“The grief… it's too strong…”
The Beast roared in rage.
Kahhori glowed, holding the creature off.
So it wasn't the Sorcerer that had tried to imprison her… entirely.
She understood the importance of stories of the idea that stories kept those one loved close even if they had passed long ago. Her grandfather and his beloved, the tales of the ancestors before the Forbidden Lake.
“Tell us about her.”
The Beast stopped. Strange … stopped.
He seemed frozen, unable to … even get the words out.
“Tell us about her,” Kahhori repeated, softer.
Captain Carter still had her weapons raised in case Strange or the Beast thought one of them was letting their guard down. “Your beloved.”
Strange went …. Odd. The creatures he'd absorbed shifted and he sat, cross-legged as a student might … as he had once. “Smile would light up the room.” He seemed in a fugue of fantastical memory. “Clever. Better bedside manner than me … I'm the doctor that they bring the trauma patient to in hopes they'll regain some sense of function. Not the one to reassure the patient or motivate the staff. Christine would… she's the doctor most patients would want. Calm and reassuring. Tell them some of what they wanted to hear. Make a procedure most lay people would think was complicated seem simple so the patient’s family wouldn't worry as much.”
Carter was starting to lower the sword now.
“You miss her.”
“I thought you'd understand…” Strange sounded desperate, as though he were asking to be understood instead of accusing Carter of not understanding at all.
“I tell myself Steve's out there somewhere,” She admitted. “I know the likelihood of it isn't much but …”
“Hope is everything.” Strange filled in.
Kahhori was watching, sensing the creatures he'd absorbed. They weren't all teaming for control or angry as much.
She didn't contradict. The likelihood that she could have beaten the entire Spanish fleet wasn't much. She just believed she could. She had help. Not doing it on her own had helped. Strange was on his own. He'd been on his own for too long and it has driven him to near madness.
“And when she sees what you've done… will she feel proud of you, of what you've done. Or will she be …”
“Afraid? We try not to think about that.” Strange's voice hissed and shifted.
He'd seen the look of terror in her eyes at the monster he knew he was. “I don't just want to bring her back but everyone in that universe that … didn't deserve that. That's what the Forge is for… to feed the power into it. To bring them all back. I didn't see it before…”
The monsters were shifting again, threatening to continue.
“Aren't we allowed to be happy?” This one was more… human. Not as monstrous or seething.
“Yes.” Kahhori said it before she thought Carter might say that heroes weren't allowed. It was fine if she believed that. A woman born from war would not be happy in peacetime. But that's not what Strange needed at present.
“Christine would want you to be happy even if it's …without her.”
Carter caught on to that immediately.
“That's usually what keeps me going, Steve loved helping people. Mainly because he was usually one of the people that needed help.”
“Isn't that why you became a doctor?” Kahhori knew her word for doctor and what her people thought of as a healer were incredibly similar.
Strange nodded at this one. That was why he became a doctor. The monster grew larger and Strange began to weep.
“That's why I have to do this… to bring her back.”
“No you don't.” Peggy said it this time.
The grief creature roared , trying to get Stephen back in its clutches but this time Strange paused, almost willing to listen. Kahhori still held that thing off.
“She lives on in stories, in your dreams and memories of her,” said Kahhori.
“Perhaps another version of her is married to that universe's version of you.” Carter was cautious about this one. Strange's mind was fragile but she felt that Kahhori had been honest with him but not … trying to keep things from him.
Stephen let out a wry laugh, not really thinking it was funny just … yearning.
“Perhaps you shouldn't be left alone again,” Kahhori said.
“It was a mistake to do it the first time after you got your chance to save the multiverse.” Carter said. They were both taking cues from each other.
“You can't both stay,” Stephen said. He sounded alone. The grief monster snarled.
“Why not?” Peggy clearly liked a challenge. Kahhori liked her and the fact that she did and she listened.
“I just didn't think you'd want to. The Sanctum Infinitum is a bit…”
“Lonely for one person and a vast library with multiverses to watch over and interfere if required.”
“I don't need an assistant or an apprentice and I doubt either of you would be candidates.” There was a hiss with this. Sha-Lo hovered over its master and swayed slightly.
“But you might want friends.”
The grief monster snarled angrily.
“I m-might.”
“What if you had friends to help you with your grief and we don't let it win?” Peggy was entirely serious about this and believed she was up to the challenge.
“Captain Carter and I will take turns. We both have … duties to fulfill in our own worlds.”
Kahhori had caught on that she could achieve the peace she sought. It was just incredibly powerful.
Strange looked as though he were considering it. The confined grief spoke.
“They don't really want to be here. They just want to protect their own worlds from you. To keep Christine from you.”
“Well. If as you say. Time passes incredibly slowly here I'm sure those on our world could wait.” Kahhori said it, unconcerned.
Strange sent the creatures that were fighting back into their … bubbles, though he selected a few to just … send back to where they belonged.
The grief demon screamed and tried to claw its way back to Strange but Kahhori’s shields held. For now.