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Stephen Strange woke up with a start, unsettled by the pounding in his head and the blurriness in his eyes. He blinked to clear them. The room swam in and out of focus several times. Wallpapered walls, 12 chairs in a circle, and 11 other people groaning in various positions on the floor. He straightened up immediately, snapping into a defensive stance.
"What are you doing here?"
Some of the others in the room immediately jumped to their feet, also into defensive stances.
"Dr Strange?" Peter Parker.
"Hello, Peter. What's the last thing you remember?" Stephen indicated the people who made it necessary to ask that question. Tony Stark, dead but somehow alive. Natasha Romanov, dead but somehow alive. Loki, dead but somehow alive. Steve Rogers, still young.
"The Statue of Liberty, Peter-Two & Peter-Three, you were about to cast the Runes of Kof-Kol to make everyone forg..."
"Okay kid, that's enough. You two," He pointed at Peter's friends, Ned Leeds and Michelle Jones.
"The same, but what are the Runes of Kof-Kol?" they answered in unison.
Stephen ignored them and went around inspecting the rest, still sleeping, to find out when they were from.
Wong, Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Clint Barton, Thor, and Bruce Banner were from after the final battle, as evidenced by the destroyed nanotech armor, the axe & hammer, the broken shield, and multiple wounds.
Loki and Natasha Romanov were from the moment of their deaths, evidenced by the bruising.
He, Peter Parker, Ned Leeds, and Michelle Jones were from the Statue of Liberty.
"Loki? Wha-what? This is an illusion, is it not? You dare to deceive me?"
Ah yes, the Thunder God. Who's dead brother just so happened to be right in front of him. Who also just woke up. Stephen rolled his eyes. "It is not an illusion. He's from the past. From the moment of his death, to be precise."
"...How?" Thor asked quietly, studying Loki.
"Wake them up and I'll tell you."
Stephen walked over to the teens.
"Dr Strange, what the hell is going on?" Peter again.
"It appears that we have been summoned from different times to do...something?"
"If they were summoned from the past, couldn't we try to change it?" Michelle asked.
"That is why I wanted to talk to you. The past is set in stone. There is no way to change it. Not anymore. Not even with the Time Stone could we do something." Yeah, the Time Stone that I most definitely don't have in the Eye of Agamotto right now.
He began to move back towards the group.
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"Hello all. I have brought you here for one reason, and one reason alone. To tell the truth. Strange, you know what spell you must cast. You will not leave until you do so. Runas Veritatis."
Stephen paled at that. Runas Veritatis was a highly complex spell and every so slightly dangerous. If he made a mistake, the backlash would kill everyone in this room.
"What spell is that?" Tony inquired.
"Ask Wong."
He started, first writing runes in the air, then inscribing them in the floor, and about 7 more steps after that.
"Runas Veritatis?! Stephen, are you mad? Do you even know how dangerous that spell is?"
"Shut up, Wong. I'm trying to not kill everyone in this room."
There was a whole argument after that statement, which he blocked out. Thankfully, the process was finished after 30 minutes.
"Okay, I'm done. Wong, test it."
"What does Runas Veritatis do?"
"Runas Veritatis makes everyone in the room in which it is inscribed tell the complete truth for however long the spell is set for. If you tell a lie or refuse to answer, everyone will see your worst memory while you relive it. Some questions are banned and the spell will not allow you to ask them. Shit. I hate this spell."
"You've used the spell before? When?"
"I've used it two times before, excluding today. Once after the final battle and...after Dormammu. I suggest we get comfortable because the spell is set for three hours."
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One and a half hours left. So far, there hadn't been any too difficult questions directed at him, although the Avengers had asked each other and Loki some difficult questions, such as, "Why did you destroy New York?" & "Why didn't you listen when I said I could change the Accords?".
Stephen allowed himself to relax. He was exhausted after having been awake for the past 35 hours.
"Stephen, Tony, and Peter," Steve started. They had to start naming people when they asked a question due to the amount of talking over each other in the first 15 minutes. "What happened on Titan?"
Stephen sighed, Tony stiffened, and Peter started hyperventilating.
"Breathe. In, out. You are not there anymore. Tony brought you back. Breathe," Stephen whispered.
Peter started visibly calming.
Tony started the whole story, with Stephen or Peter occasionally chiming in.
There was the usual reactions, shock, horror, sadness.
And then it came when Stephen handed the Time Stone to Thanos.
"What?!" Pretty much the reactions of everyone. Stephen braced himself, knowing that they would ask why.
"You handed the Time Stone to Thanos?!" Thor asked.
"Yes."
"For Tony's life?!" Bruce.
"Yes."
"Why?" Natasha.
"Only Tony could perform the third and final Snap. Otherwise, Thanos would gain power and eventually wipe out all of existence."
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They moved on from that.
"What happened in the Mirror Dimension before we were brought here?" Michelle asked. She was perceptive, noticing the way he had stumbled.
Fuck. "I had two panic attacks."
"Why?"
"I don't like being tied up like that."
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There were more difficult questions, which Stephen tried to answer without giving too much away.
"Why did you become a sorcerer?" Natasha.
"Why do you care for Peter so much?" Tony.
"What did you see in the timelines?" Loki.
"How long was Titan?" Clint.
"What do you think of [insert name]?" Everyone.
"What happened to the Infinity Stones?" Curse Ned for asking such an annoying question.
"Most of them are...hidden...in the Mirror Dimension since they cannot be destroyed."
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"What is in that thing around your neck?" Michelle Jones reminded him of himself, asking annoying questions.
Stephen froze. "The Eye of Agamotto?"
"Yes."
"The Eye of Agamotto contains..."
"Just answer the question, Stephen." Wong, the most pretentious and blunt asshole that he had the pleasure of meeting. He was pointedly ignoring himself and many other people.
"It contains the Time Stone."
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"I'm sorry what?!"
"It contains the Time Stone." Stephen walked over to the wall and braced himself against it, sighing softly. He came back to the circle, refusing to look at anybody.
"We will talk about this later, Stephen."
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Finally, there were only twenty minutes left.
And, of course, they had to ask one of the few questions he could not answer.
"What happened in the Soul Stone?"
Stephen appeared to thinking through his answer. He wasn't. "Brace yourselves."
"What? Why?!" Peter squawked.
"I can't answer that question."
Then they were sucked into Stephen's memory.
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Stephen looked around at the source of his many nightmares. The Dark Dimension.
"What is this place?"
"It's the Dark Dimension, MJ," Peter answered, giving Stephen time to collect himself.
"The Dark Dimension?" Tony.
"The Dark Dimension is the kingdom of Dormammu."
Bruce, who had previously been silent, spoke up suddenly, "Something is happening."
"It's starting."
The group watched as the younger Stephen approached Dormammu, a rotating green bracelet made of magic around his wrist. "Dormammu! I've come to bargain!"
"You've come to die! Your world is now my world, like all worlds." Dormammu shoots daggers at the younger Stephen. As younger Stephen blocks them with his shields, Dormammu fires a purple beam at him, vaporizing younger Stephen.
"What the fuck just happened?" Clint asked.
Stephen just held up his hand. "Watch."
Younger Stephen approached Dormammu again. "Dormammu! I've come to bargain!"
"You've come to die! Your world is now my wor...what's this? Illusion?"
"No, this is real."
"Good."
Younger Stephen is impaled. He reforms again. "Dormammu! I've come to bargain!"
"You...what is happening?!"
"Since you gave Kaecilius power from your dimension, I brought some power from mine. This is time. Endless, looped time! "
"You dare?" Another death.
"Dormammu! I've come to bargain!"
"You cannot do this forever."
"Actually, I can. This is how things are now! You and me. Trapped in this moment. Endlessly."
"Then you will spend eternity dying!"
"Yes, but everyone on Earth will live."
"But you will suffer!"
"Pain's an old friend."
The group spins through hundreds, thousands, millions of deaths.
"How many times did you die?"
"Twenty-six billion, ninety-two million, one hundred and four thousand, and seventeen (26,092,104,017) times."
"What the fuck."
"I didn't know you swore, Rogers."
"When does it end?"
"In a minute or two."
"End this! You will never win!"
"No. But I can lose. Again. And again. And again. Forever. That makes you my prisoner."
"No! Stop! Make this stop! Set me free!"
"No! I've come to bargain!"
"What do you want?"
"Take your zealots from the Earth. End your assault on my world. Never come back. Do it and I'll break the loop."
The time loop ends.
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They are back in the room.
"How are you still sane?"
"I don't know."
The spell ends. They disappear.
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