Stephen sits up in his bed, quickly awakening from a dream that felt all too real. He pants, chest heaving as he attempts to blink away the lingering feeling of death from his body and mind. On his laptop sits multiple tabs open in his browser, all of the same person.

Mage.

Countless reports and possible sighting of the former Avenger, but none know her current location.

She remains a mystery to the public.

In the corner of his eye, he catches a glimpse of a picture thought to be her, security camera footage from a library, followed by pictures of the corpse she left behind. He gets out of bed and gets ready for a wedding with the help of his magic, unbeknownst to him that his dream was a reality, starring a monster conjured by a witch.

" You let her get away?"

Lauren faces the witch with arms crossed, the crimson red and dead surroundings casting her in a dark light in her reflective black suit.

" I didn't let her do anything," Wanda says simply, " But you see... now she is in our universe... and you can find her again."

Lauren flicks her wrist, causing her beloved mirror to appear in a plume of black smoke, conveying an image of the very girl their after in a setting that's all too familiar.

" She's in New York," Lauren states, her eyes fixated on the child.

She pays no attention to Wanda, not even as she conjures the Dark Hold and casts a spell from its pages. All she sees is a child, alone and scared, something that hits her deep inside... perhaps even the slightest bit of empathy. Only when she sees a tentacled monster try to grab the child does she turn her head, and for the very first time laying eyes on the Dark Hold and all its beauty. It's dark, decrepit pages, covered in black swirling ink and a scarlet red glow all at once. She can't look away, for it begins to speak to her. It calls to her deepest desires, whispering in her ear about all of the things made possible with the book in her grasp. She could not only be feared in this universe... but every universe imaginable. All that power, just within arms reach, makes it all too seductive for her to ignore it. But as she steps forward, the witch's head turns to her.

" No touching."

" Sharing is caring, Wanda," Lauren says as she attempts to reach out for the book once more, but it levitates away from her grasp, seeing as it's still in the control of the youngest Maximoff.

And this makes Lauren see Wanda in a different light. No more is that scared little girl, barely able to control her powers that she met years ago. No more is her subordinate, looking to her for guidance.

But rather, here is a woman who has faced great loss and endured great pain. Here is a woman strong enough and powerful enough to take what she rightfully deserves, and while Lauren is no stranger to that, Wanda's blackened fingertips tell her a different story. A story of a broken hearted woman who's being indoctrinated by great evil.

Wanda may have an excuse for her actions, for she could plea that the Dark Hold made her do it, but Lauren can do no such thing. Everything she's done up until this point has been her own doing, and not because of the book of the damned.

Lauren's eyes center on the back of Wanda's head, her mind sinking deeply into hers, without even so much as a little effort. She feels Wanda's pain as sees not only her memories from Westview, but all of her dreams of all the other universes in which her boys are real, and in which she is happy.

However, Wanda does not appreciate having her mind toyed with. She slams the book shut and spins around to face the woman with raven black hair as she flushes her out of her mind. Wanda sees a single tear stream down Lauren's cheek, one she did not know was there to start with.

" You are here because you have my trust," Wanda says as she slowly steps forward, " But break it... and those monsters will be the least of your worries."

Lauren sees Wanda acting differently than she has before, somehow perfecting unhinged and collected at the same time, but she does not take those words lightly.

" Are you threatening me, Wanda?" Lauren asks as she tilts her head, " That's no way to treat a friend... especially not one who's been oh so graciously helping you."

And Wanda simply smiles, as if she heard a joke.

" I don't need your help."

Wanda turns around to walk away, the book disappearing along with her, but what she doesn't expect is for her beautiful red hex to turn into something black. Blackness seeps alongside her, coating and corrupting her creation. All the dead trees begin to decay as the red sun up above gets replaced with a void. With nothing. She turns around, but sees nothing. Every single thing around her is black, void of all and any light. Her head turns in all directions, searching for the only woman responsible for this... but she finds nothing. Her ears pick up no sound, her nose picks up no smell, and her tongue picks up no taste, as if she has truly been transported to a black hole. The ground beneath her feet becomes crumbly and unreliable as it turns to dust. It creates a hole that drops her down, and down, and down until she drops back onto the hard surface of stone, but still with the appearance of null. A flickering amber light shines down from above and draws her attention, and when she looks up she sees her former teacher standing at the edge of the hole with a flame in her palm.

" Are you sure about that?"

Lauren closes her palm and the flame disappears, and soon enough the black emptiness begins to fade away, bringing back the chaos magic as Wanda is revealed to be on the ground in front of the infinite being. Lauren stands with crossed arms, staring down at the witch who looks up at her. She takes a few steps forward before she bends down to get her face level with Wanda's to whisper her words.

" Threaten me again, and you will no longer have a reality to rewrite."

Her eyes needn't not glow in order to convey her threatening words as she stands up and walks away from the mythical Scarlet Witch.

Wanda would never admit her fear, but the entire time she's know her Lauren has been terrifying. A being of unparalleled power, and while Wanda may be the Scarlet Witch, she does not wish to test her luck against Mage.

Soon enough, the illusion is cast once again and Wanda appears to be innocently trimming the branches of the apple trees in the orchard as the magical Doctor pays her a visit.

" Apples, right?"

" Eventually."

Wanda hands him a pruned branch and he brings it up to his nose to sniff.

" Smells--"

" Sweet."

He pauses as their eyes meet.

" I was going to say real," Stephen corrects.

" Oh, it's all very real, thanks," Wanda says with a small smile, " I've put the magic behind me."

But he doesn't buy it, despite what he sees.

" So I can tell," He grumbles.

" Well," Wanda sighs as she shoves her hands into her jacket pockets, " I knew sooner or later you'd show up, wanting to discuss what happened at Westview... I made mistake, and people were hurt--"

" But you put things right in the end, and that was never in doubt," Stephen says, " I'm not here to talk about Westview."

" Then what are you here for?"

" We need your help."

" With what?" Wanda asks as she gathers all of the branches.

" What do you know about the multiverse?" Stephen asks, following Wanda as she walks and picks up the fallen branches off the ground.

" The multiverse," She repeats, " Vis had his theories. He believed it was real, and dangerous," and then tosses the branches into a wooden box.

" Well, he was right about both," He admits, " We found a girl who can somehow travel across it, but she's being pursued ."

" Pursued by who?"

" Some kind of demon. One that covets her power for itself."

So very close to having the former Sorcerer Supreme exactly where she wants him.

" We've taken her to Kamar-Taj," Stephen starts, " and we've got our defenses,but we could use an Avenger," hoping a bit of flattery will help him get the job done.

" There are other Avengers," Wanda sighs as she glances at him.

" Yeah, but given the choice between the archer with a mohawk and several bug themed crime fighters, or one of the most powerful magic wielders on the planet... it's a bit of a no brainer," He smiles, " Plus, it'll get you back on a lunch box."

" Only one of... the most powerful is reserved for someone else... wouldn't you say?" She asks.

And as Stephen pauses, he's reminded of the exact person she's referencing, the former Avenger who's turned to the dark side, and whom he hasn't seen for months.

" She's... MIA at the moment," He sighs, then turns his head to face her, " Come to Kamar-Taj."

" What if you brought America here?"

And that's exactly where her plan fails, all with one tiny little slip up.

" Here?" Stephen asks, something not quite clicking in his brain, halting his steps as she continues.

" Yeah, I know what it's like to be on your own, hunted for abilities you never wanted, and I can protect her," Wanda says, turning back around once she notices he's stilled in his tracks, " You never told me her name, did you?"

" No."

" You know... the Hex was the easy part. The lying... not so much."

Wanda's hand lifts from her jacket pocket as the red chaos magic comes out to play. It leaves her hands and begins to warp the scenery around them both, turning the serine little meadow into the horror-scape that is reality. The trees turn from luscious and sweet to dry and bitter, the sky turns to blood as the grass turns to dust, all working in a clock wise until the circle is complete and Wanda's true natural is revealed-- her black and red suit and crown, accompanied by the one and only book of the damned.

" The Darkhold," Stephen states as he eyes the gory book that floats independently of gravity itself

" You're familiar with the Darkhold?" Wanda ponders.

" I know it's the book of the damned, and that it corrupts everything and everyone that it touches," He utters, " I wonder what it's done to you."

" The Darkhold only showed me the truth," She says, for she actually believes her words to be true, " Everything I lost can be mine again."

" What do you want with America? What do you want with the multiverse?"

" I'm going to leave this reality, and go to one where I can be with my children."

Her response is almost comical to the sorcerer.

" Wanda... you're children aren't real," Stephen says as he steps closer to her, " You created them using magic."

" That's what every mother does," Wanda says innocently with a slight shrug, then takes a step closer as well, " If you knew, there was a universe where you were happy, wouldn't you wanna go there?"

" I am happy," He lies.

" I know better than most what self-deception looks like," She says as she looks him in the eyes.

" What you're doing is a flagrant violation of every natural law, and if you take that child's power, she won't survive," Stephen says in an attempt to intimidate her.

" I don't relish in hurting anyone, Stephen... But she's not a child," Wanda says as she begins to circle him, " She's a supernatural being. Such raw power could wreak havoc on this and on this and other worlds. Her sacrifice... would be for the greater good."

" Well, you can kiss the lunchbox goodbye," He quips," because that's the justification our enemies use."

" Is it the one you used, when you gave Thanos the Time Stone?"

" That was a war, and I did what I had to do."

" You break the rules and become a hero... we do it and we become the enemy... that doesn't seem fair."

And once more, she slips up.

" Who's we?" Stephen asks as he furrows his brows.

The witch remains silent, wearing nothing but a sinister grin along her lips.

" What happens now?" He asks.

" Return to Kamar-Taj, and prepare to hand over America Chavez by sundown... peacefully. After that..." Wanda trails as she looks off to the side," you'll never hear from me again."

Wanda turns around to leave him in his place, absorbing the Darkhold back into her fingertips as the ground crunches beneath her boots.

" And if we don't?"

" Then it won't be Wanda who comes for her... it will be the Scarlet Witch."

The Scarlet Witch.

Stephen soon returns to the grounds of Kamar-Taj to announce to the sorcerers that a great threat looms on the horizon, one they may not be able to best.

" The Scarlet Witch is a being of unfathomable magic. She can rewrite reality as she chooses, and is prophesized to either rule or annihilate the cosmos," Wong says as they address the room of sorcerers.

" She took over an entire town using her mind," Stephen adds, " If she gets America's power, she could enslave the entire multiverse."

" So, the person you went to ask for help, and told exactly where I am, is the person that's trying to kill me?" America asks with crossed arms as she stands next to the doctor.

" Yeah," Stephen sighs, " And she may not be acting alone," then turns to address the room, " I have reason to believe that she's enlisted the help of a powerful enchantress known as Mage."

The sorcerers in the room all dawn eyes filled with fear as they share looks amongst each other, and even Wong looks a little startled.

" Lauren?" He asks, " You know where she is?"

" I don't, but I'm positive she knows where we are," Stephen says, " And I don't think she's gonna come by for a cup of tea," then nods his head over to the child.

Wong takes a deep breath, building up his unearned confidence as he turns to face the room.

" Suspend teaching at once and arm the students. Kamar-Taj must now become a fortress."

And while the sorcerers prepare for battle, all their enemies have to do is show up, with a plan of course.

On the training grounds of the temple, Stephen stands with the Sorcerer Supreme, waiting intently for the witch to show up. He's so focused on his physical surroundings, that he pays no mind to his mental state, for in a matter of seconds he's locked in a mind palace, face to face with the widow.

" Why are you in my head?" He questions.

" What? No greetings for your friend?" Lauren asks with a sly smirk.

" I'm not so sure my friend would disappear and go on a murderous rampage to join the dark side," Stephen quips.

" All I'm trying to do is reunite with my husband," She responds, " Those people were just collateral damage."

" And who taught you that, Dreykov?" He asks.

When he really... really shouldn't have. He's struck a nerve, on that lies deep and is lined with fire, one that brings her memories that supposedly died the day he did. But she doesn't let her get off topic, she's come too close to fall.

" Give us the girl, Stephen," Lauren commands, all be-it gently at first, " We won't hurt her."

Stephen remains silent, keeping his head held up high to signal his stance, an action that only makes her sigh.

" Alright," She says as she closes the gap between them, " But just remember... this was only a formality as friends. And Wanda... she won't ask so nicely."

In the blink of an eye, Stephen is flushed out of the mind palace and brought back to his reality. He looks around to be sure of it, but a sudden chill brings his attention up to the sky, where a towering sulphurous array of smoke looms up above, and in it flashes balls of red. The smoke fades away from the red, revealing the prominent stature of the enemy that Kamar-Taj faces.

The Scarlet Witch.

" Choose your words wisely," Wong comments, " The fate of the multiverse may depend on it."

" Got it," Stephen says, " No pressure, then."

He takes a step forward, and by the next, his cloak carries him up into the air, bringing him face to face with the witch who does not seem happy.

" All this for a child you met yesterday," Wanda seethes.

" Wanda, you are justifiably angry. You had to make terrible sacrifices ," He says in an attempt to keep her calm.

" I blew a hole through the head of the man I loved, and it meant... nothing," She whispers as her eyes gloss over with tears, " Do not speak to me of sacrifice, Stephen Strange," she uses her scarlet magic to push herself closer to him, getting within just arms reach, " If you give me what I want, I'll send you to a world where you can be with Christine."

Stephen pushes himself back, breathing heavily as he wonders if he's feelings towards his former co-worker are so obvious if they have been used as a bargaining tool not once, but twice.

" The full might of Kamar-Taj stands against you," He states as the sorcerers below take their defensive positions, " Do not dare to enter these sacred grounds."

" You have no idea just how reasonable I have been," She warns.

" Yeah," Stephen scoffs, " Book of the Damned, calling yourself a witch, conjuring creatures to abduct a kid, I don't exactly call that being reasonable."

" Sending those creatures after her instead of myself was mercy," Wanda starts, " And in spite of your hypocrisies and insults, I have begged you to safely get out of my way. You have exhausted my patience, but I do hope you understand, that even now, what's about to happen.... this is me, being... reasonable."

Wanda conjures her chaos magic in her hands and sends it hurdling towards him, but all it hits is the shield providing by the magic of the sorcerers down below. Once she realizes she cannot hit her target, Wanda pulls back and puts her arms back to her sides as Stephen flies back to the ground.

" Did you honestly think that would work?" Lauren asks as she teleports next to the witch.

Wanda looks over her shoulder, jaw clenched and eyes glowing red, but it doesn't even phase the widow. She knows Wanda's anger is with Kamar-Taj and not with her.

The sorcerers reinforce the shield as the witch flies around it, attacking each and every point as if to find a weak part. Her attacks are backed by her anger, backed by her pain, and backed by her desire to get her boys back, but each attack is blocked by the orange eldritch magic, all while Lauren remains still, she floats up above the temple, her eyes examining those that are in her way as their attention is all on Wanda, and seeing how her attacks are failing, an idea pops up in her brain, and so she teleports herself behind the witch and whispers in her ear.

"Razum."

She speaks in her native Russian tongue, and then disappears in the blink of an eye as Wanda looks over her shoulder, but she receives the message loud and clear.

Wanda pauses, she stills herself as her eyes travel down to the students, seeping into each individual head until she finds the weakest link, but some catch on to the trick.

" She's trying to get into their heads," Stephen states.

" Sorcerers, fortify your minds!" Wong commands as he points to his head.

Stephen looks up at Wanda once more, eyes flickering on the sky surrounding her, only to see that it's empty with nothing so much as a cloud.

" Where are you, Mage," He sighs, asking no one in particular.

One by one, Wanda checks off those who's minds are built up to be strong, but finally comes across a young man who's fear is strong and metal brawn is delicate. She seeps into his mind, creating an illusion in which she appears from behind him in complete silence, hair billowing as her lips sneak up on his ear, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

" Run."

The illusion disappears behind him as his palm shield begin to flicker and break, creating a small opening in the larger shield, an opening that grows in size as the young sorcerer runs away and crashes into the others. Wanda smiles sweetly in satisfaction, then builds up chaos in her hands before she hurls it towards the compound.

It strikes down on the ground, blasting away a few students as the shield falls. Wanda flies closer to the temple, but the sorcerers use a sling ring to bring a cannon to their defenses, and fire it at the witch to blast her away.

But if only it were that easy.

For seconds later, Lauren teleports directly in front of the barrel of the cannon.

" Boo," She taunts as her eyes glow, causing the cannon to crumble and turn to ash.

They attempt to attack her, but by the time they conjure one, she disappears, just as Wanda continues her invasion.

Explosions echo across the battlefield, accompanied by the bone-chilling chuckle of the widow, who rapidly appears and disappears to confuse and disassociate the sorcerers.

She toys with the, taking her time with them, letting the threat that is herself constantly loom over their shoulders as they try to juggle between her and Wanda.

Wanda fires the archers arrows back at them, knocking them off of the roof tops, more and more students falling at her hands, so much so that Stephen orders them to fall back, knowing that if they continue it will only lead to more bloodshed.

She sprinkles a few more chaotic attacks against the compound before she lands on her own two feet, creating a ripple effect of chaos in her wake. A student cries out in pain as he attempts to make his way back into the temple doors, but Wanda decides to show him mercy and blasts him with her magic. She walks along the path adorned with death and destruction, all of the credit belonging to her.

Wanda's eyes close, her mind seeking that of the girl she's hunting, sending Sokovian whispers to give her a chill, and once her eyes open she's faced with a goatee.

" You want the girl, you'll have to go through me."

" Fine."

Wanda takes just a few steps forward before her foot presses against a lever, one that activates a trap and leaves her hidden within a mirror dimension trap.

And while one is temporarily out of the way, another still remains, one who stays hidden in the shadows.

Stephen joins his fellow magic wielders in a room to themselves, thinking that they'll have enough time to escape, but that's the one thing that they have absolutely no control over.

A pale green mist begins to seep into the room, first pooling around their ankles before it grows in height and absorbs all of their bodies from head to toe, smelling sour and acidic in their nostrils, the mist prevents any and all of them from moving as it effectively stops the flow of time in the room. The mist soon dissipates, leaving them frozen as something echoes in the hall. The sound of heeled boots thudding against the wooden planks of the floors tolls in their ears as Mage finally comes out to play.

She enters the room, face void of any emotions as she saunters at a sinister pace, her eyes scanning every single individual in the room before an unnerving grin sneaks up onto her lips without baring her teeth.

" I warned you," Lauren proclaims melodically, " But you did not... listen," she sighs as she stalks they as if they're her prey, " So many lives, taken unnecessarily," she stands in front of Stephen with a tilted head," I wonder who's fault that is."

Her eyes flash gold as she allows him to speak, but no more than that.

" Yours and Wanda's," Stephen states, " That's who's at fault here."

" We asked you nicely, Stephen," She tsks, " Don't act so innocent. You know we mean no harm."

" Yeah, because this is exactly what that looks like," He scoffs, " You need to stop before more people get hurt."

Lauren takes a step forward, closing the gap between them as she looks him in the eyes.

" Haven't I been hurt enough?" She asks with a slight crack in her voice," I have lost... everything. Everyone I've cared for... is gone," she takes a shaky deep breath as her voices grows soft, " I watched my husband die... and I couldn't do anything about it," her glossy eyes flicker between his, " But I can do this."

Lauren keeps her eyes on Stephen as her left hand stretches out to reach the girl. Her palms become a sickly black as she begins to siphon the power from America Chavez to herself.

" I didn't have to be like this, Stephen," She whispers, " I hope you understand that."

A deep and unearthly rumble from down below halts her progress. She sees Stephen's finger able to wiggle. She sees his sling sing disappear in a poof of red. Her head slowly turns around to face the door that slams shut all on its own. She looks at the other door as it shuts as well, then brings her attention back to the sorcerers as they find themselves able to move freely, no longer trapped by her time spell.

One by one, sorcerers disappear, they get pulled down into the abyss by Wanda's hands with an ethereal cry. The golden gong at the edge of the room starts to contort, it flows as if it's nothing more than water.

Suddenly, a hand pops out of it, a hand with blackened fingertips. Wanda's arms stretch out of the gong, tearing her skin and deforming her body in order to escape the mirror dimension prison, and as she stands up straight, all her cuts from the glass shards simply vanish.

" You gave all those lives just to keep me from my children," Wanda proclaims as she steps towards the middle of the room.

" You took those lives," Stephen corrects," You cannot be allowed to cross into the multiverse."

" I'm not a monster, Stephen. I'm a mother."

Something that hits particularly hard for Lauren, for she never had the chance to be a mother, not even once.

" Wanda, you have no children. They don't exist."

" Oh, but they do. In every other universe. I know they do. Because I dream of them... every... night."

Wanda brings her hands forward as she conjures the darkhold, and from it appears small orbs that serve as a looking glass into other universes all connected by a warped string. Lauren watches from a distance, her arms crossed as her eyes scan over each and every single universe presented.

" Of my boys... of our... life together. Every night, the same dream. And every morning, the same... nightmare."

Wanda closes the darkhold, the looking glass dissipating as not only her eyes tear up, but Lauren's as well. Lauren is shown a glimpse of infinite possibilities out there. Countless universes in which lie a completely different reality than the one she currently occupies. Ones where Steve could still be alive... and perhaps ones where they were able to do the one thing that they never could in this universe.

Start a family.

" What if you reach them?" Stephen questions, "What happens to the other you? What happens to their mother?"

And Wanda doesn't appreciate his words. They deeply anger her, for she sees himself as they boys mother, and not anybody else. And she seems to have the exact same idea as Lauren, for as she conjures an attack her in hands and thrusts it towards the doctor, Lauren lunges for him as well, only she steps directly into Wanda's attack. And while she's more than prepared for a physical attack, she was not expecting a mental one.

Lauren stands painfully still as her eyes get overtaken by the red chaos magic. It seeps past her eyes and into her mind as she collapses to her knees. She covers her head with her hands as her eyes tightly shut. She lets out a mortifying cry as the chaos becomes to painful to fight, and she has no choice but to let it consume her.

But then, nothing.

Absolute silence.

Slowly and steadily, Lauren lifts her head up in disbelief. Her head turns to scan her surroundings, finding them both extremely familiar and especially vague all at once. She gets off of her knees and stands up on her two feet, her head up and her eyes scoping to find any possible threat that lingers about, but as she turns around, she finds anything but.

" Natasha?"

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[ yes ik lauren deserves to be happy but hang tight ]