The Scarlet Apprentice 2: The Multiverse Between Us

Breaking away

"Bucky, you hold them off on the left, Sam's got the right," Wong ordered.

In the little time the team had to recover after Agatha's first attempt at weakening them, more reinforcements began attacking. Perfectly sculpted soldiers - crafted from head to toe with an amethyst shine - flooded from the clouds and charged for the team. They were physical and able to be hit, but they were also strong and relentless. With no stamina or breathlessness, the army's programmed desire to rip the team apart was almost impossible to beat.

Despite how powerful and persistent they were, they weren't unbeatable. In fact, the more soldiers that rushed out of the smoke, the thinner the barrier between the team and Agatha became. She was powerful, but she wasn't powerful enough to expertly divide her focus between the fleet of soldiers and her only source of protection.

The team fought them off well, with the powerful ones in the middle and Bucky and Sam at the edges making sure none of them could flank the team. No matter how genius their strategy seemed to be, they soon became exhausted and distressed as more emerged from the mist.

"We've got to do something," Wong shouted, knocking down a group of soldiers with a whip of energy, "we can't win like this."

When y/n saw that Wanda and Strange were not listening to the conversation, she ordered, "Sam and Bucky, keep making sure they can't get behind us. Our only advantage is getting them before they're too close. Wong, cover me," she took a breath, "I'm going to end this."

Y/n was still considerably far from the wall shielding Agatha, but she soon began approaching it as she ran through the flood of soldiers. After smashing them down and dodging their hits, she found herself in an open and empty part of the field, which provided a clear path to the end goal.

As she ran, the ground began losing its firmness. The dirt fell soft at her feet and only grew softer until she fell to her knees at the shift in the terrain. The moment she hit the floor, she hadn't a second to get back up until something began pushing her down even further. Trees from the nearby forest were pulled from their roots and forced on top of y/n, making it impossible for her to escape. Just when she thought she could get away from the trap, more and more trees piled on top of her and forced her to lie down, stuck under their build.

She thought it was Agatha at first, but when she saw that the trees were being brought over by a beam of Strange's energy, she realised what was truly happening.

The trees that were placed down caved in and sculpted themselves around her. At first, it was a perfectly crafted trap to keep y/n away, but when Strange lost control while fighting off the army of made, things began to go wrong.

The thick wood began to push itself into y/n without strange realising it. Only when she yelled out in agony did he realise that he hadn't been paying attention. Even when he knew what he was doing, he kept the barricade on her, hearing how much it was hurting her.

Branches scratched and cut at her legs while the trees bent themselves even more to encase the witch. No matter how much y/n yelled out in pain or for help, she was ignored.

"WANDA!" She yelled out, knowing that Wanda would rush to help her no matter what she was dealing with.

However, when she saw how Wanda refused to look at her - how she only ever looked at Strange when hearing the pained cries, y/n realised. This was some kind of deal, plan, strategy that the two had agreed on.

Again, as Strange ducked from danger, the tree branches were dug deeply into y/n's leg, her arm, and her back. Her pained cries for help were discarded as pleas to be let out, and so they were ignored. Wanda winced with every shout she heard from y/n, but she did nothing. If anyone would've looked at y/n, they would've realised that the trap was slowly killing her, rather than protecting her.

Y/n managed to pull her tear stained eyes up from the ground for just enough time to see Wanda heading towards the storm - towards the end. The closer Wanda got, the louder y/n shouted, and the harder everyone had to fight to ignore it.

"PLEASE!" Her voice strained as she begged, "NO- PLEASE, STRANGE, YOU HAVE TO HELP ME!"

Strange said nothing. He didn't even look at her, not even to provide a glance of comfort. Y/n balled her fists, digging them into the dirt below her as she tried to push herself up. It was useless. With the wood pinning her down and the branches cutting deeper with every movement, y/n could do nothing.

She dropped down again, her tears falling to the mud, watering the ground. "STEPHEN," she sobbed, her words barely forming a sentence, "PLEASE. SOMEBODY."

When nobody answered once again, she realised that she could only rely on herself. Her pain and sadness and frustration had only built up during her imprisonment, and seeing Wanda nearing the end was enough to push her over the edge.

Digging her hands into the ground, y/n's efforts and emotions flooded from her fingertips and every other part of her aching body. Within a matter of seconds, the wood was flung from her and the branches were ripped from her skin. The residue flew away and caught the attention of the rest of the team as they panicked to find a way to stop y/n whilst also fighting off Agatha's army.

Covered in cuts and dirt and her own blood, she ran for Wanda. Pain darted up her leg with every step she took to get closer. Her eyes stayed glued to Wanda, watching her dodge soldiers and protect herself as she headed for the storm.

Moments before y/n could be within reach of Wanda, a rope of energy was casted around her leg, pulling her down to the ground with no remorse. Again, she grunted in pain as her wounds were met with the dirt once more, but she instantly turned to see where the rope came from. Of course, it belonged to Strange.

"I can't let you do this," he called over to her. Whilst gripping the rope with one hand, his other was occupied with wafting away the next emerging wave of soldiers.

While grunting away the pain in her body, she nodded her head in the direction of Sam and Bucky, who were barely managing to protect themselves. Strange turned and saw what she was hinting to, then looked back at y/n.

"You've got to help them, Strange," y/n told him, knowing that he'd have to let her go.

"No," he shook his head, "please, no."

"I'm sorry," she looked at him with sincerity one last time before harshly bringing her arm down to cut the rope that tied them together.

The moment she was free, she forced herself back on her feet and ran for Wanda again. Panting heavily and forcing herself to block out the pain, she sped up to catch up to Wanda.

When she was close enough, she realised that she only had merely seconds to save Wanda.

Without wasting any more time, y/n leapt in front of Wanda, and time seemed to slow when their eyes met for the last time. With her back to the storm, y/n shot a blast at Wanda; a blast strong enough to push her to safety whilst forcing herself backwards through the thickness of the storm.

As tears collected at Wanda's eyes while she slid across the ground and away from danger, y/n shut her eyes and allowed herself to glide through Agatha's barrier, knowing that it would be one of the last things she'd do.