Death led Life to the Horsemen’s mansion. Life goggled in amazement. “So pretty!” she said.
“And there’s plenty of room for you here,” replied Death. War then approached them and was inspecting her sword.
“Death, can I borrow your scythe sharpener?” she asked. “I think my sword is-” She finally caught sight of Life and locked her shocked gaze at her. Her sword fell out of her hands and made a loud clang. “…Life?”
“Hello, War,” replied Life. War stumbled over to Life and removed her gauntlet. Her battle-scarred hand then reached to Life’s cheek and Life took the hand and pressed it against her face. “I’m real, War. …I’m back.” War’s eyes released tears, then she gathered Life into a bear-hug while laughing proudly. “And there’s the bear-hug!” groaned Life as War spun around.
“IT’S WONDERFUL TO SEE YOU AGAIN, SISTER!” boomed War happily. She then set Life down. “It’s been far too long! Welcome home!” She looked back into the mansion. “FAMINE! PESTILENCE! GET OVER HERE! LIFE’S BACK!”
“Bellowing again, War?” wheezed a voice as Pestilence entered the room. “And making crass jokes, I thought you had-!” She stopped when she saw Life. Famine then came into the room grabbing a slice of pizza from the box in her hand. When Famine saw Life, she stopped, stared, and dropped the box.
“…Life?” asked Famine.
“And she’s real!” assured War. Life gathered Pestilence and Famine into a hug. Famine quickly ate her pizza slice before she and Pestilence returned the hug.
“Our sister, home at last!” sobbed Famine happily.
“What’s going on here?” asked a voice. Lacey then entered the room and saw the scene. She locked eyes with Life. “…Death’s counterpart, I presume?” she asked, a little uncertain.
“And you’re the human that became the new Chaos!” cheered Life. “You helped Megumi beat Vortech twice, yes?”
“I did,” confirmed Lacey.
“Fascinating! No human’s ever handled even a fraction of a Horseman’s power, much less all of it!”
“I had to go through some pretty rough training to handle it.”
“All in the span of a month, if I recall,” remarked War.
“A month?!” yelped Life. “You four subjected her to the most hellacious training in a month?!”
“Oddly enough,” replied Pestilence, “her old human lifestyle helped her grasp the more advanced training rather quickly.”
“You see,” said Lacey, “I came from Springfield, located in Universe T-H-3-5-1-M-P-5-0-N-5.”
“Wait, is that the universe where everyone has an overbite, and the dominant skin-tone is mustard yellow?” asked Life.
“That’s the one. I had parents, but Death had to take Mom and Dad was an abusive man-child. I became the stereotypical goth until the Vortech Wars. During my training, I asked for Dad’s memories of me and his marriage to Mom to be wiped, so he’s living alone there. I then changed my appearance to what you see now and helped Megumi along the way.”
“You and Megumi became the prophesied heroes during the Vortech Wars,” reminded Famine as she polished off her pizza and grabbed a bowl of spaghetti and meatballs.
“And now I’ve got a husband and daughter,” continued Lacey, “and life with them and my sisters has been awesome ever since.”
“And the daughter was born here?” asked Life.
“And raised here too. Thank goodness for that. There’s something in this universe’s water that makes the students immortal after continual consumption. It even resurrects the dead and gives them a new body.”
“…When did this factoid come about?”
“It was confirmed by Vortoranii’s ghost about 500 years ago, local time-scale,” explained Death. “Apparently, in their early days, the Chizarans created other universes to seek immortality. This was one of the failed experimental universes.”
“Great, so Vortoranii tricked you all into using this universe as a place for After Academy.”
“Yeah, we weren’t happy with that. We made it work, though.”
“For some odd reason, we didn’t perceive the passage of time until the Vortech Wars,” explained Famine as she finished putting a mountain of parmesan cheese on her spaghetti and started eating.
“And Lacey’s new Academy House has really brought the students in,” War said with pride.
“…Is there room for a new House based on Philosophy?” asked Life. Death put a hand on her shoulder.
“Always,” she replied. “We’d be honored to have you be the Philosophy Department Head, should you wish.”
“I accept!” The Horsemen of the Apocalypse then embraced their once-lost sister of Flourishment.
“Welcome home, Life,” sighed Death happily.
Richard returned home after a job hunt. He went into his house and climbed the steps up to the living room. Gathered around the coffee table were his daughters, Farmee, and Galvatron’s holo-form. They were playing a card game. “…You kids having fun?” asked Richard.
“Hi, Daddy,” replied Kaitlyn. “I think Farmee’s having the most fun right now. He’s picked up the nuances of the game fast enough to spank us all!”
“What game are you playing?” That’s when Kaede raged.
“WHAT IS THIS GAME, DUDE?!” she shrieked as she pulled cards out from a deck. “ARE YOU SERIOUS?! GIVE ME A GREEN! OR A SEVEN!! JUST! ONCE! WHAT?! ARE?! YOU?! DOING?! HOLY #*@&!”
“Oh no,” realized Richard.
“No, Mr. Saunders,” answered Galvatron as he and the rest of the players laughed at Kaede’s misfortune, “Uno.”
“…Okay, that was good,” chuckled Richard.
“FINALLY!” shouted Kaede as she pulled out a card she got from the deck. She threw a green eight onto the central pile and glared at Farmee. Farmee just smiled and pulled a card out from his hand. It was a green reverse card, one of the most dreaded cards in Uno.
“No, don’t do it!” laughed Kaitlyn. Kaede silently begged Farmee not to put that card down.
“Sorry, Madam,” said Farmee. He wasn’t, really, otherwise he wouldn’t have played the card. Kaede just stared at the pile in disbelief and fury as Kaitlyn and Galvatron laughed. She then looked at Farmee’s hand of two cards and looked at her own eighteen-card hand.
“…I DON’T HAVE A GREEN!” she wailed in rage. Farmee just sat in smugness as Kaitlyn and Galvatron were in hysterics. Kaede then let out the loudest shriek imaginable. She then slumped over and started pulling cards and adding them to her hand.
“Okay, you kids have fun,” chuckled Richard. Kaede just flipped him off. “Oh, come on! That was unnecessary!” he laughed. He then headed to his and Megumi’s bedroom to change into his casual clothes.
“NO!” wailed Farmee’s voice.
“Lost his edge, I see,” Richard chuckled to himself. He then realized that the shower was running. A Japanese song left the bathroom and drew Richard to the door. He tapped on the door loudly enough for the occupant to hear.
“Yes?” called Megumi’s voice.
“It’s Richard,” replied Richard. “I see our kids are teaching Uno to Farmee and Galvatron.”
“Well, Farmee, mainly,” corrected Megumi as she turned the shower off. “Galvatron already knew the nuances of the game. Who’s winning?”
“Not sure. All I know is that Farmee just lost his lead.”
“I guess he got a little cocky.” Megumi shut the shower off and Richard heard her take a towel off the rack. “It’s nice to see our girls expand their circle of friends, hm?”
“…Farmee, yes. But Galvatron…” Megumi opened the door as she finished wrapping her towel around her chest.
“You’re not objecting to them befriending Galvatron because he’s a Decepticon, I trust?” she hissed.
“He’s not just a Decepticon, sweetie! He’s Daddy Megatron’s successor!”
“He’s also a kinder leader than Megatron was!”
“Megumi, there are only two known Transformer-based universes where Optimus and Megatron stopped fighting each other! One is IDW’s first run of Transformers comics; the other is Transformers: Prime!”
“So, this would be the third known universe! Besides, Sonic and Optimus both vouched for the Decepticons!” Megumi headed for the closet. “If I might be frank, you’re making the same objections Arsha confided to me.”
“I’m gonna have to side with her! Transformers with red optics, as a rule, can’t be trusted!”
“So, we should distrust Blackarachnia, hm?”
“This isn’t about her!”
“She’s got red optics and Optimus still married her. Richard, you have Thundercracker on your team. I would advise you to look beyond your views on what Decepticons are, because the ones with us are, in all probability, different to what we know.” As Megumi got her clothes, Richard sighed in annoyance.