Di sat on her throne, endlessly regaling tales of bravery to her pets all seated around her. They ate while listening in, all dressed in PJs and ready for bed. Di was also ready for the coming slumber, but for a different reason that she kept to herself.

"And just like that, we were all safe and sound in our realm once more," Di said, finishing up her version of how she and her two humans made it back through the portal. All her pets oooo'ed, the cat girl yawning and claiming the Celestial's lap for her own. She curled up on her lap, her eyes closing once she had made a pillow of her mistress' warm lap. "Nya…."

"I guess that's enough stories for tonight then," Di said, looking beyond to the rest of her beings. Holi was running low on power, hugging her pillow to keep herself up as much as it could. Kiris was long gone, sleeping away on the hard, smooth blue marble floor. "Fallen?" she said, looking around the floor but not seeing her dragon.

She felt a snore come down from upon her head, reaching up there and finding Fallen as a tinier dragon that fit over her two hands. She was as asleep as Kiris, a bubble growing and shrinking out of her nostril while she slumbered. "You too it seems…" Di placed Fallen back on her head and clapped her hands, the four of them surrounded by an aura of blue mana. They all started to float above the ground, moving with Di as she took them throughout the castle, individually tucking each one into their bed. Everyone but Kiris, who she let drop into her arms. "You must have been staying at my castle for a while," Di said, seeing the succubus nestle her head into her belly. "I should have made you your own room, but it's time for you to go back to your life as well~"

Di teleported herself into the back of Isuka's library, looking for a comfortable spot to set her pet down. She wanted to be quiet, but by a stroke of bad luck Virto happened to be passing right by her here. "Hi Di," Virto said slightly strained, dragging a box the size of a dresser.

"Virto, you must call me Mistress Di," she said. She held her hand out, the box shaking as a bunch of bubble wraps flew out to her. She heard clanging in the box as a bunch of parts crashed down to the bottom of the box.

"Hey…."

"I needed a bed for your lewd friend here," Di instructed. "I can make it in a moment, but what are you doing?"

"Packing up," Virto said. "I'm going to move in with Vargas, so I'm cleaning out my stuff for the morning." They slapped the side of the box, jiggling metal around. "This is all from the first portal I tried making."

"Charming," she said.

"Actually, I was going to call you after I finished…Mistress. You know back when I first met you, you showed me that web of realities?"

"The portals?" Di asked.

Virto nodded. "Well, I was wondering if we could take one last look at it, at everything."

"Silly Virto, your Yoai fantasy already came true~" Di teased chuckling. "What else could you possibly need?"

Virto shrugged while blushing, not able to think up a straightforward answer.

"I get it, you just can't get it out of your mind," Di said. She dropped Kiris onto the bubble wrap, shrinking the succubus so she would fit comfortably on the airy material. "Fine then, I'll indulge you one last time. Who knows when we will get the chance to share a moment again."

The two of them went to one of the round library tables and sat around it. Di pulled up her assortment of small portals, growing them out of thin air and arranging them flat down on the table. They were dark at first, but slowly and surely did visions of alternate futures and realities come into view. "What did you want to look at?" Di asked, skimming across multiple views herself.

"Just at everything in general," Virto said. They got cozy in their seat and began scanning around. Di also pondered, picking up one of the views and looking closer. She saw Virto claiming a Nobel Peace Prize for their work on creating a theory on dimensions and its applications. "Interesting…"

"Which one do you have there?" Virto asked.

"Oh, just a reality where you get a Nobel Peace Prize."

"What? Let me see!"

"Don't bother," Di said, uninterested in the reality. She twirled her finger, causing the portal to fizzle back out of existence before Virto could grab it. "It wasn't as intriguing as I thought it would be." Virto's hands grabbed at the leftover smoke, but smoke was all that was left of that dream.

"What did you do?"

"Poofed it. It wasn't a fun reality, so I got rid of it. Simple celestial things," Di said. She picked up another portal while Virto was still stun locked over the first one, making a large, drawn out groan. "This one seems interesting. You sell your patent for millions in here."

"Give me!"

"No, wait, it was only a billion," Di said, poofing that one too. "That is no fun at all."

"How, is, a, billion, not fun?!" Virto said through clenched teeth. They felt on the verge of causing bodily harm, one of their eyes twitching.

"There's no motivation in holding a billion dollars," Di said. "With a million, you would be set, but still be in danger of losing your security. It keeps you on your feet, keeps you hungry for more. A million would be an interesting life."

"I rather have a billion and be boring than still worry about a few million! In fact, you are a Lilim! You can do anything! That makes you a hypocrite!"

"Apples and oranges, I suppose. We can't worry about that reality now, it has already been poofed." Di said, picking up another portal. "Let's see…"

"I'm taking this one!" Virto said, snatching it clean out of her hands before she could ruin another life path for them. "I'm not letting you decide anything else for me."

"Fine then, it is your life," Di said, leaning over. "What do you see?"

"I see…" Virto peered inside, shaking it when the view would not brighten. It needed a little extra time to come into vision, but when it did, they did not like it. "I'm…arrested and...there's a familiar on the other side of the cell."

"You must be in holding in Royal Makai," Di said. "Now that is interesting."

"It….they said I was arrested for trying to rob the bank!" Virto put down the portal in confusion. "I would never rob a bank…"

"Maybe you wouldn't, but you would," Di said. "I think we should keep it, for later~"

"Nope. Purge."

"...Fine," Di said rolling her eyes. Disappointed in their lack of adventuring spirit, she twirled her finger slowly, poofing the reality just as the previous two. She picked up another, her eyes widening for the first time in something other than interest. She peered her pupils up at Virto, seeing them waiting for the portal.

"Erm, if you really want to…"

"I do," Virto said, looking at their next one. It was another wedding one, except instead of their Inari, it was another man they couldn't put a finger on. "It's another wedding one," they said, showing it to Di. She looked away from her own portal, furrowing her brow at Virto's. "I wouldn't know, I can't predict the future."

"But, why him? Why not Vargas?"

"Why don't we find out…" Di suggested, shifting to the seat beside Virto. For hours, the two watched the soap opera of a marriage that unfolded before them, seeing the alternate Virto and husband go from a happy couple to a toxic train wreck. It all seemed to go downhill after the honeymoon, with alt Virto catching their husband cheat with one of their coworkers. To both their surprise, alt Virto stayed with him, even fathered a child, but from that moment on it always seemed like they were on the edge.

"Of course, he cheated again," Virto said, sharing a bucket of popcorn with Di. They were watching another argument, seeing them yell despite only being a kitchen island apart. Their child had run away again, probably into the closet or into the backyard door to watch from a safe distance. From where she was, she could hear stuff being hit or thrown in the other room. Unbenounced to any of the three, though, they had an audience from "above".

"Doesn't he have any concern for his family?" Virto continued on, talking over the portal. "How does he even find new people every week to cheat with?"

"I don't know, but I haven't been this hooked on something this radioactive since I watched Bravo," Di said, reaching in for a new fistful. She hit Virto's hand, looking at them with slight surprise. Virto looked back at her, as they had been looking for more popcorn for longer. "We ran out of popcorn…"

"Well, that is a shame," Di said. She poofed the portal they were watching, standing up and adjusting her clothing. "Maybe it's time for me to go…"

"But we haven't seen any of your portals yet," Virto objected. "It wouldn't hurt to end on something lighter."

"I have seen my alternate selves, I assure you it wouldn't be as interesting or joyful as whatever you suspect." She claimed that, but she saw on their face that they weren't buying it.

"Please?" they asked. "I don't want to go to bed thinking about possibly cheating on my husband." Their expression seemed to almost beg for another portal, to which she ultimately couldn't resist. She sat back down, aimlessly shifting the views around the table until Virto stopped on with their finger. "This one," they said. Her eyes softened at the one they poked, regretting that she agreed to one more portal with them. "I'm not so sure," she questioned. "Maybe another?"

"You said you've seen them all, this one seems fun to watch," Virto said. She sighed and nodded, making the rest disappear as the sole reality left came into vision…

Alt Virto ran back into the lab, shutting the door behind them. They were sweating like mad, turning around to put their body weight against the door. Their chest heaved and their glasses were almost off. They looked on, seeming stunned that alt Di was right where they left her. The alt was human, but there was something else within her that was brewing. She seemed fixated on her hands, wiggling her digits as if she was watching lightning run between her fingers.

"There was…a beast…" Virto said between their breaths. Di looked to her side, seeing Virto sitting on the ground with their back against the door.

"I don't know what you mean," she said. "I haven't seen anyone here but you and I."

"But-" they wanted to argue, but they figured it was just better if they left the topic alone. Hopefully, she was right and they had just gotten spooked coming back to the lab. Virto repeated the process they did before - they flipped switches on the dashboard and looked through the reinforced glass, watching as dark matter began to fill the chamber on the other side. The matter began to float in the air, getting concentrated smaller and smaller as some unseen force was squeezing everything together.

Virto nervously pushed the next set of buttons and leaned back from any resulting catastrophe. Last time, it had teleported them into what felt like the future, seeing the ruined lab of peeling paint and sparks jumping. They had to travel outside and got scared out of their mind. They silently prayed it wouldn't happen again and upped the power used inside.

"Open the door," Di said, stepping to the door between her and the experiment going on. Red lights flashed above her as they opened it enough for her to side through. She nodded to them at the panel and stepped inside, using her weird power to help control the collapsing dark matter from inside. It seemed to work, as the matter turned into a small rift with a small explosion of pink dust. Di looked reinvigorated, the veins in her extremities glowing purple as she moved closer to the portal. Virto relaxed back at the controls, thankful nothing weird was teleported around this time.

"Oh no," the real Di whispered with dread.

"Oh no?" the real Virto asked. "What do you mean, 'oh no?'" They looked back into the portal, seeing alternate Di move closer to the rift. When she made contact with her finger, the place erupted into an explosion.

Alternate Virto woke up after the aftermath. They coughed and looked around, panicking when they saw the ruined lab from earlier. "Di!" they yelled, shutting down any remaining power and running out through the door. They climbed down into the chamber, seeing Di sitting by her lonesome. A circle patch around her was completely charred to bits, with nothing remaining but black dust.

"Di…"

"I can't let you come closer Virto," She suddenly spoke.

"But you're hurt!"

"No I'm not," she said, turning around. True to her word, she was completely fine, save for a few wrinkles in her shirt. She was also bluer, the power from earlier slowly overtaking her body. "I made a mistake, I've made a terrible, terrible mistake…"

"We can fix it…"

"We can't fix anything," she said, getting up. Virto started to approach, but Di backed up.

"I saw things I cannot speak of, don't you understand? You're in danger…"

"From what?"

"I don't know…but you have to go." Di sat down, eerily similar to the pose she saw Virto in when they came running. "Hurry, before it sees you with me."

"Who's it?" they asked, begged, but she didn't utter a word. Virto could hear thudding in the distance of the chamber, looking down. It was a long tunnel on the other side, and the explosion had completely knocked out the power. They were in the only section of light, which was already dim and shining in through the stained glass. Whatever was in here was in complete darkness, and Virto would be vulnerable down to their bone marrow. They reached for Di one last time, wanting a companion to escape with, but she slapped away the hand with her own. "Leave, now!" she said.

"I…"

"It's too late for me, I thought being here would fix everything, but I just made everything worse." Tears of gold streamed down her face as she spoke, the thudding getting closer and closer. "Please, go…"

The two of them stared at static for a while, not getting to see the ending. Virto looked towards Di, waiting for her to poof away the portal, but she just stared with a coldness that contrasted the stars flowing within her. Virto scooted closer to her, putting their arms around her body in a comforting hug. It seemed to work somewhat, her finger spinning as she poofed the portal away. "Thank you, pet."

"I'm sorry for making you watch that," Virto said. "At least they are alternate realities, right? I'm not going to actually cheat, and you aren't going to-"

"It's not about the rift," Di said. She put an arm around Virto, hugging them closer like a teddy bear. "It…it just reminds me of me. The vulnerability of it all."

"I see…"

"I need consul, Virto," Di asked. She looked down at their small stature, seeming almost saddened by the worried look on their face. "Say mankind decides to flee from Earth, with no hope for returning as the sun swallows the universe hole. They soon discover that less and fewer planets are hospitable, and slowly run out of time and fuel as more things are swallowed up by stars and black holes. What does this, hypothetical species do?"

Virto though about it for a while, resting their head against her midriff while coming up with an answer. "How do you want me to answer it?"

"Allegory, please."

They paused for a moment, not wanting to rush any answer until they had their words in order. "I think…in your specific scenario, the suns, and black holes are a red herring," Virto said. "Because they eventually discovered one place back in the solar system they started with. It's a different planet, but it fits their needs according to the new position of the sun."

Silence….

"...so I should…go and…" Di trailed on, hugging Virto tighter.

"I'll miss you, and I may be wrong," Virto said. "But sometimes, turning around and going back is the right answer."