The ritual
Wanda brought the items to the middle of the living room while he and Two moved the couch to give her more space to work. She placed the many candles in a circle and sat cross-legged on the floor with Three’s items on each side of her. At first, nothing happened, it mainly looked as though she was meditating, but all of a sudden, all the candles lit up and Wanda levitated off the floor, her eyes glowing red.
As they watched a red mist surrounding the witch and slowly disappeared as she looked through them, Peter leaned toward his variant. “How are you holding up?”
He gave him a questioning glance. “What do you mean?”
Peter gestured to Wanda and her many supplies. “You don’t have magic in your world, I’m just making sure your brain isn’t imploding.”
“Meh,” shrugged the man. “I’ve seen enough stuff in life that when things like that pop up, I tell myself ‘this might as well happen’ and move on. Helps with the existential crisis.”
It took about an hour for Wanda to get any results. At first, they’d been watching the way she was sorting through different worlds as though they were nothing more than options on a menu. It was fascinating to see how powerful she was, if not a little unsettling to see the extent of her ethereal powers. But as the minutes stretched, his worry about Three took over his fascination. There was no guarantee that they would actually find their missing brother, or even if they did there was no saying in what state he would be. After an excruciatingly long hour had passed, Wanda woke up from her trance. As her eyes stopped glowing and her body lowered to the floor, all of the candles extinguished at once.
She walked out of the circle with a look of worry on her face. “I found him, and I can open a portal for you, but I cannot begin to tell you how difficult it’s going to be.”
“What do you mean?” Asked Peter Two with a hint of protectiveness in his voice.
“The witch preyed on everything that caused him pain, all the loss, and grief he’s ever felt and she sent him someplace where those things don’t exist.” She paused to press her lips tightly together before continuing. “I know how hard it is to wake up from a world tailor-made to make you forget about the pain you lived through and I know how easy it is to get lost in it. I just want you to think that… maybe, in the end, it would be better if he stayed there.”
“But he’ll die,” he protested. There was no way he’d let Peter Three lose himself, they were family and he was ready to do anything to save him.
Regret and grief washed over her face. “I know it’s horrible, but for some people, it’s the better alternative. I could feel his crushing grief just by touching his stuff. I’m not saying that you should give up, but I want you to consider what might be best for him.”
“Wanda,” said Peter Two in one of the most gentle tones he’d heard the man. He walked over to her and sat her down on the couch as he held her hand. “I understand your pain, and how you might have preferred to stay in Westview, but I don’t think it’s the case for Three. He’s got bad days, yes, horrible ones even, but we’re all trying to get better. You’re welcome to join our little family too, if you’d like. It seems like you could really use somebody.”
The redhead looked stunned for a moment. She stared at Peter Two with wide eyes that were quickly filling up with tears. When a sob eventually ripped through her throat, she lunged into his arms and gripped him tight. The man stroked her hair gently as she continued to cry. He also heard him muttering comforting words in her ear similar to the ones he’d tell Three when he was going through a rough day. It made Peter realize that the two were more alike than he’d previously thought.
When Wanda’s sobs quietened to slight hiccups, she pulled away from Two and quickly wiped her face. “I’m sorry. I don’t— I don’t know what came over me; I didn’t mean to cry.”
“That’s alright,” smiled the older man. “I think we all need to break down sometime, it helps release some steam. No one should bottle up their feelings. And I did mean my invitation, if you don’t mind an extra cramped space, you’re welcome to join us.”
“I’ll think about it,” promised the redhead. “Now, to get you to your brother…”
The witch closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she raised her arms in front of her. With a wave of her hand, a large circle of red sparks opened and distant car horns were heard, along with the usual noises of New York.
Wanda opened her eyes to admire her handiwork. “This is where he is, I sincerely hope you’ll get him out before it’s too late.”
“Wait,” interrupted Peter. “You’re telling us there’s a time limit as well?”
She nodded. “Of course. Thankfully, a spell like that is not instantaneous, and since he’s enhanced, it should take more time for his life force to be consumed than a regular person.”
Peter Two stepped forward, his brows creased in worry. “How long do we have?”
The woman materialized her book again and quickly read through the same page. “In normal time, it takes about two or three days. I’m willing to double it for Peter Three and since it’s already been a day, you’ll have approximately four days before the process is complete.”
“I’ll go pack ourselves a bag,” his counterpart wisely decided. “We don’t know what we might encounter but I also don’t want us to be stuck multiple days without a change of clothes, toiletries, or sleeping bags.”
Peter watched his variant leave the room before turning to Wanda. “Does he feel any of it? It has to be painful somehow.”
She shook her head as she made the spellbook disappear into thin air. “No, it’s a spell fabricated to ensure that the person doesn’t fight back. And to break it, he’ll have to choose to wake up. In all honesty, I’m not even sure how you’ll be able to snap him out of it.”
“We’ll figure it out,” he answered with a confidence that surprised even him.
“I have a weird question,” said Wanda with a slight hesitation in her voice. “If a Tony came to you, but he didn’t look like the Tony you’re used to; would you consider him like a mentor too?”
The vulnerability in her voice caught him off guard. “I don’t… know. Maybe? Probably, if it really felt like him. Why are you asking?”
Again, he saw Wanda fidget with one of the rings on her fingers. “Back in Westview, there was a man who pretended to be my brother. He looked different, in both looks and personality but he really did feel like him. I later found out he was being controlled by Agatha, a witch that wanted to steal my powers, and I charted him up to be nothing more than another one of her tricks but upon meeting your variant I can’t help but wonder…”
“You think he might have been a variant of your brother?”
“Yeah,” she nodded. “I haven’t seen him since but if he really was a speedster, I have no doubt that he won’t be found unless he wants to be.”
He took Wanda’s hand into his. “I really hope he is. You don’t deserve to be alone.”
She gave him a thin lipped smile but didn’t say anything else as Peter Two came back into the room holding a huge bag. “I think I got enough stuff for the both of us. Let’s hope that money is the same where we’re going.”
***
The portal took them to an isolated alley, close to where their apartment would be in his own universe. They walked into the street and continued until they joined the busy crowd of the late afternoon foot traffic. They wandered around for a bit, this New York seemed very similar to the one in his universe, minus the Avengers tower. In its place stood another building.
“Well that’s different,” remarked Peter Two. “Definitely more modern than mine.”
He was looking up at a tall tower that sent chills down Peter’s back once he registered what it was. They had talked about Norman Osborn, and Harry Osborn, but neither of his variants had talked about Oscorp as a company all that much. They only covered the basics of a corrupt company and the origin of the spiders that bit them. The building was very high and made of geometrically shaped glass panels with the huge illuminated logo at the top. Two then told him about his own building, how different and how alike it was. His was apparently more old fashioned and his logo was built on pillars over the archway in the entrance.
They were suddenly pulled out of their moment by their tingles going off just as he heard some passerby yelling in excitement.
“It’s Spider-Man!”