Villain Retirement

"!!!"

Aerith found herself being woken up by the sound of her own heavy breath. The surface of her skin, trembling as even the slightest bit of air caused them to feel as if there were a million feathers brushing across them. Perhaps, in a way, they were remembering what happened before Aerith fell into the embrace of her dreams, even better than herself.

And as for what happened, well…

…it was best not to share them with anyone else.

It will forever remain a memory for her and Riley and for them alone.

And as the tremble that crawled across her skin faded away, Aerith was finally able to look around her; only to realize she was completely surrounded by ivory blankets, literally. She was still on the roof, but the entire surface of the roof was now covered with white blankets and pillows.

…She doesn't remember the roof being like this, the only thing she remembered was being rammed—No.

Aerith quickly shook her head off of the thoughts and covered herself with a blanket; only to realize she was still completely naked underneath. She tried searching for her clothes, but with all the cloth covering everything, she would probably have better luck in just finding new ones somewhere on the planet.

After a few more moments of just hiding under the blanket, she finally stuck her head out and once again looked around — only to see Riley actually just sitting beside her; also completely bare; his obnoxiously white skin, reflecting the rays of the sun violently showering above them.

"...Have you been there from the start?"

"No, but you were," Riley did not even glance at Aerith as he seemed to just be staring at the horizon, "You were always there from the start."

"...That's not what I meant," Aerith could really only let out a long and very deep breath as she floated close to Riley while still holding the blanket, "So…? Is it still rampaging?"

"My sexual organ?"

"No… what?" Aerith was about to rest her head on Riley's shoulder, but quickly backed away as soon as she heard that, "...I meant the monster."

"Is that what you are calling my pen—"

"No, I meant that!" Aerith pointed toward the horizon Riley was looking at, only to see a gigantic lizard towering over everything; its head almost reaching the clouds. It was, however, seemingly frozen as not even its long, thick tail was moving.

"Oh. Then, no," Riley shook his head, "I stopped it from moving a few seconds after we started our sexual intercourse, Aerith. I thought it would be slightly distracting to have it roaring each second — I wanted to hear your breaths and your moans alone."

"Can you stop mentioning that just for a single second?" Aerith could really only lie down and make herself comfortable again by covering herself with the thick blanket.

"What do you want me to do with it, Aerith?" Riley's eyes remained fixated on the colossal lizard.

"Just end its suffering," Aerith let out a small sigh as she closed her eyes, "If we leave it here, it will just continue destroying everything until it has nothing left to destroy… It'll die a long and very lonely death."

"I suppose it does not really deserve that," Riley sighed as he snapped his fingers. And as he did so, the colossal lizard just disappeared; violently compressed into a ball before being thrown into space. And as they were finally truly left alone, Riley lifted up the blanket beside him and joined Aerith underneath it — the two of them, just staring at each other's eyes.

"We need to go back…" A smile crawled on Aerith's face as she touched Riley's cheek, "...We can't stay here."

"I know," Riley held Aerith's hand, "We still have our roles to play out."

"And which role, exactly, am I playing?" Aerith giggled softly as she whispered.

"The love of my life."

"Hm…" Aerith could really only smile at Riley's words, before she suddenly disappeared. The blankets around them, suddenly being blown away. And before all the cloth could return to the floor, Aerith was back in front of Riley with clothes on,

"...All of this has been nice, but we need to return to reality. It's…

…time to go home."

***

"Riley, it's been fucking weeks! What took you so long!?"

And as Riley returned to the space station, he was quickly welcomed by the screaming voice of Hannah. It didn't last long, however, as the others joined her one by one; Hannah's loud voice seemed to have served as an alarm for her brother's return.

"Your clone stepped out of the portal and said we shouldn't follow you inside. What the fuck was even happening there? And…" Hannah blinked a couple of times as she leaned her head to the side, "Where's…

…Megawoman?"

And as Riley heard that, he very slowly glanced back at the portal; the expression on his face, incredibly somber. He returned his gaze to his sister, before shaking his head while letting out a sigh,

"She won't be coming back."

"What are you—"

"Don't believe your brother."

"Megawoman!"

And before Hannah's voice could even stutter at the thought of what Riley had possibly done, Aerith stepped out of the portal while waving her hand.

"He told me to enter a few seconds after him so he could prank all of you," Aerith let out a long and deep sigh, before looking at all the people in the auditorium one by one; her eyes, very slowly widening with each face she saw,

"There… seems to be more people here. Is that Mother and Edith…? Was I the only one left?"

"No, Aerith. Paige has been abducted by King," Riley let out a small but very deep sigh as he stood beside Aerith, "And we are still completely unaware of his location."

"Not exactly." And almost as if on cue with Riley's words, Diana arrived in the auditorium; wearing a pair of glasses that failed to hide bags below her eyes, "You returned right in time, Riley. Aerith."

"Diana," Aerith nodded.

"We have actually placed miniature clones and transmitters to all the universes we could find. And some of them have already returned with useful data which helped us pinpoint the median point of—Basically, it helped us in finding where King returns after each universe he conquers, his home base."

"What stops him from just attacking us aga—" Aerith did not finish her words as she realized what would happen if King ever attacks them again — he would die. Excluding Riley, some of the people gathered in this space station were already as strong as her, a handful even stronger.

King has the strength and abilities of a themarian, sure. But does he have the strength of Princess Esme?

He has the speed of Tempo, but Queen Vania, Princess Vera, and even the other evaniels outclass him in speed. Which, in Aerith's knowledge, evaniels really only exist in their universe.

He has telekinetic abilities, but Alice Prime and Riley were here.

His intellect, his most dangerous weapon, is not even being used properly as he already relies too much on all the abilities he has stolen.

The only thing they truly needed to be wary of was his ability to stop time, and based on how damaged he was after using it — he couldn't use it freely.

"So, what's the plan?" Aerith asked.

"None," Bard joined in on the conversation, "We had time to prepare, and he had even longer. Any plan of attack we could devise will, and has already been countered by him, we just do not know it yet. This will not even be a war, it will just be a matter of who is more powerful…

…an all-out multiversal brawl."

"I know that already," Aerith shook her head, "I meant what's the plan to save Paige?"

"...She's probably already dead," Bard could really only close his eyes and sigh.

"No, can't die," Riley shook his head as he started walking around the auditorium, causing everyone there to take a step back to make way for him,

"Paige is not human like you and I—no, Paige is not human like all of you. In the first place, she has never truly been alive. Other Paige told me that she came into existence at the very first moment I died, and she created the Paige we know not long after. Paige…

…is a concept of revival, of Creation. Once all of you are gone, she will create those who will come after."

"...This is not really the speech I was expecting before going into battle," Gracy whispered at Nannah, "Doesn't really instill much confidence. Also, am I the only one smelling that? It smells like…"

And while Riley was giving another morbid speech about death and new beginnings, Gracy's nose started sniffing around as she sneakily walked across the auditorium.

"...What are you doing?" Hannah could not help but cross her arms as Gracy started smelling her. Gracy, however, did not say anything as she just moved on to the next person… and as soon as she did so, her eyes instantly turned wide.

"Did… you need something?" Aerith did not really know what to do as Gracy stood in front of her and stared at her all of a sudden. She is supposed to be her variant's daughter, but she has no idea how to actually talk to her, "What are you—"

"Ah!" And before Aerith could finish her words, Gracy suddenly let out a loud yelp and pointed at her; garnering everyone's attention away from Riley's speech,

"You smell like sex!"