Three years ago. November 25th, 2023.
'I'll start organizing a trip to the outside world so we can see how the people on the other side live. If I'm going to trap everyone in here and push them to their deaths, that's the least I can do. At least some of them don't die in ignorance of the world they live in.'
That decision wasn't made by the Reaper himself. Even as he rested against the bow of the ship, staring out at the vast sea, he remembered his response to Azazel's encouraging words supporting Alex's random suggestion.
Glowing white hair moving with the wind, August's heterochromatic orbs squinted white temporarily blinded from the sun's reflection shining against the ocean.
"It's kinda odd, ain't it?" Azazel's familiar voice asked from behind.
August turned around, arm stretched over the bow's edge. "Yeah. In the Old World, nothing was off-limits on Earth. We could go anywhere we wanted. But, even if we'd run to the ends of the earth, they'd always find us," he said, looking off at the sea again.
"Yeah." Azazel leaned back against the bow beside his partner. "We thought we were free. But Ben realized we weren't. For so long, before you and I were even born, we were being toyed with. Just puppets dancing along pulled strings. Until we decimated the enemy's home… and paid the price for the freedom we wanted," he reminisced.
Azazel's spiked black hair momentarily swayed in tandem with the ocean breeze. "Will they have to repeat the same tragedy?" he asked with Katie's face in mind.
"I can only hope not. But this isn't the type of world built upon ignorant hopes. Though I hate to say it, they—or no more accurately, WE… would have to do it again. Repeat the same tragedy and destroy our enemy's home. That's always the path that awaits us down the unchangeable road of the unmistakable disastrous future."
And so, they reached the opposite continent's shore. The ship unleashed the automatic ramp from its side, allowing the inner citizens to begin pouring out like ants. All of them were Evolutionary citizens, some Hybrids, others Evolutionaries. Regardless of whoever they were, they'd signed onto this trip for a reason. So, without any information on their future actions, they aimlessly wandered around the space surrounding the ship. That was until the Reaper's hand shot into the sky.
They psychically turned to his raised arm. Riot's masses still stood atop the boat, watching from afar as the Reaper loudly informed the subjects of their mission here. Ace, leaning against the railing encircling the ship, turned to his comrades.
"What's the point of him yelling all that? I doubt they'll remember anything he says anyway… I know I never do," he said.
"I dunno, he's your dad. Not like anything he does make sense anyway," Katie whispered.
Just then, Ace's forehead stung. Rubbing his temples while the conversations continued in the background, he nodded slowly. That was his death. The same man who told him those words he lived by every waking moment.
'I know that's not as stylish as you'd be hoping your old man's last words would be but… even if you have to gnaw your way through, my sweet boy- Live.'
Despite identical their faces were, it was undeniable that the Reaper he met two years ago differed from that of his father's self now. Regardless, he was powerless. He noticed this difference but so what? They were already rebelling against his idiotic plans of inaction… wasn't that enough for them?
"Yeah. He's my dad," Ace uttered.
"I understand the feeling," Katie agreed with her cousin.
Her words earned Wilder's head-turning curiosity, as his puzzled eyes now looked to her.
"What do you mean?" He asked for clarification.
"When I first met my dad, I didn't think he'd ever be like the person I know now. He seemed so otherworldly, it was hard to believe. You live by those infamous words but the man you saw then and the man you see now are different. Sometimes, the people we admire are much worse than we want them to be. Is that the case for you?" Katie questioned.
"I don't know. To me, it's more like… he was a better father when he wasn't involved with our lives," Ace elaborated.
Kate solemnly nodded. Uncrossing her arms from covering her bust, she hid her hands in her jacket pockets. "So you don't love him?" she asked.
"Can't find it within me. Is that a bad thing?" Ace wondered.
"No," Katie's words sent Ace to pause, raising an eyebrow. "We're fighting against him after all. Better to have a clear conscience for when the time comes."
Wilder's scarlet Divergence wandered over his cousin's shorter posture. Even as she spoke, she didn't dare look up at him. His hands still buried inside his hoodie's conjoined pocket, Ace's head lowered. Then, he nodded. Before they could speak any further, he fled from beside her. Instead, he reconvened with his sister waiting for him with arms behind her back and sparkling eyes. The second he touched the space next to his sister, June grabbed her brother's arm and dragged him along to meet with the brass below.
Katie was left alone. Engulfed by the cruelty of the world just some square miles, unparalleled silence surrounded her; quiet no one dared disturb. She rummaged through her clothing before revealing a lighter. To her eyes, her environment was entirely blackened. But just that pressure sinking into the button alit a flickering flame hovering over the device radiated the entirety of the neighboring void, vanquishing the darkness once and for all.
She looked away from the fire as it vanished, looking up to the bright blue sky with equally darkened azure retinas. Clouds, sun, and sky reflected in her optics, she finally exhaled, breathing life into this dry, deserted air. A demonic stench lingered ever further into her nose--her head. The only way to extinguish that evil would assuredly be that disastrous road. But... did they have to strive for such an end? Wasn't there another path?
...
Through the desert's perilous dryness, the group wandered for hours. Every so often, upon every sandy structure, they'd be met with an adversary. Whether it be a humanoid assassin or demonic monster, it mattered not. They all fell, courtesy of the Reaper's all-powerful Requiem strength. Disintegrating bones expressing steam left in their wake, August led the Evolutionary citizens through the ever-expanding environment until they enclosed that spherical destination.
After two days of marching, they finally reached. The circular shadow from the city's spiraling sphere leaked over the dried mountains, blocking out the all-powerful superheated sun. That was until they inevitably enclosed upon the mountain's summit. Over the peak of the environment, piercing high into the sky and further into the distance: there it was. The only one without a marveled expression staining their features was her.
Katie's black strands floated in pair with the fall wind's trajectory yet her face was devoid of even the slightest surprised look. The Demon City's entrance consisted of cracked rectangular ruin stabbed toward the sky.
"Take a good look, kids. This is it. The Demon Capital: Retly. From this point onward, we'll be infiltrating enemy territory," Alex informed his students.
Riot's reactions differed greatly between the masses. Ace's wide scarlet orbs mirrored Retly's confined Capital with sparkles entrenched in his pupils. June's open mouth widely smiled, withholding her adoration by muffling a whiny gasp. Only Kima contained her astonishment, lips barely parted as her short hair moved with her surprised features absorbing this scenery.
Ace turned to Katie, curious about her reaction. Unfortunately, his face fell upon spotting her face. Wholly drab and lifeless; inherited azure eyeballs as apathetic as her father's usual face. He'd ask her why she acted so uncaring, but it was pointless.
That memory resurged to his mind's forefront. Some months prior, when she touched Alex's shoulder the day after his return, she faltered. Coincidentally, on that day, she made the same face his father did with clenched teeth and frightened expanded eyes. He'd ask himself why... but it was pointless. The truth would become clear, soon. But until the curtains would fall, they would keep moving forward--until they reached their terminus.