She watched as a single hand reached out from the shadows that lingered in the Palace and the anger in Zeon ignited like a flame. Her golden eyes glared at the man as he grasped a hold of the dagger and Zeon's lips pulled back as she snarled at the man, her eyes narrowing at him as she reached for her sword, only to once more, become unable to move her body. What kind of magic was this?! Instead pain was felt like a shock wave as she threw her head back, beads of sweat collecting as she struggled to fight it. But she refused to give him the satisfaction of screaming in pain, even as her limbs twisted unnaturally, her body being slowly lifted off the ground, leaving her seemingly helpless.
“I’m… going to-” she struggled to speak, her lips trembling as she growled at him. “Kill you… with that dagger.” She needed to break from this grasp. Her sisters life, the life of her family was depending on this. She couldn’t fail again, not again. She let out a feral battle cry as she began to channel her rage, focusing on the Darkforce that was now awaken within her. Her hands began to ball into fists as she began to move her head, slowly regaining some control of herself as her body was slowly descending from the air. But before she could fully break free, her body was sent flying back into the wall, her body slamming so forcefully into it that the back of her head slammed right into it.
Her body fell to the ground as she groaned in pain, blood trickling from the back of her her wounded skull. Slowly lifting her head, the last thing she saw was the unknown man holding onto the Dark One’s Dagger and faded back into the darkness as her own world was consumed by the abyss of the unconscious mind.
"No that can't be. That's impossible", Thee Champion protested, his voice barely echoing over his fluttering cape and the winds that stirred it. Drifting above Madrid's clouds, his face strained with confusion as a holographic rhombus insisted, it's computerized and monotone voice devoid of any warmth or empathetic concern for the New God's growing confusion, (-No. It is science. If the Æther's scanners are accurate, which they are, then your organic remnants are located in the ruins of the structure below-). Impossible, Alexis certainly thought so. How else could he rationalize it? To his knowledge, he'd never been to Spain, much less one of it's ruins. How then could traces of him exist there? There was no sense being made.
For a moment, silence hung between them. (-I understand that this must be an alarming discovery. Would words of comfort be to your liking?-), the Æther's A.I. offered. "It's fine. I'll investigate this on my own. I'll let you know if I need you", Alexis dismissed, descending from the night sky until the air warmed and the soles of his boots met the ground. And the rubble, the palace ruins all about him, the dead garden and the dust in the air - it was a haunting sight. The silver gleam cast by the moonlight, it drew something from him, the feeling of longing. For what however, he did not, could not know. He strode forward, his red cape hanging from his powerful shoulders, his great blue eyes casting their gaze at every corner. This place, what remained of it, it stirred his depression. The depression from the loss of his adoptive mother and the death of his old friends - some from old age, others from war injuries.
There was no warmth and camaraderie in his life. He'd long since forgotten what brought him happiness, he'd long since abandoned his hobbies, and begun deliberately challenging death at ever turn. "Why don't you go fishing?", the Æther's A.I. once asked him. "Because all my fishing buddies are dead", Alexis had answered. If not for his great sense of concern and moral responsibility for others, for a world he protected unlike the mother he couldn't, if not for his duty as a hero, Alexis'd not know what to do with himself. And this place, the corpse of the Liafador Palace of a forgotten life, it reminded him, almost mirrored how cold and solitary his life, his existence had become. Again and again, his eyes searched every corner and every edge of rubble for cellular traces of his presence there. "There must be something wrong with the Æther's scanners. I don't-".
Oh how quickly his words were cut short. He heard the sound of glass cracking under his boot. Glancing at the ground, he knelt and found the remains of a portrait. Much of it had been broken off. And as he held it, blowing a gust of air that cleaned it of it's dust, the New God's heart clamored in his chest and the sweat ran cold down his spine. It was a portrait of him. During happier times it seemed. And where just where the portrait was broken off, was a hand holding his. "Who?", he wondered, his eyes confirming what he'd begun to fear - the portrait was covered with traces of him.. and others. A woman. A child.. and others. No.. it proved far too much to process, it made no sense. The ground shook, the rubble quaked, and a thunderous shock-wave rippled all about as he blasted into the sky, escaping the Earth and returning to the Æther space station where he could think.
"Something told me he'd find his way here" The alt world equivlent hiss as she watched him disappear in a trail of vibrant red and blue. "The Championess" that's what she was originally dubbed, despite being the template for those that would follow with her namesake. The Champion was vulnerable, struggling to decipher what was real. She originally though she needed to extract her revenge in terms of the physical; but now it appeared a new strategy was possible. It only took hours to acclimate herself to this universe's version of the Liafador family, and though they were considerably stronger than HER family, she had the advantage. It appeared that none of them remembered each other, but she remembered them. She remembered Maya, Catalina she remembered how they defeated both her and M Z.
As a proud member of the Ninjan Royal Family, she wasn't going to allow it to stand.
He neither heard nor saw her. His senses neither confirmed nor even suspected her presence there. Thee Champion'd soared into the sky with confusion and only confusion on his mind. Behind his fluttering cape, the air was scorched, a tail of gleaming plasma trailing behind the shock-waves that rippled in his wake. The portrait, he held it, tucking it to his chest and draping it in gravitons, seizing command over the gravitational fields it met and making the portrait strong. Strong enough to face the violence of the New God's speed and survive. Survive as Alexis felt the air about him cool till the stars twinkled round him and he was in space. And as the Earth grew smaller and more distant, the New God drew closer to the Æther.
It's scanners hummed, sensing his presence as he glided towards the station's doors. For him, they parted open, and inside, the hurried and heavy sound of his footsteps drew the attention of the space station's A.I. (-The erratic manner of your footsteps indicate that you have learned of something you were not expecting-), it pointed out, it's dead and monotone voice echoing all about him. "You were right", Alexis answered, his face strained with confusion and conflict, the portrait tucked close to his broad chest as he walked in earnest and with a purpose, unaware of the threat that now loomed over him and the family he was made to forget. (-It was expected. It was impossible that the scanners were inaccurate-), the A.I. answered. "I guess so", Thee Champion sighed, setting the portrait down on a crystalline panel.
"Scan that for me. My DNA is on it", Alexis paused, gliding towards the large holographic display and keyboard that would display the scanning's results. "But there's more. There's DNA belonging to others. And I need to know who they are. Because that's a portrait of me - withsomeone else", Alexis revealed, holding his features in earnest, his blue eyes gazing upon the holographic screen, it's soft blue glow cast upon his face as the A.I. offered it's thoughts. (-It is possible that is somehow related to your experiences when accelerating to c/the speed of light. When you decelerate from c, you appear to have no memory of what you experienced or did during c. And you always exhibit symptoms of an intense physical and mental distress immediately after-).
(-Reality becomes closer towards breaking down when motion approaches c/the speed of light. When you reach c, you experience the warping of space and time, and the breakdown of reality to such an extent that whatever is revealed to you in that moment causes you great emotional distress. And yet you never have any recollection of it. Strange. Perhaps this portrait is linked to your troubles with c. Perhaps it is why you do not remember posing for said portrait-), the A.I. hypothesized as a silent Alexis pondered the implications of it all. And neither he nor the A.I. had any notion of how right the A.I.'s assessment was. At the speed of light, the breakdown of reality offers the New God a glimpse, reality is broken down and Sabella's essokinesis is temporarily overcome. In those moments, Alexis remembers his family and Ziccarra, his former life.
But once he decelerates, once he withdraws himself from the speed of light, reality is returned, space and time are left intact, Sabella's essokinesis takes it's hold - and Thee Champion remembers nothing. Nothing but the overwhelming sensation that something great and dear, something unknown was taken from him. "I.. I don't know. Maybe those DNA results will tell me what I need to know". And yet, it would tell him nothing of the threat that loomed. Nothing of the Ninjan Princess who sought his and his family's end.
It never used to be this way, Shayla Lopez or Ziccarra Prime; was once a hero, one of the best--but she gave herself to the darkness and was never able to recover. She boasted an immeasurable amount of energy, energy that could topple entire planets. The unique feature about her, that not many other people knew--she could grow stronger by absorbing her universal counter-parts. From what she saw back on Earth, Alexis was poised to locate the whereabouts of his ex-wife and fiance; she didn't have the time to wait for him to actually solve the puzzle--He'd need some extra motivation.
Following his departure from Madrid, The Ninjan Nutcracker followed his trek through the cosmos until she emerged from light speed in a black and white blur perpendicular to a structure that only someone of his talents could fabricate. "Impressive" She thought, watching as the station maintained a steady balance in the vaccum. Far enough to not be affected by any gravitational pull, but sturdy enough to withstand the natrual elements of the cosmos.
"...I know you can feel me now..." She said, floating with her hands folded. Aside from their pacific blue eyes Shayla and Ziccarra were nearly polar opposites. Shayla was blonde and stood 5'6 and was alien in orgin. Ziccarra had raven hair stood 5'11 and was for lack of a better word--mortal.
Her plan was not to confuse him, yet to engage him. Having met all the elements he yearned to learn more about, she could expedite the process by giving him the information he needed. What was she to gain? She'd flush out the location of the hidden Liafador Family, absorb Ziccarra, Catalina and Maya; so she could be powerful enough to rule this universes' version of the Ninjans.
Extending her hands outward Ziccarra constuct a photon energy orb inside the palms of her hands, hoping the outside energy spike would alert the station to a would be attack, despite her not actually attacking.
Retired to a chair that hovered above the ground, the New God's chin was rested upon his fist, his red cape draped over him, his face strained with the confusion and turmoil of a troubled mind and heart. He waited, his pacific blue eyes staring into empty space more than the holographic display before him. He was distracted, Alexis. Distracted from everything as he retreated to the deepest parts of his mind in search of memories being kept from him. If only, if only he could remember what he'd seen when he'd last reached the speed of light. It was a moment that, for those fleeting seconds, was most precious to him.
"Aww, it's fine, baby", he smiled, his face glowing with a father's warmth as he lifted Tassiana from the soft cut grass. He held his youngest daughter in his arms, rocking back and forth to soothe her, to comfort her in her moment of failure. She couldn't walk yet. And her quivering pout said all that her words could not - she was upset. Upset over her failure. "It's okay to fail", Thee Champion told his daughter, doting her forehead with a kiss, her chubby hands clutching his chest. She was too young to speak, but bright enough to understand him. "Don't let anyone tell you failure isn't an option. It is an option. It's the easiest and most available option there is. But it's also a choice".
"You can choose to fail or succeed. But failure's always there, Tassi. And it's okay to admit our weaknesses, our shortcomings. Because that's how you'll improve. The road to success starts with failure. Today you fell, tomorrow you'll walk", Alexis comforted, returning his daughter's golden smile.
(-Scanning halted. Abnormal energy spike detected in the Æther's outskirts-), the A.I. warned, the holographic display flashing red as Alexis stood to his full height, holding his features in earnest, a quiet intensity overcoming him as he headed for the station's exit, "I'm on it". It's doors parted, and he emerged, a Greek god of modern times with the moral fiber to inspire, and the power to perform great deeds despite the distress and grief that haunt him day after day. Gliding into the cold reaches of space, the tragic hero felt his eyes fall upon a caped figure, a woman with a head of golden hair and world-breaking power humming beneath her flesh. It was silent. In space no one could be heard.
But the psychic energy he'd absorbed and stored in his personal quantum dimensional state could make it so. With it, he transmitted his thoughts, prodded the Ninjan's mind and echoed his words, "This isn't a mistake. You're here for a reason, that much I can tell. Who are you?".
Sha's eye's repelled his look of confusion with one tainted in an abstruse smirk. "The who now? That's a bit difficult." She responded via intricate thoughts projected in the form of light speed mental electrical jolts in the form of morse code. Orbiting his herculean frame with her index finger resting on her chin; she thought of the best way to introduce herself.
"You mean you don't recognize me? Of course you don't you didn't even recognize your own children. How sad" She replied crossing her slender hands across her shoulders. "My name is Shayla Lopez" She started, using her adoptive name rather her real name in order not to confuse the already confused New God. "We met years ago, But I'm here to tell you, you don't remember them...but your family is in grave danger. There's a creature from beyond, known as Chaos; she's a god-killer. She absorbs the essence of a god and makes their power her own. I was fighting her on my planet, but she escaped. I believe she's on her way here; in an attempt to find your wife. I need to know where she is; otherwise I cannot save them...none of them."
Sha like her alternate universe counterpart was a master at deception, her time spent married to Jean Luc Lebeau formatted her with the ability to lie without a tail. It was something she mastered both with and without powers (During her time as the Black Cardinal), he also had no reason to not believe her--They did wear similar symbols.
In a way she was envious of the Ziccarra Liafador of this time, though she went through the same trials and tribulations as all the others; she was the only one that was able to find true happiness. She was the only one who genuinely cared for her children. Absorbing this one like she did the others would be bitter-sweet; because she'd get the powers that came with being The Goddess, but she'd also get those memories. Memories that currently weighed him down.
Folding both arms before his chest, his red cape draped over him, Thee Champion hovered in the blackness of space, his great blue eyes starkly contrasting the darkness all about him. And yet, as he gazed upon the Ninjan Princess, the vividness and color in his eyes no more than a mask, his eyes wore the loneliness of outer space. Still, he seemed steely, strong-willed and passionate despite the depression that often saw him give all of himself to the world, to a strong sense of justice - and forget what once made him happy. "Should I?", Alexis questioned, holding his features in earnest. But then, then she spoke of children, his children - and he felt his brow scowl, not in anger no, but in confusion and skepticism.
His eyes widened with alarm, and his heart clamored in his chest, he shook his head, "You must be confused. I don't have any children", the New God insisted. Nevertheless, the Ninjan continued, introducing herself and dropping a bombshell - his supposed family was in danger, his wife and children were in danger. And little did he know that the very threat the Ninjan spoke of - was herself. "Look, we might wear the same 'S' on our chests but what you're talking about, it makes no sense. A wife?Children? I don't have a family", he stood firm, "I don't have anyone. Only that", he paused, casting his gaze upon the distant Earth, a blue oasis in the vastness of space. "A world that needs me. But a family? You must be mista-", oh how quickly his words were cut short.
The Æther's A.I. interrupted, it's computerized voice heard in the vacuum of space by way of extranormal technology. (-She speaks the truth-), it began. "What?", Alexis paused, his disbelief written over his face. (-I have scanned the portrait and it contains your DNA as well as others. One of a woman, of Spanish and Moroccan descent. The other DNA samples belong to five others, all of which - except for one - share traces of both yours and the woman's DNA. They are you children, in other words. And the woman, mostly likely this wife that your acquaintance speaks of-). It couldn't be. It simply couldn't be. "I have a wife? A family?", his thoughts murmured, more to himself than anyone. His world had been turned upside down, and his questions were many.
Why hadn't he known of them until now?Why have they made no effort to reach him? It didn't matter. Because the Ninjan seemed to have spoken truthfully, and according to her, his family was in grave danger. That was what mattered. "You know about me. About my family. Who are you exactly to me? And why don't I seem to remember my own family? Why haven't I heard from them? Do they also not remember me the way I don't remember them?", he asked, shaking his head once more. "I want to fight Chaos", Thee Champion declared, bluntly and willfully, his resolve and determination unbreakable, as though he'd found a greater purpose, one just as powerful as his desire to protect the world. "I'll find my family", he promised, more to himself than her. "I'll help you stop Chaos".
"But I'll need time for my station's scanners to pinpoint their active DNA and tell me where they are".
It took some reassuring, and further confirmation from whatever he was apparently in contact with.
"I am nothing to you, Chaos attacked my planet in a different universe all together. In the final battle, between myself and her; we were both warped here. I believe she has resorted to parasitic form and is living off a human here on Earth. I know about you and your family because, Your family is my family in my timeline."
He could see that he questioned it all, he believed, but there were still things he couldn't come to terms with. Things she didn't have legit answers for. "I don't know why your family doesn't remember you. Probably for the same reasons you don't remember them. I do know this, if they are suffering from the same symptoms then they are in far worse shape considering they may not have knowledge of what they are."
Shayla's black cape sway subtle with her horizontal movement, his request to help her fight Chaos was an intriguing one. Despite her nefarious intentions, the only lie she told was about how they'd met. Chaos was looking for Ziccarra; Chaos was in parasitic form, but Chaos was leeching off her. A long time ago, she was the powerless member of the We Are Legend Team, an in an effort to assist her friends in the field, she awakened Chaos--The Two have been together ever since.
"Every moment we wait, the more time Chaos gets to finding them"
That he was a husband and a father, that somewhere in the world he gazed upon, his wife and children breathed and walked, was still too great a thought for his mind to bear. Unfolding both arms, the New God breathed in - nothing. In space there was no air, but still his chest heaved in and he seemed to breathe, to breathe out the shock of this revelation. "So I take it you're an alternate reality version of someone from my family. Or you might even be me from an alternate reality. It'd explain that 'S' on your chest", he paused, finally coming to grips with the gravity of their situation. That his family might be in greater danger than he caused his heart to beat with alarm.
"I'll find them", he assured, his resolve and determination telling more of a man in search of his family than a god with the power to break worlds and collapse stars. Gliding towards the Æther space station, Alexis continued, "My computers will create visual profiles of my wife and kids based on the genetic information analyzed from the DNA samples. Once it's complete, I'll know what they look like. And once the station's scanners have searched every inch of the Earth, I'll know where they are". Meeting the Ninjan Princess' eyes once more, Thee Champion's face softened, no longer wearing the earnest and iron-willed veil that masked his depression and isolation. This woman was supposedly part of his family in a different universe.
He didn't feel the need to be as guarded around her. A mistake that will perhaps see him suffer in the near future. "This will take some time. An hour or two". Folding his arms before his chest once more, his back leaning against the Æther as he stared at the Earth, wondering just where his family could be, Alexis asked, "Do you know their names? Of my wife and kids?", he said, his voice and face heavy with wistfulness.
As his eyes lit up at the thought of reconnecting with his family, The Ninjan Princess couldn't help but see how pathetic this all was. One of the strongest beings, she'd ever known was worried about something as trival as family. He could like her, shatter whole worlds with little effort; but reduced himself to playing house with a sub-par version of herself. "I believe that I am the Alternate Universe version of your wife, Ziccarra Liafador." She admitted not actually seeing the harm in disclosing the information. "I only know one of your daughters, Catalina. Other than that, I'm just as clueless as you." In Sha's world, all her children ended up dying with the world that was prime. Matina, Diego, Zariah all perished in the mesh that was Prime. It wasn't until she realized what his computer was doing; that she regretted telling him the name. Like her, This Ziccarra had a storied past with crime, and most recently the downfall of the very nation she lead. "You do understand that you are digging into a storied history about your family, not everything you see may be good" She warned leaning on a metal wall.
One thing she couldn't account for, something unforseen was the new dynamic between The Goddess Shira, and Ziccarra Liafador. Because Shira used Ziccarra's body as a vessel, their DNA would be an instant match; recently The Goddess was spotted on the West Cape, and unlike both Alexis and Ziccarra--she remembered everything. Including the battle that took place between the three in M.
So...
It was also the Goddess that liberated her in the first place from the U.S government. The Championess, That's what they wanted to call her.
"So...what will you do if your wife doesn't remember you?"
So it seemed that despite her glaring similarities to him, Shayla was in fact an alternate reality version of his wife whose name was Ziccarra Liafador. The revelation of who she was however, didn't draw him into deep thought as much as learning his wife's name did. "Ziccarra", he repeated to himself, casting his eyes downward, gazing into the distant stars that twinkled light years away from them. "Ziccarra and Catalina", the New God continued, meeting the Ninjan's eyes once more, his face wearing his self-assurance willfulness well. "Whatever they've done... I'm sure there must have been a reason for it", Alexis began,excusing his family's transgressions, transgressions he'd yet to even know of.
He couldn't help but cling to his moral ideals and philosophical bends. "It's easy to criticize and condemn from the outside looking in. Some of the cruelest things done in history were motivated by noble ideals. Tyrants deemed irredeemably evil don't see themselves that way. And that's because in our minds, we're all the protagonist, the hero of our own story, even if others believe us to be the villain", Alexis paused, "I won't judge what they've done without knowing about anything that may have led to their actions. Who knows? If I can't even remember my own family, they probably weren't in their right minds when they did do whatever it was that has you worried". Soon, soon he'd meet his wife and children, or rather, reunite with them.
Or not. Completely oblivious to the threat and danger posed by the Ninjan Princess, Alexis found her question difficult to answer. His heart had skipped a beat, and his face was strained with an almost panicked sadness. "I.. I don't know", he confessed. "Probably wish I'd never been told about them in the first place. Because it's one thing to live a life of isolation with everyone you love long dead... but to know that all this time you had a family? To know that there's something beautiful you lost only to learn that searching, finding what you lost was all in vain? That a glimmer of hope was dangled in front of you only to be locked away from you.. I don't know".
This was becoming more and more sickening by the moment, how much longer would she be forced to listen to his boyscout perception of people? Had he lived in her timetime, He would've seen how far men like them fell; they were always the worst ones to deal with.
"I ask because convincing your family of your past may not be as easy, as it was to convince you. Then your back at square one, only this time you're hurting more because now you know they exist" She said with a hint of geniune concern. She saw it, almost the moment she laid eyes on him; the mental depression. It was easier to tell in people like them, people who had the power to do everything, but save themselves. The similarities between them were apparent, both possessed the ability to completly shatter worlds, both bore the iconic "S" on their chest--Both currently without families. The similarites however ended there. Alexis was raised to be a beacon of Hope "The Champion" of mankind, and thus he lived his life holding back the truest extent of his full power.
The Ninjan Princess however, was the weakest member of her entire family; she learned how to survive in exile. As she became stronger and stronger no one taught her how to restrict her powers; so she didnt. "Anyways, I suppose it's a good thing you do know, better you find them, then they accidentally find you. Trust me us women, we don't care if you lose your memories or not. It's just an excuse to us" She jested, moving around akward circle.
Arms folded before his chest, as if guarding his heart from further pain, Thee Champion's face seemed earnest, a subtle scowl marring his brow as his eyes broke away from Shayla's. He was thinking, weighing the severity of possibly continuing his isolated life should his family turn him away.. and in that moment, the red cape draped over him seemed to hug him, as if it was his only source of warmth in a life so dead and cold. "I'm not going to convince them", the New God finally answered, meeting the Ninjan's eyes once more, "As much as it'll hurt me to continue leading this life knowing that I have a family out there, a wife and children... maybe it's better if I don't turn their lives upside down like mine's been".
"So I won't convince them. All I'm going to do is warn them of the danger they're in, and do what I can to protect them". It was a selfless decision, one that'd come at the cost of deeper depression and an unhappy existence. "I just hope I don't break when I meet them", he confessed with a sigh. "I could wipe out this entire solar system and nobody'd even have time to notice everything's being destroyed because all it'd take me is a second. With all that power, I'm still not sure I'm strong enough to face my own family knowing they might not remember me". Leaning his head back, casting his gaze at the distant sun, he answered the Ninjan's question. "Not too much longer. Only thirty minutes more", he assured.
They'd been waiting for long. And the Æther A.I. was on the verge of completing it's scanning, compiling a visual profile of his wife and children - and locating them.
She watched as a single hand reached out from the shadows that lingered in the Palace and the anger in Zeon ignited like a flame. Her golden eyes glared at the man as he grasped a hold of the dagger and Zeon's lips pulled back as she snarled at the man, her eyes narrowing at him as she reached for her sword, only to once more, become unable to move her body. What kind of magic was this?! Instead pain was felt like a shock wave as she threw her head back, beads of sweat collecting as she struggled to fight it. But she refused to give him the satisfaction of screaming in pain, even as her limbs twisted unnaturally, her body being slowly lifted off the ground, leaving her seemingly helpless.
“I’m… going to-” she struggled to speak, her lips trembling as she growled at him. “Kill you… with that dagger.” She needed to break from this grasp. Her sisters life, the life of her family was depending on this. She couldn’t fail again, not again. She let out a feral battle cry as she began to channel her rage, focusing on the Darkforce that was now awaken within her. Her hands began to ball into fists as she began to move her head, slowly regaining some control of herself as her body was slowly descending from the air. But before she could fully break free, her body was sent flying back into the wall, her body slamming so forcefully into it that the back of her head slammed right into it.
Her body fell to the ground as she groaned in pain, blood trickling from the back of her her wounded skull. Slowly lifting her head, the last thing she saw was the unknown man holding onto the Dark One’s Dagger and faded back into the darkness as her own world was consumed by the abyss of the unconscious mind.
@feral_nova: Zeon should do something! Where is she anyway? LOL.
Zeon can't fly, she can't breath in space, she can't cast some quantum physicalmorph force field to protect her from the deathly effects of the sun rays in space xD
Sha's eyes briefly met his, it was awkward to say the least. This man was working hard to find people he didn't know exist, only for her to swoop in and absorb them. The more he spoke, the more she wanted the process to hurry up, this was like getting a front wedgie.
"Well, I would tell you how to deal with it, but I don't have a family" She said, eying the Earth from the Aether. "My family died with my world, ever since then I've just learned to deal with it. I suppose I haven't given myself much time to grief either" She admitted, again another truth. It was with that revelation that she realized just how blessed this universe's Ziccarra was. There has hardly any timeline that ended with her having some sort of happy-ending, not that this one did; but she had loving children and a devoted husband--None of which she had.
Ziccarra was plagued by Jean Luc Lebeau, "her on again-Off again" husband. There were times were they were each other's worse enemies. There were times when they were each other's greatest ally, but never a time where they legit loved each other like Alexis loved his Ziccarra. Perhaps that wasn't who she was supposed to be with, not her true love. She oftened believed it was to be Stephanie Ardor, "Her on again-Off Again" best friend.
Love and Happiness, they didn't exist for anyone that bore her namesake, and she'd be damned if anyone else other than her obtained it.
"Having the power and using the power are two different things, figurativly and literally." She said to conclude that before also folding her arms across her breast with a curious brow. "So why space?"
If only he'd remembered. For all the power he commanded, for how easily he could reduce entire worlds to nothing and snuff their stars, Thee Champion couldn't save his adoptive mother from the airplane crash that took her life. He couldn't save his old friends from the frailty of old age nor the war wounds that took them from him. And he couldn't even remember his own family, his power had been nothing in the face of whatever had caused him to forget them and they him. For all his great deeds, for all the reverence the world's people had for him, it was during the times that mattered most to him that he proved to be too weak. Now, in the cold reach of space with one like him, the New God promised himself, he couldn't be too weak again.
If his family was indeed in danger, he'd do what he's so miserably failed to do in the past. "You're something else", Alexis began, holding the Ninjan's gaze with his own, "More than anyone I know how hard it is to go on with everyone you've ever cared for dead. To live an isolated life. But you seem to be handling yourself better than I'm handling myself. You've learned to live with it. With the pain of loss and the coldness of being alone. I'm not that strong. Whether if it's because you haven't given yourself time to grief, I can't say. All I can say is that you're a stronger person than me", he almost smiled, his face softening just then as he averted his gaze, staring off into the distance once more. Until Shayla's question echoed and he answered. "Why not?".
A trained psychologist, Alexis was fully aware of most of his decisions and their psychological implications. He knew why he was depressed and why he acted the way he did, why he led the life he did. And living in outer space, in isolation from the world, it was a reflection of his loneliness. Space was dark, empty and save for an exciting event here and there, lifeless and dreary. To live on Earth? On a planet where brighter and less dreary colors were abundant would implicate a happiness that the New God simply did not feel his life had. He'd long forgotten of the things that made him happy. In his moment of introspection, Thee Champion had almost missed the Æther A.I.'s words. (-I've completed the DNA sample scanning. You may want to analyze my findings yourself-).
"It's done", Alexis said, gliding towards the Æther's entrance, gesturing that Shayla follow him past it's doors and inside. Once there, the New God breathed in, his chest rising before he exhaled deeper than he'd ever exhaled. Hovering above the ground, his heart beating furiously in his chest, his face wearing his anxiousness, excitement and fear oh so well, the New God stopped before a large holographic display. A display holding visual profiles of Ziccarra, Tassiana, Maya, Catalina, Selene, and Leonel. His breathing was erratic, he didn't know how to react. This was his family, what they looked like. First, his eyes gazed upon the visual model of Ziccarra, his wife. She was beautiful. Her eyes were a darker shade of blue than his. And her skin wore the brown complexion of her Moroccan descent.
Her hair was dark and long, and she was a tall woman with a warrior's build. That was the woman he'd married. Then, his eyes moved to his daughters. Two had his eyes, pacific blue with a spirit of kindness and warmth. One was no more than a child, she had to be no older than five. Their resemblance was uncanny. The other was a teenager, tall like her mother but she resembled him greatly. Another seemed almost identical to his wife, as if cloned from her very blood. And his final daughter, she seemed to wear every single one of his and his wife's greatest physical traits to perfection. She was the one whose eyes were brown. Then... then a young man, his son who resembled him so greatly it was alarming. "Where are they?", Alexis blurted out, the first thing on his mind.
He'd promised himself he wasn't going to convince them. But seeing them, knowing what his family now looked like, how could he not convince them? How could he not long for them in his life? (-According to the station's scanners, your wife and daughters are on a small island on the Western Cape of South Africa. Your son however, is nowhere to be found-), the A.I. answered, unaware that Leonel had abandoned the Earth, the solar system and the Milky Way galaxy and was now in the farthest reaches of space. "Maybe they'll know where my son is", Alexis replied, darting for the station's exit doors, powerful gusts of air blasting monitors and desk chairs all about. It was time to meet his family.
Before the Golden Goddess could begin to process what was being shown on the visual holo screen, Alexis was gone. "Well then....I suppose it's time" She said eying the faces of Alexis' beautiful family. It was too bad, she felt if she didn't have revenge so heavy on her heart; and the need for both her and Chaos to be separated, this outfit would've fit perfectly for adjusting into this world.
She knew just by the look he gave before he left that his mind had changed, he was going to try and convince them; convince them of a life they never knew. Sha's eyes glazed with a devious obsidian hue before she literally melted into darkness out of the space station into space. "Let's get this over with" She smiled, following Thee Champions trail toward the West African Cape to claim her much needed prize.
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