entranceway | [Voice

You don't know.

[His tone hardens savagely.] You can't dig that thing out once it's in there. It's there.

[It's his fault.

No it's not. He fixed it. Like a hero.]

Sooner or later it'll come for me. And that'll be the end of it.

[He says it dully. The thought's always been there, even if he's never acknowledged it. He clung gamely to a normal life. Moved away, settled down with Amy. Pretended it all never happened. What a fucking goddamn luxury that was.]

It's better like that.

[She walks over to him, slowly, and lays a reassuring hand on his arm - it seemed to help before. She tilts her head to try and look him in the eye, even as he paces around.

Comforting him seems like the priority, and although she's not exactly sure what to say, there are a few points she wants to get across. Mainly that he shouldn't panic, that he should try to look on the bright side of things.]

Don't say that... You're not even sure it will show up. It could all be okay.

Sure. [He snaps it out bitterly, without any conviction whatsoever.] I'm sure it'll be all fine.

[It was him, wasn't it. He was the source. The root of the cause. And now it's going to dig its claws into everyone here, and all he can do is hope that it just never comes.

He takes a breath, shakes his head. Max is trying to anchor him, he can tell, and he seizes upon that feverishly.]

All right. I've done my sharing corner. Your turn.

[She's not convinced that he feels better, but she doubts he was trying to convince her, anyway. The hard bitterness of his voice lingers, and she eyes him warily, not fearful or worried, no - just concerned. Obviously she was right about him having problems. It's still not clear what exactly those are, but they've stepped forward, and she feels like they're both safer because of it. And that might be enough for now.

She shuffles her feet. Thinks about delaying or leaving, finding some excuse to cut the conversation short. But she can't do that, not after everything he just told her. She bites at her lower lip, before finally speaking.]

It's not... that big a deal, I guess. [The admission comes out slowly, almost painfully. Each word almost takes its own moment to be said.] I don't know. [She hangs her head.] There was a... monster tornado. Huge.

And it whisked you off to Oz, and you were there, and you were there, and there's no place like home. [He says drolly, and returns his attention to the food Max was nice enough to bring. Back to shoveling through the bag of pork chops.]

Somehow I don't think that's all there is to that story, hm?

[She can't help but roll her eyes slightly.] Yes, Alex, I'm actually Dorothy in disguise.

[Sarcasm isn't an unusual tone for her to use, but this time it's laced with impatience. She takes a moment to calm herself down because she honestly can't expect much tact out of this conversation, but maybe that's just Alex's way of lightening the mood.

She rubs at the back of her neck. Looks down and off to one side.]

I caused the storm. I just woke up in class one day and I had this... [Fuck, this is going to sound so stupid, but she forges on, looking at him with embarrassment.] Power. Like... superpower, but not super.

[His brow furrows as she goes on. That's not the direction he expected this to go. Granted, he's not sure what direction he did expect this to go, but superpowers?]

Okay... [He draws the word out suspiciously, but his interest is piqued.] What kind of power are we talking here?

[She inhales deeply, holds it for a moment, then two, and then keeps holding it. She gnaws at her lip, eyes darting around. The breath eventually comes out in a gush, and her voice wavers as she speaks.]

Reversing time. Changing things... in the past. [She looks up at him, almost pleadingly.] I don't have it anymore. But I did... and I used it to save my best friend.

[She wants to pause, to take another long breath and bury all the hurt underneath the pressure in her lungs, but if she stops it will be a struggle to continue again. So she forces the words out, her voice strained and tight.]

I just wanted to help people by changing things, but every time I did it got worse and worse, until-... the storm came because I changed things too much and- and I had to choose between never having changed anything, and letting storm destroy the whole town... So I went back to the moment I first used it and. Didn't.

[She doesn't mention being kidnapped, drugged. She doesn't mention watching people die beneath a hailstorm of flying debris. Doesn't mention the murder they uncovered, the insanity underneath it all, the ripping up of space and time as she tried to rewind again and again to fix it, Max, why couldn't you fucking fix it!?

Doesn't mention hearing the best thing that had ever happened to her dying just a few feet away, as she hid around the corner and did nothing, because nothing is exactly what she had to do.

Or the loneliness of the week afterward, knowing Chloe sacrificed herself willingly to save everyone, practically begged Max to go back to the moment when she started rewinding and never rewind again. And nobody knew what they had gained because of it. And what Max had lost.

Stupid- at the end of it all, it turns out there was only one person she couldn't save.

Or maybe two. The second one is still to be decided.

That's it. That's the end of the story. So she just stares, blinking as tears start filling her eyes.]

[Well. He's not sure what he expected.

It sure as hell wasn't that.

Alex stands, swipes a hand through his hair. Time is a tricky thing, and he knows that firsthand - he's witnessed its unravelings and reravelings, the way it skips and jumps and how you're at one place but then you're at another, you wake up and you're miles from home. But this? This is a kind of power that - that thing is the only one that should have that kind of power.

No one person should be able to do that. Unsettling is what it is. Unnatural.

He looks at Max sidelong, suspicious.]

You don't have that...power anymore?

[Well. She shouldn't have expected him to comfort her. Maybe it really isn't a big deal.

But at least it's out there now, at least someone knows. She expected to feel a bit lighter, like a burden was lifted from her shoulders, but she doesn't. Not when he looks at her with that expression - obviously he thinks she's dangerous, knows how stupid she was for even trying to change time in the first place.]

...No. Not anymore. [She shakes her head slightly, keeping her eyes on him. Maybe a bit too long. Her voice is decisive, but at the same time she hasn't actually tried to use it, so she can't be one hundred percent certain. Though it's a moot point, because she's done using it entirely.]

How do you know?

[He keeps his voice level. Steady. Things that can do that sort of shit to time and space, well, that's not normal. That's a lot of power in the hands of someone who was willing to get carved up by something wearing the skin of a kid.

Who's to say she hasn't rewound time around him? Who's to say he's safe from that? Max is all right, sure, she's cool, but this? This isn't what he thought would come of their little discussion.]

Have you tried it at all? Have you - [His mouth contorts briefly, almost pained.] - have you done it around me?

[Who's to say she hasn't done this confession already, a dozen times over?]

[She lets out a sharp breath, her eyes narrow in disbelief as she shakes her head again, small movements from side to side.]

Do you really think I'd... do that again? After all the trouble I caused? All the people who... who fucking died?

[And there's the water in her eyes again, that she tries to blink away. She should have seen this coming- even with Chloe. Once in a while she caught her best friend's worried expression, wondering how many times Max had rewound to replay one of their conversations and make it come out just the way she wanted to. Even when Max hadn't been rewinding at all, that doubt and tiny hurt were always there.]

Come on, Alex. I'm not that dumb.

So you don't know if it's gone.

[Christ. Some part of him is aware that he's being a dick to one of the few people in Wonderland who can tolerate him, who will actually go out of her way to bring him food like a friend, but this touches far too deeply on something he doesn't want to think about.

Namely, time. And all the possible variations.]

So that's why you - you thought you could change things. [The realization dawns over him belatedly.] You thought you could stop me from - ?

[He slides a finger across his throat, curt and taut.]

[She feels like stomping a foot on the ground, petulant like a child, frustrated. Instead she shoves her hands outward slightly, palms up, eyes still narrowed because she's going from disbelief to downright irritation.

She knows he's a bit too smart to think she's sure about the current state of her power. There had been the hope that he'd take the word of a friend at face value, but that seems dumb now. She can't help but gripe internally at how different his reaction is from how she reacted to his virus.]

No! I didn't think that because I don't have it anymore. [Her voice isn't quite as hard as it can be, still more of pleading for him to understand, but there's an edge to it as well.] Even if I did... I didn't try. And I definitely can't now.

[She needs pictures to go back farther than a few minutes, and the one she took with Nageki during the Mystery Mansion tour is somewhere in the forest, its pieces flung to the wind. Even the one she took with Alex is gone, now.]

All right! [He holds up his hands, palms out, now more than a little aware the he's crossed a line of some kind.] All right. I get it.

[He looks away, at the wall, trying to piece together everything she's said before with what she's saying now.

Finally, he lets his head fall back to he's staring at the ceiling, and he blows out a long, weary sigh.]

Sorry. I just, uh, that thing I told you about - it liked to dick around with time sometimes. Jerk me around.

[She's not sure he actually does get it. She's not even sure that she does. But she's shared her story, and she doesn't feel like explaining it any further.

At least he helps her understand his reaction more. She pauses, then nods, calming down.]

...I think we'll both agree that it never ends well. [While she's disturbed to hear about time getting messed up in any form, it's actually sort of nice that he can relate, though on a different level.]

Nope. [They're solid on that front, at least. Solid. And hey, the fact that she trusted him with this has gotta mean something, right?]

Pretty much just makes things worse.

[His nose wrinkles briefly. Weeks upon weeks of lost time - yeah, he's never getting those stolen memories back. Fuck amnesia.]

[She nods vaguely, obviously starting to get lost in thought, staring at the floor.

Nope. She doesn't feel better. It was probably too optimistic to think a sharing session would help all that much. But she doesn't blame Alex for that.]

...Anyway, I'll let you get back to your little introvert bubble so you can eat in peace.

Right. Yeah.

[They probably both need some time to process this shit. It's heavy stuff, and frankly Alex is wishing that he had some handy little time-powers, so he could erase the memory of this conversation from both their heads.

But, hell. It probably doesn't work like that. He indicates the bag with the jerk of a hand.]

Thanks. For these.

No problem. [She fiddles with her bag strap. It feels dumb leaving him hiding like this, especially when she feels like she could have helped avoid it all in the first place.

Not for the last time, she sorely wishes he had kept his cool. But for his sake.]

It's the least I could do.

Just... don't do anything crazy again. [And by 'crazy' she means 'stupid'.]

I'll do my best.

[He says it dryly, but the sentiment remains nonetheless. He's going to do his best to lay low from here on out. Especially from little murdery kids with a fondness for knives.]

[And... that's not quite how she should have said it. She pauses at the door, just before leaving.]

Meaning stay safe, Alex. Okay? I'll bring you more food sometime.

All right! All right.

[He throws up his hands in tired defeat.]

I owe you anyway. So, fine. Lay low, right?

[She smiles, sheepish. Okay, so he gets the point.]

Yeah. [Juuust a bit, though. She opens the door.] See you!

See you on the flip.

[Cue a jaunty little faux-salute as Alex collapses back into his desk chair and starts chugging that coffee like there's no tomorrow. He is staying UP tonight.]

[Voice - Private]

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