[149,542,677. That is 82% of the newer generations, Princess Aerith.]
"...Wow."
Aerith was currently standing on a cliff, her breaths and whispers, not even being allowed to be heard as the voices of others resounded throughout the entirety of New Theran.
Her eyes reflected the entirety of New Theran—its people. Every single one of them gathered in front of her, endlessly moving through the land and skies as they all cheered and talked to each other; most of them were strangers that have just left their home behind for a new one, and yet none of them seemed to shy away or regret their decision.
"Fuck me… I've never seen so many people gathered in one place," Hannah and the others were also standing on the cliff; their eyes, almost overwhelmed by the sea of themarians in front of them, "How did you guys even pull this off in the span of a minute?"
"It doesn't matter," Diana stood beside her. But unlike Hannah, her eyes did not contain awe, but rather excitement as she covered her mouth and giggled, "What matters is that I now have an almost unlimited number of test subjects. I have been trying to find a way to make themarians more susceptible to the supervirus—imagine all of them infected, that is practically the birth of a new species of gods…New Themarians. I'll try running simulations on the ship immediately."
"...Mom?" Hannah could really only stare at her mother as Diana started whispering to herself; her feet, very slowly leaving the ground while she mumbled.
"Diana! Where are you going?" Before Diana could literally float away from her ideas, Aerith pulled her back to the ground, "The people want to see and hear you speak. All of this wouldn't have been possible without you."
"I prefer being the one behind the scenes, Your Highness," Diana only smiled as she shook her head, "Go and celebrate with your people, you won't get the chance to after the real rebuilding starts."
"...How about you?" Aerith blinked a couple of times, "You're one of our people too, Diana."
"Goodness, no," Diana softly chuckled, "I haven't been a themarian for a very long time—I'm a human."
"...I guess there goes my chance of asking you to lead and guide us?" Aerith breathed out as she looked at the rowdy sea of themarians.
"I have enough of just trying to deal with my family. And besides, there's already someone better suited to lead these people," Diana looked at the crowd one final time before just abruptly flying away, "Now I'm off to do my simulations while the norinlad is still here."
"..."
"Wh—mom…!" Hannah tried to reach for Diana, but she already flew to space before she could even fully stretch her arms. Hannah then awkwardly and slowly looked at Aerith, before respectfully nodding her head and saying,
"I'll… try bringing mom back before she starts doing some weird calculations!"
"...Right," Aerith could really only sigh as she watched as Hannah followed her mother into space.
"Congratulations, Princess Aerith."
And just when Aerith thought she was done dealing with the antics of the Rosses, Bernard approached her with his hand already stretched.
"...Thank you for your help, Whiteking," Aerith nodded as she shook Bernard's hand, "I heard it was your idea to create that… EDP trap thing."
"Hm, the least I can do," Bernard sighed as he looked at the themarians, "My son… has destroyed an unimaginable number of lives. I shouldn't even be thanked for this."
"Riley's sins are not yours, Bernard."
"...You don't believe that," Bernard breathed out as he scratched his beard, "Anyway, I should shave. I'll be on the ship if you need anything."
"...Why is everyone leaving?" Aerith sighed and raised an eyebrow, "You guys helped in making this possible."
"The one wearing a pink robe actually told us to," Bernard shrugged, "Something about needing an official count of the planet's inhabitants—recognizing New Theran as a sovereign planet?"
"...Oh, right," a smile slowly crawled on Aerith's face as she breathed out, "...The Codex."
"As I said, congratulations," Bernard also smiled; doing the themarian salute before flying away.
"..." And with her now left alone again, Aerith could not help but look at her people. She knew this was just the beginning—but that was the goal in the first place, a new beginning for her people.
There were a lot of things that needed to be done, but this was a chapter in her life that she could finally turn—
"Where's Caitlain?"
And before Aerith could cherish and wallow the moment in front of her in silence, a somewhat sultry voice whispered behind her.
Aerith sighed as she looked at the person that destroyed her moment, only to see Xra looking down at the millions of themarians scattered everywhere,
"Diana's in her ship," Aerith said as she pointed up.
"What? I told her not to leave out of my reach," Xra rolled her eyes as her feet left the ground.
"I suppose I should thank you for helping make this possible too."
"I didn't help you," Xra's feet once again touched the ground as she heard Aerith's words, "And do not forget I have slain your brother in battle, that negates everything."
"He lost in a fair duel. That is the best death a themarian could wish for," Aerith shook her head and sigh, "It is a shame that he wouldn't see this, but I suppose the woman he loved being here is consolation enough."
"..." Xra did not really respond and just turned to look at her crew, who were shaking in their boots as they were surrounded by seemingly curious themarians.
"Why is your skin gold!?"
"If I rip one of your arms, can it grow back?"
"Why are you ugly?"
The themarians asked them questions, and the only thing they could do was force an awkward chuckle and answer nervously.
"...You have a difficult time ahead of you, Princess," Xra scoffed as she looked at Aerith, "Are you sure you made the right decision? All of these people seemed peaceful and living normal enough on Theran."
"I… honestly don't know yet," Aerith shook her head, before turning her eyes toward the expanse of space at her horizon, "But I know we belong here… traveling in the skies."
"Just hope the other species think so too," Xra closed her eyes, "I'm not going to congratulate you for making your lives harder. You had a good thing going for you on Earth, you should have just stayed there and left your people alone."
"..."
"Hm. Everyone, back to the Bloodcruiser!"
"Aww, are you guys going!?"
"Are you coming back!?"
"We'll… we'll just be up there." And finally, with Xra's crew being saved by her, they quickly all scrambled and left, leaving the themarians disappointed.
"..." Watching this, Aerith could not help but let out a long and very deep sigh—Xra was right, they had a difficult time ahead of them. The themarians needed to adjust fast if they wanted to be accepted by the others.
"Uhm…"
"Paige…?" And once again, another person approached Aerith, "I thought you were on the ship with the rest?"
"I was, but I wanted to see how you were doing," Paige smiled as she stood beside Aerith; her breaths, slightly heavy as she glanced several times back and forth between Aerith and the horizon,
"So... how is Megawoman?"
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