Chapter Text
Origin
[An unfathomable amount of time ago]
A child with silver hair,his jade-coloured eyes fixed on his foster mother after walking into the scientist's office looking at her saddened face before asking.
“Mom ,what's wrong? “
Carole's eyes sharpened at his question, her gaze becoming suddenly focused and guarded. For a moment, there was something almost stern in them. But as the meaning of his words settled in, that sharpness slowly faded. Her eyes softened, sadness quietly replacing the resolve that had been there moments before.
“Nothing wrong ,Wise .don't worry”
She walked over to him gently patting his head before placing a soft kiss on his forehead .Then she returned to her desk and looked at the report again.
Her expression remained calm, but her thoughts were anything nothing but.
‘Damn it… looks like I have to give him this. After all ,his destiny is only getting started. Wise, my son …I'm sorry. '
♦ ♦ ♦
[Much later]
How long has it been?
He couldn't remember.
Years? Centuries? Something far beyond either?
The distinction between years, centuries, and millennia had long since become meaningless to him.
It was during the expansion of Hollow Zero–the fall of the Old Capitals. A period so distanced that the memories of it began to blur , leaving behind only fragments
Fragments from another reality, scattered pieces he used to reconstruct the past he no longer remember
♦ ♦ ♦
Wise carried Belle in his arm looking around them the place they used to call home now buried in flame, the pressure from Hollow placed on them before looking back at their Mother
“Teacher, come with me. We can still get away from here . “
His voice carried a desperate urgency, Carole looked at him with a sorrowful smile . Her eyes reflected a soft, gentle gaze – the kind of gaze only a mother could give when she knew there wasn't much time left.
Her gaze remained on Wise and Belle as if to remember their feature for the last time before she answered.
“Wise, promise me. Do what you must and continue to walk on your journey”
Wise tilted his head in confusion but before he could say anything,Carole reached for her pocket before held out the device
Its black-and-silver frame reflected the firelight, the angular mechanisms of its body appearing almost impossibly intricate. At its center, a faint magenta light pulsed beneath the metallic surface, waiting silently.
It looked like a device built for something far beyond the world they stood in.
“Find where you're accepted as yourself “
She said it softly before suddenly pressing the device against him.
The moment it touched Wise, the Driver shattered into countless streams of light. They spread across his body before sinking beneath his skin, merging into him as though the device had never been separate from him to begin with.
Immediately afterwards, Carole was suddenly yanked backwards by a large white hand.
“TEACHER! “
But there was no time to think. With Belle still on his back,he turned and made his way as far away from that place as he could .
His thoughts raced, still unable to understand what had just happened
‘What was the device Teacher handed me? How did it merge with me? No... I have to get Belle and myself out of the Hollow first. Teacher... I'm sorry.’
♦ ♦ ♦
Years later.
Eleven years? Fifteen? Perhaps only eight.
Wise didn't remember.
The distinction between years, decades, and centuries had long since become meaningless to him. Time was no longer something he could measure—only something he could remember in fragments.
But there was one moment he could never forget.
Belle.
He remembered seeing his sister falling as the universe around them began to collapse. For a brief moment, their eyes met.
She looked at him.
Her lips moved, quietly forming words that he could no longer hear clearly.
“Wise...”
Perhaps that was what she said.
Perhaps it was something else.
He couldn't remember.
What he did remember was the expression on her face.
Not fear.
Not anger.
Something gentler.
Something that stayed with him long after everything else had disappeared.
Wise reached toward her, desperately trying to do something—anything—but his hand could never reach far enough.
He could only watch as she fell away from him.
And for the first time, Wise understood what it meant to be completely powerless.
Then the Driver responded.
The device embedded within him suddenly awakened. Its mechanisms unfolded around his body as a barrier of light formed between him and the collapsing space. The Driver's energy wrapped around him, separating him from the destruction outside and anchoring his existence as the universe around him continued to break apart.
Wise couldn't move.
Couldn't save Belle.
Couldn't save his world.
He could only remain inside the protection the Driver had created.
And then—
Everything went white.
When Wise opened his eyes again, he no longer knew how long had passed.
Nor did he know exactly who he was supposed to be.
His memories had become scattered fragments, disconnected from one another like pieces of different lives.
Yet somehow, one thing remained.
His sister's face.
Her voice.
And the feeling that he had failed to reach her.
Perhaps that was why, even after countless years, Wise continued searching.
Not for a place.
Not for a destination.
But for the missing pieces of himself.
♦ ♦ ♦
[Present]
For gods know how long, it's been.
Wise had traveled for so long, searching for the place Carole had once told him about
He had witnessed universes collapse.
He had entered universes where he had no choice but to destroy them himself.
The blood of countless battles had never truly left his hands.
He watched every face that came into his life eventually disappear.
Again.And again.And again.
Nothing was interesting anymore.
Everything became repetitive.
Every world.Every story.Every ending.
Yet somehow, he still held onto the hope of finding the place Carole had mentioned all those years ago.
Perhaps there, he would finally find the answer he had been searching for.
♦ ♦ ♦
[Origin ends]