Chapter 136: Paradox

Chapter 136: Paradox

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I would like to thank my beta, Akisu, for his help in this chapter.

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2nd March 2006, New York City

(Jasmine Sayre POV) This chapter is updated by nov(e)(l)biin.com

I wasn't in the mood to keep grading papers. I walk out to the parking lot to get some fresh air. But looking around, I sense something weird, something wrong. I follow its trail and find myself in front of a woman staring at me. She looked around thirty years old, with red hair. She was wearing a red leather suit with a crimson crown on her head. Her fingertips looked blackened, a form of corruption. The entire woman reeked of corruption, similar to a demon. I had to stop the instinct of attacking the woman on sight. After, all even if she looked different or older, I could recognize her anywhere.

I couldn't help but murmur to myself, "Wanda, what have you done?"

I stand there, frozen as the older Wanda started running towards me. I could feel the world pulse, reality slowly tearing itself apart, with every step she took. I realized immediately that this wasn't an alternate universe version of Wanda, but that of my daughter.

This was bad, this was really bad. This was a direct violation of the natural law. I had to repress my Master of Death persona so that I wouldn't kill her on sight. But killing her will not change anything; her atoms will still exist, even if I disintegrate her. She needs to be erased from existence, to return where she came from.

I need to convince her to return, before it's too late. With every breath she takes, she changes reality. Even a single molecule could change everything. She needs to return to the future right away.

I still need to stand frozen, as she runs towards me. She's barely a few feet away, now. I snap out of my stupor, and cry out at her, "Wanda! You need to get back now. Get back before it's too late."

However, Wanda was hysterical, "Mom, I missed you so much."

"Wanda, listen to me," I insist, "go back. Go back, right away. Wanda please. You have to go back before it's too late."

Wanda didn't seem to care and just embraced me, "Mom!"

The second she touched me, I felt reality shake and almost rupture. The universe had closed itself off and will soon start to look for the breach and erase it. There was no way for Wanda to return to her time now. It was too late. My daughter was dead, she just didn't know it yet.

Slowly, a single tear came to my eye. I wasn't going to tell her. Perhaps I should at least spend some time with her, until she's gone. I relax; there was nothing I could do, now. Wanda has broken the rules of the universe itself, and the universe will answer her back.

I just hug her back. She seems to have had a bad time in the future. Seeing the corruption in her magic, how far had my daughter fallen. I could feel the Darkhold's taint on her. It was very heavy; she must have used it intensively. So, I lost someone else to that damned book.

Wanda gasped, "You knew, all this time, you knew about Thanos, about the stones!"

"Of course, I knew and have been preparing for years. Why do you think I let SHIELD be a thing while it was infiltrated by Hydra, why do you think I let the New York invasion happen in the first place? The world needed the Avengers, and a small taste of what was out there without too much casualties. You think your little spar with the mad Titan was the main problem. No, I could beat the guy in minutes, even while he's wielding the gauntlet that he doesn't even understand. No, someone was playing the long game; the infinity stones shouldn't have been in the same galaxy cluster, let alone been on the same planet. Someone wants to use Thanos' snap for something. So, I assume I sent you and the Avengers to fight Thanos while I tried to handle the actual Cosmic Threat. Had I lost, he would have ensured your defeat and let Thanos snap half the universe out of reality."

Wanda looked shocked, eyes wide and mouth gaping at me, "Someone wanted to use the snap, how?"

I sigh, "Someone using all of the infinity stones at the same time would cause reality to shatter. Usually, it would heal, but for a fraction of a moment, the walls between the universes were gone. Considering that this universe is at the center of the multiverse, a supremely powerful being would be able to use it to alter reality on a multiversal scale. In going back, you have undone my effort and put existence itself at risk."

Wanda was in tears and started babbling, "I'm sorry, alright. I'm sorry. I was so alone. I missed you so much. I needed you and wasn't thinking straight."

"Wanda, someone as old as me, understands that there is an end to everything. Death is a part of life. Nothing can have a beginning without an end. I have accepted death, long ago. Even if I died, considering what my sacrifice would achieve, I would do it gladly. But you didn't even think that I could have survived, somehow. I could have been sealed away, or I could have been so weakened that I would have needed a few centuries to recuperate."

Wanda kept babbling apologies and tears were streaming from her eyes, "How can I undo everything? How can I right my wrongs?"

"You can't. If you had just returned to the future when I told you, you could have. But now, there is no going back. But that's not the worst part. You have doomed me to watch my daughter suffer a fate worse than death before my eyes once more."

"What?"

I start crying, "You are part of the paradox Wanda. You changed your own past, and twisted reality. The universe will start looking for you and erase you from existence. Your very presence is an anomaly. There is nothing that can be done, my daughter. It has already begun."

I point towards her legs that were slowly glowing blue. They started to crack as if it was a shell, and the cracks started to fade away. She was slowly being erased from existence.

I looked at Wanda, she looked at me pleadingly, "Mom, I'm scared. I don't want to go."

"I know, Wanda. But don't worry, I'll stay with you, to the end. And the afterlife isn't so bad, kiddo. I'll see you again."

Her eyes were so full of hope, "Really?"

Everything underneath her waist had faded, "Yes, really and one day, I'm going to join you and I'm going to tell you all about my adventures and you'll tell me all about yours. I promise."

"That doesn't sound so bad."

I try to repress my tears, "I know. But before the end, I wanted to tell you that no matter the mistakes you made, no matter their consequences, I will always love you, Wanda."

Wanda smiled at that. It was a smile full of happiness, so much so that it broke my heart. When my daughter had truly faded, I let out the wails I have been smothering. I had been lying to her, I was never going to see her again for she was being erased from existence, her soul included. She wasn't going to have an afterlife. But at least, she died with a smile on her face. It didn't make me feel any better though. I'll deal with the consequences of what just happened later. For now, I wished to mourn my daughter in peace.