Villain Retirement

"You shouldn't have come back, Aerith."

"I needed to arrest you for what you have done and to prevent you from doing whatever the hell it is you're still trying to do."

"No. What you should have done was get my son far away from this. You should have just let him roam free."

"And release a planet-eating entity out into the wild? Yeah, no. That's not going to happen, grandma."

"You seem to have adapted the way humans talk."

"Didn't you?"

Aerith and Diana were currently in space, meters apart; but talking as if they were just in each other's ears. And in front of them…

…was Riley Ross.

His long black hair, almost merging with the darkness of the expanse of space— even his eyes felt like one would go through if one were to stare long enough. Whatever serum or pills Aerith made him drink to change their color, it was probably not a coincidence that they shared the color of the universe.

Dark, desolate, and lonely.

And add that to his pale white skin, it was almost as if he was a ghost— and he might as well be.

And while Diana and Aerith were talking, Riley's eyes followed Diana's ship as it exited the Earth's atmosphere. He was about to pull it closer to him, but before he could do so— Diana once again grabbed his face; this time, she came from behind and immediately kneed Riley right on the buttocks, causing him to fly away straight towards Aerith.

"We're going to grant your wish, Riley. You wanted a threesome? Here you go!"

Aerith closed her fist, and as she did so, it was almost as if a vacuum started to whirl; the darkness around her started to distort. And without a small smirk, she punched the plunging Riley right on the stomach.

Riley's body instantly folded in two and stayed there for a good second before once again being propelled far… far away.

Riley's eyes were completely empty as his body continued to fly through the darkness without any signs of slowing down; his hair, almost going wild as its strands danced and covered his face.

Very slowly, however, his hair that waved violently slowly started to become still as it revealed the growing smile on his face. No, it wasn't just growing… now, once could even see the insides of Riley's mouth and his teeth— once again, a face only a mother could probably love.

Riley's body then started to be surrounded by a cloak of fire, before his head slammed straight through the surface of Mars; the dust blanketing the red planet, quickly scattering and creating a massive cloud.

"..." Riley then very slowly got up, snapping his fingers to blow away all the dust that stuck to his silhouette… as well as kilometers of the red ground he was in. And as soon as he looked above, two other silhouettes were already floating in Mars' dead sky.

"And here I thought the two of you don't work together."

"We don't," Aerith then disappeared from her spot, appearing behind Diana with her foot already headed to Diana's head.

"Rude," Diana, however, did not even look back as she caught Aerith's ankle, before slamming her straight towards Riley… who just stepped to the side and let her plant her head through the planet.

"I much prefer the two of you working together, though," Riley then let out a small sigh before raising his foot. But before he could stomp it towards Aerith's back, she was already gone— once again floating beside Diana.

"Oh, why are you back here?" Diana quickly smirked.

"The kid is kinda creepy sometimes," Aerith sighed, "Let's put him to sleep for now before you and I settle our differen—"

And before Aerith could finish her words, they felt a rumbling whisper in the air. The two of them quickly looked towards Riley, only to see him with his eyes closed.

"I've never done this before," Riley then whispered, 

"So if it gets messy, you guys can clean it."

And then, Riley opened his eyes… and almost as if the planet reflected his actions— Mars' eye also opened… at least that is what it looked like from Aerith and Diana's perspectives.

"Shit!" Aerith quickly dived down towards Riley— but before she could even get halfway… 

…Mars completely opened up and split into two. It would have looked nothing spectacular from afar, it would have looked nothing at all from the view of the Earth.

But when you are there, right at the space that surrounded Mars, it felt like a wave. A colossal wave that one could never escape from as it filled one's horizon. This red… jaw was your sky, and it was also the sea that would swallow you.

It was a maw— that is exactly what it was as Riley seemed to have shaped the planet. The head of a bear that swallows everything… the ender of worlds.

"Fuck… 

…what have you done, Riley!?"

Aerith, however, did not even blink at this. Instead, she even hastened her dive towards the mouth of this vicious and visceral behemoth— she didn't fly towards Riley, however, but past him, towards the growing orb of light at the throat of the world ender.

"I hate doing this," Aerith then stretched her arms to the side; the glow in her eyes, even brighter than the fiery colossal orb of red in front of her,

"I hate you, Riley!"

And with those words, the space around Aerith's palms once again distorted; the strands of her veins, also glowing as a crack could be heard coming from her bones. And then, with a release of her breath… she clapped her hands.

And then… there was nothing. Not even an explosion, just nothing. The growing light, also gone.

"..." Riley watched the entire scenario, with the debris of Mars still surrounding him, "That was amazing, Aerith."

"You shouldn't have done—"

And before she could even have the chance to speak… Mars was once again rebuilt— with her replacing the core that was destroyed.

"...Pft," Riley let out a small chuckle, before waving his hand and throwing the corpse of Mars further into the expanse of the galaxy. He then very slowly turned towards Diana, who just watched the entire scenario unfold.

"That's very bad, Riley."

"But it's funny."

"You just reduced the Earth's life expectancy. Without Mars, it is possible it will slowly gravitate away from its orbit, or worse, be pulled towards the sun."

"That's still a very long time from now, ten thousand years? More?" Riley just shrugged, "By then, I am sure Earth would have found its way out of this galaxy. There is so much to explore out there… Earth seems insignificant."

"Just because you've already traveled to another planet, you're already talking like this," Diana sighed and shook her head, "I knew Aerith would be a bad influence on you."

"Can I ask you a question, mother?"

"Hm?"

"Did you love father?"

"...In a way."

"Did you love Hannah?"

"Yes," Diana answered without any hesitation, "And I also love you, Riley. Believe me."

"Oh, I don't really care. But thank you, mother," Riley nodded, "And I do believe you."

"And you? Do you love me?"

"No, I don't know how to," Riley sighed, "Maybe you could do something to change that?"

"Hm, what about that Paige girl? The two of you seem to be getting along."

"Oh, I have taken quite a liking to her. She also likes Italian Mafia Reborn."

"...You're still watching that?"

"Yes, they are in their 12th season. But after what the House of Super did, it would probably take a while before the next season comes out."

"If you and this Paige somehow had a child together, what would you do?"

"..." Riley blinked a couple of times as their somewhat casual conversation was broken, "That is impossible. We have never engaged in sexual intercourse, and probably never will."

"What if you and Katherine had a child together, what would you do?"

"Ah, Katherine is alive?" Riley tilted his head, "...She's with you."

"..."

"Are you saying… that Katherine and I had a child together?"

"Hypothetical."

"Then hypothetically, I would kill the child."

"...Why?"

"What I am ends with me, mother."

"How would you know that your child would carry the same… burden as you?"

"Because as you said, I am the ultimate freak of nature," Riley smiled, "Everything I do and everything that comes from me would eventually lead to ruin…

…Alice, Katherine, Hannah, and eventually, Paige."

"You know, Riley… you really need to learn how to lighten up."

"Well—"

"You little brat!"

And finally, Aerith once again showed herself— this time, it was Riley that disappeared as she slammed her body straight towards his torso.

"Once we get out of this System, I'll feed you to the Locanos! And you!" Aerith then pointed toward Diana, "Why aren't you helping me restrain your little murder of evil!?"

"I thought you were supposed to by my captor? And he's my sweet little boy, I was never going to hurt him, Aerith," Diana only shrugged while letting out a small giggle,

"Keep it up, Aerith. My son seems to have taken a liking to you— maybe I could even be your mother-in-law in the future."

Hearing Diana's words, the only thing that Aerith could really do was let out a shrilling scream, 

"Am I the only one normal here!? Seriously, you and Alice are probably the worst thing that happened to that boy!"

"Calm down, princess. It's unbefitting of you to shout like that."

"Don't call me that!" Aerith almost hissed as she glanced at Diana, before quickly turning her focus back to where Riley was thrown towards, "He just destroyed Mars, Diana. He—"

"..."

"..."

"...Why isn't he returning?" Aerith then said as she could no longer feel Riley's presence.

"I think he returned to Earth. Despite what he seems like, he doesn't like being scolded," Diana casually muttered as she floated near Aerith,

"Aren't you going to follow him?"

"..."

"..."

"No," Aerith scoffed as she glared at Diana, "You think I am going to let you out of my sight again?"

"Hm," Diana only shrugged.

"He has experienced how it is like fighting with Higher Races... He'll be bored with the humans soon enough, anyway. There's nothing left for him there…

...he'll find us."

"I don't know about that. He seems quite fond of the Earthers," Diana said as she looked towards the direction where Earth should be.

"Then you don't know your son as much as you do," Aerith scoffed, "But you and I? We…

…are going to have a very long talk."

"Well…" Diana smiled as she once again wore her glasses that came out from nowhere,

"…I need you for something anyway."