickly pulled away.

" Kya, this isn't my father. Well, it is but it's his past self." Alistar said with a small laugh, the young girl frowned in confusion.

" What do you mean?" She asked, Alistar sighed before he grabbed the young girl, stood her up, and held onto her hand.

" I'll explain as we walk, it's too dangerous here and it's a very long story." Alistar told her, he held out a hand to help William up, and he took it gladly.

" Okay. Oh! But we need to find Kito first; he's in danger!" She said quickly before taking off down the hallway. Alistar and William looked at each other before quickly following behind her.

—

Yami, Charlotte, and Hikari slowly and cautiously made their way down the hall towards the strong area of mana. They all noticed how, even as they grew closer to it, there were still no enemies. Either they weren't in the Castle, or they were hiding until given orders like Yami had said. As they grew closer to the area he and Charlotte both noticed they were headed towards the throne room.

" So, this is where they decided to hold up?" Yami muttered as he looked up at the doors. " They really want to make sure we know they rule the Kingdom now." He muttered.

" It appears that way," Charlotte said with a sigh. " Keep your guard up, we don't know who's in there, but with how strong this mana is, it's pretty much certain they're the ones behind all of this." She added, Hikari and Yami nodded in agreement before slowly pushing open the doors.

As the trio entered the throne room they noticed it was just as dark as the rest of the Castle, but from what they could see being shone by the moonlight, the throne room was completely trashed. Bricks and stones were damaged, a pillar was almost completely knocked out, and the windows were all completely blown out.

A fierce battle must've taken place.

As they walked further and further inside they noticed someone sitting on the throne. They frowned when the light directly shone onto them.

" Kito?" Hikari said in confusion, Charlotte and Yami looked at her.

" You know him?" Charlotte asked, Hikari nodded.

" That's Kito Grinberryall, he's Yuno and Neva's son." She explained, as the boy gently raised his head Yami and Charlotte could see he looked nearly identical to his father, except for the platinum blonde hair.

" Hey kid, what are you doing up there?" Yami asked as he began to approach the young boy, but Charlotte grabbed his arm.

" Wait a second Yami, wasn't he supposed to be dead in Miku's memories?" She asked, Yami frowned, he couldn't recall Yuno explicitly saying that, but he remembered it was almost implied.

" Kito, how did you manage to get all the way here from Spade?" Hikari suddenly asked with a frown, the boy stood up from the throne and walked towards them. As he did Hikari's eyes widened and she pulled out her Katana, causing Yami to pull out his and Charlotte to pull out her grimoire.

" That's not Kito. At least not completely. That's his Ki but it's also someone else's which means-." She started but was cut off by 'Kito'.

" That means he's possessed." The boy finished, his voice changing from that of a child to an adult. Kito's body also began to morph and change, it grew to the size of a young adult, his hair turned stark white and slightly flared out, his amber eyes suddenly became as dark as knight, his ears grew pointed, and out from behind the throne a large white viper with red eyes appeared.

This wasn't Kito, it was a devil!

" We've been expecting you, although you are a bit late." The devil said lazily as the Viper came and stood next to him. " Ah, I guess I should introduce myself. Although I don't see much point since you won't be alive much longer." He muttered.

" My name's Botis, the White Viper devil, and I'm here to rule your precious Kingdom, and end your pathetic little lives."