AN: As always, my Beta Reader, JDUBZ, was just the greatest when it came to wording things that totally helped out the story.

Chapter 27: The Opening

The door swung open, flooding the dark room within with light. Rem was the first to walk into the room. She looked at the walls next to the door and found a switch. Flipping it up, the light bulbs attached to the walls lit up.

Up above, the four clock faces were visible. The mechanisms turning the hands of the clock still worked, clicking every few seconds. Between the four faces was a giant crystal, being held up by steel beams. It's yellow glow illuminated the faces, but it didn't emit enough light to illuminate the entire room.

After turning on the lights, Rem studied the room. It was 3 times longer than the previous room, making it…..roomy. The only thing standing out in the room was a complex work station, complete with computer monitors and panels with dials and buttons, all of which were very foreign to Rem. However, in the center of it stood a metal archway roughly the size of a door.

It was a new day for Natsuki Subaru, one he had been looking forward to for 2 months. The gateway was supposed to be ready today. That meant taking Rem into his world and living the rest of his life with her, happily and in peace. He would finally live the life he had with her in Kararagi again, the one that was ripped from him by the witch, but if Okabe told the truth, then the witch could no longer reach him here. Subaru would be unreachable by the witch, she wouldn't be able to hurt him anymore.

A smile was constantly plastered on Subaru's face as he went about his daily business.

His parents questioned him on his odd behavior because his smile never fell for a second during breakfast.

"What's up with the look, son? You're starting to freak me out." Kenichi said jokingly.

Subaru's smile never faltered as he answered his father, "Oh, I'm just seeing a very good friend I haven't seen in a long time.

Naoko came to the table and placed a plate of pancakes in front of Subaru. In a sweet voice she asked, "And who might that lucky person be?"

Subaru wanted to say Rem, but decided against it. Instead, he said, "Don't worry about it, you're the first two people I'll take her to to say hi to."

Kenichi put a finger to his chin, a mischievous smile on his face, "So it's a girl is it? Hmmmm…"

Subaru stayed silent.

"Oh, Honey! He didn't deny it." Kenichi directed his smile to his wife. "I think our Subaru might be lovestruck."

Now Subaru was blushing slightly, but his smile still staying strong.

Naoko came back from the kitchen to place a cup of orange juice in front of Kenichi. "So what's this girl's name?"

He didn't want to say Rem, but he also didn't want to blow off his parents. So he settled for the stupid name that Okabe gave her, "Taylor."

"Aight, bro! You ready for today?! It's gonna be off the chain!" Michael was walking with Subaru to school, both were excited about the portal opening, but Subaru was by far the most excited.

Subaru was bewildered by Michael's unusual phrasing. What the hell is he saying? "What the hell are you saying?"

When excited, Michael would often talk and act differently to express just how happy and excited he was. The things Michael said during these times would always bewilder Subaru. Michael's words would either be weird or thought out, today was weird.

Michael put one of his thumbs through a front belt loop in his pants and started to walk like a stereotypical thug, "You know, I'm spittin' the lingo of my brothas. I'm on cloud nine homie, shit can't touch me, man. Ain't no one can disrespect that."

Subaru put a hand over Michael's mouth, "Well, I'm gonna have to disrespect you on that and say that that was the stupidest thing I've ever seen you done."

Michael stopped his act and playfully slugged Subaru in the arm, "Come on, Subaru. Can't we have fun? The portal's finally gonna be open today! What's not to celebrate!?"

"OK, I didn't say I didn't want to celebrate this amazing achievement. I said that what you were doing was stupid and probably an example of terrorizing the public. Not making you stop would make me an accomplice."

"Like you care."

"You're right, I don't care."

They both laughed together. Until Okabe texted Subaru on his phone about the portal, he could only wait and get through the school day.

All throughout math class, Subaru eagerly awaited Okabe's message. His flip phone was constantly in his hand, it distracted him from paying attention, but luckily the teacher didn't notice and didn't give him a hard time. When the class was nearing its end, Subaru had a realization. Okabe had said it would take about two months. What if that meant it wasn't today? What if the portal still wouldn't be ready today? Rem would be stuck in the middle of a forest in a clock tower, suffering in silence. Subaru decided that if the portal wasn't ready by the end of school then he would head down to his house anyway and ask just how much longer it was going to take.

Subaru waited, each minute felt like an eternity, time slowed down for Subaru as he waited for Okabe to notify him of the completion of the portal. His next class came and still nothing was heard of from Okabe. Subaru had taken to chewing on his pencil, a way for him to distract himself from the phone. Needless to say, it didn't work.

It was in the middle of his Anatomy class that his phone went off.

Bzzzzzzzz!

Subaru looked at his phone. The screen on the front displayed what he wanted to see most.

New Message From:

Okabe

Subaru absentmindedly let out a rather loud squeak of joy.

"Mr. Natsuki!"

Subaru looked up to see the disappointed look of his anatomy teacher. Her eyebrows were furrowed and her lips pursed. She walked up to Subaru's desk and held out her hand. "You know the rules, Mr. Natsuki. No phones." She beckoned with her fingers for Subaru to hand over his phone. The whole class was now turned in their seats to see what was going on between the two.

Subaru never took his eyes off his teacher as he opened his phone and pressed the center button to open the message, giving her a nervous chuckle as he did so.

The teacher raised her voice ever so slightly, "Mr. Natsuki, I won't ask you twice. Give it here now before I notify the principal."

While she was scolding him, Subaru had opened the message and read it.

It's ready. Head over whenever you can.

Subaru looked back up at the teacher, a wide mischievous smile on his face, like his father's. "I actually have important business to attend to." He got out of his seat, picked up his backpack, and shimmied around his shocked teacher, saying to her, "If you'll excuse me."

The teacher looked at Subaru, "Mr. Natsuki! You leave now and I will have no choice but to notify your parents of your absence." Subaru stopped in his tracks. He didn't want to disappoint his parents again, but he also didn't want to stay separated from Rem any longer. Subaru decided that Rem, his future, was more important.

Subaru turned to look at his teacher, the smile still on his face. He held up his phone so she could see its glowing screen, "Like I said, important business." He exited the room, leaving a classroom full of stunned students with an angry teacher. A second later, Subaru poked his head back in, "I'm sorry, please don't be mad. I'll be back tomorrow." Then he left again. A few students chuckled.

Subaru sprinted to Okabe's, houses and trees were a blur as he gave it his all. He began to slow down realizing that his backpack was slowing him down. Dropping it into a bush, Subaru made a mental note to pick it up from there when all this was over. With the backpack gone, Subaru was able to run faster, see Rem sooner.

Images and memories of Rem rushed into his head as he thought of what he was going to say to Rem when the portal opened. Anything, everything, something that would make her understand just how much he wanted her in his life forever.

Panting, Subaru made it to Okabe's house, practically punching the door. Okabe opened the door without checking who it was. Seeing Subaru, he looked at the time on his phone and smiled, "That was fast."

"Oki died for this..this junk?" Ken kicked the side of metal box that had tiny holes on it. The resulting bang, instead of knocking, of metal echoed throughout the empty room.

Rem didn't know what to do with the stuff in front of her. She thought that it may be something that Subaru wanted her to use to find him. He did say to come here so he could see her again, maybe this thing was the key. Subaru-kun will call. Just like last time. She took out her metia and looked at it. Flipping it open, she found Subaru's contact icon and pressed on it.

This metia is no longer available or in service.

Rem closed the metia and held it to her lips, whispering, "Please come back, Subaru-kun."

Ken yelled with sarcasm in his voice, "Well this is just great!" He looked at Rem, "Where is he? I thought you said he was here?"

Rem pulled the metia from her lips, looking at Ken, "Rem thought so, but maybe Subaru-kun meant something else."

After thinking about the death of Oki more and more, Ken became even more bitter, taking it out on Rem , despite Oki's last words. "Well, he better call you like he said or else I'm going home. I don't care what Oki said, I will leave!"

Rem finally had enough of Ken and stared daggers at him, "Then leave, Ken. Rem will not stop you if you wish to go against Oki."

Ken puffed up his chest, holding back a yell. He exhaled, letting all the tension go and said in a mocking tone, "I hope you and your Subaru-kun live happily together." He turned to leave, "Good bye forever, Rem." He exited the room, Rem watched as he paused to look sadly at the pool of blood Oki left behind.

Ken gave one last menacing look at Rem before walking off, disappearing into the stairwell.

Rem fell to her knees, she didn't want Ken to go, but it was Oki's death that snapped his reasoning. She didn't want him to be alone again in life, but she couldn't handle him right now. Some time apart would help, at least that's what Rem thought.

What friendship she had with Ken was still intact in her heart, she wanted to make things right between them when the time allowed it. She promised herself that she would try and talk to Ken about this after she found Subaru, try and rekindle their sputtering friendship.

Bzzz Bzzz Bzzz Bzzz

Call From:

Subaru

Okabe and Subaru entered the elevator to the lab.

"So where's Michael?"

Subaru answered Okabe's question with another question, "Did you text him too?"

Okabe flipped open his phone and looked at his messages, "Yup."

Subaru pressed the button to go to the lab, "Well, there's either two reasons as to why he's not here. One, he wants to stay at school so he doesn't get a absent mark. Or two, he's walking here."

Okabe sounded put down, "It would be a sad moment in my life if he chose school over science." He sighed, "I guess nobody is perfect. Every man must have their flaws."

Subaru couldn't see Okabe in the right space, but by the sound of his voice , it sounded like he was implying something, "What are your flaws?"

From behind Subaru, Okabe gave a sly smile, "Too many to count."

"I'd second that."

The doors of the elevator opened, Okabe and Subaru practically popped out.

Okabe straightened his coat. Subaru was getting up as Okabe said, "Well, my dear Subaru, let's get that portal open, yes?"

Okabe walked up to a monitor that had a flashing green screen. Sitting into the seat he typed a few words, lines of code filed the screen, moving rapidly. Subaru watched as the letters and numbers slowed down to a reasonable pace. It stopped and flashed a box that asked a question.

Would you like to continue the test? Y/N

Note: This command will run indefinitely until shutdown by user.

Okabe allowed the command to go through it's procedure. More text filled the screen, but shorter. The machine next to the monitor that was connected to the gateway started to hum. A new box was on the screen of the computer.

Okabe turned to Subaru, "Nows the time Subaru. Make the call, repeat after me when I tell you what to do, OK?"

Subaru nodded, he gave Okabe a look of pure excitement.

"Good." Okabe turned his attention to the monitor, but then turned back immediately, "And keep any side conversations short, sweet, and to the point. The connection won't last for long."

Getting the point, Subaru pulled out the metia Okabe had made him a few week before. He found Rem's contact icon and pressed it.

Calling…

Rem

"Subaru-kun?!"

Rem answered the call, almost immediately Subaru's face showed on the metia's screen. Rem began to cry, she was so happy that Subaru had not forgotten. "Rem is glad to see her hero again."

Subaru smiled back, his face alone yelling that he had been waiting for this moment forever, "Rem, we have to hurry, but I need you to know that I love you very much." Short, sweet, and to the point. "There's nowhere else I'd rather be than in your loving embrace. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to be by your side through thick and thin, for better or for worse, and you may not know it, but we already have." It never occurred to Subaru that he had hinted about his Return By Death without being hurt by the witch.

Rem violently blushed, "Subaru-kun…"

Subaru laughed and put a hand behind his neck, "I know it's cheesy, Rem, but that's how I feel about you. I want you all to myself, that's how selfish I am for you, no one but me can have you…..because I love you."

Rem's tried to wipe her tears away, but every time she did, more took their place. Rem crying tears of joy was one of Subaru's most preciously kept memories that he enjoyed to think about because it showed just how beautiful she could look even when she's a total blubbering mess. "Rem...Rem.." for once, Rem corrected herself, "I..love you, Subaru-kun."

Subaru finished relaying the instructions to Rem. It took a while, but she was able to turn on her gateway side. The humming she said she heard proves that the machine was working.

Okabe watched the computer monitor when Rem successfully turned on her gateway. A loading bar popped up and was replaced with another box of text.

Connection Status: Unstable, but manageable.

Continue? Y/N

Okabe continued the connection.

Please standby…

Connection failed.

Recommend Procedure:

Allow cooldown of reactor core before continuing with connection.

Retry? Y/N

Okabe called to Subaru, "Well Subaru, chat times over, end the call."

Subaru nodded, "Rem, I'll see you tonight. We have to let the arch thing rest."

Rem looked sad, but nodded. She didn't twang to tell Subaru now, but she felt he needed to know, "Subaru-kun, before you go, Rem must say something." Subaru raised his eyebrows.

Okabe leaned closer.

"Oki….Oki is dead."

Subaru was shocked. At first he didn't think he heard her right. My friend, Oki? How does Rem know? What happened?. How could he believe it? It was so out of the blue. Subaru put all his confusion onto a one worded question, "What?"

Rem's eyes disappeared behind her hair, "Something in the tower killed poor Oki. It looked like it was protecting this room." Rem looked up, her eyes filled with sadness, "Why didn't Subaru-kun tell us about th-."

Rem was cut off, Okabe had reached over and forcefully shut the metia, ending the call.

Subaru realized what was happening and slowly looked at Okabe. Okabe looked disappointed. "All you had to do was hang up."

Okabe stood from his chair and pulled a gun from his coat. "Now...be good, Subaru and sit in the corner."

Subaru didn't move, he started deep into Okabe's eyes. He wanted to kill Okabe, whatever he put in that clock tower had killed one of his best friends, and he wasn't going to let Okabe get away with it. However, Subaru was at gunpoint, with nowhere to go. He decided to stand down until he thought of something.

Subaru put his hands up and walked to the corner. Okabe smiled, obviously pleased with his success, "I'm sorry, Subaru, but you found out too much now." He kept the gun pointed at Subaru while he moved to a corner of the lab that had a chair in it. "You know, you've really been a great help. Thanks to you, I was able to get someone to complete the connection." Okabe laughed, "It's ironic, is it not?! You helped me, the one person you definitely didn't want to help! Thanks to you, I will be able to reawaken the Witch of Envy. Gain so much power that she promised! Okabe's face darkened, "I won't let anyone interfere with her plan."

Suddenly, things began to make sense in Subaru's head, "You're still working for the witch, aren't you?"

Okabe smiled, "You finally figured it out. You see, this 'witch' you refer to will be the best thing to ever happen to this world…..and to me" He continued, thoughtfully, "Envy gave me a second chance, and I won't waste it. I won't fail her again." He got up close to Subaru's face, "That...is a promise."

With Okabe so close, Subaru took this opportunity to head butt him.

Okabe retreated, rubbing his forehead. "Ahhhh!"

Subaru would've attacked, but Okabe recovered quickly, re-pointing the gun at him. "You imbecile! I honestly don't see what she sees in you, but I will fulfill her wishes." Okabe smacked Subaru across the face with the gun. "Perhaps one day she will grow bored of you and I will have the privilege to kill you myself."

Pulling his head back from being knocked to the side, Subaru said, "You say Envy has an interest in me?" Subaru thought back to Okabe's eagerness when he found him, the witch cultist that had captured him but didn't kill him, and now Okabe has him at gunpoint, but chooses not to shoot. It's what the witch wants. "Does that mean you can't kill me?" Subaru stood up from the chair, trying to size up Okabe.

Okabe backed up with the gun still pointed up at Subaru's chest. Subaru walked forward until his chest touched the gun's barrel. Finally finding a flaw in Okabe's plan, Subaru smiled, "Looks like your gun's useless now."

Okabe brought the gun up and used it to smack Subaru again, he dropped his metia this time, "She doesn't have the power to see across worlds anymore! While it's true I can't kill you, there's nothing stopping me from beating you from an inch of your life!" He dropped his foot towards Subaru's arm, but Subaru rolled out of the way. "She'll believe me, of all people!"

Subaru got to his feet and watched as a fist headed straight towards him. He dropped back down to his back and used his foot to carry Okabe's momentum over and into a metal shelf.

As Okabe fell, so did many of his inventions. Rubbing his head, he found a metal stick with a rubber handle, one of his inventions. He grabbed it eagerly and pulled on the metal part, it extended, metal prongs popped out from holes formed from pulling on it. Pressing a button on the handle, electricity began zapping between the prongs. Okabe looked up at the scared Subaru with a smile. Suddenly, the electricity stopped flowing. Okabe looked at the stick, confused. He hit it a few time but nothing happened. Subaru's fear faded and he chuckled lightly. Another failed invention.

Using it as originally intended, Okabe swung the metal stick at Subaru, who dodged out of the way, causing them to switch places.

Subaru grabbed a random invention, a metal glove, with a circular piece of glass in the middle of the palm. Not knowing what it'll do, he slipped it on regardless.

Okabe had managed to get the metal stick to flow with electricity again. He swung it over his head, but it was blocked by Subaru's gloved hand, the glove resisted the electricity, keeping it from reaching his skin. Flexing his arm to hold off Okabe's strength, a yellow beam shot out from the palm of Subaru's gloved hand, sending the stick flying.

Subaru looked at the glove in amazement, "This one's actually fucking cool!"

Distracted, Okabe kicked Subaru in the chest, sending him into the shelf. His back and chest hurting, Subaru lifted himself from the floor, punching the ground with the gloved hand to stabilize himself. He looked up to glare at the smiling witch cultist before him.

Subaru used the glove to shoot Okabe in the chest. Okabe tried to block it with his arms, but was too slow. He flew through the air, landing next to Subaru's metia.

Bzzz Bzzz Bzzz Bzzz

Call From:

Rem

The glass piece of the metal glove started to burn from overuse. Subaru removed it before his hand got a hole burnt through it. Hearing the buzzing, Subaru saw Okabe reach for his metia. Subaru didn't know what Okabe planned to do with his metia, but he wasn't going to let him get it.

Okabe heard footsteps coming from his right. The next moment, a foot planted itself into his chin, nearly breaking his jaw. Stars danced across his eyes as Subaru bent down to pick up the metia.

Subaru looked at the caller ID and ignored it, he didn't want Rem to worry about his situation. He felt he had it under control. Bending down to look at Okabe, he saw the front of his coat was burnt from the glove's beam.

Okabe smiled as Subaru looked at him. "Hehehe, isn't it funny how similar our problems are, Subaru? I need you for Envy, so I can't kill you, but you also need me to open the portal, so you can't kill me." He slowly reached behind his back. "I can see it in your eyes...that you want to kill me. There's no doubt in my mind that that's what you want, right?"

He grabbed the metal stick that Okabe dropped, he got ready to swing it, "You have no idea how badly I want to kick your fucking face in, Okabe."

As Subaru swung the stick, Okabe grabbed the stun gun that he kept in his back pocket, lunged at Subaru and stuck the prongs into his neck.

Subaru's body convulsed as the electricity coursed through his body, tensing his muscles. Okabe kept the stun gun in his neck until Subaru collapsed to the floor, unconscious.

Subaru woke up to the sounds of vicious drilling. Along with it came the sound of ear breaking crunching, it vibrated the floor slightly. Subaru tried to move, but couldn't.

Looking at his current situation, he realized he was bound tightly in a chair. His arms tied to the armrests, his feet were bound to the legs, his hips were tied down into the seat, and a piece of duct tape covered his mouth.

Okabe finished bolting the last foot of the chair into the ground. Placing a hand onto the chair, he gave it a tug, to his liking the chair barely moved. He moved around the side to look into Subaru's fierce eyes. "Awwww, someone looks mad, but don't worry, that'll all be gone in the next few minutes." He smiled, not yet telling Subaru his intentions.

The tape prevented Subaru from yelling at Okabe calling him obscene things. Only his muffled yells reached Okabe's ears. "Nonononono." He placed a finger on where Subaru's lips were under the tape. "This is a happy moment for the both of us. Now please, enjoy the show." Okabe left Subaru to himself, leaving behind him.

In front of Subaru was the gateway, its humming was stronger than before.

Okabe went up to the computer monitor and read the message displayed on it again.

Connection failed.

Recommend Procedure:

Allow cooldown of reactor core before continuing with connection.

Retry? Y/N

Okabe accepted the request.

Please standby…

Connection successful.

Please enter verification sequence to continue.

Note: This command will run indefinitely until shutdown by user.

Okabe entered the words needed to continue the opening.

Verification Accepted.

Beginning Construction Now.

Okabe smiled as he saw those words, those long awaited words that he worked so hard to see. He brought up his hands to look at them, skinny and weak. He chuckled as he looked at them, knowing full well what was to come on the other side of that portal.

Okabe returned into the gateway room, the humming had increased slightly in volume. He walked in front of Subaru to give him his last words before the opening of the portal. He pointed to the burnt hole in his lab coat, "Never wound what you can't kill." He chuckled after saying this. He lightly slapped Subaru's cheeks a few times as if they were friends. This sickened Subaru.

Okabe turned as the gateway began to spark blue electricity in it's arch. The time was here, it was actually happening. Despite how happy he was, his smile slightly faltered before going back to its original state.

The electricity all sparked into the middle, creating a tiny ball of bright light that slowly grew in size. Next, a white mist started to form around the glowing ball, swirling around it vertically. The white mist spread until it took up the whole space in the arch. The glowing ball grew to the size of a watermelon before it collapsed in on itself. It was silent for two seconds, except for the sound of humming, before the bright ball spread out instantly with the white mist, a blue glow rimming the portal. As soon as the gateway was filled with light, it began to dim, on the other side of the portal stood Rem, a hand up to her face, blocking the harsh light that had previously been there.

Subaru widened his eyes, thinking about what Okabe had said to him not too long ago.

Now please, enjoy the show.

Okabe was going to kill Rem, and Subaru was tied to a chair in the direction of the portal to watch.

Okabe stepped in front of Rem's view of Subaru, "My, My, it does feel good to be back."

Rem had already seen Subaru's condition and could only assume that the man who stood before her was the cause. Anger filled her as she took out her morningstar, "What did you do to my Subaru-kun?!"

Calmly walking through the portal, the other side being orange, Okabe's footsteps echoed throughout the clock tower room. "I am the one who brought you here, to your Subaru-kun." He stepped to the side to gesture to Subaru's tied up form. "But there is already someone with an eye on him specifically, so I cannot let you live." Okabe stood straight with his hands behind his back.

Rem charged at Okabe, her morningstar cutting through the air. Before she could get within 10 feet of Okabe, a force knocked her to the side and into a wall, but Rem still stood on her feet.

Okabe raised his hands high above his head, "It's been too long since I was able to use my authority. Behold, the Authority of Sloth, Unseen Hands!"

From Subaru's point of view, 7 purple hands made of what looked like shadows sprouted from Okabe's back. They rose high into the air, swaying side to side. Only one thought ran through Subaru's mind as he saw the hands. What...the...hell.

To Rem, however, she only saw Okabe raising his arms at the mention of Unseen Hands. If that meant what Rem was thinking it meant, then she didn't know what she could do to fight such an opponent alone.

Okabe used his newly formed hands to grab a large chunk out of the floor. He effortlessly raised it above his head, all the while he was giggling to himself and rubbing his hands in excitement and pure joy. His crazy eyes focused on Rem as his maniacal laugh came to a close, "You're lucky, Taylor! Not all people are worthy of seeing the true power of me, Witch Cult Sin Archbishop 'Sloth', Hoshin Okabe!" He turned back to look at Subaru, "Watch closely, Subaru, as I take away your everything," his crazy demeanor broke for only a second, "...as mine was taken from me!"

Okabe's Unseen Hands threw the boulder at Rem at an alarming speed.

"The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places."-Ernest Hemingway

AN: The end is near.