//------------------------------//
// Eternity 
// Story: Out of Time 
// by Onomonopia 
//------------------------------//

Trunks had lost time of how long they had been walking. The white eternity around them stretched far beyond the reach of even his senses and the platforms had looped in their design over five hundred platforms ago, meaning that he no longer had any idea if they were making progress or not. Clockwork didn't speak to him at all, choosing to focus all of his attention to a pocket watch that he was carrying with him. Starlight was far too nervous to say anything, but there was also a look on her face that Trunks couldn't read. He hoped that didn't mean anything bad for them later.

"So Clockwork, you have any knowledge about the Maestro that may prove key to defeating him?" Trunks asked Clockwork. His words snapped Clockwork out of his staring at his watch and he glanced over at Trunks with a none too friendly gaze. "I mean, you've only been helping the guy for countless generations, so hopefully you would have picked up something on him? A weakness, maybe a flaw that we can exploit?"

"Maestro keeps his cards close to his chest. He has a form of magic that is far more powerful than anything I have ever seen and he can use that magic to do pretty much anything. Time travel? He can do it. Transmodification? Done. Ability to wipe an entire race off the face of the planet? I think he's lost count of the number of times he's done that. But as for a weakness...no, I cannot say I've ever seen anything like that."

"Well you're a big help," Trunks grumbled. He then turned his gaze down towards Starlight, who was completely lost in thought. "How about you, Starlight? Any weakness you can think of that the Maestro might have?"

"Um, I don't know if it counts as a weakness or not, but there is a...trend that I've noticed with the Maestro that might give us a small edge," Starlight stammered. "It's his curiosity. Ever time something happens that he doesn't expect or hasn't seen before, he seems to disregard whatever else he's doing in favor of seeing how the new thing plays out. Case and point when he found out you were destroying timelines instead of saving them. I know that he's technically seen it a million times before, but when he first said that, he must have been really surprised."

"That is a fair point. Maestro does not talk to me often, but I do recall him mentioning to me how intrigued with you he is, Trunks," Clockwork added on. "The fact that he spared your life twice is proof that he sees something in you, something that he has either never seen before or hasn't seen this version of. That is the only time he spares a life, when they have more to offer him."

"I am not puppet that dances for his amusement," Trunks snarled.

"We're all his puppets, Trunks. The question isn't are we on his strings, it's how long can we dance before the strings are cut," Clockwork replied. "And that is for this world alone. I will not begin to count all the other countless realities where I am sure he killed you because you weren't interesting to him."

"Great, now you're talking about the multiverse principle," Trunks grumbled.

"But surely he can't be all powerful," Starlight stated. "I mean, if he was, he would never lose. He would get everything he wanted on his first try and wouldn't even have to bother with any of this."

"Oh no, I am practically certain he is all powerful. As close as possible if not. But after being alive as long as he has, he has grown...bored. Or rather, he's seen nearly all there is to see in the multiverses. Good luck wrapping you heads around how long it took him to reach that point. But the point is, while he may be powerful, he limits himself so that he can be surprised or even caught off guard. That is how other heroes have managed to beat him in other realities."

"Because he allows himself to be beaten?" Trunks asked.

"You sound angry about it, but be thankful that his ego is the size of the multiverse or else we would not be having this conversation right now. We would all be dead," Clockwork stated coldly. "He has spent an eternity learning how nearly everything works, how to counter it and making himself far more powerful than should be possible. Do not think for a moment that our chances of beating him without his help are anything greater than zero."

"Well we must prove some threat. I mean, he's spent all this time focused on this world, hasn't he?" Starlight asked, only for Clockwork to laugh.

"No, he has spent a fraction of his focus on this world. The Maestro that you know is nothing more than an empty shell brought to life by his will," Clockwork revealed to the group. "It contains a fraction of his mind and a fraction of his power. And there are an uncountable number of them across the multiverse. Right now he is in billions of places, learning as much as he can about how things play out. We are just one of many he is currently focused on."

"That bastard," Trunks snarled. "Why is he so obsessed with learning what happens? What could drive a being to constantly do things like this for eternity across time and space?"

"Because...I think it started when he broke free of his destiny," Starlight explained. The other two turned to look at her and she took a deep breath. "The Maestro told me that he was once the hero of his world, chose by destiny and the universe to stop an evil force that would destroy his world. But at the moment of truth, he didn't. He allowed the darkness to consume his world by his choice. And that's what started him down this path. He took something that was so set in stone, and then changed it. He found a different outcome."

"And that happened because he chose not to save the world. But what if he did choose to save it? What if someone else had been chosen. What if the a force from another world came down and erased the darkness for him?" Clockwork pondered. "Yes...that would be most likely what started him down this path. The need to know how things would play out differently. To see how each and ever choice affected the story."

"But there are an infinite number of choices and possibilities, and that's on a single world alone. To do that across the multiverse would be...impossible."

"Perhaps. But maybe for a being of his power...maybe not."

"How do you know all this?" Trunks asked Clockwork, finally catching onto something that had been amiss. "I thought you said early that you didn't know much about Maestro, but here you are spouting off facts about him left and right like you are him?"

"You are right. When I answered your question, I knew nothing about him. But as we've been walking, he's been talking in my head, telling me things about him that he wanted to relay to you," Clockwork revealed, getting the other two to gasp.

"And I believe that they have heard enough for now."

Trunks and Starlight snapped their heads forward to see the Maestro standing before them in a massive coliseum of metal that had appeared around them in the blink of an eye. Maestro was standing on a raised platform, one that allowed him to look down on the three. "Welcome, my guests. I must say, I am impressed that you actually made it this far. Normally you would have been reset with the rest of the timeline. But I see that Starlight managed to figure out a way around the loop. And you have me to thank for it."

"Your own ego is to blame for getting us out of that loop. And your own ego will be your downfall when I rip you apart!" Trunks bellowed as he went golden and lunged towards Maestro. Maestro extended a hand and created a pulse of shattered magic that knocked Trunks out of the sky and rocketed him back into the metal flooring, denting it with his face.

"Please Trunks, I know it is all but impossible for your species, but do try to remain patient," Maestro chided. Trunks ripped himself off of the floor and spun around to resume his attack, but Starlight extended an arm in front of him and shook her head. "Ah, someone with sense. Maybe that is the reason why this version of you was able to figure out the riddle in my words."

"Maybe. Or maybe I just missed my target and hit Trunks. Who knows, it's an infinite number of things that could have happened," Starlight said with a shrug. "It would be cool to find out though. All those choices, the chances and the changes...what would happen if Trunks never came here and they sent...Vegeta instead. How would that have affected everything?"

"Ah, I see that you are starting to understand. That makes sense, seeing as you've tried to change the world yourself for a different outcome," Maestro nodded. "I knew I made the right decision when I chose to share my backstory with you. I just wish that it hadn't taken so long for one of you to figure out how to break the loop though. No matter."

"But if you helped me to break out of the loop, that means that you must be running out of new things to see in this reality?" Starlight suggested, Trunks narrowing his eyes at her actions. "If you weren't, then you would be fine with the loop continuing. But since you gave me such a huge hint, it's clear you were reaching the end of your patience with this world."

"Correct. I believed it time to changes things, but you are the first of three hundred Starlight's I've given the hint to who actually figured it out," Maestro stated. "But you would not be appealing to me like this unless you wanted something. What could it be that you seek from a being such as myself?"

"What do you think? I want my timeline to be returned to me. I want my friends and family back," Starlight replied with a smile. "And I will do whatever it takes to get them back."

"I see...well, well, well, isn't this interesting. The first Starlight to break the time loop and now the first reformed Starlight to sell out on her morals," Maestro muttered, before looking down at Trunks and Clockwork, who were both looking at Starlight nervously. "I will tell you this. I will give you two choices. Stand by your friends and die with them...or join with me and guarantee the survival of your timeline."

"Starlight, wait-"

"Easy. I choose my timeline."

Faster than Trunks could react, the Maestro teleported Starlight next to his side, where she smirked down at Trunks and Clockwork with an evil look. Maestro then replaced where she had been standing with himself, causing Trunks and Clockwork to leap away from him.

"And now that I've seen the twist for this reality, I no longer need the two of you," Maestro informed Trunks and Clockwork, who both took up fighting stances. "And once I kill the pair of you, I will restore Starlight's timeline and see how things play out now that she sold out her allies to save her friends. Oh, this will be fun to watch."

"Starlight, you bastard!" Trunks roared up at her.

"Don't be angry Trunks, I'm just doing what we've been doing during our journey across the timelines," Starlight replied in a condescending voice. "The same thing we did to Sombra, Chrysalis, Tirek and Nightmare. Eliminating the villain that stands in the way of saving the timeline. Guess this time that villain is you."