Villain Retirement

Ruin.

The name suggests the end of something. The end of something beautiful, something ugly, or just something. And never again will that something rise up, for it has reached its ruin, and Ruin will keep it there.

One might think that Ruin is repetitive as Death already exists, but no.

Death is the death of life.

Ruin is the death of idea.

The idea that there is something more after death, because there is none. Once a universe collapses, all there is ruin.

But does Ruin really matter?

What is the death of a universe, if those that live in it have already gone? Does it really matter? No one would be there to witness it die. It would make no difference if the ruined universe is just left completely alone.

And Ruin itself realizes this. Like Navi, it thinks its existence useless.

"They are given to me when they are already gone."

The eyes of Ruin reflect the colorful storm raging on around it. But in its hand was nothing but a faded remnant of everything it sees. Ruin seemed to want to touch the universes that were full of life dropping violently around him, but no—the only thing it was allowed to touch were those that were already beneath the storm, beneath the waves raging beneath Ruin and Navi.

Gray. Desolate. Dead.

"Do you think me lucky that I get to witness all the universes as they have lived, Ruin?"

Navi started approaching Ruin; her steps, ever-so gentle as she brushed her hand along the raging waves that violently moved around her calm silhouette.

"Are you?" Ruin darted its eyes away from the colorful world that surrounded it and pointed them at Navi instead. And in this domain filled with creation, life, and death, Navi seemed completely… alone,

"I have accepted my fate, because there is nothing to accept," Ruin's form slowly started to change—becoming even smaller than Charlotte's frame as it…as his silhouette turned to that of a young boy. A young boy that did not really look like anyone at all, "I do not wish for more, because I do not know what more is. But you, Navi…

…you witness life and death itself, and you can not partake in it. And so, Navi? Are you lucky?"

"..." Navi did not really answer Ruin's query, but the somber silence in her eyes brought forth whatever anyone needed to know, "Then let me change the question, Ruin. Do you regret the role that has been placed upon you?"

"As I have told you, Navi. I can not regret what I do not know," Ruin's hand once again brushed past the waves surrounding him, but not fully touching as he lifted his hand to avoid; perhaps in fear of longing for something he should not,

"My role is to clean after Death, and that is what I must do. And that is what I am."

"But if you do know what you are missing, then would you perhaps regret it?" Navi looked into Ruin's now-almost-human eyes.

"I will no longer answer that, for the reason I am here is for a different question," Ruin shook his head.

"Are you?"

"...Yes. The creature named Riley Ross," Ruin finally closed his hands as he just ignored the waves that seemed to want to wash him away, "Are we connected? Is he a being that also exists because of Nothing? Is he… my brother?"

"No one knows, Ruin," Navi closed her eyes as she turned around and started walking away. Her eyes, now fully reflecting everything around her—even those that were behind, beneath, or above. They were recording everything, everything that ever was, everything that ever is, and everything that might ever be.

"No One? Is there someone like that within the Preprimordials?" Ruin looked to the side; his face, visibly confused, "...Is it perhaps the preprimordial responsible for Celestial's existence? Or Perhaps Death?"

"...No," Navi slightly glanced at Ruin, "There is no one like that. If you truly want answers, then only Nothing can provide them—but from what I have discovered from Riley, even Nothing knows nothing."

"Does Anyone know anything, then?"

"Anyone does not exist."

"...What about Anything?"

"Please leave my domain, Youngest," Navi once again turned to face Ruin, "Unless you want to start regretting things that you can not regret. My domain is filled with everything that you have not, what waits for you here is only… ruin."

"I am no longer the Youngest, am I?" Ruin once again started looking around the domain filled with colors. Almost as if the longer he stayed in his new form, the more human he became, "Are you not curious, Oldest? Of how I know of the existence of Riley Ross?"

"You know because you know. Is there a need to know more than that?" Navi shook her head.

"If I know of him, then the others would have already known too."

"I know," Navi nodded, "Machina knows him, Death is chasing him, Elementia does not care for him, and Celestial wants nothing to do with him for Riley Ross is not born from her. You are the last to know, Ruin."

"Since you watch only the universe, then you might not know, Navi," a small smile started to crawl on Ruin's face,

"It was Machina that told me."

"Who else would?" Navi also smiled.

"And Machina also told me which universe Riley Ross belongs to, and where he is."

"..." The smile on Navi's face disappeared.

"And Machina did not tell just me…" Ruin's silhouette very slowly faded away from the colorful domain,

"...Machina told everyone. And they are all curious to visit our Youngest, especially Death."

"That is not within their role," Navi's eyebrows lowered as she looked at Ruin's fading form, "We can not interfere with our creation."

"Machina has," the smile on Ruin's face grew wider, "Even you have, Oldest. And if the Oldest could break the rules that creation itself has set for us—then that means we could too. Everything has changed when you made contact with Riley Ross, Navi."

"I did not make contact with Riley Ross until everything aligned," Navi stretched her hand to the side, pushing away the violent waves around her, "I did not talk to him until he discovered my existence."

"You manipulated the events, Navi."

"..."

"You asked me the wrong question, Oldest," Ruin's silhouette now only showed his fading face, "It is fact that I do not regret what I do not know…

…but it does not mean I can not look forward to it. I will see you out there in the world, Navi. Literally."

***

"Man, our family is weird."

"It turns out that I am not family at all, Alice."

"Shut the freak up—you still came out of the Alice's womb. That still makes you the son of all the infertile Alices in the multiverse."

Riley and Alice were now walking out of the Korean Shaved Ice store, leaving Charlotte alone to digest everything they told her.

"But wow, that was the first time I've ever actually talked to my mother and it was… a very weird experience," Alice let out a small breath as she wiped the sweat forming on her forehead, "Do mothers really get possessed mid-conversation?"

"I would not know, Alice," Riley shook his head, "But my mothers did try to kill me, and then imprison me for eternity."

"...Now that you're saying that, I feel like Charlotte isn't a bad mother at—"

"Where the fuck do you guys think you're going!? Are you trying to escape!?"

And as Alice and Riley were just casually walking around the empty mall of Mega Academy, Anna suddenly appeared and stomped her way toward the two—clearly furious about something.

"The Tournament, Riley! Don't fucking flake on me because I need that money!"