Villain Retirement

"..."

Riley never really thought of it before, he had no reason to, but it would seem Paige has been blaming herself all these years—blaming herself for Riley's deteriorating mind.

She has been trying to calm herself and stay strong, but she just literally cried for hours and put herself to sleep. She didn't even notice that Riley already got up from the sofa, and was now looking outside the window.

Some of the tenants of the orphanage school were still loitering out in the fields. The students seemed to be free to roam everywhere during their rest time… everywhere as long as it is within the walls of their school, that is.

Riley tried to find the children with similar abilities to themarians, but none of them were on the field anymore. Why exactly was Diana gathering children that have similar abilities to themarians?

Is it to try and isolate the supervirus carrying that specific set of abilities? As far as Riley knows, the abilities one would get if they're infected with the virus are usually already predetermined, not in any way by the one that infected you, but by the body you were born with—that is why most families that are infected together tend to have similar abilities.

Is that what Diana is trying to do? Or perhaps she just misses themarians and wants to be around similar people?

"...I suppose it doesn't matter," Riley could really only shake his head off of the thoughts he was having. His mind was already starting to fracture, he wasn't going to waste whatever time he had left as himself by trying to theorize whatever it is that Diana was doing here.

And so, Riley just took one final glance at Paige, before opening the window and flying out of it.

"I'll see you again, Paige."

He really thought that Paige would be able to help him, but despite her seemingly able to talk to everyone and get deep into what it was they were feeling, she won't be able to help Riley this time.

He almost forgot Paige was also broken, just like him. Broken people are not able to fix each other—they would think they could, but all they will be doing would be dragging pieces of their shattered self and adding them to an already broken shell.

"I understand now, Aerith…" Riley closed his eyes as he reached the clouds, "...I understand why I needed you…

…and I understand why you need me now too."

***

"I'm home."

"What do you mean you're home!?"

"Oh, Sister. You're here?"

"You…"

Riley hasn't even stepped inside the house, and he was already dodging all sorts of things that Hannah was throwing toward him as he opened the door. If it wasn't for Diana stopping her, then she would have also definitely thrown some of the larger furniture.

"You go back to Earth and the first thing you do is make trouble for everyone!?"

"I do not really know why that still surprises you, Sister," Riley let out a small sigh as he was finally able to step inside the house, "Father, Mother. It is good that all of you are here, I have something I wish to talk about."

"..." Diana looked at Bernard for a few seconds, before also letting out a sigh and shaking her head, "Why… don't we talk about it over dinner? It's been a while since we dined as a family."

"I… would like that, Mother."

"I… I'll help, Mom!"

"I wouldn't like that, Sister."

"S… shut up!"

"...Hm," a small smile crawled on Riley's face as Hannah raised both her middle finger at him—the fingers, not going down until she disappeared into the kitchen with Diana. It took almost an hour, but finally…

…the Ross family was once again sitting at their table, in their home.

A second.

A minute.

Another hour.

Several moments passed, and yet not even one of them started eating—just sitting there in silence and hearing each other's breaths. Soon, however, a sniffle snuck in as tears started flowing from Hannah's eyes.

"F… fuck," Hannah sucked in a breath as she quickly wiped the tears trailing down her cheeks, "I… I fucking hate this. Why… why couldn't we have just continued like this?"

"I… apologize, Sister," Riley gently held Hannah's hand, "Everything bad that has happened to this family is my fault. It is no one's fault but mine."

"No," Bernard lightly slammed his palm on the table, "They… say that a child's actions are a reflection of their parents. I believe that still holds true here…

…this is our fault."

And while Riley was holding her sister's hand, Bernard held Diana's.

"This is our fault in more ways than one."

"I suppose," Riley shrugged, "I wouldn't have existed if it wasn't for Mother injecting Biological Mother with weird stuff."

"..." Diana could really only close her eyes; letting out a quiet, wry, and soft chuckle while she sniffled.

"For what it is worth…" Riley then looked each of his family in the eyes, "...I believe the only reason why I am not worse than I am is because I was born here. Any other family, I would have probably already wiped out Earth."

"...Thanks?" Diana chuckled as she shook her head.

"That's so fucked up," Hannah covered her face and dropped her head as she laughed.

"But it is true," Riley nodded, "I believe that the three of you are the best of what I could have gotten. I truly apologize that you can't say the same."

"...Riley," Hannah took in a very long and deep breath, "So, out with it, then… what did you want to talk to us about?"

"I think I finally understood what Aerith was trying to protect," Riley let go of Hannah's hand and placed both of his palms in front of him,

"Humans, Themarians—all she wanted was to give them a normal life. But I couldn't understand that because I'm not normal."

"Riley…"

"It's weird but I finally understand," Riley closed his eyes, "All it took was for my mind to deteriorate to finally understand what it meant and means. And because of that…

…I know that I can never truly be one of you."

"Riley."

"But I want to try," Riley then took in a small and deep breath, "I know that I do not deserve it, but I want to try. I applied for a job in Hera's company to help me understand it more. I—"

"Riley!"

Riley opened his eyes as he heard Hannah's voice getting louder… only to see that there was no one sitting with him at the table.

And instead, Hannah was standing at the corner of the dining room, surrounded by several people in Whiteking's armor. No, she wasn't the one surrounded…

…but him.

"...Sister?" Riley blinked a couple of times as he tilted his head. Hannah was bursting into tears, seemingly wanting to rush toward him but was being stopped by the soldiers.

"I would appreciate it if you let go of her," Riley stood up, causing all the soldiers to flinch; their eyes, all glowing orange as they all stepped closer to Riley.

"Stand down!"

"..." Riley then turned to look at the one who yelled. It was Empress, and it wasn't only her—Bernard was also there, wearing his full armor.

"...Hm?" Riley then looked back, only to see Diana standing behind him; her eyebrows lowered to the point that they almost covered her red glowing eyes.

"Oh," Riley then breathed out as he looked back at the table, "I suppose I wasn't really talking with anyone?"

"...Riley," Hannah was the only other whispering in the air as she tried her best to rush toward him, "Stop this… stop it! Mom, Dad!? Please… you… you saw that… he… he's going to try!"

"Oh, all of you saw that?" Riley blinked a couple of times as he looked at all the people in the dining room, "That was supposed to only be for family. But I suppose it doesn't matter now."

Riley then let out a loud sigh as he walked away from the table, glancing at Diana for a moment before just shaking his head.

"Don't you find it poetic, Mother? I have killed and tortured billions of people, and yet I myself can't die. And now… I won't be able to live too—I would just be drifting around in my own fantasy perhaps until the end of time itself."

"..."

"How did you find out, Mother?" Riley then whispered, "How did you find out?"

"..." Diana refused to say anything, but her tears that reflected the red glow from her eyes were enough to know what she was thinking.

"You shouldn't have found me, Mother," Riley's feet then very slowly left the floor as his hair started to float, "I suppose I can't really live a normal life...

...Do not worry, I will kill Earth last."

"Riley!"

"I'm sorry, Sister. I love you… but this was always going to happ—" And before Riley could finish his words, his eyes finally landed on the last person that was in the room—Aerith.

"Oh," Riley blinked as a smile crawled on his face, "So, that's how you know."

"Thank you for keeping me alive, Riley Ross," Aerith said; the expression on her face, something Riley could never really explain.

"You're welcome, Aer—"

And before Riley could finish his words, Diana suddenly embraced him tight—her hand, burrowing through his back and into his chest.

"Mom! Wait… wait! Please… you heard him, he's… he's going to try to change!"

"He won't," Diana rested her cheek on Riley's, "He'll… never change."

"Mother…"

"..." Diana sucked in a very deep breath as finally… finally…

…Riley returned her embrace.

"You can't keep killing me forever, Mother. You don't deserve that punishment," Riley whispered.

"I… won't," Diana also whispered, "We're sending you away…

…far away."