Chapter 2
Months went by, Stephen and I carrying out our sorcerous duties side by side as we always did.He never did tell me what that letter had inside it, however, it wasn’t my place to ask. Whatever Clea had to say to Stephen was for Stephen’s eyes alone. What I did happen to notice though was that we had been making more trips to the Dark Dimension than we usually did. Clea was was never in sight nor was she mentioned - instead we were merely keeping an eye on the mindless ones as a good peace gesture - a gesture that went back decades. Just like the week before and the week before that; everything was fine. Dare I say… Slightly boring.
“Yet again no change, Stephen. Remind me why we’re not just doing our usual bimonthly visits? We have other work to do.” This wasn’t the first time I’d questioned the Doctor about our specific travels but never before had I received an honest answer.
Stephen had only huffed in response, walking away from me a little bit, peering through the invisible barrier he had restored year after year in the hopes of a treaty with Dormammu. “I can sense a change in them, Wong; can’t you? The way they interact with each other…”
“They don’t,” I replied bluntly.
“Exactly.”
“I don’t see why that is a problem. They’re not really the universe’s best conversationalists, are they?” Personally, by this point, I believed Stephen was chasing an idea that would result in nothing, however, he saw things differently and wouldn’t give up so easily.
“That may be true, but they used to gesture to each other, move in groups and there was normally the odd fight between themselves. Now they’re just… Existing. Still trying to escape, yes, but they're doing so individually now, not as a hive mind like they used to.” Stephen turned to me, possibly hoping that I would see sense and agree with him. Despite understanding his point, I still didn’t see why it was such a big deal. They were acting calmer now. Realistically, that should have made our job easier.
Thinking that was the end of our check up for that day, I began to summon a portal before being interrupted by Stephen saying:
“I’m going in.”
Now that was when I started taking things more seriously. Had I seriously just heard him say that?
“No. No you’re not. You don’t need to.” Dropping my hands to look at him, the remains of my portal hit the ground, leaving nothing but a few speckled embers. “Why are you risking your life before it needs to be risked, Stephen? What benefit does that have to the multiverse? You being dead, that is.”
“I never said you had to come with me-”
“I never offered to. I’m telling you that you shouldn’t go in.” Of course, if the situation lead to it, though, I would have most definitely followed him - sometimes I’m shocked that man ever survives a day without me.
“No need to wait around for me then.” He sounded bitter, not even daring to glance at me before creating a doorway through the boundary and stepping through without as little as a goodbye.
I stood there. Just standing there alone. Why do I let him get in these messes? Why do I always go after a man who is so selfless yet also so arrogant at the same time? I knew why and it was getting harder and harder to deny as time went on. After what seemed like five minutes, I gave in and made my own way through, making sure to cast a ward over myself before doing so. The last thing I wanted was to get attacked without being prepared.
Wandering through the lawless planes, I found that the air was cold, colder than what I had experienced in the Himalayas and frankly, that was quite the feat to beat. It didn’t make sense since I was still in the dark dimension, just an area that had been cordoned off meaning it’s not as if it should have its own weather system. I wasn’t alone here, though, hundreds of mindless ones roamed the area, three times the size of myself but completely silent. I was half expecting one of them to punch me, kick me, try and cause harm in any shape or form. They usually did in the case of an intruder and yet-... Nothing. Maybe Stephen was right to be curious about all of this? And talking of Stephen; he was nowhere to be found. My only clue was a gathering of mindless ones not too far ahead, all stood in a near-enough perfect circle, looking inwards at whatever was there.
Well. Whoever was there, would be a better way to describe it.
Once I was close enough, I was able to peek through a small gap between two of the creatures to see Stephen slumped there in a lifeless heap yet , he looked fine. There was no blood. No sign of violence or struggle. Though that didn’t stop me from running over, thankfully slipping through the gap without having to push my way through - I highly doubted i’d be strong enough to do so, anyway.
“Strange.” I spoke loud enough for him to have heard me but there was no response. There wasn’t even a response from the mindless ones. “Stephen!” This time I had hissed his name, worrying that was out cold. Worrying that I was too late and I should have followed him in sooner. Before I knew it, I was knelt down on the ground, shaking his limp body, begging for him to wake up. I was so focused on him that I didn’t even notice the crowd that had been surrounding had simply left. It was just him and I in the middle of nowhere. Of course, getting him back to the Sanctum was the priority. Dead or alive. He couldn’t stay here.
With a gulp, I hesitantly checked him for signs of life, hardly able to look at him as I did so. I would never forgive myself. Not only because it would have been my fault but also because I had never admitted how I truly felt towards him.
And so I counted to ten, listening and feeling for a heartbeat. One… Two… Thud. As soon as I felt that against my fingers, I could have sworn I wept for joy. There was a regular rhythm so assuming whatever happened wasn’t fatal, he was just knocked out. While he wasn’t there to see, I carefully took his hand in mine and brought it to my lips.I don’t know what came over me - perhaps because I had almost lost him - but I kissed his knuckles, his bumpy scar tissue not even noticeable in the rush of the moment. This wasn’t the first time I had done this - he had even seen me do it once. It was years ago during a night we refused to speak about ever since. Actually, he tried to speak about it alot but I allowed him to - it hurt too much to reminisce on a night that should have never happened. I never regretted it, I just know it wasn’t the universe’s plan to place us both there that night.
Casting that memory aside, I forced myself to focus on the present, though. There was more at stake than ever before and this might have been my last chance to admit the truth, admittedly to deaf ears: “don’t you dare leave me… I love you too much to lose you, Stephen…” My eyes had been closed as I whispered that so hearing his voice caught me completely off guard and I dropped his hand in an instant.
“Who… Who is Stephen?”