Chapter 155

　　Three Years Ago

　　"I always wanted to end the show with a bang." Alexander whispered. His blue eyes stared into his father`s for a final time.

　　Alexander`s laughter echoed through the inner sanctum as a wave of white light enveloped everything around them. His laugh cut off abruptly as the white light halted, filling half the room around him with its destructive energies but stopping short of the young man and his elderly father.

　　Aurelius stood still, a slight smile on his face as he watched his youngest child. His right hand was raised and clenched into a fist. He could feel the connection between himself and Ouroboros thrum with power as he activated it ability.

　　"I`m quite proud of you, my child. You set a goal for yourself, pushed past your limits and seen it to its conclusion. You`re Grand Reveal` can be considered a success, although not entirely in the way you imagined it." The Emperor said, stepping forward and patting his son on his shoulder.

　　"I don`t understand. Everything was perfect! How can you stop the inevitable?! There is an Engine exploding a mere dozen meters away from us!" Alexander screamed, spittle flying from his mouth as his face flushed red with rage at the impossibility of being thwarted.

　　"You`re plan was more than adequate, Alexander. In fact, it was near perfect! If I hadn`t watched you scheme and conspire your entire life, I dare say I would have been caught by surprise!" Aurelius smiled at the comment.

　　"But you didn`t know it was me. You said so yourself!" Alexander rebutted.

　　"I didn`t want to ruin your moment. You deserved it, and who am I to spoil The Grand Reveal?` But did you think I wouldn`t know my journal had been stolen and disseminated to my children? That you freed Johnathan and the other prisoners and gave them the coordinates to Argyle`s fleet? You severely underestimate me, my child." Aurelius frowned, moving past his stunned child and heading toward the door.

　　"Come, we will retrieve your mother, and then we can have a nice, long chat. After all, we have all the time in the world." Aurelius stated, enjoying the joke he made.

　　Obediently, Alexander followed in his father`s footsteps, unable to do anything else in his state of mind. He had spent his life working to surprise his father and topple his beloved Empire. To find out that it had all been a waste was beyond humbling. It was devastating.

　　They passed servants and guards, frozen in time. Even the Engine that he had detonated was still. The destructive energies and light were in a stasis, harmless to the pair as they passed it and proceeded to the elevator leading to the surface.

　　Alexander expected it not to work. Time had stopped after all. But to his surprise, the elevator dinged and began to climb rapidly.

　　"How is this possible?" Alexander asked, and his father was more than willing to answer.

　　"Ouroboros. Each Titan has an ability that is unique to it. You`ve read the reports on some of them already. Atlas and its mastery of gravity, known as The Celestial Burden.` Ouroboros is named after the mythical snake eating its own tail. The Infinite Coil.`" Aurelius paused, waiting for Alexander to come to his own conclusion.

　　"It can manipulate time?" Alexander asked. That would make it the most powerful creation in humanity`s history.

　　"Ouroboros can halt time`s flow for itself and its Pilot. It has harsh boundaries. Already, I am stretching it to the limits of its ability without being present in its cockpit." Aurelius explained.

　　"Why am I included in this ability?" Alexander wondered.

　　"Because I chose to include you." Aurelius replied, and they stood silently as the elevator reached its destination.

　　The hallways of the palace were in chaos. It was a silent tableau of terror and turmoil. If his father felt any emotion over the fate of these people, he didn`t show it. Alexander felt nothing. Their loss had been inevitable, a sacrifice to achieve his goal. Perhaps his father felt a similar feeling.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it`s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

　　In some cases, the pair were forced to step over the huddled bodies of the palace servants and guards. Ignoring them, as one ignores the insects beneath his feet, they came upon a body different from the rest.

　　His mother`s face was covered in blood, and a bruise had already begun to form from where she had obviously been struck by something. Alexander stepped forward, trying to turn her over to see better when he found that he couldn`t move her at all.

　　He turned to look at his father in confusion.

　　"When you step outside the river of time, you cannot reach back down to influence it. It`s a fatal flaw of Ouroboros." Aurelius explained. Reaching down, he gripped Amelia by the shoulder, drawing her into the sway of the Titan`s power. She was unconscious, her body limp and unresponsive.

　　"Carry her." The Emperor ordered, and Alexander found himself obeying immediately. What kind of power did he possess that even someone who wished him harm would obey without question when ordered to?

　　Carrying his mother, Alexander followed in his father`s footsteps as they weaved through the palace. While they walked, he assessed his mother`s condition. She was alive, her breath steady. Whatever blow she had suffered to the head had knocked her out but hadn`t killed her. It was a miracle at her age that she was still alive.

　　Unconcerned, Aurelius led them to the back gardens, where rows of flowerbeds and trees stood silently and unmoving. It was a strange experience not even to have the wind blowing in this frozen world.

　　Past the gardens, they took a small trail to a door that Alexander knew led into the bunker that housed Ouroboros. Down deep below the earth, they came to the Titan. It seemed alive, even with its missing parts and cannibalized figure. Its remaining eye glowed a bright blue in the dim storage room.

　　Coming before the Mobile Suit, Alexander rested his mother on the ground. Standing, he stretched his back and shoulders, unused to so much physical activity.

　　"Well? Now what? Are you going to use this relic to launch a counterattack and take back Terra? If its time-halting abilities are as you described, I don`t see how you can stop the detonations." Alexander asked.

　　Even now, he was trying to understand his father. He had thought he knew everything about the Emperor, but the man always had another layer beneath the surface, like an onion.

　　"Stop them? Why ever would I want to do that? You`ve set the perfect scenario in place to prepare the Empire for the coming storm. I couldn`t have asked for a better test of their capabilities. I myself would have gone with something larger in scale, but this will work fine." Aurelius mused, tapping his finger against his lip as he stared at the Mobile Suit in front of him.

　　"I-I don`t understand. Do you want Terra to be destroyed? You want me to have killed millions of people, to set the Empire on a course of civil war?! Do you not understand what I`ve done?! Argyle and Augustus will blame each other for this. The Houses will be divided. I`ve ensured that there will be nothing left!" Alexander shouted.

　　"I disagree on how severe the losses will be, but yes. I understand exactly what you have done, and I wouldn`t change a thing. I think that before it gets to the point of no return, when your brothers stand on the knife`s edge of total war, one of them will see reason and step back. But it is the journey to that edge that I want them to experience. Even if I am wrong, and they do not step back from war, that would also benefit them."

　　"Why?!" Alexander asked, his voice strangled with emotion. He had been used. His grand plan had been coopted by a man whose merciless and callous nature was leagues beyond anything Alexander hoped to possess. The destruction of Terra would be a test!

　　Aurelius didn`t turn to look at him, nor did he ask the condition of his wife. Instead, he stood as if transfixed by the Titan as he posed his own question.

　　"Tell me, Alexander. How many people would you sacrifice to ensure the continuation of Humanity? How many worlds would you allow to burn? Would you accept your name being tainted and branded with the worst titles humans could think of if it meant they would at least be alive to demonize you?"

　　"I don`t know. Is that what this is all about? To protect them from a threat that only you are aware of? Is that what you have been obsessing about all these years?" Alexander responded.

　　"Yes, and not just myself. This Titan was gifted to our ancestors to unify humanity under a lie I have perpetuated as Emperor. Do you wish to learn the truth, my son? Do you want to know why the Empire was formed?" Aurelius turned away from the Titan, finally looking at Alexander.

　　For the first time Alexander could ever remember, the Emperor`s face was grave and filled with fear. He shivered, wondering what could have terrified him. What was the lie? He had thought the Empire was formed to ensure the mistake of creating A.I. was never repeated. Was he wrong?

　　Alexander nodded.

　　"Good. Ouroboros, please open the way." The Emperor asked. The Titan`s remaining arm, barely functional from the missing parts, slowly lifted and gestured. A Jump portal formed at the end of the room.

　　It was a scientific impossibility. The Jump couldn`t function on the surface. Alexander was stunned at the casual act of the Titan.

　　"Ouroboros, you will await your new Pilot here after we are gone. Alexander, carry your mother. The answer awaits."