Chapter 138: Time Paradox

Adrian slowly raised himself off the floor, groaning in pain, keeping his eye on Slender as the faceless one impersonated the former Blacklight weilder,

"What are you? A devil?"

"No."

"...An angel?"

"Definitely not."

"Am I dead?"

"No, not yet." Adrian gave Slender a better look over,

"Why do you look exactly like me?"

"I figured you would be more comfortable speaking to a face you recognized, converse with a voice you have heard before, and who do you trust better than yourself? Even though I have half a mind to end you right now," said Slender with a look of annoyance.

"For what?" Asked Adrian with a confused tone.

"For burning down part of my forest when you smashed that tanker truck," said Slender with a surprisingly calm tone. Adrian looked down at the floor in both shock and shame,

"I..."

"Don't even bother saying sorry," said Slender, "it won't bring my forest back, and the same applies to Zeus for destroying more of it than you." Adrian gave Slender a look of confusion,

"Then what do you want with me?"

"Well, I got mixed answers for that," said Slender, "Part of me still wishes to rip you apart, yet part of me also wants you to just simply leave my world and never return..." Slender paused, calming down, "...and another part of me wants you to go home. My reason being Rias, Asia, Katrina, Akeno, Damon, Issei, Kiba, Koneko, Xenovia, Wesker and Cleo are all waiting for you." Adrian raised an eyebrow,

"Cleo?"

"The assassin."

"I know who she is, but I'm surprised she's still there."

"In due time, you will be more surprised who will be there to help you when the time comes." Slender then stepped out from behind the bar, "Now, I'm going to send you to a place where you can get your wounds treated, and at a time where maybe, just maybe, alter history a bit." Adrian stared at Slender in alarm,

"Wait! What about Zeus? I can't let him get away with all the shit he's done!" Adrian then looked to the floor again, "But...I also know I can't fight him like I am either...not with the Blacklight gone. I may as well be human again..." Slender placed a reassuring hand on Adrians' shoulder, causing him to make eye contact,

"...Not my problem." With that blunt remark from Slender, he raised his free hand, snapped his fingers, and Adrian was once again swallowed in darkness...

Adrian awoke once again, his eye burning and freezing at the same time from the bright sun and the frigid wind. He leaned up, finding himself on a snow covered mountain trail, and quickly reminded that he has no shirt or jacket, so out of the sheer cold he wrapped his arms around himself. He began to trek through the deep snow, unsure of where to go or what to do, but after walking in the cold for an hour or so, Adrian fell into the snow, unable to continue further, the cold taking him over,

This is it, he thought to himself, I'm seriously going to die here. His vision was blurring once again, and he could have sworn he saw a man in a stetson hat riding a horse towards him, seeing the man reach down as Adrian faded from consciousness once again...

Sometime later...

Adrian grunted, groaned, leaned up and found himself inside a tent, tucked into a mass of decently warm fur blankets, nude, and a set of folded clothes on a chair next to him. He then noticed that he had something wrapped on his head, and found someone had wrapped a cloth around his head, with a wad of cotten placed in his empty eye socket. He groggily stood up from the mass of blankets, dressing himself in rhe clothes, which turned out to be his own pants and boots, but someone had added a black button up shirt, a red neckerchief, and a black cowboy hat,

"Obviously someone is a fan of the old west," Adrian muttered to himself, and exited the tent, seeing he was in a snow covered campsite with several men dressed similarly to him, ranging in different colored shirts, pants or slacks and hats, and coats wrapped around themselves as they huddled around a campfire. One of them men, who looksd to be of Native American decent, then stood up to approached Adrian,

"Hey sonny, are you alright?"

"I've been better," admitted Adrian, "care to tell me where exactly I am and who I need to thank for the shirt and bandage?"

"You're just south of the Redemption Mountains, and you would be thanking me for the shirt," he then held out his hand, "Dutch van der Linde is my name." Adrian hesitantly accepted the handshake,

"Adrian Michaels," he introduced while wondering to himself, Why does his name sound so familiar?

"Adrian, huh? That's different. Now tell me son, why the hell were you wandering around the mountains, half naked, and with no horse or provisions?" Asked Dutch.

"It's kind of a long story..." Adrian then realized Dutch said horse in his question, and decided to play along, "...one that I can't remember most of. So much so that I can't even remember what year it is."

"Are you serious boy?" Adrian gave a nod as his response, causing him to shake his head in disbelief, "Must have hit your head on that trail somewhere...it's 1889." Adrians' eyes widened, and he began to wave his hand back behind himself, trying to find a seat,

"I need to sit down..." he mumbled. WHY THE HELL WOULD SLENDER SEND ME THIS FAR BACK IN TIME?!! He wondered in alarm.

"Easy sonny, easy," said Dutch, making a motion to a pair of twin boys by the fire, "James! John! C'mere! Help our new friend find a spot by the fire and get him some grub. I can tell this boy has some potential..." Adrian got a look of the two boys; they appeared to be the same age as Gasper, with dark shoulder length shaggy brown hair, the start of a stubble on their faces, brown eyes, and when they approached Adrian, he saw one of them had two scars going down his right cheek. They were both dressed in tan shirts, dark brown vests, dark pants with belts and large shining buckles, the one with no scars was carrying a large rifle on his back while the scarred one had a shotgun, and each were wearing a gun holster with a revolver and a lasso.

Wait, I know these guys! Adrian thought.

"Adrian, I'd like you to meet the Marston Twins. The handsome one is James, and the one who got attacked by a couger is John," introduced Dutch. James held out a hand first, a smile on his face as he spoke with a rough yet gentle tone,

"Good to meet'cha," he said, and Adrian accepted the handshake, while John held out his hand next, keeping his serious face,

"Glad we pulled you from the snow when we did," he said, unsure if he trusts Adrian just yet, who simply shook his hand,

"I take it you were the one that pulled me from the snow?"

"Nah, that was James," answered John, gesturing to his twin, "I thought you were already dead, and was planning on seeing if you had anything worth looting."

"So I have you to thank?" Said Adrian, redirecting his gaze to the non-scarred twin,

"Yep, and I'm glad I did. But when we are around the fire, most of us are wondering why the hell you were out in the snow as you were." Then James, John and Dutch went and joined the other western men by the campfire, with Adrian remembering exactly where he had heard the name Marston before...

Eleven years ago...

A six year old Adrian, dressed in red pajamas decorated with cowboy boots and hats, sat on his bed, with a younger Victoria Michaels seated next to him, an old framed black and white picture in her hands,

"Are you ready for your bedtime story?" She asked him, to which the younger Adrian nodded, cuddling up next to his mother as she began her story, "This story...is about two cowboys, who were both villains and heroes...your great grandfather John Marston, and your great great uncle James Marston."

"How come we aren't Marstons mama?" Adrian asked innocently.

"Well..." began Victoria, "...before I married your daddy, I was Victoria Marston, but when I was married, I changed my last name to Michaels."

"Do I have to change my name if I am married?" Asked Adrian, earning a laugh from his mother,

"When that time comes, that'll be completely up to you."

Present...

Adrian snapped out of his brief flashback, and saw the others were still waiting on him,

So now I'm going to sit next to my grandpa and uncle from over a hundred years ago...what could go wrong? He sarcastically asked himself before approaching the fire...