Gwen's eyes shot open in panic and she shouted, "Alex!"
"Hey…" Alex was already beside her on the bed and pulled her into a hug, "I'm here…" He whispered soothing words to her and gently held her.
"You're here," She whispered as she looked into his eyes.
"Mhm…" Alex nodded, "Are you okay?" He asked concernedly.
"A bit messed up, honestly…" She answered. She then looked him dead in the eyes and asked, "Why are you scared?"
"What?" Alex asked her with a frown.
"Nevermind…" She shook her head and hugged him, burying her face in his neck, "Just hold me for a while."
Alex turned to lie on his back and pulled her so that she was lying on top of him.
He didn't say anything and ran his fingers through her silky blonde hair as Gwen calmed herself down while enjoying his gentle caresses.
Meanwhile, Alex looked at his system to see what the hell that merger was.
'I guess, I'll just call it ?True Merge?…' Alex updated a panel in his system.
?10%— 0.1 EP/Day? ?25%— 0.2 EP/Day? ?50%— 0.3 EP/Day? ?75%— 0.4 EP/Day? ?100%— 0.5 EP/Day, ?TrueMerge??
Previously, there were question marks in place of the ability name at 100% Bonding Rate. After experiencing this with Gwen, he now knew that this was what was going to happen at 100%.
'Now the question is whether this is going to be permanent or temporary…' Alex's logic was leading him toward this being a permanent thing. A symbiote isn't meant to bond with multiple people at the same time. Alex had hacked the system to make his inner horny satisfied. Even now, he was tempted to add in some more girls.
Exhibit A: Felicia Hardy in Farm Earth. Alex had never planned on bonding with her, but he still wanted to have a relationship with her. Something similar to what he had with Cindy in Spider-Gwen's Earth.
'This is going to be a pain in the ass… I'm going to halt the progress of this thing now…' Alex thought reluctantly.
As much as the inner gamer inside him wanted to get that 100% score. He didn't know what kind of consequences this ?True Merge? thing would lead to.
'Now I just hope this blocking actually works…' Alex thought. He'd basically told his system to pause the Bonding Rate progress with Gwen. He would only be able to confirm whether it worked or not when he had sex with her.
'It's at times like these that I wish there was some sort of soul or spirit in this system,' Alex thought, 'At least I wouldn't be blindly using these things…'
"Alex…" Gwen mumbled, bringing Alex out of his musings.
"Are you calm now?" He asked her.
"I felt you, Alex," Gwen said, "I felt so much of you. I felt as if I was standing in front of a mountain…" She continued with a tone that Alex couldn't quite decipher, but he heard hints of, 'Pity? Mixed with a sort of cold rage…' He thought confusedly.
"An entity as massive as yourself…" She continued, "Why are you scared of me?" She finally looked up at him with reddened eyes and an expression that made him feel a bit uncomfortable, "You did something, didn't you?" She asked with an unnatural expression. Unlike usual, where he would just brush off her expression as cute, Alex felt his heart drop to his stomach as he looked into her eyes and her almost chilling expression.
His heart skipped a beat as he remembered something that he'd pretty much forgotten about and denied to himself, 'No…'
"You did something…" She said to him again, "What did you do, Alex?" She asked again with an almost flat tone. She continued when Alex didn't answer her, "You never went to high school with me."
"Gwen…" Alex wasn't sure what to say.
"You came to this planet no more than three months ago… On the day I was about to leave for Oxford." For the first time since they bonded, Alex couldn't read her. Inwardly, she was calm and tranquil as if she was still comfortably cuddled up with him. Outwardly though, she was looking at him with an expression bordering on hate.
Alex felt that the situation was extremely unnatural and didn't say anything, so Gwen kept going, "Tell me!" She suddenly screamed and grabbed Alex's face, presumably to hurt him. That was when he decided to put her to sleep.
Though before he could do anything, her arms lost their strength and she fainted, falling back on his chest. She fainted without him doing anything.
"Gwen?" Alex called with confusion, 'Should I just go inside her brain…' Alex was debating the thought. The one time he felt that he'd gone too far with his unhinged actions was when he'd modified Gwen's memories. And he'd set a principle after that to keep himself in check after that. He didn't care for MJ so his actions toward her didn't really affect him. But Gwen… He was sincere toward her and doing this hadn't sit right with him.
He shook his head clear of his thoughts and looked back at Gwen's peaceful expression that mirrored what he felt from her.
"Gwen…" He shook her awake. He wanted to know what the hell the deal was, 'Did the merger end up creating a rift inside her subconscious that resulted from my manipulation of her memory…' That was the first conclusion that Alex came up with, 'Or this persona might just be all there is to Gwen from now…' The thought didn't sit right with him.
When Gwen fluttered her eyes open, Alex was giving her an apprehensive look.
"What is it?" Gwen asked after seeing his expression, "Everything okay?"
Alex realized that his theory was probably true and Gwen had developed a split personality due to the previous experience.
'Whatever, I'll deal with it when it's necessary…' Alex stopped thinking about complicated things and focused on Gwen, "Are you okay?" He asked, "What you went through wasn't very… comfortable." He said, unable to come up with a better word that could capture what Gwen would've experienced at that moment.
"Honestly…" Gwen said while looking into his eyes, "It was an exhilarating moment, Alex…" She said with shiny eyes.
"It was?" He asked in surprise.
"Mhm," She nodded with a mesmerized expression, "I felt like I was in the most comfortable of places I ever could have been in… That fleeting moment where you and I were a singular being... It was the greatest thing I could have felt." She said from the depth of her heart.
'You and I clearly had completely different experiences…' Alex had felt extremely weird when he merged with Gwen, he had bared literally everything to her.
Before Alex could say anything back to her, Gwen's lips pressed on his again, [Let's continue where we left off…]
She straddled him and guided his girth inside her.
Alex was blankly looking at 'Gwen'.
The girl in question was tied up on a cross with all four of her limbs spread apart in an X shape. She was completely naked and was looking at Alex with a look of pure hatred.
"Unhand me, you bastard!" She screamed while struggling in her bonds.
"We were just having amazing sex. Why would you turn into that…thing spontaneously?" Alex asked and Gwen showed a confused expression. She only remembered herself on top of Alex and when she was about to attack him, these restraints wrapped around her limbs and pulled her away from him.
'So neither knows of the existence of the other…' Alex was debating how to deal with this alter Gwen, 'I could just mindfuck her and destroy this personality… but it might have some unforeseen consequences on Gwen. On the other hand, I could have two different versions of Gwen all to myself… I even get to tame one of them…' Alex had already decided what he was going to do.
"I'm not dealing with you." He said and created a gag in her mouth. At the same time, he pumped five whole points of completely pure EP into her body.
Alter Gwen's eyes went wide as she felt heat rising up inside her body and she looked hatefully at Alex who then put a blindfold on her face. She was left to writhe in unbearable arousal that was easily going to last for tens of hours without Alex's intervention.
He usually made sure to supplement dissolving EP into his hosts' bodies with a huge amount of pleasure. And he also usually diluted that EP and took things slow and in a manageable manner. This helped mitigate the aphrodisiac-like properties of EP that would essentially render them unable to string together even a single coherent thought under those effects.
That was what alter Gwen was experiencing right now.
'This is clearly not sustainable… I'll deal with her when necessary… maybe if this Alter Gwen can let go of her hate for me at some point, she would naturally disappear.' Alex concluded.
This personality was made as a consequence of Alex's manipulation of Gwen's memories. If she could forgive him for this and let go of her hate, there would be no more reason for her to exist.
'Guess I'll just focus on her until Gwen wakes up. I'll pull that EP out from her body right before the actual Gwen wakes up…' Alex thought to himself. He wanted to break Alter Gwen's spirit, not Gwen.
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