Hi everybody! I guess I can say that I came back. School is about to start here so there are still a few things I need to take care of. In the meantime I guess this will do. I've recently watched Steins; Gate (my God, what an amazing anime), and since it's about time travels it reminded me of Ghost Trick game (which is amazing too); and then I came up with this little (or rather… REALLY big) one-shot. Hope you like it!

WARNING: Needless to say that this will contain heavy spoilers from both the anime and the game. If you didn't watched/played either of them and wish to, I highly recommend you to not read this.

Steins Trick

It has been… how much time now? I can't even remember. Not that I care either. Who could have guessed that time was such a cruel thing? A month ago or so I thought that controlling time was incredible. I considered myself unstoppable, I felt like nothing nor nobody could beat me.

How wrong I was.

In the end, time was the perfect example of how Chaos Theory works. It is fragile and unpredictable; every little change in the past, no matter how tiny it is, can lead to huge and catastrophic effects in the future.

I've witnessed its horrors, and I believe that nobody else will. Thanks to my Reading Steiner ability I'm able to keep the memories of all the multiple timelines where I've been. However, nobody else can do it; for everybody else it's like if there wasn't any change in the past at all. I think that's why I felt so… alone and desperate. Forced to watch how Mayuri died once… and again… and again… over and over without achieving anything no matter how many times I travelled back in time in order to save her.

On top of it, I wasn't aware that I was digging her grave until it was too late. Every D-Mail that I sent to the past was bringing her death closer and closer. That's why I worked so hard to retrieving them all…

The first was the one for Suzuha Amane, Daru's future daughter… I let her to travel back in time so she could bring the IBN-5100 with her to the future… But due to some complications with her time machine she couldn't do it in the end…

The next one was from Fayris… Once I helped her to prevent her father's death. Because of that, all that was moe in Akihabara never existed in the first place… It wasn't easy to do, make her to accept that her father must die… but in the end we needed to in order to save Mayuri and reach the 1% divergence…

The third was for Ruka Urushibara… He used to be a guy, but he felt too feminine to be a guy. He requested us to try to change the past to make him end up to be born being a girl, which we did at the end… But once again, we had to turn her back into a guy to save Mayuri…

Then it was the mail for Moeka Kiryu… She tried to reveal the location of the IBN-5100 to her superior 'FB', which leaded SERN to track us down. It was such a shock to discover that she killed herself and that FB was Mr. Braun… my own neighbor…

But the last D-Mail that we needed to take care of was the one that ended… and, ironically, commenced my torment… It was the very first mail that I accidentally sent to the past, in it I told Daru that Makise Kurisu, the young promising scientist was stabbed in the middle of Dr. Nakabachi conference… Due to that mail, we prevented her to be stabbed. We met her, and she even joined us in the lab.

However… even if I was constantly bugging her and calling her by annoying nicknames like 'Zombie', 'Pervert' or even 'Christina'… in the end, I fell in love with her… so she did… She was the one who helped me the most… We listened to each other's problems… Whenever I needed someone to turn to… it was always her… She listened to me… She believed in me… A young girl that at the age of eighteen became a popular scientist… Always so serene, so strong, so proud of herself and so stubborn… But always so kind and honest… I was so amazed by her theories… She wasn't just another member of my lab… She was the woman that I loved with all my being…

However… the time was saving a cruel outcome for me… By cancelling all the D-Mails we've sent we were able to prevent Mayuri's death… But then, the fact that Makise died since she was stabbed… occurred in the end… At first I didn't know what to do… Why did I even have to choose? How can somebody choose between their childhood friend and the person they love? Who will live and who will die…? Makise noticed it… heh, why shouldn't she? She was clever enough to notice… She convinced me to cancel the D-Mail anyway… She believed that we went for too much in order to save Mayuri to stop now that we were so close to make it… She let herself die so Mayuri could live… And I'm the only one who remembers her… Mayuri and Daru became close to her when she was a lab member, but since in this timeline that never happened they never met her in the first place… But I remember her perfectly, and I doubt that I ever forget her…

And this is where my traumatic time-travelling adventure ended… Here I am, standing on my lab's rooftop, drinking a Dr. Pepper soda and looking at the sunset… They say that there's nothing sweeter than a victory… That's false… After these weeks that I lived travelling between time lines, at last, I could save Mayuri from her apparently ineludible death. We could say that yes, I triumphed in the end… but the fact that I lost the person I loved in the process… it made this victory… very embittered.

Daru and Mayuri didn't understand what was wrong… not that they will ever do… but they are trying their best to cheer me up, without any progress of course… But at least they tried…

Right now there's a question that keeps popping in my mind 'What now?'. I got so used to work with so many people in the lab: Mayuri, Daru, Makise, Suzuha, Ruka and even Moeka… Now most of them aren't here, and we can't work in the Phone-Microwave either… After all what SERN did I will never touch that damned machine again… Future now seemed so uncertain for me… Sure, Mayuri would continue working at that maid café with Fayris and Daru will play his hentai games for a long time… But what could I do from this point on…? At this rate I fear what could happen if I ever try to build another machine ever again… But I can't let Makise's death affect me, she wouldn't want me to be so depressed about it after all… Unfortunately… I think it does… I feel alone without her here…

"Oh! There you are!" My trance was interrupted by a voice that came behind me. I looked at its direction without any trace of interest. It was Daru and he was holding my cellphone "Hey Okarin, there's a weird girl that wants to talk to you"

A weird girl? Who could she be? Honestly, I didn't care about who she was or what she wanted from me. But the fact that Daru didn't know her confused me. It wasn't like I knew a lot of girls. Daru and I only know Mayuri and Fayris. And the ones that I met before on the other timelines I shouldn't know them in the first place. I walked towards my friend to pick up the phone. "Who is she?" I asked maybe just because of habit.

"I'm not sure" Daru answered as he scratched his hair in confusion "In fact, she caught me by surprise. She called me Dad! Ha ha! Like if I ever have a chance to marry!" Daru laughed. However, instead of follow his joke and laugh to like I always do, I just looked at him in awe.

"Dad?!" I asked him almost yelling.

"Well, yeah, but don't think that I have a daughter! I swear I didn't do something illegal!" Daru exclaimed. But I had no time to listen to whatever he says. If this girl claims to be Daru's daughter she can only be one person. I grabbed the phone forcefully from his hand.

"Hello?! Who is it?!"

"Okabe?!" I heard her voice. Yes, it was her indeed! It was Suzuha! But why?! If I didn't make the Phone Microwave then SERN couldn't have built the time machine! If that's so… why is she here?! Why is she in this time?!

"Suzuha! Why are you…?!"

"Look, I now that you have tons of questions right now but there's no time to explain! Come to the Radio's building! I'll be waiting for you and the rest on the rooftop!"

"But…! Suzuha, what's wrong?!"

"You have to stop the Third World War!" She finally said… I took my own time to digest it. I couldn't understand it. If we finally fixed the future where a dystopia takes place, why Suzuha came back from the future? And what was all that about?! The Third World War?! What's happening here?! "I'll explain the details once you're here! I'm counting on you Okabe!" She said before hanging up the phone.

"So… who was it?" Daru asked out of nowhere. But I had something more important to check. I burst to the stairs leading to my lab while Daru was following me and yelling to me like if I was crazy. Well… I am probably… But I needed to see if 'it' was there. Once I reached the lab I decided to stop to take some air as I rested my hands on my knees. Then I looked at the distant corner of the room with worry, but the Phone Microwave wasn't there. (What the…?) This whole situation was really confusing. I remember trashing the machine up just a couple of days ago, nobody could have built any time machine in the future. But the fact that Suzuha is here means that sometime in the future I decided to build it again. If so then it means only one thing.

Something must have gone deadly wrong.

But… is it really because of the World War? No, I know me quite well and I'm sure that I wouldn't risk to be pursued again by SERN just because of that. There must be something else behind my future self's plot…

I heard someone opening up the door. I turned myself to discover Mayuri carrying a plastic bag with some groceries. She smiled once she saw me there "Hi Okarin! Do do do!" She cutely sang that tune she always sings when she meets up with someone.

Daru came up behind her, panting like I was doing seconds ago "Hey Okarin what's wrong with you?! You just ran down here like there wasn't a tomorrow!"

"You two ran a race? Sounds like fun! Mayushii wants to run a race too!" Mayuri said happily, obviously not paying any attention at what Daru tried to mean.

Daru spoke to me once he caught his breath "Is something wrong, dude? First, you start to act too much depressed considered how you are. Then you decide to throw away our microwave, which I still can't understand why. The only thing it did was to turn a couple of bananas in a strange green gel… And now, this!" He exclaimed. I couldn't blame him, after all he knows nothing about what we could have done. But now was not the time to be explaining something I doubt they even understand.

"Daru. Mayuri. We're going out" I proclaimed.

"Eeeehhh? But I just came back from shopping!" Mayuri weakly protested like a little girl would do. I just ignored her and headed to the door.

"Here we go again…" Daru sighed to himself before following me without any willing.

"The Third World War…"

"Yes, if this timeline continues from this point on it will happen soon. It will be the cause of millions and millions of deaths by 2036" Suzuha explained to me as Daru and Mayuri were listening with the word 'confused' written in their forehead. They were also staring in awe at the machine that was right behind Daru's future daughter.

"What is this? Some type of satellite? Does it turn into something else? What it does in the first place?"

"It's a time machine…" I answered unconsciously, which made Daru to look at me with surprise. On the other hand, Suzuha smiled as she heard what I said.

"I knew you would recognize it! This makes this situation faster and easier" She said. I had a bad feeling about what she was about to do next. And those feelings didn't come late since she reached out her hand to me. "I want you to come with me!"

I knew perfectly what she wanted. She was about to get me to time travel again to who-knows-when to do who-knows-what. I took my time to give her my answer, even Mayuri looked at me in concern. But I already had the answer. "I won't do it" I said looking at the floor and with severity.

Everybody looked at me with shock, they surely weren't expecting such a blunt response. I didn't realize that Mayuri had frown feeling really worried of me. After all I did and sacrificed to save her… how could I go to a similar journey so calmly? And let everything I did go to waste? Throw away Makise's sacrifice? She died for another person's sake. I'm not going to fail her… "I am not going to let Makise Kurisu's sacrifice to go to waste…" I said to myself.

"Kurisu? Wasn't she the scientist who was stabbed in this building a couple of days ago?" Daru asked with curiosity.

Suzuha looked at me with the same seriousness that I was giving her. She was reading all my thoughts even if I wasn't aware. "Okabe Rintarou…" The next thing she said confirmed this fact… It planted a bomb in my heart… Those words… showed me that shiny light of hope. "What would you say if the way to stop the war… is to come back to that day… and prevent Makise Kurisu's death?"

What?

Did she… really say those words…?

My heart began to beat wildly as I heard her. Could it be…? Could I be able to save both Mayuri… and Makise…? It sounded too good to be true… I was glad to believe it, but at the same time I had the feeling that I should not inspire hopes in me… "What… do you mean…?" I asked her to confirm that she actually meant it.

"I'm not aware of the details, but the mission you tasked me is to save Makise Kurisu and reach the perfect timeline when she and Mayuri both live. A timeline that you baptized as Steins Gate"

That's when I completely lost it. There was no doubt now. But it was still bothering me; why my future self decided to carry through this plan? Was there really a way to save Makise? "Steins Gate…?" I asked a little dazed.

"The masterminds behind this plan are Okabe Rintarou from the future and my father. It's possible that this is just a theory and that 'Steins Gate timeline' doesn't exist, but I will go no matter what! I'll bet everything that there's a great future waiting for us if we do this! If you come with me, then take my hand" Suzuha said reaching out her hand once again.

But just as I did before, I didn't give her and immediate answer. Everyone was there waiting for me to answer. It was Mayuri who decided to break the silence. "Um… Mayushii doesn't quite get what's happening here… but Okarin…" She called for me. I couldn't resist to look at her tender eyes "If this person, Makise Kurisu, is so important to you... shouldn't you go and help her?" She had a point… I sure am eccentric… or I used to be… But if somebody that I hold dear is in trouble I always wanted to help them, even if it was at my own weird way… This wasn't an exception…

"Hmph" I answered finally. "I don't care about all the people that died…" I said coldly at Suzuha "… But I will do it for Makise Kurisu's sake…" I said as I shook my hand with hers. Suzuha smiled and thanked me for joining her. Mayuri and Daru seemed happy too when they saw me excited about something after my bad streak, even if it was just a little.

"Alright! Let's go in!" Suzuha said joyfully.

"Wait, it can fit two people?" I asked confused. In the others timelines, her time machine was so imperfect that only one person could fit in and it only could travel back in time, but it couldn't travel forward. I guess it's because the dystopia never occurs and Daru has more time to perfect the machine. "Oh, by the way you must leave your phone in here. It may interfere with your phone of the past"

I gave my cell phone to Mayuri, that's when I noticed the worried look she was giving me "Stay safe Okarin" It made me smile. I petted her head as I reassured her that I will come back safely "Good luck!" She said more relaxed now. Now that everything was settled I got into the machine with Suzuha.

The machine was indeed bigger and more sophisticated than it was before. Suzuha was sitting at the other side of the machine and pressing some buttons "So this is the time machine uh?" I asked her one more time. It was a pretty silly question in fact, of course it was… It's just that I'm still trying to digest this situation.

"Yep, I traveled to 1975 and 2000 to test it and it works perfectly. Although, it's running out of fuel so we must to be careful. Sit down Okabe! Next stop: July 28th!" She said as she touched the last button, making the machine to work. It began to glow and make buzzing noises "I suggest you to hold tight. The G-force is quite strong when the machine's working"

I decided to obey her and readjusted my posture on my seat. It wasn't long until I started to feel the movements of the machine. Then, I could see sparkles flying around us "What is this?" I asked a little dizzy because of the movements.

"I don't know. They always appear when I'm traveling, I suppose they are time particles. They're cute right?" Suzuha answered. But I couldn't respond, I felt my stomach upside-down as we moved. I was sure that I would vomit any time now… After a couple of seconds we arrived but it felt like ages… Suzuha jumped out of the machine as she breathed deeply and enjoyed the fresh air. "Here we are! Or should I say, 'now' we are! He he!"

I would be making fun of such a lame joke, but I was too busy with my stomach to pay any attention to her "W-Wait a second… I think I'm going to puke…" I said as I held my belly.

"You're really this weak?" She sighed "C'mon! We don't have the entire day!" She said as she ran up to the rooftop's door and broke up the lock with a gun and a silencer "From this point on is all up to you. Don't let your past self to see you, it will cause a paradox. How much time do you have until they stab her?" She asked.

I breathed slowly to calm down my stomach as I thought about the time I had left. I remember the position of the sun of that day "20 minutes or so… I think"

"Alright. I'll be here to keep an eye on the machine. It's up to you to save her" She said. I nodded, I was ready, I defied time once and I somewhat came back victoriously. It's fair to think that I could do it once again… right?

Everything was just as it was that day… The day when Mayuri and I came to Dr. Nakabachi's conference, and I saw Makise Kurisu lying dead on a big blood stain... I'm sure that by now my past self is already in the building and the conference is about to start. Wait… I remember something… That's right! I heard a weird noise on the rooftop that made me to go and check what it was! Now I know that it was because of Suzuha's machine… But that means that I'm about to pass by any second! That's when I heard a door being opened forcefully, I was sure that it was me. I decided to hide behind the stairs until my past self went up. When I heard my own footsteps going up I sighed with relief. However, I heard another footsteps coming in my direction towards the floor below. Oh right! I forgot that after I went up, Mayuri decided to go down to get one of those Upas! I had to run down and hide behind a corner to prevent her for seeing me.

Minutes later, I saw both myself and Mayuri talking about those Upas… "Did you really come down here to get one of those?"

"There are not a lot of these ones and Mayushii's one is…"

This conversation is not really so important. I guess I need to find another way to the upper floor. Then I went down again in an attempt of go around without letting my past self to see me. Who could believe that there was someone 'waiting' for me while I was here.

I saw her.

She came just in front of me.

Our eyes met and I couldn't believe that I'll get to see her ever again.

"Oh! Excuse me!" She said with sorry since she thought that she just got in my way. But my impression was completely different. I never felt so happy in my whole life…

"Ku-Kurisu…?" I asked innocently and dumbly. I wanted do so much and yet nothing at all… I wanted to talk to her… I wanted to tell her so many things… I wanted to make her believe that I truly loved her… I wanted to hug her… I wanted to held her close and never let her go away ever again… And yet, I couldn't… In this timeline we never met so for me to act so close to her now would confuse and scare her…

"How do you know me? Did we meet up before?" She asked with curiosity. I just wanted to run away and focus my attention on the task to save her and nothing else… But my heart betrayed me… I couldn't resist the urge to try to caress her cheeks to confirm that she was here indeed. Unfortunately… just as I feared, she reacted by slapping my hand before I ever had the chance to even rub her. Because of this she dropped the files she was carrying. She kneeled down to pick them up as she frowned at me "What were you trying to do? Answer me!" She asked with her annoyance rising considerably.

I just froze in the place… I didn't know what to do next. What could I say? What could I do? So many things and none at the same time… "I… I… You…" I barely could say anything coherent. I didn't notice that I began to tear up. Makise noticed and her eyes showed now confusion, curiosity and concern at the same time… I'm pretty sure that she knows that there's something off about me… And she seemed ready to ask away… until someone announced by the intercom that the conference had finally commenced. That's what I needed to snap out and notice that I was running out of time! Defying my own wishes, I just closed tightly my eyes as I ran up the stairs to find a place to hide.

"Hey! Wait! Wait!" She tried to stop me. I really wanted to stop and stay with her, but I had to ignore her and go on. I couldn't look at her but I'm sure that she was looking at the stairs, wondering who I could be and what type of relation I had with her to be so shocked to see her. But she just let it go and continued with what she was about to do. Then, I slowly began to follow her, making sure that she couldn't see or hear me.

Remembering what Suzuha said just before I left, I had to follow Makise near. Trying to take her out of the building would be dangerous because her death would occur any way or another. Aside from preventing her death, I needed to identify her killer. She just stood in front of Dr. Nakabachi's conference room like if she was waiting for something. But… what could it be…?

"DOCTOR!" I heard my voice coming from the conference room, just as I remember. I got mad at his conference because of all the similarities that his theory got with John Titor's one.

"Wha-What is it?" I heard Dr. Nakabachi's voice.

"You know what it is! What is this 'Time Machine Theory' of yours? Kerr's Black Holes? Timelines? Everything you just said… you just stole it from John Titor!" 'I' exalted. While my past self was rampaging, Makise just got into the room, making my task to follow her harder than before. I had no other choice, I had to go to the storage where she was stabbed and wait for the right time.

However, when I reached the room in question, a little question popped in my mind (Wait… Why would she come to such a place to begin with…? Oh no! Maybe they stabbed her somewhere else and they brought her here! That's right! I'm sure that's what happened!) I thought to myself. But if it was the case, I needed to find her right now! I cannot let myself to lose her again!

But the sounds of footsteps coming from the stairs made my plan to change a little. I came inside the storage and I hid behind some metallic selves and boxes to see who was coming for here, expecting the worst scenario possible. But the person who appeared behind the door was not the one who I was expecting to come here: Makise Kurisu.

So the stabbing occurs here. Now I only need to wait for the right time and save her if things begin to go wrong. She leaned against the door as she took a quick look at the documents she was carrying before. What were those files about anyway? I found out once my eyes got into the title by coincidence. It was hard to read but I was sure that what I read was right: It was a theory of how time machines worked and how to build them… (So that's why she's the key to change the time lines?) I thought to myself.

Suddenly, I heard someone grumbling from the outside of the room and coming to where Makise was. She seemed to notice too as she stood straightly while she looked at the person with a little innocent smile on her face.

"What do you want?" The person said with annoyance. By the voice I could identify this stranger as a man, but I can bet that his voice was extremely familiar…

"I-I just wanted you to read this, Dad!" She said with the same excitement that a little girl would have right before showing something they're proud of to their parents. But the 'Dad' part caught me by surprise; when she was still alive, she told me that her father was also a famous scientist and they would have friendly debates about science. But as Makise's intelligence grew up, her father's envy did as well, which ended up in a huge grudge from her father towards her. And this man… the one who's standing right in front of her… is her father…?

The man took the files bluntly from her hands as he began to read them. That's when I had the opportunity to look at his face… and I couldn't believe who Makise Kurisu's father was… It was Dr. Nakabachi! (What?!)

"It was the first time you phoned me in seven years!" Makise spoke with joy "You wanted me to assist to your conference, don't you? After all, you were my inspiration since I was a little girl…"

Wait… so this means that Makise's father is…? "… so I thought it would be great to theorize with you about a time machine! That's why I wanted to hear your theories…" Makise said still joyfully. But it was obvious that her father wasn't even listening to her, he was just reading her files deeply. "If they accept it you can use it to show those who expelled you from…"

"They didn't expel me!" The doctor yelled at her furiously. "I just grew tired of them and left from my own" He explained angrily.

Makise looked down sadly as she let out a "Sorry…" that even it hurt me to hear it… The doctor remained silent for a mere seconds while he was done reading and finally spoke to her daughter. "Not bad"

"Really?!" Makise said as she felt happy again "Dad, if you're okay with it, I was hoping to put our names in the documents!" She said. She seemed so happy, so relieved to be with her father just as they were before… But I couldn't wear off the feeling that this situation was scary and the tension was building up slowly but unstoppably. I was sure that it would explode any time soon.

"Don't be so dumb! Go away!" He said coldly to her own daughter, which made her to look at him confused "I plan to public these documents under my only name" He said as he took the files and began to walk away.

"W-Wait! You're not going to steal them, right?! I thought that, no matter what, you would never…"

"SHUT UP!" He yelled as he pushed her back. She was sent to the door with such strength that even some paint containers fell off from the selves and painted the floor. "How dare you to call me a thief!" He said as he pressed her to the floor by the neck. She tried to break free to breathe but she wasn't strong enough to take away from her own father. "Why the hell are you so clever?! A daughter must never be clever than her father! If it wasn't for you, I would be famous too! If it wasn't for you…!"

I had enough. There was no time for doubt now. Dr. Nakabachi, Makise Kurisu's father, is the person who kills her in this very room. I had to stop him! I launched myself to him to get him off of Makise. She breathed desperately to try to gain all the oxygen she just lost.

"You…! You are that boy from before!" The doctor said as he looked at me with wrath. "So it was like this, uh? You worked together to ruin my conference!" He said as he stood up. He began to laugh a little maniacally while he was reaching for something in his pocket… I gulped to myself as I shivered. If this man killed Makise, he was surely hiding a weapon somewhere… and I think I already know where it is. And my suspicions confirmed once he took out a knife from his pocket.

"Dad!" Makise yelled in horror of discovering what her father was planning to do next. I couldn't deny it: I was scared, but she was the woman that I truly loved in my life. I won't back away from her just because of a little knife! I stood confidently between them no matter how many sweat drops were painting my forehead right now.

"How dare you to insult me...?!" He yelled as he launched to stab me. I could barely dodge every slash he would make. I even could make him to trip down and drop the knife. That's it! That's my opportunity! If I'm able to pick up the knife he would have no choice but comply! I ran as fast as I could to grab it.

"Dad! Stop!" I heard Makise's voice. When I turned around I found that I dropped my guard down. The doctor was holding a screwdriver that he found on the floor when he tripped.

"Quiet!" He said as he rose up the screwdriver above his head and held her by the neck. Fortunately, Makise could grab his hand but I knew that she wouldn't last long. "You know nothing…" The doctor said as he was being driven by insanity "You have no idea how I've been feeling all these years! All the humiliation I had to endure! It's been a living hell!"

I didn't know I just froze in the place. I was there, holding the knife in my hand and watching how Makise was struggling to breath and trying her best to put the screwdriver away from her. But she was losing strength second by second and the screwdriver was coming slowly to her face. What are you doing Okabe?! You came so far to stop here and watch for the worst?! Now is time to act! "STOP!" I pointed the knife in his direction and tried to stab him. If he dies then I will surely save her, I guess it's no use…

But even now time was saving the worst surprise of all… Makise noticed what I tried to do… I can't blame her for what she did… but it was something that made my heart to be ripped apart and crushed… She pushed her father away… which made the knife to be pointing… at her… I couldn't react in time, so I ended up… stabbing her for myself…

I couldn't believe what I just did… I ended up being the one who killed her…! She began to cough roughly while she tried to stop the blood with her hand on the injury. I hold her close as I repeated her name again and again, wishing that what I just did was just a cruel nightmare. I heard the doctor laughing evilly at my side. He picked up the files as he left the room with these last words "You idiots. This is the perfect ending for you"

I caressed Makise's cheeks in an attempt to make her stay awake. Her eyes were struggling to stay open as she looked at me and said "I-I'm sorry… for involving you into this…"

"Why… Why you did it…?" I asked as I noticed that my voice began to tremble.

"Because… he is my father…" She said as she was crying too "I just… I just wanted him to accept me… That's all…" I hugged her tightly but carefully, thinking that maybe she will stay here if I did that… Obviously it wasn't going to happen. Her watered eyes were still fixed in mines, showing so much sadness and fear that it was broking my heart just by looking at her "I'm… I'm afraid… I don't want to die… I don't want… to die…" She repeated… until I felt that her grip was losing strength and her eyes were closing… Soon enough she lied limp on my arms… I lost her… I shook her body, thinking innocently that maybe she will wake up… But she didn't move a single muscle… The only thing that I could do was let out a deafening scream that it was heard in the entire building…

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"

"Hey! They came back!" Mayuri said when she saw the time machine appearing once again on the rooftop. She and Daru approached to the machine with happiness, expecting some kind of progress. But once the machine's gate their smiles dropped in horror as they saw my white coat with blood. "Okarin!" Mayuri yelled in fright.

"That… that blood is…!" Daru said worried too.

"Don't worry. It's not his blood" Suzuha calmed then. She was holding me while my eyes were extremely open but looking at no specific place "I killed her… I killed Makise Kurisu…" I murmured over and over to myself. As I could expect, Mayuri kneeled down next to me as he stroked my back "Okarin…"

"I know it hurts, Okabe" Suzuha spoke "But you can't give up yet! I have enough fuel to make just one more travel and…!"

"Shut up!" I yelled in pure rage. "No matter what I do, the result will be the same!" It was right. It was just when I tried to prevent Mayuri's death. Every time I traveled back in time it was all for nothing, no matter what I tried, she would always end up dying… I was sure that this was the same case… I knew why I wasn't sure about doing this, it was because I was sure that it would be useless…

"Um… Okarin, your phone…" Mayuri said as she gave me my cellphone "Someone is sending you a message…"

"Read it…" Suzuha said with an expression of remorse. Mayuri did so. The sender was anonymous, we couldn't find out who it was. But its message was short: 'Turn on the TV'. Once she read the message, Daru decided to watch the live-news with his phone. It was about how Dr. Nakabachi took a flight to Russia with Makise's documents. Apparently, there was a mysterious fire inside the loading bay. However, the doctor claims that the metal detector noticed a little metallic ball that was inside Makise's files, and thanks to that, they could put away the fire and prevent any document to burn away.

Mayuri recognized the metallic ball instantly "Hey! That's my metallic Upa that I lost at the conference! Look, it has my name written on it!"

"That document it's what triggers everything" Suzuha explained "From now on, many scientist are preparing a weapons race featuring time machines. If you control time, you'll control the world; that's why the Third World War occurs" Suzuha said as Mayuri and Daru looked at her with fright. To think that a couple of papers would cause such a catastrophe "So please, Okabe: Save Makise Kurisu and change the future!"

"… That's impossible…" I simply said… "It's just like Mayuri, everything I try will end up in the same way… Makise Kurisu will die…"

"How can you say such a thing if you only tried once?!" Suzuha scolded me. I couldn't blame her for that. She has no idea of the hell that I've been through. But I needed to let it all out.

"Once?! Don't be silly… How many times… How many times do you think that I failed?! I see how insane this time loop is… what cruel destiny time is saving for us… I already knew it. I already knew that this will happen after all… I'm tired… So tired…" I just walked towards the door… I just wanted to go home and sleep, hoping that sooner or later I would just not care about it… I gave up… I failed Makise Kurisu… I'm so sorry…

SLAP

That's the next thing I felt, a slap… It was so strong that it echoed for one or two seconds, even my cheek was burning because of its power… Who…? Who slapped me…? Why…? When I looked back, I found Mayuri in front of me with an angered frown. Daru and Suzuha were looking at her with shock too. I never expected her to do this… Mayuri, my childhood friend… Always so happy and oblivious... A girl who could be pleased and glad with so many little things… Who could have guessed that she would ever get like this…? Maybe she knew I needed her to be like this. She knew that I needed her to push me and go ahead. The words she said were the only thing I needed to feel hope again… "Okarin is not the type of person that leaves things half done. Mayushii knows it! Okarin is not the type of person that gives up! Even when Mayushii couldn't say goodbye to her Granny, you always went to her grave… That's why I could say goodbye! That's why I became a better person!... So please… don't give up Okarin…" I just looked at her in awe… She smiled as she gave me a warm hug… That's all I needed: her support… That's when I knew that I was not alone… I always had friend that cared for me… They weren't aware how I was suffering… but they tried their best to help me…

Suzuha touched my shoulder to get my attention "Um, I'm sure that you received a video message that day" She said, referring to my cellphone. Yes, I remember. That day my phone did something weird, it was static and nothing could be heard. Was that a video? And what did it contain? "Now that you failed to save Makise you should be able to see it" Suzuha explained.

"What do you mean…?"

"I'm sorry… I lied to you… To pull off this plan it was necessary for you to fail at least one time so you could see that video" Suzuha said as I played that video once again. At first the static made it difficult to see what it was, but I barely could recognize… a lab? And there was a man standing in the middle of it. I couldn't see his face, the static wouldn't let me.

"Nice to meet you, Okabe from fifteen years ago…" The man said. It couldn't be… That voice… it was a voice I knew well… It was myself… but in the future! "If you're seeing this video, that means that you failed in the task of saving Makise Kurisu. It must have been painful, right? Although, that pain was the origin of my obsession, so it had to happen… Let's say that it was a part of the preparations…" So my future self planned this too… He knew what I had to do all along… "Now we can finally begin the real plan: Save Makise Kurisu and reach Steins Gate" Those words made me shiver. They were so easy to say… but how hard would they be to do…?

"We need to do two things" My future self's video continued "First: Destroy Makise's files that Dr. Nakabachi brought to Russia. Second: Save Makise Kurisu" (Like if it was so easy…) I thought to myself… "However, save her and change the past is impossible, you should know as much as I do, right? I'll say it directly: Saving her IS possible" Another shiver went over my spine. Was really… a way of saving her…? "The problem is that you are doing it wrong. Listen carefully: You mustn't change the past once it's established. You mustn't change what you saw that day. If you do it, the past would change and you would have achieved nothing. Remember everything you did in those three weeks that you've been jumping between timelines. Remember all you and she had to sacrifice to save her. Don't let all those memories to go to waste. The reason you want to save her is to keep alive all the memories you and her shared in all those timelines. And that's the only reason I decided to build a time machine of my own. The reason we both have reached this far is because we both want to save her. So you have to fool your past self; you must save her, but at the same time you must make your past self think that she's dead. If that happens, the past won't change at all"

Now I understand… Now I know what I need to do… "One more thing… I'm afraid that you can't do this for yourself… If you go to the past in your own I fear that the past won't change at all" My future self explained. What does he mean…? "I'm sure you are aware of the incident that occurred a couple of years ago, right? When a meteorite fell off from the space" Yes… I remember it… It was a strange event: Years ago, a meteorite came from space and fell off on a park not so far from here. Nobody was hurt by it, and nobody seemed bothered by it, so it's still buried down the park. They named the meteorite and the park 'Temsik', but why does he bring it up now? "The entire planet things that it's just a big piece of rock. But recently I discovered something unbelievable of the meteorite. Its radiation grants special powers to those who die near them. Even if they die their spirits stay among us and do incredible things with its powers. I personally investigated that meteorite for myself and discovered that it could grant time traveling powers to those spirits, it even helped me in the building of the time machine" Everything he just said caught me by surprise. That meteorite could really do that?! And how could he find out all those things?!

"Actually, there's someone who was affected by this accident. He's dead, sure, but he's still with us, somewhere. He is the key. He's the only one who can help you to save Makise Kurisu" He explained. But how can I do that? Who must I find? And would he even want to help us? "I know that right now you're confused… But trust me, this 'person' would appear really soon, and he's going to help you don't worry… Good luck, Okabe Rintarou" He said as the video ended.

"The meteorite… can grant time powers to spirits?!" Daru asked in amazement. It sure sounded crazy and hard to believe… Was my future self really saying the truth…?

Meow.

"Oh! A kitty!" I heard Mayuri said. She was pointing at the rooftop above the stairs. There was a little black cat wearing a red bandana on its neck. It was looking at us with its sharp yellow eyes.

"I heard that you needed my help, right Okabe?" I heard a voice. I couldn't recognize it. I looked around to find out who was talking but there was nobody else there aside from me and my friends "Up here" He said. It couldn't be… the cat… was talking…? "It's not like talking, it's just that my thoughts are being transmitted into your mind" He responded. So was the cat really talking to me…?!

"Ho-How are you able to talk?!" I asked confused. Daru and Mayuri looked at me unsure.

"Okarin, why are you talking to the cat?"

"Can't you hear him?! He's talking!" I yelled.

"It's no use, only you can hear me" The cat said "It seems that your Reading Steiner ability can do as such" He explained.

"What…? How do you know that…?" I mentally asked to him.

"I know everything about you, you were the one who told me after all" The feline answered as he licked his paw. He saw that my confusion was growing and growing, so he decided to answer me. "Have you ever wondered why your future self knew so many things about Temsik? That's because I told him"

"So you… you are… you are the spirit?" I asked with confusion.

"Yes. I still remember that day, when that meteorite fell off on me, killing me instantly. Before that day I was just a stray cat, trying to live with leftovers. Since that event, my body became a hollow vessel so I could pretend to be a normal cat… but my spirit was still in this world and thanks to the powers I got, I could do amazing things with them. Years later, I met you and you became interested in my case, I told you everything and in exchange you told me what you were working on. The time machine, the different time lines you were in and your desperate attempts in saving Makise Kurisu" The cat told me. Slowly I began to trust in everything he was saying. My future self told me that it was impossible for me to save Makise Kurisu on my own. If I need someone to help me, I think I can rely on the cat. I still don't get what he 'is' and what are his motives to help me. But as a long as he helps me I can trust in him. "So I decided that I could help you with what were you trying to do. I've dealt with people that died before and I always could save them from the eternal sleep, so this is no biggie for me"

"But… how did you come here?" I asked in curiosity.

"I used my powers. My spirit possessed your phone just before you sent the message of turning on the TV. Once you sent it, my spirit traveled back in time with the message too" The cat explained. I couldn't believe how much power he had. He just traveled back in time in a D-mail…?

"O-Okay… I'll believe in you… I'll leave this mission on you… But answer me, why do you want to help me…?" I asked him, it couldn't be so easy. I was sure that he wanted something in exchange… but what could it be...?

However, looks like time decided to be fair with me for once. The cat sharpened his eyes as he answered "And I will ask you, why not?" That answer made me to look at him in confusion "Look, I'm just the spirit of a cat possessing its own corpse and pretending to be a regular cat. I don't have any wishes or aspirations… So if I can't find a use for my powers, why don't use them to help others?" He responded. I didn't need anything else to go on. "So are you okay working with me?" I nodded as I decided to put my faith in the cat "Good. My name is Sissel, nice to meet you, Okabe Rintarou. It's a pleasure to work with you" Sissel responded as he made a little reverence.

"The pleasure is mine…" I answered with another reverence too. Daru and Mayuri were still looking at me confused, but Suzuha just smiled. It seems she knew this too…

"So, Okabe Rintarou, now I'll explain the final touches of… Operation Skuld, as you named it: We have to change what happened without change what you 'saw'. In other words, we have to save Makise Kurisu but it must looks like she's dead. Are you ready, Okabe Rintarou? Are you ready to fool yourself? Fool the entire world? Ready to reach the Steins Gate?" Sissel encouraged me. I nodded, now with much more confidence than ever. I had the feeling that this time we would finally make it… "By the way… Your future self told me to ask you if you had any idea why you named the timeline as 'Steins Gate'. You must now why, right?"

"It doesn't mean anything"

We both said at the same time "Good, then I guess it's time to act… Psy Congroo, as you named it" Sissel said as he looked far away at the sunset. Daru and Mayuri looked at me in curiosity.

"Okarin… I didn't know you could talk to animals!" Mayuri said joyfully.

"Are you sure you are okay…?" Daru asked. I just ignored them, and I began to… laugh… It has been so much time since I laughed like this… Like if I was the 'Mad Scientist' that I always thought I was…

"Operation Skuld…? Psy Congroo…? Do I still talk like that when I'm thirty three years old…? I sound like an otaku that has been reading horrific novels… Sissel, I'll do it… if that's Steins Gate's choice… For I am the mad scientist, Hououin Kyoma! We'll fool this world and defeat time once and for all!" I said with confidence before laughing with that maniac laugh that I used to have.

"That's what I liked to hear…" Sissel thought for himself.

"Woah! He's the same Okarin as always!" Daru exclaimed.

"But Mayushii likes him better like this" Mayuri said happily.

"Sissel!" I yelled to the cat one more time "I am ready for whatever you have prepared for me! Let's settle this once and for all!"

"You bet!" The cat said as he jumped down and landed on my shoulder. "Okay, first I need you to hold my paw. You'll fall unconscious for a while, but trust in me okay?" Sissel reassured me. I had no fear now, he wanted to help me and my future self trusted in him. I had no reason to doubt him. Without thinking I took his paw on my hand… And the next thing I knew was that everything went black…

It has been only a couple of minutes since Okabe fell unconscious. I just took his soul away from his body and joined into mines. His companions were worried that his body suddenly fell off like a doll. But the girl that traveled with me in the machine explained what happened and reassured them that he would regain consciousness once we come back. Then I traveled with her into the machine at the day that Makise died once again. And now I'm waiting at the stairs of the conference building for Okabe to wake up and see the outcome of this mission.

"Ugh… Wha… Where am I…?" I heard his voice. Looks like he finally woke up.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty. Are you ready now?" I asked him.

"Sissel…? Where are you…? Why am I so short suddenly…?" I let him to be completely awake before I explain to him what I did. His soul was now mixed with mines into my body, which means that he's now a spectator of what I was seeing, earing and feeling. I told him that he should not fear, his body was safe in the future and once we end up this mission his soul will come back to the place it belongs. "I see… So we came back right?"

"Yes, thanks to your friend with the machine we are again in the day that Makise died. She also told me that she has enough fuel for just this travel alone, if we can't make it this time, we won't have another chance" I explained "But don't worry, I have a little 'trick' to patch up that little puncture" I said as I began to walk downstairs to begin the plan. "So what's the first thing we have to do?"

"We have to make sure that the files get burnt in Dr. Nakabachi's flight to Russia" Okabe refreshed me "And I think I already know how. The documents were safe thanks to the metallic Upa that got into the file. If we can prevent it to happen then the files should burn away in the flight"

"Good, let's start with that" I said as I sped up towards were Okabe and Mayuri got the Upa that day. But it was late, they were already around the machines, it would be hard for me to grab it without being spotted. "Oh great, now what?"

"Don't be such a spoiled girl, Mayuri. Even if I'm your childhood friend I won't give you money" The past Okabe said to Mayuri. She looked at him pleadingly and he just sighed as he approached to the machine with a coin between his fingers "I'm going to show you how cruel is life" He said before he inserted the coin in the machine and the Upa came out of it. As I feared, it was a metallic one.

"Oh! It's a metallic Upa!" Mayuri said excited.

"Is it odd?"

"It's really hard to find one of those!"

"Well, I guess it's all yours" Okabe said as he gave her the toy. "We are late" the present time Okabe said inside my head "How are we going to take that Upa now" I thought about it for a second. Maybe there was an easier way to do this than I thought first.

"If that Upa is destined to get into Makise's file, that means that Mayuri must have lost it at some point now, right?" I explained "If we are going to believe that, we just need to follow her until she loses it"

"It makes sense. Let's get into it then!" Okabe said. I hid behind the stairs and waited for them to pass by. That's when I noticed the little toy slipping out of the girl's pocket and jumping on the stairs over and over to the floor below.

"Wow, she lost the toy this easy?" I asked to myself "Well, at least we can take it now" I jumped down to the end of the stairs and picked the Upa in my mouth and I let it fall off into my bandana "Great, this should guarantee that the files would be destroyed in the flight" I said excited.

"Now the only that's left is save Makise Kurisu" Okabe said seriously. Just when I was about to go up to the storage room, a person just came up from the stairs and looked at us. I wasn't expecting her but I could feel Okabe really happy and concerned of seeing her.

"Oh! Hello little kitty…!" Makise said as she kneeled down and started to stroke me. If I wanted to seem convincing, I had to act like a regular cat, so I just let her to touch me and I even rubbed my fur with her hand cutely "Hey, what is this little buddy doing here? Are you lost?" She asked cutely as she continued to stroke me. Now that I thought about it I think I figured why the Upa got into the files. I'm sure that Makise saw it while she was going up and she liked it so she decided to keep it and put it into the files.

"What are you doing? Shouldn't we go up to the storage now?" Okabe asked with hurry.

"I know, but remember that we have to change the events of that day but make it look like it didn't change. Supposedly, you should be here, shivering to see her alive and distract her for a mere seconds until the conference begin. Now that you aren't here I must do something similar, and this is what I came up with" I explained.

"True… it makes sense" Okabe said as he considered it. Once again the broadcast reasoned through the building, and Makise stood up with her files and smiled at us one more time.

"Bye kitty, I have to go. Hope you can find your owner" She said as she left. I stayed there for a couple of seconds before I ran up again to the storage.

"I never knew that Makise was such an animal lover" Okabe said.

"Well, you'll never go to sleep without learning something new" I paraphrased "And I thought that you would enjoy it…" I clarified to him.

"What do you mean?"

"You feel the same as I feel right? I thought that you'll be happy to be caressed by her, even if it was through my body" I said. I really meant it, I also lost important people that I held dear, I know how he's feeling and had felt. I know how it hurts, so I decided to give him at least this little craving. He didn't responded but I knew he was glad of my action.

Once we reached the storage, I hid behind the same selves where Okabe hid the first time he traveled. We had to wait for the doctor to appear. But before we start, I have to warn Okabe about something. "Okabe…" I spoke with severity. He knew that whatever I was about to say it would be extremely important "Before we begin you must know something. I have to… let Makise die…"

I felt it, Okabe was feeling rage by now, he couldn't do anything since he couldn't control the body he was in, but it didn't stop him from burst out "What?! How can you let her die?! After all we have done…?!"

"Don't be so hasty, Okabe, let me explain. My time traveling power only works if I possess the corpse of someone who just died. Once I do that, I can travel back, 4 minutes before that person's death to be precise. And don't worry if I fail, I can rewind those 4 minutes again and again until I save her. But I need to see how she dies at least one time to learn everything I need to save her and make my powers to work, alright?"

"… Okay…" He sighed. I knew it would hurt him, to see the woman he loves dying. But he already saw how he killed her himself, I think there's nothing worse than that. It wasn't long until Dr. Nakabachi came here, read Makise's document and pushed her to the door. I noticed a couple of interesting things while everything was shaking. Many paint containers fell off from the shelves, including a container of 'red' paint. There was also a really big container that fell off from the top of the shelf, I'm sure that if it falls off on top of another container the paint would explode… That gave me an idea, but it wasn't enough. I needed to find something else to knock Makise off.

"If it wasn't for you I would be famous too!" Dr. Nakabachi yelled as he pressed her daughter's neck. Okabe was struggling between just look at the scene and try to intervene, but he tried his best to behave.

"I know it hurts, just a little longer okay" I said trying to comfort him. He didn't answer, I guess no wonder why. While the other two were struggling, I finally noticed another container of paint that had a little scratch on the bottom where paint was spilling off it. It was just above Makise's head right now.

"Aha! I think I've got everything I need"

I said with some kind of a smirk. Okabe felt a little happier, knowing that I just got onto something to save her. It wasn't long enough until the doctor took out his pocket knife and rose it up above his head "Just die already!" he yelled as he bluntly stabbed her daughter on her heart, making her to gasp for a second before her eyes got hollow and lost her grip. Okabe seemed really disturbed before such an event. I was feeling like that too, that scene was too grotesque even for me. Humans were such an amazing kind and yet so horrible at the same time. That man has just committed filicide just because of pure envy… To top it all, the man just left with the files and laughing like a maniac, not before spitting onto her daughter to make things worse.

I approached to her lifeless body as I could hear Okabe sobbing inside my mind "Makise… Why…?" I felt so bad for him that even my ears lowered in compassion.

"Alright… Now we know what happened. It's time for me to change what happened. Hang tight, Okabe, you're going to witness how my Ghost Tricks works first-hand" I said as my soul was abandoning my body and reaching out for Makise's corpse… Once I did, we both, Okabe and I, appeared in the ghost world with a tiny blue flame just in front of us. Okabe looked at it with sadness.

"That's… her spirit… right?" He asked.

"Yes, that's her. She's still unconscious since she just died. She would wake up soon" I told him. He didn't know what his future self had planned about this. I felt bad for being hiding this from him but once he finds out I'm sure he would not describe the happiness he'll feel. So for now I'll stay quiet. Okabe approached to the flame, which was Makise's spirit still asleep, and hugged it tightly.

"Well, here we are Sissel. You promised that you will save her. So c'mon, so me that trust my future self relied on you" Okabe said, still holding the flame between his arms. He looked like a father that was protecting his little child.

"Sure. Let's begin my favorite part!" I said as I snapped my fingers. I giant red hourglass appeared in front of us, and its sand began to move upwards, reversing time and bringing us to this same room but 4 minutes before the tragedy occurred. "Well, here are again, a couple of minutes before she dies. Now sit back and watch as I do my magic" I said moving my tail joyfully. Okabe nodded and smiled, he had to concede that he was really curious about my powers. He didn't expect that the meteorite could grant such powers even for a simple stray cat.

"Uh… where am I…?" A sweet voice said. I think I know who she is. Okabe looked at the flame with happiness as he heard her voice.

"Kurisu…?!"

"What…? Who are you…?" She said. Okabe looked down at the floor as he remembered that he never met her in this timeline. I couldn't wait any longer and I decided to tell him.

"Don't worry, it happens to everybody when they die. They lose their memory for a short period of time, but don't worry, she would start to remember everything in no time" I explained. He nodded with sadness, he knew that she wouldn't remember him after all. He had no idea about the surprise he was about to receive.

"… Okabe…?" The flame asked, which made the scientist to look at her with an innocent joy shining in his eyes "Okabe…? Is that you…?" Makise asked him.

"Kurisu… do you remember me…?" Okabe asked innocently.

"Kurisu…? That's my name… right?" She asked him. The flame began to glow "I think… I think I remember…" She said as the flame took shape and turned into Makise Kurisu's body.

"Kurisu!" Okabe yelled as he couldn't resist but to hug her. He didn't care if she pushes him away, he just wanted to enjoy his time with her. Strangely enough, she returned his hug tightly. Due to my feline properties I couldn't smile, but I'm sure if I could, I would be doing so. Okabe just looked at her now with confusion… "Kurisu…? Do you…?"

"Yes, Okabe… I remember…! I remember everything! I remember all that happened between the timelines…!" She said not pulling him away. Okabe couldn't believe it, Makise didn't have the Reading Steiner; how could she remember things that happened in other timelines? He looked at me, wondering if I were the cause. He was right. "Yes, it was me, Okabe"

"But…! But how?! Only I have the Reading Steiner!"

"Not anymore. Makise's mind tried to pick up every memory she lost because of her death. Normally, the mind would try to pick up the memories that belongs to the timeline they're in. However, since the Land of the Dead doesn't quite exist there's no defined timeline in this place due to the lack of the 'time' property. This makes the brain to confuse which memories are the correct ones and they pick them all to avoid any kind of mistake. That's why Makise now remembers everything that happened in the other timelines just like you" I explained. Okabe felt an overwhelming explosion of happiness in his heart. Everything he just did during these last three weeks… Even Makise Kurisu was remembering it too!

"Does this mean that you saved my life once? It would explain why I have the Reading Steiner to begin with" Okabe asked, only to receive a funny stare and a 'maybe' for an answer.

"Wait! You're that cat from before…! How is possible that you can talk?!" Makise asked. Between me and Okabe, we explained Makise all that happened. The Third World War; how Okabe tried to save her from death and failed; how his future self was pulling the strings for this plan; my presence and power's importance in the development of the time machine and this plan; and lastly how we worked together to get here and save her. It was hard for her to believe all of this, but even if she was skeptical about this, she decided to go along and see where this was going.

"Okay, we have wasted enough time with this. Time to save your life, Makise Kurisu!"

Trick Time!

Time began to run again in the storage. Makise was standing at the door and reading her files while my soul was in the middle of the room. Makise was surprised that she was looking at her past self just a few meters away.

"So that's me… And I'm going to die soon, right?" She asked.

"That's right. You remember?" She nodded, feeling disappointed that her own father was her killer. "Okay, if I remember correctly, I need to do something before the doctor comes if I want this plan to pull off correctly"

"What is it?" Okabe asked.

"The paint containers fell off while Makise hit the door, but at least I need that big one to fall much later. I'll see what I can do" I said as my soul began to possess the various objects on the shelves until I found my way to the big paint container. Next to it was a smaller container that I could use; I possessed it and knocked it in the way of the big container. Maybe that way it would prevent the container to fall off sooner. Once the doctor pushed Makise to the door and the containers of paint began to reach the floor one by one, the big container in question stumbled upon the other that I possessed and made it to fall. Fortunately, the big container was still on the top of the shelves… well, it seemed ready to fall off but if nobody touches it again everything's alright.

"Was that a part of the plan?" Makise asked. She seemed now more comfortable due to the better understanding of my powers. Since she was a woman of science it wasn't a surprise that she finds hard to believe that things like spirits exists, but she seemed to be accepting by now.

"Yes, now your fate has been changed… just a little bit, but we're not done yet"

Fate updated!

Now it was time for the next part of the plan: Knocking Makise off. If we have luck maybe her father would leave her alone after we knock her off. To do that, I had to possess that other paint container and let it to fall onto Makise's forehead. I made my way to the container once again, but I noticed something wrong with it.

"Oh no! It's not so clever to throw the container like this" I said.

"What? Why? Just knock it off already!" Okabe yelled with impatience.

"No! You can't! That container is too heavy. If you throw it onto me like that it would most likely crush my skull" Makise explained nervously but trying her best to stay calmed.

(Hmm… Now that I think of it… This container was a little ripped off. Maybe if I press the paint down I will force the scratch to open more and the paint would spill faster, making the container slighter! That's it) As soon as I thought about it, I did what I was planning. It was a great success, the paint spilled out onto the floor. "Okay, here goes nothing…!" I said as I made the container to fall onto Makise's head. It was such a blunt blow that it made her unconscious.

"Is she… Is she alright…?" Okabe asked with extreme worry. I took a look at her body in the ghost world to notice that she was still alive. It made us three to sigh in relief.

The doctor just looked at her with disdain as he stood up and picked up the files "Pathetic. Such a worthy ending for a scum like you" He blurted as he walked away with the documents in his hands, ready to be burnt away on the flight.

"Did we… Did we make it…?!" Okabe asked as excitement began to fill him up.

"I can't believe it… You just saved my life…!" Makise let out shocked too.

"Not yet, there's still a finishing touch to make this scene more convincing" I said as my spirit possessed the big container again. I threw it down, falling onto the red paint container and making it to explode. The entire room was painted red, even Makise was spilled too. It wasn't a perfect recreation but it should do the trick "Well, what do you think Okabe?"

"It's… it's just like that day… It's exactly what happened that day…!"

Fate averted!

"Right! There's one last thing we need to do, get your past self's attention" I said as I possessed my body once again. Then, I let out a deafening meow that was heard in the entire building. Then, Okabe snapped and thought about it (That's right…! It's just like what happened that day! Right before I ran up the stairs and saw Makise Kurisu's corpse I heard a cat meowing…! So it was all because of Sissel…)

I ran outside of the room and hid behind of a corner as we saw the Okabe from the past entering into the room. I heard Okabe's voice inside my minds, they were words directed to himself in the past "Good luck, Okarin… You're about to live the three longest weeks in your life… and the three most important ones…" That's what he said before Okabe from the past ran up to call an ambulance.

"So this is it… We won… right? We defeated time" Makise asked to make sure herself that she wasn't imagining it.

"That's right… We won…" Okabe said with tranquility. At long last, he could finally feel relieved. "Thank you Sissel… I can't find the words to thank you for this"

"No need. I just wanted to help and that's all I did, nothing else" I said modestly. "Well… shall we go back?" I suggested.

"Yeah… I'm starting to miss my friends…" Okabe said.

"Um… Sissel…" Makise asked "When we go back to the future… would I keep all the memories from the different timelines…?" She questioned with worry.

"Sure! In fact, you now have the Reading Steiner too. So enjoy it as much as you can" I answered which made Makise to feel glad too. She would remember everything Okabe and she did when they were together… Her love wouldn't be in vain, but of course, she would never admit that fact as the tsundere she is.

Then, a big red clock appeared in front of us. It began to run quickly forward in time and everything went white…

I heard that everything went according to the plan that Okabe from the future and I schemed: The time machine files got burnt in the flight, making the Third World War to never trigger at all. And there was no new about somebody being killed in the conference. I also heard that Okabe was trying to find all his former lab members he had met on the other timelines: Lab member Nº5, Kiryu Moeka, a really shy woman that could find a job at the shop of Mr. Braun, Okabe's neighbor; Lab member Nº6, Ruka Urushibara, a boy that looks like a girl and is in charge of a near Japanese temple; Lab member Nº7, Fayris NyanNyan, which is still working at a maid café and is the responsible of everything that's moe in the city; Lab member Nº8, Suzuha Amane, Daru's future daughter, who will be born in seven years but she has already a place in the lab. And of course, the lab members Nº1, 2, 3 and 4 which belonged to Okabe Rintarou, Mayuri Shiina, Itaru Hashida, and of course, Makise Kurisu. She kept her multiple memories just as I expected, she came back to the lab as the fourth member and soon enough befriended perfectly with everyone there.

Okabe couldn't resist commemorating this special occasion, and he decided to make a special pin with the initial letter of everyone's names. OSHMKUFA would be written on those badges and they'll show the great adventure they lived together, even if only two people know this fact.

And here I am, standing on his lab's rooftop, looking at the beautiful sunrise as the wind rocked my bandana and my tail gracefully. I know better than anyone else that time is capricious and cruel, you must never play with it if you are not ready to face the consequences. For the last month, Okabe Rintarou learnt this lesson the hard way, but the help of the ones who were there to help him, he could beat the time itself and rise up with the victory. "I guess my work here is done…"

"There you are, little friend?" I heard someone from behind, and when I turned around it was Okabe who proposed it.

"Don't you think you came here a little early?"

"I knew that you were here" He said as he put his arms on the handrail beside me "So what are you gonna do now?" He asked as we both looked at the sun with serenity "Do you plan to go to the future you belong to?"

"Why should I? When you become an immortal being with the power of time on the palm of your hand, time itself becomes a meaningless term. We can say that I have 'all the time of the world'… I guess I could stick around here for a bit" I responded.

"If that's so…" He said as he straight up his pose and looked at me directly "What would you tell me if I propose you to become a lab member?" He said as he showed me another badge to me. That's when I realized that there was an extra 'S' at the end of all the initials, which obviously sticked out for 'Sissel'. It made me to mentally smile and feel flattered by this. "I'm sure Makise wants this too. She told that she's really grateful that you saved her… and so I am… And she says that if we could see you again she would love you to be around and told us much more things about Temsik and all you have lived since you became a ghost. Not only her, I'm sure that the other members would love to have a pet as a member of the lab. So Sissel…? Are you ready to be a part of my lab as the Lab Member Nº9?"

I took my time to answer, I looked at his palm and looked at him while I purred "Lab member Nº9, uh? Sounds good. Count me in, Okabe Rintarou!" I told him just before he pinned the badge on my bandana and we both said at the same time.

"Psy Congroo!"

THE END

HOLY SHIT! More than 13,000 words! It sure is long! No wonder why it took me so much 'time'! Eh? Eh? Okay, I'll just leave...

Well, there you have it! I hope you liked this big fanfic. I know that I retouched the final of Steins Gate and Sissel powers, but it was all for the plot's shake. But I am really proud of this one, hope anyone else loves all my extreme dedication!

For those who follow me: I think I will retake The Princess by my Side, I won't promise anything but there's a possibility that I will continue it soon.

Until the next time! Please review!