Present
Alia could have sworn she saw someone standing beside Signas's bed. But she looked in, and no one was there, but Signas had a faint smile on his lips, as if he knew the future.
Lifesaver passed by. "He's like that a lot, just a mystery."
Alia nodded. "The best of us are going. Zero… now Signas…"
Lifesaver nodded. "And Douglas isn't still fully recovered." Douglas had been injured a few weeks before. "Who's next, Alia? Sometimes being a Hunter is a scary thing."
Alia nodded, now silent. What was there to say? X was out, and Signas was… X. Her eyes flashed from inactive to urgent.
"Did X tell you where he was going?"
"No," Lifesaver said, catching on. "That's great, now we'll get a dead X, too…"
Signas coughed. "Don't be so certain. He's going to the warehouse. That's Reditar's favorite place. But it's not Reditar… it's not even a Reploid, it's just an empty shell. That's all it is. It's not her fault…"
Alia didn't know who this "her" was, but she ran off. Lifesaver spoke to Signas. "Is it Chaos, Signas?"
"No," Signas responded. "It can't be. She couldn't access the dimension I was supposed to go to, and it would have killed her."
"What's it like there?"
"It's a void. Each world has its… atmosphere, if you will, and that's where I was caught. My soul. She found me and pushed me back, knowing there would be no place for me there. I'm tired now…" he fell silent, as his eyes had not opened.
"Damn you!" X yelled. "Damn you, Reditar!" he fell back into a bunch of boxes.
"Oh, yes, Damn me," the big red cat said, sniffing the air in a raspy voice. "I not even alive. I not Reditar, I not Kravenclaw, I an empty shell."
X paid no heed. All he could see was the mean, conscious free face staring at him. But…. He saw a light emerging. It took the form of a woman, who spoke, but not in words, and his own thoughts translated it for him.
He speaks the truth. This creation is no longer mine. It is false. she then ran though the body, but she was like a cloud, and didn't walk. She almost flew, but she had absolutely no sense of gravity. Also, it wasn't the true form of a woman, more like a cloud of light…
Reditar screamed and fell back. Alia opened the doors. "X!" she cried.
The form hovered, and Reditar flung something at her. Alia dogged narrowly in time, and the cloud stared at him. Reditar sniffed the air. "Mistress? You dead."
She flung herself at him again. X fired as well, not concerned since she could pass through him, and most likely through the blast and debris as well. Reditar fell, but got back up, his arm badly mangled and bloody.
This ends now! the spirit said, and thrust her hand up into the air. There was a beam of blue light, and suddenly, X couldn't see…
When Alia and X came to, there was no more Reditar. Just a pile of scrap.
