[ Creators ]

Chapter 32

Back at their home, Red and Koto were taking it easy. Straus was a little late getting back but they didn't worry about it too much since they knew if it were an emergency, they would have known about it by now. Until Koto felt a stinging sensation within her very soul, the same that alerted her to Synthis' presence. "Ow-...", she looks around at the Worlds and everything seems ok, "That's...odd."

"Koto?", asks Red.

Koto grips her shirt and looks scared, "...Red, please look after everyone. I think Straus in is trouble!"

"Wait what-?! Um- ok-! ... (...he's lucky to have family like her around...)"

"I'll be back soon!", Koto summons a portal leading in the direction Straus went, "Let's see...I guess if these jolts get worse, I'll know I'm going in the right direction."

Koto can't help but feel a weird sense of nostalgia, finding her way around the Multiverse looking for Straus reminded her of her mission to make it back to her original home. During her time with Straus, the two have made attempts at finding it, but they either get lost or get tired from traveling too far and have to go back. Before she has time to dwell on it all, she feels another sharp pain in her chest, more intense than before. "Gh-! I must be getting warmer. His last location must be right under my- ", she trips on a World Orb that was on the ground, "OOF-...nose."

Meanwhile, from atop the mountain, two cloaked figures watch as Straus flies over the city, causing destruction in his wake. The promise to himself to never kill didn't matter right now, he felt as though this was right. He was avenging not only his mother but the life he lost due to the humans' malice. The figures see Koto land on another part of the mountain. "Ah...there she is..."

"Do you think she alone can help him?"

"...I might have to step in...that poor child..."

"This place seems interesting...", Koto ponders. She looks up to see a winged monster terrorizing the city below, "That must be what's attacking Straus!" The fiend charges and fires a laser from its mouth, shaking the ground. As Koto catches her balance, one of the cloaked figures appears next to her.

"Er- hi there? Have you seen my brother?"

The cloaked individual points towards the winged beast.

"Huh-? I know the fellow up there has to be stopped but I'm here on a rescue mission so- ", upon closer inspection, she realizes that the person causing all of this chaos is the person she came to save. "...Straus? No- No he wouldn't do something like this!!", in a panic, Koto takes off running down the mountainside with the person in the cloak trailing close behind. The person speaks, "There may be things you don't understand right now, but this is our home." Koto skids to a halt as the other person continues to run, "...Our? What is going on today!?"

Straus continues to bring havoc upon the human city. Firing barrages of magic and striking down anyone who tries to take a shot at him. The humans meanwhile are in a state of panic. Most white-souled people were dead or in hiding these days; they also didn't know they could grow to be this powerful. In their minds, this was the whole reason they wanted them dead in the first place. Such a danger to their society should be put down, right? Why try to assimilate them or welcome them when they could pose a serious threat? Who cares if they're innocent bystanders when any one of them could have become this powerful? What they did was right.

To them anyway.

When humans are threatened, they don't care what lengths they have to go to feel safe again. Even if that means killing their own kind. The white-souled people, the Devils, they were people too. They cried out for security and justice and just an ounce of safety in this cruel World they were born into.

But humans

Never

Listen.

"Is this what you were afraid of all along? Or is this what you all deserved?", Straus looms over the city and starts to charge one final attack. Suddenly, the hooded figure reaches his position. She ran so fast that a gust of wind followed her and almost blew Straus out of the sky. Straus shakes his head as he regains balance, "mmf- who...?" Koto catches up and calls out to him, "STRAUS!"

He backs away from the two, "G-...go away...! I'm...doing justice...!"

The hooded figure calls out, "What you're doing is a massacre! Please calm down and we can talk this out."

Straus gets defensive, "No!"

"Hurting these people won't change how they about your people, Straus. And killing them isn't going to help your mental state. You've learned that lesson, haven't you?"

"They MURDERED me! You don't know anything about this place!", Straus charges at the figure but in a swift motion, she catches his hands, disabling his weapons. The figure's hood falls, revealing a woman with long, white hair. Straus tries to continue fighting but she pulls him in and hugs him. "Gh-! Let me go! Let me g-", at that moment, his Devil form deactivates; but instead of raven black hair, it returns to a snowy white.

"Easy now...it'll be ok..."

Straus feels the gentle embrace as if he knows this comforting presence. For him and the woman, one last memory comes to light.

A mother is helping her son get home from school. The son is holding an action figure of a cyborg and the mother has a bandage around her leg. She narrowly avoided an encounter with humans on the way to pick him up, but not without a few scratches.

"But, Mom! What if one day they get you!? I wanna know how to help you!"

The mother pulls her son into a gentle hug, "Easy now...it'll be ok..."

Straus is overwhelmed with sadness, "...wh-...what in the Multiverse is this...?"

The woman looks at Straus with newfound recognition and tears in her eyes.

"...Hello again, my son."

"Mom...? But you-"

"I know...I thought the same thing about you. But I guess miracles do exist, right?"

"This life...it wasn't fair...", Straus holds on tight to his mother as he too begins to cry.

"I know...I know...", she smiles at Koto, "But it looks like you had some friends to help you out."

"She's more than a friend to me. Right sis?"

Koto smiles and nods, "Right!"

Straus hides his face, "I've missed you...I didn't think I'd ever see you again after what this World did to us..."

His mother holds him close, "I kept holding onto the hope that I'd see you again...and here you are!"

While this touching reunion was happening, any surviving humans began to close in around the small family.

"Disgusting..."

"What a hideous display...!"

"...No monster deserves redemption, especially this one!"

"We should KILL them while their guards are down!"

Koto didn't quite understand what happened to Straus and his mother, but at that moment it didn't matter; her instinct to protect her family kicked in. Her Supernova form flares up for a moment as she casts a barrier and shouts, "GO AWAY!" The humans back up a few paces, having never witnessed something like that before. "We should leave now.", says Straus, "I think this place is toxic to us..." "Right!", says Koto as she opens a portal home. "By the way Mah- er- ma'am, may I ask your name?" Straus' mom chuckles, "Of course, dear. My name is Pandora."

Pandora and Koto step through the portal together. Straus takes one more look at his HomeWorld and the people living in it. He points to his eyes then points back at all of the people.

"...Filthy humans."

He then jumps through the portal back to the safety of his Space.