Chapter 1090: Chapter 1090: My Fate
"You look beautiful, Sister."
Riley did not even bother looking at the scenery around them as he just looked at Hannah"s face. Hannah was not really saying anything to him at all and was also just staring back - but after a few moments, a look of disbelief started to curl on her face as she lightly hit Riley on the chest.
"Creep," Hannah raised one side of her lips as she glared at Riley, "I knew you had a fetish like that."
"I have no such thing, Sister," Riley tilted his head to the side as he once again looked at the wedding dress that Hannah was wearing, "Who is the unlucky man you are getting married to, Sister?"
"Haha, very funny," Hannah then lightly pushed Riley away, finally causing Riley to look at the rest of the people in the venue he suddenly found himself in - he was familiar with it, of course; it was at the back of their house, and there were also a lot of people there that seemed familiar if it wasn"t for the fact that they had no face at all.
Even without faces, however, Riley was sure that they were all looking at him and Hannah and so, very slowly, Riley looked at what he was wearing.
"And I"m not getting married, we just got married like an hour ago, you f.u.c.k," Hannah raised her middle finger at Riley, causing the guests to burst into a fit of laughter.
Riley once again just stared at Hannah for a few seconds after that and just nodded to himself.
"Okay," Riley said as he approached Hannah, "And then what happens now?"
"What... do you mean what happens now?" Hannah raised an eyebrow.
"He means what you"re going to do tonight! It"s going to be a very long and aw-"
"Shut up, Gary!"
And as the people started laughing again, Hannah just let out a small groan and grabbed Riley by the hand before pulling him to the side.
"Uh oh! Just married an hour ago and you"re already in trouble!"
"We"ve all been there, bub!"
"Riley!" Hannah then continued to drag Riley away until they were covered by one of the large curtains that served as a decoration for their venue, "...Are you feeling okay?"
Hannah"s aggressive tone, however, just completely faded away as she opened her mouth again; her eyes, only filled with concern as she looked at her groom, "Is there something bothering you? You just stood there kinda lost earlier."
"We have already done this scenario before."
"What do you-wait, do you mean when we did it for Alice?" Hannah let out a small but very deep sigh before stepping closer to Riley and resting her head on his chest, "Is that why you"ve been staring into nowhere again...? Are you thinking of that moment?"
"No."
"Well... I really would have liked Alice to see the real thing too," Hannah let out a small sigh as she gently held both of Riley"s hands, "Who knew, right? You and me... in the end. It"s... so weird. What"s even weirder is that mom and dad were okay with it, like... what?"
"Why are you with me?" Riley asked as he just stared at Hannah"s shoulder.
"What do you mean why am I with you...?" Hannah let out a small groan as she leaned away and looked Riley in the eyes, "I"m with you because I love you, Riley."
"You love me?" Riley could really only stare at Hannah"s face, "But why? When you know that I am evil, and that I will not stop."
"...What are you even talking about?" "That I am-"
"Stop."
And before Riley could finish his words, all the noise that bombarded his ears just stopped. Even Hannah"s eyes which were just looking at him with nothing but endearment stopped reflecting his silhouette.
"Riley, what are you doing?"
Riley stood there for a few seconds even though a familiar voice started to whisper from the other side of the curtain. He stared at the frozen Hannah for a few seconds before finally letting out a small sigh and snapping his fingers and causing the curtain to just fall to the ground instantly — revealing a slightly pet.i.te woman with curly orange hair just standing there, wearing a simple white dress.
"Paige," Riley took one final glance at the frozen Hannah before moving closer to Paige; Paige, however, took a step back while shaking her head.
"This entire thing has become a mess, hasn"t it?" Paige smiled at Riley.
"Just a little more than usual," Riley shrugged.
"Pft... I knew you"d say that," Paige let out a small giggle while covering her mouth, "You"ve been gone for a very long time."
"Yes. Some things happened, Paige," Riley nodded as he just chose to stand there.
"Oh, I know - I"ve seen Death and Elementia running around trying to control things and make sense of what"s happening," Paige once again giggled, "Riley, the situation is worse than you think. The only reason Death and Elementia are not freaking out is, well... because they"re not human."
"Hm. But this place is yours, correct?"
"I"m guessing you"re looking for an explanation of it all?" There was a sense of slight guilt in Paige"s eyes as she stretched her arms to the side while looking at the scenario she created, "I didn"t really mean for it to become this big, not really. But you were gone for a very long time, Riley... those people came and the only thing I could really do was to try and change everything. A lot of people died. And... I"m talking too much again - I guess that part of me hasn"t changed at all, huh?"
"Why are you doing all of this, Paige?"
"Because I got scared," Paige smiled as she looked Riley in the eyes, "I got scared of failing, I got scared of all the violence, I got scared of the world without you, Riley. I knew you"d return, of course, I just didn"t know when. The Primordials, when they were training me, they also started to suddenly change... becoming erratic. I asked them to help the people being killed left and right, but they just watched...
...so I had to do it, I had to change to be strong enough to create... to create what was lost."
"That is a normal response to trauma, Paige," Riley just shrugged as he returned Paige"s gaze, "If anything, I do believe you did well in holding on."
"That"s the thing... I couldn"t hold on," a small drop of tear started to trail down Paige"s cheek as she shook her head, "You"re not really talking to me, at least not the real me -- but I suppose at this point, it"s already hard to tell the distinction. Did you like it? The lives I"m showing you."
"They are alright, Paige," Riley glanced back at the frozen Hannah, "But it is unrealistic."
"Not at all," Paige let out a soft chuckle as she wiped her tears, "The one with Karina and Hera truly would have happened if you made a different choice - my creations are taken from reality, as you may already be aware. And this one too, where you get married to Hannah... ...and the life you are living now too. Lucy and Renna, it was... nice seeing them grow."
"Hm."
"You know this life," Paige looked at the frozen Hannah, "I can make it your reality. I can do that now, you know? You can too if you want, you have my abilities - well, not really. You have it because in my mind, you should have it. It"s kinda weird like that?"
"Then I suppose you also know that the world you created is clashing with the old world,
Paige?"
"Yes," Paige nodded, "Thank you for finding a way to save the people I created, by the way."
"I am not doing it for them."
"I know," Paige smiled.
"We are still trying to find a way to convert the two of them," Riley nodded, "Apparently because they are a mixture of your universe and the old one, it is impossible to do so."
"I"m sorry..." Paige closed her eyes and sighed, "...I"m sorry that it is happening to you." "You do not have to be, I deserve every bad thing that happens to me," Riley shook his head.
"But they don"t," Paige nodded several times.
"Once we do find a way to convert them, Paige - are you able to completely erase the universe you have created?" Riley tilted his head to the side.
"I can"t," Paige shook her head, "That"s up to you to figure out now, Riley. Maybe you can find an answer on top of this tower - you"ve cleared this trial already, and I think something is going to open in the Black Tower now that would change everything."
"Are you on the top of the Black Tower, Paige?" Riley looked up at the sky as Paige did the
same.
"Me...? No," Paige shook her head before letting out a very long and deep breath, looking down before looking Riley in the eyes, "Riley...
...I"m already dead."