The Raven

IV- Power

"Stephen, did you hear me? We need to talk." Wong said again. Stephen stilled as the door begun to creak open. One glance at his exhausted state and Wong froze. "Which ones?"

"Time, Space, and Reality." Stephen answered as he sat up in his bed.

"Why are you doing this?" Wong asked and sat on the bed as well. He knew then Wong was about to give him a lecture. Wonderful.

"You know why. We have to protect the stones. Keep them out of enemy hands." He replied.

"But why now? Why you?" Wong started to raise his voice. "The Masters of the Mystic Arts have been protecting this reality just fine with the one stone we have. To have all of them together..."

"Would better the way we serve the universe."

"No."

"Why not? There's no reason for-"

"You said you saw someone named Thanos, who wanted to collect the stones, what do you think you're doing right now? By trying to stop him, you're becoming him!" Wong's voice dropped to a whisper, "you're becoming Kaecilius."

Stephen's jaw nearly dropped at the accusation, "I am many things, but a traitor is not one of them."

"You will be if you continue this. According to the Natural Law-"

"The Natural Law would have let Dormammu concur this world. If it weren't for my intervention, he would have. You didn't stop me then, why are you trying to stop me now?!" Stephen could feel emotion trying to show again. It was getting harder to keep his cold and expressionless mask.

Wong shook his head, "because Dormammu was an emergency, you know that. What you're trying to do could get you killed."

Stephen stared at Wong blankly, bile rising in his throat as the memories returned. He nearly forgot he hasn't told a soul what happened in the Dark Dimension. If telling Wong would help him with the stones... "Dormammu, I've come to bargain."

"What?" Wong squinted his eyes at the phrase.

"Dormammu, I've come to bargain. Over and over. How do you think I ever got him to leave? A dimension-eater versus a pathetic moral man who can't even write his name?" Wong tried to say something before he cut in, "I didn't. Not the first time, not the hundredth time, not even the thousandth time. I came to bargain, and he killed me with the flippancy we would a bug. So, I went to bargain again, he killed me again. Stabbed, torn apart, beheaded, shredded, skinned alive, burned... over and over. And that's only if he wasn't feeling cruel."

Wong's eyes started to widen at the thought. "Sorry, I didn't know."

     Stephen scoffed, "so, even if I were to die... it's not like it's something new. Pain's an old friend."

     Wong was slightly taken aback at the revelation. "I know that must've been hard, but you did what was needed at the moment. The Earth would have been doomed within minutes. But collecting the stones, the Earth has been fine all this time."

     "But if we would have had the Space Stone, or Reality Stone when Dormammu came, I wouldn't have had to go through that. The stones together-"

    "Will bring destruction!" Wong insisted.

     Stephen groaned irritably, "You're not getting it!" He flipped the covers off himself with a huff and stormed out the room, or at least he tried. Wong activated the Sanctum's Security measures. His room became his prison cell as the wardings throughout the room activated, inhibiting any magic use within the room. He wasn't hurt that much over being locked in his room, it was the fact Wong faded into an orange light before disappearing completely. He was an illusion. His friend didn't trust him enough to even be in the same room as him, and that hurt worse than anything Dormammu could have dreamt of.