The White Phoenix 12: A Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Fanfiction

Chapter 9: The Book of Vishanti

Stephen jumped through the door and landed on a platform.

'Come on, kid,' he called. 'You got this.'
America walked to the door.

'We got this,' she said, and jumped through the door. Then Christine jumped through the door, and then me. Christine landed a little unsteadily, and Stephen supported her gently.

'You all right?' he asked her.

'Yeah,' she replied. We walked up to the small shelf where a glowing alcove held the Book of Vishanti. 'This is the Gap Junction, the space between universes.' Stephen stepped up to it.

'Alright, Book. Give me what I need.' He pulled it down from the glowing alcove, and immediately it stopped glowing. He stepped down, turning to us. Suddenly, America screamed, her hair being pulled back as she landed in the grasp of the Scarlet Witch. Stephen tried to send a bolt of magic against her, but she blocked it, ricocheting the blast back to him, knocking the three of us away. Near us, the Book was burning, the pages flaking off into pieces of black. She pulled us up, wrapping us in crimson magic. I attempted to do something, anything to break the hold, but she was too strong. Then, manipulating America's power, she opened a portal and sent the three of us through, then opened a portal directly to Mount Wundagore and threw her in. Wanda's eyes snapped open, shutting the portal and breaking the dreamwalking spell.

'My boys,' Wanda gasped, and then she launched herself up with her powers and through the door.

America slowly rose, looking at the Scarlet Witch as she walked down to meet her.

'This isn't what your children would want.' The Scarlet Witch thrust her hands out, wrapping her body in magic, and then throwing her onto the large stone platform, making the girl  scream. She looked nervously at Wanda as she rounded the corner of the platform, looking down at her.

'They'll never know,' Wanda replied.

'Maybe not. But you will.'

On an unknown Earth...

Stephen, Christine and I made our way through the snowy Earth to a desolate field. Ahead of us was what looked like the Sanctum Sanctorum, but it was falling apart, slowly flaking away like everything else in this particular Earth.

'Whatever happened, this universe's you didn't do a very good job of stopping it,' Christine said as we looked up at the seemingly abandoned structure.

'I'll tell him you said that,' Stephen said, and walked towards the house without another word. I trailed off after him, leaving Christine alone at the bottom of the steps. He came up to the top steps, and the doors opened instantly, letting us into an open room, but there was black sand everywhere, and water lapping up against the black sand shore. In the centre was a staircase that led up into clouds. The top was shrouded by clouds, so we were unable to see what was at the top. Just as we entered, the doors slammed behind us and we spun around in alarm. Looking around, we made our way up the staircase cautiously.

We got to a dark room with clutter all around.

'Hello?' Stephen called out.

'Stop where you are,' a voice oddly similar to Stephen's spoke. We looked to see a shadowy figure descend the steps. 'How did you get here?' The figure asked.

'By accident,' I replied.

'Who are you? What are you?'

'I'm just... One of us.'

'From the Multiverse?' the voice asked.

'That's right.'

'Prove it.'

'We had a sister. Donna. But she... She died when we were kids.' All the while, the voice kept descending the steps, and I noticed it was another Doctor Strange - or at least the shell of one.

'How?'

'We were playing on a frozen lake and... She fell through the ice. I couldn't save her.'

'Sounds about right,' the other Strange replied, coming into full view of the two of us. 'But we don't talk about that, do we?'

'No, we don't. I suppose your reality wasn't always like this.'

'I suspect it was somewhat like yours until...'

'Until?' I pressed. I earned a suspicious look from the sorcerer, but he said nothing.

'Until I lost.'

'To whom?'

'What do you want?'

'I just want to get home.'

'Yeah, believe me...' the other Stephen replied, 'I've been trying to leave this place for a long time.' I saw him reach for his belt, and I moved my hand slowly towards my back to pull out my sword.

'The Darkhold,' Stephen said. 'You guard the Darkhold in this universe?'

'Yeah. For good reason.'

'That's a start. I could use it. It could help me to communicate with my universe.'

'Careful. The Darkhold exacts a heavy toll.'

'I don't mean to be callous... But how much of a heavier toll is there left to exact?'

'Not just on its reality. On its reader.'

'Look, I'm sorry you couldn't save your universe. But maybe you could help to save ours,' Stephen said, gesturing to the two of us.

'Are you happy, Stephen?' the other Stephen asked.

'What?'

'Are. You. Happy. Stephen?' the other Strange asked, slowly walking to the window. 'It's the question that Christine Palmer asked me at her wedding. I said,  "Yes, of course I'm happy." I'm a sorcerer with the power of gods. What man wouldn't be happy"?' And then I came back to this goddamn haunted house... sat down... and wondered why I'd lied. I never meant for any of this to happen. I was looking for a world where things were different. Where I had Christine, where I was happy. But I didn't find it. All I found was more of us. So I did those Stephens a favour. You ever had that dream where you're falling... As if you've been pushed off a tall building?' We both looked at him, and the realisation dawned on us. 'That was probably me.' Right in front of us, his forehead opened with a third eye as the world around us began to crack and disintegrate further - and faster. 'The Darkhold exacts a heavy toll,' he said with a sickening smile.

'Okay. All the more reason to give it a rest and let me have it,' Stephen said.

'Here's the deal. I'll let you use the Darkhold, and you give me your Christine.'

'Yeah... I don't think she's gonna go for that.'