Max returned home later than he expected, his mind still running through everything he had learned at the facility. The anomaly reports. The meteor. The organic readings. The possibility that something had come from that asteroid.
He unlocked his apartment door and stepped inside.
Then immediately froze.
The shelf.
The ashes.
The stuffed fox.
Gone.
Max's heart dropped instantly.
"Where the hell did—" he started to say, turning quickly.
Then he saw her.
A woman was sitting on his bed like she had always belonged there. Short blonde hair. Yellow eyes. Loose black clothing that hung casually over a slim but well-shaped figure.
She looked up at him.
Smiled.
Max felt like the world stopped.
"…Alice?" he said quietly. "But… how?"
Before he could even move, she suddenly launched herself across the room and wrapped her arms around him in a hug.
A very strong hug.
Max heard several bones crack in his body.
"—Oh crap! So, so sorry!" she said quickly, immediately letting go. "Um… should be fixed in a bit."
Max stumbled slightly, but before he could even fully process the pain, his body began to repair itself. Bones shifted back into place, muscles reformed, and within seconds he was fine again.
He stared at her in complete disbelief.
"But… how? What? I—what is happening?" Max said, completely lost.
Alice gently grabbed his hand and guided him to sit down on the bed beside her.
"Here," she said softly. "Just sit down and let me explain, okay, Maxy?"
That nickname.
Max felt tears immediately start forming in his eyes. One of the tears fell down his cheek, and as it did, a small black tendril reached out from Alice and gently wiped it away before disappearing again.
Max blinked.
"…Okay," he said quietly.
Alice took a small breath before continuing.
"First," she said, looking at him seriously, "I need to tell you something so you don't get hurt later."
Max felt his chest tighten.
"I'm not exactly your Alice," she said.
The words hit him like a punch. He looked down slightly, pain flashing across his face.
Alice immediately grabbed his hands tighter.
"Hey, hey—let me finish," she said quickly. "It's complicated, but I am Alice. Just… not only the one from this universe."
She shifted slightly so she was sitting closer to him.
"You know about the multiversal experiments Fisk is doing, right?" she asked.
Max nodded slowly.
"Well," she continued, "I'm a result of that. When I died in this universe, I died in another universe too. But in that universe… it was millions of years in the future."
Max blinked.
"…What?"
"Yeah," she said with a small shrug. "Time is weird when you involve multiversal travel and cosmic entities."
She continued.
"In that universe, something called All-Black—a symbiote—defected from its original creator. It found the tiny bit of Spider DNA that was still in my bones, bonded with it, and somehow brought me back to life."
She looked slightly annoyed.
"I'm still not entirely sure how. She won't tell me."
Max stared at her.
"She?" he asked.
Alice smiled slightly.
"Yeah. My symbiote is a she. Very opinionated."
Max didn't even know how to respond to that.
Alice continued.
"When I came to this universe through Fisk's collider, I found out that the Alice from this universe had already died. Her soul was still in the afterlife… so I made a deal with her."
Max's eyes widened slightly.
"A deal?"
She nodded.
"Our souls merged," she said. "Then I absorbed her body so I wouldn't suffer cellular decay or glitch out like other multiverse visitors."
She leaned forward slightly and placed a small kiss on his lips.
"I still love you," she said softly. "I always will. Every version of me does."
Max just stared at her, completely overwhelmed.
After a moment, he spoke again.
"…Is that why I'm not possessed by Ghost Rider?" he asked. "And why I have symbiote abilities too?"
Alice tilted her head slightly.
"Sort of," she said. "I saw how bad you were treating yourself after I died. So I made something for you."
Max blinked.
"…You made… my symbiote?"
She nodded.
"I created a very powerful and very special symbiote and sent it to you. But it looks like when it bonded with you, it merged with the Ghost Rider spirit too. That wasn't supposed to happen."
She smiled slightly.
"I never expected you to make a deal with Mephisto to bring me back. That really doesn't sound like something you'd normally do."
Max looked down at his hands.
"…I didn't care anymore," he said quietly.
Alice didn't say anything to that.
She just moved closer and wrapped her arms around him again—more gently this time.
Max broke.
All the pain. All the guilt. All the anger. All the loneliness from the past weeks came crashing down at once as he hugged her back tightly.
He started crying again, but this time it wasn't from grief.
It was from relief.
From disbelief.
From finally not being alone anymore.
Alice held him tightly, resting her head on his shoulder.
For Max, it had only been weeks since she died.
For Alice…
It had been over a million years since she last held him like this.
So she held him tighter.
And she didn't let go.
[ALICE IMAGE] (and yes, I based her looks of a character from Fate franchise. Can't blame me]
[A: For some reason writing this brought a tear to my eye. Might just be me but this chapter was emotional but enjoyed writing it. I hope you enjoy to]