Villain Retirement

"Please… Please, Machina! Stop, I… I don't want to anymore!"

[Do not worry, Chihiro. It is only a matter of time until you get accustomed to living different—]

"It… It's not even that! I've… I'm losing too many people."

[They are not your people, Chihiro. The lives you have lived are all from eons passed.]

"And yet I have lived them! How many times… how many times do I have to lose the same person over and over again. My… My poor wife, she—"

[Focus, Chihiro. You have only been living the life of my first Avatar.]

Chihiro once again found herself in the space where she does not really exist, and all that was there was Machina. She was only a consciousness, a consciousness that has woken up countless times in this mysterious plane of space.

"Please…" Chihiro once again begged, "I do not want to live his life anymore. I… I am starting to confuse it for my own."

[As I have told you more than a thousand times, you do not worry about having to lose your identity, Chihiro,] Machina once again appeared in the nothingness. Its silver gleam, causing the empty space to glitter,

[It will all return to you in the end. As for your wish to not live the life of the first Avatar anymore, it is soon to be granted…

…the next one is the last one.]

"..." If Chihiro had a face right about now, she would be on the verge of bursting into tears. But as always have been for almost an eon, she swallowed everything and nodded figuratively. And so, once again… she lives the life of the first Avatar.

Another life, another outcome… another end, another death.

And as she once again wakes up in the empty space, she looks at Machina again with begging eyes. Begging her to stop, begging her to just let her rest.

But alas…

[Welcome to the 2nd Simulation, Chihiro.]

This hell was only just starting, and another story of tragedy and pain welcomes her. Perhaps the only reason she wasn't truly going insane was the thought that after all this, in the end, her life would still be hers.

And so, she begins to traverse the life of the second Avatar. And in all the universes, the second Avatar lost everything… Chihiro lost everything, again… and again… and again.

But as she repeatedly woke up from the nightmare, she woke up not begging… but laughing. How could she not? She has been trying her best to change the outcome of the 2nd Avatar's life, and yet it was useless—as everything had already happened.

What she was experiencing were not their lives, but their memories. And with that thought now accompanying her, the lives became easier… or so she thought.

[Welcome to the 6th Simulation, Chihiro.]

"Wait, wait!"

And after an eon, Chihiro once again found herself begging Machina—this time, however, for a different reason.

"Please, just one more!" Chihiro cried, "Just one more time, just let me repeat her life one more time!"

[I am afraid that is not possible. There are no more lives left to live.]

"Then just let me repeat one of her lives again, okay? That's okay, right?"

[No. Living a life you have already lived will provide nothing for you, and for me.]

"She was happy!" Chihiro exclaimed, "For once, I was living a happy and extremely fulfilling life! I had several grandchildren and I watched all of them grow into fine men and women!"

[You were happy too until you met your end, Chihiro.]

"What?"

[Your life, have you forgotten?]

"My… life?" Chihiro breathed out as she looked at her hands, "...Hands?"

And finally, in this weird space that only had Machina and Machina alone, Chihiro finally noticed that she herself also exists.

"Me…?" But as she stared at her hands, as she touched her face, all she felt was a stranger, "Who… who am I?"

[It is not important who you are, but who you will be after all of this.]

"Heh…" A small but very deep breath escaped Chihiro's lips as she heard Machina's voice, "You're… you're right. It doesn't matter who I am, just let me repeat Mona's life."

[No.]

"W…Why?" Chihiro's breaths soon became stifled chuckles as she approached Machina, only for her hand to go through its silver silhouette, "You're… you're a god, that won't be hard for you to do. Just repeating Mona's life one more time should not be a problem. How many times have I lived as her? A hundred million times? Just one more… one more won't make a difference."

[I am not a god,] Machina said as it stepped away from Chihiro, [Focus, your only goal here is to gather your predecessors' skills in order to defeat Riley Ross.]

"Riley… Ross?" Chihiro has already forgotten about her own life. And yet, as soon as Riley's name was mentioned, all the emotions that she felt during her own death rushed back to her.

"It's him…" Chihiro clasped her head as her stifled chuckles turned into ominous peals of laughter, "This… this is all his fault."

[That is correct. Now go, Chihiro…

…experience another life.]

"..."

"..."

[Welcome to the 12th Simulation, Chihiro.]

"Heh…" Chihiro only scoffed as she did not even bother acknowledging Machina's presence. There was really just one image circling in her mind right now—Riley Ross, "...I keep trying and trying to find someone like him, but there's just no one that actually comes close. And I am just going to assume that what I know about Riley Ross does not also come close to what he is truly capable of."

[Correct. Riley Ross is the kind of threat that only comes once every millions of Reset,] Machina approached Chihiro; the gleam of its silver skin, following it across the vast emptiness, [I have a prediction that he will trouble us just like how the Eternal Child troubles us still.]

"Oh, I wasn't talking to you, Machina," Chihiro softly chuckled as she glanced at Machina, "And you keep mentioning this Eternal Child, are you going to tell me who it is?"

[His name is Viel. And he is irrelevant to you as he will continue to be beyond your reach, and perhaps even mine,] Machina closed its eyes.

"Is… that emotion I feel from you, Machina?" An amused smile painted Chihiro's face as she leaned closer to Machina, "But you're right, I don't care about some Eternal Child…

…I'm only here to kill Riley."

"..."

"..."

[Welcome to your 404th Simulation, Chihiro.]

"Not found… Why can't I find Riley!?" Chihiro woke up lashing out as she just starting walking everywhere across the white emptiness.

[Riley does not exist yet in the lives you are experiencing, Chihiro.]

"Why not!?" Chihiro screamed in frustration, "He should be! I keep seeing him and yet he's not there! Wait…

…you're not Riley, are you?"

[No.]

"How… how would I know?" Chihiro laughed as she pointed at Machina, "Riley is capable of many things. Don't you know that Darkday is theorized to have more than a thousand abilities? How… how would I know if this is just one of them!?"

[Riley is not my equal just yet, but he could be when certain… parameters are met.]

"Oh… is that fear I hear in you, Machina?" The tone of Chihiro's voice slightly changed as she once again leaned closer to Machina, "So, you do have emotions."

[I never claimed that I do not,] Machina only glanced at Chihiro before it started walking around, [All of us have emotions—how can we function if we do not?]

"Even Death?"

[Especially Death,] Machina let out a small hum as it closed its eyes, [Death has learned to feel everything beings feel at their birth and at their end. She has access to the saddest and happiest moments of a creature's life.]

"Oh… I wonder what she felt when she took me."

[She did not,] Machina shook its head, [You are my avatar, Chihiro. And therefore you do not die as others do—you live in me.]

"Well, that's creepy," Chihiro chuckled, "Anyway, let's just get this over with so I can kick Riley Ross's butt."

[...Very well.]

"..."

"..."

[Welcome to the 1242nd Simulation, Chihiro.]

"Riley… what do you think he's doing now, Machina?" Chihiro woke up; not with a smile, not with a cry, but just opening her eyes and immediately relaxing on the empty floor.

[Time does not flow—]

"I know, I know," Chihiro rolled her eyes, "I just can't help but think of what he's doing. I've experienced so many lives, and I can't find anyone like him. There's… there's just no one like him."

[He is an irregularity, Chihiro. Of course, there is no one else like him.]

"...Right?" Chihiro smiled, "It's like… It's like we're destined to be together, you know?"

[You are—You are meant to defeat him.]

"I know," Chihiro smiled, "All of this, all I am doing… it's for him."

[Correct.]

"I don't want to delay any further, Machina. I want to… meet him."

"..."

"..."

[Congratulations, Chihiro. You have completely all the lives there are to see.]

"Riley… was not in a single one of them," Chihiro started biting her nail, "Why? I've already been living Chihiro—my life for millions of times now, why is there not a single sign of Riley!?"

[Because he only exists in one universe.]

"Wait… wait," Chihiro started shaking her head, "But I'm dead in that universe."

[Correct.]

"Then how would I even meet him again!?" Chihiro stomped her way toward Machina, stretching her hand toward it… and successfully grabbing it by the arms, "Don't tell me… I wasted all of this for nothing!?"

[Incorrect,] Machina quickly stepped back, [Riley will find his way to different universes, it is only a matter of when.]

"Then… then I get to meet him again?" Chihiro giggled as she started spinning in glee around the empty space.

[Correct.]

"Then let's do it! Throw me back to the present, Machina!"

[Okay,] Machina nodded, [Remember everything you have learned, Chihiro…

…you will need it.]

***

"I lived a few years as this Chihiro, and when I met a Hannah from another universe, I knew the time that I met you again was upon me, Riley. And it was, Machina summoned me and the others in order to defeat you."

"Interesting story, Chihiro."

Back in the shaved ice store, Chihiro Prime was still sitting on top of the counter; her foot, slightly touching Riley's belly as he just stood there with his eyes still stuck on the menu for some reason.

As for Hannah and the others that were also listening in on Chihiro Prime's story, the only thing they could really do was look at each other in disbelief—the amount of time she has lived, it is actually a surprise that she wasn't even more insane than she is.

"Wait…" Chihiro squinted her already small eyes as something has been bothering her from the start, "You said Machina summoned a lot of us, and you were training them… but where are they now? Did you send them home when you realized they won't be of much help?"

"Oh, no…" Chihiro Prime blinked a couple of times; leaning to the side to meet Chihiro's eyes as she answered her,

"…I killed all of them."