Loki's Little Witch [en]

chapter 5. worst enemy or greatest ally?

In a dark and dusty room, where Karl Mordo had spent uncountable hours in the past months, a tiny glimpse of light coming from a window right in front of him was the only thing that light the stone and metal book his hands were holding, however, light wasn't something he needed to read a book where all pages were fully blank and yet he still managed to turn to the next page as his eyes opened widely to the wonders they were seeing. They follow every single line and quickly jump to the next one. He read it as if the words were going to vanish at any second. He read it despite not needing to read a book that read itself in the form of whispers. Dozens and dozens of whispers, sometimes he could even hear hundreds of them at a time and yet he still managed to read page after page, sometimes not stopping for hours.

Yet something about those voices felt different that day. They seemed to be warning him of something he feared and that only made him read faster, follow word after word, line after line, making the voices get louder, he could even felt them screaming at him yet the only thing Wanda Maximoff was able to hear as she took a step into the room was his heartbeat.

The silence quickly absorbed her as she stood in the dark room, but her mind couldn't help but hear some hardly perceptible whispers slipping through Mordo's head. It wasn't like she was trying to read him, she knew just how much he despised it when she did it, but the murmurs were practically escaping from his head, almost like they were trying to speak to her.

The now slightly redhead couldn't help but draw a small frown in her face while her eyes turned to a slight reddish color as she focused for the first time, trying to look beyond his skull, however, she was barely able to dig in for Mordo to feel her presence inside of him, causing him to quickly lift his head making all voices shut down suddenly.

"I've been waiting for you," he prompted, causing Wanda's eyes to turn back to normal in a split second, both acting as if nothing was happening.

"Something happened?" she questioned, still confused as she became when he called her. In all the months they had spent together, he only limited himself to seeing her for training, the rest of the time he spent alone in his chambers, the same room she was now standing for the first time since she had been there.

"Time has come."

He revealed to her, closing the book to finally turn and face her, making him able to see as her face covered itself with a mix of bewilderment and surprise, just what he had expected.

"I... I don't understand," she mumbled, frowning again, "you told me yesterday that I wasn't ready yet."

His lips twisted into a grin, "I did," he replied, "but that was yesterday. Today... today I think you're ready."

Her face didn't change a bit, she still was just as confused as before, maybe even more. She was certain she was ready, she had been for quite some time now, but she also knew he didn't think so, especially after the discussion they had the day before.

"What has changed since yesterday?"

Mordo tilted his head, he knew telling her the truth for the first time would be more effective than lying to her, "it appears to be true when they said you never finish knowing a person. Even when this person is someone you have been working with for fifteen years," Wanda's frown couldn't help but fade off at the mention of Loki, "he betrayed us. He has teamed up with them, I don't know for how long now."

The witch shook her head, refusing to believe what her ears were just hearing, refusing to believe that the only person who hadn't lied to her was telling the truth, refusing to believe Loki could do something like that to them. To her.

"No, it's not true," she muttered, with disbelief pouring from every pore of her face.

"It is," Mordo replied, "where do you think he is right now?" Wanda shook her head once more, "Loki betrayed us and that's why we need to finish our mission right now, before it's too late."