Glitch | Stephen Strange ✓

seven | breaking point

Water splashed, dripping onto Talia as her hair hung down along her back. The purple robes she wore were not the thickest, so she could feel the chill of the damp.

"Where did she go?" America questioned, quietly.

To answer the question, the Scarlet Witch jumped out from the shadows. Appearing more shadow herself, the darkness made her red eyes pop. America screamed with Talia stumbling into the teenager, finding her heart about to explode.

The Scarlet Witch was injured, but that did not stop her. As if she was possessed, she dragged herself towards them with Talia's eyes so wide from fright and shock. While Talia knew the witch was mad, this was a whole new level.

The witch panted, uncaring of how bloody she was — uncaring of how many lives she had taken to get to this point.

"I warned you," said the witch.

"Other Wanda, if you are in there," Stephen tried to reach her. "Hold your breath."

Then, an amber gold appeared with Stephen's hands sparking with magic. Bending down, Stephen's hand slammed fat against the ground of the tunnel. Around them, the tunnel became golden with the magic flaring, causing cracks in the stone bricks above them as the water spurted through.

As the roof caved in, Talia's weapons had vanished in a puff of purple smoke, where she was then ushering America to start running again. Behind them, Stephen followed with Christine close to the two, hand pressing another button to close the vault behind them, blocking the wave of water.

"Did you kill her?" America questioned as they ran.

"No," Stephen answered. "I just brought us some time."

They came to a stop, leading to another storage room at the end of the tunnel.

"The books through here," Christine announced as they came to a stop at a bunker-like door. "But only Stephen's ever opened it."

There was a white wheel, where it seemed so simple to open, but Talia knew better than that. Knowing Stephen, he would have chosen something so obviously simple on purpose, yet only he would know how to open the door.

"I hope you know how to open it," Talia told him.

"So do I," Stephen said.

His fingertips touched, sparking the magic again. The eye-like clasp of his cloak opened as Stephen's hands pulled apart, where the artefact glowed. With the power, the wheel turned, jamming tightly, and then the amber magic faded away.

Stephen sighed. "The spell would be specific to something only I would know," he muttered to himself, ignoring how Christine had spoken his name. "Come on."

"Stephen," said Christine more loudly, catching Talia's attention.

The red-headed woman held up a watch that Talia recognised, though this one was cracked, the hands not moving. For their fourth wedding anniversary — the last before she had vanished or had even been thinking about leaving him — Talia had gifted her husband a watch. On the back she had it engraved with four simple words: I love you more.

Now, Talia's eyes fell on her husband, catching him staring down at his left hand, where Talia could still see the watch peeking out beneath his sleeve. Like Christine's watch, the glass was cracked. As Stephen looked up, his eyes met Talia's.

Maybe Talia was not just a glitch — maybe Talia was supposed to be with her Stephen. Instead of Christine, Talia had been the one for him. They had their own unique version that no other Strange would experience.