Redux 01: Singularity

Margot's LP: 450

Eric's LP: 950 Alice's LP: 950 Uno's LP: 50

Adamant's LP: 0

"Adamant!" Everything went as he planned it, as he wanted it. "No!" The ghost of the sanctuary surged through his body and sucked the life out of him. One second he stood, the next he fell. "Damnit!" For him the duel came to an end, but only for him. For them there was still one step to make. "You!" The fight was already decided however. Through all the sacrifices, the enemy lost all but 450 of her lifepoints. Margot could not activate any card or effect, while the Odd-Eyes Gravity Dragon(7/2800/2500) plagued the field. Destiny Board would freeze at three Spirit Messages. The last letter could not be spelled. All they needed to do now was wait for Eric's turn to start. "What are you doing?" He was not even given the satisfaction of personally defeating her with a direct attack. Margot started her turn and slammed her book shut. The pages on the field burned to ash and the sanctuary of darkness eroded to dust. The duelists, living or dying, returned to the royal garden of Millennium. "She gave up?" They had won..

Margot's LP: 0

"Adamant!" Uno and Alice both rushed to the XYZ-duelist's side. "You're okay. You're okay!" Alice cried as she held his hand. There was some life to him left. "No.. I am not." But he could tell, and so could Uno. He was fading fast. "Ah!" Even Alice faced the truth. "Your.." When the wound from before returned. Kyle's scar appeared on his chest. "But we can fix it! We can.." It was happening all over again; the pain, the despair and the hopelessness. "Uno?" Uno shook his head. No matter how many times she asked him too, no matter how much he wanted too. There was nothing he could do to save Adamant. "I can tell.. you want to ask me why I did this." Adamant smiled wryly in spite of his failing body. "It had to be this way. Your sister gave me some extra time, but I could not cheat death forever. I could not cheat my destiny forever. It was already.. fulfilled." Now he even began to chuckle. "I suppose that is why.. I felt like I could understand you." His head rolled back so he could look at Margot. "You are the reaper, and you have come for me."

"He's crazy..this is crazy." Eric could not believe this, it had to be a dream. "all.. gone.. All gone" Alice could not look away, could only sob and repeat herself. "Adamant. You did not deserve this!" Uno could not accept this, it should have been him. "I do.. Uno. I was a fool." Adamant coughed. "I thought I could be the one the future needed. I thought I was shaping my own world. I did not realize.. I was a pan.. until it was too late. At least now.. I got to do something with my life, what little.. there was." His body started to convulse. "Ghuhahaa.. Don't.." The duelist forced himself through the pain, clenching his teeth. "Uno.. Alice.. Eric.. you can change..the... Do not be the pawn. Don't let others.. use you. The sisters are.. not what they seem.. There is no one... destiny. There is only..."

"...Adamant?" The words trailed off. "Adamant!?" The body stopped moving, the light vanished from his eyes. "He's.." Silence. Not a sound could be heard, there was no time. Adamant Waitley was no more.

"Why." Eric did not get to know him well. Nonetheless he felt a hole form in his heart, for Adamant and for others. Eric did not speak, he did not feel it would be right. "Why?" Alice spent more time with him than most. The emptyness inside of her was greater, more painful. Alice did not speak, she was paralyzed.. Her hands touched her face but nothing came out of her. "WHY!?" Uno spoke. He yelled, shouted, screamed. "Why did this have to.. why did any of this happen?! Why are we here? Why are you here!? Why!?" Anger filled him, an anger that could only be directed at the face of the future. "Say something!" Margot only stared. Not at them.. at the book in her hands. "Stop reading your book! Stop ignoring what is going on right in front of you! Stop ignoring me!" He lost control and took a swing at the sister. "What!?" He missed. She was right in front of him, yet he missed. It was as if she was standing just out of his reach even though the distance did not visibly change. "Adamant.. what did he hear? Why aren't you what you seem? Why do the time guardians fear you!? We defeated you, so we deserve some answers!"

"You have a point." The second of three. "You did survive the final message.. Well, some of you did." and the youngest of three; the trinity was complete. "You.. You are the other two?" A woman in a black dress with prom-styled hair, a girl with red eyes and white hair; these two who appeared out of nowhere had to be Margot's sisters. "A bit of a confusing question. But I can work with it, if you want me too." Veronica and Cloe joined their sisters side. "What? No! I didn't want to ask that! Argh.." Eric held his hand in front of his mouth. "The first time can be confusing. You can ask three questions total. You can give your questions to me, Cloe or Margot. That means you can ask us about the present, past or future. Hopefully this helps you get started." Veronica held out her hands. "I can ask anything... About where everyone else is? How we get back? What Tempus wants and how we can get back?" The offer was tempting, Eric quickly realized. "Anything you want, you name it. We know every answer. So, what will be the first?"

"No." Uno's response came, loudly and clearly. "No? That's not a question.. Fortuno." Both Eric and Veronica reacted with surprise. "No. No I will not play your game." He pointed a finger at them. "They're trying to get us to waste our time. I know what my father wants already, to bring down the true guardians of time. It's what I tried to do in his place. I know where my friends are. Iria, Dom, Zach, your mother, Alice's father; they should all be back home inside the fusion guild's tower. Tory and Stonewell are here in the palace, in the past. December, Ana, the travelers.. they should be on the island. I know where to find them and how we would get to them. That was already part of all of this, Margot would send us back. But to have that kind of power.. you have to be more than just spirits who've lived for a thousand timelines. I asked you before, what you truly were.. and you only gave me half of the truth." There was still some rage inside of him, but he came to enough of his senses to realize that there was something very wrong here. "If they dont want us to ask them questions. Why let us?" Eric failed to get any of this, it was all so strange. "Because they have to. There are rules, aren't there? Rules even you cannot break."

"Is that why.." Another thought occured to him, as his eyes briefly made contact with his dueldisk. It was something he should have considered sooner. "Is that why you were helping me? So you could help Tempus?" He already knew the sisters met Tempus before, they even talked to Marco once. "He said.. that my connection with the spirits tied to him as well. Every time I created a new monster because of you, he grew stronger! Is that what you want? For Tempus to take down the guardians? Why? Why do you need him? Why do you even exist? Why do they exist? Are you the same as them? Or are you something else?" There were still too many mysteries, still too little he understood. his own memories could not even clear it up. "Two. That counts as two questions." Veronica clapped her hands. "It's very simple, Fortuno." She began. "Stop calling me that!"

"Ah. See there is the problem, you are Uno. Not Fortuno. But more on that later.." Veronica dismissively waved her hand and pointed to the sky. "The Qliphort and us, we share a common bond. We are the same in a way, we both control a section of time and space while existing outside of it. If you call it a timeline.. we call it a time lake." Far above the guardians still roamed, unable to continue their work. "But angels can take many forms. And one cannot harm the other, the guardians erase what needs to be erased. But we determine when something begins, or ends. Margot's mercy to you is the only reason the destruction of this world is currently not 'a thing'." The middle sister placed her hand in front of her mouth and allowed Cloe to take over. "In days of old, we received clients regularly. Then the world was flooded with magic, empowered souls of man and spirit who could see and hear us. They came to us for answers buried in times they failed to access, and we gave them. But we were created not to interfere directly, and deeply. That is why we could only give out three answers each time."

"I still do not have mine. Why did you do it? Why let me see you? And.." Uno looked at Alice again. She was kneeling before Adamant's body, speechless. "Why her too?" If she could not respond, he would solve these matters for her. "Because she saw us." Cloe skipped over to the site of the broken tree. "Because you saw us." The colorless girl bit her finger until she drew blood and planted it on the soil. Within minutes a new tree grew from the ashes of the old. Or rather, the old tree reversed its own incineration. "!?" This got a reaction out of the crestfallen Alice. "You can.. do that?" The rest of the garden also slowly regained its green luster. "Once you left your own dimension, your own existence, you gained a connection to the powers beyond. That is how you found us underneath a tree.. A memory of a world long gone could only be discovered by those who gave ot value Alice Brandt.. Christopher Fortuno Nisell: we saw where your paths led and we knew where you wanted or needed to go. Each time you reached a dead end, we pulled you out."

"But if you can.. go any where you want. Can't you.. bring Adamant back too?" Alice saw what they did to the tree. Why couldn't it be as simple with Adamant? "All of what you see here does and does not exist simultaneously. It is the absence of 'now'. As long as no new timeline flows and no old space purges, time remains in stasis. That is why we can bring it back." By now all of the Qliphorts damage had been reversed. "But.. Adamant died before, in a past that existed. Our sister merely collected his due." Cloe claimed as she dusted off her bloody hand. "We cannot change what already happened. But we can show you. We can tell you all about your past, both your pasts.. Alice." Veronica said with a warm inviting tone. "Stop." Uno growled. "You will not tempt us. You tried that before. Once we have our answers, you will send us back to our own time. That was the deal. I do not care how many years it takes. I will go back and fix all of this, so this moment never happens in the first place!"

"Oh. Little mistake there, Uno." Veronica giggled. "What? What is it?" He snapped at them. "You presumed this end of time to take place four years from now. The time you skipped only amounts to four days."

"WHAT?" Uno recoiled. "Four.. days?" Alice stammered. It felt like a claw had grabbed her heart and crushed it. "That's not.. yo! That can't be right! How? Why so soon?!" Eric shouted. If this was to be the third question, so be it. "Tempus.." Uno could answer that for himself though. "He must have accelerated the decay somehow. Tempus wanted the guardians out of the picture. The last time I tried to do it myself, I challenged them outside of time.. in limbo. Does he think it will be different for him? But normally the Qliphort will only show up after you abandon one timeline." He flinched. "Ana.. she created the second timeline.. a dimension that would selfdestruct on its own. She did not know that that would happen.. but maybe.. He did." Could it have been possible? Could Tempus have foreseen every action of his heirs so perfectly, that he planned all of this out? He prepared for the possibility of a split timeline. He gave December and the others their pendulums and started a wild-goose chase across time between them and his family? When did Tempus fake his own death and why? Was it before or after December came into play? Was all of this just a long con to weaken the Qliphort?

"Did you help him with that? Did you tell him how to get to where he needed to be? What is in this for you?" Uno came back to his second question. "Oh it just so happens that Tempus' goals align with ours. We.." Veronica placed her hand around her neck. "wish to be free." She pulled her hand away and laughed. "Free? Free from what?" To Eric these ladies looked about as free as a being could possibly be. "You would not understand. Not when you refused to understand what Tempus hoped to achieve." Cloe scoffed. "Are you saying I should have stepped back in line? Or were you trying to get me to turn back into Fortuno? That's not going to happen anymore... Tempus is insane! He wants to be defeat the guardians so what.. he can become the new guardian of time? So he can become a god? Does he really think that? I.." Uno caught himself in the middle of his outburst. "I know.. I tried the same thing. I tried so many things, and each time someone else has to pay for it. No more. Cassius was right.. the pendulum should never have been made."

"Unfortunately, once you make something so powerful. It can never go away. The pendulum is not the only creation your world regrets. Gods and Numbers: Orichalcos and Millennium. There are more horrors in our library than you can imagine as you are now." The sister of the present smugly claimed. "The man you were knew those horrors so well, and now you introduced them to others like Dame Phoebe and Ichirou. Magic has returned to the world, to one world. Perhaps you should have focused on that world first before you crafted thoughts about the other." The sister of the past accused him fiercely. The sister of the future said nothing. She was flipping through the pages of her book in backwards order. "Was that all? Uno? Eric? Alice?" Cloe inquired. "Was it?" Eric forgot to keep track of how many questions they covered. "Even if it was, I doubt they gave us the whole truth." Uno was not about to start trusting their words now. "Just tell us this. Where will you send us?"

"Oh that is up to you." Veronica said, diretcing her finger towards Martels puppet. "You already have the mode of transport. We merely provide the road. You can go anywhere in between the time of your banishment and the time of the world's end. But you can only go once, after that you will become a part of regular time again. And I advise you to stay out of this world." She stressed. "What? Why!?" Alice yelled back. "You only have four days to stop the guardians from coming. Right now your world is spared, but if a connection is open.. like say a gateway.. then the purge will spill into both timelines. Normally I cannot talk like this, but as that future is this present.. I can safely promise you. This will happen. Just try to prevent a paradox, okay? We will keep this world in lockdown until then. If you succeed, it can start moving again. If not, then the second chance you and Adamant secured.. will go to waste." Once she was done talking, the crystal of the puppet lit up. It was ready to move. "We will succeed.. sisters." Uno glared at the prophetic trio. Whatever it was that they and Tempus were up too, he would stop it. "Eric, Alice. We have to go."

"Ah.." Alice shuddered. "Do we have to go.. now?" She found it difficult to leave Adamant's side. "Not really. There is no time here after all." Veronica chuckled. "Alice? What are you saying?" Eric on the other hand was ready to leave this mad place. "If I could.. see them again.. hear them again. Just once.." Her hand stretched out towards the tree, towards all of what the sisters were offering. "You mean.. Adamant? Or ..." She could probably see her own parents, her real parents. "Alice. It.. wont be real. You might not be able to let go." If Uno was honest to himself, he would have had the same desire. He might have let her stay, if only to make her happy. But this was a one-time trip, he could not leave her here. And he definitely would not leave her alone with these three. "Alice. We can go back to our own home now. Finally!" Eric was there too, trying to reach her with perhaps a little too much excitement. "You still have.. Emily is waiting for you. Her family.. your family."

"I.." Nevertheless, he got through to her, seemingly. "I know." Alice let her arm fall. "I'm.." Uno then placed his hand on her shoulder. "You don't have to say anything." He picked up the crystal-eyed doll. "What is done is done. Let's.." This would be the first time he made an attempt at timetravel. He knew where he wanted to be. "Go." The blink of an eye, and they were gone. Colors, light, darkness; he soared through all of it. A thousand eyes and a million voices passed him by while the sensation of flying, swimming and running possessed his body all at once. There was no better way to describe it. Not even his memories could have made him ready for this.. exhileration. It took longer than he expected too. Long enough to form a coherent thought about the journey as it was underway. Were Eric and Alice with him? He did not feel alone, but it was hard to feel anything besides yourself at a timeless.. time like this.

"Gahahaah!"

Uno stepped on solid ground. "Whoa..ahaha..ahaha! I.." His heart needed a few minutes to catch up with the rest of him, and with this new world. "I did it! Yes!" Uno threw his fist into the air. He felt more alive then ever before. "Guys! We made it!" For once he could look up to the clouds and not spot a single templar. This was definitely not the world the Nisells forged. "Wha.." Not that it looked much better here. "Oh. That's right.. the guilds barrier." Instead of skies painted purple by the city's strange lights, there were skies colored oddly behind a curtain of energy. The country was still trapped behind the XYZ-guild's forcefield generators. Uno was gone for only a few weeks, which was apparently not enough time for this world's leaders to resolve the crisis. "The sisters had a point. I should have focused more on this world. But that will change now.. We.."

"Guys?" There was no we, there was just him. "What? Eric? Alice? No!" He lost them! Somewhere in the timewarp, they fell out! "Where.. where are you?" They weren't anywhere near. He was alone on top of a grassy hill, the same grassy hill he started out on. Alice's hometown was just up the road. "Nononono! I have to.. I.. where are they?" He still held the puppet. "Stupid. You were stupid, Uno! Using someone else's pendulum when you can barely control your own! Why.. where did this one come from anyway?" If he could use it, then he could go to wherever his friends were. That's how it always worked before! He just had to focus on it. "Ngah!" He got flashes, glimpses of scenes with Alice and Eric in them. Alice was in a park.. near.. the tree? Eric was inside some kind of dungeon.. and.. August was there too? Why him? They were alive at least, but what did any of this mean. "Damnit!" The flashes were all he got out of that. "How am I supposed to..." Where could he even start? He was alone. "Four days.." And he did not have much time to figure any of this out. "I.." He took a step on the road. "I will succeed. I have to."

Every road started somewhere. His might as well begin where it began twice before. And this.. "This Is the last time.."

(To be Concluded in The Rise and Fall of History Part III)