CHAPTER 223

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I slowly opened my eyes, feeling a soft breeze brushing against my face as I dwelled on Tiamut's words, his sacrifice, and how happy he had been, by all means, I was his killer, and yet, he had welcomed his end.

I sighed, closing my eyes for a brief moment, taking the moment in, before focusing on the matter at hand, Alice.

With my objective at hand, I teleported to where Alice was, to find her clashing weapons with Hela, by the looks of it, Alice was winning, having Hela in a rather poor state, bleeding all over with various cuts and gash wounds decorating her body from top to bottom.

Even so, Hela wasn't giving up, fighting Alice with a wild grin on her face, welcoming the challenge.

"Enough," I commanded, using [Macro] to force both fighters to freeze in place.

"And the King arrives," Hela grinned.

"You… but, it should've taken you longer to overpower the big oaf!" Alice roared, but I ignored her, floating towards Hela.

"I have no doubts you did this for some ulterior motives, but thanks," I smiled, placing my hand on her shoulder, healing all of her wounds before realizing her from my magical hold that kept her from moving.

"What can I say, darling? I'm a warrior, and the moment Thor offered me a chance to fight a strong opponent, I hardly could say no to that," Hela smiled.

I nodded, turning my focus to find the Ancient One which according to my map, was a few meters away from here, laying on the floor in critical condition.

Without a second thought, I rushed to her side and healed her wounds.

"Are you okay?" I asked, helping her stand up.

"I am now, Mr. Walker," The Ancient One smiled, her gaze fixated on Alice.

"I didn't… imagine she would… overpower you this way," I sighed, feeling a bit guilty from letting her deal with her technically alone.

"Worry not, Mr. Walker, she simply prepared for me very well, it wasn't a matter of power, it was a matter of preparation, she damaged the part of my soul in Dormammu's dimension, using a rather vexing spell, that transferred that damage to my real body if it wasn't for Hela, and your potions I would've died the moment she arrived," She sighed, "I was simply too careless."

I had almost forgotten the situation with her soul, "I will fix that situation, don't worry."

The Ancient One chuckled, "As you are now, I suppose there's no reason to be afraid, at least not entirely," she smiled.

"Darling, not to interrupt a moment or anything, but crazy over here needs to be dealt with, and yes, I see the irony in that, but… it takes crazy to know crazy, and she's… leagues above me in that department," Hela interrupted, her cold gaze laying upon Alice who simply mumbled under her breath.

I nodded, walking towards Alice.

"You took everything from me," Alice chuckled in a deranged way, tears dropping like a dam that had just been broken, "You took my chance to recover it all. You are the reason I lost it all! WHY MUST YOU KEEP TAKING FROM ME!" she exploded in a wail, her eyes staring into mine.

I said nothing, putting my hand over her head. It was time to see, what drove her to this.

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[Alice's Mind]

I peered into Alice's soul, reaching her memories, her first day on earth, filled with confusion, not only at her gender that for her seemed to be wrong, but at her sudden awakening.

Then getting kidnapped by Hydra, until that point, both of our stories were relatively the same, however, Alice's power developed exponentially, and soon proved too much for Hydra to control.

She, however, remained in Hydra just enough to love someone, Emily, with her being the catalyst for her sudden evolution into an unstoppable killing machine.

From there, she lived with Emily roaming the country, and she was happy.

It didn't matter anymore that she was a woman, all that mattered was the love she had for little Em.

For that love, she killed Jean before she could even reach a state of danger, for that love, she killed Fury, who tried in her universe to blackmail her.

At every turn, wondering, if what she felt was the love of a mother or that of a father. Eventually, she came to answer, and that was, she didn't care, she loved Emily, and Emily loved her back, and that was all it mattered.

She grew stronger, she trained for that every single day, after all, she had something to protect, she systematically killed everyone that represented a threat.

Then, the TVA came.

She didn't have time to react, her universe was simply gone in an instant, with it, the one person she loved.

Madness and despair finally overtook her, as she realized someone had saved her and not Emily.

She knew that person had the power to do so, she felt it, and yet, he did nothing.

She was powerless, she felt powerless, and for a while, she wallowed in despair, jumping from timeline to timeline, seeing how every version of her, of the original, was being targeted by the TVA.

Was he even around? Did he even exist? Or had the TVA already killed him? She knew we weren't supposed to be, not as much as I knew, but she knew.

She wondered, in a flicker of her old self, was I suffering just like her?

No, the almighty being that saved her replied, appearing to her side, showing her my world, offering her a place in it, a chance to have what she had lost.

She raged, everyone else, but the cause of her existence were suffering, and the being that could've saved her offered crumbs!?

She wanted to kill him, but she knew best, and instead happily accepted his offer, coming to a new resolution, if the copies were destined to suffer, she would become the original, so that no one could take anything from her any longer.

From that point on, everything checked, falling into place like a solved puzzle.

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[Back to the real world]

It took me roughly one second to read her story, my mind absorbing every little detail, every event, every tear she had shed.

"I'm sorry," I apologized, I wasn't to blame, not directly, but I still felt petty for her, who knew what I would've done if someone had killed Emily.

"I hate you," Alice wailed, laughing every now and then, "I hate you all."

"I will avenge her, your Emily, every Emily and version of me that suffered at their hands," I promised, "I will destroy the TVA, and make them suffer, so… rest in peace, Alice." with that said, I offered her the best I could, a painless death by erasing her existence, seeing a small smile on her face on her last moments.