Villain Retirement

Silence.

Perhaps that was the only thing everyone could really whisper as Riley continued torturing both King and all the Prophet variants he had kept in his hideout. Fortunately for everyone watching, there were actually just less than 15 variants — and King chose not to lobotomize any of them.

And so, that left everyone just sitting there; watching Riley terrorize each and every one of them. No one really tried to stop him, not even once.

[And now, for the last one.]

Riley then gestured to the side of the stage again as he welcomed the last variant. To everyone's surprise, however, the last one wasn't strapped on a bed, no—he voluntarily walked to the stage. Voluntarily, except for the fact that his legs were trembling and the look on his face was extremely terrified.

[Congratulations, Mr. Steve,] Riley smiled at Steve as he reached the center of the stage, [You've been chosen to live with King from now on. Isn't that nice?]

"W…what?"

Steve's variant could really only stutter as he heard Riley's words. He knew he wasn't going to die here, he had seen it play out—but not how it ends. And he wasn't the only one confused, King and everyone else that were watching could not help but look at each other.

[I am feeling very merciful today,] Riley let out a sigh as he gestured to King and Steve to stick together, [Therefore I am letting both of you live — but of course, like me, you will be put on trial by those who you have wronged.]

Riley then gestured to Diana and the others,

"Whether you live or die, it is up to them now."

"Gah!" King then suddenly screamed as his head was lifted up by an invisible force. Soon, however, a trickle of blood spat out from his left ear. And as he dropped to the ground, his flesh and skin started to tremble and squirm; his face, very slowly aging until he looked completely identical to Bard,

"W… what did you do!?"

"Removed your abilities, King," Riley smiled as he pointed at his head, "I actually learned how you were stealing the abilities of other people when I stole your armor — I let Ahor Zai scour it the brief time we were on the space station."

"Then…" King's words were sluggish as he felt his age catching up to him, "...Why do all this!?"

"Because it's fun, King," Riley shrugged as he just stepped off the stage, "You can do whatever you want now. Of course, in the condition that Steve will always be by your side. After all, you did all of this for him, I thought it best that it would end with him. By the way…

…I left a scalpel on the bed."

Steve quickly turned to look at the hospital bed near him, only to see that a scalpel truly was resting there; just on top of a pillow, clean and seemingly never been used before.

And with that, Riley twirled his finger — causing the curtains that were not previously there to close the stage from everyone's eyes. The only thing everyone could really hear was Steve's almost wailing scream filled with rage.

"Did all of you have fun with our performance, everybody?"

"That's… that's my son!" Alice Prime quickly stood up from her chair and started clapping for Riley. The others, however, could really only shake their heads and remain quiet. Were they really just forced to sit throughout the entire thing?

No, all of them could actually just leave while Riley was torturing all those Steve variants — but in truth, there really was nowhere else to go. This was over.

They have prepared themselves to die in the war against King, they have steeled themselves for a long brutal battle…

…but Riley ended it in less than an hour.

And although very unlikely, perhaps it was a way of Riley warning them. Warning them that if they were already having a hard time trying to deal with King, how could they even expect to face Riley?

Whether they want to admit it or not, even if it wasn't already blatantly said to them, Riley truly is a god. Even if Queen Adel or Queen Vania joined forces, there was already no stopping Riley. All they could really do was what Riley has been doing all along in his life…

…go with the flow.

"Where are you going, Riley!?" Hannah stood up from her seat as she saw Riley just casually leaving.

"Oh, I am going to see Paige, Sister," Riley stopped walking as he looked at everyone, "As for the rest of you, you can actually leave now — the performance is over. Go home…

…or start planning on how to deal with me."

***

"Paige!"

"Ah, Hannah!"

And true enough, Paige was being kept in the same place — her room, seemingly vast that one could not even see the horizon. But as soon as she stood up from the chair she was sitting on, the endless garden instantly disappeared and was replaced by a bleak, empty, metal room with no windows.

There was, however, a table and a set of chairs… where a clone of Riley was seemingly dining with Paige.

"Are… are you safe!? Were you hurt by that pervert!?" Hannah quickly grabbed Paige's face, checking her to see if she had any bruises or cuts.

"N…no, not at all," Paige shook her head, "He just interrogated me from time to time. There are parts of my memory that are empty, so Other Paige probably took over a lot — the guy probably couldn't handle her that much since when I come to again, he's gone. To my surprise, though. Like… a couple of weeks ago, Riley suddenly appeared… Well, his clone anyway. And then—"

"I'm glad you're safe, Paige," Hannah hugged Paige. And as soon as she did so, Paige's lips started to tremble as tears suddenly burst forth from her eyes.

"You… you have no idea," Paige stuttered, "I was… I was so scared I thought the guy was going to cut my brain or something. Riley…"

"Paige."

Only Hannah, Aerith, Riley, and Diana were there. The others have already all returned to the space station to either go home, or plan their next move as Riley suggested.

Paige reached for Riley's hand while Hannah was still embracing her. Riley did not seem adverse to this, however, as he held the crying Paige's hand. Paige also reached for Aerith, who also quickly but very gently held her hand.

"I heard…" Paige smiled at Aerith, "...You and Riley finally came to an understanding."

"...Not really," Aerith could really only smile as she glanced at Riley, "Like most things, it'll end. But for now, it's… beautiful."

"And fucked up," Hannah joined in on the conversation as she let go of Paige, "Everything's so fucked up, Paige. You're a god too?"

"I… don't know," Paige smiled as she shook her head, "Honestly, I'm just happy that I'm still amongst the living, you know."

"And we're going home too," Hannah nodded as she let out a very long and deep sigh, "Just… Riley, whatever it is you're planning to do — do it after I'm long gone, okay? End the multiverse or whatever evil shit you're up to next…

…just do it when I'm gone. I'm honestly so tired of all this fucking bullshit."

"..."

"Oi, Riley. The fuck? Are you listening?"

"..." Riley suddenly let go of Paige's hand as he seemed to be looking at something on the ceiling. Paige and Hannah could not help but just look at each other in confusion. But when they turned to look at Aerith, they found that she was also doing the same.

"Riley, what's going o—!!!"

And before Hannah could finish her words, the entire room they were in suddenly split open — no. It wasn't only the room, but the entire fortress, and whichever planet the fortress was on was split open — no.

The very fabric of space itself opened up and erased everything around them. Hannah did not even need to wonder who did it, however, as her eyes were completely covered by them.

Silhouettes. Human, perhaps — it was hard to see as it felt like each of their silhouettes were sucking in everything, and at the same time, creating everything. It is almost as if their bodies themselves were a part of the universe, or perhaps, they were the universe themselves.

Soon, however, their cosmic silhouettes turned small — all six of them.

Navi, Death, Celestial, Elementia, Machina, and Ruin. All of them now looked incredibly human, so much so that they all looked like someone you could actually just see casually walking on the mall; average, extremely so.

Their hair was of different colors, and even though Hannah had absolutely no idea what was going on, for some reason, she knew exactly who each of them were.

The six then very slowly started walking toward them in the now empty space of nothing; their eyes, all staring at Paige.

"...What the fuck is happening?" Hannah took in a small gulp as she instinctively covered Paige. Aerith did the same, even fully knowing that whatever they do, they will not affect the outcome of whatever happens next.

"Riley Ross, we meet again." Navi, who still looked eerily similar to the youthful Charlotte, was the first to step forward as she strayed her eyes to Riley.

"Navi," Riley bowed, "I thought you were not on good terms with your siblings."

"I am not, but things have changed," Navi whispered; her voice, echoing deep into everyone's ears,

"We, I… have come to like living with the living."