“No”, Wanda croaked out. Her voice broke as she half ran and half crawled over to Stephen. Her legs gave out and Wanda collapsed next to him. Tears flooded down from her eyes. She could only stare helplessly at the sickening wound on his chest.
“No” she cried out again.
Wanda placed her hands on his chest. Red energy surrounded Stephen’s body, trying to keep the blood in, trying to keep him alive, trying to keep his heart beating, anything. Oh god, all that blood. He wasn’t going to survive. It soaked his blue robes, making them crimson. Pooling around them, the blood just kept on flowing. It poured out of his body, matting Wanda’s hands and clothes.
Stephen’s cape-no, cloak- was on the side as it drooped and crumpled onto the floor in misery. What kind of relic was it? Failing both his chosen and his chosen’s love. It wasn’t worthy to be a relic.
Wanda didn’t notice when the cloak clasped itself around her shoulders heavily. She could only sob, feeling weak and small. Wanda wanted to scream, she wanted to kill that oversized grape. Oh how she wanted to hurt him. Wanda wanted Thanos to feel pain, to feel nothing but pain while she killed and ripped him apart, piece by piece. Wanda squeezed her eyes shut, gasping for air as her body wracked in grief.
“Wanda”
She blinked when she felt something warm and wet cover her hands. Tears continued to fall from her eyes as her vision cleared up.
“Wanda”,
Stephen rasped, one of his bloodied hands weakly squeezed hers in reassurance, “don’t cry”. A shaky hand slowly went up and was placed gently against Wanda’s cheek. Stephen wiped away a tear, unintentionally smearing his blood on her face. “Why did you give it to him?” Wanda asked, her voice smothered in anguish. “Why did you give Thanos the Time Stone?” she continued, even though she had an inkling as to why. Stephen gave her his usual slanted smirk. Though his smile was meant to comfort her, Wanda only felt more terrible.
“It was…the…only way”.
Stephen struggled to speak through all the pain and blood. His brows furrowed and worry filled his eyes. “Are you…okay?” he asked, looking at the gash on Wanda’s head. Wanda smiled despite herself as another tear fell down her face. Stephen coughed and blood dribbled down his chin. Her smile dropped like a stone. “Stephen, please. Please don’t die. Please don’t go. Please don’t-”
Please don’t leave me
“Please”. She was pleading now, clenching his hands as if they were the only thing keeping her tethered to reality. Wanda leaned forward and pressed their lips together. It was a small kiss compared to their other ones, but it was filled with so much sorrow and hopelessness that Stephen wanted to curse the universe for making this the only chance of winning against Thanos. The moment they kissed, Stephen could feel the change in the air. A moment later, he could feel himself beginning to dust away.
“Wanda…I love you…I love you more than anything…in every…universe…”
Half of his body was already almost gone.
“I love so…so much…we’ll be together…again…the others…they’ll find a way-”
He stopped, seeing that Wanda was also beginning to turn to dust. I’m so sorry Wanda. I am so, so sorry.
“They’ll find a way…and we’ll be back…soon…trust m-”
Wanda held onto his hands as long as she could until she was grasping at open air. She watched as her body started to disintegrate. Wanda looked up and let out a breath, almost welcoming the relief it brought. She trusted Stephen with her life. Wanda believed in him. They were going to be back, and when they were, Thanos had better watch out, ‘cause she was going to rain hellfire on them. On all of them.