Witch Wednesdays
Knocking on the white-painted door, you endure a strange feeling riding in your chest again, making your head almost spin. For the longest minute ever, no one opens the door and you nearly run away back to the Sanctum until the clicking sound is heard. Shyly, the door opens and a familiar head appears.
"Hello, Wanda," you say, smiling a little, messing with a paper bag in your hands.
Wanda looks surprised but doesn't turn away. "Y/n?"
"I hope I'm not disturbing you," you tell, casting your eyes down. Although you know that everything that happened not even a week ago was not her fault, the pain in your side returns for a brief moment but you shoo away the prying bad thoughts.
"No... No," she says and after an uncomfortable silence and invites you inside. You see that the house is still a bit destroyed, especially the stairs. Billy and Tommy are watching cartoons, laughing at something that is shown.
"Boys, come look who came to visit!" Wanda shouts and the boys both jump from the sofa and run toward you. Almost knocking you down, both of them crash you in a double hug, laughing and shouting, "Auntie y/n!"
"Hey, guys!" you ruffle their hair with one hand, keeping the paper bag in the other. "Oh look how much you've grown! You're gonna be taller than me soon!" you smile at them, pinching Tommy's cheek. Wanda comes into the room and the boys run to her.
"I put the kettle on. Tea? Coffee? Anything else? " she asks, looking weirdly at you.
"Just tea, thank you," you say and lift the paper bag in the air. "I brought something."
"Come." she turns to the kitchen and sits down at the end of the table, Billy and Tommy begin running around, playing chase.
You sit on her right, putting the bag on the table, sun shining brightly in your face through the kitchen window blinds you for a moment.
"So." she begins but that's the only word she says. For longer than you want, Wanda looks into your eyes but then furrows her eyebrows a bit. Of course, she's trying to read your mind. But you already prepared yourself before the visit. A spell from an ancient book. A simple spell but quite unbreakable.
"You might be wondering what am I doing here... After everything that has happened. But before you jump to conclusions, I wanted to check on you. And boys." you admit, playing with the hem of your AC/DC shirt. Stephen really brought you into this rock obsession that you bought 5 more band shirts.
"Well... Thank you for that, y/n." the kettle boils and she stands up to make the tea.
You pull the pie from the paper bag and place it on the table, cutting it into eight pieces with a swift hand movement.
Billy and Tommy grab a slice immediately and run back to continue watching the cartoon.
"Wanda... How are you feeling?" you ask cautiously. Her hand pouring the water shakes a bit but she quickly controls it.
"As good as one can be after having someone in my body going on a killing spree." She puts the cups down on the table rather loudly.
"Wanda, this is not your fault. You can't push your other self out of your body when they dreamwalk." you say and carefully put your hand on hers.
"I've tried." she begins, voice getting shaky. "I've tried to stop but I was trapped in my own body, without a way to escape, to gain control. I..." a tear rolls down her cheek, "I was just a mere watcher the whole time. I saw what I did. I saw what you did."
Suddenly you feel guilty for your desperate actions but Wanda continues talking.
"That was impressive actually. How you mixed your magic with the chaos one. Never have I seen or read anything like that."
Getting praise was not what you expected when you came to this house.
Not sure what to say, you take a sip of the tea.
"Wanda. I-"
"I'm sorry about your friends. And about sending you to God knows where. Shit, I almost killed you." she interrupts and this makes you swallow your tears. You have to ask what's been on your mind since your return.
"It's okay. I forgive you," you say and pull her into a hug. She sobs on your shoulder, whole body shaking and you notice Billy and Tommy looking at the two of you with worried expressions. You shake your head a bit, signalling that everything's okay.
"I am so so sorry for Stephen. I feel guilty that I gave away that book so easily. I should have destroyed it." Wanda continues crying but then as the realization hits, she pulls away, hands still on your shoulders.
"Stephen! I swear I saw him. But he's dead. I was at his funeral."
"That was Stephen from another universe, Wanda," you sigh.
"How did he end up here?"
"Long story." A friend or not, you don't go around telling people every little detail of what happened in your life. "Now, sit down, try the pie, the baker told me it's the best one they make," you laugh the awkwardness off and take another sip of the tea. Billy laughs at the cartoon and you soften at the precious moment.
"So, how are you doing, y/n?" Wanda asks, not bothering you with multiverse matters.
"Oh. Not bad for someone who almost got killed 3 times in the same day." you take a piece of the pie and take a bite. The baker didn't lie about the taste. "I'm sure you've already heard the announcement yesterday."
She raises her eyebrow, hinting that she has no clue what you're talking about. The thought of her not watching the funeral of the people she killed, was quite logical. "What announcement?" she asks before taking a sip of her coffee.
"I will be the new Sorcerer Supreme."
"What?? That's good! That's really good, congratulations." she affectionately squeezes your hand and you smile. "But what happened to Mordo? Is he okay?"
"Yeah. As okay as a snake can be," you answer, waiting for her response.
"What do you mean by a snake? What happened?" she asks, genuinely surprised.
"Wanda. I came here not only to check on you and the boys. Of course, I know I haven't visited you in quite a long time since Stephen died. But..." words were hard to speak, you didn't want to break the connection and trust with Wanda that you possibly just regained. "I came here for another reason as well."
"Ask away."
"Wanda... What happened with the Darkhold?" You noticed a flash of panic in her eyes and tried to finish your questions quicker. "Why did you give it away? Did someone ask you to give it to me and Strange? Someone like Mordo?"
She's silent. Contemplating whether you are credible in hearing the truth. But little does she know that you already know the majority of it. Placing the cup on the table, she sighs heavily.
"I assume that you already know something about the matter. Well... After my husband died, I was left with Billy and Tommy. My grief almost led me to using the book but seeing that my children needed me more than ever, I decided to not use it. I didn't know where I could hide it so that I wouldn't feel its temptation. So one day I met Mordo. I was on the way to talk to you and Stephen about what to do with the book, but knowing that he was your friend, I thought it was okay to speak to him as well. I briefly stated the matter, and I saw something in his eyes that I didn't understand at the time. Mordo said that the book would be safe in the Sanctum, and protected from people who might want to use it. He agreed to talk to Stephen and arranged a meeting. You already know how it went as you were there too. I gave you the book with a promise that it will never see sunlight again. I would've trusted my life to you, y/n, so I wasn't worried about it anymore." She falls silent, watching your reaction.
Now everything has connected in your mind. How the hell Mordo could've said no? It was a perfect opportunity to get rid of Stephen without actually doing anything. He just had to wait for "the big bad" to come and for Stephen to be desperate enough to use whatever was accessible.
"I guess you didn't know that Stephen used the Darkhold to dreamwalk. And in the end, it got him killed," you say, not looking her in the eyes, but focusing on the tea in your cup.
"No. Although at the funeral I tried to read your mind, to at least get a sense of what happened but all I found was grief and self-loathing."
You scoff silently to yourself. "Mordo. He was behind everything. He was so obsessed with me that killing his friend was nothing he would worry about before falling asleep. He was the one who encouraged Stephen to look for a solution in the book when the world was threatened by Thanos. And it got him killed. That wasn't your fault, the idea of hiding the Darkhold was good. Although now when I think of it, destroying it would've been much better, considering what we got through these couple of days." You say and feel anger rising in your chest. Anger directed to yourself. For being so stupid and not stopping Stephen when the time was right.
"I'm so sorry again, y/n, truly. It's so sick and twisted. God, why did I think that talking to him and not you was a good idea?" she holds her head in her hands, her hair shaking on the shoulders slightly. You get up, fixing your jacket and touching her shoulder.
"Don't worry yourself with it now. Thank you, for helping me get the whole story. If that's okay, I think I might come by more often now. You know, kinda missed these two mischief-makes over the years." you smile. Wanda stands up, smiling too, possibly for the first time in days.
" Yes, of course, you're always welcome here. Right boys?"
"What is it Mom?" they both ask in chorus.
"We want to see Aunt y/n as much as possible?"
"Yes! Yes, come visit us more often, auntie!" Tommy shouts, running first to hug you, Billy hot on his heels. The impact makes you swing a bit but you manage to keep standing.
"Okay, you guys, I will. And I will some sweets next time, okay?" you ask, smile never leaving your lips.
"Yes, of course!" Billy says, stealing a glance at his mom who nods.
"Well, gotta go. I have to get the Sanctums ready for the ceremony. You want to come?" you ask, looking hopefully at Wanda but she just sadly shakes her head.
"Too soon for that. Good luck, though." Wanda says and leads you to the door. Finally free from the kids' grasp, you can move more quickly.
"Goodbye, Wanda." you pull her into one last hug and walk out, putting on your sling ring, ready to open the portal.
"Bye, y/n." she waves to you and closes the door. Stepping through the portal, you find yourself at Kamar-Taj, a place where your journey began.