With his back leaning up against the wall, William blinked his eyes to try to stay awake. The sickness that had ravaged his body left him weak - weaker than he was comfortable with. "Och," he groaned, rubbing his eyes.

The others had figured out that the strange black devices called a tablet could change the reading language, so they had set his to Gaelic. So while he was resting, - no one would let him do anything else - William foolishly decided to find records of his family history.

To his horror, the records showed that not only had his father and brothers been arrested and hung for treason, but that his sister had reportedly killed herself after "being violated." William clenched the edges of the tablet with tight fingers, glaring at the screen with unshed tears in his eyes.

To join the Jacobite Rebellion and help restore the proper king, a Scottish king, to the throne, William and a few others had betrayed their clan and family, the Glens. After the Battle of Culloden, his family had taken him in when he was wounded and helped heal him. Soon after, he left and eventually had been arrested and sold to the colonies as a slave. He had never learned what happened to his family. No' 'till now, he thought as hot and intense anger burned through his gut.

His family had lost everything because of him.

I have ta make things right, William thought, determined. Looking around to ensure no one saw him, he left his cot and made his way to the time machine.

One way or another, he'd set things to the way they should have been.

*****

Star hummed quietly to herself, an old children's song from her tribe, as she carried a bowl of soup and bread to the basement for William. It was good to see that his body was healing from his sickness. The Great Spirit had blessed him with life, though Star's heart was still heavy with grief at Li Hua's death. Zhen took it the worst; the poor young woman had not left her cot in several days. With a smile, Star made the decision to see how Zhen was doing after speaking with William.

Her body and breathing froze like a river in winter when she saw his empty cot. Stomach fluttering like a bird falling from flight, Star dashed through the basement and up the staircase.

Hijikata and Khutulun were walking together hand-in-hand from one of the rooms in the Museum. "Star-dono, what's wrong?" Hijikata asked her.

"William is gone." Star paled at the thought, but she ran as fast as her legs would carry her. Joel and Leo were at the time machine; perhaps William was there.

"Can I help with anything?" Zhen called from the stairway.

"Hai, you can help us look for William," Star heard Hijikata reply.

Star pushed open the doors to the time machine. Shouts echoed from inside as Hijikata, Khutulun, and Zhen followed her.

Inside, Joel and Leo were shouting and arguing. William had his hands over the controls.

"Leave, now, or I swear, I'll take ye wi' me!" William snarled.

"Whatever you're planning, you can't go back!" Joel slammed his hands against his thighs, exasperated.

"Ye won't stop me. None o' ye will." William's eyes shot toward Star.

"Where do you go?" Star swallowed deeply, her stomach twisting into knots.

William shook his head. "All of ye, leave. I'm goin' home."

Leo shook his head. "Going back to your time period will mess with the timeline."

With his teeth gritted, William slammed his hand on the controls.

Star's stomach lurched, mostly from the sudden movement. Her heart pounded in her chest as if she had run for far longer and faster than she had. Part of her was terrified that the time machine would break down and leave them stranded in another strange time. They couldn't lose anyone else.

"What are you doing?" Leo shoved William's shoulders back, slamming him against the wall.

William punched Leo in the mouth and stalked past him as Leo spat blood onto the ground. "Get out o' my way."

Star stepped directly into his path, meeting his gaze with a firm one of her own. "Your body is still recovering. Tell us what you want and we will help you."

Joel gaped at her. "What? Look, changing anything in this timeline is whistle dixie! That's exactly what we've been trying to avoid!"

William shot him a hard glare. "Dinna talk ta me aboot what we're doin' or what I'm doin'. I have a plan!"

Joel gestured with his hands with a hateful stare in William's direction. "Even if it's a good one, you're nothing but a fathead."

William's eyebrows creased together in the center. Star failed to follow some of Joel's words, but she understood that William was being insulted. "At least tell us what your plan is." Star kept her voice gentle as she clutched William's arm. Anything to convince him to stay in the time machine.

Over William's shoulder, Leo glanced at the controls, which were directly behind William.

"Please." Star met William's gaze.

He nodded. "I will convince my family ta sail fer t'colonies before the Battle of Culloden. After it, they took me in, healed me, but were branded as traitors fer helpin' me. It's all I have ta do; convince them to go."

Leo slowly and carefully slid toward the controls.

William turned around and pointed to the holo in the air, shooting a glare at Leo. It was written in a foreign tongue, but not the one that the others all used.

"Is that Gaelic?" Leo asked.

William nodded. "Aye. We've arrived a week before Culloden. It happened on April 16, 1746. I was no' wi' my family, so I can easily avoid runnin' inta my past self."

Star pursed her lips and reached for his hand. He took it and she swallowed. "What happens when your family leaves? You said that they healed you."

William gently stroked her jaw and glared back at the holo. "Aye. Tha' they did. Wi' out their help, I would o' died."

Fear and fury, pain and anger washed over Star and released themselves in hot tears that poured from her eyes like rain. "No! If that happens, y - you would cease to exist."

William nodded, swallowing deeply as he gazed at her. "Aye."

"You were saved from the sickness only to choose to die now?" Zhen murmured softly. She glared at William and then looked away, shoulders shaking in silent tears and grief.

Star's heartfelt as heavy as her body. Desperation clung to her as she clung to William in response. "Please, do not do this! William, I - I need you. You - you have filled me with such joy and..." Her voice trailed off, interrupted by the tears falling from her eyes.

William gently caressed her cheeks in both of his hands. "Aye and ye'll heal again, lass. I have ta do this."

Hijikata crossed his arms with a single, quick nod. "We understand. What would you like us to do?"

Joel laughed mirthlessly. "Of course you filthy Jap! Do you not understand the forces we're dealing with here? You're all talking about changing the timeline! Even if William disappears or dies, who knows what else this could change? His parents aren't meant to be in the colonies!"

William leapt away from Star and gripped Joel by the collar. "Now, ye listen here ye wee bastard...! I will save my family and there's nothin' anyone can do tha' will stop me."

Joel shoved William away, breathing heavily.

"Wait," Leo started, coming in between them.

Star normally would have found it odd that the typically misbehaving one kept the peace between them.

"Just listen. Say William goes through with his plan and tells his family to leave for the colonies. All we have to do to save him is save his past life. That's what his family did, right?" Leo's eyes glanced over everyone one at a time.

Slowly, everyone nodded in agreement.

"It could work," Joel started, "but what about his family? That would still mess up the timeline."

Leo shook his head. "Not necessarily. There have been minor situations caused by Kenneth's agents that have changed, even when we fix the major ones. It's only significant events that change. If you went back and tried to change the outcome of the war, for instance..."

William glared down at his feet. "Aye. I ken no' ta do tha'."

Star shook her head, crossing her arms. "No. William, please, I beg you do not do this!"

William reached out for her, but she pulled away. His actions hurt her like an arrow through her chest. She could not bear to look or touch him anymore, not if he was throwing his life away on a slim chance that they could change things and save him. "Lass..."

"You have already made up your mind." With those words, Star sat down beside Zhen and Caesarion, whom she just then realized was there.

Leo nodded. "Then it's settled. We'll help save your past self. Tell us everything you remember about Culloden."

*****

William's hands trembled as he knocked on the door of his family home. It was not quite a castle, but it was large enough to house them all: his mother, father, three older brothers, an older sister, and a younger brother and sister - a good-sized family. That was not counting his uncles, aunts, and cousins, all of whom William had betrayed by joining the Jacobite army.

He hadn't joined alone, though. Murdo, his young brother had insisted on joining him, along with two of their cousins. All of them died at Culloden except William and a distant family friend. Later, his friend was sold to a different plantation and William never saw him again.

Unfortunately, it was William's older sister, Fanny. Upon seeing him, she immediately smacked him. William reeled from it, not showing how much it stung him inside. "Och, whoot are ye doin' here ye wee bastard? Did ye not betrayin' us do enough damage ta t'family?"

William's jaw clenched tightly. "Move aside, lass. I need ta speak wi' Maw."

Fanny laughed mirthlessly. "Ye will no'! I'll no' have ye comin' 'round here, causin' trouble fer us! Yer a traitor, Will!"

"Dinna call me that!"

Fanny smirked at him. "Whoot? A wee traitor? Or Will?"

William balled his hands into fists. He had half a mind to -

"William." At the sound of his father's voice, William's back stiffened.

"Faither." William turned around to meet his father's hard stare. His father, Angus, stood broad and tall beside his petite mother, Evelyn, who was a head shorter than William was. Where his father had short brown hair, it was Evelyn who had bright red hair cascading down her shoulders in beautiful ringlets. It matched William's, only that his was shorter. Their eyes were the same, bright green.

"Wha' ye doin' here, laddie?" Angus crossed his arms and gave William a long, hard stare.

"I ken I'm a traitor - "

"Git ta t'point!" Angus shouted.

William nodded, gritting his teeth. "Ye and t'family have ta leave. All o' ye. Sail fer t'Colonies."

Angus laughed, clutching his stomach. "Are ye a galoot, laddie?"

William shook his head, meeting his father's gaze with serious, pain-filled eyes. "No, Faither, I'm no'. I cannae tell ya how I ken, but in days, t'Highlands will change. Ye'll be branded as traitors because o' me. I cannae bear it if anythin' happened ta ye on account of me. I 'ave t'gold. Ye can leave ta'night."

A long time ago, he had hidden gold on the property for an emergency. After Culloden, the place had been crawling with British soldiers and he'd been unable to use it. He had dug it up before he'd come. Now, he clutched the bag of gold and handed it to Angus. "Yer serious, lad?"

William nodded, feeling tears burning his eyes. He looked away, hoping Angus hadn't seen. "Aye."

Angus placed a hand upon his shoulder. "Yer expectin' ta die, then?" he whispered, too low for Evelyn to hear.

William could only nod, unable to find the words in his throat. How? How could he tell his father how deeply sorry he was? How much the guilt tore away at his gut, that he could barely breathe, knowing his actions had gotten Angus and his three brothers hung, leaving Evelyn and Fanny all alone. God only knew what horrors Evelyn and Fanny had endured.

"We'll go, lad. We'll go."

"Coom wi' us!" Evelyn shouted, clinging tightly to William's shirt as if it was a source of life and breath.

William shook his head. "Maw, I cannae." His voice cracked as he grabbed her and held her tightly to his chest.

Angus's own eyes filled with tears. "Ye can coom, lad. We can start over."

William shook his head. "I'm sorry, Maw, Faither. But I cannae. I - I have ta go." He turned his back on his parents and dashed into the trees before they could stop him.

Any longer and he would have stayed.

*****

Star nervously paced back-and-forth inside the time machine where she, Hijikata, Khutulun, Leo, Joel, Zhen, and Caesarrion waited for William to return. If he returned at all. Do not do this to yourself, Star mentally chided.

Suddenly, the time machine doors burst open and William walked in. "It's done. I - " For a moment, his eyes met Star's and reached a hand out for her, as if he could feel that something was wrong.

Star could feel it too. With a cry of utter anguish, she gripped his hand just as it disappeared. "William! William, no!" She screamed, from deep within her heart where it felt as if it was being ripped from her chest.

William's smile and green eyes were the last to fade until there was nothing left of him.

*****

Rain and sleet pelted heavily from the dark and graying sky above. Perhaps it was because Hijikata had been on many battlefields before, but he could sense it approaching. It was as if the air itself carried the tension, the calm, the anxiousness that came before a fight.

Clutching his new katana, he stood beside Khutulun who had her bow and quiver upon her back. They stood on a hill overlooking the battlefield below. Culloden Moor was nothing but a mud field with the rain, especially as it blew from the northeast. According to William's information, that was the direction that the Jacobite army marched from.

Through the fog, Hijikata could barely see them on the edges of the horizon to his left. The British wore bright red overcoats, so they were slightly easier to make out, on the far right. For a moment, the two armies stopped, waiting...

Hijikata's heart pounded and adrenaline coursed through his veins. There was a part of him he wanted to deny, but couldn't, that itched to wield his blade in battle once again. Witnessing William changing his own history, even in a small part, only fueled the fire that burned in Hijikata's heart. One day soon, he would restore the Shinsengumi and all that they stood for. Now, thanks to William, he knew who would side with him when that happened and who would side against him.

Zhen and Star knelt on the ground with Hijikata, Khutulun, Caesarion, Joel, and Leo surrounding them to protect them. Star's shoulders shook with grief as she silently cried. In truth, he felt for her; losing someone you loved was never easy and there was no guarantee that saving William's past self would bring him back.

In a way, the Jacobite Rebellion was a cause Hijikata understood. After all, they were fighting to remove the tyranny of the British that governed them, to remove the British King from the throne and replace the Scottish one. It was eerily similar to the Boshin War from his homeland - albeit a hundred years after this. Hijikata and the Shinsengumi had fought for their country, for their leader in the same way that the Scotsmen were all fighting for their king and country.

Many of them died on this very field, as Hijikata and the others were forced to watch and do nothing. His hands ached to help them, to join them, to fight with them, and help bring their cause into reality. For his and the samurai had failed. It broke his heart and nearly shattered his will to watch them fail and fall, as the Shinsengumi had.

In the end, they all fell as warriors, brave men who fought and died for the cause they believed in, a cause they carried to their graves. The Battle on Culloden Moor was over almost as soon as it began. Between the rain, the moorland, and flat, open ground, the Jacobites became easy targets for the obvious training the British army had.

Eventually, the British flanked them from the side and drove the rebels straight into the main line of fire. Man after man fell until there was an entire battlefield coated with the bodies of the dead and wounded.

"William said he thought he fell at the east side of the field," Hijikata whispered to Star.

She nodded and the group carefully made their way down the hill into the thickest of the trees surrounding the moor. Hijikata watched the field, keeping an eye out for British patrols. Unfortunately, British soldiers still marched the moorland, even though everyone left on it was either dead or wounded and close to it.

"What are they doing?" Zhen whispered in the still, quiet air, heavy with death between them.

Leo gritted his teeth. "They're killing the wounded."

Hijikata's hands clenched into fists in anger. Fury gripped his heart. "How can they do something so dishonorable?" he growled.

Joel shot him a hard look. "What do you know about honor?"

Hijikata wanted to demand the American to tell him what his problem with him was, but this was not the time or place. He shoved his personal frustration aside and focused on the task at hand. It took some time and careful sneaking, but eventually, they made their way around to the east side of the battlefield. They waited until the officers in the distance had passed before they emerged into the dense fog as night began to cover the sky above.

"There!" Caesarion pointed to a young man who collapsed on the ground in a pile of bodies. His chest still rose and fell.

Star and Zhen knelt beside him as Leo and Joel pulled him out. William groaned and coughed up blood. With shaking fingers, Star pulled out her medicine pouch and started working on his wounds.

Hijikata tore his gaze away from them and focused back on the field. If any British soldiers came, if they couldn't deal with them quickly and quietly, it was likely they would all have to hide beneath several bodies. Even from where he stood, the stench of decay and death was heavy enough in the air that it nearly knocked him off his feet. Khutulun didn't seem to be doing any better and especially not Star and Zhen.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed Hijikata's foot. Hijikata kicked the man and then knelt on his chest, placing his hands over the man's throat.

"W - wait - " The man choked, desperately grasping at Hijikata's hands in an attempt to breathe. "T - Time - "

Hijikata released the man's throat. "What did you say?"

"I - I know you used the time machine. I - I was trying to find you, to - to return home. I'm one of Kenneth's agents. That's who sent you right?" the man stuttered.

Joel gripped the man's collar. "What makes you think Kenneth sent us?"

"You look too out of place. Your - your appearance, your clothes... I've been in enough time periods to know. Please, just take me back with you!" The man stared desperately at Joel first then Hijikata.

Joel glanced at Leo and then at Hijikata reluctantly. "If he stays here, he's only gonna mess things up, big time."

Leo pulled some rope out of his belt. "Always come prepared," he muttered. He tied the man's hands together then gagged him with a cloth. "I've got him."

Hijikata nodded, releasing his tense hold on the hilt of his katana as he stood up. He glanced down at Star. "How is he?"

Star shook her head. "We must help him off this field or the officers will find him. He still cannot move yet."

Hijikata glanced at Caesarion as the two worked together to grab William. Carefully trying not to jar his wounds, Hijikata carried his shoulders while Caesarrion held his feet. The group made their way back into the trees and walked as far as they could. In the dark, it was hard to tell which direction the time machine was in, let alone where they should take William for him to be safe.

"There!" Joel said, pointing. "It looks like an abandoned farmhouse."

Leo led the way, shoving the agent through the farm house's door. Joel held a gun from his time period that Hijikata didn't know the name of. Hijikata and Caesarion carried William in next, followed by Zhen and Star.

Three men crouched beneath the windows inside. Leo had dropped the agent and pulled out a cutlass, keeping his foot on the agent's back.

"We don't want any trouble, fellas," Joel said.

"Then why'd ye take our friend?" One of the men with a missing tooth nodded his head toward William.

"We have mended his wounds," Star murmured softly. "And have come here to help him escape from the battlefield."

"We'll take care of him from here." The man with the missing tooth slid his ax in his belt and then limped over toward William.

Star shook her head. "No."

"I'm t'leader here. Whoever ye are, leave us alone."

That was the first time Hijikata realized that the three men in the room were beaten and battered. The man with the missing tooth had a broken leg by the looks of things and a gunshot wound in his arm that was wrapped up. Another had an ear that was cut off as he sat at a table, holding his hands to it to stop the bleeding. The last clutched his ribs, trembling violently.

Star stood up and started toward them, but Hijikata and Joel caught her arms.

"You can't," Joel whispered. "It would change things."

Hijikata nodded in agreement. "No matter how hard it is, we must leave him here. This sounds like the place he described - how he escaped before."

"Take care of him," Star said, sobbing. Leo grabbed the agent and hauled him to his feet as the others slipped out the back door. Hijikata and Joel went last, ensuring none of the men tried to fight them, not that they could with their injuries.

As they stopped in the trees behind the farmhouse, the companions watched in horror as the British officer's surrounded the house.

"How did they find them so quickly?" Zhen asked in a soft whisper.

Joel gritted his teeth. "A spy. One of the men with them must have left a trail."

"Jacobite rebels!" a leading officer shouted. "Throw your weapons out and surrender or we will burn the house down!"

Hijikata and the others held their breath, desperately waiting to see if they had condemned William to death or helped restore his timeline.

Finally, after a moment that lasted far too long, axes and clubs were thrown out the front door. Two of the men emerged, helping William in between them as the last limped behind them. It was too dark for Hijikata to tell who was who.

British officers surrounded them and placed each man in iron chains. They threw them in the back of a wagon, even William, all except for the one who had been clutching his chest.

"The spy," Joel muttered.

"William!" Star sobbed and Leo pulled her into his chest.

"We must go," Hijikata whispered. They quietly snuck through the trees back toward the time machine.

*****

Star blankly stared at the glass walls of the time machine as the darkened forest that carried nothing but death and grief whirled in a white blur. When at last, color and shapes returned, it formed the Museum, a place she neither cared for nor hated.

Her body was empty, void of her heart and anything she had left. Losing her husband, her children, her people had left her in this same state, but it had been William who had renewed something special inside her, healed her heart, made her feel light again.

Now, without him... Star had nothing left.

She left the others behind and took the staircase down the basement one at a time, eyes on the floor. When at last, she gathered the courage to look up at her cot, which had always been next to his, she exhaled with a shaky breath.

A toned, muscled body towered over her. Bright red hair curled around his face, with his strong jaw and bright green eyes.

She gasped in shock and joy. "William!"