AN: The final chapter before the half time. We've come this far and now it's already 50% done and it's all thanks to you guys/gals. People seem to like my OC's so if I ever do make other stories I may add them in there too. I have to say this is fun to do, but once in a while a guy needs a break, one filled with planning the next 15 chapters...yeah that sounds great. :)

I can't make any promises, but the break shouldn't take too long. I have the ending planned out, I have a role assigned to everybody, and I've thought up of all the important events. The only thing I need to do is plan what will happen between the important parts and everything will be good. So as of now there is only one outcome of where this story will go, no second guessing myself.

A story with this quality wouldn't be possible without the helpfulness of my Beta Reader, JDUBZ!

Chapter 15: An Opportunity

The same world, filled with the same shadows.

"Have you located him?" The same sweet melody of a voice, coming from the same beautiful woman.

"Yes, he is safe. Just as you asked of me." The same man bowed before the woman, showing her his respect.

The witch slowly walked around the man who still had his head down, "The whereabouts of the girl. Have you found her yet?"

The man looked up at the Witch with a wicked smile, "Yes! Yes! I have, my love. She resides in Lugnica!" The man got to his feet with his hands clasped together, "The girl has come out from hiding with a greater following for the throne. Her fight for the throne is stronger than ever."

The man expected the witch to be happy, but instead she only showed fury, "Do you not know what this will cause?! Now the girl may be under more protection!" The man cowered in fear, not understanding why she was angry. The woman bent down to be level with the man's fallen head. "If the girl were to take the throne, capturing her would be an impossible task!"

The fury of the woman shook the man to the bone. He half expected to be lifted into the air like last time, but that never occurred. In a small voice, the man begged for her forgiveness, "No, no, no, no. Please, my haste to please you has caused me to not think straight." Tears now fell from the man's face. "I can fix this, I-I can have the girl captured before she reaches the throne." It was a promise.

The woman didn't look pleased, squinting her eyes at the man, "You continue to fail me, just like how your plan at the mansion failed. You promised me the girl, but you let her escape."

The man wiped his tears and yelled, "I did no such thing! The plan was perfect! It was their idiocy that allowed her to escape!" Clenching his fists, the man couldn't stand disappointing the woman he worked so hard to please.

The witch used a finger to lift up the man's chin. In a soft voice she said, "You are an archbishop, are you not?"

Her eyes brightly reflected the man's face, he was on the verge of crying. "Yes. I am yours and only yours."

The witch removed her finger and backed up, much to the man's dislike. The witch frowned, "Then act like one. Do what I expect of you and I will forgive you."

His bottom lip quivering, the man asked, "But what of the gateway? To open it I need a second party to go to the other opening." He walked to the woman, but she only floated into the air, refusing to let the man touch her.

Turning around the woman slowly started to fade into the darkness, "You will figure something out, my power is limited until you complete the ritual."

The world before the man started to melt. Before he could say anything else the man found himself standing in his house, in Tokyo.

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The rain fell with no end in sight.

Bzzz….bzzz….bzzz….bzzz

The metia! Subaru pulled out the metia and saw that there was no caller ID again. The vibrating machine filled Subaru with excitement. Don't you die on me you piece of crap. Without wasting another second, Subaru answered, his voice was hasty and rushed.

Subaru braced himself for disappointment.

"Hello!? Who is this?!"

To his surprise, however, he heard a voice.

Another male voice responded from the other side, from another metia. It brought Subaru hope. Hope for a better future with Rem.

"Ah, finally I thought I'd never get this thing to work!" The voice sounded excited and quirky. This person was obviously very happy with Subaru's response.

Subaru felt tears forming at the corners of his eyes. Someone from Kararagi or Lugnica was talking to him, and he heard them. Maybe they knew how to get back. Subaru tried to ask who the person was, "Who is th-."

Whether they knew it or not, whoever was on the other side interrupted Subaru talking rapidly, "Man I tell ya'. You were really hard to get a hold of." Subaru moved to a dry side of a building that was protected by a balcony above. "I've been trying to contact you since my metia found your signal, but mine's obviously out of date. Luckily, your signal isn't too far away so it only took a few days to set-."

Now it was Subaru's turn to interrupt, "Hey, hey, before you go on, mind telling me who the hell you are?"

The man on the other side took a second to respond, "Just call me Hououin Kyouma. That's what my friends call me at least."

Subaru had no idea what to think about this, "Well we aren't really friends so I'll just call you Hououin for now."

"Fine by me."

Subaru wasn't sure what prompted him to ask, but the words came out of his mouth anyhow, "Umm, Hououin? Where are you right now?"

"Well I live in Tokyo if that's what you're asking."

Damn it. This meant that the man wasn't in Kararagi or Lugnica. So he really had no connection to the other world. But this raised another question. Is this guy in the same boat as me? He has a metia obviously, but he has no way of going back. Subaru and the man could relate.

"Now where should we meet?"

Subaru was a bit shocked that the man would want to meet up so quickly, but saw his opportunity to talk to the man and took it, "Meet? Uhh, yeah sure. I don't know. How about at a cafe?"

"Nah, too noisy."

"Ohh kaaay. Park?"

"Too many kids."

"The street market?"

"No, I'm not a fan of crowded areas."

The man was starting to get on his nerves, didn't he not know how much he wanted to talk to him in person. He guessed that maybe his last comment on meeting wasn't quite appropriate.

Subaru pinched the crook of his nose, "Library?"

"Yeah, that soun- oh wait, librarians. I don't like librarians. They always tell me to be quiet."

Throwing up the hand that didn't have the metia in it, Subaru said, "Are you serious? Talking to you has so far been the highlight since I came back here and you don't want to meet because of some minor inconveniences?!"

The man blatantly said, "Yes." The man's voice suddenly became serious, "Listen, it's not only because of the librarians, it's also because you never know who's listening"

Subaru looked around him before replying, "Who? Who do you have to watch out for?"

Ignoring Subaru's question, the man kept talking, "It's extremely risky, but I do need your help. I'll give you the address to my house." There was a short pause. "I hope I can trust you."

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Subaru walked down the deserted streets, metia still in hand. The rain fell harder, causing people to leave the sidewalk and seek shelter. Every once in awhile Subaru would look behind him in case he was being followed. The man had been specific about this; Don't let anyone follow you there! If you have any suspicion of being followed do not, I repeat DO NOT lead them to my house!

Subaru began to doubt Hououin, just a little bit. Sure he was excited to talk to Subaru, but he didn't seem to understand just how urgent Subaru was about wanting to talk to him.

"Hmmm...I actually may be busy right now now that I think about it. Can you come tomorrow?"

"Are you serious, you were the one that brought up the subject of meeting ME!"

"You're right, I shouldn't just blow you off like that. Be here around 4."

That's what Hououin had told him to do. This guy seemed a bit off, a bit….what was the word...strange.

Subaru relayed the directions to Hououin's house to himself, "Right on First Street, Left on Smith, and the third house on the right."

After a few minutes, Subaru arrived to the house. It was small, but looked well kept. The house was colored a light yellow, giving an inviting look. The small front yard was a good as any little lawn could look; green and mowed.

Before approaching the house, Subaru gave one last check over his shoulder to see an empty street. Well I wasn't followed. That's a plus. Subaru returned his attention to ahead of him.

No one was outside except for two men who were farther down the street, smoking under the shelter of a tree. They wore black jackets and sunglasses that hide their eyes from Subaru's view. They paid no attention to Subaru, only talking about something Subaru couldn't hear from the distance he was at.

Subaru walked up to the front door of the house. His feet were downing in his soaked shoes. Squish squish squish. He tried to shake some water out before knocking on the door.

After knocking, nothing happened for a minute. For good measure Subaru looked behind him. Nothing. When he looked back his eyes glanced across the window next to the door, they had moved. Someone had been watching him.

Knocking again, Subaru called out to the person inside, "I don't have time for this, man. I nee-." The door suddenly opened and an arm reached for the front of Subaru's jacket and pulled him inside.

Whoever had Subaru's jacket didn't let go until he was fully inside the house. After closing the door, Subaru's assailant shoved him away.

Subaru called out to the person as he was shoved, "Hey!" After the confusion, Subaru took a look at the person wore a hoodie that shielded their face and noticed they had a double barrel shotgun at hip level aimed for his chest. Subaru could only get an, "uhhh ahhh ohhuuu," out of his mouth as he stared at the shotgun.

The man holding the shotgun shifted the shotgun to aim at Subaru's head. In a threatening tone the stranger said, "Scream and you're dead."

Subaru stared down the barrels of the shotgun, "OK." Subaru was shocked, he went from annoyed to terrified within seconds.

The man took two steps towards Subaru until he was close enough to kill, but not close enough for Subaru to knock the barrel aside. The man started to ask Subaru a question, "Where did you come from?"

"Uhh, wha?" Subaru was terrified because if he died he wasn't sure if his Return-by-Death ability would work here. Once he was dead, that was it, no restarts.

The man raised his voice, "Where-did-you-come-from? I can't say it any clearer!" The man gestured to Subaru's hand that was holding the metia. "That, where did you get that?!"

Looking at the metia in his hand, Subaru began to get an idea on who this man was. If he was right then his answer would make sense to the man, "Kararagi! I got in Kararagi!" Subaru was still scared that this man was dangerous to him despite their friendly phone call.

The man was still hostile, pushing Subaru back until he fell onto a couch. "What brought you here from Kararagi?!"

"Ah-ah-ah the witch. She brought me to and from Kararagi." Subaru gulped, "I assume you were too?"

The man didn't answer. "Were you followed?!"

Subaru waved his hands in front of himself, "No, no, no, I made sure of it."

The man pulled a flip phone from his pocket and pressed a single button. Putting the phone to his ear he immediately started talking. That person answered real quick.

"It's me. I have the boy, he seems trustworthy now but standby, things may get messy." Just before ending the 'call' he quietly said the words "El Psy Kongaroo" to whoever he was talking to.

Silence. After about 20 seconds the man aimed the shotgun away from Subaru, putting it to the side, "Sorry about that, kid. Can't let my guard down nowadays. Lots of crazy people are after me." The man had said it so nonchalantly that Subaru was now worried about the guy's decision making process.

Subaru looked at the shotgun, "Would you have really shot me with that?"

The man started to removed a pair of gloves that he had been wearing, "No, too much noise. Truthfully, I would have hit you with the gun and taken you out with this." The man showed a wicked blade to Subaru. "But they usually cower at the sight of a shotgun to their face." The man smiled at Subaru, he hoped that was supposed to be a joke.

Subaru couldn't help but notice the man's choice of words, "They?"

The man pulled off his last glove and said, "Yeah, they. Lost of dangerous people around these parts. Burglars, thieves, witch cultists, vandali-."

"Whoa, what?" Subaru wasn't sure he heard him right.

"Thieves."

"No, after that."

"Vandalizers."

"Before that."

"Witch cultists."

So I did hear him right. Subaru was panicked. Surely they could sense his presence through the witch, that would mean it was only a matter of time before they found him. This, however, was only a theory of his. There was no absolute proof that the cult can sense him like Rem can.

"What the hell are they doing here?" Subaru didn't understand why the witch would send her followers here to his world. Have they always been here? Had he met a cultist before being taken to Lugnica? Was that why I was taken in the first place?

"I'm not too sure myself." The man started to unzip the jacket he had on. "I've come up with many theories, but the one I've accepted is that they're after my creations." The man finally removed the jacket, showing his face. Messy hair with a handsome face. Subaru had a feeling he knew this man. Then it hit him.

"You're Hoshin Okabe! There's a statue of you in the town I lived in while I was at Kararagi!" Subaru was amazed that this man in front of him had founded his own kingdom and ruled it with great power until he disappeared. For some reason Subaru had always assumed Okabe was dead, usually you see a statue of someone it's probably there because they died. Well it would make sense since he "died" by disappearing.

Okabe looked smug after that last comment, "Well then, they made a statue of me? I'm not surprised. I WAS a pretty big deal." Putting his hands on his hips, Okabe looked at Subaru, "You may stare in awe of you must."

Subaru frowned at Okabe, "Yeaaahh, no. What you did was pretty amazing, but I'm not going to drool all over you."

Okabe's face still kept its smug look. He closed his eyes and put a hand up, "Well, not all people are worshippers I suppose."

Unsure of how to respond to that Subaru tried to get the topic back on track towards the witch's cult, "You said the witch cultists are after your 'creations'? What are those, monsters of some kind?"

Okabe grabbed Subaru by the shoulders and brought him close with a glint in his eyes, "No, my dear Subaru. This is something much, much greater."

"A bit too close there."

Okabe let go of Subaru, went to a nearby coat rack and took a white lab coat from it. "This is something I've been working on for the past few years now. It took a long time for me to figure out the properties of the flow of mana in our world. However, I discovered it acts as an invisible gas. Floating everywhere, unseen to the human eye. Dispersed in the air so much that our scientists have not even noticed it." Okabe frantically began putting on his coat. "I started my research in Kararagi, not to find a way back to Japan, but to find a way back to Kararagi. Follow me while I talk."

Okabe finished putting on his coat and exited the living room to a hallway that led to a bedroom, Subaru followed. Inside the room, Okabe went to a set of sliding doors that might have been a closet. Okabe put his face up to a small hole in the wall where a retinal scanner identified him. The sliding doors opened up to a small, brightly lit space. Okabe and Subaru stepped inside the little space. A little cramped.

"Sorry about this, when I constructed it it wasn't meant for more than one person." Okabe was squeezed in the back of the room, "Since you're on that side, Subaru, mind pressing the button?"

Subaru pressed the only button on the wall of the room, the doors closed and the room moved. It was an elevator.

Okabe shifted in a position that was more comfortable, "You see, Subaru, back in Kararagi I wanted to create something that would allow me to return to Kararagi if I ever found myself back in Japan and wanted to come back." He was talking fast now, trying to tell everything in as little time as possible. "You said the witch took you to Lugnica, that was my case as well. Of course I didn't know about it until I met her in a dream, she said she saw potential in me to do what was right. I had no real purpose in Lugnica so I assumed it was to start fresh in a new world from nothing. I wanted to make a name for myself, to please her, but over time I began to learn of the horrors she caused, so I rejected what she wanted. Instead of doing something for her, I decided to do something for myself and the new world I was in."

The doors of the elevator opened up. Subaru came out first, finally able to breathe fresh air. Next came Okabe.

"That's when I developed the metia. It was rather difficult at first. I had to study and understand the properties of the various crystals they had. One such crystal was useless among the people of Lugnica, but I found out that it's use was to store information on it, much like a flash drive. I called it a content crystal and implemented it to my metia prototype."

Okabe led the way forward, all that was in front of them was a short hallway that led to a single door.

"Using basic mechanics, I was able to create a functioning version that acted as a phone."

Okabe opened the door, inside was a vast room filled with machinery, and large coils of wiring. the ceiling reached 20 feet straight up. Flashing buttons and turn dials were located almost everywhere. The place looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. The sounds also seemed to be from a sci-fi movie as well, a constant mix of beeps and looping sounds.

Subaru would have made comments, but Okabe kept talking, still excited. He went into great detail on how he started the new monarchy soon to be called Kararagi, where he was king.

Okabe put a fist to his heart, "For 5 years I ruled with a great influence over my people. During those 5 years I began to think of a way to create a portal to connect with our world, one that would rip an opening in time and space to bring the doorways closer together." Okabe motioned with his hands by bringing them together. "I took me all 5 years to finish it, but then that was when the witch sent me back here. She never told me why but luckily, it allowed me to create the portal on this side. This is what I've been working on most of my time."

Okabe turned around, Subaru followed close behind, listening intently. Okabe walked to another door that required a key card to open. The heavy metal door swung open to reveal a smaller room with a small circular metal arch not too far away. It was an ordinary doorway, but with a circular frame. Tubes were connected to different sections of the arch, which came from holes in the walls that led to the room they just came from. A low humming sound emitted from the metallic arch.

Subaru saw that arch and was a lose for words. This was his way back, he was going to go back to Rem, love her and cherish her.

Subaru gave Okabe a smile and rose his voice in excitement, making a beeline for the arch, "Does it work?"

Okabe bent down with his hands on his knees, "Hahahahahaha!" After his short fit of laughter, he looked back up to Subaru with a grin, "Of course…" Subaru's eyes widened, but Okabe was just pausing for effect. "...not."

Subaru didn't appreciate the joke. He began to walk towards Okabe with a pissed off look.

Putting his hands up, Okabe didn't back away under Subaru's glare. "Hey, hey, hey! The gateway will work as a pair, but as of now they aren't cooperating together because one is off."

Subaru stopped walking, but still kept his menacing look. "Why would one be off?!"

Okabe gestured to himself with both hands, frantically saying, "Hey, it wasn't me! I completed it in Kararagi and ran some tests and it worked, but I wouldn't leave it on all willy nilly! I was going to make some final adjustments, but the witch snatched me up!"

Okabe walked up to the arch and rubbed it's metal playing, "Now, this is only a prototype. Even I'm not sure if it's going to work!" Okabe used more over exaggerated hand gestures to help explain, "If it does work, the connection would be unstable! The connection would only last a few minutes, maybe….maybe ten."

Subaru closed the distance between him and Okabe. Grabbing Okabe's collar, Subaru said in a low voice, "Then how do we turn on the other side?!"

Putting a hand on Subaru's chest, Okabe pushed him back a few inches. In a calm, collected voice, Okabe said with a smug smile, "It's simple, we have your little girlfriend turn it on for us."

"Conspiracy's evil influence is much closer than you think, and is always ready to deceive you!"

- Okabe Rintarou

AN: I know I probably shouldn't say this, but I've only watched the first episode of Steins;Gate. It's just when I thought of Hoshin the first thing that came to mind was "Hey, it would be cool if that guy from Steins;Gate was in Kararagi, he seemed kind of awesome." Don't get mad though, I promised JDUBZ I would watch the series during the break. Then I would have a better understanding of who he is. JDUBZ helped me with him for this chapter.

Don't be afraid to comment on how you think the story's going so far.

Anyway, see ya'll in the next chapter! :D