Seeing Scarlet - Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

~VIII~

Just wanted to add a note before we get started: I have now seen Multiverse of Madness and while this chapter doesn't involve any spoilers other than what we've seen in trailers and promotional material, I will be jumping in right away so I don't want anything to get spoiled for anyone! I'll make another note in the next chapter.

Thanks and enjoy!

"There was no other way..."

"You're sure?"

"Yes..."

Lights, flashes, unfamiliar settings and people. But then there was the perfectly familiar form of himself, not really him himself, but him nonetheless, Steven Strange. Another Stephen Strange. 

"Come on, hurry!" one girl was shouting, the older of the two. She was in her twenties. The younger one was falling behind. She was about fifteen, maybe. Not any older. "America, hurry!"

"AH!"

The image vanished. Stephen shot up in bed, sweat pouring down his face and bare chest. The world was still spinning, but as it came into focus, strangely sharp focus, he found that he was just in his room in the New York Sanctum.

He wasn't in that cosmic place running from a strange monster with two unfamiliar young women.

He was just getting his bearings when the doors to his room suddenly burst open, and there stood a dark shadowy figure, illuminated in red. 

He cried out again, but it was only Kat. She was dressed in her slippers, sweatpants, and hoodie. She held out her glowing fists before her, in a defensive stance.

"I thought you were being attacked." She dropped her arms, the magic fading away from her fingertips as she did so.

"No-" He rubbed both hands over his face and tired eyes.  "Only in my head."

"Another dream?"

"Yeah."

"One of those ones that feels so real?"

"Yeah. But isn't that every dream?"

"I'm beginning to think so." She came over and sat down on the bed next to him, also rubbing her eyes. "So what happened this time?"

"Nothing different. Every night, I dream the same dream and then the nightmare begins - I've been dreaming every night. The same dream."

She hummed in response. "That's strange, Strange."

"Yeah." He watched her rubbing her own tired eyes.  "You?"

"Not dreams but busy thoughts, busy mind. Too busy to sleep."

"This about your trip while I was dealing with Spider-Man?"

"Yeah."

"You ready to talk about it?"

"Yeah, I think I'm ready to talk about what I discovered in Westview."

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Westview, New Jersey

Welcome to Westview !

"Home: It's Where You Make It!"

This place? Seriously?

Of all the places, of all the places in the world, this was the one Wanda Maximoff had chosen? The most dull, boring town ever, and Kat had seen a lot of towns.

Maybe that was part of Wanda's plan: pick a small, boring place and take it right off the grid. 

Okay, it had a bit of charm, but still... When she had been in Wanda's shoes, she had gone for something completely different. 

She could feel the traces of the remaining chaos energy and magic Wanda had conjured in and around this place, in its very fibers, in its every being, right down to its very heart and soul, its very core.

"Well hi there, hon!" a cheery voice greeted her - a familiar voice.  She turned to see a woman standing there, smiling widely at her. "Isn't it just a lovely day? My name's Agnes, dear, what's yours?"

Kat smiled a little. "Hello Agatha."

Yeah, this place was boring, however, things were about to get a whole lot more interesting.

Some might even say a whole lot more magical...

Despite great efforts throughout the years and centuries to stop it, the prophecy had come true: the new Scarlet Witch had risen, awakening the original Scarlet Witch along with her. 

(Off we go, into Phase Four! Into the Multiverse! ;)

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)