Epilogue:

Brainiac 5 stared at the information that was scrolling across the exhibit screen. "Five minutes," he muttered.

Chameleon Boy glanced around curiously. "So, remind me again why we're here?"

Phantom Girl sighed. "We're here because Brainy was invited to speak at the grand opening of this wing in the museum. Funny thing is, there's already an exhibit about the war and time period this person was a part of."

Brainy glanced at Phantom Girl and shook his head. "Not exactly," he said, "because he was a part of our time also."

Cham was obviously baffled. "This guy?" he asked, glancing at Brainy, "in the future?"

Brainy nodded. "Yes." He was about to continue when Phantom Girl interrupted.

"It's time for your little speech, Brainy," she said, pushing him towards the stage, "The Curator's introducing you!"

Brainy arrived onstage just in time to have the vocal amplification device shoved into his hand. "Thank you," he said to the audience, his eyes scanning for someone he knew would be present.

"Unlike most of the people here, I had a chance to meet the man this exhibit honors. I spoke with him. I would like to think we were friends, though it seems he considered most anyone his friend. But the thing that made him unique was not his intellect, or his friends, but his character. He knew what his duty was, and he never pretended to know differently. He created battle machines because he had to. He made Robot failsafes because it was necessary. He died a second time, barely a year ago, because he knew it was his duty. He was a hero, in every sense of the word. He didn't receive the honors or commendation his fellow battle pilots did, but he deserved more than simply a commendation." Brainy locked eyes with Rika Komatsu, Ryo's great-great-great granddaughter. "This is because Ryo Arakaki was a true hero…past, present and future."

Thunderous applause followed this statement, and Brainy left the stage, tucking the memory alongside a less pleasant one. Even if everyone else forgot about him, Brainiac 5 knew he would never forget the brilliant Engineer from the past.

Or his sacrifice.

A/N: And there you have it folks, the dramatic ending that always makes me feel like I've done something wrong. Hope it's up to par... anyway, the end! I can now officially say the fic is complete... I'm almost sad to see it go. Maybe I'll have Ryo make his own time machine and pop in again someday... that would be fun... thanks for all the reviews guys!