The Multiversal Road-Trip: Book Five

6

How did she answer this exactly?

Wanda took a long gulp of her tea to buy time to answer Loki's question, immediately regretting it since it was still scalding hot. Judging by his tone, he already knew what this was about. Well... he hadn't forgotten like she'd foolishly hoped. Part of her still regretted telling him anything at all, and part of her regretted not saying anything to Stephen or Scott. That's why she thought she may have been a little harsh forcing him into silence. Yeah, he hadn't cared, but it might have made things a little easier, now looking back on it-

"Wanda, they know," Loki's voice said, jolting her from her thoughts.

Oh yeah... it had been a while since they'd last spoke. She'd forgotten what talking to another telepath was like. But suddenly, she was put off her tea. Setting it down on the table, her face seemed to darken of its own accord. "So you told them."

"In his defence, I did kind of pressure him into it," Stephen broke in, raising his hand slightly. Loki's glance at him didn't go unnoticed by Wanda. He looked pretty surprised at Stephen defending him. "Honestly, I didn't really give him a choice."

Wanda shot a glance at Loki, alongside a telepathic message.

Did you tell them about the book I was studying?

To her relief, Loki gave a barely comprehensible shake of the head, and suddenly, she could breathe again. "Well, I suppose that's, at least, less for me to explain." A movement from the cloak caught her eye. "Hang on, I haven't been greeted."

"No, and that's odd," Scott frowned. "I nearly got a concussion from that cloak last time I appeared."

Suddenly she was glad she hadn't been greeted.

"The cloak's never been overly fond of you, to be honest," Stephen sighed, sipping his tea, and probably burning his mouth judging by the way he quickly retracted from it. "But anyway, please continue. I believe you were going to explain why you've summoned us here after all this time without contact."

Wanda fell back into her chair. They weren't going to like this. "Well, it's a long story. How much do you know?"

As Stephen and Scott took turns to explain, Wanda became more and more relaxed as she realised how little Loki had actually told them. Westview, while it was still a touchy subject, happened a long time ago, and surely it was common knowledge now that one of Earth's Mightiest Heroes had gone AWOL? She didn't really see how they hadn't already found out, unless it was kept a secret from literally everyone. Granted, she hadn't told Loki a lot about her... plan, but he was so ridiculously smart he'd probably already figured it out. In any case, he hadn't told either Scott or Stephen what it was, even if he had figured it out.

But the only thing she was bothered about was that he hadn't told Stephen the name of her spell-book. Being a wizard and all, he probably knew all about the Darkhold, and there was nothing less she wanted than a lecture from him about how she shouldn't be doing this. The book was not controlling her actions.

Creating rifts in the multiverse wasn't nearly as bad as it sounded. Especially when it was done for a good reason.

Stephen finished off his explanation but he didn't look like he was finished speaking yet, so Wanda waited for him to say something else. "Wanda, I... I'm really sorry. That I never realised how much grief you were going through. I never would've asked you to help me clear up the universe if I knew. I'm sorry."

Wanda shook her head, with a slight smile. "It's fine. I think I needed the distraction." Stephen opened his mouth to speak again, but she cut him off. "Don't insist on apologising, please. If we hadn't gone on those missions together, then we never would have met, would we?"

"That's true," Stephen smiled back. Wanda broke eye contact first, opting to look down at her tea on the coffee table, wondering whether or not to pick it up again.

"So then..." Scott started, and Wanda looked up again. But he didn't seem to know what he was going to say.

Wanda did. "The plan?"

Scott nodded, and Wanda sighed. She leant back in her chair and crossed her legs in it, as though that would protect her from her own words. "Well, I've been thinking. The universe is already broken. The multiverse has already unleashed chaos. So I don't see what's so wrong with messing it up a little more. That's why I've been studying a spell that will allow me to choose any timeline, out of the thousands, and get... get Vis and my kids back."

Unintentionally, her voice went small at the end. Wanda glanced up nervously to see her friends' reactions – Loki was unreadable as usual, but both Stephen and Scott's jaws fell open in unison. And she hadn't even told them the worst bit yet. "And... well, I want you guys to join me. If you wanted to."

"No," Stephen replied immediately, which hurt. Damn, that shouldn't have hurt as much as it did. "Wanda, you know we can't... can't..."

A new wave of determination suddenly overcame her. She put her feet back down onto the floor and looked straight at him. "Can't what? I can't have my family back?"

She barely even regretted what she said when Stephen shot her a surprised and almost hurt glance. "No, of course that's not what I meant! I'd love for you to have your family back Wanda, really I would, and I'd do anything to help you... except this."

Wanda stood. "You wouldn't do anything then, would you?" Well, this was to be expected, and she wasn't angry at him, just a little disappointed. "OK. What about you two?"

"Um, I dunno, I think I've got a thing," Scott stuttered.

"Fair enough," Wanda sighed, then she turned to Loki, hopefully. He wouldn't let her down, right?