Villain Retirement

"I am curious why their names all seemed to be in English, Chihiro."

"Well… that's what Machina told me—maybe it just auto-translated in the language I know."

"But then it should have been in Japanese, Chihiro."

"...That sort of makes sense. Anyway…

…Machina, Death, Celestial, Elementia, Ruin, and Navi—if there was someone amongst them that could have an avatar with the same abilities as Machina, then it would be Navi. It also makes sense—Navi is the one that proposed the idea of Avatars and it records everything, it probably knows ways around it or something…

…But why Charlotte, and why only a single one of her variants? That can't be a coincidence."

"It is probably not, Chihiro."

Riley and Chihiro's conversation was turning more and more serious by the second, made completely obvious by the fact that Riley has still not finished his dessert,

"Nothing did mention to me in passing that the primordials would involve themselves with me sooner or later. I just thought it would be after most of the people I know have died—I assumed their definition of sooner or later would be different from us, after all. Interesting, truly interesting…

…are you able to contact Machina and ask her, Chihiro?"

"I could go back to the White Space, but it would take a while for me to come back here since my skills will be on cooldown," Chihiro crossed her arms, before placing her hand on her chin, "In fact, I should probably do that. I think Machina and I need to talk after… what I did. I sort of went ballistic."

"Are you not afraid of being punished by Machina, Chihiro?"

"No, not at all," Chihiro softly chuckled, "What Machina did to me is something it wouldn't be able to do to the other variants again—In short, I am her prized variant, so to speak. Anyway, I'll see you again soon, Riley."

"Hm."

And with just a casual wave of her hand, Chihiro summoned a portal and just casually went inside it—not even giving Riley one final glance as if she was just going somewhere nearby.

"White Space…" And as soon as Chihiro was gone, it was Riley's time to put his hand on his chin, "...Nothing also has some sort of dark space. Do the primordials live on their own territory? But then Nothing is not a Primordial, but a Preprimordial. Should I also ask Nothing if he knows som—"

"Riley!"

And before Riley could finish his words, Alice suddenly landed from above with an unconscious Charlotte floating beside her.

"Do you know any ability that could wake her up!?" Alice then immediately placed Charlotte on top of the counter she previously destroyed. And with her small frame, fitting her on it was no problem at all.

"I do, Alice." Riley did not even ask what was going on as he approached Alice.

"Then wake her up! Something happened to her while we were talking about… about what the freak is going on here!"

"Okay," Riley nodded. And without even any hesitation, he placed his palm on top of Charlotte's forehead, pushing her hair to the side so that nothing was obstructing her face.

"..." Alice took a step back to give Riley some space. Although she and Charlotte did not actually have relations with each other, she could not help but somewhat worry for her for some reason.

Alice always imagined what it would have been like if her own mother was alive. If the Charlotte of her universe was alive, would she and Alice have been close? But Charlotte's abilities caused her to somewhat be detached, however. But just what if… what if Alice just stayed here?

"..." Alice quickly shook her head off of the thoughts she was having, as she watched whatever it was that Riley was going to do. His hand was now on Charlotte's hair, making sure her face was still fully exposed. And with a small sigh…

…Riley grabbed his melted dessert and poured it right on Charlotte's exposed face.

"Wha—"

"Ngork!"

Alice was going to flick the melted ice away from Charlotte's face. But alas, Riley made sure she won't be able to do it as he counteracted Alice's telekinetic move. And so, sadly for Charlotte, she was woken up by a sticky, ice-cold dessert that went right through her nose.

"Wha… what's happening!?" Charlotte then took a very loud gasp as she looked around. And as soon as she saw Alice's face, she quickly jumped back from the counter and pointed at her, "You… what did you do to me!?"

"I didn't do anything," Alice quickly raised her hands in surrender before pointing one of them at Riley.

"I apologize. I have to wake you up the best possible way I know, Charlotte," Riley nodded to himself, "That is always effective with Sister."

"That is not what I meant! I meant what did you do to me!? I was fine and then I suddenly felt my head hurt and… and…"

"Charlotte…?"

Alice could really only look at Riley as Charlotte started stuttering her words; her eyes, even moving in a very weird way. And very soon… another set of irises emerged from Charlotte's eyes; almost as if separating from the original.

And these new sets of eyes were looking at Riley.

"Okay… that is not creepy at all," Alice very slightly backed away as she saw Charlotte's new set of pupils becoming redder and bigger, "Do you happen to have any exorcism abilities, Riley? Because I think we're about to need it now, Riley…

…Riley, Riley!"

And as Charlotte started taking a step while tilting her head to the side, Alice also started backing away—tapping Riley to try and get him to do something. Riley, on the other hand, was just standing there; also tilting his head to the side as he returned Charlotte's stares.

Charlotte continued walking forward until she ultimately hit the counter blocking her from proceeding to approach Riley. Charlotte did not even seem to mind, however, as she just stopped moving and continued to stare at Riley.

"So. It. Is. You." Charlotte's voice was different, almost guttural in a way that her voice seemed to really come from her guts and not even her throat… almost as if she didn't know how to use it. She also paused in between each word; the movement of her lips was… quite weird,

"Riley. Ross."

"I suppose," Riley just shrugged as he answered, "And who might you be?"

"Navi."

"Then Chihiro's guess was correct," Riley let out a small but deep breath as he looked in amazement at Charlotte's eyes, "She should not have left so early to try and meet Machina, she wasted her skill."

"You are. An anomaly," Navi started looking at Riley from head to toe. The stuttering and slurring of her words, very slowly disappearing, "Machina is afraid. Of you. Death is trying to. Search for you. Celestial is confused. Ruin as Nothing's offspring is intrigued but does not care. But I do, for you are destroying our. Creation."

"I suppose," Riley once again shrugged, "But I have barely even destroyed anything if we take into account the millions of universes in the multiverse, Navi. I am very far from destroying creation."

"Extremely far. Yes," Navi did not deny as her head started nodding several times. She seemed to want to step forward, but could not do so as the counter was still blocking her way… well, not anymore as Riley suddenly sliced the counter in half again and pulled it apart so that Navi could approach him,

"But you will."

And now, with nothing blocking her path, Navi once again approached Riley. Her hand, very slowly stretching toward his face.

"Riley…" The only thing that Alice could really do was watch and urge Riley to avoid the hand. But alas, once again, she was completely ignored as Riley just allowed Navi to touch him.

"What are you going to do, Navi?" Riley looked Navi in the eyes; his face, almost showing a sense of excitement, "Are you finally going to erase me from existence?"

"No. Not me, never me," Navi shook her head, "My role is to watch, to foresee, and to record the movements of creation, forever."

"To foresee?" Riley squinted his eyes, "You have access to the future, Navi?"

"No. But I know what is to come from the current wave," Navi started looking around while her hand was still on Riley's cheek, "I only navigate where this wave takes me, forever."

And as Navi continued to talk, any stutter in her words had now completely withered away; even replaced by a somber tone that showed a clear emotion of… sadness.

"And where is this wave taking you, Navi?"

"To nothing," Navi smiled as she once again looked Riley in the eyes, "If you are allowed to live, you will control the wave and guide us to nothing."

"And are you allowing me, Navi?"

"It is not my role to allow or disallow you. I only follow the wave," Navi's head started slowly weaving side to side, "And who will disallow your existence? You do not exist in the wave. Death can not hold you, for you do not exist and therefore not alive."

"Are you saying that you can not erase me, Navi?" Riley breathed out, "What about the preprimordial called Nothing? Is he capable of erasing me?"

"Nothing is capable of nothing," Navi shook her head, "He has existed before us, and therefore is unknown to us."

"But you said Nothing is the father of Ruin, Navi."

"Even so, Nothing is nothing," Navi once again shook her head.

"How can I be erased, Navi?" Riley asked, "You can foresee—how can I be erased?"

"I only ride the wave, forever," Navi once again repeated her words, "And even if I do have a record of how, I will not tell."

"...Why?"

"Because you and I are the same…

…I do not want to ride the wave forever, Riley Ross."