Symphony of Destruction
"Hello?" Strange shouts as you reach the second floor of the Sanctum. You punch him in the ribs.
"Ouch! What was that for?" he whisper-shouts.
"This is exactly how people die in the horror movies." you whisper-shout back.
"Stop where you are. How did you get here?" a groggy voice shouts from upstairs.
"By accident." Stephen answers. Finally, from the shadows emerges a tall dark figure, apparently supposed to look like Doctor Strange of this doomed universe. He looked nothing like Stranges you've seen. Hair longer than ever, and all messed up, eyes empty and dark, a beard almost reaching his chest. As he finally got down the stairs, he stopped and looked at you. Feeling his burning eyes, Strange unconsciously puts a hand in front of your stomach, as if shielding you from the man in front of you.
"Who are you... what are you?" he asks, eyeing you both, but mostly you.
"I'm just, one of us." Stephen answers.
"Who's she?"
"She's with me. Don't worry about her." Stephen is quick to answer, which Sinister Strange doesn't appreciate.
"I asked her. Who are you, lady?"
Strange looks at you with pleading eyes but it's too late to change your answer now "The one who's not afraid to kick you in the balls", you answer, standing in a fighting position.
" Y/n, not now, please." Strange says in a hushed tone, an action that is not appreciated by Sinister Strange once again. He didn't like when his guests were disrespectful toward him.
"No, but it's true, I actually did kick you in the balls once," you whisper back, the look on Stephen's face is worth taking a picture of.
"Oh, you have one big mouth that can get you in trouble." Sinister Strange turns to look at Stephen, leaning on the railing. "You're from the Multiverse?"
"That's right."
While you say "How do you know about the Multiverse?", Sinister Strange at the same time says "Prove it."
Strange stands still for a minute then confesses something you never knew. Not even your Stephen told you that. "We had a sister. Donna. She, uh... She died, when we were kids."
Sinister Strange's face shows interest, he's entirely focused on Strange now, "How?"
Strange takes a deep breath and continues, "We were... playing on a frozen lake, and... She fell through the ice. I couldn't save her."
You hug your side again, feeling the pain level in the room double.
"Sounds about right. But we don't talk about that, do we?" man before you asks.
"No, we don't. I suppose your reality wasn't always like this?" Stephen asks, taking one step closer to the man.
"I suspect it'd be somewhat like yours, until..." he looks at you, creepily tilting his head. "What universe are you from, y/n?"
"How do you know my name?" you ask, a plan of attack already spinning in your head.
"Oh, I overheard it just now, when he said it. When you spend most of your time alone, you really begin to listen more," he says it like it's no big deal but you feel the vein on your neck pulsating.
"Until?" Stephen asks beside you, hinting at the previous statement.
" Until I lost."
"To who?" you ask.
He doesn't answer, just looks at you both standing there as if you were ready to go get married any second. He can feel your connection already and this causes his anger to rise.
You feel like he knows more about you than he reveals. You notice a book, somehow strapped to his belt. The Darkhold. You'd recognize it everywhere.
"What do you want?" he finally asks.
"We just want to get home," Stephen answers, eyeing the Darkhold as well.
"Yeah, believe me... I've been trying to leave this place for a long time." rings in the empty place.
You look around the room. Truly pathetic sight. Slowly you move in the direction of the piano. You feel both of their eyes drilling holes in your head. You finally reach the instrument and slowly, without pressing them, touch the keys. Memories flood over you, you remember how your Stephen used to play to you in those calm evenings.
Strange tries to distract his variant, "The Darkhold. You guard the Darkhold in this universe?"
"Yeah. For good reason," he answers, not taking his eyes off you like a predator.
"Uh. That's a start. I could use it. It could help me to communicate with my universe."
"Careful. The Darkhold exacts a heavy toll." Sinister Strange answers in a raspy voice.
"I don't mean to be callous, but, how much of a heavier toll is there left to exact?" Stephen is now playing with open fire. Sinister Strange squints at him, keeping an eye on you from time to time. You take a seat on the piano chair, everything that has happened, exhausted you so much that your legs don't really work. A somewhat softer expression on Sinister Strange's face passes but it disappears just as fast as it came, you might think it was a play of light or your delirium began.
"Not just on its reality... On its reader," he answers mysteriously.
"Look," Stephen tries to achieve something with this dialogue because time is running out. "I'm sorry you couldn't save your own universe, but maybe, you could help to save mine?"
"Are you happy, Stephen?" he asks Strange, taking a step closer to the piano.
"What?" Strange asks, tired of this nonsense and speaking in hidden clues.
"Are you happy, Stephen? It's the question that... Christine Palmer asked me at her wedding. I said, yes, of course, I'm happy. I'm a sorcerer with the power of gods. What man wouldn't be happy? Then I came back to this goddamn haunted house. Sat down... and wondered why I'd lied." he says, looking through the window, but dangerously coming closer to you." I never meant for any of this to happen. I was looking for a world where things were different. Where I had Christine." He looks you in the eyes, as if reading you like an open book, "or anyone else. A universe where I was... happy. But I didn't find it. All I found were more of us. So I did those Stephens a favour. Have you ever had that dream where you're falling as if you've been pushed off a tall building?" he asks, face angry, almost looking like a demon. "That was probably me. The Darkhold exacts a heavy toll." You stand up, and the chair makes a loud cry as you push it.
"Okay. All the more reason to give it a rest, so let me have it." Stephen still tries to argue. But you can see in Sinister Stephen's eyes that compromise is not your way out.
"Here's the deal. I'll let you use the Darkhold... if you give me your partner. I'm sure I can take good care of her, and maybe let her come back to her universe." Strange looks at you, but you look only at the dark man before you. He steps closer, slowly, testing the waters. You know that this could be Stephen's way out, a way to save America. He's now close to you, reaching his black fingers towards your face, but you catch his wrist halfway.
"You were never going to give us the book, were you?" you ask, nails digging into his wrist. However, he's standing still, not moving a single muscle. Stephen watches you both, a weird feeling building in his chest, but it's quickly overtaken by a rush of adrenaline. He sees an opportunity to act and conjuring a magical whip, tries to take the Darkhold.
Sinister Strange is quick to react, with one swift move turning Stephen's whip into a purple one and knocking him on the piano. Never in your life, you've seen magic like this. That wasn't chaos
magic, but not Eldritch one either. Who exactly was this man?
Before you finish the question in your head, Sinister Strange pulls you towards him but underestimates his strength and you go flying next to the window.
Strange, dropped on the piano, gets up and quickly makes rune-like magical music notes from the sheets. You're stunned. Both physically and mentally. He sends the notes as knives flying to Sinister Strange, a couple of them hitting him, but not actually hurting - a purple shield appears, protecting the man. Soon, he reacts, sending lines where the musical notes are put back at Stephen.
"What the fuck..." you whisper to yourself. This is the weirdest shit you've ever seen.
The notes fly back and forth, and soon they make a big powerful ball that could explode at any moment. You make a whip, taking the Darkhold with you, distracted for a second, Sinister Strange breaks his focus on the ball and it all hits him, blowing up the window and sending him outside. You throw your whole body on the Darkhold and put your hands on your head, protecting your face as much as possible. It all becomes silent until heavy footsteps reach your body.
"Y/n, y/n!" Stephen is shaking you, worried that you've been hurt.
You reach for the Darkhold and give it to him, but he doesn't see it, falling on his knees in front of you, he looks at you and in the heat of the moment, still high on adrenaline, kisses you. You feel like blood returned to your quite pale body, filling it to the fullest. You don't drop the book, pushing it to his stomach with one hand, and touching his neck with the other one. He pulls away first, breathing heavily.
"I thought I lost you." he breaths out. "When that idiot slammed you into that wall, I thought-"
"I'm okay, I'm okay. I got it." you smile weakly, pushing the Darkhold into his hands again. He takes it, eyes full of determination.
"Thank you," he says.
"If you're gonna do what I think you're gonna do, you better hurry, the spell is difficult," you say, pushing his chest towards the other room, where your Strange used to practice the Darkhold spells. And you're not wrong, that man has been using it for the same reason.
"Wait, is he dead?" Strange asks, spinning around to get to the window.
"If he's not, then he's angry as Hulk," you say, not coming back to check on Sinister Strange but walking deeper into the small room. Exactly like you thought it would look like, just ten times darker.
Strange soon runs back, noticing all the candles in the corners and with one swift moment, brings them into a circle, lighting them all up.
"If I was sure about my existence in your universe, cuz you never mentioned that, I wouldn't let you do it," you say loudly, your voice coming around the room in echoes.
"You're too hurt to try. I've already accepted my fate." Stephen says, opening the book and quickly skimming. "That shouldn't be too hard."
"Good luck, Stephen," you say, resting on the weird cupboard. He just nods and begins the spell.