Aziza portaled home, where it was already night time.
She was pissed about Regina bringing a foreign virus to this reality, especially after Regina had made such a big deal two years ago about not travelling to other dimensions when Covid was happening.
Couldn't Regina see that she was going down a bad road by doing this immortality thing? That she was setting a really bad precedent?
She was worried that her and Regina were going to come to blows one day over this.
"Sweetie?" she asked calling out to Kylie as she made her way to the living room.
Kylie was laying on the couch, her long hair draped over the edge, holding onto a plushie. She looked sad.
"Kylie, what's wrong?" Aziza asked as slipped her shoes off.
"Can we talk for a second?" Kylie asked.
Aziza sat down on the floor next to Kylie, kissing her soft lips.
"About anything."
Kylie sat up on the couch with her legs crossed, staring at her girlfriend intensely.
"I can't do this anymore."
"Do what?"
"This. Everything that we've been doing."
"You mean bringing in alternate versions of you to justice?"
"Yeah" Kylie said, her voice serious and deliberate. "Can you imagine what it's like to stare at yourself every day all summer long, seeing what a delusional psychotic wreck you are?"
"Kylie, those different Kylies aren't you, they..."
"They *are* me" Kylie insisted. "They're just me if I made slightly different decisions, like if I had a sandwich for lunch one day in one reality or a falafel in the next."
Aziza shook her head.
"Hey, we're not thinking this way right now."
"Seeing everyone that I transformed against their will, everyone that I've hurt... I've in shock by it all. I couldn't believe that I'd ever do something that terrible. But I've finally come to terms with it. I'm a monster. And I can't forgive myself, nor do I expect anyone else to."
"Well, that's why you have me" Aziza said. "I rescued you. I helped you and made you feel loved and valued even though everyone said that I was crazy, and I don't regret it. Look at how much progress you've made!"
"Pfft. Progress. I really do appreciate everything you've done for me."
Aziza cupped Kylie's gentle chin.
"I'm still looking for help for you."
"If Vladimir Putin started feeling guilty about what he did, would you get him help too?"
"Kylie Perkins, listen to me, you're no Putin."
"Yeah, I'm worse! I'm worse than a thousand Putins, or a thousand Hitlers!".
"Please, Kylie, stop thinking this way. It's not productive or healthy."
"You know what isn't healthy either? Trying to fix something that is already broken."
"You can be fixed."
"No I can't!" Kylie screamed. "You said it yourself that I can never fix the reality I destroyed. That at best, we'd just be creating another timeline, but the people that I hurt will always be hurt."
Aziza looked sadly at Kylie.
"You're not a bad person. You just made some mistakes."
Kylie laughed.
"You call holding a town hostage a mistake? Forcing a child to eat her mother? Can't you see that you're just making excuses for me because you care about me? If I wasn't your girlfriend, you'd put me down without even thinking about it."
Aziza didn't know what to say.
"Baby..."
"I've been waiting for you to come home, because I've already decided what Im going to do. Aziza, I love you so much. Thank you for being nice when nobody else ever was. Please don't judge me for this..."
A glass filled with a clear liquid appeared in Kylie's hand. She drank it all down in one gulp.
Two seconds later, Kylie's body started convulsing and foaming at the mouth. She collapsed on the couch.
Aziza's heart started racing.