Villain Retirement

"Riley... I'm already dead."

"Hm."

"Don't be so sad."

Riley's face did not really change at all; his eyebrows only lowering for a single millimeter. Even then, however, Paige still let out a very long and deep sigh while shaking her head as she saw his face.

"I'm just very glad we've met, you know?" Paige smiled as she closed her eyes, "But sadly...

...not all of us could make it."

"I suppose so, Paige."

"Whatever divine fate or interference led us to meet for me to exist at the same time as you, I already consider myself lucky. And I don't even know why, you know? The truth is, Riley...

...I actually barely even know you. I do know you, but not like that. I know you because I am meant to. We come as a pair, after all."

"Then who is on top of the Tower, Paige?" Riley tilted his head to the side, "Is it Jennifer?" "...I have no idea who that is," Paige squinted her eyes at Riley.

"If she is not lying, then she is you from the future, Paige," Riley shrugged, "Or perhaps I think it is more proper to say that it is Other Paige's second identity after you."

"So weird, right?" Paige let out a small but very deep sigh as she patted her hips, "So many things happening, don't you wish you could just turn back time — maybe live again some other way?"

"That is what you are doing here now, Paige," Riley looked around.

"Yeah, wonder when it all went wrong," Paige closed her eyes, "Everything just happened so fast for you that you didn't even have time to rest, it's just action after action, after action. I've seen it, you know - what would have happened if you just continued to live your life not as Darkday but as Riley Ross the superhero...

...It's this," Paige let out another sigh as she looked at Hannah.

"Hm."

"After that blonde old guy who was pretending to be in his 20s broke up with Hannah..." "Julius."

"Yes, that guy," Paige started walking; the scenery, changing with each of her steps and reflecting what she was saying, "I just made a little tweak where you just tortured and killed him immediately, and he blurted out his plans and you were able to thwart it - and after that, it's smooth sailing after...

...you even met me."

The scenery once again returned to the venue of the wedding party, with Paige standing beside a faceless guest.

"You lived a fairly normal life, considering," Paige smiled, "In fact, it was actually just last month that the two of you decided to get married to each other since both of you are single. It was kinda cute and creepy at the same time."

"I think I am getting tired of seeing different lives I could have led, Paige," Riley shook his head, "I would prefer to just live the one I have now."

"But the one you have now brought you to this moment," Paige once again started walking around the venue, "Then, let me just show you one final thing."

Paige then snapped her fingers, and as she did so, the scenery around them started to move forward getting faster and faster by the millisecond until once again proceeding at a normal rate; the venue was already gone, and the house, although not that noticeable, had grown in age.

"That is the fucking problem with you, Riley!"

"Hm?" Riley then turned to look at Hannah as she practically kicked the door of the house and stomped her way out while violently pointing her finger at him.

"We've been together since we were children, and you-you refuse to actually connect and now... now you suddenly do this!?"

"Mom, just please stop!"

"..." Riley stepped to the side as a child followed Hannah out of the house, once again faceless.

"Liara, go back to the house, now!"

"Stop screaming at Dad!"

"Then he shouldn't have slept around with the most fucking powerful woman in the world! Really!? Megawoman!?"

"You see?" Paige snapped her fingers and made everything stop again, "Your story, Riley - it never ends in a happy ending."

"I was unfaithful to Sister?" Riley tilted his head to the side.

"No, you are," Paige shrugged, "But it just so happens that you process love differently. You love both of them quite equally."

"And what happens after this?"

"You leave the planet and live the rest of your time all alone for billions and billions of years," Paige sighed, "And the universe was also safe for billions and billions of years."

"Hm," Riley looked to the side, "I suppose that is proper."

"You did not ask me what happened after those billions and billions of years."

"What happened?"

"You were thrown to the Domain of the Gods and reunited with Hannah," Paige shrugged, "But by then she does not even remember who you are, and you reminded her by killing each and every one there except her."

"That does sound like something I would do," Riley placed his hand on his chin, "But how are all these hypothetical scenarios relevant again? I already know that my story will end in tragedy. One of my clone's children from the future told me that I split up my body in separate pieces and sealed them all in individual places."

"You don't get it," Paige closed her eyes again, "You just need to disappear. Like really disappear."

"I have been trying to do that since the beginning, Paige," Riley tilted his head to the side, "And when I disappeared for 600 years, everything turned for the worse."

"Because you didn't really disappear, you caused all the events to happen," Paige shook her head, "You and I, Riley Ross - as long as we are here, anywhere near - we will just repeat and repeat and repeat...

...I know how this ends too, you know? The scenario you are in right now."

||

"I'll tell you, because if I tell you then something might change — or maybe not, I didn't really run it yet. I can't... I'm already dead," Paige smiled, "Riley, you find Renna in the

Domain of the Gods."

"But the Domain of the Gods is gone."

"No, as soon as Elementia came back, it also came back with him," Paige shook her head, "Things happen, like they always do- and in the end, you live peacefully again for a while, then something happens again. Rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat until finally, this universe gets tired of our shit and just dies and turns into nothing...

...and then another universe is just built by you and me-the Other Paige or whoever, and as you said you chop yourself in several pieces. But you again revive and the cycle repeats itself.

You say you want to be isolated but you...

...you just keep getting involved."

"Hm..." Riley flicked his finger and created a chair to sit on.

"I've seen your fate, you're... so, so tired," Paige then finally approached Riley, sitting on the

ground right in front of him as she rested her head on his lap, "Your goal to turn everything into nothing is successful until it's not. But Riley...

...I think it is you that is to be nothing. If you want to give the people you care about a chance

to actually live a peaceful life, you need to be nothing."

"And how do I achieve that, Paige?"

"You have already seen it being achieved," Paige smiled, "Van."

"...I am not as fast as him."

"I'm not telling you to outrun fate and creation itself," Paige let out a small giggle, "I am

telling you that you need to find a permanent way to just leave everything behind, where you know you can't go back no matter what. Chopping you into several pieces and sealing your body parts won't work, obviously. And even if you go to a universe and stay there for eons, you would just end up back in the Domain of the Gods."

"I would have already done that if I could, I told you," Riley gently placed his hand on Paige's head and brushed his hair.

"Then maybe I, myself, could offer a solution..." Paige then leaned away and looked Riley in

the eyes, "...We merge."

"Merge...?" Riley tilted his head to the side.

"The problem is you and me," Paige held her chest, "We are both negatives, but if you combine us we might become something positive. Don't you think so?"

"I do not really see the logic in that."

"Logic doesn't exist here," Paige let out a small giggle as she reached her hand out to Riley,

"Hold my hand, Riley - and we can both disappear into nothing and finally turn into

something else completely."

"Hm..." Riley blinked a couple of times as he stood up; the chair he was sitting on disappearing as he did so, "...Can I ask something, Paige?"

"Hm?" Paige tilted her head to the side while still having her hand raised.

"Who are you?"

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