Maggie opened her eyes and looked around their new surroundings and was immediately confused. They appeared to be in National City, near the plaza area, but Maggie wasn't sure why they were there. People appeared to be going about a normal day and despite knowing now that she wasn't in the real world, it all felt real.
"Where are we?" she asked Alex/Evo, but she was looking at the real Alex when she said it.
"Do you want to tell her?" Alex/Evo asked Alex, but she didn't respond, so he merely shrugged and addressed Maggie.
"You need to understand a few things about my relationship with Alexandra," he said. "It's special. While I thought I could recreate that experience with you, alas, I'm sorry that you are not nearly the meal that Alexandra gave me. You see your trauma, not your fault. What happened with your parents, what happened with Alexandra, none of it was your fault. But Alexandra, well, her penchant for self-torture is a five-course delight. Isn't that right, Alexandra?"
Alex stepped away from Evo. "And which one is this one?"
"Oh, that's the other thing," Evo said to Maggie. "Alexandra and I spent so much time together that she has experienced a myriad of worlds with me. I have made her experience joy, grief, suicidal thoughts, absolute happiness, and more. But the key has always been you. You affect her like no other and I have pushed every button. This one, to answer your question, Alexandra, is the one where you don't get the girl, you never did, because you had a deep-rooted wish for Maggie."
Maggie saw Alex look away from both of them and if she was confused immediately, it just ratcheted up.
"What's he talking about it?" Maggie finally asked.
But Alex didn't answer and refused to look at her.
Maggie was about to get closer to her, to force her to tell her what was going on because she didn't trust any narrative she was getting from Evo. She was about to, but then she saw herself walking across the plaza, holding hands with a woman, a smile on both of their faces. She stood there as the two women got closer, talking animatedly to each other, but the smiles never left. As they passed by them, Maggie noticed one more thing – the matching rings.
"What is this? Who was that?" Maggie asked.
"Well, that is your wife, isn't it obvious?" Evo said, smiling. "You are happily married in this world, gloriously happy. That is what Alexandra wanted for you."
"Ok, I'll bite, where is Alex in this world?"
"Should we show her?" Evo asks Alex.
"Do I have a choice?" Alex said facing him. "You are the one who keeps pointing out you have the power here."
Evo walked up to her, getting in her face and Maggie almost moved to intervene, but Alex shook her head no.
"I am in charge," Evo said. "But you have a game you are playing here. I can tell, I don't need to be connected to you to know that."
"We are connected though," Alex said. "I accept that now. How else could I be here like this if we weren't? And as soon as you release Maggie, let her wake back up, you and I are going to finish this."
"And you think this time you are going to win?"
"You know me well enough to know, I don't care," Alex said. "As long as Maggie is safe, you can have all the fun with me that you want. I know how real you make all of this feel and as soon as you are back in my mind and not hers, I won't even know any of this happened."
"Oh my Alexandra, always the martyr," he said, touching her cheek. "It's going to be epic. After being in Maggie's mind, I have some more ideas of how to play with you. Our intimacy is going to grow by leaps and bounds, at least until the very end."
"This time it will end," she said, removing his hand from her. "So let's get on with it. Go ahead, show her who I am in this world."
He laughed and looked back at Maggie. "Before we go, do you have any guesses as to what Alexandra is like in a world where all she wanted was your happiness?"
Maggie shook her head. "I don't know."
Evo snapped his fingers and again the scene shifted and this time they were in some bar that Maggie didn't recognize and saw Alex sitting at the bar drinking. A man approached her and offered to buy her a drink and Alex accepted the offer. The guy continued to talk Alex up and Maggie thought to herself, well at least she got a free drink out of it but how could this idiot not see that Alex wasn't into it? Maggie looked over at the real Alex who was standing there with Evo next to her just staring at her other self.
"I'm sorry, what is this all about?" Maggie said as they continued to watch this play out for what seemed like a long time.
"Patience," Evo said.
Finally, the guy put his hand on Alex's thigh and leaned in and Maggie was sure that Alex was about to break this guy's arm and give him a broken nose or concussion. But the guy whispered into her ear and then stood back up straight and Alex nodded to him, finished off the drink, and then left the bar with him. They followed them out where Alex and the man spent time kissing against the wall before walking off.
"Whoa," Maggie said. "You expect me to believe that just because she and I aren't together that she doesn't know she is gay?"
"Would you like to answer that one, Alexandra?" Evo said, clearly delighting in all of this.
"In this world, you and I never interact beyond that brief time at the airport," Alex said. "But yes, I know I'm gay in this world despite that. I just … I just never accept it."
"Bullshit," Maggie said. "If you know you are gay, with or without me, you would accept it."
"Not in this world."
"I don't accept that. This is a fiction," Maggie said. "It's not real."
"But you know yourself how real I can make it. Alex's emotions in this world are completely accurate because while what you are watching now is nothing more than a movie of it," Evo said. "She lived it. I lived it with her. This creation of mine is one of my favorites, and if Alexandra was willing to admit it, it's one of her favorites too because this is the world I gave her what she wanted."
"How? How is this something you wanted?" Maggie asked her.
Alex looked at Evo. "Let her go."
"Not when we are getting to the good part," Evo said.
"I will explain it to her, explain how this world came to be," Alex said. "As soon as I do, you let her go. You won't need her after that. You will need me. You will need the emotions I'm feeling at that moment."
Evo seemed to consider it. "I still know you are planning something, Alexandra."
"I am," she said. "And you won't know what that is until you are fully back in my mind."
He laughed once more. "I love you, Alexandra, you know that right? I love you. We are going to have so much fun. Hopefully, you have recovered physically enough that we can have a long goodbye."
"Do we have a deal then?"
"We do," he said.
"Thank you," she said. "Now give us some privacy. At least, some physical privacy since the other kind isn't possible. We both know you don't have to be here with us to know everything we talk about and more importantly what she is feeling."
"True," he said. "Do you have a preference for where I should take you?"
"Your choice," she said. "Like everything else."
He smiled at her and their surroundings again shifted and the next thing she knew, she and Maggie were alone at the apartment they once shared – or at least a version of it from this dream world.
"What the hell Alex," Maggie said. "You better have one hell of a plan."
"This is the plan," Alex said, taking a seat on the couch. "I won't let him have you. He knows that. You shouldn't have tried Lena's little science experiment. You shouldn't have tried to save me. I appreciate that you wanted to, but this was inevitable from the moment he touched me. It's him and me and that is how it ends."
"I hope you are just saying that because despite being alone here, we are not alone. And I get it, you can't tell me because then he will know."
Alex smiled, "I wasn't lying to him. As soon as you are gone from here and he and I have connected again, he's going to know it all. He's going to know that I went to Lena with the suggestion that maybe we could use her technology to boost what he is feeling and make him feel the emotions until it overwhelmed him, like what it was like for him in the beginning before he could control it. He will know that was the plan and that despite Lena not wanting to go for it, J'onn gave the ok for us to move forward. He's going to know that before I was sedated, I told Kara I would be back in a little bit, but the truth was, I left letters in my locker for her and my mom to say goodbye because despite what I came up with, this idea of hurting him, I always knew it was never going to work. This was the only way."
"You are giving up?"
"Oh, I won't go down without a fight," Alex said. "I will fight him as long as I can, but we both know how this ends. I'm at peace with my decision. My only goal is to get you out of here."
"I don't want you doing this."
"You don't have a choice," Alex said. "It's me he wants, not you."
Maggie swore and paced back and forth a moment before stopping to face her. "No, no," she said. "He doesn't get to win. He doesn't get to have you. I'm not going to let him kill you. If you think I'm just going to let this happen …"
"Maggie," Alex said forcefully, as she got up and approached her. "This is happening. Your body out there in the real world, it's already started to weaken. There wasn't enough time for me to come up with anything else but this. When you wake up, I need you to make sure that the others know this was my choice, that I went into this knowing the plan we came up with wouldn't work so they don't even need to try it. I need you to hug Kara for me and make sure she gets the letter I left her. And most of all, I need you to be happy. Go live the life you want, and don't let anyone ever make you feel you aren't worth it because you are. I lost sight of that and I lost you in the process. I let my fear over a life I wasn't ready for give me doubts that you weren't everything I was looking for in life. I didn't need a child, all I needed was you, so you are going to let me do this. You are going to let me go."
Maggie shook her head even as she started to cry and Alex embraced her. "Please tell me this isn't it," Maggie whispered. "Give me a sign that this isn't it."
"I love you, Maggie Sawyer," Alex said in return as she pulled away from her. "That is what this world is about, you being happy."
Maggie sniffled and wiped the tears away. "I don't see how that is possible," she said. "In this world or out there, without you."
Alex smiled at her. "I should probably explain then. That is what we are here for."
"And you just expect that Evo is going to let me go, that he will keep up his end of the bargain?"
"He will," Alex said. "Because whatever you are feeling right now, believe me, it's not nearly as tasty to him as what I'm feeling. He needs to let you go, so he can feel me fully. He wants that. Do you want to sit, while I explain?"
Maggie didn't want to sit, she didn't want Alex to explain anything. All she wanted was to think of some way to keep this from happening, to keep Alex safe. But her mind was going in so many different directions and she could see from Alex's demeanor that she had gotten to a place of resignation. She really was going to give herself up to Evo, Maggie realized.
Maggie was going to lose Alex forever.
That realization was what forced her to sit on the couch because she wasn't sure her legs would support her any longer. Alex came over and sat beside her.
"Are you ready?" Alex asked.
"No, but I don't have a choice, do I?"
"Fraid not," Alex responded. "The explanation won't take long. You will be back in the real world soon."
"Wait," Maggie said. "Did you … do you know about the world he was having me in?"
"I have a small idea," she said. "I was only able to break through to your mind a couple of times and never for long. But I noticed the ring."
She pointed at the wedding ring that was still on Maggie's finger. Maggie growled and immediately pulled it off and sat it down on the coffee table.
"I am such an idiot," she said. "I knew when I first woke up in here that it was wrong, that it wasn't real, but … it felt real."
"I know," Alex responded. "Every world I went through all felt real."
"How many different worlds did he create for you?"
"Not sure," Alex said. "I didn't really count and after I woke up, some of it faded in my mind like a dream. He wanted my emotions to run the gamut, so they were often different scenarios – some good and some unmentionable."
"And where does this current one you are about to tell me about rank?"
Alex considered the question. "Bittersweet," she said finally. "I was happy because you were happy, but sad because … well you saw how I was."
"I don't understand. I mean, I know I was involved in your coming out but for you to be like this, to not accept it, I just don't buy that as being real."
"And you are wondering how I could?"
Maggie didn't want to be accusatory, but yes she wondered about it, so all she did was nod.
"It was a trade-off with Evo," Alex said. "I wasn't always just in these worlds with him. There were points where it was just him and I and it was just talking. On one of these occasions, he asked me what I truly wanted – a wish realm as it were, and he agreed to it, but on the condition that I was how I was – gay, but unwilling to accept it. He wanted to feel what that would be like for me, to have this self-loathing, to feel trapped and lost. I agreed because he would let me view the world as well, as it pertained to you, so I could see that you were happy."
"Your wish realm was just for me to be happy then?"
"Not exactly, or rather, there was a specific wish to make you happy," Alex said. She took a deeper breath and released it before speaking again.
"I wished that you were never outed like you were. The whole Valentine's Day thing never happened and you came out at your own comfort level and more importantly, your family accepted you."
Maggie turned away from her a moment, thinking about this, thinking about the repercussions in her life if she hadn't been outed as she had been. All sorts of thoughts of what her life would be like flashed through her mind, but she realized it didn't matter. That wasn't her life. It wasn't real. Like this world where she was married to Alex wasn't real.
She turned back to Alex and then leaned over and kissed her. She felt the hesitation on Alex's part before returning the kiss.
"Thank you," Maggie said when they pulled apart. "I appreciate that you would make that a wish. Believe me, I have wished it myself numerous times. But, I don't need that to be my life. I'm ok with who I became. I like who I am. Even if Evo could fulfill the wish in the real world, I wouldn't want it, especially if it meant that you and I never met and had our relationship."
"A relationship that I messed up," Alex said.
"We both made mistakes – our biggest one being that we didn't take it slower and we didn't talk about the things we should have talked about when it came to our future," Maggie said. "If I could make a wish, it would be for a second chance – if that is what you wanted."
Alex smiled even though a tear came out of her eye which she quickly wiped away. "I wish we could have that chance," she said.
"I don't want this to be the end," Maggie said. "I don't know how to go back to reality and not do something to save you."
"You can't save me," Alex said.
Maggie leaned over again, even as she started to cry, and kissed Alex, more fiercely this time – a desperate kiss.
When their lips parted, Alex touched her cheek. "It's good to know that this is you and not Evo."
"Did you think that I was or that this wasn't real?"
"No, I thought it was you, but I just wanted to be 100 percent sure before we said goodbye because it's time."
Alex stood as did Maggie.
"Remember, let the others know this was my choice. I don't want any of them feeling guilty or that they should have done something more – including you," she said. "And who knows, maybe Evo will let me experience a joyful world before I die. Maybe in that world, we get that second chance."
Alex moved in closer but not to kiss her, but to hug her. Maggie held on tight knowing that Alex was indeed resigned to the idea that this was the end. And she realized she was going to have to accept that as well.
This was Alex saying goodbye forever.
"Evo," Alex said when they parted.
A moment later he appeared, still in Maggie's form.
"It's time," Alex said. "Release her."
"As you wish Alexandra," he said. "Any final words Maggie?"
Maggie looked not at Evo, but at Alex. Still, she found any words she thought to say lacking. She didn't know how to say goodbye.
"Alex, I …"
"I know," Alex said. "I know."
Maggie said nothing else and Evo waved his hand and Maggie disappeared.
"Ah, home sweet home," Evo said, as soon as he felt himself connect to Alex's mind. "How shall we start things off my dear? I know saying goodbye to the love of your life couldn't have been easy, so why don't we start with something happy? Maybe we go back to that world where you and Maggie are married and have twins? Or maybe relive the honeymoon? It's your choice for coming back to me."
Alex turned to face him and crossed her arms.
"I didn't have any choice but to come back here," she said. "It was the only way to save Maggie. Whereas there was no way to save me. Well, let me rephrase that, there was no scenario in which I didn't die."
Evo looked at her skeptically, and she knew he was probably reading her mind.
"What have you done?" he demanded.
"You were the one who said my death was one of the only ways out," Alex smiled. "I'm taking you up on the offer."
