Pain

"Ozpin, what do you plan to do now? Will you continue opposing Salem, who has given up on her plan? Or will you now oppose me?"

Aegis asked as he looked at the man, who seemed as if to grow older in a couple of seconds.

"...I wish to speak to her... But if what you said is true... I do not wish to make another mistake that cost the lives of others..."

Ozpin said as he had enough of the fact that others died in his war, where he was always reborn, to repeat it again and again, truly, what Ozpin found the definition of insanity too precise...

"If she wishes to, I don't see the problem with letting you two speak, and if what you find is satisfactory, then what? Will you help me? Join me? Or..."

"None of it... If it's true that Salem doesn't desire to destroy humanity and just wishes to oppose gods, then... Then my work is done, and maybe I could finally have peaceful lives, maybe next time I reincarnate I will not need to make myself heard by my new host, and by forever forgotten, and just spoken like in fairytales..."

Ozpin said and Aegis could see the hurtful expression on the repeatedly reincarnators face, the pain the lie through the same events again and again, with the power of time, yet without means to go back in time and see your work crumble, again and again, Aegis had respect for him, for he was able to prevail without crumbling, even if Aegis could see numerous cracks the man before him have...

"You know... Maybe there is a way for you to finally find peace..."

"...What?..."

Aegis could see the hope inside Ozpin ignite before he squashed it down as he sighed.

"How, how could you take what Gods have given to me? This curse, this curse would be with me until I end Salem, and even then... I do not think Gods would let me... Not with how spiteful they are..."

Ozpin said with little venom but an enormous amount of tiredness.

"What gods given to you was not there to give... But I know of someone who could take what you were cursed with, as that someone is the very definition of End..."

Aegis said as he could ask Death, knowing that for her it would by the ease to take what gods cursed Ozma with...

"...Truly?... Then... No... Let me think of it... But if it's true..."

Ozpin stopped as he looked into Aegis eyes shining eyes.

"Let me... Let me speak with Salem, then I would choose, but to just know that there is a possibility of ending it..."

"Very well, then I will let you think about it, and come back with her... Until then, think about what you wish to do, until then Ozpin."

Aegis said as he stood up and walked out of Ozpin's office.

"Until then..."

Ozpin mumbled as he was deep in thoughts about his next decisions...

His mug forgotten as he was too absorbed in his thoughts.

-------------------

"Doctor."

"Yes?"

"There was development at the Alien gate."

Album said as Moira's hands stopped tipping into her scroll.

"Oh? Did it activate?"

"Yes, and there was what could be called first contact information transported into the device called Malp, with the datum of their coming."

Moira's expression scrunched up.

"And how they knew we could speak with their language or even understand them?"

"I do not think they know as the message was in multiple Earths languages, in truth that massage was too similar to Wizard Earth Nasa's first contact message, so what I think is it was a fluke, but the datum of their coming was confirmed by in four days."

"They are quite confident, arent they?"

"Well, we let their device near the Stargate portal, just in case of their possible coming, so what I think is that they used their Malp in confirming the surrounding around Gate, which is just an Illusion I created with hard-light projectors about the previous surrounding, making them believe we didn't move Stargate, or build facility around it."

"And you didn't try to invade their cyberspace, why?"

Moira asked as she looked at the hologram of Album, who seemed bashful.

"Well, I tried, but I have immediately given up after confirming my fears... Which was that their computers are too primitive to hold even my cyber forks that I could implant in them... So the risk of detection was high as I would practically heat up their hardware with my mere presence..."

"I see, why did you not create a more primitive program?"

"Time, as before I could create it and send it, they closed the portal."

"Well... Then we can do nothing more than wait, but sent word to Atlas, im sure king and our diplomatic division would like to prepare for the contact, and what power you think it was that have Stargate in possession?"

"The USA, from the message, it was definitely in USA possession."

"Of course it was..."

Moira mumbled as she went back into her writing of experiment results, she didn't know that integrating magic into dust technology would be so problematic...

------------------

Taylor opened her eyes as she looked around.

"Where?..."

Taylor mumbled as she looked around, she was sure she gone sleep in her room after they released her from the hospital with the fact she was healed by Panacea, still she was grateful that doctors or at least the elder kind doctor forbade any PRT personnel visit as she was not criminal and he seemed to have a bone to pick with the PRT and Heroes...

She arrived home with her father who was still in shock of what happened to her, the drive was silent as her father gave her time to rest even if she was fully healed, at least in body, the fact she was parahuman and that she had powers was still troubling her, especially after she read the information for new capes in that leaflet the doctor gave her, and that made her previous naive decision to go out and fight crime on the streets squash little...

She still wished to be a hero, but now she knew it was not so black and white, not with all the unwritten rules and the PRT heavy-handed methods, still she didn't fully believe in everything she read in it, so she decided to investigate it after she could go in the public library on their free pc...

But that was that, so when they finally arrived home, her father let her rest for the night, with a promise they would speak the next day, so after she went to her room, noting the multiple insects, she could feel inside, which surprisingly didn't freak her out or even made her feel disgusted, no what she felt was...

A safety, like if she knew she was safe with the insects there, she knew everything was happening around her, as if she was on multiple spaces at the same time...

Still, she felt drained, so she went to bed after her pre-sleep routine and then...

Then she woke up in there...

"No, really where this is... And why does it feel so... Good? Like if I belonged there?"

Taylor asked as she finally registered the building that she seemed to ignore until now, or did it somehow transported there?

"Wow... So expensive looking."

Taylor said as she looked at the white-blue mansion that stood before her, it was enormous and so...

So... Familiar...

"Big brother, stop!"

"No!"

Taylor looked at the gorgeously looking little girl with white hair and blue eyes as she laughed when black-haired and blue-eyed boy, brother Taylor thought, tickled her on the ground.

"Ahahahaa! Stoooop stoppp big brother! I give up! I give up!"

"Not so easily this time, little sister, this time I will not believe you so easily!"

"Ahahaha! That was one time! Ahahahaa!"

"Even one time is too many!"

The boy said as he picked the little girl who looked to be around ten years old and spun around with her, her laughter vibrating in the air from the spinning.

"It is said that looking into someones else memories is impolite."

"Who?!"

Taylor spun around just to freeze when she saw a handsome man around his early twenties or late teens looking at the two children with a smile, with long black hair and blue eyes, clothed in richly looking white coat that seemed to be made for royalty.

"Who are you? Where im?! Did you take me there?! What did you do with my father?!"

Taylor asked one question after another as she became alert with the possible parahuman Vilain who possibly kidnaped her.

"Wrong, in most questions... Look around, and try to think, where were you last time, and how did you get there, and what did I say to you? And why did these two you looked at ignore our presence?"

The man asked and Taylor froze as she got an incredulous idea.

"A dream? You want to tell me this is a dream?!"

"Good, at least you aren't an idiot, and yes, you are in a dream."

"But, but how can everything by soo..."

"Lifelike?"

"...Yes..."

"Simple, as this is not a simple dream but a fragment of memory."

"Memory?... But I don't remember this, or anything there..."

"Because it's not your memory."

The man said and Taylor's eyes sharpened as she noticed something.

"But if this is my dream, why are you there, and how can we speak soo clearly?"

"That, would answer your first question, for im nothing more of a fragment of memory you now look on."

The man said and his eyes finally looked at Taylor who stepped back at the eyes that now made her feel soo...

Small...

"And you have something that belongs to me, so let me see why are you so special to have a gift that belongs to my family."

The man said and Taylor panicked when she found herself in what looked like a training field, with the man standing before her with a fucking spear.

"Prepare yourself, for I will find out the answer to my question one way or another, fragment or not, im still Aegis Schnee!"

The man said and moved, and the next thing Taylor knew was a pain and when she looked, she saw a spear in her stomach and immediately felt enormous pain that seemed to shoot through her body and mind.

"Again."

Taylor looked panicked as she once again saw the man standing before her, but when she quickly looked at her stomach, she didn't see any injury, yet there was phantom pain that told her it was not an illusion.

"Prepare yourself."

The man said...

And moved...

And the next thing Taylor knew was pain.