How much time did it take to sweep an entire world?
Turned out, not that much, as long as Timeline was on your side.
[If I were omniscient,] She hissed as Black urged Her to be even faster in her sweeping, [then I would have never let that wretched snakelet resurrect in my world!]
Black cursed within.
Yellow crystals danced in his eyes as he activated all Echoes to pick up just about any oddity.
Kai had returned hurriedly as well, without even saying goodbye to Shinobu. However, knowing that something horrible could happen, he had let Darcie come into being, giving the Supreme Providence back to the Timeline.
Supreme Providence wasn't just a title or fate bestowed upon Anomalies.
It represented a Timeline's preparation against external, uncontrolled dangers.
Because the Storyline Character with the Supreme Providence was the only one who could go beyond the timeline's Overall Grade, whether willingly or unwillingly.
And Darcie Lucius Malfoy was an Anomaly whose potential reached well beyond her own timeline, reaching to the realms of the 18th Floor.
[I told you!] Timeline hissed, sounding angrier than ever. [DO NOT TAKE HER AWAY! DO NOT…]
"Stop screaming in my ear!" Black hissed back. "Was I the one who took away the girl?"
[YOU…]
[Is this the time to make jokes, my creation?] Death asked, sounding calmer than either of the other two. [That's a sick tendency of yours… I'd thought your original body had brought down your humor settings.]
Black tsked.
He really didn't want to piss off Timeline more than She already was.
Still, with three Eldritch Entities working together, it would have made sense for them to pick up just about any oddity on the planet.
Yet, here they were, blinking from one point in space to another, sensing nothing.
Lucky Intuitions raged wildly, giving Black thousands upon thousands of possibilities on what could have happened; on what Darth Kars' distraction had accomplished; on why the distraction was timed with Kai's disappearance from the Bubble — something Abdul Alhazred, the Yellow Seat of the Order of Immortal Lotus, must have sensed as well.
It was impossible that they knew Kai was parasitizing Darcie Malfoy.
That meant whatever the Six Seats wanted to achieve by taking Darth Kars' help in creating a distraction had nothing to do with Supreme Providence's inaction.
If Black were to remove Yellow Warlock from the picture, ignoring Darcie, then the only thing Death Star's superlaser had accomplished was distracting Timeline and Death.
It had forced both to reach out to the Outer One simultaneously, as They couldn't act against Darth Kars without a proper reason.
And by the time Timeline had gotten a proper reason to destroy the 12th Floor Contestant and his little toy, She would have already ceased to exist, the laser beam annihilating the entire planet.
But that didn't happen.
Then… what did happen?
Black refused to believe that it was all a test.
One year… he thought, narrowing his eyes, disappearing and appearing at random places. Can't I just have one more fucking normal year?!
…
Sirius Black walked out of the lift from the Ministry Atrium and found himself facing a strange world.
Unlike the upper levels, Level Nine's walls didn't hold black tiles and were bare and old.
The only light that provided a dim glow to the long corridor came from a series of torches, their flames barely taking a color other than white.
He hadn't even stepped into the corridor, and he already disliked the place, Sirius observed.
It reminded him of his home — Number 12, Grimmauld Place — with none of the children around him, other than that ugly, old thing — Kreacher.
He had no choice, though.
This was the first task Dumbledore had asked of him.
Requested, if he remembered the Headmaster's tone correctly.
Last year, before School had reopened after the Summer Break, Voldemort had singlehandedly attacked the Ministry of Magic.
The Order of Black Phoenix hadn't fully established itself by then.
So, Dumbledore had kept the details secret, not giving wind to the fire.
Now, with Voldemort formally breaking off with the Dark Alliance, the threat of him attempting something similar was larger than ever.
And, they needed to find what the Dark Lord had actually been hoping to get from the Department of Mysteries.
Taking a deep breath, Sirius finally stepped into the corridor.
When he reached the corridor's end, a door opened by itself, letting him enter the main Department.
The door opened into a large circular chamber, with a jet-black floor that almost looked like still water.
An Unspeakable, donning a black, hooded robe, was waiting for him there.
"I…" Before Sirius could even begin, the Unspeakable turned around and began walking away. "...?"
Sirius drew a deep breath, adjusted his long hair, and followed the man, the door closing behind him.
The circular chamber had twelve black doors, all placed at set intervals, with torches between them, their blue flames filling the entire atmosphere.
"Dumbledore asked me to…"
"We know what Black Phoenix wants," the Unspeakable said, dropping the widely accepted honorific. "Follow me."
Sirius revised his earlier impression of this place.
He didn't just dislike it.
He hated it.
The Unspeakable gently pushed open one of the twelve doors and entered, Sirius following in his footsteps.
The room was dimly lit and rectangular, with a sunken center, forming a great stone pit some twenty feet below them.
They were standing on the topmost tier of what seemed to be stone benches running all around the room and descending in steep steps like an amphitheater, or the courtroom in which Sirius had been tried by the Wizengamot.
Instead of a chained chair, however, there was a raised stone dais in the center of the lowered floor, and upon this dais stood a stone archway that looked so ancient, cracked, and crumbling that Sirius was amazed the thing was still standing.
Unsupported by any surrounding wall, the archway was hung with a tattered black curtain or veil which, despite the complete stillness of the cold surrounding air, undulated as though it had just been touched.
Sirius… oddly… felt unnerved. "Where are we?" This was not the place Dumbledore had mentioned to start with. "I need to go to the Hall of Prophecies."
Silence.
That unnerving silence slowly took on a disturbed tone.
Sirius had had enough of it, he decided, marching toward the Unspeakable in anger and grabbing him by the shoulder from behind.
In the next moment, the entire black robe fell as if there had been no person inside it…
… the door to the Chamber of Death shutting with a gentle thud!