Chapter Text
Stephen Strange hated teenagers.
He also hated having to deal with the universe getting destroyed bit by bit.
Not in that order, obviously.
Stephen Strange jumped out of bed in a cold sweat, rubbing his eyes. Ever since the middle of December, he had been having sleepless night after sleepless night, nightmare after nightmare. Stephen exhaustedly put on a simple T-shirt and walked downstairs to start making himself a pot of coffee. Wong walked inside shortly after and asked, "Same nightmare?"
Stephen nodded. "Yup. The same screaming, the same deaths, the same... Chaos... Except something was different this time."
"What was different?"
"The buildings looked kinda like ink."
"Ink?"
"Everything was just... Floating away..."
Wong sighed, sitting down at the small kitchen table that was in the Sanctum. "Have you figured out why you casted the Runes of Kauf-Kaul yet?"
"No, and I don't think I will." Stephen explained. He knew he had caused the runes on top of the Statue of Liberty, but the answer why was just eluding Stephen's mind, a memory that looked close enough to read but was just an illusion. "I feel like... I did it to protect the world, but I don't know why."
"Maybe you'll figure it out at Christine's wedding in a few days?" Wong suggested. "Ya know... Maybe it'll jog your memory or something since you'll be getting away from this place."
"It probably doesn't matter anyway." Stephen said, shrugging as he grabbed a mug from the cabinet. "I mean, if I forgot it, it probably didn't matter to begin with."
As Stephen took a sip of his coffee, a familiar looking guy with long black hair, brown pants, a white collared shirt, and a loosely tied brown necktie fell onto the table in front of Wong from a star shaped portal that had abruptly formed on the ceiling. Stephen immediately recognized the person as Loki Laufeyson, Thor's adopted brother, as he flipped his hair up. Loki stared at Stephen, his breathing ragged, as he asked, "Are you... Are you the wizard?"
"Um... What?" Stephen asked, trying to comprehend what was going on as he looked up at the ceiling at the star shape. "Wong, you see this, right?"
"Yeah... I see that." Wong confirmed.
"Are you... Stephen Strange?" Loki continued.
"Yeah... You know that. This isn't our first time meeting, Laufeyson."
"I'm not the Loki you met." Loki continued, climbing off of the table. "Multiverse, do you know about it?"
"I... Is there a multiverse?"
Loki stared at Stephen dumbfounded. "You literally just dealt with enemies of Spider-Man coming to this universe."
"I... Did?" Stephen asked, glancing over at Wong.
"Maybe this is about the day you casted the Runes of Kauf-Kaul." Wong suggested, Stephen shrugging.
"Why would you- Doesn't matter." Loki started to say, then changed his mind as he looked around the kitchen wildly. "My little buddy and I- Wait, where is she?"
"Where is who?" Stephen asked, growing more confused the longer Loki talked.
Loki froze when he heard people screaming outside, along with the start of some destroyed buildings. Loki's face turned ashen as he said, "Oh no... She brought it with her!"
"Who brought what!?" Wong asked as he and Stephen quickly ran to go get dressed, Loki completely ignoring them as he ran out of the Sanctum Santorum.
As soon as Stephen threw on his clothes, the Cloak of Levitation flying onto Stephen's shoulders as he ran out the door, Stephen joined Wong outside on the sidewalk. There, Stephen saw that some... Eldritch Abomination, an octopus like creature with one eye was attacking innocent people, sunlight reflecting off of the sickly green skin the creature had. Stephen focused on the creature and saw Loki attempting to blind it with a few magic blasts as people ran towards them. As Stephen and Wong ran out to join the fight, Stephen muttered to himself, "Wish I had Spider-Man's number so we could get an extra set of hands in the fight..."
Stephen ran over, the Cloak of Levitation lifting him off of the ground to catch a teenage girl who got thrown by the Eldritch Abomination. As Stephen set the girl down on the ground, he realized she was wearing a jean jacket with some sort of American flag design on it, a tiny enamel Pride pin attached to her front pocket, completely visible since her hair was tied back in a bun. Stephen started to ask, "Are you-"
"Look out!" The girl said, pointing behind Stephen. Stephen turned around and saw the Eldritch Abomination grab a bus to throw at him. Stephen quickly made a buzz saw out of magic and sent it through the bus, chopping it in half as the girl hid behind him. The buzz saw also hit the Eldritch Abomination, temporarily blinding it, as Loki grabbed something like a smartphone out of his back pocket, except it couldn't be a smartphone since it was easily fifty years ahead of it's time, if not an easy hundred. Loki typed a few things into the smartphone, and a glowing yellow portal opened beneath the Eldritch Abomination, swallowing it whole.
Loki looked at the girl behind Stephen, a relieved smile on his face as he ran over. "You're okay!"
"Of course I'm okay. I've handled much worse than Gargantos." The girl said, walking out from behind Stephen, crossing her arms as she smirked at Loki.
Stephen looked between the two as he pointed to the girl and asked, "This your little buddy?"
Loki nodded. "Yeah."
"America Chavez. Nice to meet you, Dr. Strange." America said, holding out her hand. "Sorry about Gargantos, by the way. I made a portal to get to here, Loki and I have been trying to get here for a while, but when I made my portal after sending Loki through one, Gargantos followed me."
"Yeah, thanks for sending me in there by myself, by the way." Loki said sarcastically.
"Did you want me to bring Gargantos into the Sanctum Santorum?" America asked, putting her hands on her hips since Stephen wasn't going to shake her hand.
"What is going on?" Stephen asked. "You made the... Weird star portal thing?"
"Yeah. No biggie. I do that all the time."
"It's true, she does." Loki confirmed.
"No biggie!? What the-"
"Stephen... Look." Wong said, walking over to the group.
Stephen looked at the buildings, seeing that the bricks were starting to float away, almost like... Like ink in water, hovering in little pools and waiting to be mixed in. "This is... This is just like my nightmares."
"Well, at least you've had forewarning." America said, her voice dripping in snark.
Stephen looked at the other two people and asked, "Do you two know what's going on?"
"Yeah... I'm not the Loki you know." Loki explained. "I'm the Loki who attacked New York back in 2012. The Multiverse is a real thing, and a different variant of myself broke it."
"... What?"
"You should know about it. You literally had to help Spider-Man fight villains that other Spider-Men have fought in different universes... Like... Less than a month ago." America explained.
"That... Doesn't ring any bells..."
America rolled her eyes. She glanced over at Wong and asked, "Did he cast the Runes of Kauf-Kaul recently?"
"... Yes..."
"WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT!?"
"I don't know!" Stephen said, spreading out his arms as he motioned to the area around him. "All I really know is that Spider-Man came to me to ask for help about... Something... And then I casted the Runes! Whatever I forgot, must be for the best!"
America's jaw dropped as Loki said, "Well... We gotta figure out how to stabilize the timeline. All this branching off... Not good. It could tear this universe apart."
"Well... How do we stabilize a timeline?" Stephen asked, glancing over at Wong. "Do you know how to do that?"
"I remember reading about a spell to do that... But we can't do it." Wong admitted.
"Why not?" America asked.
"The spell... It was in this book called The Darkhold. It's been missing from our order for centuries." Wong explained. "Every spell that was in that book is forbidden. That spell in particular... It's dangerous."
Stephen scoffed. "How dangerous can one little spell be?"
"It's Chaos Magic. That magic is forbidden, Stephen, and for a good reason. Once someone masters Chaos... It's not good."
"Well, either one of us casts the spell, or this universe gets destroyed. Your choice." Stephen said bluntly.
Wong sighed, almost glaring at Stephen. "You can't control everything, Stephen. It isn't natural."
"Do you know the spell?"
"Yes."
"Walk me through the basics. I'll cast it since you're too chicken." Stephen said as everyone walked back to the Sanctum Santorum.
As they walked, Loki nervously looked over at America. "You sure this is a good idea?"
"No, of course not, but we need someone to help us save the Multiverse, right?" America retorted back. When Loki didn't immediately respond, America said, "You know I'm right, Loki."
The four walked to the top of the stairs, Wong quickly walking through the steps of the spell with Stephen. Stephen nodded, muttering words under his breath as he started casting the spell. Glowing red orbs started surrounding Stephen as he seemed to rearrange them in a straight line. As soon as they were in a line, Wong noticed that Stephen's eyes were glowing a faint red color. Wong nervously said, "Wait... I've seen that before."
"Seen what?" Stephen asked, finishing up the spell. Outside the window, the ink seemed to retreat back into being solid buildings, like nothing had ever happened. Everything was okay... For now.
"Red eyes..." Wong said, his brow furrowing. "Who's that one girl... Red hair... She's an Avenger... She wears that corset and that red leather coat... Joined during Sokovia... Almost took down Thanos..."
Stephen shrugged. "I don't know. Does it really matter?"
Wong rolled his eyes. He turned to Loki and America and said, "You two better explain what's going on. You're not... You're not from this time?"
"You can thank Tony Stark for that." Loki said bluntly.
"We'll explain everything... Over breakfast." America said quickly. "We haven't had food in a while."
Stephen sighed, figuring that just agreeing to their demands was going to be easier. "Come on... I'll make the food..."