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Wanda Maximoff put down the Darkhold and rested her eyes for a moment. She had been doing a lot of studying in the tome, of which there seemed to be an endless number of pages- every time she thought she was making it towards the end, it would seem to get another 20 pages thick of magical information. She had to know what kind of powers she was tapping into- she did not want to create another Hex. She didn’t want to hurt anyone anymore. She was tired of dragging other people into her sorrow at this point- whether it was the town of Westview or superbeings as a whole. Lagos weighed heavily on her mind, but somehow Westview felt worse. Was it the things she heard when Agatha released everyone from her spell really true? Did she impart her trauma unto a town of innocents?
She returned to her body, shifting out of her astral form as she blew on a cup of hot chocolate. She had isolated herself for real this time. If she had unconsciously created a Hex this time, the worst that would happen would be a moose or a stray animal that would find themselves under her control. She could absolutely not guarantee herself to not repeat past max mistakes but the least she could do was keep the damage minimal.
She heard Tommy and Billy’s voices mere moments ago of course- that’s why she felt like she had to stop at the moment, but she had no means- no idea how to reach them- it was a telekinetic call for help she had no way to figure out the source of. Her best guess was that the Sorcerer Supreme himself would be able to help, but she had no idea how to reach out to him.
Did she even want to?
That weighed on her even more than she originally thought. She knew, she knew that this timeline and the events that occurred in it was the only way they could have defeated Thanos to begin with. But she was still told to kill Vision on her own terms, and then was forcefully wrest out of that decision herself by the Mad Titan himself- she watched in horror as she saw Vision, who she put down herself as gracefully as she could- the way he would have wanted to and watched as the Mad Titan gripped the Mind Stone right out of his head, crushing his head in on the forehead.
Dr. Strange knew that was going to happen. He knew that she would have to subject herself to that. He knew that it would happen and yet did nothing to interject. Events played out in his mind as he saw through the various other timelines where they lost and knew when to take action, when to suggest others do so, and he stood by to have events play out as they did.
Everything hinged on a fucking rat.
A fucking rat.
Nothing she did. Nothing he did. It was the cosmic randomness of the universe that led to one timeline seemingly coming together in the perfect win.
She felt her grip on the mug tighten hard, gritting her teeth. She looked out into the cold snow of the mountains she had isolated herself in, doing her best to fully keep it all in.
As if to cosmically laugh at her though, she saw someone float through the sky towards her innocent cabin and she could tell from the red cape and sheer aroma of arrogance that it was him. Stephen Strange. She hissed and drank the lukewarm mixture as he landed on the porch.
She was frustrated enough that she wanted to tell him to never come back, but she had to keep it together, especially given her better grasp of who she was at this point. She was the Scarlet Witch, and the better she understood what the hell that was, the better. She was tired of making the wrong decisions.
“Wanda Maximoff?” Stephen said with a sincerity in his voice, although it was the same usual cold unfeeling tone that Wanda always got off him. It grated and buzzed in her skull like a insect but she did her best to not flare up.
“Present.” she replied as coldly as she could in the moment, trying not to break into anger immediately.
“I’ve just gotten word of what happened with Westview…” Dr. Strange started before Wanda felt herself immediately snap into almost a feral rage.
“Why weren’t you there?” she barked. “Why weren’t any of you there for me?” she set down the mug with almost a force strong enough to make it fly off the table, but it managed to stay stationary at its bottom, rattling as it finally rested. “You know who was there? Carol and Maria’s kid, she was the only one who had any empathy for me as a person. I get most of you see me as a dangerous, out of control woman, but do any of you even try to remove that feeling from me?”
Stephen seemed almost nonplussed by the reaction. Wanda felt her lungs take in more air than she really needed, feeling the cold pierce her inside.
“How long have you known?” she asked. “How long have you known that I’m doomed to become a monster like she said?”
“The Scarlet Witch?” asked Stephen as if to clarify, getting the answer from Wanda’s raised eyebrow. “The first time I saw you cast anything.” he answered honestly.
“Am I taking to a ghost? What happened to your humanity, Strange?” Wanda asked of him. He remained mute. “Did you lose it when you realized that you had to stand by and let fate happen for one miracle timeline where we won? Were you tired of fighting fate endlessly? Or did you lose it before all that? Surely someone with your background would know how to deal with someone who has lost everything time and time again. Why didn’t you help me? Was it another thing where there was only one timeline and you had to fight it through inaction?”
Strange took a deep breath as his fingers shook and fidgeted unconsciously. “I understand you have been through a lot,” he simply replied. “It wasn’t inaction, though. There was nothing else I could have done in any of those other timelines I saw.”
“I very much doubt that was the only one where things could have worked out.” she replied. “And yet you have to answer any of my other questions.”
“I can’t give answers to those. I know many things, and in a way I do feel a partial loss of humanity- but my nose is still cartilage. Things stopped making sense to me a long time ago, and I learned to just embrace it as opposed to fighting it and trying to logic my way around it.” he replied. “If I interjected at Westview, I’m not sure your children would exist as they currently do.”
“In pain?” asked Wanda.
“Not forever.” replied Stephen. “I understand if you don’t trust a cell in my body right now, but you need to come with me with the Darkhold. We have been trying to find that book for a very long time.”
Wanda took another sharp exhale. “Don’t you think it’s better for me to just stay here away from everyone else so I can’t hurt anymore? Aren’t you tired of me suffocating all of you?”
“I would ask the same thing to you.” Stephen replied. “I know I have caused you all extreme pain in a different way.”
“Yours’s ‘worked out’. You don’t get to feel sorry.” Wanda replied. “Everyone acts like Tony Stark was the only person we lost, like he was the only Avenger there ever was. Maybe someone will talk about Natasha, because she was flesh and blood. There’s no tribute for Vision, no memorial for the synthezoid, because you know, one day the government will figure out to get him back online, right? He’s not ‘really gone’, even if he remembers nothing on an emotional level.”
Stephen just nodded his head.
“I’m trying not to be too emotional about it, but it’s hard not to be when you’re this alone.” Wanda replied. “I don’t isolate myself because I feel like I have to- I have no other choice because when I don’t, I get isolated regardless.”
“I’m not giving up on you Wanda. But… you need to work with me, regardless of your feelings on this. I promise you that we will get your boys out of this safely.” Stephen replied.
“Did you foresee this?” asked Wanda.
“I consciously chose not to.” replied Strange. “If we drift from the right path, we’ll fight fate to get back on it.”
Wanda solemnly nodded as she held out her arm towards him. “Then let’s do this.”
Stephen created a ring in the air as he gripped her forearm and pulled her in, the two plunging into the uncertain multiverse.