Grain... Null-time Zone...

Amaretto tried to feel something, perhaps a little bit of remorse and regret, but found that she could dredge up neither emotion. Looking up, she saw her aunt had been frozen in time as well. Her parasol had been tented outwards and rigid spikes and small blades had come out of the parasol's edges. They were so small, that Amaretto would not have noticed them at all, if not for the way her aunt was positioned on the floor. Her mouth was open in a terrible scream of defiance, or at least half of one, and her eyes were filled with righteous indignation, or at least Amaretto hoped that was what it was full of.


Right above Katherine though was a large IronMan himself, poised in the middle of the air as if to crush Katherine with his whole body. Amaretto turned to Tempus. "Tempus, could you please let her go? She has to travel with me!" Tempus simply nodded his head and smiled at Amaretto.

Almost instantly, the yelling came back from Katherine. She had been in full swing when she had stopped, so she continued on her follow-through. There was a sound of a metallic clang and then the parasol seemed to slice through the IronMan at full speed as Katherine screamed at the top of her lungs. Afterwards, Katherine moved into a protective stance, but only then noticed that the IronMan didn't move from his position in the air. Amaretto marveled at how it seemed to stay afloat.

Tempus looked positively mad. "That is going to leave a mark on the timeline for sure. Can't you ever watch yourself and what you are doing?"

Katherine shrugged her shoulders and frowned. "What do I have to worry about. I have you to deal with. I could care less about the timeline."

Tempus' incorporeal form frowned. "Just because you are..." he was cut of by an imperious wave of Katherine's hand.

"I don't want to know Tempus. What is the deal with the Null-time zone?"

"We found the Stone. It has the first coordinate. I figured that I would help you get the first one and then we shall see what happens next."

Katherine raised an eyebrow. "What happens next? You mean you don't know?"

Tempus shook his head. "No that's not what I mean. I don't know where the next coordinate is, much less weather you will be transported immediately or if you will have to come back to the room behind the watch shop to have me set the Hourglass off; I just don't know."

Amaretto looked at the stone that was still within the Queen's grasp. "If I take that, and we get the coordinate, what happens to them?"

"Who are you talking about Ama?" Her aunt seemed a little concerned.

Amaretto made a vague gesture around the room. "I mean all of them. Especially Alice and Johanna. What happens to them?"


Katherine looked at them and walked over to where Johanna had her right arm spread out, her fingers spread as well as if throwing a large web of kinetic energy; thought it didn't help that it looked like there were blue strings attached to her fingers at that moment. "Well, it looks like they could possibly win. Once we take the outlying magic from the Stone of Communication, they might not have to worry about anything else. Mother Chime's magic, though she calls it science, is actually a really small base extrapolation of normal magic."


Amaretto blinked. "Could you say that in simple terms?"


Katherine blinked as if in non comprehension and then said in a rather bland tone, "Once we jump, Mother Chime's magic won't work."


"What about Johanna's though?"


Katherine snorted. "Her magic is what is powering Mother Chime's magic in the first place. The Stone of Communication is acting as a siphon. That is what Mother Chime is tapping into to make sure the Queen can transfer bodies."


Amaretto frowned and looked at her aunt with thoughtful eyes. "So there is no scientific way for her to switch bodies?"


Tempus answered her in a terse voice. "Not without the magical catalyst to begin the transformation. Entirely too much energy is needed to do the process, and as you can see, no lightning of any sort is nearby, and the only way to do something like you want is to use a huge amount of energy." Katherine nodded apologetically with Tempus. Amaretto felt helpless. She didn't necessarily want to obstruct the Queen, but she didn't necessarily want the Queen to destroy everything either.

"So then what can we do?"

Tempus shook his head. "Not everyone can have a happy ending Amaretto."

Amaretto snarled. "Everyone can, you just don't want them to."

Grain... Null-Timed Space...

"Amaretto, please open your eyes. You are starting to make me feel a little nervous."


Amaretto, prompted by the voice opened her eyes and looked around hurriedly. All she had remembered from a moment before was saying the strange words that Tempus had given her and the whole world seeming to compress and then shudder with darkness. What she had thought of as the world going black and dark was really her closing her eyes really tight. She felt a little foolish. However, what she noticed next made her feel a little wary. The Queen was in front of her, clutching her other body; new holding onto old as a child does a plaything or doll that they do not want to let go of. Amaretto was going to say something, but she chose against it. The Queen however, was completely frozen.


Something had stopped her dead in her tracks.


A panic began to form in the back of Amaretto's head, but she refused to let it take over her. She was in a strange place, that was true, but she did know how to revive someone. The only problem here was that Amaretto could see that the Queen had been frozen in a moment of screaming. She looked so fascinatingly horrid to Amaretto; her mouth wide open to catch whatever may be thrown in, her eyes slanted in a foul grimace and menacingly slit eyes. The pupils were perpetually dilated, not that Amaretto was sure that they should be.



Amaretto looked behind her where the others were. Alice was in the middle of pulling the trigger on her gun, a rather large and menacing IronMan stood in front of her and looked almost as if he was going to eat her head off. His mouth was gaping wide and he had what looked to be spinning blades on the inside of his mouth in a triangular pattern. The only thing about it was that there was no sound there, the blades weren't even spinning. And the IronMan was paused in a leap in midair. Amaretto frantically looked about the room and noticed that everything in the room had stopped. She put a hand up to her neck and felt the coolness of the hourglass there. She was sure she hadn't used it, but could she have made it work in the heat of the moment?


She looked at the ground and finally noticed the floor was different. All along the entirety of the floor was a large clock that seemed to have no hands, just the face with large bold roman numerals. Amaretto looked around in wonder and then she heard a chuckle. She whirled around and saw a shadowy figure there. A few moment's latter she put her hands on her hips when she realized who it was.


"Tempus! What just happened here?"


Tempus moved forwards and Amaretto noticed that he had a almost shadowy corporeality to himself. Amaretto narrowed her eyes, her eyebrows knitting together. "Why are you so transparent?"


Tempus shook his head and in his British accent said, "I'm not really here. This is a phantasm that is generated by the space we are currently occupying."


Amaretto looked around. "The space we are occupying? What's that supposed to mean?"


Tempus smiled and then said, "It means that I have taken this moment in time, just a minute, and compressed it into a second, and then have it playing over and over again in a re-looped procession so it appears as if time has stopped, when in reality, it is going to feel like a massive dejavu headache to all who are in it when they get out. "


Amaretto raised an eyebrow and then giggled slightly. "So they will feel a little like they were in a major glitch in the..."


Tempus put up a hand to stop her. "Please, don't bring that movie up. It gives me a headache. So many inconsistency with time and the space fluctuations. I had people trying to prove it real for months and the amount of hiccups in the systems; let's just say that the clocks were never the same. I almost lost eighty-six hours!"

Amaretto couldn't help but smile. Tempus really did sound distraught over it. "So Tempus, what's with this frozen time?"

Tempus smiled slightly and then said, "It is actually not frozen. It has been looped so that I can speak with you and help set up the next jump. You've found the first coordinate. As soon as you seperate it from the stone, you will be able to jump instantaneously."

Amaretto cocked her head to the side for a second as she listened to Tempus talk. As soon as he said the last part, her eyes widened. "What do you mean we will jump instantly?"

Tempus' mouth twitched for a second and he shrugged. "That is exactly what I mean. The moment the coordinate takes root in the hourglass, you will be thrust to the next place where the coordinate is. I can't control it, that is just the way that it works."

Amaretto looked sorrowfully at Johanna and Alice. Was this to mean that she was going to be abandoning them?

Grain... Cloister of Science...

The lines that etched themselves across the floor were swirling with energy and various forms of magics that were boundlessly whirling within the area. There was no two doubts about it, they were now using magic. Amaretto was not all that surprised that Alice and Johanna knew it, but to think that the strange woman who seemed to be all about science and its uses and how they seemed far more infinite in their understanding; she was chanting mystical words that were a mantra for a very powerful magic that was building up into a cacophony of pressure. Amaretto felt her head swim as thin veils appeared over both Johanna and Mother Chime.

Her sprinting towards the original stone that was there was not going as well as she hoped. An IronMan swung out at her, and all but barely missed severing her clean in two with a rip-bladed saw for a hand. Dense smoke roiled around the ground, clutching at everything like a greedy child given free reign in a candy shop. As Mother Chime continued to chant, the smoke began to take a more solid shape along the ground. Amaretto tried to dodge another IronMan, his arms outstretched as if to grab her and never let go, and she hear the familiar bang of Alice's gun as a blast of ray energies tore through him The IronMan actually looked surprised.

Amaretto dodged again and felt the smoke on the ground whirling in what appeared to be small hands grasping at the hemlines of her dress. She hated her aunt for making her wear it, but she could not have guessed that wearing jeans instead of a crinoline would have been such a great idea. She called out in her mind, "Tempus! I need you now!"

Almost as if exploding in her head, she heard an amount of static and then something that sounded like an old radio tuning in her head. Am... ret... re yo... okay?" Then it snapped into place and she could hear Tempus calling for her.

"Amaretto can you hear me?"

Amaretto rolled her eyes"I can hear you just fine then Tempus. It's almost like you are screaming in my ear... oh wait!"

Amaretto heard Tempus snort. "You don't have to be so rude about it..."

"Not to be rude now, but I need a little help here, I'm almost to the gem, but I can't get to it, Mother Chime is just a little too powerful!" Amaretto tried to hide the panic from her voice, but it might have been too late to do so. At that moment, she could have sworn that she heard Tempus smile.

"Are you within fifty feet at least?"

Amaretto did a quick look and then nodded her head. Then almost as if sensing her silliness she responded in the affirmative. She should have realized sooner that there was no way Tempus could see her

"I guess you could make it that way then. Prepare yourself..."

Amaretto ducked as another IronMan reached out to grasp at her from the middle of the smoke. "Tempus!" She shrieked as another IronMan threw himself at her. She put her hands up as if to shield herself. She closed her eyes and braced for impact and then heard a loud shrieking of metal and opened her eyes tentatively. Her aunt stood there with her parasol and had it pointed directly at the IronMan that was aiming itself at her. Her eyes were thin glittering slits.

"Hurry Amaretto! We don't have time!"

Amaretto scrambled to her feet and then leaped towards the fourposter bed. The Queen who was on the bed shrieked and grabbed her second body in panic. Amaretto heard something that sounded like Mother Chime was screaming at her. Tempus yelled at her in her head.

"Grab the Stone!"

Amaretto panicked when at first all she could see was the Queen and the multitude of tubes that were spread across the bed, connecting both of her bodies. The whole world was spinning so fast and she wasn't quite sure what it was that she was supposed to be doing. All around the room, the clash of Magic and Science clashed between the rest of the room. She allowed her eyes to stray for a moment and saw her aunt Katherine beating an IronMan with her parasol and then screeching in a strange language that sounded like it was European.

Alice was pointing her gun at various IronMen as well, shooting shots from the strange ray gun that she held. Her back was aglow with strange blue light and symbols of red runes were pouring off her back as Johanna, who was chanting and weaving her hands animatedly at Mother Chime, who was also chanting. Mother Chime's voice however, sounded like someone was fast-forwarding a video tape. Amaretto frowned and began searching the bed again and then found what she was looking for. She gripped the stone and screamed out at the top of her lungs what Tempus had wanted her to say:

"Thunderous Clouds of Times gone past,
Running veins of Theory's relative light,
Cursed Light; Point of Heart,
Access Granted, Cease Function!"

The first thing that Amaretto thought was that it didn't rhyme. The next thing that she thought was what was that loud chiming she was hearing. The next thing she knew, the whole world turned upside-down, inside out, and then completely black...

Grain... Cloister of Science

The entirety of the room was tense and Amaretto was not sure what was going to happen next. The queen sat on the bed, old body and the Stone of Communication clutched within the hands and arms of the new body. A frown creased her lips and the furrow in her forehead spoke volumes more of her fright than of her concern. Even still, Amaretto was sure that the queen was more concerned about her new body than the older one. The gleaming metallic floors seemed to have no effect on the woman who had only a few minutes ago, been crowing about cheating death.

Amaretto looked back towards the door where the IronMen were all standing ready to attack as Mother chime had ordered them. Their capes should have gotten in the way of where they were standing, with Mother Chime off to their left hand side pointing at the interlopers in her kingdom.

Amaretto wanted to move towards the others who were there, but she as blocked off by Johanna and Alice, who were both standing in front of her. Johanna had a murderous look in her eyes. There was no way around it; Amaretto was more than sure that they would not make it out of here without at least some casualty. Alice took another step forwards and then shrugged her coat off of her shoulders. It fell to the floor with a thunk that Amaretto thought made it sound weighted. She looked up and noticed that Alice had on a thin blouse that was mostly see through, but something seemed to writhe underneath the surface of the thin translucent cotton. Something that seemed to be made of blue and trace itself all over her skin.

Katherine hissed in anticipation. "Those are brands! They are considered illegal here in the Empire."

Amaretto's eyes widened and she looked back at Alice with a whole new level of clarity. Johanna reached forward to the center of Alice's back and there was a sort of chie sound that seemed to light up the entire area and Amaretto looked around to see if she could determine where it was coming from. At that moment, all hell broke loose.

An IronMan jerked his body forward towards the small group while the Queen screamed out in fright. Mother Chime jerked her whole body backwards, not fluidly and gracefully like she had shown before, but almost like a puppet who had it's strings pulled too hard. She stood in front of the bed, her arms outspread as if to protect the queen. The IronMan had no such compunction however. His left arm was thrust forwards and almost too late, Amaretto saw that instead of a hand, he had a rather large two pronged metal attachment that spit sparks. Amaretto was almost reminded of a rather large stun gun.

Amaretto screamed as the arm lashed upwards towards Alice who seemed to just be standing there with her guns at the ready, with Johanna still standing behind her. Johanna's right hand raised just a little bit from her waist line and Alice's skin seemed to glow. There was a jagged sparking in the air almost like a bolt of lightning that seemed to leap off of Alice's skin and there was a blur in the air just in front of the IronMan. Amaretto blinked and the next thing she saw as her eyes opened up once more was the IronMan flinging itself across the room.

In the opposite direction. Alice had a grimace on her face and Johanna seemed to be a little amused.

A second IronMan threw himself forwards towards the pair. The same blur in her sight and the bolt of light slammed into him and soon, another dodged forwards with two others behind him. The one in the front had a large bronzed sword that he had at the ready on his side. As he came closer he thrust it forwards, Alice pulled up her right arm and aimed a gun at him and shot a bullet. the gun blazed forth like a flower with bright orange flames before the bullet blasted its way through the IronMan's skull. There was a dull crack and shatter as the second IronMan jerked his body forwards and then threw his jaw forwards as if to catch them off guard and bite them into two pieces. Johanna tried to strike out, but suddenly remembered that she had no rapier anymore. She frantically flailed and Alice jerked herself backwards in order to shot the IronMan again. The gun clicked. The third Iron Man had flown under the radar. While his fellows had leaped through the air in order to catch the ones that Mother Chime wanted he had crept low to the ground.

His hand ratcheted out and gripped firmly of Alice's leg and yanked at her. She fell downwards to the ground, a stray shot from her pistol flying out at the world around her at random. There was a shriek and a crash and Amaretto turned to look at the Queen. Part of the four poster bed had been blown away. At this, Katherine licked her lips and looked at Amaretto. "That was a little dangerous."

"Dangerous?" Amaretto hissed at her aunt in indignation. "We are so going to get killed here!"

Katherine shook her head. "Not without a little dust of help. Use the glass."

Amaretto's eyes bulged. "We can't do that!"

"Then use our damned ring! That's what Tempus gave it to you for right?" Amaretto's thoughts were jarred by her aunt's harsh words and she suddenly realized just how close she was to the Stone. She made a dash across the room as quick as she could. She heard Johanna muttering under her breath and soon the whole floor began to glow with unnatural lines. Mother Chime seemed to sense what was going on and began a chant of her own, red lines crossing Johanna's blue. Amaretto hoped that nothing else would explode.