An Imaginary Throne // Doctor Strange // Far From Home

Chapter Fifteen // miss me?

KAECILIUS CRUMPLES like a discarded rag doll, his last words left unspoken. Later, Casey would wonder what he might have said. She would fantasise about an apology, momentarily revel in the thought of what might have been and then succumb to brooding over reality. Death cannot change a person. One's dying words can't account for their wrongs and Kaecilius is no outlier to this rule. Still, it isn't easy for her to stop thinking about it, even as she unbinds the last leather strap around her ankle.

Freed of the bonds she falls forward, scraping her arm against the stretcher in an attempt to catch herself. Her palms hit the concrete first and she looks up in a daze, watching a droplet of her blood dribble into the red stream snaking around the runes. She doesn't think much of it, scrambling to her feet as she searches the chaos for Stephen.

At the sound of rumbling, she looks up, shocked to see the shield ripple then expand outward, driving back the rabid cult outside. Across the stage, Stephen holds the crown over her father's body, all but glowing as its power flows through his veins and strengthens every fibre of his being. He falls to his knees, scrabbling for one half of the shattered spear but before he can touch it, the other is pressed against his neck.

"Give me the crown."

Strange stiffens, about to bring the shield down on his attacker when he raises his head and his heart skips a beat. Two emerald slits sit in place of her eyes, over a serpentine nose and snarling lips. Her free hand gravitates toward the crown, almost magnetically, and he feels his stomach drop when he spots the gash across her bicep.

"Adria, I need you to listen to me," He says. At that she tenses and the tip pricks his skin, releasing a bubble of blood that soaks through his collar, "Set is inside you, possessing you but you can fight him. You're stronger than this, Adria, you don't have to give into him."

With Kaecilius gone, Set needed a new vessel, and there was only one real option left. She was the closest to him genetically and her blood had contacted the runes. Plus, she'd succumbed to the crown once before.

"We are the same, Stephen. Both here out of love. I, because Kaecilius' devotion desired it. You, out of your love for her and your planet. You could call it fate that we should meet like this, each having what the other needs."

Her voice sounds hoarse, as though it hasn't been used in years and Stephen has to wonder how many millennia this creature spent trapped. When he thinks about it, all that anger is only natural. His own time with Dormammu had been a small infinity and so he could understand the torture of too much time just as well as too little.

Stephen's gaze falls to the blade against his neck but out of his peripheral vision he finds the other half of the spear. The end is almost blunt in comparison but with enough force, he doesn't doubt it would do the job. What he doubts is his ability to save her once it's over. In his other hand he clutches the crown, the metal slick but trapped in his grip.

Casey extends an outstretched palm, "Give it to me, and you can have her back."

"I love you, Casey." He says.

Expectedly, she flinches at the name and for a moment, an image of Quentin flashes before her eyes. It lasts only a brief second but it's enough to make her lower the blade, ever so slightly. Strange notes the distraction on her expression, gathering himself as his hand grapples blindly behind him with the knowledge that it's now or never.

"I'm your Sorceress Supreme, remember." He tries again, forcing a laugh that sounds more like a sob. As his fingers graze the spear, he braces himself.

Then stabs her in the chest.

Casey lurches away, her features contorting with rage then disbelief as Set fights to regain dominance. Her pupils dilate, filling the whites of her eyes until something within her snaps and she slackens, the blackness shrinking. Her body trembles. One hand clutching the wound, she gestures with the other in spastic circular motions.