Ch. 13: "I CHOOSE..."

With not enough time Rylee must decide with haste, who will be the one to die? Should he choose the person precious to him? Or should he choose to save humanity?

"Human, you will never escape the abyss, if you try to kill yourself you will only be sent back to the abyss and be forced to watch how I massacre every human, Now Choose!" the voice spoke to him.

Rylee is hesitant to choose, he does not trust a single word the being has told him, and due to this he slowly started losing his sanity.

"If I kill her will humanity be truly saved? Will that thing truly not do anything? But if I don't kill her... it would also be the end of humanity! What should I do?! who should I choose?!"  Rylee's thoughts were going wild he was no longer able to contain his sanity thinking that whichever he chooses humanity will eventually meet its end.

He once again pointed the tip of the knife to his throat, he slowly applied pressure, but as the tip started to pierce through his skin he suddenly heard the shower turn off. He realized that there was no more time he ran towards the window and opened it, but what he saw outside allowed him to finally make his decision.

"Fwah!... Having a bath after work is so refreshing!! Today Rylee looked really cool, not only that but he is also as handsome as ever, but what I really like is when he blushes whenever I hug him. Hihihi. But today he somehow felt different Sigh!... I know he feels these big, juicy, and voluptuous breasts of mine whenever I hug him! But I wonder will he still blush if these were to become smaller?" She suddenly paused when a gust of wind blew against her body.

She began to walk slowly as it was rare for the wind to enter the halls between the bathroom, living room, and kitchen; the only time that it had happened was whenever she forgot to close a window.

"Did I forget to close a window? But I don't remember opening one though, hmm..." She said she was only a few steps away from her living room when she once again felt a cold gust of wind. The moment she turned to the living room she saw it, she saw what was happening the reason why there was a cold breeze.

"So I did forget to close a window! HAHAHAHA" she laughed realizing her mistake, she walked towards the window to close it, but before she was able to she saw something shining on the ground.

"What is my favorite knife doing outside?" She silently closed the window and turned around to check for any signs of an intruder, but there was no sign of anyone hiding in the living room, and as her eyes wandered around she saw a small gap. A gap at the door of her room, she felt furious as she knows this time that she never entered nor opened the door to her room. 

She was not some random girl that would easily be taken advantage of, she calmed herself and slowly walked to the door, she peeked from the gap and there she saw a familiar hair and clothes, there was a man with white hair and white uniform sitting on the edge of her bed.

While peeping on the gap she suddenly fell off balance and completely opened the door, the man sitting on the bed was not startled but rather the man slowly looked at her. She felt like her heart stopped at what she saw, it was the face she never wanted to see from him.

"RYLEE!! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?" She screamed.

Rylee stood up and tried to walk towards her, but began to wobble the moment he took a step; she rushed towards him to catch him before he fell down the floor.

"What are you doing here Rylee?" her voice was on the brink of a breakdown the face that she saw was heartbreaking that she never wanted to see it.

"I'm Sorry! I'm so sorry Misty!" Rylee apologized to her before embracing her in his arms.

"Rylee! Tell me what the hell is happing?" She asked as tears began to fall from the side of her eyes.

Rylee's embraced her tighter "You see I was given a choice, you or the world?" he replied.

"Which did you choose Rylee? Please tell me! WHO DID YOU CHOOSE!!" she screamed.

The ground began to shake along with everything around them in the house, Misty looked at the window in her room and what she saw outside was something she has not seen before.

"Rylee please don't tell me you choose me?! You know that the world must be saved so humans can live in peace right! That's what all of us are fighting for! Of all the people you are the one who knows that the most!" She was desperate to know the answer while crying her heart out.

Rylee released her from his embrace, he grabbed her by the face and wiped off the tears with his hand, and he slowly moved his face towards her and kissed her forehead.

"You're right, of all people I should know the correct answer but my answer was different" Rylee said before beginning to start a countdown.

"10"

"9"

"Huh, why are you counting Rylee! What the hell are you doing!!?" She screamed again.

"7"

"6"

"5"

"Please, Rylee! Please tell me who did you choose??" She was desperate for an answer and yet Rylee continued to count.

"3"

"Misty! I didn't want to see you die; because of all people you should know how much I love you!" Rylee said with a smile.

Misty was speechless, even with the world-shaking to its core her heart still pounded as if it wanted to get out, it was the words she wanted to hear from the very moment their eyes met.

"1... That is why I choose to not do anything" Rylee said as the ceiling broke and blood began to shower him.

Misty was dumbfounded she didn't understand what he said, but slowly she did as the Rylee who was supposed to be in front of him was slowly disappearing, his soft white hair started turning red, the uniform he always wore was now drenched in red, he was slowly being devoured by blood.

But even after being soaked in it, the blood still kept on flowing his limbs began to grow, his head started to change shape and a red halo appeared above his head.

Rylee has transformed into a creature unseen by any human "This world shall now meet its end" it spoke as it ascended to the skies while still absorbing blood from people around the world, slowly Rylee was losing his consciousness, he looked down to misty with a smile before the blood from her body began to come out from her pores.

On the other hand Misty was staring at Rylee enduring the terrifying pain she was feeling, she stared as he flew higher and higher until he was no longer visible, she raised her hand trying to reach him even though she had no chance.

"I'm sorry Rylee, I'm sorry I was never able to tell you how I actually felt, but I bet you already knew that because of all people you were the only one to sway this heart of mine. But I wonder why choose that kind of decision? You could've just chosen everyone else over me"  Misty was slowly losing her consciousness too, but slowly she remembered a memory that happened before.

* 6 months after Rylee and Misty first met*

"Hey, are you sure you want this STAR? Given the circumstances of its power your chance of survival is less than 10%, I highly recommend you not to do this, there are more Star weapons that are suitable for you, you know" Misty said to Rylee.

"Hey! In this world of ours, what are you capable of sacrificing to save this world?" Rylee asked.

"Huh? Uhm... Well... hmm... I really don't know but if I was in that situation (which I never wish to be placed in) maybe I would sacrifice myself for the sake of humanity, I mean we are fighting for peace right?" Misty answered.

"Heh~, what a coincidence, that answer is the same... the same as everybody else" Rylee spoke as he lay down on an operation table.

"Huh? Isn't it the obvious answer? I mean if you think about it even if you die as long as you were fighting for humanity your death wouldn't be futile?" She said while slowly injecting a sleeping drug to Rylee.

"Hey, do you think humans will ever win? we have already sacrificed much more lives than we think so, yet this war isn't favoring our side you know...." Rylee said before falling asleep.

"Huh? Are you stupid or something? the war is in our favor! we were able to keep humanity alive because we are on the upper hand" Misty replied when not realizing he was already asleep.

"Eh! This guy fell asleep! Well, I did inject him with a drug, but could a person smile even when he knows that he... huh! Why is my handshaking? This never happened before! My heart is pounding? Is it because this was the first time someone had tried to deny my words? Most of the time soldiers would listen to what I say? Whenever I recommended someone to choose a different Star they would immediately follow because they care for their lives, but this guy even with knowing that his survival chance is slim he still wants to do it. Is this man for real?"

She operated successfully but her heart was pounding rapidly as his heartbeat was slowly dropping. It was a rule given to every professor that they are not allowed to touch the person who just finished the operation even if their heartbeat goes down, the only time they are allowed is when he or she dies or survives.

She was nervous to see that his heartbeat was not doing well, she was shaking thinking that this guy might die and she was unable to do anything because she was not allowed to touch him, but she does not want to break the rules even though her body was about to.

Misty froze when his heartbeat suddenly stopped, she thought that she had killed someone very important to the world, she stood there frozen and speechless, but as she was slowly losing hope his heartbeat skyrocketed.

"Fwah!! That was a nice sleep, I never felt so energetic for sleeping! hey! you alright? Your face is quite pale? Did something bad happen?" Rylee asked.

"Huh, no, nothing bad happened" She was frozen yet gave a lie for an answer.

"I see, thank you! I would go train now if that's allowed" Rylee said.

Rylee patted her head before walking away.

"Hey! Did you know you would survive this?" Misty asked not even facing him.

"Saying yes would obviously be a lie, I just knew I can trust you, I mean you'd sacrifice yourself for this world right?" He said before leaving the room.

*present*

"I see, even if I were to die humanity will never win this war, it was never in our favor in the first place" Misty said as slowly everything around her was being pulled to the skies.

A red orb created from blood was starting to grow up the skies sucking everything from cars, to houses, to trees, to even the water on earth. Rylee's choice was to end the world and allow it to start over again, as he could not come up with any proper decision.

"Quite the choice human, you entertain me and with that, I will allow you to start this world over again, but this time you will have to make a proper choice" A voice echoed as the world was slowly being sucked to the red orb that was slowly growing bigger and bigger.

And after a while there was nothing left, due to the ever-growing size of the red orb it not only devoured earth but also everything that existed, Rylee was back in the darkness, but this time the darkness he was in was not the abyss, but rather the start of a new world. And there it showed itself to him, two giant white eyes looking directly at him, Rylee stared at the eyes with no fear, he saw the reflection of his memories slowly being taken away, those eyes were taking his memories from him.

"Huh, something feels heavy on my chest,"  Rylee thought to himself, his eyes were slowly opening, he woke up on the same bed, in the same room, he fell asleep in.

And on top of him was a woman sleeping on his chest, he looked at his arm to see that one of it was missing, he felt as if he just woke up from a very long and horrifying dream. He looked at the woman who was sleeping and saw her in tears.

He wiped her tears that woke her up, "Hey you alright?" Rylee asked.

"You're finally awake!" Cecelia said as she started crying more

"This time I'll make the right choice" Rylee whispered.

"Huh? Did you say something?" Cecelia asked before leaving the bed.

"It was nothing; hey how long was I asleep?" He asked.

"Hmm... just about 11 months, and 26 days" She replied.

"Whoa that was long, why are you the only one here? where the others?" Rylee said as he sat down and stared at some missing parts of his body.

"They're on a mission with squadron IX, they should be back later tonight" She replied.

"I see, why are you here though?" Rylee asked.

"The professor and the others are quite busy, and since the mission is not meant for a lot of people I and Rei were left behind" She said.

Cecelia walked out of the room leaving him all alone.

"This feels weird I felt like I had a very scary dream yet I remember nothing about it" Rylee thought to himself.

The door opened and she saw her, a woman holding a tray filled with delicious food walking towards him.

"That looks really delicious" Rylee said while Cecelia was fixing his food in front of him.

"There's more coming since this would be your first meal after waking up" She said with a smile.

Rylee was eating peacefully while Cecelia supported him as his body was not yet able to move properly when suddenly the door opened and Rei entered. Rylee looked at Rei as he entered the room and remember a terrifying event.

"YOU DEVIL!" Rylee screamed.

"Huh? I came to check on you commander, have you lost your sanity?" Rei asked with a small grin on his face.

[Chapter End]