Dim lights blinked at her from the other side of the laboratory, drawing her ever-watchful eye from the screen of jagged lines and other blinking lights. This incidentally inspired the hunched over pink-haired woman to close and reopen her own eyes, the bags beneath them betraying her fatigue.

Kokonoe Mercury was not happy. This wasn't at all a strange turn of events but today, at this particular minute, the scientist was at her wit's end. Between that creepy looking girl from earlier and Rachel getting herself turned into a distraction for Ragna, she didn't have much time left until the Embryo was done processing, and would swallow up all the Qualified that hadn't come close enough to the end to matter. Herself included.

But despite her already bleak outlook, the light on the console gave her information that only made it so much worse for everyone involved. Ever since the Continuum Shift event, Kokonoe had gotten a lock on the presence of Terumi's power. Not enough to pinpoint his exact location at any given time, but just enough to serve as a proximity detector.

Since Terumi had been separated from his chosen vessel Hazama by the Embryo's Phenomenon Intervention, the signal had grown fainter, split between the two beings. And now one of them had dropped off the radar entirely. Which shouldn't have been possible, not with how space inside the Embryo functioned. So either Hazama was dead, or had gone somewhere that she couldn't possibly detect him.

Her lip curved even further downward as she bit down on the lollipop stick in her mouth, snapping it in two. Her finger almost slammed down onto the communicator switch.

Across the world, a mechanical trill played in the ear of Kokonoe's personal Prime Field Device, Lambda-11. She had to admit a certain fondness for the machine, though she would never, ever voice the thought out loud. Her existence, or subsequent lack thereof, was the sole reason that Terumi hadn't doomed them all at the climax of the Continuum Shift. And yet again, the machine proved infinitely useful as a sort of communication node between the scientist and her... companions.

"Lambda. Get Ragna on the line. Right. Now." Kokonoe hissed, catlike eyes narrowing behind horizontal oval glasses.

The mechanical girl herself didn't respond, but another noise played through the speaker on Kokonoe's desk, informing her and the recipient of the message of the link.

"Ragna, what the FUCK just happened?! Where's Hazama?!"

The man on the other end winced as the message was literally shouted into his mind. Taking the time to make sure that the woman at his feet was stable and breathing, he brushed himself off with a sigh and stood up.

"Bastard lost. And he...He just jumped! Right into the Sheol Gate! It's alright though, Rachel's safe, for now-"

"I don't give a shit about Rachel right now, idiot! What the hell was Hazama saying when he jumped? Where's he gone!?"

"Hey how the hell should I know? You're the one who knows everything, you figure it out!"

At that moment, a voice spoke up through the connection. Weak, and shaky, but there.

"H-Hmph. It's always gratifying to know that you regard me so highly, Kokonoe. And you know as well as I do that if Hazama has fallen into the- no, fool, i'm perfectly capable of standing on my own," she shot, waving a hand at the man that had all but rushed to her side upon her attempt to get up, "But yes. At any rate, he is well and truly lost to us now. We should resolve to proceed with the plan as we laid it out. Whatever the Boundary deigns to do with him, it's out of our control now. More importantly... Ragna, you idiot. Why would you waste valuable time that we absolutely cannot spare trying to help me?"

The Grim Reaper in question gave a particularly indignant splutter and started forward in surprise. "W-What? Are ya really gonna do the whole 'ungrateful bitch' thing right now?"

"My, as vulgar as usual."

And just as Ragna began sounding more and more like a dying cat out of frustration, Kokonoe quite literally tuned them out, switching off the connection. She leaned back in her seat, sliding a lollipop from the tray to her side and unwrapping it at the same time in one practiced movement. As the familiar rush of energy seeped through her tired limbs, the Beastkin's mind focused on the missing man.

Hazama... As much as he was the forefront of a large portion of her problems, a very significant portion of the blame belonged to the marginally more sinister Terumi. Wherever the wielder of Ouroboros ended up after his jaunt through the Boundary, the ghost of the ex-Six Heroes member would no longer be able to reach him. For the sake of whatever existed at the other end of his trip, Kokonoe could only hope that he would be somewhat more manageable without Terumi's influence.

At the thought of the Nox Nyctores held by the man now completely lost to them, the scientist exhaled through her nose in what her cyborg underling Tager referred to as 'Stage two on the Kokonoe amusement scale'. Stage one inferred no reaction at all, and stage four was full-on maniacal cackling. The scale's existence, incidentally, registered a negative-one: a glare at the source of the scale with half-lidded eyes and a deepening of her usual frown. The list had proved much too accurate, however, and so it was allowed for use by Tager and Tager alone. And only if nobody else was in the room. Or within a mile of her.

In any event, the source of her dry amusement came from the loss of the snake-chain Causality Weapon. It meant that even if Relius were to recover the remnants of her mother's attempt at a new master unit, he would forever lack one of the nine components needed to power it. Small victories.

That was the last time that Hazama ever truly dwelled on her consciousness. No use thinking about a person you'd never for the rest of your life have to worry about ever again, after all.

Perhaps throwing himself into the Boundary out of spite wasn't quite the best idea that had ever crossed his mind, Hazama wondered to himself as he floated, weightless in a realm of impenetrable darkness. Impenetrable, that is, except for the streaks of bright blue and orange that shot past from behind him, streaking off into the black and leaving him alone until another passed. Two hundred and thirty one blue bolts had gone past, and two hundred-ish orange ones had done the same. Since he'd started counting, that is.

It wasn't always like this, it had to be said. Tossing himself into the Sheol Gate, he'd experienced blasts of pure, violent colour for the first several hours, until eventually they'd peter off into the tiny whispers of light that kept him company now.

Odd how he missed having people around now that he was truly alone for the first time in quite literally forever.

Ever since he was old enough to think a sentence coherently, he knew that Terumi's influence had been there. Whispering things. Nudging him along to the path required in order for him to become nothing more than a vessel for the mad spirit.

He'd played along at first. Rising up the ranks of the NOL quickly to fit his needs. Not overly fast so as to draw attention to himself, and not slow enough to make him seem like one who took far too long to get things done. The perfect balance.

And then he'd gotten drawn into the fucking time loop. As Terumi's presence grew stronger with each turn of fate's wheel, he felt his control slipping further from his grasp each passing moment, forced to watch the massive bundle of idiocy known as Ragna fumble time and time again.

As if that wasn't emasculating enough for the perpetually angry bastard, he had to be saved by a girl so pathetic that without her guns she'd literally curl into a ball and cry her eyes out. If Hazama still had his motor functions, he'd have rolled his eyes. Funny how the Vermillion girl turned out to be so important. He missed the days where he could casually insult her in passing and not have the threat of a Godslaying Sword at his throat.

The Calamity Trigger breaking the loop had its own problems, of course. His biggest part to play came soon after, leading the 'heroes' of the world on a merry chase, and ensuring that, for one tiny, tiny fraction of a moment...That the Takamagahara system was distracted, allowing Terumi to infiltrate and ruin the whole thing. Sure, he hadn't expected to be able to do it as he'd been handily wrecking Ragna until he'd pulled some IDEA Engine or whatever out of the Murakumo unit that'd somehow appeared on the Altar.It might have been utter bullshit, but it served his purpose well enough. Gee, even the thought of it made his wound started hurting again.

Wait. What? Pain? Physical sensation? He made to twitch his index finger and, sure enough, motion returned to him. His amber, serpentine eyes roved the darkness as his hand flew up to its usual place, clutching at the top of his hat.

Suddenly, lightning bolts of colour blasted up from below. A few even passed through his body, filling him with intense warmth for a brief moment before vanishing. More and more streaks of light appeared, faster and faster. A whole spectrum blasting towards him. If the light coming from behind him meant he was leaving an area, then did the fact that they now came from in front mean that he was approaching somewhere instead? He doubted it would be back home. Even though time was screwy at best in the Boundary, he'd been travelling way too long to just appear back on the doorstep of Kagutsuchi.

For the first time in days of aimless meandering, Hazama's signature smirk lit up his expression just as the slight tug of gravity started to take hold.

The tornado of light swirling around him spun ever quicker until they blurred into a mess of bright white. Heat, chill, bright, dark, up, down, all of it encompassed his being, closing in until it felt as though he was wrapped in it, bound in a straitjacket of sensation.

As he watched, the spinning slowed. Incrementally, like turning off a CD player and watching the disk slowly lose energy until coming to a halt.

Eventually, the cyclone started to expand outwards, the layers of light getting caught at different distances as though it were wallpaper catching on objects. A lot of green made itself evident, and a fair amount of brown, too. It wasn't long before he could make out distinct shapes. Mounds, hills, trees...

His grin never wavered until the moment that gravity returned to him in full force, his legs suddenly having to bear weight after such a long period of weightlessness. Needless to say, the wind was knocked straight from his lungs as he collapsed to the floor, panting heavily on his knees.

He spent what felt like an hour just resting there, basking in the simple, underrated pleasure of existing. Of being a recognised concept. Of feeling the slight breeze against his skin and the weight of his body against the floor. The floor!

The floor. Grassy. Earthy. Dirty. Ew, no. Absolutely not. He wouldn't let his suit get ruined in the first minute of his presence in this new world. For he knew without a doubt that it was a new world. The air was clean. Clean! Imagine that. Not even a single trace of seithr entered his lungs as he sucked in greedy breaths of air.

Scrambling to his feet to avoid getting any dirt stuck to his slacks, it was with shaky fingers that he removed his trademark fedora and tilted his head back. He let out a burst of air in a genuinely pleased laugh. An odd thought, to be frank. He hadn't had any reason to laugh, really laugh, in... Hm. That was rather sad, actually.

But it didn't matter. It didn't matter if he never laughed before, but he could and did so now. It didn't matter if he was the only living thing on this new planet. It. Didn't. matter. There would be no Terumi dictating his life's course. No Master Unit, no Takamagahara. Nothing to bind him to a single, morbid fate with no possible escape.

For the first time in his many entire lives, Hazama could live.

Author's Note

Hello to anyone who happens to read this.

If you both happen to recognise me and/or have read my other story, then I would imagine some readers may be curious as to why that hasn't recieved an update in what is frankly far too long.

Long story short, I got bored. And College started. And I forgot. But then the idea for this story got into my head and I feel bad for essentially abandoning Pinkie's Kooky Quest. I can't promise i'll update it soon, but I imagine an update will come at some point.

As for this story, yeah. BlazBlue. Good game. Sunk a lot of hours into it, and am continuing to do so.

The Boundary being what it is, I always wondered what could have happened to him after the events of Centralfiction. So...This, essentially.

I can only hope that I don't get burnt out on this one as well.

EDIT 13/11/17: Lmao I look at my second paragraph and just think that anyone not in the know about BlazBlue's already pretty ridiculous lore must be super confused at all the lore Keywords I drop.