THE APPRENTICE III

19

"That's not how our Strange died. Our Strange did not die by defeating Thanos, we were at war. While the rest of us banded together to try to stop Thanos, Stephen, as always, chose to go it alone." Xavier began.

Hazel looked into the bag and found a bag of cheese and sour cream chips and crumpled it open, the sound making them shoot looks at her.

"He began dreamwalking. He said our salvation might lie in the multiverse,"

"And guess what? It didn't, but he kept doing it anyway." Captain Marvel continued. Hazel shook her head in disappointment at this and ate a chip.

"One night, you called us all together to say you've been dreamwalking, and in your words, things have gotten out of hand. You never told us the details of what had happened, only that you had inadvertently triggered an incursion." Reed Richards explained to them. Stephen briefly glanced at Hazel to watch her reaction. "You, our friend, had caused an annihilation of another universe,"

"Everyone in that reality died." Captain Marvel continued. The apprentice frowned— though she hated to admit it, she understood why they were so afraid of the two. But why her?

"With Hazel's help, Stephen renounced the darkhold's evil and helped us find the book of Vishanti, the weapon we did use to defeat Thanos." Charles continued and gave her a knowing look. "But, one final threat remained,"

"Him." Hazel concluded.

With a nod, Xavier showed them the image of his memory from that night. It was Stephen, frantic and ashamed as Hazel wailed in pain, Captain Marvel holding her back. It was Black Bolt who executed him.

"Did you tell Christine? What about Hazel?" He questioned and Black Bolt had a look of guilt in his eyes.

"Yes." Reed Richards nodded. "As for Hazel, she...didn't react very well. After all, she pulled you out of the darkness. This was around the time you adopted her,"

"You— what?" Hazel jumped. There was a slight tone of betrayal and hurt from her voice and they looked at one another with awkwardness.

"Well, in this universe, he, um, he adopted her." Richards put two and two together and she gave a small nod. She avoided Strange's gaze, who stiffened up at the sound and shifted a little.

So many people have been asking about their relationship, and she wasn't gonna lie, she always wondered why he never did it. She was always waiting for him to adopt her, but it never happened due to certain circumstances. Still, she couldn't help but think it was because of her inadequacies.

"So Hazel's still alive, then? Where is she?" Stephen asked and it was their turn to shift uncomfortably. He tilted his head a little.

"Hazel...was a difficult case. After your execution, well, like father like daughter, she also went alone." He explained to them and she stepped closer. "She was gone for years. The next thing we knew, she was some sort of goddess— she created this book called the book of Wolfe and Strange,"

"I know, I have one,"

"And that book contained spells involving dark elements— inferno, shadows, dubious energies and sources." Reed disclosed. Stephen gave her a look and she avoided him. "But we discovered something else. Maybe out of grief, we don't know, but she was in the middle of creating her own universe. Hazel had a galaxy in the palm of her hand and was two steps away from creating a new life force. She was getting powerful, maybe too powerful for someone so young and filled with pain,"

"Her methods were becoming questionable. She tampered with dark sources and bent the rules of magic. There was a darkness in her that we feared," Captain Marvel explained to them. "That we...contained,"