"I apologize for the sudden intrusion… but I am here to get my son back."
"..."
Clones.
The Diana of this other universe, much like the Diana of Riley's universe, is used to seeing clones and has even dabbled in creating a couple here and there. What she was completely unaware of, however, was how one feels when they see an exact replica of them.
Suffice it to say, she knows now—but not exactly. Because the woman in front of her was not her clone, but an entirely different one that lived a different life… well, maybe this other version was a little fatter than her.
"Oh, she looks prettier than you, Dee."
"Shut up… and no, she's not."
The situation was weird. Weird enough that even the Aerith of this universe, who had just witnessed the destruction of her race, almost forgot it momentarily due to her confusion. It almost made her wonder if she was going crazy due to the tragedy that happened to her.
And so, the only thing she could really do was just stand there utterly stupefied, watching as the crack that opened up in the air out of nowhere continued to grow. Watch as someone that looked exactly like Diana stepped out of the said hole with her hands raised.
"Please, don't panic Earth-1—we came here with no ill intentions," Diana calmly and very softly said as she looked Diana straight in the eyes. But after a few seconds, she turned to look at Alice, "We made a mistake, and we just want to fix it and leave, you will never have to see us again. And…"
Diana then turned to look at the headless corpse just casually laying on the floor, "...I am truly sorry for what my son did."
"...This is weird," Alice could not help but blink a couple of times as she looked back and forth between Diana and Diana; the calculation she was doing in her brain, loud enough to project from her eyes, "This is double weird."
"Earth-1?" Earth-1 Diana, on the other hand, tried her best to stay as calm as possible as she carefully approached Diana, "...I take it you named your world Earth-0?"
"...Yes," Diana smiled and nodded.
"How presumptuous of you to assume that you're the first to discover dimensional travel."
"Well… considering you haven't yet," Diana let out a small giggle as she finally lowered her arms and looked at Riley, who was still being blocked by Alice, "Riley, we need to drag you back home. Is… he stable?"
"...What do you mean 'is he stable'?" Alice squinted her eyes as she subtly blocked Riley from the rest of the people in the room even more, "He's just… a little lost."
"He's suffering from dementia."
"So he said too," Earth-1 Diana joined in on the conversation, "But we didn't detect anything in his brain when we scanned it. But seeing him now… perhaps he really is."
"...You didn't detect anything?" Diana squinted her eyes as she stared at Riley, who was quietly whispering to himself, repeating his words over and over again; asking himself where Aerith is.
"..." Diana then turned toward the Earth-1 Aerith. She looked at her from head to toe, before raising an eyebrow and saying, "...Queen Adel?"
"...No," Aerith knitted her eyebrows as this was the second time she was mistaken for her mother.
"...I guess it doesn't matter," Diana shook her head as she continued to approach Alice and Riley, "I may need your help in restraining him if he—"
"No."
But before Diana could even take a single step, Earth-1 Aerith suddenly appeared in front of her; placing her hand on Diana's chest and blocking her path,
"I don't know what is going on here, but you're not taking this man anywhere."
ƥandasnovel·ƈom "..." Diana could really only look Aerith in the eyes. Although Aerith seemed calm, it was obvious from her slightly trembling voice and watering eyes that she was only trying her best to pretend to be so.
"But I do need to," Diana once again raised her hand to show that she wasn't a threat as she looked at everyone in the room, "All this time, we thought that we were sending our criminals into a void, not knowing that there were actually people here… that this was another universe like our own. We will pay everything that we need to for what we did, but for now…
…Riley Ross needs to go back to our universe. None of you have any idea of how dangerous my son—"
"No… idea?" And before Diana could finish her words, Aerith slightly pushed her; her eyes, glowing red as her breaths released more like growls, "This man just wiped out my people! He killed each and every one that I held dear and I watched helpless as he did it to others. You're the one that has no idea of how I feel!"
"...But I do," the tone of Diana's voice became meek as she returned Aerith's glare.
"...What?"
"I do," Diana subtly nodded as she let out a sigh.
"..." The room suddenly became silent as they all just looked at Diana. Earth-1 Diana, who was carefully looking at the crack in the air, also could not help but lower her eyebrows as she heard her counterpart's words.
"So, why is he still alive?" Earth-1 Diana's voice was as cold as it could get, "Did you show mercy because he's your son?"
"...You don't know yet?" Diana blinked a couple of times, "He's immortal."
"So are we."
"No, we're just very hard to kill," Diana let out a wry chuckle as she shook her head, "He truly can't die—and the longer he stays here, the longer your universe will be in danger—that is why I am here."
"Maybe you just haven't tried enough," Aerith's eyes once again turned red as she looked at Riley.
"Trust me…" Diana turned to look at the floor; her shoulders, almost drooping as the tone of her voice was enough to let everyone know the despair and sadness endlessly growing inside her,
"...We did. Please, let us secure Riley Ross first, and we will answer all of your questions to the best of our abilities."
"..." Earth-1 Aerith and Earth-1 Diana looked at each other, before ultimately shaking their heads as Earth-1 Diana suddenly moved behind Diana and grabbed her by the arms.
"Alice, kill him!" Earth-1 Diana roared as she looked at Alice.
"...Huh? Why would I do that?" Alice, on the other hand, was just scratching her scalp as she looked at Riley, "Your MILF version said he's immortal."
"Wh—Can you for once, just start acting serious!?"
"He… looks harmless," Alice said as she watched as Riley just continued to whisper to himself, "...and pitiful. Maybe he just needs a mother's love."
"...I'm her mother," Diana quickly responded, "And I gave him plenty of love."
"Well… maybe he needs more?"
"Have you forgotten what he just did within the past hour!?" Earth-1 Diana once again screamed, "He wiped out more than a hundred civilizations like they were—"
[Ladies, there is no need for this to escalate.]
And once again, the group was interrupted as a somewhat familiar voice whispered from the crack in the air, or more specifically, from the tiny RC car that emerged from it. The tiny car then started driving around the floor, before ultimately parking near Earth 1 Aerith and Diana, and Diana.
[I'm sorry, dear. You tried.]
"...Yeah," Diana said before closing her eyes and clenching her teeth. And before the two other themarians could wonder what she was doing, the RC car suddenly exploded.
Diana then made sure to grab Aerith, even gripping Earth-1 Diana as a large net burst forth from the shattered RC car and shot straight toward the three of them, covering them completely.
"!!!" And with a small zap, the three could feel their strength leaving their bodies, causing Earth-1 Aerith and Earth-1 Diana to quickly kneel to the ground. As for Diana, she was the only one that remained standing; her grip, not loosening as she restrained the two.
"Sorry, but I have a mother's strength," Diana whispered.
Alice was about to remove the net, but before he could do so, Bernard calmly stepped out of the crack and showed himself.
"Oh, what…" Alice covered her mouth as she seemed to be stopping herself from laughing, "It's… It's a fat bearded Bernard!"
"...So, you don't really ever grow up, Alice," Bernard could really only let out a small sigh. He was about to approach her and Riley before her eyes landed on the headless corpse on the floor.
"This…" Bernard squinted his eyes as he quickly recognized the patterns on the red armor. It wasn't obvious when he was seeing it from the portal, but…
"...This is me," Bernard muttered as he approached the corpse of his other version, moving it around to inspect it, "I'm… dead in this universe?"
"...A little?" Alice awkwardly chuckled, "Your son kinda killed you?"
"...I see," Bernard closed his eyes upon hearing Alice's words, "I don't really know how to feel about that, but I suppose it doesn't matter. If I'm dead…
…then has the Death Will triggered yet?"
"I have no idea what that is, rather than that… can you let my friend go?" Alice sighed as she pointed at the people covered by the net, "Seeing as we're all friends in the other world, maybe we… can just talk?"
"Death Will is something that will trigger in the event of my death," Bernard did not answer Alice and instead continued to examine Earth-1 Bernard's body, "I have one, I am assuming that my other version has one too…
…Mine is activating my suit's AI to bring me back to my wife."
"That's sweet and all, but—"
And before Alice could finish her words, Bernard's suit started to merge with Earth-1 Bernard's suit.
"What are you doing!?"
"Downloading data. I am sure my other version won't just die without leaving something important," Bernard insisted, raising a finger to gesture to everyone to just wait, almost as if they weren't already dealing with the weirdest situation they could find themselves in. But after a few minutes, Bernard stood up and let out a very long and deep sigh before whispering,
"Oh… fuck."
"...Dear?" Diana's eyes widened as she looked at her husband—after all, the times that Bernard curses could really only be counted in one hand, and each time he does so, it is when he completely messes up, "What… did you find?"
"The thing that we were most afraid of…" Bernard breathed out as he tried to calm himself down, "...He was able to make it, and just recently at that."
"You mean…"
"Dimensional travel," Bernard closed his eyes and sighed, "And that's not even the worst part—it is his Death Will."
"..."
"After his death…
…multiple portals will start opening."
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