Vol 2 Ch 12: Inside the Compound (Sam's Version) & Time Keeper

Before I began my part of the story, I noticed that Lee looked at me with a sorrowful expression before looking down at his sword, seemingly looking for something...he must have remembered at least something just like I did...I began from the start, obviously.

The following takes place at the same Lee first woke up here.

I felt a nagging pain on the back of my head. I sat up from the cold floor and took a look at my surroundings, the floor was red...whether it was due to blood or not...I'd rather not know... From the looks of it, it seemed like I was in some hallway, both ahead and behind me were open paths yet, they both looked the same, for the most part at least. The only difference for each path was their doors, one looked more tame, like a normal door, while the door behind me seemed corroded and could break easily. Each time I looked at the doors it felt like the room became smaller, I couldn't tell if it was actually though, it was just a straight hallway, no door on the sides, no windows, and the tiniest light imaginable. I got up and took a step forward, causing something to roll, against the side of the hallway. I knelt down and picked it up, it was a flashlight, and yet, clearly it was given to me by whoever brought me here, they'd probably use the light to track me. I stomped on the flashlight and broke the glass that held the bulb, I picked up one of the shards, using my sleeve to prevent myself from getting cut, it was a last resort, but needed. I walked towards the normal door, the light in the room grew brighter as I did, it kinda hit the left side of my face, it stayed like that until I came to realize the light was coming from me. I set down the glass shard and moved my sleeve that covered my left arm, a bracelet was there, it glew orange. I picked up the shard with my right hand again. When I made it to the door, a panel replaced the typical handle, I raised my bracelet up to the panel... ... ... It took a while, but eventually the door opened, if I was getting chased, these doors would be unreliable. I looked at that little slot that doors close on, I cut the smallest piece of my coat possible and put it in it. hopefully, it would prevent it from closing properly. I continued walking down the corridor until I came across a giant, cube-like room. I could hear chains dangling from the roof, this place already made me feel sick, so looking up was the last thing I wanted to do. I made it to what felt like the center of the room and immediately I felt off, the same nagging pain in the back of my head was here again.

"Took long enough" I heard a voice to my left, I quickly turned and raised my hand up, the one that held the shard. It was a girl, slightly shorter than I was, with clothes that seem alright, they weren't torn, nor did they look cheap. She had this wrapping on her eyes with a symbol on it, it resembled some circle but had multiple other shapes surrounding it. "You're hot aren't you? That's how I'm able to see you" What?

"What're you on about?"

"Oh...I'm normally right when I guess what people are thinking, in that case, I see people based on their body heat, hence why I asked" She seemed really expressive with her hand movements.

"Well...that explains it I guess...I was more wondering what the symbols on your...the thing on your eyes and its symbols, I was wondering about that"

"...I'm...blind, I can't see...so..."

"Yeah...I figured...sorry" It clicked a second later. "Wait, before you said 'took long enough' what's that meant to mean"

"Oh, don't take it personally, I was just genuinely waiting for someone, I've been able to get around thanks to symbols I've left around that give off the same heat humans do, I'm also able to sense a 360 field around me, so I'm unable to be sneaked up upon."

"Didn't you just say you didn't know symbols?" The girl began walking around the room, seemingly circling me.

"I wasn't born like this, my bad for giving off the wrong impression, the symbols on my head, I have no clue how they look, the symbols I write down, I've memorized, I hope that makes sense" As she came around the other side of me, she pressed against a wall, opening some hidden panel. "There we are"

"It isn't just body heat is it?"

"No, any heat in general, I can regulate it though, so I can make it just body heat if I feel like it. I don't see how that helps though, unless I'm in a boiling room." She took off the door to the panel and moved aside for me. "Listen, that corroded door you probably saw can't be broken, it has magic on it. Yet, there are these panels, two of them, that can disable magic in this area, that includes ours though." Hold on...I had magic? I dropped the shard and summoned my daggers, it worked perfectly fine. I hooked them onto two slots near my waist, haven't noticed them until now, way more handy though than just holding them. Guess my uniform accounted for my daggers too. "I'm unable to see, even with the heat, as I need colors, do you mind?" I walked over and knelt with her. "I'll take it as a yes." She pressed her left hand against the side of her head. "You can just cut them, with...whatever you're holding......ready?"

"Yup!"

"Blue" I looked at the wires...there were two blues.

"Umm..."

"The lowest one"

"Ah" I cut the blue wire that was at the bottom.

"Black" Once more, cutting the only black wire. "Fourth wire down"

"What happened to the colors?" I looked over at her, then went right back to looking at the wires when I remembered she can't see.

"I'm only able to recall what I saw, I only remember seeing where they cut on this one." I looked down the wires. Red, yellow, purple, blue...

"Am I cutting the other blue?"

"I guess you are" ...I didn't like that.

"Whatever you say" I cut it and soon after, I felt tingly. The girl stood up, I guess that was it. I stood up with her and took a peer around the room, while preventing myself from looking up. "Sooo...where to next?" She walked over to one of the other six doors that were present.

"Through here should be the next one." She opened the door and walked through it, pretty calmly to boot. She must've been through these rooms multiple times. I had suspicions, for all I know I'm going into a room where I'm gonna get ambushed, I waited until she was deep enough into the room where she couldn't reach me. I peered my head into the room and looked around, one of the first things I noticed was a giant box that shook around. "I don't need your help with this one, so just sit tight" She took off the door to another panel, this time though she seemed to be fine, and didn't need my help as she said before. I looked back at the box, this blue aura was around it...

"Hey umm, maybe we shouldn't turn the magic off yet" I rushed over to her, putting my hand on her shoulder.

"Why not?" She continued working, she was probably just brushing me off.

"Cause there's a box with something inside it! It's clearly held together by magic."

"Well, just deal with it then" I scoffed at her.

I stood at the doorway with a magical shield in front of me as the girl was ready to cu-

Present Time:

"Hold on...did you skip something?" Lee looked at me, speaking in some tone...I didn't know what he was implying.

"Maybe I just don't recall it, so it's not showing"

"...I doubt that, considering we've seen memories from when we were kids, memories that were long forgotten." I could tell that even Toya was skeptical as Lee talked.

"Forget it, just let me finish" Lee nodded in response to me. "Thank you"

Back to that point in time:

"Here goes nothing" The girl spoke as she cut the second to last wire. Almost immediately I felt weaker, yet, I felt like it's been that way since a few minutes ago. "Something is wrong" She spoke up. She stood and went to a cabinet. "Damn it, it's locked by magic too." She looked in my general direction, clearly not being able to sense me that well. "Well, seems like we're shutting it off anyways" I had no clue what she was on about until I looked at the ceiling of the room, it was just a ceiling at first, no vents or anything. Yet when I looked closer I saw a spider web, it seemed the standard for this place at first until I noticed how it was swaying kinda aggressively. "The place is getting gased for some reason, I'll cut the wire, and you put on the gasmask!"

"What about you?"

"I'll be fine, I can breathe through this stuff" Without me realizing, she cut the first wire. I bolted to the same cabinet she was at before and grabbed this weird contraption...it really didn't seem like a gasmask, more like a metal plate that covers my mouth. I put it on and almost gagged as something went down my throat...it burned, like every part of me was getting stabbed from the inside. "Come on!" The girl weirdly gained this boost of confidence and grabbed me by the wrist, dragging me along as she ran. I heard pounding, then something snapping, I turned around and saw this massive blob-like creature right behind us.

"What the..." I was kinda entranced by it, yet I knew that it must've been due to something else. We were almost barreling towards the door I first came through, I saw the girl raise her hand up, ready to open it. "No need! I jammed it open!" She looked at me, kinda dumbfounded. We burst through the door, and I made an attempt to rip out the cloth so it could close, but I failed to do so. The corroded door from before seemed completely destroyed, it was just a gap in the wall now. We sprinted through, running around corners as we tried outrunning the thing. It seemed on pace with us...yet a part of me felt like it could go faster if it felt like it. While running I noticed a camera watching us and at the end of the hallway was a gate-like door slowly rising until soon it came to a halt. "We're not going there right?"

"You have a better idea?" It felt odd that she...at least sounded like she knew what I was talking about, maybe there was a heat source on the gate that I couldn't see. There wasn't another choice besides for this one, so it was all or nothing, I did have my gear after all so hopefully if there were the people that brought us here I could put up a fight.

"Goddamnit! Just slide girl!" She was right, there wasn't time to just crawl under. I jumped up and stuck my legs forward, hoping the momentum from running would keep me going. When I landed a slid a bit farther from where I landed and was able to get under the door which afterward closed.

Present Time:

"And now we're here" I said, Finishing the memory. I could hear something dripping, yet it was clearly the echo of something further away from here.

"So, you cut the magic, and I caused the gas, well we seem to be making it worse for each other...wait, how were you able to use your magic?" I didn't even realize it, he was right, I showed them my memory using magic. I noticed Lee raising his hand...nothing "Can you move a second?" I nodded and moved, Lee stood in my spot, and was able to summon a small radio.

"Well then, this small area is out of range" Toya looked at Lee "You know...isn't it weird that you cut something and it caused magic to turn off? Wouldn't that mean it was keeping magic on?"

"I did find that weird, hehe" I scratched the back of my neck, the gas was surely hot that's for sure. "What I find more weird is how you two are fine" It was on my mind for a while, so I decided to finally ask about it.

"Oh we don't use our lungs, just like we don't use our eyes" Immediately I saw a look of confusion and slight disgust on Lee's face.

"You don't ha- oh" Though that disgust went away "Oh thank god, you just don't use the-...why!?"

"We breathe through other means, a way that only our people know of, maybe when we get out of here we'll teach you to show our gratitude" The girl wasn't talking as much as she did back there, she let Toya do it all.

"I...think I prefer my lungs, breathing is nice..." I said.

"You can still use your lungs...it's just ours don't work anymore, so we're forced to use this way" That...got a bit dark.

"I see...so it replaced your normal breathing since you'd still have to breathe as you sleep" Lee readjusted his gear as he went on through the halls again. "Come on, everyone else who's here is most likely a lost cause, we've got everyone we nee-" The later part of the hallway exploded before Lee could get across. "Well...I'll take my chances with the monster" He started walking back at us. Sillohoutes of two people began walking towards us, and when Lee noticed us looking past him, he turned around and took a stance with his sword

"Oh! They're right here! That's a helluva lot easier." The taller silhouette spoke, and soon, we could see them clearly. It was Kenneth and Kai. The sunlight from outside shinned into the incredibly dark room...yet...through the hallway that Lee came from I could see things dripping down. I looked down slightly, which Lee noticed, as did the others.

"Come on, let'-

"Before we go" Kai interrupted both Lee and Kenneth. "There's something here, Teanial. We need it" Teanial...it gave me a sense of Deja Vú...a very bad feeling. Noticing Lee was in front of me I looked back up, Lee was perfectly blocking it, I'll take hearing it over seeing it any day. It made me wonder why there was blood dripping from the ceiling though.

"No" That's all Lee said.

"What?" Kai clearly sounded a bit ticked.

"We need a break Kai...Sure, we had a day or two...but...just...we've been through a lot" He motioned to himself and me...right, I don't recall the last day I slept...and technically, we've only been DTs for about five days, yet it feels like it's been years. Kai took a deep breath.

"Last thing...this will be the last thing, then you two can have the entire week off, it's Sunday back at Eaxura, so six days should be enough. If your 'Bravo Team' wants the same thing, we'll give it..." Kai clearly was thinking something. "maybe giving a team 5 weeks of vacation every year is a good idea...maybe even more" he mumbled, yet everyone could hear him...It seemed like Lee wasn't hellbent on killing Kai anymore...yet I didn't even know why he wanted him dead to begin with, maybe it was one of those locked memories, yet he can still feel the emotion after all, I doubt Lee checked every memory, there's probably stuff I don't know about, like why he's so fine with kil- well...I shouldn't be talking. Kai and Kenneth looked around while Lee took a few steps back, regaining his standing.

"What is this place anyways?" Kenneth touched the walls, only to jolt his hands back right after. "It just feels off...and...what's wrong?" Kenneth looked my way, yet it was clear he was looking behind me. I turned right and saw Lee looking backwards, he seemed confused. I followed his gaze and realized that the girl and Toya were gone. "What is it?" Kenneth continued talking, me and Lee looked at each other, both of us confused...and a bit paranoid

"There was two people standing here just a second ago" Lee looked back at the other two, while I kept looking behind us, trying to think of where they went.

"So they were with you...I saw them for a milisecond...then they were gone." I heard Lee audible take a breath from what Kai said.

"So it wasn't in our minds...that's good" Lee tapped my shoulder. "Come on, let's go look for the T...enial" Lee looked at the floor when he said that.

"Lee?" His face was filled with dread, like years of realization came to him.

"Have...I done this before?" He mumbled to himself. He put his hand on his head, gripping onto some of his hair and almost taking his hat off his head.

"You alright?" Kai knelt down beside me and took a look at Lee, it only took a few seconds for a purple swirl in Lee's right eye to appear, only to quickly vanish soon after. "So, you're acquiring your real gear." I looked up at him in confusion, I could hear Lee's hat ruffle a bit, as he probably looked at him too. "I'll explain back a-...the hell is that?" Kai looked past us, and I immediately felt anxious, both Lee and I knew what was behind us. I did a 180 and looked back towards the gate...and only a small, really small blob was there, it wasn't purple...it didn't look related to corruptors at all...if anything, it was really cute. I heard a footstep and soon saw Lee walking towards it, I felt even more anxious, it could just lunge at Lee if it wanted to, but instead it just nuzzled against his leg.

"It doesn't seem dangerous." I saw Kenneth walking beside me, holding a tablet, I had to look closely but I saw Dave cloaked and beside Lee. "No corruption either...it's safe" Hearing that, Lee crouched down and poked the thing, it jiggled slightly, the slime had something resembling a mouth, and it smiled after being poked, its eyes were also there, it looked way different than a human's eye, but there was some resemblance. Lee scooped the thing up with its hands.

"Heh, maybe we were hallucinating Sam, cause it seems to me that this thing is harmless" Lee stood up and pet it.

"You're gonna keep it?" Kai seemed slightly concerned.

"Why not, it's clearly not hostile, and as Kenneth said, it's not corrupted...not like it matters for me" Kai and Kenneth seemed to perk up when Lee said the last part. "What?" Lee alternated looking at Kai and Kenneth.

"Did you forget? using corrupted magic is illegal, as is being corrupted, you should've been cured already." Lee looked at me.

Lee: Sam...

Sam: I know...didn't...I thought they already knew about your corruption,

Lee: Well, clearly they aren't the Kai...and Kenneth we know...

His voice sounded off, it was in our minds but he still trailed off. The slime that Lee held seemed to react negatively to Kai and Kenneth as they walked closer

Lee: Do me a favor and get down

Following Lee's order, I quickly threw myself to the floor. As I looked up I saw Lee flick out his sword, unhinging the blade and firing four shots, two for each. A screech rang out, not a human one however. Lee ran my way so I quickly stood up and followed him, we darted to the hole in the wall and ran out.

"What if they were the real ones!" I shouted at him as we ran.

"I hadn't thought that into it, I just had a major feeling they weren't, especially Kai acting like that."

"What is your problem with him Lee!?" We both kept running, we didn't know where to, but we did.

"I...just feel like he's a bad person, like I have a memory of him that I can't recall...yet I still feel the emotion." I felt like the ground stopped, not like we stopped moving but like we weren't on the floor anymore, we were too busy talking and shouting over the terrible gurgles and crunching that were behind us, that we didn't realize we ran off a cliff. It was like my heart stopped as I looked towards the bottom of the cliff while I fell, clearly Lee was speechless as well. we could throw our weapons and teleport, it worked earlier, yet that was only because we landed and swung on something, for all I know we still die if we teleport at the floor as we barrel towards it...how did we go through dimensions, maybe it could save us. Yet, I remembered, I didn't use my parachute, none of us did. I went through my inventory and took it from there, it seemed like even if it was taken, as long as it doesn't go in someone else's inventory, I can grab it from mine no matter where it is. I put on the chute and moved my arms to go to Lee who was still thinking of something.

"Lee!" He looked up and saw me, he picked up the blob and put it on his head, covering it with his hat, keeping it safe. I grabbed his arm and pulled the string, opening the parachute.

"Good thinking, fast reaction too" Was he really judging me right now...well I guess it's a compliment so it's fine. I felt gravel hit my head, or it was some type of rock. I peered up, and on the cliff, I saw a massive creature with its claws stabbing into the mountain. It looked familiar, and that's because I've seen it before, Alice showed us both, it was the same creature that masked guy had "We j- What the fu-!" I looked down at Lee.

"Heya...you can get us out of this right Lee~?" It was like I was using all my energy to keep holding onto Lee, there was nothing I could d-

"Let go fo the parachute"

"Huh?" He said it directly to me, not to anyone else...stupid thing I've heard ever.

"I think I know how to travel dimensions, just let go, we saw Kai do it in Alice's memory" He had a point, but doing this off a probability...yeah I guess I'll take my chances.

"Don't be wrong" I took my arm out of the parachute's sleeve, ironically there was only one strap, like I was meant to let go while holding onto so-...that's oddly convenient now that i thin-

"SAM!" Lee's shouting brought my attention back again, oh yeah, I let go, we're barreling towards the ground "Let go of me too!" I was already listening to him, what harm would happen. I let go of him and Lee held his sword with both hands while facing the floor. He took a deep breath and quickly slashed the air twice, I couldn't even see what happened before I was in a library like area.

"Well...it worked" I looked behind me and saw the portal, my legs burned from how far I slid into here. They were probably bleeding.

"Told ya" Lee was behind me, and soon the portal closed.

"oh...this is awkward" I heard a voice familiar to me, yet just as easily unrecognizable. Both Lee and I turned to look in the voice's direction, and we were greeted by two people, One was hooded yet wearing decently formal clothing, while the other one...the other one I couldn't tell, they looked like both genders, their age definitely none definable...

"Who're you?" Lee took a step back with his sword drawn while I had my daggers on my waist.

"Well, you two aren't meant to be here...how'd you even get here to begin with?" Dimension hopping requires you to know a place right? Or think of something relating to it...so what'd Lee think to get here?

"I asked a question first." The hooded guy sighed, the other person wasn't talking...nor do I think they can.

"It was bound to happen in one timeline or another" They cleared their throat "hgm hm, I'm what they call the keeper, this place is in between all timelines" So we went somewhere... "As long as you're here, time out there will remain stopped, unless you want otherwise"

"The hell? What's with all the books then?" Lee strengthen the grip on his sword.

"I just said people call me the keeper...The books tell of dead people's lives, I take their memories and place them into books for a simple read" They held a book...it was similar...all of this felt similar.

"lee..."I mumbled, Lee turned around confused. "that book...isn't it yours?" Lee looked at me like I was crazy, until he quickly opened his hud and pulled it out...it was exactly the same, same cuts...same pages...same cover.

"Well fuck me then...you should've lost it by now..."

"You said you take dead people's lives and turn them into books, so why do you have Lee's?" I guess there was no reason to turn it into a book if it already was one.

"Lee has seen other timelines...and I'm sure you've seen at least one Sam" I was wondering how they knew my name...but remembered what they held.

"Why keep the books for me then? If I supposedly just keep coming back" Lee was easing up with the grip, yet still remained wary.

"Well, why don't I tell you two something...every person, even humans, come back and live different timelines, but only a certain amount of times, hell the fact Sam got reincarnated as a DT was a miracle with how weak she used to be" They placed the book down. "Let me explain better, Sam, as she was as a human, would not be reborn in another timeline, she will cease to exist, Sam now...maybe a few timelines, ten, twenty. Of course you can break that limit, but only if someone revives you in another timeline...Lee though...can only be brought back two more times."

"And why's that!? I sure as hell ain't weak" I didn't know what to say, I was just letting the two of them speak.

"Oh no...if anything, out of all of us you've been reborn the most...you, in total, had 70,000 rebirths, you used 69,998 of them"

"Wait, so what about other timelines? Will that counter tick down if one of us in another timeline die?" I finally spoke up, asking my question

"Yes, but that's why it's always an even number, at most, it's been found that only ten timelines can co-exist, some believe otherwise though so don't take my word for it." The 'Keeper' tapped on the book a few times before speaking again. "I am surprised that you haven't summoned your trauma gear yet."

"huh?" Both Lee and I were confused.

"Trauma gear, EGO Gear, Guilty Gear. It has different names given by different cultures, my culture calls it Trauma gear, a type of power that can only appear once you're emotions, trauma or whatever, builds up to an unbearable point, and yet, after so many rebirths, retries. Neither of you have been able to summon it"

"And why do you think we'd be able to?" I eased up a bit, this guy was telling me more stuff than Raymond has, so it's an improvement.

"Oh come on, Trauma gear? EGO Gear? You're telling me you've never had something so traumatic happen, or your EGO is so shattered from the past that you can harness it?" Both Lee and I remained silent, of course we did, but...not like I had any clue how to harness it.

"I...guess so." I spoke

"Well...since you two managed to break the timeline anyways by being here, I'll tell you what, tomorrow, for your time at least, if both and I mean both! If one of you is missing I won't do this. So, if both of you are here, I can teach you anything you want to know, combat tactics, Partner-link tactics. After all, if you recall what I said earlier, I've read everything about what you two are capable of, not even to mention...seeing people die over and over again with the same glimmering hope just like the first run, is even painful for me."

"So, you're helping us break a cycle?" Lee put away his sword, disappearing it in the air.

"Of course, here, let me give you something" The Keeper went over to the shelf behind us. "Take a guess"

"Wha-" I just looked at the bookcase.

"Well it's clearly a hidden door, take a guess on which book it is, and I'll give you something alongside what I originally planned." Lee and I walked to the bookcase and stood side-by-side. "I'll give you two chances, one for each of you, well, not like you'll work seperat-

"This one?" I pointed to a book that seem misplaced, not the size or anything, it's just that the books around it were of other people, names of other DTs I came across in Eaxura, and the book I had pointed to, was just a normal book, one that I almost read when I was younger...until having to go to the ER a few hours later...

"Umm...yeah" The Keeper looked at Lee "..." They only sighed. "So another thing has changed."

"W-"

"Before it was Lee who answered it, yet you've only been here once before in another timeline...well...for me every timeline is the same, you know, the whole this place is between all timelines" They interrupted me, yet it did answer my question on why Lee knew about this place...I guess it was a subconscious choice. "Oh, by the way, is Yuna here?" Lee looked annoyed.

"Come on Yuna" Soon after he called for her, she appeared, leaning on the railing of a small staircase, one that only had about three steps, which led to the Keeper's desk.

"What?" She looked around and noticed the Keeper, she practically jolted up.

"And here's the second thing I'll give you" They pointed at Yuna "She remembers every timeline, and surely, most definitely, isn't just your subconciou-

"Shut up!" She got off from the railing.

"She remembers me too...hates me as well" The Keeper chuckled a bit before going back to the bookcase. They pulled the book I had mentioned earlier. I could hear behind me that Lee and Yuna were shouting at each other. The bookcase moved backwards and spread apart, leading down a long staircase.

"Lee!" I called over for him as I continued looking down.

"We're not finished" I heard him say to Yuna before walking over. The Keeper was already down a stair. "Ain't this the sketchiest thing I've ever seen" He took a step down, and the two began walking down the staircase. I looked back at the person who was previously sitting at the desk...they were gone. I began walking down the staircase alongside them, a staircase that seemingly never ended.