Villain Retirement

"You know, I'm not Whiteking. I can't hide you, someday soon someone is bound to detect you."

"Relax, kid. I brought some technology stuff with me– no human satellites can find me."

"...I just found you."

"Because I'm not hiding from you."

"..."

Somewhere in the expanse of space, miles away from Earth's atmosphere; Aerith and Empress were casually floating still. Well, Aerith was more casual; as Empress was wearing some sort of mask to be able to breathe and talk in space using some kind of vibration.

Aerith has been spending more time in space than on the surface of the Earth– keeping her senses to their maximum as she tries to find any traces of Caitlain. But at this point, even she knows that what she was doing was practically useless.

Aerith has been on Earth for more than 300 years, and the only reason she was able to finally find Caitlain was when she was unconscious. If it wasn't for Riley telling all those stories about Diana, and then ultimately bringing her to their residence and meeting her, she probably wouldn't even have discovered Diana's true identity.

And even that occurrence might have been allowed by Caitlain in the first place. For 300 years, she didn't even realize she was that close.

Perhaps the only thing different now was that Aerith knew what she was searching for; Caitlain has this certain… aura that Aerith was able to spot when they were only meters away from each other.

Caitlain is on Earth– she just needed her to slip once. Caitlain may or may not know that she was back, but it didn't really matter; if Caitlain still hasn't left Earth even with all the things that have happened, that would mean that something was holding her here.

Maybe Aerith needed to find that something instead?

"..."

"..."

"You still haven't told me what you're doing here," Empress then said as she floated closer to Aerith, "Look…

…I know Paragon is a Themarian."

"...Huh?"

Aerith almost choked on her own breath as she heard Empress's words; Aerith knew in herself that she was terrible at lying; and so, the best course to take here was not to say anything at all. And so, say nothing she did.

She just stared at the big blue with her eyes slightly squinted, trying her best not to make any change in expression.

Seeing this, Empress could only nod to herself; taking Aerith's silence as confirmation, "For you to bring another Themarian here… whatever you're doing must be pretty important."

"..."

"If we're in danger– if Earth is in danger, I need to know," Empress sighed, "I asked Paragon, and he said it wasn't a threat from the outside. I need to know what that means. You have to understand, I'm no longer just playing hero, master…

…I decide the fate of the entire planet now."

"..." 

"..."

"It will be dangerous for you to get involved."

And finally after a few moments of silence, Aerith shook her head; her eyes, finally leaving the big blue,

"You can say that Earth is indeed at the threat of being invaded, but they're not your problem. At least not yet."

"The Higher Races?"

"...He even told you that?" Aerith could not help but almost roll her eyes, "It's possible. But it's useless to worry about them for now when the biggest threat is there."

"...On Earth?" Empress said as she looked at where Aerith was pointing to.

"Diana Ross."

"Diana Ross?" Empress squinted her eyes, "What does Hannah's mother have to do with this?"

"Everything," the tone of Aerith's voice slightly became heavier as she looked Empress straight in the eyes,

"Diana Ross– Caitlain has everything to do with everything that's been happening."

And so, Aerith finally decided to tell everything to Empress. About Diana being a themarian, her background, the genocides, and how she has probably been on Earth for thousands of years– weaving the fate of the planet.

"She probably chose this planet because of the existence of supers," Aerith then ended her story as her stares returned to the big blue; her breaths, almost creating a mist of a thousand years of memories,

"Who knows how long she has been there. I only arrived a couple of centuries ago because I found a trace of her– plagues. That's her usual MO."

"..."

"All species, all races only have a single shared ability with their people. You saw it with the race that invaded the planet, they only have a single ability– the clovians can shapeshift, the large blue ones emit energy from their bodies. Every species registered in the Cosmic Codex all have that in common, even the Higher Races. But the humans? You–"

"Our abilities differ from person to person," Empress was the one to finish Aerith's words.

"Yes. And when I discovered that, I reckoned it would be impossible for Caitlain not to be here."

"...What's the Cosmic Codex?"

"You can probably guess with the name," Aerith let out a small breath, "But it's not important right now. Caitlain is here somewhere…

…I know it."

***

"Karina, stop running! You're going to hurt yourself again!"

"Hehe. Mommy, look! Look!"

In a meadow somewhere– where the mountains on the horizon seem never-ending, a small child was innocently disrupting the peace the trees made. Her tiny steps, causing the grass beneath her feet to dance and follow her through the air; almost as if they have a life of their own as they circled her ghost-like hair. Her skin was the same, enough to reflect the sun that shone down upon her.

And behind her, trying to chase and make sure that no harm would come to her… was Katherine Reeds; her long silver hair, now only brushing across her shoulders.

"Honey, please–"

"Eek!"

And before Katherine could finish her words, Karina suddenly tripped; rolling several times on the soft ground as she stepped on a loose branch.

"H… honey, it… it's alright," Katherine, instead of rushing toward the tiny girl, completely halted her steps instead; her hand, however, seemed to want to stretch towards the child,

"It… it's okay, it's just a tiny boo boo, okay? It...

...It's just a tiny booboo."