Gwendal's eyes were as cold as the landscape around him as his fleet steered its way through Dai Cimaron's frozen waters.

At their last port, Gwendal had received a parcel wrapped with a note, which had been delivered to him by an anonymous visitor in the night.

Whoever it was, Gwendal hadn't been able to get a good look at him.

But he wasn't important.. instead what he had delivered was, and it had left Gwendal physically ill.

Apparently the king of Dai Cimaron was aware that his men were looking for Lord Weller and Yozak Gurrier in their land, and had sent him a gift to confirm their suspicions.

Conrad and Yozak were in the hands of Belar.

After all, Gwendal could never mistake Conrad's eyes.

They were a warm honey-brown and held thousands of tiny silver flecks that looked like stars in the sky.

They reminded him of his mother and of happiness; of a time where things were simple and those eyes would beg him to play.

But now, instead of Conrad's left arm it was one of his eyes that sat in a locked container on Gwendal's temporary desk aboard the ship.

It was disturbing and traumatizing to say the least, to encounter detached body parts of his younger brother, and it always left him feeling shaken to his core.

"He's alright. I know you're worried but he's alive. He's lost an eye- yes- but Conrad is incredibly strong and intelligent. He's waiting for us, if he hasn't escaped already." Anissina's soft voice tried to soothe Gwendal, but it only served to worry him more.

He knew his brothers were strong- but he also knew they were fragile. They had their limits too, like anyone.

"Belar sent us that letter personally.. it means he wants us to come to him- it is most likely a trap. It's a very good thing his majesty remained at the castle- if he had been here.." He trailed off and Anissina nodded in understanding.

While Yuuri-Heika was a wonderful king, he was still just a boy- and when it came to Conrad.. he easily lost his composure. They needed to be extremely careful and cautious if they were going to find and obtain Conrad alive.

Yuuri was anything but careful and cautious when it came to his friends being hurt- never mind Conrad.

If he had been with Gwendal when the parcel arrived.. Yuuri probably would have done something he would have deeply regretted.

"We'll notify his majesty only when we know that Conrart is safe." Gwendal reasoned, and Anissina agreed.

The port began to appear on the horizon and Gwendal heaved a heavy sigh.

'Please wait for me a bit longer, little brother.'

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Your suspicions are correct, Conrart is currently in a bit of trouble.. Like a sponge, he soaked up all the ramifications for your mistakes. He sure does have a bad habit of doing that."

Shinou sat cross-legged on top of The End of The Wind, and tilted his head at the two double-black teenagers before him.

"What have you done to him?!" Yuuri's skin was already glowing blue- he was close to spouting nonsensical theatrical drama soon.

"Oi-! I had no part in this!" the dead king held up his hands in surrender. "Why do they always accuse me? I'm dead that's why. I'm the perfect scape-zomagamori-dragon because I can't fight back.."

"Calm down Shibuya- Shinou.. where is he? Ulrike says she can not sense him anywhere." Murata narrowed his eyes at Shinou. "You owe Conrart, and have you forgotten that he's the last living descendent?"

Shinou looked surprised.. "Oh.. I forgot we need him to reproduce.. or there will be no key and.. well.. If he dies then you-know-what happens." he gave Murata a knowing look before falling deep into thought.

"Well.. That's why I have The Great Wise Man to catch these blunders, yes?"

Murata looked.. exasperated.

How could The Great One be so dense?

"This is not a laughing matter." Murata scolded, calming Yuuri at the same time. "We need to go back in time to get the tunneling device before Yuuri falls on it- then use the device to come back to the future- this future, which will be an alternate future if we can maybe hold the passage through time open.. and then we can save Conrad and things should fix themselves from then on... Maybe."

"But can't I just leap back in time before I ever activated the device, and just forget it ever happened? Won't everything be fine if I just never touch the device at all?" Yuuri sounded hopeful- rejuvenated.

"It's hopeless, you've already created too large of a void, it can not be reversed so easily.. I'm sorry Shibuya. If you go back in time before you touched the device and decide not to touch it, bad things will no doubt still happen."

"So- I have to go back in time, then forwards.. But I only have one leap-?" Yuuri sighed and Murata nodded.

"When you get the device from the past, you'll use it to leap forward again."

"But how do I leap forward, and how do I reactivate it?"

Both Shinou and Murata were silent.

"What? I don't know how-"

"Neither do we." Shinou looked apologetic. "Ah, and I thought you were going to have so much fun with that device- you didn't even use it to take Lord Weller to bed once."

"WHAT!?" Yuuri squeaked, blushing head to toe, "I- I wouldn't use it on that!"

"I would have." Shinou smirked.

"You already have." Murata confirmed, and Yuuri just gaped- unsure of what he meant.

"Years ago, these tunneling devices caused a lot of trouble. I thought we could save Shinou's real form from Soushu with them. Shinou however, just thought he could 'have' any man or woman he wanted from any time period and decided to pursue the idea.. it lead to complete chaos."

He narrowed his eyes at Shinou, "I destroyed the rest of them but apparently Shinou hid one."

The dead king smiled, "Like I said, this is what I have a Great Wise Man for- because I'm a troublesome king."

Yuuri couldn't believe it- Shinou lept through time to.. have intercourse with different people? That's it?! Well.. at least he felt better about his own choices. He'd only thought about doing that with one person and hadn't even acted on it.

"Now, let's send you back in time to save Lord Weller, shall we? We'll figure out how to get rid of the imbalance in the world later." Murata smiled and Shinou simply chuckled.

Murata gave Shinou a look.. he knew Shinou was behind all of this- it was so like him.. to take such drastic measures to achieve interesting results.. Shinou really was just a bored, old pervert.

"Alright Shibuya. I need you to fall as far back in time as you can- you found the tunneling device quite a few weeks ago so I want you to go back to a time before you found it, and active it once more. Alright? Do you think you can do that?"

Yuuri nodded, but his hands wouldn't stop shaking. "What if I don't go back far enough? What if I.."

"Shibuya.. you'll do fine. Alright? Just go- and once you get it you need to figure out how to jump forwards in time.. I know you can do it. Find me in the past- I'm sure I can help you figure it out somehow, yeah?"

Yuuri took a moment to get ready as he stared at the smooth marble walls of the Tomb of the Great One..

Soon he'd be running into those walls- and traveling back in time to save Conrad.. from what he didn't know.. but he would do it- he had to.

'I'm coming Conrad- this time I'm going to be the one to save you. I'm not going to let you down.' he vowed.

"Ready? Remember- you're going alone now.. but you're not alone. You won't be."

"Yeah. Got it." Yuuri nodded, he wasn't alone.. he could do this.

Resolve built within him, Yuuri took off in a sprint, he didn't have to think as he leapt forwards into the chilled stone and vanished from sight.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Yuuri was falling once more.

'I have to fall as far as I can, huh..' Yuuri looked around him as he fell, focusing on the ground and how far he was from it. Whenever he would begin to get too close- Yuuri would reject the invitation to return, as he repeatedly fell through the sky once more.

Again and again he prolonged his stay in the time tunnel.

It felt like he'd been tumbling for ages.. but the fear of not going back in time far enough gripped Yuuri solid, and he decided to simply wait a little longer..

Just a little more.

A little more turned into a lot more- and Yuuri found it was because he was frozen with fear.

He was terrified of failing, and it caused him to stall for time as he watched the sun go from high-noon in the time tunnel to sun-set to nearly night before he finally found his resolve once more.

"Surely.. I must have gone back far enough now.. right?" he asked himself as he tumbled once more through the clouds.

"Here goes nothing Conrad- wish me luck.." he spoke to himself, as he braced for impact with the cracked Earth and pushed past it once more, for what he hoped... wouldn't be the last time.