Villain Retirement

Traitor. Racist. Speciest. Evil. False hope. Cunt.

Those were just some of the… derogatory words that were written on the statue of Megawoman. For a being such as Aerith, one could already consider these words to be blasphemous—well, at least for the Aerith of Riley's universe.

"And you know, there are—Oh, they still haven't removed that thing?"

Hannah, who was busy telling Riley some random things about anything and everything, could not help but halt her steps as she noticed Riley standing in front of the statue of Megawoman.

"Is this the first time you're seeing this?" Hannah asked as she approached Riley, "The infamous Megawoman. Apparently, a lot of people still like her—I can't blame them, she was a hero… it's just a shame that turned out to be an illusion in the end."

"Hm…" Riley only let out a hum as he removed his eyes from Aerith's statue and started walking away. Once again, he was reminded that he was in a completely different world with a completely different history.

"If they aren't going to remove it, they should at least clean the fucking thing," Hannah let out a long and deep sigh as she followed Riley, "The dude's already dead, it's not like they could disrespect her any further."

"...Dead?" Riley blinked a couple of times as he glanced at Hannah.

"...Are you being serious right now?" Hannah raised an eyebrow, "Dude, it was all over the news, Whiteking offed her."

"I do not watch the news."

"...Right, you weirdo."

The last world did not have Hannah, and this one no longer had a Megawoman—could it be that the two can not exist with each other? Of course, he had only been in two other universes so it was hard to say anything… but it was possible.

The last world and this world, Bernard Ross seemed to be at the very center of everything…and the only reason he wasn't in Riley's universe is because it was Riley's universe.

Riley's entire existence made Bernard focus only on taking care of him and his sister, causing him to be cast in the shadows instead. And when Riley was absent from everything for 5 years, Bernard was able to achieve a lot of things.

"Well, enough about the depressing stuff," Hannah then patted Riley's back as she ran forward. Her giggles, whispering into Riley's ears as she started spinning in front of him with her arms stretched to the side—almost as if a ballerina being drowned by the light of the setting sun, her shadow danced on the ground seamlessly and elegantly.

Riley could really only watch, his mind wandering to the past when he and Hannah were still children. Children who knew nothing about the world, and in return, the world knew nothing about them—well, at least Hannah—Riley became famous a little too fast.

"Ah! It's getting late already," Hannah let out a sharp hum as her happy steps stopped. She then turned toward Riley; the flush in her cheeks, amplified by the light that flooded everything in the park,

"Should we—"

And before Hannah could say anything, a tune suddenly rang in the air… from Hannah's purse. Hannah immediately grabbed her phone, quickly rejecting the call as she looked at Riley again,

"Should we—Fuck!"

And once again, Hannah received a call. And this time, she quickly walked to the side to answer it; her voice, clearly frustrated and hurried at the same time. And at the end of the call, she walked back to Riley with her shoulders slightly lowered.

"...Where are you staying?" It wasn't only her shoulders that were lowered, but also her voice.

"..." Riley did not really immediately answer her, and instead just looked around the park before saying, "I suppose I am staying here, Hannah."

"Oh, god…" Hannah let out a short but very deep sigh as she slightly closed her eyes, "Please don't tell me you're homeless."

"I do have a home, but it will be hard to go back to," Riley shrugged, "Right now, I do not belong anywhere."

"...Seriously?"

"Yes," Riley nodded before he stretched his arms to the side, "This is everything I own."

"You're saying you don't have any money?"

"Yes."

"So, what? You're like a nomad or something?" A small chuckle escaped Hannah's lips, "Don't tell me you're actually from another universe?"

"..." Riley blinked a couple of times, before just nodding his head, "Yes. I am from another universe."

"..."

"..."

"...Pft," Hannah's chuckles turned into a full-blown fit of laughter as she looked Riley in the eyes, "Right, and I'm—"

And once again, Hannah's words were interrupted as her phone began to ring again.

"Ack! I know it already!" Hannah screamed in frustration as her feet started to leave the ground. And without any warning, she suddenly threw a keycard toward Riley,

"Go to the Majesty Hotel, I have a place there you can crash for the night—I'll call them to let them know about you."

"Are you not worried that I am a murderer that has killed billions of people, Hannah?" Riley said as he caught the keycard.

"If you were, you would have already been caught! I'll see you again…

…okay!?"

And with those words, Riley watched as the Hannah of this world flew into the skies; leaving him alone in the park and looking at the keycard. But after a few seconds, Riley returned to the statue, circling around it and examining every nook and cranny.

"...Hm."

***

"What… happened here?"

Back on Earth-1, Diana returned to the secret location of the Manus Dei with Bernard and Earth-1 Diana. Of course, not before Bernard screamed and howled as he saw the large gaping wound on Diana's stomach.

Suffice it to say, Diana drank the green vial there and then, 'less she wanted to turn deaf. Bernard also checked it for contents that could be considered dangerous, but he couldn't really detect anything. But then again, it was from another universe—either way, Diana would be in danger, so she just chose not to bleed instead.

And when they confirmed that she was indeed no longer bleeding and her wound have began healing, the three returned to the Manus Dei… only to find Earth-1 Alice and Aerith sitting on the ground and covered with blood.

"...What happened here?" Earth-1 Diana repeated her question as she looked back and forth between Alice and Aerith.

"Ask this woman!" Aerith quickly pointed at Alice.

"..." Alice did not really answer and just very slowly looked to the side to avoid Earth-1 Diana's gaze. But after a few seconds, she just shook her head and let out a sigh,

"Riley escaped and we couldn't stop him," she then said monotonously.

"Stop him!? You helped him escape!" Aerith lightly slammed her fist on the floor, causing the entire underground building to shake.

"Escape…?" Diana joined in on the conversation as she looked around the room, only to find that Riley truly was missing, "Where? Did he return to our universe?"

"..." Alice once again very slowly looked away, before sighing and looking at Diana, "He… kinda went up?"

"Up?" Diana squinted her eyes before they widened with her breath, "...Oh, the other portal is there."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...I'll figure out the coordinates," Bernard, who has been quietly observing the situation, could not help but let out a very long and deep sigh as he summoned his helmet, "I have other Bernard's data from his suit, this should be enough."

"How long will it take you to do this?" Aerith stood from the floor, "I wish to come with you, but in the meantime, I want to mourn my dead and immortalize them. I…

…would appreciate it if the two of you could help me," she then said as she looked at the two Dianas.

"Of… course," Diana hesitantly nodded as she was from another universe. But considering her son did this, she owed a million times more to the Aerith of this world, "We should—"

And before the three could even start planning preparations, a silhouette stepped out of the portal to Riley's universe—Aerith.

Everyone turned their heads toward her. Aerith, however, just looked at Earth-1 Aerith with her eyes wide open.

"...Mother?" Aerith said in confusion.

"Excuse me?" Earth-1 Aerith raised an eyebrow as she looked at Aerith from head to toe.

"..." Aerith blinked a couple of times as she also looked at Aerith-1 from head to toe, but after a few seconds, she just shook her head and approached Diana with her heavy steps,

"Why was I not informed about all of this!? You failed to tell me that we threw Riley to another universe!? You should have told me first when you found out! And why didn't you even ask me to join—"

"Who are you?"

"What? What do you mean who—" And before Aerith could finish her words, she noticed another Diana standing close to Bernard,

"There's… two of you now?"

"Not just me," Diana pointed at Earth-1 Aerith.

"...But that's Queen Vera."

"My name is Aerith'Hel…" Earth-1 Aerith once again raised an eyebrow as she started circling Aerith.

"...What?" Aerith followed Aerith-1 with her eyes, before they ultimately landed on the headless corpse on the floor. And in just less than a second, she let out a sigh and looked at Diana,

"Riley?"

"...Riley."

"Hm…" Aerith closed her eyes before looking at the others from Earth-1, "I… am sorry, I truly am. I'm one of the people responsible for putting Riley here."

"...Sorry?" Aerith-1's eyebrows began to lower, "You brought a monster here who killed everyone I know!"

"I know," Aerith closed her eyes again, "And there is nothing I could do to ever change that. But for now, our priority is stopping him—he needs to be stopped…

…That's why I brought reinforcements."