Countless fights, so much sacrifice, fighting Novas.
Novas—mighty divine creatures.
Those memories brought back her lost skills. She recalled how to fight, how to survive, how to kill... but none of those memories were what she was searching for. Instead, what she sought seemed so far away—at the origin.
"West Genetics, Volk Weapon..."
Without even realizing, she was now wearing a uniform—created by that energy—and a weapon also forged by the same mysterious force.
Jarvis had noticed this as well. Even the ground below seemed to be cracked by some ominous invisible might.
"I need to remember what it is... ugh!"
Her hands fell to the floor, staining her whole body as a huge torrent of pain crashed down on her head, as if she were thrown into boiling water.
"UghAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!"
RUMBLE!!!
Her screams and energy only further intensified the storm brewing in Los Angeles.
The memories wouldn't stop flowing... so much pain. Forty-three years of memories—some of them frozen during her sleep.
Thankfully, amidst the peril, two memories—the only ones that weren't painful—came like a river of soothing water.
"Kazuya, Arcadia..." she said their names.
Her children. She recognized them as such, even if she hadn't had the chance to experience what a mother rightfully should.
They had been left behind, each with their own life.
Right now, she had a life too. Surely they wouldn't judge her for desiring to go back to it.
"I'm sorry... m-mother... needs to find something... I need to—ugh!"
The soothing feeling disappeared once the memories were assimilated, and the pain came crashing back once more.
"Mrs White, can you hear me?"
In the middle of the darkness—together with Tony's silhouette, that light she longed to reach—there was another voice.
"J-Jarvis... i-it's too hard..." she explained, not even understanding why regaining the memories that had always belonged to her was costing so much effort.
The answer came on its own in the form of unprecedented fear. She—a legendary Valkyrie—felt fear of this foe.
"Hahahaha!! Foolish Pandora, to think that you would dare defy us goddesses."
She saw that memory—no, she lived it again.
A woman with the aspect of a goddess, holding her head like a broken toy, several of her limbs missing, with corpses littered all around. All she had fought, all she had sacrificed—hers and her sister's life—only so she could give her son and the Pandoras the opportunity to flee.
It was terrifying.
"Of all stupid humans who would dare challenge us in their ignorance, it is you—mere genetic toys—that come to challenge us... Killing you is nothing more than a reward. Get away from my sight."
All the woman—no, the goddess—did was flicker her finger, brimming with Soul Energy.
BOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!
"AAAHHHHHHHHH!!!"
Her despaired screams reverberated across myriad universes. Her memories erased, her soul torn. She didn't even know how she survived.
It was then that it happened. She was viciously injured until her body could no more, traveling across universes until she eventually came to a stop in one.
But... it wasn't over yet. This realm of memories was not hers to leave.
"No!"
Before she could recover her consciousness, her hand grasped onto that crack—her cracked soul that needed to be mended, and was being mended, by Tony Stark.
"I need to know..."
She didn't leave her subconscious—not until she got the information she had come to find.
She saw her childhood. The experiments. Her birth.
"West Genetics, Aoi Gendo... Stigmas... Maria Lancelot, the first Pandora."
"Soul Energy..."
"Soul Energy, Stigmas, tissue... This is it. This is what I need. Vital Frames!"
Having gotten the information she wanted, it was time to leave this place, forever.
Her eyes opened—marginally shining gold like never before. It was still raining heavily.
"Mrs White..."
"J-Jarvis... I know it now. Tony... I can save him."
She smiled stupidly, as if all the pain she had been subjected to before had been a joke. The Pandora delighted in the rain, not even noticing that she was still wearing her Pandora Garments.
"That's wonderful. Please get back in before you catch a cold."
The AI had its priorities, and her safety was one of them.
"Hmn..."
The process of walking back wasn't easy. The pain in her head had left her entire body numb as she staggered inside, almost falling a couple of times.
When she finally reached their room, she threw herself on the bed—hard—but it still didn't manage to wake Tony.
He merely grunted slightly as she crawled her way up, not caring about the stained bedsheets.
Eventually, without caring about whatever happened, she turned him around, opened his arms, and snuggled inside.
"It was a hard battle..."
"Hmn... Cassandra?" Tony mumbled.
She remained silent, simply tightening her hug around the love of her life.
"I'll tell you the good news in the morning. Sleep."
She gave him a peck on the lips, and the man was so deep in the dreamworld that he didn't even notice how the two had just shared their first kiss.
"Hmm, okay."
He merely tightened his grasp around her, noticing she was a little cold, which made him take the bedsheets and cover them both.
Cassandra had never felt so warm and fulfilled in her life. Her memories were all back, but the past was left in the past—as she embraced the future, literally.