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“I’m not going to let you do this,” Y/N snaps at the semi-circle of people before her. “This is madness and you all know it! We’ve all made mistakes that have cost lives, not a single one of you is innocent to that!”
“All of our mistakes combined doesn’t amount to the number of lives lost in destroying an entire universe Y/N,” Reed Richards responds stoically. “He’s a danger to our universe and every other.”
“He was looking in the Darkhold to save us all and lost his way, he made a big mistake. He didn’t even know the consequences, none of us did. Why can’t we just destroy the Darkhold? Why does it have to be death?” She argues. “Then no one can be tempted by it, and no further incursions will happen.”
“It has already taken root in him,” Captain Marvel replies, her eyes looking at the man on the ground behind Y/N. “You can see it on his hands. If it’s already on his hands, it’s in his head. He’s too dangerous, he knows it himself.”
“No he’s not!” She screams in frustration, her hands balling into fists and magical energy crackles in the air around her.
“Y/N,” Captain Carter says as soothingly as she can. “Please calm down. Don’t make this harder than it has to be. None of us want this.”
Y/N’s power dances in her eyes, building in the air around her as she stares them down, “I’ll die before I let any of you touch him! I’ll kill anyone who dare-”
“Y/N!” A rough voice calls out from behind her, her magic dropping away as she turns to look at her lover. “Come here, please.”
He beckons her over and she immediately goes to him, falling to her knees to be level with him. Her hands reach up to cradle his face, “Stephen…”
He gives her a pained smile and places his hands over hers, “Sweetheart, this has to be done.”
“No it doesn’t!” She argues through gritted teeth. “I-I’ll help protect you, we can run away. I’ll never let you near the Darkhold again and we’ll be fine. We’ll be ok. You aren’t a danger.”
“I can feel it in my mind,” he admits slowly, his thumb dragging across her wrist. “Voices whispering, telling me go back to it, to get stronger, more powerful. That I have to have power, I have to protect everyone. I have to protect you. That if I don’t, something will happen to you. It swirls around in my head day in and out demanding I do something. I can’t make it stop. It’s not going to stop. It’s only going to get worse.”
“We’ll find a way, I’m sure we can, we always have before,” her own hands tremble against his face.
“No Y/N, this is the only way. I’m going to end up hurting you all. I’ll end up destroying this universe. I can’t live with knowing one day it will get that bad that I give in,” he says as he leans forward to press his forehead to hers. “I have to do my duty. As Sorcerer Supreme and as the man that loves you. I have to protect the universe and you, from myself.”
“You’d never hurt me Stephen,” she responds softly, hot tears running down her cheeks. “I trust you.”
“I don’t trust myself. And no matter how much I love you, I couldn’t protect you from the destruction of our universe if I caused that.”
“I’m not letting them kill you.”
“I know.”
“You know?”
Stephen sighs heavily, and his eyes flicker to hers as he leans back, “It has to be you.”
“What the fuck do you mean it has to be me? I refuse!” She hisses immediately, her hold on his cheeks tightening, causing him to wince.
“Because we both know you. If they try, you will either kill them all or go down with me. Neither of which I’m going to allow,” he moves one of his hands to her thigh, squeezing it gently. “You have your whole life ahead of you. You have your family at the X-Manor who love you. Everyone behind you and at the Illuminati headquarters respects and trusts you. You’re more powerful than you have yet to even realize. You can go so far, and you can love again.”
“I don’t want to love anyone if it’s not you,” she whispers, her gaze dropping from him.
“As much as those words make me happy, they also break my heart. I want you to be happy. I want you to be in love. I want you to have that family we talked about. Please do that for me?” He pleads gently. “Don’t let my mistakes ruin your life. There are thousands more deserving of your love.”
Dropping her hands from his face, she immediately wraps her arms around him and tucks her face against his neck as a sob wrecks through her body.
His arms wrap around her tightly, quiet soothing sounds coming from him before he glances up at his friends ahead of him.
Making eye contact with Charles, he mentally directs a message toward him, “Please take care of her.”
“She always has our love and support, this outburst is expected. You mean more to her than you even realize. If she’s unable to do it, I won’t allow her to be hurt.”
Swallowing hard at the words, he drags his hands down her back soothingly, “Love?”
She hums against his neck quietly.
“Can you do this for me? Please?” He feels her grip tighten around him and her breath hitches.
“Don’t make me do it, please Stephen.”
“I’m sorry, it’s not fair. But I need you to do this for me. I have to go, and this… is how I want to,” he turns his head to press a soft kiss to the shell of her ear, feeling her shiver in his arms.
Untangling one arm from her, he reaches back to grab ahold of his cloak and directs it to her. The fabric settles gently on her shoulders as he pats it appreciatively.
“We have to do this,” he whispers in her ear, the feeling of her tears running down his neck makes his heart clench.
“Does it have to be now?” She asks, the question coming out as a whine.
“It does.”
Sighing heavily, she raises her voice, “Everyone get at least fifty feet away from us.”
The sound of retreating feet fills her heart with dread. She knows what she has to do. And it’s going to tear her apart.
“Can’t I just go with you?” She tries. “Black Bolt can just take us both out in one word. It’ll be over quick.”
“No, you’re not dying for me. You’re living on for yourself, for mutants, for the Illuminati, and for me,” he replies as he tightens his hold on her. Charles chose you as his successor for a reason. I know this is hard right now… but you’ll do the right thing. You always do, you’re going to do so well. Our universe couldn’t be in better hands. Just, take it easy on Mordo alright?”
“He should be fighting with me to not let this happen,” she mumbles with a sniffle. “Known each other this long. He’s your successor for the Illuminati and as Sorcerer Supreme. He calls you brother. And he’s giving in this easy?”
“Exactly that is what I meant,” he says as he rubs her back. “He’s strict to the rules, and he knows the ramifications of all this. He did try to argue, but he’s doing what I want. Reality is going to hit him hard after this. Be kind to him, it isn’t an easy transition.”
Nodding against his neck, she grips his robes tighter.
“It’s time darling,” he whispers into her ear, feeling her tense at the words.
“Five more minutes?” She asks, leaning back to look at his face, tears dripping down her cheeks.
“I’m sorry, I’d stay here forever with you if I could.”
“So you just want me to…” she begins before her throat closes up on her and she shakes her head.
“Your powers yes,” he answers for her. “If you’ll let me die in your arms, I would prefer it. But if that’s too much, I will back away from you.”
“I-It’s probably going to hurt… I don’t know. Maybe if I use enough it will just instantly…” she trails off, tearing at her bottom lip with her teeth. “People have screamed before.”
“I trust you, however you think is best. You have more control of your power now than you did then,” he responds, reaching a hand up to tap her lip so she releases it. “You’ll tear your lip if you aren’t careful.”
“A torn lip is the last of things I care about at the moment,” she sighs. Leaning back in his embrace, her eyes study him.
“What are you doing?”
“Committing you to memory, this moment. So I can replay it. One of the worst days of my life, but it’s the last memory of you…” she mutters, eyes still glued to him, a blue haze going over them.
“Well if that’s the case,” his hands reach up to gently hold her jaw, “I love you. I knew you would be important to me the moment I first saw you stumble into the headquarters following Charles everywhere like a lost puppy. The wonder in your eyes and the determination to do more, be more. But I never could have imagined the love and light you brought to my life. You made every day better than the last, and gave me another reason to get up in the morning other than having an obligation to do so. And I’m sorry. For letting you down, for not being a better man. The man you deserved. Even now I ask you to do something I couldn’t do if the roles were reversed. You’re so strong. Just, remember that I love you, I’ll always love you. Never doubt that.”
More tears well in her eyes as the blue hazes fades away, and she nods roughly at him. “I hate this. I don’t want this. I don’t think it’s necessary. But I know no matter how much I protest you will find a way to do it. I… the least I can do is let you go out the way you want to.”
Offering her a small smile, he slides his arms around her waist and pulls her impossibly closer, “Thank you darling.”
Her adjusts her own grip on him, both hands flat on his broad back, “I love you Stephen.”
“I love you Y/N,” he whispers out before her lips attack his with urgency, a blue haze forming around them, bits of him starting to disintegrate under the energy as their lips move together.
She pushes her lips hard against his, tears flowing down her cheeks as she squeezes her eyes shut tight, feeling his solid form weakening under her hold.
As the pressure on her lips fades away, her eyes flicker open to see the last of him crumble to dust in her arms. Her breathing going erratic as she stares at the pile of dust before her, a scream of pain rips from her throat and ripples across Titan, turning all the ruins around her to dust as her power flows over it.
Falling to her hands and knees she heaves, staring at the pile in front of her until she feels a gentle hand on her back.
“We’re here for you, I’m here for you.” Fills her mind.
“I killed him. He’s dead and I did it.”
“He made the choice, and you granted him the end he wanted. You did everything you could.”
Turning around in the dirt, she lays her tear-streaked face on her mentor’s lap as he soothes her. “Thank you,” coming softly from her sore throat.
“There’s nothing to thank me for my dear, from the day we brought you back to the mansion, I told you that you could trust me and I would take care of you, that we all would take care of each other. That hasn’t and won’t change,” Charles says firmly, giving her head a gentle pat. “Let us get you home, the others will want to see you.”
Nodding numbly at him, she pushes herself to her feet and hastily wipes tears from her eyes and falls into step beside him.
Approaching the rest of the Illuminati group behind them, she bows her head wearily, “I apologize for my words. And… if my outburst after harmed anyone.”
“Mordo had a magical shield up, we’re fine,” Peggy responds reassuringly putting a hand on her shoulder. “And there are no hard feelings, it’s been a very rough day to say the least.”
Turning toward Mordo, Y/N shakily presses her fist to her other palm and bows, “If you have need of me, you know where to find me. I pledged allegiance to Kamar-Taj for Stephen, but it still stands. I promised him I would be there for you, and I will. Sorcerer Supreme.”
“I had hoped succession would never be needed,” he admits with a frown, putting an arm over Y/N’s shoulder. “However since he made his decision, he made me make a similar promise.”
“What promise?”
“Do you think he’d let you not be under the protection of the Sorcerer Supreme?” Mordo chuckles, patting her shoulder. “Though his exact words were more so if I don’t insure your protection, he would come back in demon form to end my existence.”
Y/N snorts at his words, a sad smile on her lips, “Dramatic until the very end.”
“Indeed,” he agrees, going silent as he watches the cloak on her shoulders change into a blue scarf that tucks around her neck.
She glances down at it sadly, reaching up to run her fingertips across the fabric, “He misses him too.”
“It would appear he wants to stay with you,” Mordo comments. “You’ve pledged yourself to Kamar-Taj, the prior Sorcerer Supreme, myself, and have lived in one of our sanctums. I think you’re close enough to hold onto a relic. So keep it. Admittedly, I’d have a hard time taking it away if I tried. The Cloak of Levitation is a stubborn and fickle thing.”
Nodding appreciatively, she briefly buries her face her face in the fabric and lets out a deep sigh at Stephen’s scent, “I appreciate it.”
Lifting her face from the fabric, she gives the rest of the group a wavering smile as she waits for Mordo to start opening portals to each home of the Illuminati.
“Are you going back with Charles, or to the sanctum with me? he asks turning to Y/N.
She nearly immediately answers the sanctum, but the response dies on her tongue. The sanctum. Where she was living with Stephen. In that big bed he’d held her in just this morning, hands running down her bare skin, whispers of sweet nothings…
Shaking the thoughts from her mind, “I’ll go back to the mansion for now. I… need a few days before…” her sentence trails off as the sorcerer nods at her understandingly.
“You’re always welcomed back, come when you’re ready. Maybe we can make a sorcerer out of you yet,” he smiles gently.
“Yeah maybe,” she chuckles, watching as he opens a portal to the familiar foyer of the x-mansion.
Letting Charles go through first, she turns to shake Mordo’s hand. As she pulls her hand back, she feels a weight in it. Turning her palm towards herself she finds a sling ring.
“It was his,” he explains, a sad smile on his lips. “He said he taught you but had never gotten around to actually getting you one. He wanted me to give you his.”
Closing her fist tightly around the cool metal, she lifts it to her chest and nods, trying to hold back the tears.
Giving him a quick wave, she steps through the portal to the now empty foyer, falling to her knees as the portal closes behind her.
Lifting the sling ring to the light, she twists the object in her fingers, stopping to inspect it further when she realizes there is an engraving on one side.
Her breath catches in her throat and the tears she’d been desperately trying to hold back finally break through as she reads the words.
“You’re everything I ever loved about this universe, and so much more - SVS.”