"AIDENNNNNN!" Galacta's voice boomed like a collapsing star as she practically launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around his chest in a crushing hug. "I missed you sooo much—WAHHHH—I was so far away!" she fake-sobbed loudly, rubbing her face against his chest like a little kid.
Aiden chuckled, patting her back. "Yeah, yeah. I missed you too, Galacta."
Then came the sniffing. The snobbering. The cosmic snot.Aiden grimaced, shoving her back a step. "Ew! Come on—no leaking galaxies on me!"
"Okay, okay!" she pouted, wiping her face dramatically. "Ugh! You didn't even look for me…"
Valeria folded her arms. "We did. But your signals are ridiculously faint."
"Which is shocking considering her size," Gwen muttered under her breath.
Galacta gasped, pointing an accusatory finger. "ARE YOU CALLING ME FAT?!" Her eyes flared, her cosmic aura rumbling with mock rage. "I'll have you know I'm considered very lean in my race! Which, granted, is just me and Dad—but STILL!"
Then, she turned her wide puppy-dog eyes toward Aiden, hands clasped dramatically. "You don't think I'm fat, right? …Right?"
Aiden raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms. "No, Galacta. You're not fat."
Her face lit up instantly, smug grin spreading like wildfire. "HAH! You hear that? Aiden said I'm lean! Eat it, Gwen!"
Meanwhile Aiden turned back to look at the Schematics in front of him of his next destination
Valeria turned toward Aiden, her voice trembling. "You're not saying… you're going alone?"
Aiden didn't look up immediately—his eyes lingered on the glowing schematics before him, Valeria and Toni at his side. But then he exhaled deeply and nodded. "Yes. I have to. This isn't a fight anyone else should carry. Even I… don't know if I'll come back. So how could I ask that of you?"
Valeria stepped forward, desperate, her words stumbling out. "But—you can't! Not this time. You said yourself even you don't know the outcome. If you fall…" She trailed off, because the truth was already written across her face: none of them could match Oblivion.
"You can take Galacta, right?" she tried again, her voice quieter, pleading. "She's strong—stronger than us. You need allies, Aiden. Please…"
He looked at her with that maddening calm. "I thought of that. But she's not ready. Even her father fears that place. This is my burden, Valeria. Mine alone. Between me and Him. A one-on-one that can't be shared."
The silence that followed was suffocating. Valeria stepped back, unable to argue further, and Aiden finally addressed them all. His voice grew firmer, echoing in the chamber like a vow: "I don't know if Knull will send more attacks to Earth while I'm gone. But if he does… you must protect it. Without me. Can you do that?"
Every head nodded, though none looked truly ready.
Then Galacta's voice broke through, raw and pained. "I just got here! And now you're leaving?"
He softened for her, offering the gentlest smile. "I have to. You know why. To protect the world."
Her lips trembled, but she managed a smile back. "Then… at least promise me this. When you come back… we go on a date."
His laugh was warm, human, in the midst of the looming storm. "Deal."
Carol Danvers approached next, arms crossed but her eyes betraying unease. "So this really is a fight where none of us can follow you."
"Unfortunately." He gave her a knowing smile. "But if I could choose anyone at my side, it'd be you. Reliable, steady Carol."
She blinked, caught off guard. "…You think I'm reliable?"
"At first, no," he admitted with a half-smirk. "I met another version of you once—arrogant, prideful. And I thought you'd be the same. But you… you surprised me. You do so much for this world without asking for anything back. You're a good woman, Carol. Thank you."
Her tough façade cracked, and she gave a dry laugh. "Sheesh… you've already got a whole harem of women wrapped around you. Why you gotta make me fall for you too?"
"Would it be so bad if you did?" he teased.
Carol's cheeks flushed before she shot back, "Maybe… prove yourself by saving the multiverse. Then we'll talk." Her smile faded to something more serious. "Good luck, Aiden. Don't you dare make me regret believing in you."
As she stepped away, Jubilee bounded up, her usual brightness dimmed. "Dude… we barely got any time together. Just a couple weeks of fun, and now you're off to fight the scariest god ever? That sucks. But hey—kick his ass for us, okay? Then come back."
Noriko grinned, masking her worry. "Yeah. Kick it extra hard in our names."
Kitty added softly, "We'll be here waiting. Even if our bodies can't follow you, our hearts will. So… come back safe."
Aiden nodded firmly. "That's a promise."
Then Rogue came without a word, only a fierce kiss. When she pulled back, her whisper was a fragile plea. "Please… just come back to me."
"I will," he swore.
Gwen stepped forward, hesitant. Her eyes shone, not with fear, but something deeper. "You know… I never imagined myself in all this. Fighting aliens, saving the world. But now here I am, part of a multiverse-saving mission. And the man I love is its centerpiece. It was worth it."
"What was?" Aiden asked gently.
"Accepting you. Being yours. I'm fulfilled, Aiden. Don't take that from me. Don't let this be the end."
He brushed his hand against her cheek. "It won't be."
And finally, Valeria stood frozen, silent, her eyes on the floor. She didn't trust her voice.
Aiden walked to her, lifting her chin with the faintest touch. "There it is… that look. Why? Don't feel shame or sadness. You're with me always, Valeria. In my heart. I love you."
Tears brimmed as she whispered back, "I love you too… I won't ruin this moment. Just… go. Go and defeat him. Save us all… my hero."
Aiden smiled, radiant and steady. Then, with a final look at all of them, he turned. The portal blossomed behind him, a swirling rift of light and shadow.
He stepped into it with a smile, vanishing from their sight.
....
Aiden stood before the Gate of Nothingness—a monument carved into existence by titans older than galaxies, silent and looming like the tombstone of all creation. Its surface shimmered with a paradox: endless black, yet brighter than light itself. He inhaled deeply, steadying the storm of his own heartbeat, then stepped forward.
The instant he crossed, the laws of reality collapsed. His body grew weightless, like a soul unmoored from flesh. The universe behind him dissolved into silence. Ahead lay the Outside—a white endless expanse that mirrored their own cosmos, yet stretched infinitely empty, oppressive in its purity. Every step he took echoed like thunder in a world that had never known sound.
Then—he heard her voice.
Smooth. Alluring. Terrifying.
"You are bold," she said, her tone carrying the intimacy of a whisper and the gravity of a collapsing star. "Even after eternity itself cast you aside… even when Death saw fit to grant you only a fragment of her gift… you still came here. To the dominion of the Beyonders."
He turned, and there she stood.
A woman—or the closest thing the word could describe. Her skin shimmered in hues of golden yellow, her scalp bare, her frame adorned in a dark garment that seemed more like the suggestion of clothing than fabric itself. Every inch of her radiated a contradiction: beauty laced with menace, desire fused with dread. Her smile curled slowly, deliberately.
"Unlike the others," she said, tilting her head, "I am different. I find myself… fond of you already. That farewell you gave your world—it moved even me. Such defiance, such raw devotion. So…" Her eyes gleamed with unfathomable warmth. "I shall help you."
Before he could speak, she moved with impossible swiftness. Her lips pressed against his, the kiss binding him like a seal forged beyond time. Power flooded him, a torrent of infinity itself coursing through his veins, vast and endless, threatening to tear him apart even as it remade him.
When she finally released him, he gasped, trembling from the surge, his body still glowing faintly with the mark of her gift.
She smiled one last time, enigmatic and eternal."May Infinity always be with you."
And just like that—she was gone. No explanation. No reason. Nothing but the lingering echo of her power and the weight of her kiss.
This was Infinity.This was her way.