This is a story about Detective Amelia Watson.

She is lost and has holed herself up in the containment room

that keeps Ina prisoner.

Ina, the Dead God.

Ina, the Sleeping God. 

Ina, the one who will bring about the end of the world.

She has already killed three Cover employees.

Armed with a rifle, the Helen Gun, a Demon Core with a barrel... 

She stands guard over the metal coffin 

containing Ina 

She waits and waits and waits for an answer 

to her question of why?

Why did she choose Ina?

Ame looks at her hands. 

They are rough. Lines have formed on her palms. 

There is blood on these hands. 

She knows it. Therefore, she is tainted. 

So she waits.

She fears the answer will never come. 

* * *

"Yagoo-san," A-Chan said as she went up to the CEO of Cover Corp, telephone set in hand. "It's the Prime Minister." 

Yagoo frowned at the phone, before looking at the tall figure standing in front of his desk. 

"Sorry," he said to Ouro Kronii. "I'll have to answer this." 

It wasn't as if Kronii could tell him, "Stop, don't answer the phone!" 

So, she gave a perfunctory nod. 

"Yes, good evening, sir..." Yagoo said, his eyes pointed toward the receiver, as if he held Japan's most powerful man in his very hand. "Yes, that report is accurate... we've contained it so far... That is correct. One of the subjects is behind it..." 

For a moment, he gave Kronii a wary glance, before turning back toward the receiver. Wary, or weary? It was too quick for the Guardian of Time to tell the difference.

"Yes, we're going to send an agent down there... She can take care of it... Of course. Praise C.R.C." 

At the end of the call, Yagoo made a sigh so deep that he sank into his chair, making him smaller than before. That must've taken a lot out of him. But Kronii had little clue as to why. 

After a few moments of breathing, the Cover CEO opened his eyes and pulled a cigarette out from his blazer. He stuck it in his mouth and asked his assistant, A-Chan, to light it for him. Kronii watched the snake-like patterns of smoke that wafted from the end of the cigarette up to the single lamp light that hung above his head. It was like watching his spirit go up to heaven. 

 "The situation is critical," he said to Kronii as he flicked some ash onto a porcupine of cigarette butts. It used to be his ash tray. "We don't know why she's in there. We don't know what she'll do with Ina either."

Kronii studied the man's features. Crow's feet on the sides of his eyes, creases on the forehead, gaunt cheeks. Had he been eating properly? 

No, it must've been the cancer - if the rumors circulating through Cover Corp's departments were something to go by. 

Years of service had finally taken their toll, and the shadows cast by the lamp above his head only made that toll look deeper, costlier, more severe.  

"What do you think?" he asked. 

By his side, A-Chan was scribbling notes like a furtive monk writing scripture. No doubt she was recording this conversation in fine Gregg shorthand. Kronii saw her stop for a moment, maybe to study this statuesque figure standing in front of her boss. When the Guardian of Time turned her eyes fully toward her, A-Chan dipped her head back into her notes. 

"I don't know either," Kronii said, eyes momentarily lingering on A-Chan, before turning back to Yagoo. "It obviously has something to do with the priestess."

Priestess. It felt strange to finally say the word out loud. This was the first time she'd ever talked about that violet presence. She, who always seemed to stand by the Detective's side, always just behind her left shoulder. From age to age, chase to chase, the same image.

Yagoo pursed his lip. "Okay. You're the only one who can stop her, Kronii. At least find out what she wants. Be careful about it."

"She's already killed her three other genmates," A-Chan said, head still bowed toward her notes.

Killed. Direct language.

"What makes you think she'll treat me any different then?" Kronii asked both of them. 

The sound of a pen scritching across paper stopped, followed by silence. A-Chan pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. 

Meanwhile, the cigarette continued to smolder between Yagoo's fingers.

"You've had history," he said. 

Next to the ashtray was a stack of one, three, six folders containing records, documents, photos. Some of the contents were splayed out on the desk itself, covered with a light dusting of cigarette ash. A collage of a life half-lived.

Kronii's eye settled on a photo of the Detective, faded and browned with age. To her side, the Priestess. They're beaming at the camera. In the distance, off to the left side, a Ferris Wheel stood as an inky circle of colored celluloid. 

"Kronii! Join us in the photo! C'mon!" 

Yagoo tapped excess ash off his cigarette. "We're hoping that history will count for something." 

The Guardian of Time imagined herself picking up that photo, her thumb rubbing against the plasticized paper that made immortal the brightest smiles in the world. If only she could pinch her fingers and somehow pluck those girls out. 

But Kronii knew better. Between her and them rested not only the surface of the photo, but a gap in time so insurmountable that not even its own guardian could bridge it. 

By then, Yagoo noticed what she was looking at. 

So, for a few moments, he said nothing. He knew better than to disturb those who were grieving. 

"If you can make her give up without any fighting," he finally said, "do so." 

"Ina's container is too important to risk any damage," A-Chan followed, as if adding a disclaimer. "But if there's nothing you can do..."

Then you'll have to kill her. 

Kronii bit her lower lip, suppressing any response. 

None of the three wanted to show any emotion while talking about the Detective. The Guardian of Time wondered if the other two were trying to hold themselves together as best they could, like what she was doing. 

"Alright. I'll do it."

* * *

Kronii had been chasing after the time criminal known as "Amelia Watson" for a long time. Longer than anyone could imagine. 

From epoch to epoch, age to age. If there was something that unified all these eras in the guardian's mind, it was the image of the detective's back as she chased after her. From above her shoulder, the glint of a smug smile as she made yet another escape with her Timepiece. 

When she rode the elevator to the lower levels of Cover Corp., Kronii's mind brought her to another elevator, in another time. One where she and the Detective were stuck in during a chase. With her swords, the guardian of time swiped and swiped and swiped. But, somehow, the Detective dodged every move. It turned out that she was slowing down time at the exact moment Kronii's blades would hit.

There was a time when Kronii would've gritted her teeth and become red in the face if that memory came to mind. But now, a soft smile would rise to the surface, stay for a few seconds, before turning into a frown. 

For she knew that she had finally cornered her quarry.  

It was truly the end of the line for Detective Amelia Watson. Kronii could finally reclaim the Timepiece and complete her mandate. 

Yet here she was, frowning. Why wasn't she happy?

Because she did not want the chase to end. Not like this. 

* * *

The elevator dinged. It had arrived at the lowest level of Cover Corp. Double-doors opened, and the first thing Kronii saw were men in black armored vests putting up metal barricades. Soldiers and mercenaries working for Cover's Corporate Security Service. Alongside them, normal office workers in their white polo shirts and turtlenecks outfitted with Kevlar vests and pistols. More soldiers, more office workers were coming out from other service elevators and stairwells. 

Near the center of the floor, a massive steel door covered in gears. It was here that security was the thickest - mounted machine guns, a few rocket launchers, even a laser cannon or two. More barricades, searchlights. A large service elevator had opened, revealing a tank. 

This was an army that could start a world war. An army ready for Armageddon. 

Girls from both the Overseas and Japanese sections had been called up too. Kronii recognized Gens One and Two huddled together, with the fox girl Fubuki in the center reading out what seemed to be battle plans. Though the Guardian of Time wasn't sure what good they would be able to do, since most of them were unarmed. 

Or maybe they just hadn't been armed yet; Gens Three, Four, and Five bristled with swords, spears, and, in the case of a white lion girl Kronii only vaguely recognized, a really big sniper rifle. The members of HoloX meanwhile were unpacking their weapons from boxes pulled out from Cover Corp's Relic safes, tearing off labels and plastic wrapping. Office workers were wheeling more boxes out on trolleys, calling the girls who still did not have a weapon in hand. It seemed that paperwork and the entire bureaucratic process involved in the distribution of Relics had been tossed into the wind.  

Right in front of the door, Kronii found her gen. Her half-sisters in spirit. Baelz was typing something on her phone, while IRyS and Fauna smoked in front of a 'no smoking' sign. Off to the side, in the corner right next to the door, Mumei watched all the proceedings with her arms crossed. There was a neutral, almost blank expression on her face. As usual, Kronii couldn't read it. She wasn’t even sure if there was anything going on behind that stillness, that still life.

It was Fauna who noticed her first. Her green eyes flickered under the solid yellow lights of the underground, the dying ember of her Seven Stars that she tossed onto the wall, slid onto the floor.

"Well?"

Kronii looked behind her own shoulder first, to make sure no one else was listening. Not that anyone was. The convicts of Advent and their jailers of Justice hadn't arrived yet. Of the Indonesians, she could only make out that Kobo girl, the one with the squirrel tail, and the painter girl with the overalls. They were too far away to hear anything. 

"I'm going in," Kronii said.  

Almost immediately, Fauna's eyes darted toward IRyS and wagged her brow once. As if to say, "I knew it."

They had been talking about Kronii, it seemed. 

"Just you?" IRyS asked, her tone concerned. 

"I know her the best, apparently," she replied, resisting the urge to make it sound like a joke. Even though on some level, it was.

It was IRyS's turn to give Fauna a look. They were thinking this was a bad idea. 

"Are you sure?" Fauna asked.

"Well, at least I'll be..." Kronii was going to say 'at least I'll be a good decoy,' but no. That was not the right thing to say. "We'll see."

"But it's true, right?" IRyS asked. "Myth, she's... you know." 

Here it was. The big question of whether or not Detective Amelia Watson had indeed killed her genmates in cold blood. 

Should Kronii say she didn't know? No, they would find out sooner or later anyway. It was better to rip the band-aid off as early as possible, but in the most subtle way as possible. To prevent panic. 

So she gave IRyS a single nod. 

The Nephilim made a tiny gasp and, for a moment, the blue and purple of her eyes danced in the light, before she quickly turned her back and took a long drag of her Virginia Slim. As she exhaled, the back of her head seemed to sink into her shoulders. When she coughed, it seemed to sink even lower.

Fauna, meanwhile, said nothing. Her only reply was lighting another cigarette. 

"Hey guys," Baelz said as she stepped in between Kronii and Fauna, her phone in her hands. "Does this tweet sound okay? 'Stream's canceled today; really sorry. Sudden emergency came up.' Though I don't want to be too vague... about... it." 

Baelz's eyes went from IRyS, to Fauna, and then to Kronii, widening as she shifted from girl to girl. 

"Um... guys?" 

"I don't think it matters what you tell people at this point, really." 

The group turned their heads. Mumei was still leaning in her corner, only this time she was averting her gaze away from all of them. 

At first, it seemed that the guardian of civilization would refuse to speak any further. But then, still without looking at any of them, she said, "I can sneak in there, you know. Make it easy for all of us." 

Nobody needed to spell out what Mumei meant by 'making it easy,' and all eyes fell on Kronii to give her the say-so. The guardian of time knew that it would only take the golden flash of a dagger in the dark, followed by silence. 

But no. She didn't want to end it that way. Because she still hoped that her quarry could, somehow, be made to see reason.

So Kronii shook her head. "Not yet," she followed. "I'll... have to see first." 

Suddenly, Baelz threw something into the air, then quickly caught it with her hand. She opened her palm, revealing two red and white dice. 

"Snake eyes," she said in a low voice to no one in particular. 

Omen of omens. 

"Are you sure?" Mumei asked Kronii. 

No, of course she wasn’t sure. Of all the people in the world, it was Ouro Kronii herself that knew that she wasn’t sure. About saving the Detective. About killing her. About anything.

How she wished she could say these things. To cry. But no. She couldn’t. Not in front of any of them.

The guardian let time pass by for a while, simmering in her choices. The heart, or the mind? Only one side was going to win out. 

"Yeah," Kronii said, nodding slightly. It was her own way of telling herself there was no backing out now. "I'm sure." 

To that, Mumei crossed her arms just a little bit tighter. 

'Have it your way, then,' she seemed to say in her silence. 'Don't say I didn't warn you.' 

* * *

The door to the inner containment section closed behind Kronii and her shadow on the floor of the inner sanctum faded. It was like the last kiss of a sun before it dipped into an inexorable darkness. 

She was in a kind of foyer, which then led to a decontamination antechamber. From there, she would enter the main atrium, where Ina would be. 

"Kronii, report,"said the radio hooked to her ear. It was A-Chan. 

"I'm doing fine. Just gotta find my way into the antechamber," she said. "It's pretty dark. I can barely see anything."

The walls were made of cold steel. There were lights, white and bright, but they made solid bars that dropped down to the floor, centering all the light upon them while making the rest of the interior even darker than before. Within that shadow was supposedly the decontamination door, but there could be anything within that darkness. Eyes, most likely. Eyes and everything else. 

Why was Kronii thinking of eyes? Was someone watching her? The standing hairs on her forearms said it was so. 

Swords in one hand, she stepped forward into the darkness. 

"A-Chan, is there something you can do with the lights down here?" 

"Let me see..." Kronii could hear typing, followed by the click of a disappointed tongue. "Sorry. It seems that the lighting system's damaged." 

Should've grabbed a flashlight, Kronii thought to herself as she took tentative half steps into the shadow. Her head on a swivel, she scanned the room before her with this growing, growing heartbeat. Some kind of dread. She tried assuring herself that if anything came within a foot of her, she could easily cut it in half. 

But this was still the darkness, after all. Full of unknowns. Not even the Guardian of Time could overcome one of man's most primordial fears. Not completely. 

Her left hand eventually felt cold metal. It was the door to the decontamination room. 

"Found the door."

"Good. There should be a knob there. A keypad will pop out."

Kronii found the knob, and a faded green keypad slid out of a slot next to it. 

"The code is zero-six-six-seven." 

The neighbor of the beast. How fitting. Maybe Cover Corp had a sense of humor after all. Kronii punched the code in, and the keypad retracted back into the wall. The door began to open. 

Beyond this door was going to be more darkness, but there was supposed to be a light at the end that led to the main atrium. 

Instead of that, however, Kronii found light. So much so that it threatened to overtake her senses, make her go blind. She closed her eyes, allowing them to adjust. When she opened them, she saw a prairie. An honest-to-God prairie. 

The sky was blue, with thin strips of clouds floating through space. Grass rustled in the wind, and a mountain stood in the distance. 

The wind itself whispered to her. 'Come closer,'it seemed to say. 

It was beautiful. 

Too beautiful, even. 

A strange trepidation mixed with dread worked its way up Kronii's spine, constricting it and keeping her from moving forward. 

"What... is this?" 

"What are you talking about?" 

"Don't you see it?"

"All this security camera's seeing is a big light coming from the door,"A-Chan answered. "What are you seeing?" 

"I don't know, but... I'll check it out." 

Kronii stepped through the door. Almost immediately, she fell into the grass face-first. The grass was soft and smelled like fresh earth. When she rolled onto her back, the sky above spread out, almost overtaking her vision. She reached out for it, and she felt the wind on her hand.  

She gasped. This was real. 

The Guardian of Time poked her head out of the grass. She saw the door she fell out of floating as a perfect rectangle in the air, like some kind of hole out of reality. When she stood up fully, the grass went up to her shoulders. 

Where was this place? She didn't remember it at all, yet something within herself tugged at her. Something long forgotten in the depths of her own mind that she had to pluck out just for one moment... 

The world's great, isn't it Kronii?

No. She had been here before. 

Kronii scanned her surroundings. Just as she expected, there was a road that ran along the field. And on that road, three figures were walking by their lonesome. Kronii, Ina, and... her. The Detective. 

The Detective, being the shortest of them, led the way. Ina followed, while Kronii was at the rear. 

Did she go back in time somehow? No, she couldn't have. For one thing, there was no mountain when she, Ina, and the Detective passed by this place. The grass wasn't grass; it was supposed to be a pier. And... 

"Where's the Ferris Wheel?" Kronii mumbled to herself, finding none in the surrounding scenery. This was supposed to be New York, but it looked nothing like this. 

The Guardian of Time trudged through the field, making her way to the road, just behind the three figures. They were smiling. They were happy...

Kronii couldn't help but make a bitter chuckle. When she decided to run away and join the people she chased after, those were indeed happier days. 

So happy that maybe, just maybe... she could join them again. 

"Hey! Wait a minute!" she shouted at the trio. 

"Kronii? Kronii, what are you doing?"some voice said in her ear. 

"Hey! Wait for me!" 

"Kronii, what... No, stop!" 

She trailed behind the trio, her heels clacking on the asphalt, the wind licking her shoulders, her neck, her tears, everything. 

The moment her fingers made contact with the Kronii of the past, however, the three faded out of existence. The road, the field, the mountain, and the sky faded too. 

The guardian of time found herself in the antechamber that she was supposed to be in. 

"Kronii!"the radio called. "Kronii, report!" 

She blinked, trying to confirm that the steel walls and the lights surrounding her were real. It seemed that they were. "Y-Yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine," she said. "I was just... you saw that too, right?" 

"No, you were just going around in circles in the antechamber,"A-Chan answered, sounding agitated. "We've been trying to reach you for half an hour already!"

A chill went down her spine. "What?" 

"This is exactly what we expected. Mental contamination..." 

"What do you mean 'mental contamination'?" 

"Ina's dreams, they're..."

"She's still alive? I thought she was-"

"You need to hurry,"A-Chan said. 

"You want me to kill her too, don't you?" 

Silence. 

"Well?"

No answer. 

The main atrium was just ahead. In there was the Detective and the Sleeping God, whose dreams were beginning to leak into reality. That was why both of them had to die. 

But Kronii wasn't sure if she was capable of doing it. The job. Not just killing Ina. But Watson, if she refused to give up, the Guardian of Time would have to do it. 

Kronii shook her head and swallowed her hesitation. There was no time for that. Only action. There was still a chance that this could all be sorted out. Somehow. 

* * *

There was only light ahead: the muted blue-violet glow of the atrium. At its center laid Ina's container, a metal box held together by circuits, wires, and LED displays. The top was clear as crystal, and inside the priestess rested in her eternal slumber, bathed in white light. She almost looked saintly. She looked exactly as she did before the Incident. 

If Kronii reached out and shook her shoulder, would she wake up and say, 'wah'?

Like back then. Back in happier times. 

Other than Ina's coffin, the atrium was empty. Save for bloodstains. One spot at the left, one spot at the right, and another spot near the center, just at the foot of the container. All of them trailed to one corner hidden within the shadows. 

Kronii couldn't see it at first. But when her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw three corpses lying underneath a khaki coat. From the shoes, she could already tell who they were. 

Gawr Gura, Calliope Mori, and Kiara Takanashi. 

"So she really went and did it..." Kronii's whisper faded into the cold air, along with any hope that Amelia did not sin.

The coat was hers. She took the time to drag them here and cover their faces. Out of remorse? Shame? 

Or maybe it was just that even after killing them, she still wanted to cover her friends with her embrace. 

Kronii pressed her radio again. But there was no answer. No signal?

"So they sent you, huh?"

The Guardian of Time turned around and saw just beyond the glow of Ina's coffin the chrome glint of a barrel, followed by blue eyes reflecting the container's soft white light. 

"Detective."

Out of the shadows, Amelia Watson stepped forward. In both her hands, the Helen Gun. An SS-Class Relic made out of a Demon Core. 

The murder weapon. 

Kronii remembered when the detective showed that thing off after winning a bet in Reno, 2072. 'Here, try it,'she said to her. Even in the present, as Kronii extended her hand to her quarry, she could still feel the gun's weight. 

"You have to give up," Kronii said.  

"Where's your swords?" the detective asked, still centering the guardian of time in her sights.

"I don't have them." All she had was a proverbial olive branch. Swords were hidden in the ether, to be pulled out never. "Listen. It doesn't have to end this way."

"Why shouldn't it? You've seen what I've done." 

Kronii glanced back at the corpses in the corner. Their blood spread underneath the detective's coat like a contagion, draining away into the atrium's cracks and crevices. 

Did she regret killing them? She must be regretting it. She had to be. 

"It's dangerous to keep her alive like this," Kronii said. 

"I know." 

"But you're alive," Kronii said. 

"That's exactly the problem. I'm alive, she's not." 

The sleeping priestess laid still in her coffin, blissfully unaware of what had happened in her absence from the world. 

"Not in a way she can be useful to Them, at least," the Detective said. 

The Guardian of Time put her hand on the coffin's glass casing. It felt cold to the touch, despite her gloves. She also felt the coursing of energy, a thin line that shot through her arm. There was a power within this coffin, something that bubbled underneath the surface that was waiting to get out. 

"Don't you know what they're going to do with her?" the Detective asked.

Kronii noticed something between the priestess' clasped hands: A black rosary.

She shook her head. "No. They don't tell me anything."

"Is that because they don't know what to do with you either?" 

The Guardian of Time looked up to see that the Detective had lowered her gun. She had a sympathetic look on her face. Pity.

Kronii knew better than to get angry over a fragile sense of pride. But the notion stung regardless. 

She crossed her arms and looked away, as if to also look away from the reality that the being who had created her and her half-sisters had long abandoned them. They were lost and, for a time, walked the Earth like specters. It was only by Cover Corp's good graces that they had been found. 

The Detective put her gun down on the priestess' coffin. "It's cruel how they're making us do this, huh?" 

Kronii did not answer. She was thinking of all those times she almost completed her mandate. 

* * *

Dallas, 1963. A man they called the 'President' was rolling into town. Outside a diner, Kronii watched two girls sitting at a table, sharing an apple pie. That looked fun, she thought to herself. When she entered, silence, followed by a chase. Broken plates, screaming, expletives, followed by a grassy knoll, a gunshot, and the smoke of the Detective's revolver. 

Paris, 1910. Kronii chased two girls up the Eiffel Tower with flight. Paris spread out into neatly-arranged squares, their roads and streets snaking through them like veins. The guardian had to pause. Was this how beautiful the world was?  The elevator opened, a chase along catwalks and platforms ensued. She cornered her quarry, but then they went over the railing and jumped. Kronii could only watch as she saw them fall through the air, before disappearing in a flash. 

Coney Island, 1970. Kronii found her quarry eating hotdogs. They were smiling, she wasn't. When she approached, they were about to run. But then, a glint in the Detective's eye. "Why are you chasing us?" The guardian was caught off-guard. She had never asked herself that question before. 

* * *

Every single time, the Detective was with Ina. That sweet, round-eyed girl with a gentle smile on her face. 

"What are they going to do with her?" Kronii asks. 

"What do you think?" The way the Detective said the word 'think' sounded like her gun went off. 

The Detective placed her hand on the coffin, near the spot where the priestess' face was. If only she could caress it through the glass. Or better yet, open the casket and be happy with her again. 

But no, that was never going to happen. Not after the Incident. Being a gateway for Elder Gods, Ina had become too much of a liability to allow to live any longer. 

"You can go back to the past," Kronii said to her, almost a whisper. 

"Youtelling meto commit time crime? That's funny. Besides, you don't think I tried?" 

"Then why did you stop?" 

Instead of answering, the Detective shook her head. Kronii knew what it meant. Though there were many things that time travel could change in reality, there were certain events would happen no matter what changes were done to the space-time continuum. Ina being put in a box set for disposal was one of these events. 

So many time loops, yet all of them leading to the same conclusion... 

In that, the Timepiece was useless. 

"What are you gonna do now, then?" Kronii asked. "There's no going back from any of this."

"You don't think I know that?"

The Detective bowed her head. Under the light of the atrium, and above the glow of Ina's coffin, her face seemed to have taken on an older, exhausted hue. As if she defied her own permanent youth gained from time traveling and became five years older. 

"You know," she began, "When I met Ina... you know the first thing she did? She asked me to pray." 

* * *

Trinity Site, New Mexico, 1945.A girl is running through the mud. A rare rain had come over the Jornada del Muerto desert, turning all roads into quagmires. That meant, for the time being, no one would be able to chase her. 

Behind her, the McDonald Ranch - her prison and her home - becomes smaller and smaller in the distance. Until it becomes nothing more but a speck in the wind. 

The girl is nervous, but full of trepidation. She was wearing nothing but a white dress, the hem dirtied by mud. But she knew it was better to run away than to stay there with her father, with General MacArthur, with Mister Oppenheimer, and everyone else who wanted to win the War by conquering time. 

 Amelia could scarcely hold back her tears. They knew what was going to happen to those people in Pearl Harbor if they weren't warned of the attack. All that death and destruction, yet they would change the past to let it happen anyway! Just to drag the rest of the country into war as early as possible...  

From her neck hangs the golden Timepiece, and she clutches it with her hand as she always did whenever she needed solace. She would sooner die than let them do again the things she helped them do. 

But after three hours of non-stop running, Amelia is at the end of her rope. She needs to rest, and soon. Luckily, she had come upon this old graveyard that had been left in the desert to crumble and rot. There was a tombstone just wide enough for her to hide behind and lean on, let the desert rains cool her. 

She just has to run a little bit more. A little bit more, and the Timepiece would be ready to use again. But she's not sure of whether it will charge in time before she gets captured. 

Amelia takes a few breaths, then she feels someone sit on top of the tombstone. 

She looks up; it's a girl with violet hair and round eyes. The same girl Amelia saw in the last Timepiece experiment. The one who would destroy Pearl Harbor. 

"Are you lost?" the girl asks her. 

Though she saw her lift streets from the ground and turn battleships into ghosts, Amelia senses no danger from her. She's beautiful. 

It's the gentleness in her eyes, and the care in her smile. A smile that promises happiness. 

Amelia nods. She doesn't know what to say; she's never talked that much before. 

"Then pray with me," she tells her. "Pray with me until the end." 

The girl jumps from the tombstone, before floating down to the earth. Her heels bury themselves an inch into the mud. She then kneels. The mud dirties her knees, but she does not care. Amelia is amazed. 

To her, there was no action too dirty, nor unnecessary, if it meant praying to God. 

She clasps her hands and then looks at Amelia, before looking up to heaven. 

"Let us pray," she says. A black rosary somehow appeared between her hands. 

Our Father, Who art in heaven, 

Hallowed be Thy Name. 

Thy Kingdom come. 

Thy Will be done on Earth,

as it is in Heaven...

As they pray, Amelia hears footsteps in the distance. Shouting. Guns being cocked. It's Them.They had caught up to her even though the Timepiece hadn't been fully charged yet... 

They're coming, and yet the violet girl is still praying with her eyes closed! 

Give us this day our daily bread. 
And forgive us our trespasses, 
as we forgive those who trespass against us... 

Amelia could not help but notice how comfortable she is, how safe she seems. 

Maybe, just maybe Hewas real, and Hewould protect them.  

The soldiers are getting nearer now. 

And lead us not into temptation, 

but deliver us from evil... 

"Amen," the girl says.

Amelia has found herself praying too. Praying that she and the girl would be safe. Praying that God was real. Praying that her father and his colleagues would see the wrongness of what they wanted to do. 

Praying, just praying, for any kind of salvation. 

Then, warmth. The violet girl is holding Amelia's clasped hands. 

"God will steer the boat," she whispers. "But you must row. For faith without works is not only dead... but meaningless." 

For a moment, Amelia is confused by what the girl just said. But then she realizes - there was something she could do. 

The Timepiece hanging on her neck. She looks at it and sees that, by some miracle, it had already been charged. 

So, she clasps it, wills themselves to safety, and presses the button. They're saved. 

* * *

Back at Cover Corp, Ame continued to watch Ina through the glass of her coffin. Even until now, she was still clutching that same rosary between her hands.

What was she dreaming of? Probably of being with God. Of finding peace. 

Ame always thought that 'finding peace' meant death. Cessation of existence, where one's soul finally went up to heaven to reunite with the Lord. So, wouldn't that mean Ina's disposal at the hands of Cover Corp was actually good? 

"One day, at the end of everything," she said to Ame once while they were walking along a beach. Probably Montauk, 1971. Just a year after Kronii had joined them in running away. "One day, we will all return to His side." 

As it was said in the book, from dust to dust. 

So why was Ame still here, then? Why was she keeping Ina from God? 

"Detective," Kronii asked. A name worn by decades of use. "We can come up with something. Anything! Let me help you." 

Her word reached Ame, but they moved nothing within her. Her heart was too heavy, and the ties that bound her to Ina were too tight and tangled to undo. A Gordian knot she would rather kill and die for than allow to be cut. 

Then, as if driven by weight of her heart, the detective slid down to her knees. Hands clasped on the surface of the coffin, Detective Amelia Watson prayed for the second time in her life. 

"Lord, why am I here?"

"Lord, why am I suffering?" 

"Lord, why did you take Ina away from me?" 

She expected no answer. Only the void, followed by her own tears. 

But instead, she realized it. 

Perhaps it was some trick of the synapse, her nerves connecting at just the right moment. Or maybe it was divine providence. But it was a realization, nonetheless. 

The reason she why was here, why she had killed her three friends with the gun in her hand, the reason she had driven herself to sin. 

It was because she loved Ina. Ame loved her because she was her refuge. And now that she was gone, Ame considered herself lost. The only refuge she had.

Leaving no time to even wipe the tears at the edge of her eyes, Ame stood up and went to Kronii's side of the coffin. The guardian of time was ready to hold her shoulder and talk about their next move. 

But Ame stopped her, then held her back.

"Like you said, there's no going back for me from any of this. If we run, they'll catch us. Worse, they might give me back to America..." 

Her other free hand was placed on the console controlling Ina's coffin. 

"Detective, what are you doing?" 

As she bowed her head, a shadow darkened Ame's face. "Even if we do run, there's no way to change any of this. So, you better make it quick." 

"Detective... you don't have to do this. This is crazy!" 

But Kronii knew there was no stopping her. Not when the detective had those eyes. Sharp, determined, tired. There was only one way this would all end. 

Either she killed Ame or let her release Ina and kill the world. 

The two stared at each other, each minute stretching into its own form of eternity. The only sound Kronii could hear was her own breathing. 

She couldn't do it. She would do it. She couldn't do it. She would do it. Kronii didn't want to do the deed. She didn't want things to end like this. 

But Ame was asking her to. She had to do it. 

She would kill the detective. 

And, when her mandate was done, she would join her. 

One more breath, followed by the conjuring of a blade in her right hand. The killing blow was heading straight for Ame's neck, and she closed her eyes, anticipating the impact. 

But then, a warmth from behind. Ame opened her eyes. Arms slid over her shoulder, then around her chest. In-between the hands, a rosary hung. For a moment, everything glowed. 

The Guardian of Time couldn't kill something so beautiful. 

"I can't do it." She shook her head. "I can't do it, Detective... Amelia..." 

Kronii could only stare, before she was swallowed by the light.

"Let us pray," Ina the Awakened whispered. 

Our Father, Who art in heaven, 

Hallowed be Thy Name. 

Thy Kingdom come. 

Thy Will be done on Earth,

as it is in Heaven...

Give us this day our daily bread. 

And forgive us our trespasses, 

as we forgive those who trespass against us... 

And lead us not into temptation, 

but deliver us from evil.

"Amen." 

The end of the world had come.

--- END —

Rentry to the weird Mumei ending that was the ending to this story when it was released, before it was reverted to the current ending: https://rentry.org/ikuckoyw