Flying up the hole I dropped in from, I see Guts a little disappointed with Yoruichi comforting him.

"I'm guessing you had to step in and help him." I said as I sat down on a sacrificial table.

"Tch, I could've done it myself." mumbled Guts.

"He was doing well in the beginning, but he used too much strength on a swing and he fell. The alien had a clear shot with its tail, so I stepped in. Either way, he did well." she said patting him on the head.

"You live and you learn." I said.

"So why'd you want an intact body?" asked Yoruichi.

"Trophy, memento, souvenir. We're going to visit who knows how many worlds, and I want to remember each one more than just memories."

"So you're going to stuff the hunters and the aliens?" she said looking a little disgusted.

"No, just the aliens. I'm not a psycho. I won't stuff sentient beings. I'll make a replica for those types and display their armor and weapons. But where I'll put them is to be determined."

"Oh, good. I thought you were going to go around killing things to add to your collection like a creep." she said with a little smile at which Guts chuckled.

"Hey come on, I'm a little hurt you think I would even do that you know." I said while holding my chest in fake pain.

"Can't blame her, everyone has weird hobbies." said Amelia who came walking out of a hall.

"Oh, and what are yours Amelia?" asked Ciri who teleported back.

"I like to meet other me's." she replied.

"Is that weird, I find it quite intriguing. The thought of meeting yourself from a different timeline. Seeing what could be." said Ciri in wonderment of the meeting a different her.

"Trust me, once you've seen as many timelines as I have, it becomes a weird hobby." she said with a look of fake dread on her face.

"I'm last? That's surprising." said Uzui walking in.

"Well, I'm assuming that you wanted to test yourself against them so you took longer than the rest of us." I said with a smirk.

"HAHAHA! Too easy. Though they did remind me of demons a little with how tricky they are." he said contemplating.

"Here's the body you wanted Matt." said Ciri before taking out a near-mint-condition Xenomorph from her inventory.

"Thank you, Ciri. Sorry for making you go through the trouble of doing it cleanly." I said apologizing to her.

"No, it's fine. It wasn't all that hard." she replied.

"Alright you two lovebirds, let's go to the surface and relax already." said Yoruichi with a smirk.

"Lovebirds? Please, he couldn't handle me if he tried." said Ciri while rolling her eyes with a smile.

"Hey, that's a little harsh. I have feelings you know." I said with a smirk while everyone else laughed.

~~

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

[Emergency Mission!] - Complete ✔

Originally, the French trappers were meant to pass by this place and nothing would happen. Due to the members' influence, a mechanism has been triggered by the French trappers causing a slumbering initiation grounds to be activated.

- Stop any Xenomorphs from escaping ✔

- Kill the Queen ✔

Rewards

- 5,000 DGC Points

- Random Item

Once again looking down at the pyramid in the ravine, I was contemplating whether or not I should bury it.

"Are you thinking of burying it?" asked Ciri.

"I am. Even though the Queen is dead, it's still too dangerous to be left alone. Alright everyone stand back." I said before flying above the ravine.

I decided to use tk blasts on the walls of the ravine to collapse them, burying the pyramid. It only took four blasts before the walls collapsed and the ravine was gone.

Back on the surface, I was taking a look at the Emergency Mission while everyone else rested around me.

"I wonder how the initiation ground got activated?" I wondered out loud.

"What do you mean?" asked Uzui.

"Well, in the movies it didn't get activated until someone stepped on a tile inside the pyramid. This one seems to have been activated by someone from outside it. And I think the pyramid was buried before, otherwise, someone would have seen it." I said.

"In the movie, a laser gets shot out that digs into the ice to the entrance of the pyramid, maybe this one did something similar." responded Amelia.

"What does it matter, anyways? The DGC said mission complete so there's nothing else we need to do. Everything else is in the past. Right now, we enjoy our rest." said Uzui while laying down with his eyes closed.

"I guess you're right. Just my curiosity taking over me." I said before lying down against a tree.

"So, what do we do now?" asked Guts

"Let's rest for now. All that fighting got me a little tired." I said before closing my eyes.

~~

After waking up from a quick nap, it was almost going to become night.

"That was a good nap." I said while standing up to stretch. I looked around the area we were resting only to see everyone asleep except for Ciri who was watching the fire.

"Can't sleep?" I said walking over to sit in front of the fire across from Ciri. Looking at her illuminated by the fire, with the setting sun behind her mesmerized me for a bit before I snapped out of it.

"No. I've been thinking about stuff." she said with her knees tucked to her chest and her head resting on them.

"Specifically?"

"This. All of this." she said gesturing around her, "About why we've been chosen, about my world's future, about my future, about everything." she said in a whisper.

"Ah, the existential dread. I'm quite familiar with it." I said trying to lighten the mood.

"You are?" she said looking up at me with some hope in her eyes. Hope that I would be able to answer her questions and clear her doubts.

"Of course I am. When you live in a world where you don't always have to fight to survive, at least for most people, the only thing to do is think. And when you think, you inevitably think about the future. About your place in the world, in the universe, and your purpose in life." I said reminiscing about my past life.

"And those thoughts are scary. When you truly think about how small you are, about how insignificant you are in the grand scheme of things, about how you'll never get to see what your world becomes or can become, it's terrifying. It makes you want to end it all, to get it over with. It's inevitable anyways, so why not do it now?

But those thoughts pass. And you get up the next day and continue to live, to fight, to survive. Eventually, you'll find something or someone that makes those thoughts fade away. They become unimportant because right now you're living in the moment with something you love. It's good to think about the future, but the present is all we have. Plan for the future, live in the present, and forget about the past." I said looking up at Ciri who was looking at me in awe.

"I didn't think you thought so much about the future." she said.

"As I said, when you live in a world of relative peace, you think about anything." I said smiling at her.

"What about the idea that we may be fictional, does that scare you?" she said.

"No, because I know we aren't fictional."

"How can you be so sure, when in your world I'm a game?" she said with a little dread in her voice.

"My understanding of the omniverse is this, every story that is told on any reality at any time, exists. So, for example, someone had an idea that perfectly matched your world in my world. And whether that came to them in a dream or some other way, I think they connected with that world. By using a medium, whether that be games, books, movies, etc., they are telling us the history or future of that world.

It doesn't mean you are fictional. It means that person was able to glimpse into your world and tell its story to their world."

"So you think they are like seers?" she said.

"Of sorts, yes. Whatever the case may be, you have people to rely on. People you can talk to if you ever have thoughts like these, or doubts about anything. You're not alone anymore, Ciri."

"Thank you." she whispered before she went back to staring at the fire.