CHAPTER NINE | " FIGMENTS OF THE CURIOUS MIND "

"DID YOU REALLY MEAN IT WHEN YOU TOLD HIM THAT YOU LOVE HIM?"

No other words were so bitter and uneasy to say out loud than those that held doubts about loving. Love was easy to doubt, particularly when affirmations were told carelessly. These words rang in Brienne's throat, perfectly blending with the murmurs inside her head.

She regretted saying it as it was a guaranteed conversation-ender, adding up to her husband's mistrust. Stephen always stuttered when she questioned him yet there was no need for pauses. If you love someone, you mean it sincerely from the very bottom of your heart.

Stephen always stammered as he didn't expect to bring their son into an argument, but this one was different. Perhaps he was looking for an example as the endearment was too hard to express. Eventually, Stephen responded roughly, quoting one of the tales he'd been telling over and over. He couldn't think of a world without him just like he couldn't think of a world without his wife. In reality, there wasn't time to think about things. Nicholas should be considered the world to him. The only child he fathered. The matter of his heart. But there was none of what would convince her of that.

Brienne didn't understand. Perhaps she was too tired from work as his occasional saving-the-world didn't get a salary or she couldn't handle another hassle at eight o'clock soon after their son had gone to bed. Perchance she overthought stuff, but this was on her mind for a long time and her patience had finally crossed the line.

"What is more valuable to you? Him or the power he may hold one day?"

Stephen didn't know. He hung his head down, pondering again as his bottom lip shivered in dubiety of his previous statement. Brienne stared at him, feeling the suspense building around them just like the obscure wall dividing their opinions.

"Please tell me!" she begged tonelessly.

And then he said it.

For all to hear.

Her voice wasn't the only thing that broke that night as Stephen began to open up about stuff she never wanted to know about. The trust she clenched for him for years cracked into a snare. Brienne took a deep breath, sedating the sharpness stuck on her mouth's upper palate.

He was denying something important this whole time. The meaning of love. If having a genuine reason for anger didn't mean the need to end the world and letting things lie idle was careless, what was acceptable? Hold their hand once they feel ready to fix the broken, as the broken can't fix itself. That takes time too.

Especially if the broken person doesn't fully understand the sacrifices of reality.

"Mommy?"

A flash of light spluttered, huddled to the corners as the switch crackled, the same as the boy's hands nuzzling the hem of a blanket. He stood in the doorway wearing his favorite pj's. Lately, Nicky felt the need to take the fabric everywhere, cradling it whenever strange worries came, mainly when the ones he was too attached to and loved weren't around. A touch of the blanket's softness he could embrace made the distress fade away, although it still resonated, like any other problem.

Brienne was drowning in a swell of emotions, slowly overwhelming her, but sensing her son's presence healed everything. She gazed at Nick, examining his messy hair and his eyes which were glazed and drowsy as the ceiling light illuminated the wet trails on his face. "It's past midnight, heartbeat. Why aren't you in bed?" She questioned sweetly, warmth radiating from her voice despite the sorrow and weariness palpitating.

"I'm- I'm scared." He uttered quietly. Brienne's eyes narrowed, discerning that something wasn't right. A hand wiped the remains of crying and gestured for him to come closer. Nicky ran to her, slightly stepping on the blanket he dragged on the floor till her warm hands picked him up, instantly hugging her by the nape, burying his face into her shoulder as he always did.

Fingers brushed against his back, striving to soothe him, "What is it? Did the nightmares come back?"

The mute nod didn't bring any relief rather than brought up more grief than was needed. She pressed him tightly, somewhat wetting his shirt since a tear slipped from the corners of her eye, "Shh, you're safe here. Those bad dreams aren't real. They won't hurt you. I wouldn't let them hurt you."

Brienne kissed his cheek, cradling him tenderly, unleashing the silence picking up his sobs and her thoughts that turned out to be louder than usual. He probably didn't see it that way.

They must've felt so real to him, to a four-year-old, unable to recognize if he was awake or not. No wonder. The lady at the doctor's office described him as a person with vivid imagination preceded by in-depth fantasies. She said that people daydreamed very elaborately but she never met someone whose dreaming was so vivid.

His mind copied the mannerism of people he knew and added to the world that was already created inside of his head. It should've been a safe space, a place where he would find peace. However, everything that was once depicted as peaceful turned against him and during the lucid waking the dreams and his desires suddenly become nightmares, not able to tell apart the borderline between dreaming and reality.

"What did you dream about?" She asked patiently, knowing that every dream topic has an explanation reflected in the near future. Brienne was gently stroking his back, as she felt the warmth and hesitation of the boy's breath on her neck. "Was it the boogeyman?" Brie continued with the queries, remembering the dark figure with glowy eyes he sometimes saw silently watching over him. It was a vague silhouette merging with the darkness. His little curls brushed mommy on her nape as he briskly shook his head.

His breathing slowed down and grew mellow.

"Nicky, what have you seen?"

"Everything." he swallowed the whisper, bringing the ever-present chills back to her rosy skin. He gripped her palm gently but unbreakably. The grasp loosened as his hands began to shake underneath the pressure of sudden emotions he couldn't handle.

His mom wiped the translucent pearls off his face with her hand that slipped to the table and laid out papers and letters, gathering them and setting them aside. Her lips thumbed his forehead.

Dawn was just around the corner and they hadn't moved for a while just like the oatmeal bowls were half-eaten from dinner and were left untouched between the spilled glasses of wine. She didn't know for how long she cradled him, in fact, she didn't really care.

Holding him was timeless.

Hugs got unhitched and his body heavier like his pupils that tried so hard to follow the trail of a marker he drew with, in the living room, meanwhile his mom was tidying the mess. Strokes of felt tip played a calming anthem as it stroked the paper, tinting it with bright-colored lines that later on connected into images.

Nick drew until he was sleepy enough to let the fatigue control his body. His hands loosened, dropping the markers on the carpet. Brienne turned at him in an instant, setting aside the dish towel, and wiping her wet hands into her pants. She picked up the blanket he placed on the dining chair.

"It's okay, baby. You can rest now," she breathed, covering him with the fabric he instantly clutched, trying to hold on the eye contact till he couldn't anymore.

"I'll be right here, looking after you when the dreams fight back. I won't let them take you from me... But you have to promise me that you will do the same for yourself or anyone else. If something doesn't feel right to you, speak up, even if it will hurt. But please be careful out there. It's your reality that matters. Always remember that." Brienne pressed his snowy hand and brushed through his hair.

The sweetest smile clouded her thoughts till they convulsed. Mommy's sentences were outstretched and inaudible when exhaustion overtook him. Nicholas finally closed his eyes. Brienne leaned over him and kissed his forehead for the last time, keeping the words to herself, although it broke her heart. She pulled away from him, as tired as she was she had to fulfill her promise.

Brienne slowly got up, crumpling the papers as she leaned against the coffee table. One of them caught her eye. At times Nick's drawings were just shapeless scrawls, however, you could tell what it was about. Children's imagination had zero boundaries and described real things from their point of view.

She picked up the drawing and left the light to brighten up the scribble. A halo was reflecting from the luster, enhanced with the ink bleeding through the other side. Paper rustle flipped the drawing, revealing painted nicks of something green. Shards. Unfolding the end of everything. That was the last dream he had.

The darkness cleared in front of the boy's eyes as a loud wheeze woke him up. The ground was trembling, shock-still, welcoming the arrival of the red storm. Flames were smoldering throughout the holy place.

The broken wavered.

Nicholas' felt the heaviness and the deadening ear-ringing ache torturing his head as loudness deafened him. Blood trickled down from the side of his forehead, the same place his mind evoked the warmth of pressed lips. It was a faint glimpse. A reminiscence that made him sob.

His mind was blank, his head was pulsing and agitating, needing to realize what happened moments ago. He lost it all, remembering the hurt of blame, and shortened his breath even more. Blasts began to ring out much closer, overwhelmed by the murderous march of red followed by screams that fell silent.

The Scarlet Witch was walking down the courtyard scorched by chaos magic. Kamar-taj rested in ashes, same as the corpses of masters who hadn't the strength to defend themselves. Sizzling fire accompanied Wanda's confidence. She examined the place, chinned-up, demanding a connection to the multiversal powers she once sensed miles away.

Breathing the fumes of victory was interrupted by a startle. Wanda's sight line chased a shadow whooshing through the blaze that got lost in a blink of an eye. She feasted on the burning horizon and felt the hot breeze pounding on her face, cooling down.

Wanda uttered a silent murmur of confusion right before she choked on her own words as something stopped her from moving. A dimensional traveler, the key to the Multiverse was supposed to be right in front of her. They were nowhere in sight. Was Stephen Strange trying to fool her? Ridiculous. She tilted her head investigating the void, "I know you're there. Show yourself!"

No response.

"Fine! Hide-and-seek it is," Witch chuckled. Her eyebrows fluttered as she raised her hand with a reddish shock wave sending shrapnel in a random direction. The chunk of the temple's pillar hit a blurry shadow that flickered out of reach. Her pupils followed the imaginative trail.

Her hands channeled the magic, sending it to the left with a flick and missed. Wanda tried again and again.

"You can't go and take what you believe your pain desires, Wanda," a voice reverberated.

Shadows engulfed and extinguished the flames. Scarlet Witch's head turned to see the mysterious shadowy figure approaching.

"The pain will stop growing only if you accept your deepest feelings. After all, some of us can't have everything we've ever dreamed of. But we have something way more valuable. Memories. Those are meant to hold us—"

Hex clashed with the opponent. Nick was flung into the air, landing in the rubble. He gasped and convulsed the pain spreading across his body, healing bit by bit.

"There's no us," Wanda responded, suppressing her anger, "Just give me America Chavez so we can end this for good."

Nexus blast set fire nearby. Nicholas watched the sky turn red as his heart pounded frantically, getting up scarcely likely.

The woman squinted, walking toward him, anticipating an additional lesson to learn about her being the multiversal threat. Oh, she murmured. It wasn't the Strange she interrogated above Kamar-Taj, rather it was his pocket copy.

"The Multiverse themself chose them not you!" Nicholas proclaimed enough to utter a cough and splutter, "You can't change it. You can't play the role of fate even if you wanted to. If you did. That. That would be the rampage of the doomsday."

"Them? I'm here for America's powers. I don't care about anyone else," Wanda Maximoff laughed forcefully. As soon as she perceived his lips quivering in dismay, he was stopped by a red glimmer, and lifted to the air, "Or should I?"

His throat tensed, impelling to gaze away but he couldn't.

"You sent the realmwalker," Nick strained through his teeth.

"I had to. Sending him was mercy from me. They are watchdogs seeking power in case Gargantos would fail in his purpose of capturing Miss America. The plan worked, I didn't need to put them into service. But that one was out of control. I tried to get rid of him. He was parasitized by a bloodhound god, craving something else."

She connected the dots. Before Nick could recover his thoughts of realization, the witch sent more destruction, "Why it didn't occur to me before... Of course. He was looking for you."

Nicholas figured that out right after the conversation with the supreme's assistant. She walked around him, observing him being caught up in the air against his will, trying to break free every second. He was slightly dropped down, forbidden to speak.

"You're an exquisite find."

Nick furrowed, hitching his breath coming for heartache. The red streaks held him tighter, wrapping around him and sealing his mouth.

She stroked his jaw, forcing him to look right at her, "Undeniably too exquisite to be part of this universe. Do you know that your stay could cause an incursion?"

Nicholas gulped, finding the harmless touch agonizing. He tried to resist, but the way she touched his torso lied weakness and pinned him down on his knees.

"Of course you do. You're that smart. We're the same. We both try to be careful with our decisions. See, I suggested a simple solution. One pity sacrifice. Those who would be willing to help me, I'd send to a universe where they would be the happiest. Despite everything, Stephen Strange refused, claiming that he was already happy, and not ready to give up on this world. I thought he was lying but now I understand," Wanda explained, having spite poking the bottom of her tongue, "the happiness somehow came to him by itself. All of a sudden. He didn't even have to try. So I asked myself. How come I can't have it but he can?"

"You're getting it wrong. Even if you succeed you wouldn't be able to make it. You can mimic the variant heart out, but deep down you're hollow. Love once felt can't be replaced, no matter how hard you try." Nick uttered, mirroring the hope he persisted to carry.

It almost looked like he was released from the magic grip as it unclasped for a second, someway taming the chaos, the only thing he had known his whole life.

"It's us who decide to use anger as a response to pain, not the people who caused it. Yes, we can't control emotions, however, we can control our actions. You can do it too if—"

"Like father, like son. The same words over and over!"

"No! Unlike him, I have faith that it's never too late. I believe you can change—" Nick's muscles went rigid in an instant, having his words heartlessly cut off.

Something slightly moved within him, a vile foreboding.

"Keep the faith for yourself, Nicholas Strange. I am sincerely grateful for your time and sacrifice."

Sacrifice?

She was pulling the marvel with chaos photons like a magnet. It hurt like the separation of pearl and oyster. He was panting. Panicking.

Nicholas' full-toned screams echoed through the temple. Shadows naturally parted around him, forming a protective barrier that shattered eventually. Darkness ran through her. Wanda's fingers twined, drawing the unknown power. The wounds burned as his heart skipped a few beats. Tears bubbled in his eyes. Blackout hurried in a whirl, isolating them from the world.

Nearly touching his chest, drinking in his abilities, she noticed the reduced vibrancy of her hands, creeping up her body like an infection.

Her eyes broadened, predicting an explosion.

"No!"

Light blasted their shadows across the courtyard. Magic grip relinquished Nick, energy slamming both to the ground. Scarlet chaos throbbed in circles, transmitting deafening waves which did nothing to the boy, the chaos killer.

Wanda staggered from the ground, consumed by darkness, similar to the unleashed power of the damned. She clawed with hands that glowed red, prying the intruder away. Shadow tightened, wrapping around her throat. It soaked through her eyes, right to her veins.

She gurgled. It drank the life from her. Her cheeks turned greyish and sunken, showing her true identity as a rotten witch.

Dust descended. Weakness strapped Nicholas down. All of his thoughts crumbled like the grime scraping his hands. He writhed with aflare pain growing inside his ribcage. Once he spat out the blood filling his mouth, tears welled up and his chest panted, shrinking, devouring on the spur of the moment.

His head stuttered, taunting his thoughtlessness and spiraling into death or glory.

Scarlet Witch sputtered heavily, scanning the dark figure approaching her just like the feeling of being helpless.

She was on the ropes. One step closer to death.

He raised his hand.

She closed her eyes, a final tear dribbling down the corner of her eye.

Nicholas ruled the grim to let the witch go, presenting what she should've done to all those innocents who perished by her hand. He could've killed her. He could. He had every right.

Yet he lent her a helping hand. Wanda looked up with hesitantly fluttering eyelids.

"It's always us," Nicholas declared, overpowering the ache, absorbing the quintessence, and restoring her illusion of youth, "we are the ones in control of our growth."

Nick felt oblivion. He looked behind his shoulder. He stared into the maw of the everlasting void, slowly going under, drowning in the infinite. His forehead creased, questioning this moment. Why did he always try so hard? Why did no one listen? He felt ghostly, like a soul at the edge of the abyss of perception.

"If only we could see it the same way..." Nicholas mumbled absently to the sound of buzzing radiation. She hadn't given up. Her hand trembled faintly, conjuring the deadliest maelstrom to ultimately break his faith. The rumbling carried on in the back of his head. Then it hit.

"...Morgan."

He glanced at her.

She wished she was more careful about knowing too much. The way she grinned, when he blurted out the name, made him unwell. Why didn't he notice earlier? She made it so real. He frowned, sick to his stomach. Being stabbed in the back with his own naivety was one of the worst feelings, numbering the craze.

"You are so easy to fool." She couldn't stop cackling.

Dazed, he grabbed her by the neck.

"No! Next time remember to bring a backup. Because I assure you... This was the last time I let you win." Nicholas whispered, pausing the seriousness. His voice trembled from being humiliated, conclusively releasing her.

She laughed him off at first till uncertainty brought forth chills.

"What if there won't be the next time?"

"What do you mean?"

"Oh. You don't remember? You ended it yourself. At the very exact second, you were blinded by the thought of being loved. You were right. Whatever lies in your hands, is instantly broken. Nothing will change that. Ever."

Morgan watched his eyes going absent, scattered all over as she brushed over his twinging chest in the expanding flash of a rainbow in which she turned into dust. He frowned, imitating her flicks. Something was missing. But what?

The Eye of Agamotto.

"No no no no..." 

What has he done? This couldn't be happening. Nicholas looked around. Dizzy. He wandered past the color-changing fog back to the place the blast occurred. Rainbow haze purged, unveiling golden glint.

His arm outreached for the medallion trapped in the middle of the debris. Dark mass sparked from his fingers, pulling the Eye of Agamotto closer to him. Hand impulsively opened the golden capsule. Shards fell right from it. He lurched, watching the fragmented time stone's green fade right in front of his eyes.

Nick collected the shards, clutching the broken ones in his hand. Splinters of the chaotic universe sweated his tainted palms in terms of liability. He lost the opportunity to correct his mistakes, now everyone lost the chance for a happier ending. 

It was all his fault.

A glimmer of hope flared in him when someone, fairly reminding him of well-being, grasped him to emphasize that the mare is over.

"Thank god! I thought I'd lost you for a moment." Stevie breathed. She stressed, trying to maintain eye contact after the scene change. Prism was leisurely erasing scenes in the background, replacing them with those that should've happened in the first place.

Stevie touched his face in order to nervously caress it but stopped, witnessing an open gash on his forehead, "You're—"

Bleeding, she gulped. Her hands stained with blood were burdened with blame that she left him all alone. Just like everybody else.

"We'll take care of it— We'll find help as soon as we get out of here and by that I mean as soon as possible. My mom! She knows how to deal with this kind of stuff. So you can go back home and show everyone that they were wrong about you."

"I can't!" 

Stevie gloomed, hurtfully pulling away from him in shock at his reaction, looking at the broken fragments in his hands, "Oh dear."

She had no idea what was worse.

"I was getting better. I was finally getting better," he said in broken tones, ignoring her concerns, sniveling. He should've left. He could prevent further damage. He could've saved lives. Yet he chose to destroy everything he had built to stave off the end of all. Whatever.

No one believed in him anyway.

"I know... I know... And you were doing great," she tried to calm him down by tucking in one of the curls behind his ear, having him eventually break free from her guilt-ridden touches.

He whimpered in pain as the blood drizzled down his bottom lip.

"Maybe, we can fix it! How about we glue it together? What wouldn't tape fix, am I right?" Stevie tried to make light of this heartbreaking situation.

Pieces of the broken time stone connected by darkness, like an aid. The jewel blackened and was carefully placed inside the medallion, now put on his neck. The Eye of Agamotto lost its beauty as well as Nick's smile that beamed so brightly every time she uttered a funny note.

He was ready to leave despite being covered in blood and dirt with no tears left to cry.

"Listen, I'm so sorry but I had no other choice. The cloak wanted me to stop the madness so I did." Stevie stuttered, suspecting her accountability, uncertain about her out-of-place apology. She chewed over her examination, following him.

"What cloak?"

Stevie pointed out the washed-out blue cloak of levitation collapsing on his shoulders right on time. He sneaked a look, remarking the familiar embroidery and silver details on the inverted red. He took it by the hem, just as soon as the unforeseen breeze ruffled his hair swooshing through burnt pillars.

"What a shame. She was my mutual's favorite to role-play. Once they find out about her going nuts, they will call it quits. Which I won't allow because I love their imagines," she sniffled, "See, Wanda is the type of a person that gives out kisses on the cheek, not blows. Anyways that reminds me of how I once role-played Dr. Strange during the infinity event on Roblox—"

The whizzing void interrupted her, concealing her words into a vacuum.

Nick's gaze emotionlessly caved in, rubbing the sling ring, "Vie? What madness did you wish to stop exactly?"

"I dunno. Yours?" She wondered quietly.

Oh.

Of course, she quickly wished everything to return to its original state. A rainbow tidal wave interrupted her, turning supersonic. Nicholas quickly grabbed her hand and pulled her closer. The cloak flew in with sparks and covered them from the Multiversal breach, tearing through the dimensional gate, taking its sacrifices that reality couldn't hold anymore.

It was time for the erratum as the future was dying.

Once and for all.

With this chapter, I am happy to announce the end of the first act!
I'm not so very amused by it because I had read it multiple times
that the words don't look like words anymore, so please bear with me.

Anyways I hinted so much in this chapter
you'll see (hopefully) in the future updates.
So what are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments <3