Chapter 10

One second, Max felt as though she were flying. The next, she was falling. Pulling herself upwards sharply, she was able to control the fall and land safely. The dark void she found herself in seemed to be a massive room made entirely of black crystal. She didn't know whether she was inside her own mind, the gap between dimensions or the very edge of the universe. Either way, she knew the one thing that was there. Mirror Max stood there with a fiery aura burning around her. Just then, an exact double of Mirror Max walked out from the shadows and stood next to the original. The double also burned with the same fire. Max could tell that every flame was made up of one of the doomed alternate realities.

"Welcome back, Maxine." The original Mirror Max wore a cocky smirk. "Do you like what I've done with the place?"

"It's over, Jefferson." Max said. On cue, the flames fully formed around both Max's mirror doubles. Jefferson's flaming form hadn't become any prettier since Max had last seen him. "It all has to end…"

"…To have never started." Jefferson finished. "I know it does, Max. I've seen through the other realities what has happened and what is yet to be. I've learned a great deal of life and death. I've learned of the past and the future. That's why the rest of me here won't even pitch in." The second Jefferson calmly walked over to the original and merged with him in a shower of sparks. The one remaining Jefferson arched his back. Max heard a scream and saw the figure of Hayden being ejected from his back only to vanish into the darkness. "We all know that I'm the one that wins here."

"What have you done with Hayden?" Max asked.

"Relax, Maxine. I just put him back in his own body." Jefferson said. "He'll come to no harm, you have my word."

"Since when did your word count for anything?" Max snarled.

"I'm hurt, Maxine." Jefferson said in a tone that said he was actually more bored than anything. "If you remember, I've not actually straight-up lied to you. I could never find it in myself. If anything, it's you who lied to me. You said I would die for what I did and here I am more alive than ever."

"I'm not here to play word games." Max snapped. "I'm here to make good on my promise to you back in that darkroom."

"Then by all means, I want you to have the best chance." Jefferson said as he extended his hand. Suddenly Max felt the weight on her chest get pulled off. Somehow she knew what he'd done. He'd restored her rewind power.

"Why did you do that?" she asked, confused.

"I want you to have the best chance, Max." Jefferson repeated. "Not that it matters anyway. Your defeat is inevitable." At that moment, Jefferson launched into a kick. Max just managed to sidestep and roll to the side. She knew she couldn't touch him. Since the flames were made of alternate realities, she wouldn't just get burned. Jefferson had used them to cause her power to backfire, so they might weigh her down again if she wasn't careful.

"What do I do?" she muttered to herself.

"Like I said, Max; I want you to have every chance." Jefferson said. Suddenly, the crystal room was gone. They were standing on the edge of the Arcadia Bay cliff where the lighthouse stood. The Jefferson that stood over her was clearly the same one she'd been fighting, but he wasn't covered by flames anymore. As Max watched it, history repeated itself.

"Maybe I was wrong about you." Max gasped as she tried to draw in air from where he'd just floored her in this reality.

"Am I finally getting through?" Not quite believing his apparent luck, Jefferson hauled her up and dusted her off before turning her to face him. "I'll treat you right, Max."

"I was wrong. You're not crazy." Max said. Jefferson picked her up as he'd done before and spun round in a wide circle before realising just how close he'd got to the edge of the cliff. He stepped back and put Max down before leaning in to kiss her. "You're a monster." Max said as she shoved him backwards. "It all has to end, to have never started." She stepped back just as she had before. As she did that, she extended her hand and started rewinding. To her relief, she was right about Jefferson giving her the power back. He retraced his steps, failing to grab Max since she'd stepped backwards.

As he got to the cliff edge again, Max went to kick him over as she'd done before. Before her foot could make impact with his back, he vanished into thin air. Suddenly, she felt the heel of his shoe connect with the back of her head just at the base of her skull. The dazing kick sent her staggering to her right before she caught her balance again. Jefferson could tell it was a good hit though. He knew she was dazed.

"Would you like me to slow down?" he asked. "I could slow it down if you want."

"Screw you." Max spat a mouthful of blood into her hand. She could hear Chloe's disembodied voice in her head.

"Oh god, he's killing her!"

"I'll defeat you if I have to do it fifty times over." Max said, regaining her balance.

"What do you mean fifty?" Jefferson asked. "I can make one copy for each alternate reality." As if to prove his point, identical copies of him started walking out from his primary form.

"We become many thousands..."

"...thousands..."

"...thousands..." The copies all started repeating the word after him, creating history's creepiest Mexican wave. Suddenly, one of them planted his foot into her spine. As she was thrown forwards, another one ran forwards and slammed his fist into her stomach. Finally, a third one ran forward and brought his elbow down between her shoulder blades. Max flopped forwards as the ground shifted. She managed to look up for long enough to see that they were back in the black crystal room. Gathering her strength, Max went to haul herself up again.

"Why do you do it, Maxine?" Jefferson asked, having re coupled with all of his mirror images. "Why would you get up again? Why would you keep fighting? Do you think you're fighting for something noble? You have literally nothing left to fight for! Just ask the dead-and-buried Nathan Prescott from your true reality. He thought we were friends. He loved me like a father. He died for it. All those feelings are as artificial as the reality you ended up creating. Tell me Max, what do you think you have left to fight for?" Jefferson's voice had remained calm as a soft breeze throughout his whole rant, but his mask slipped badly as Max hauled herself up. When she spoke, her voice was just as calm.

"There's always something to fight for." The calmness of her stare unnerved him.

"You will die where you stand!" he screamed as the flames around him ignited again. The sheer force of the ignition was enough to throw Max back into one of the crystal walls. As she gripped the wall to pull herself up, Max felt an aura radiating off it. On impulse, she pressed her hand to the wall and started to use her rewind on it. As she did, large cracks appeared in it. Max didn't understand what was going on, but clearly this wall was causing damage to its surroundings. What she was doing was causing it to be reversed. Being so mesmerised by the wall, she forgot to pay attention to things around her. Jefferson blasted into her from behind and proceeded to viciously smash her head against the wall repeatedly. Blood ran from her nose and forehead as she dropped to the ground fighting for consciousness.

"Jesus Christ, that hurt." Max gasped.

"We all know that it all has to end to have never started, right Max?" Jefferson was grinning like a shark and his eyes looked just as dead. He'd completely let his guard down. He knew he'd won. Suddenly, Max's eyes snapped open again. Thinking pit-bull thoughts, she hauled herself up for what had to be the fifth time. "No, this isn't right! Why can't you just die?" Jefferson screamed, all pretence of calmness fading. "Get the hell away from me!"

"You don't have to be afraid, Mark." Max said calmly. "You were right about everything."

"What are you saying?" Jefferson couldn't get over what he was hearing.

"We were only prolonging the inevitable." Max said. Jefferson advanced towards Max, splitting into countless copies as he did so. They all surrounded Max, wrapping their arms around her in one big circle. As they got to her, the flames around each of them died out. Suddenly, a radiant light surrounded Max. A scream of agony left her as she let Jefferson's darkness engulf and consume her. Just then, the light surrounded each of the copies one by one. Max pulled herself together long enough to glare at the original as the light surrounded him to.

"You cheated me!" he screamed. Jefferson had wanted to be sure it would work when he tried to absorb Max, so he'd used the copies to reinforce the process. In releasing them, he'd sealed his own fate by stripping away the defences each alternate reality offered him. The room's black crystal walls shattered, revealing a light around them like no other. Now it was Jefferson's turn to scream in agony as he and each of his copies exploded one-by-one in a shower of light and sparks. As the light consumed Max too, the last thought in her mind was exactly the same as it was in the tornado. Deep down, Max knew it would be the same if she had to die a hundred times.

'I love you, Chloe.'