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Chapter 195 - Say Goodbye to the You of Yesterday
🕑 Added 2022-10-27 20:15:01 +0000 UTCThe rest of the new timeline’s defenders returned to their reality with hanging heads, the Ancient Dragon and Xiong Huang watching over them.
As for the rest of the new timeline’s inhabitants, they stood facing their counterparts. Bob stood at the ready by the original timeline, ready to return and heal the universe.
But before that he gave everyone else a chance for one final farewell…
***
Elise floated in the air above Serenia. On the ground and in the air before her was every NSLICE unit the Concordat had built.
Elise smiled at them.
“Thank you, all of you, from the bottom of my heart. Thanks to you, I was able to reunite with my family and save my universe. I will never forget you all.”
Cybernetic messages flooded across her UI, declaring loyalty for the Liberator. A single tear formed in her eye.
“I am satisfied with your service. You have accomplished your mission and then some.”
She saw expressions of joy form on the cyborg’s faces. Even the autonomous bots seemed to register higher processor clock rates at her words. One by one, the bots began to deactivate, final log messages of ‘Primary Directive Achieved’ streaming into Elise from the NSLICE network. And then one by one they faded.
Elise took a deep breath, and exhaled it with a smile. She whispered one final time to herself.
“Thank you all…”
***
Saydaa faced her alternate self, holding her hands. She looked down, frowning. She opened her mouth, but she couldn’t get the words out.
Alternate Saydaa laughed in her face.
“Ahahaha, what’s with that stupid look?!”
“You jerk! I’m being sad for you!”
“That’s why I’m calling you stupid!”
Alternate Saydaa made a bright, happy grin. The first one of its type she had made in her life.
“I’m going to become you! I’m going to have so much fun! You’re doing me a real favor!”
And then she made a softer, sincere smile, tears welling up in her eyes.
“Thank you, Saydaa Alpha. It wasn’t for long, but truly, those were the best times of my life. Thank you for being there for me.”
Tears started to drip from Saydaa Alpha’s eyes and she grabbed the girl in a tight hug.
“No you, Saydaa Alpha.”
Both Saydaa Alphas started to cry as they hugged each other…and one of them started to fade…
Until Saydaa’s eyes suddenly widened.
“Wait a minute!”
***
Kiyosuke, Bin, and the cyborg Kiyoatsu wrapped one another in a hug.
As they separated, Kiyoatsu patted his shoulder.
“Expressing Gratitude: Thank you, little brother, for taking care of me. Apology: I’m sorry I made you clean up my mess in your time.”
Kiyosuke shook his head as his tears continued to flow.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t save you…any of you.”
Bin gave him another hug.
“You already did.”
Kiyoatsu joined in.
""Please Kiyosuke, be happy. We love you!""
He held them tight as they started to fade.
“I love you too. Goodbye…”
And then he knelt down and started to sob.
But he felt as if a dark cloud had finally lifted from above him.
***
Icy Rose was staring. Her eyes quivered. Her mouth was open but no words came from them.
Icy Falcon, her Icy Falcon, was alive again.
But only for a moment.
Once the normal flow of time was restored, he would be gone once more.
He smiled at her and took a step forward.
He patted her head.
“Thank you, Constanza, for everything. You helped me find myself again. It’s thanks to you that I truly learned how to be a hero. My only regrets…are that I didn’t have more time with you. And that I didn’t get to tell you this then. So let me say it again now. Thank you, Constanza.”
Tears welled up in her eyes. Icy Falcon pulled her into a hug. She slowly returned it as she began to sob.
“Agreeing to train you…was the best decision of my life.”
“Falcon!”
He held her, gently rubbing her head until he started to fade.
“Falcon! Goodbye! Thank you for everything! I promise I’ll become a great hero like you!”
He chuckled and shook his head.
“Don’t bother. You’re already a greater hero than I ever was. Just be you, Constanza, and you’ll do just fine.”
And with that he was gone.
Constanza wiped her eyes and nodded, the tears continuing to flow.
***
And so everyone bid each other a fond farewell as they prepared to return to the normal flow of time.
Well…not everyone…
Adriani clutched her head as she stood in front of Arachnalich.
“No way…this can’t be…I’m…I’m…I’m a stupid bot! And a monster!”
“Excuse you? I’m a queen! I’m the one who should be upset! You’re just someone’s dumb minion!”
“You’re still someone’s dumb minion!”
“No! I’m the boss now! I’m free!”
“Tell that to Linda!”
“S-She works for me! …she’s supposed to work for me…”
“I can’t watch this anymore. I’ve had enough. Just reset me already.”
“I’m the one who’s had enough! Just go!”
Adriani faded away.
And then Arachnalich started cackling.
“Hehehe…hahaha…HAHAHAHA…MUAHAHAHAHAHA! I’ve got you! I’ve totally got you!”
She held up a new phylactery. Unbeknownst to Adriani, a small undead spider had drawn a magic circle with web on her back, allowing Arachnalich to cast a certain spell. A spell that normally has to be specifically cast by the user themselves to work, a restriction that apparently did not account for time dopplegangers. She grinned as she held the phylactery up to look closely at it.
“Even I can’t escape the spider’s web, muahahahaha! And now, now…I’m going to turn YOU into a monster bot and feed you to Linda! Then I can go hunt down Bob again! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
***
Roxanne grit her teeth, clutching her head. Her alternate had faded with a smirk, saying not a word to her. She had tilted her head at first, but she soon learned the reason.
The horrible, terrible reason.
“Get out of my head! Get out get out get out!”
“No.”
“This is my head! Go back to your own!”
“Don’t wanna. Don’t be stingy, I want to see your timeline.”
“You already saw my timeline!”
“For real though. I deserve this, I worked hard to save you, you know?”
“I don’t care! It’s my head, get out!”
“Let me stay…or I’ll tell a certain someone about Little PSI’s first little crush. I still can’t believe you’re in an unrequited love of all things, when you can go and read minds. I’m embarrassed for both of us.”
Roxanne froze. She began to tremble.
“You…you wouldn’t dare!”
“You know I would.”
Roxanne screamed.
“Fine! Be that way! Stay in my head then! It’s just another voice out of a thousand, what do I care?!”
“I knew you’d see reason.”
“But I’m calling you Little PSI from now on! Since you’re just a little voice in my head with no body!”
“...”
“Heh, that got you to shut up, huh, Little PSI?”
“Unforgivable. It’s war now. Antonioooooo I have something to tell youuuuu….”
“DON’T YOU DARE!”
***
The Ancient Dragon grinned and cackled, back in her humanoid form. She held a book of confectionery and ice cream recipes in her hand.
Meanwhile the other three stood in front of Bob. Ione’s power had just about run out and bits of light were already drifting from their bodies.
Princess Aurélie bowed her head and gave a salute, slamming her fist into her chest.
“My hero, it was an honor to serve, and fight at your sight.”
Bob nodded.
“Thank you, Princess Aurélie. You just saved all of my reality. I hold your oath fulfilled, go now and fight to protect what is yours.”
She saluted once more, smiling.
Londibni just sighed.
“You never make my life easy, do you?”
Bob smiled at her.
“Thank you, Londibni. I couldn’t have done it without you, in either world.”
She just sighed, glancing over at the Ancient Dragon rubbing the book against her cheek.
“Sometimes, I really wish you could.”
She walked off to give Adoel and Bob a moment. As she did, she found Director Green and Arachnalich conversing.
The three made eye contact. Londyn raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms. Londbini stomped over to them.
And then…
Three women gave each other firm handshakes.
“““Bob?”””
“““Bob.”””
And then something passed before all of their eyes…
[Bob.]
The Society for the Victims of Bob gained two new members that day.
Meanwhile Adoel was staring at Bob, her cheeks puffed. But then…she sighed, and her eyes started to moisten.
“Will I ever…see you again?”
Bob gave her a sad smile but nodded.
“Not me exactly, nor you exactly. But your world is a possible reality that may yet be born. And a timeline that has its own Bob. So when your timeline is born…the real you will meet a new me. A me that truly belongs to that timeline, and so won’t need to leave at all.”
A tear fell from her eye but she nodded at that. Bob patted her on the head.
“It was fun, Adoel. Thank you for everything, and for helping me save my timeline.”
He smirked.
“Looks like you made me a hero in the end, huh?”
She stared at him for a moment, and then burst out laughing. She smiled at him as she started to fade.
“I guess I did! I win this one, you evil hero!”
And with that, the four of them faded. The golden light faded from Bob’s eyes, and the system left him for good. He returned to his former self, just a man.
With that, Bob turned back towards the river of light representing his timeline. Xiong Huang stood to his right, arms crossed and eye twitching at his latest exchange. Elise walked up to his left, smiling at him.
He took their hands, Elise’s smile growing while Xiong Huang’s face grew red once more.
“Let’s go home.”
He stepped into the light.
A white flash covered everyone’s view…
Author’s Note:
Just a bit of wrap up to go.
And then it's time for the after-stories and the spinoffs!
What's that? Edit the novel now that it's basically done? Um, well...l-look! It's a shiny new NSLICE novel! I-I definitely need to be working on that. I-I'm definitely not putting anything off at the moment!
Anyways!
How will our story conclude? To find out, tune in one last time!
