"Good, now that this is clear, are you ready to talk with your little girlfriend here?” ended Adam their discussion.

“No. I mean, can you at least not let her wake up next to that?” said Atlas and pointed at his mutilated other self.

“Sure. Anything else?” said Adam, and with a wave of his hand, the distance between them and his other self widened till he couldn’t see it anymore.

“Can you help me to look... Not like this?” asked Atlas, a little embarrassed.

“You mean you want some clothes? Because I can’t fix you. That is something that only you could do. I mean, I could try to work on your mind and change your self-perception, but I can’t guarantee anything, and the damage would still be there even if it wouldn't look like it.” Explained Adam.

“Never, under no circumstances, are you allowed to do anything to my mind again. Just give us the school uniforms we wore during the end.” Atlas said it decisively, with a hint of anger in his voice.

“Fine. Fine. Anything else?” asked Adam in a tone that felt like mockery to Atlas, but he decided to ignore it as the clothes appeared on him and Hermione.

“No. I think that's it.”

“Good. I wish you luck.” Said Adam and clapped into his hand, which caused him to dissolve into bright light particles before disappearing.

The moment Adams vanished, Hermione started to breathe again. It took her a few moments before she opened her eyes. Atlas stared at her, getting increasingly nervous. He didn’t know how he should even start.

“Where? What? Oh, my god. Atlas, are you fine? You look so hurt. Did the troll surprise us? Was it Voldemort? Where are we?” started Hermione to panic, the more she realized their circumstances. “Are we dead?”

“Calm down, Hermione. I… we… are fine. Voldemort is dead. We succeeded.” Said Atlas and felt bad for calling something like that a success.

“What? We really succeeded? Then this is the space between worlds or universes you told me about? Does that mean I will never see mom, dad, and the others ever again?” said Hermione as the realization slowly overwhelmed her.

“Yes it is and yes we will never be able to speak to them again… Never” Said Atlas and had to supress his own tears as he saw Hermione’s brown eyes get watery.

“I’m sorry, Mione. I could only take you with me.”

“I know. It's just, you know... I couldn’t even say goodbye to them. Do you think they will miss me? Miss us?”

Atlas wanted to answer, but he could only open his mouth and close it again. He knew that he needed to tell her and that she would get to know even if he didn’t say anything, but that didn’t make it any easier.

“Hermione. There is something I need to tell you. Something that I didn’t tell you beforehand, as I didn’t want it to influence your decision. Something that I should have told you.” Atlas took a deep breath before continuing, “The universe where you grew up, we grow up in, doesn’t exist anymore. The moment I succeeded in my mission, the universe collapsed, and… and everyone died.”

Hermione froze in his arms. Her expression of shock, anger, and pain hurt him, but there was nothing he could do.

“What… What do you mean? I think I just misheard you. Can you repeat what you just said?” denied Hermione what he just said to her.

“Hermione I’m sorry. I couldn’t stop it. I couldn’t prevent it. They are dead. Everyone is dead.”

"No, that can't be. You're lying. They are... they are still alive," Hermione repeated, her voice trembling with disbelief. She desperately clung to the hope that Atlas was playing some sick joke on her, that this was all a nightmare from which she would soon wake up. “Hermione I’m sorry I…” began Atlas, who wanted to hug her.

"Don't touch me!" she snapped, slapping away Atlas's attempt to comfort her. The once-unwavering trust she had in him was shattered, replaced by a burning resentment. The anger fueled her rejection of him, a visceral reaction to the unimaginable sin he committed. Trying to ignore the fear that was creeping into his mind, he attempted to explain the situation to her.

“Hermione. I had to do it. Just by existing, this universe was killing multiple other universes. I sav… no, it was necessary.” tried Atlas to explain but couldn’t bring himself to say that he saved anyone. Not since he knew he had killed over 5 billion people.

“But what about my family, our friends! Do you even listen to yourself. Who are you to decide what is necessary?” accused Hermione, and every word felt like a punch in the guts. He didn’t have a satisfactory answer to any of that. Not even for himself. And as much as he wanted to blame Adam for everything, in the end he had more or less blindly followed orders. Even Adam’s manipulation wasn’t able to take that responsibility from him, as it did nothing more than let his mission resurface in his mind whenever he stopped thinking about it for too long.

“Hermione I..I’m really sorry.” Said Atlas, but even he himself doubted that what he said right now would make any difference. Not to him. Not to the devastated Hermione, who was unable to even look at him, and definitely not to the people who died.

Hermione didn’t respond to his attempts to comfort her and just cried. She had sent him away multiple times, but Atlas remained by her side. He couldn’t just leave her alone. Not like this. He would bear the accusations she was throwing at him, thinking it was something he deserved and hoping that she would at some point forgive him.

After some time, when it seemed like Hermione had run out of desperate attempts at denying reality and making accusations against him, she calmed down enough to ask him what had caused her to be knocked out and what exactly had happened after that.

Atlas calmly explained to her that it was him who had knocked her out. He explained how he created a Horcrux just to save her, he revealed that Ethan was the hero and that he was the target that he needed to kill instead of Voldemort, and he revealed how he manipulated Voldemort to kill him. He didn’t leave anything out. He didn’t want to have any secrets. Not anymore. He explained everything in great detail, including why and how the universe collapsed and how he fought to save her.

Hermione went through so many emotions that Atlas had difficulties deciphering what she thought. She showed disgust at the prospect that he had killed Ron to create a horcrux. A feeling that became even more prominent when he said that he had killed Harry as soon as he got the opportunity, as he was a risk, or that he had killed Dumbledore to give Voldemort the chance to fight with Ethan on even ground. At the same time, he saw Hermione showing him empathy, as she knew him well enough to say that he didn’t do anything of that because he really wanted it. She even took his hand when he described how he was almost ripped apart when he tried to save her. But that didn’t mean that she had forgiven him. It just showed him that she understood why he did what he did. It was as if she was still in conflict with herself and how she wanted to treat him.

Hermione spent a few more hours in a fetal position, unable to cry but trying to process everything. The only thing that gave Atlas some hope was that she didn’t let go of his hand, as she silently lied next to him.

“What will happen to us now?” asked Hermione not looking at him.

“Adam has already prepared the next mission for us. Like the first time, he will probably give us some kind of book or movie that will show us a glimpse at the world we will enter, and then we will be reborn there.” answered Atlas with a calm voice.

“Will… will we cause another universe to just die like ours… like mine?” asked Hermione in a depressed tone.

“I’m sorry, Hermione. I should have told you the truth before I let you decide if I should take you with me. I would understand if you didn’t want to, and Adam even offered that you could stay here while I go on my missions.” Answered Atlas trying to suppress his urge to argue that he had accepted the universe as his too, or explain that Adam used her as leverage against him.

“Is there really no other way?”

“Not as far as I know.”

“Will we be together if we go down there?”

“I don’t know. We would need to ask Adam. But I guess that is something he wanted to talk about anyway. But before we talk to him, I need to warn you. Adam is dangerous.” Said Atlas.

“Are you talking behind my back, Atlas?” said Adam, who appeared out of nowhere behind him.

“I will say it to your face, you mind flaying asshole.” Retorted Atlas a bit, angry that his suspicion that Adam was able to listen in seemed to be true.

“That naturally changes everything. Anyway, you are that little girl that almost caused him to fail. You take it better than expected, but from what I heard, he had given you some heads up. So, girl, how do you decide. Do you want to help Atlas, or do you want to remain here? I could also let you disappear if that is what you want.” Said Adam with an unnatural, almost mocking, but somewhat curious expression.

“Don’t you dare!” interrupted Atlas before Hermione could say anything.

“Is it really necessary to destroy those universes? Is there really no other way?” asked Hermione, unbothered by Adams' suggestion.

“There is always another way. Just tell me how to stop the multiverse from creating heroes, and I will reincarnate you and Atlas into a universe of your choice, and you can have your happily ever after.” Said Adam with an infuriating casualness.

“I mean, is it possible to stop the hero without destroying the universe. If I understood Atlas correctly, the hero is causing an unnatural, fast growth that is harmful for the universe. Is it possible to just slow it down to a normal speed without destroying the universe?” asked Hermione, not letting herself get irritated. Her question surprised Atlas a little, as it was a question he had never really considered. He had simply accepted what Adam had told him as an inevitable fact.

“Oh, a smart one. Now I understand why Atlas likes you and says you will be more useful than sending him down twice. But your question is not so easily answerable, as each universe has a different concept of how the soul works. In some universes, there are indeed ways to eliminate the hero without destroying the universe, but the difficulty would rise by two or three magnitudes. I didn’t tell it to Atlas for this very same reason. It’s difficult enough to just kill the hero. But in your world, it would have been possible if the hero was killed by a dementor's kiss. Sure, the dementor would have become more powerful, but the hero’s boon wouldn’t have transferred over, and he would have become a walking calamity on the level of Voldemort, with the exception that he would be even harder to kill. But in the end, a dementor would never get any ideas of traversing the universe, which would cause the universe to get a growth spurt. But do you really think that it would have been a feasible option?” explained Adam, and Atlas felt as if his worldview was overturned. He was angry, and he blamed himself for not considering asking Adam if Hermione was able to notice it even before entering another universe herself. But at the same time, he thought about the difficulty of letting Ethan be killed by a dementor. With the fight he had put up against Voldemort, it was impossible for him to weaken him enough so that a Dementor would be able to seriously attack Ethan. Not to mention that Dumbledore would have never let a dementor enter Hogwarts or that Atlas would be unable to control a dementor's actions. Waiting for two more years and giving Ethan a way to grow even more until Dementors were searching for Sirius would also not have been a smart idea.

“I understand. Is there a way to save the next universe?” said Hermione, her quivering voice betraying her attempt to stay calm.

"Well, there is. But it's even more unlikely to happen than in your world. But I will explain it after you have looked at the information I have gathered.” Said Ethan and materialized a new laptop, where a task was opened with the title "Avatar the Last Airbender."

“Where do you even get this information, or these videos?” asked Hermione.

“Oh, before the Multiverse started to act weird, me and a few other immortals were bored, so we looked into a few different worlds and recorded what we thought was interesting. Then we traded these things. Naturally, every immortal has a different way of recording what they see. Some write it down in great detail, some make a movie out of the most interesting things they have seen there, and some write some kind of comic. After a few eons, I got quite the collection. The greatest in the multiverse, in fact. It's much better looking at these things than watching a universe for hundreds and thousands of years, waiting for something interesting to happen.” Said Adam and with a clap, the once empty place transformed into some kind of library. They were only able to see a few hundred shelves, but the library seemed to stretch into infinity. Some were small, merely a meter high, others reached a height so high that it was impossible to see the top of them.

“Each shelf carries information about a specific type of universe. You know the multiverse, in all its diversity, has a few “universe seeds” it recicles and then only slightly forces variations at a later time to optimize the soul energy production. The seed of your universe, for example, was used countless times. Sometimes Voldemort won the war, sometimes Dumbledore became a dark lord, sometimes both sides' leaders ended up dead, and sometimes none of them were even born, and the variations happened much sooner. In some scenarios, even the separation between the muggleworld and the magical world didn’t happen, but because these universes tended to discover tools to reach immortality for the general masses, those universe types became quite rare, as the multiverse can only cash in the energy when someone dies.” explained Adam, but Hermione and Atlas were still shocked by the sheer size of the library.

“So you mean every book, every movie here was a universe that once existed?” asked Atlas still a bit overwhelmed.

“Well, in rare cases we have two descriptions of the same universe but in most cases, yes, every book contains the “entertaining” part of a universe. But don’t waste too much time. You have hours of material to look at for your current task.” Answered Adam and the library disappeared again, leaving only the them and the laptop with the Avatar series behind.

“We will talk again if you have seen this. I need to do some work.” Said Adam and vanished as quite as he had come.

“Atlas I… I don’t know if I can do this. It’s just too much. Immortals that watch universes for eons just to get some entertainment, universes getting destroyed by some kind of "heroes,” and then Adam too. He is weird, and I’m sure that he isn’t telling us everything. And universe seeds? Does that mean we are just templates the universe recycles as it pleases?” Said Hermione and Atlas could see her inner turmoil. He didn’t blame her. He, too, was overwhelmed. While he had known that there were different universes, just seeing the library had shown him what kind of magnitude they were working on, and it pressured him a lot.

“Hermione I’m sorry. I don’t have answers to anything you asked. Seeing the scale of things even makes me question whether what I did made any difference at all. I’m just as lost as you are, but it's not like Adam really leaves us a choice. I wasn’t able to tell you yet, but he made it extremely clear that he would send me into this Avatar world if I wanted to or not. He even threatened to make you a hostage if necessary.” Said Atlas and tried to give her a comforting touch, and to his relief, she wasn’t tense like before. At least not because of his touch. He was sure that she still hadn’t come to terms with what happened, but he was just glad that she stopped pushing him away, because even though he hadn’t come to terms with everything yet himself, knowing that he wasn’t alone was comforting, even though he blamed himself for putting her in that situation.

“I think I need some time to process all this, Atlas,” Hermione said, her voice wavering between vulnerability and frustration. “I don’t know how to feel at the moment. I just want to hug you and feel like yesterday when we lied in your bed together, but at the same time, I just can’t process that you are responsible for killing everyone I know, even if I understand why you did it. I feel touched that you risked your life, your soul to 'save' me, but at the same time, I feel betrayed and can’t help but blame you for putting me in that situation, even though I know that the alternative wouldn’t really be better. Then I blame myself for the state you are in and the pain you suffered, and I don’t know if it’s fair of me to be angry at you. I also fear that we won’t be able to use whatever method Adam thinks would save the next universe and that I too would be responsible for billions of deaths, but at then again, I can’t just forgive you for not even thinking about finding alternatives. I want answers to questions that I’m sure I shouldn’t even be asking, and it’s eating me up. I…”

“It’s okay, Hermione,” said Atlas, and embraced her, ignoring the soring pain of his flayed body. “It’s fine if you are angry, it's fine if you are confused, it's fine if you feel overwhelmed. Just know that I’m here for you and that I don’t regret saving you, even if you start to hate me because of it. When I asked you if you wanted to come with me, you said it’s like getting married, and even if it’s not quite the same and that our 'honeymoon' will not be a peaceful vacation in a paradise-like holiday resort, I will always stay by your side, at good times and at bad times, and I believe that we can overcome all of this together.”

“You know that you can be a hopeless idiot at times?” said Hermione, her body relaxing in his arms. “But thanks. This is what I needed at the moment. But I still need some time to sort out my thoughts. I have the feeling of going crazy at the moment. But just know that, despite everything, I’m still glad to have you. I just need some time.”

They remained like this for a few minutes when Hermione said that she wanted to watch this Avatar series and that she wanted to know what it was like to see a whole world from the perspective of an immortal, to better understand the situation they were in.

When they finished the first episode, Hermione had several more questions, like if the movies about her universe were also drawn, or if the world really was like this, or if bending was like magic, or if he knew if they would be able to use bending at all. Questions Atlas was unable to answer with certainty.

They even tried to contact Adam to get these answers but he was nowhere to be seen, so they continued to watch one episode after another.