She doesn't believe her eyes, nor should she. Her eyes say that her older sister is standing right here in front of her, and as much as her heart wants to believe it, her mind won't let her, for it knows the truth.
Natalia Alianovna Romanova is dead.
Her sister is dead.
Lauren's eyes prickle with tears as her heart and mind wrestle with one another, both fighting for a truth of their own as her mind is warped by a spell cast by the Scarlet Witch.
It flares her nerves and penetrates her way of thinking.
The lie is ever so tempting, that she's unable to look away. Her eyes are glued on the false reality in front of her.
Lauren takes one step, followed by a mountain of hesitation. She takes another step, and another, her legs feeling weighted down by gravity itself as she approaches the lie. She brings one shaking hand up to cup the cheek of the lie, and upon feeling the warm skin on her fingertips, she gasps.
Lauren stares deeply into the eyes of her sister as she holds her face in her hand, slowly falling into the trap and believing the lie.
She wants so deeply to give in, to accept this as true and to stay here forever, but she pulls her hand away.
" You're not real," Lauren whispers as she tries to see through the lie.
She begins to walk herself backwards.
" You're not real," She repeats, " This isn't real."
" What are you doing to yourself?"
The lie speaks, and Lauren pauses. She freezes in place, her eyes wide and unblinking as they stay locked on the lie.
" I'm..." Lauren starts, but finds herself unable to form a full sentence, " I'm..."
" Becoming the thing we tried so hard not to be," The lie states, " A bad guy."
" I'm not..." Lauren argues as she shakes her head, " I-I'm not a bad guy."
" Then why are you acting like one?"
It hits her all too hard, but she's in too deep to give up now. She takes a deep breath as she blinks away the tears.
" This isn't real," Lauren repeats as she stands up tall, " You are not real."
Mage closes her eyes to regain her focus and her composure. She inhales, and once she exhales her eyes open and the lie is gone. She doesn't allow her mind to be deceived anymore as she enters reality yet again. She can't stop now.
The room now sits barren and empty, and so she moves on from it. She walks through the temple to find an array of candles with the flame burnt out so recently that smoke still spirals from them. In the corner of the room is a pile of ash. Lauren kneels down next to it and picks up the ash in her hands, and as it falls back down, she feels the last bit of energy from the darkhold in her palm. It gives her a buzzing sensation in her charcoal clad hand, now dawning an appearance similar to Wanda.
She doesn't know how long she was trapped inside the false reality, but it was definitely too long.
Her elongated leather coat billow behind her as she walks to the outer training area of the temple. She looks up to the sky and sees the smoke rises up amid the death and destruction around.
Lauren lets out a huff.
Stephen is gone.
Wanda is gone.
Wong is gone.
And America is gone.
And she has no leads.
But alas, she's not one to give up.
Lauren lifts her palm, and her beloved mirror appears to her in a plume of black smoke as she summons it.
" Mirror mirror... show me the witch who ditched."
The mirror warbles as if its liquid as it transitions from a reflective state to one that shows the location of the red head. It shows Wanda with eyes closed as she levitates up in the air, surrounded by red chaos magic in the one place she's destined to be.
Mount Wundagore.
Lauren flicks the mirror away and it disappears in a flash. She attempts to shake off any remainders of the spell, but it still leaves her a little bit rocky.
She teleports herself to the place in which the darkhold was created, and instantly feels a pull in her stomach. It makes her uneasy to be sitting in a place of such dark and great power, but she powers on nonetheless. She approaches the witch who sits concentrated in her seance and feels the power radiating off of her.
Lauren sees Wanda's eyes appearing darker and more sunken. Her skin is pale and dewy, but her bones are tragic and distinct.
A rumbling of the temple catches her attention as she slowly turns her head back, only to find pale blue a star shaped portal open to an indifferent universe, with America Chavez being thrown through.
This is it. Now is her chance.
The portal closes, and Lauren marches towards the child with determination coursing through her veins.
" You're coming with me."
But as she grabs the multiversal traveler's arm, something unexplained and unexpected happens.
Their powers collide and collaborate.
America creates a portal to another universe and Lauren turns back the clock in it.
They land with a tumble, in an alternate universe, more than a decade in the past.
America groans as she puts her hands on the harden tar beneath her feet to prop herself up. She expects to have to fight for her life, but is met with something different. She sees Lauren, who's back is turned, staring off into the distance, and once America looks, she sees what has the sorcerer in shock.
Hundreds of yards away lies a young Lauren Stone, shaking hands with the one and only Steve Rogers. Only in this universe, her eyes do not turn pink... almost as if her powers do not exist.
Mage's mouth is agape, both her mind and body frozen as she's forced to watch from a third perspective that which she has already lived through.
A flash of green shines down and transports them to a little while down the road.
The Avengers parting ways for the very first time, and they see Lauren and Steve riding off into the sunset on his favorite motorcycle.
Another flash of green hits to show Lauren picking him up in D.C. after his run.
Another flash of green hits to show Lauren and Steve's very first kiss on the escalator in the mall.
Another flash, and they're kissing at Sam's house.
Another flash, and they're kissing at the graveyard.
A flash to show them playing pool at the Avengers Tower.
A flash to show their engagement in Sokovia.
And another to show their wedding.
A flash to show their mission in Lagos.
A flash to show Lauren hunched over a toilet at the Avengers Compound.
And a flash to show Steve fighting with everything he has in order to save his wife and his best friend.
A flash to show Steve kissing her round belly.
And a flash to show Lauren in labor as he holds her hand.
A flash to show their little baby wrapped in a blanket as they stare in awe.
And a flash to show both of their retirements.
A flash to show the baby's first steps.
A flash to show a birthday party with Aunt Natasha and Uncle Clint.
And a flash to show a picnic with Uncle Bucky and Uncle Sam.
A flash to show their child's graduation.
And a flash to show their old age taking over.
A flash to show them smiling at the sunset.
And a flash to show their final kiss, before death finally tears them apart.
America's star portal rumbles and activates once more, sucking them both back to Earth 616 and away from that which could have been.
Lauren instantly drops to her knees, feeling absolutely nothing yet absolutely everything all at once. Her heart pounds in her chest as her mind plagues her with the truth from an alternate reality.
A reality that could have been... if it wasn't for the billion to one cosmic fluke.
And the truth is something so simple, and yet so hard to accept.
That her powers have been the one thing that prevent her from being happy. That while she may be powerful, she will never be happy. Not with the power of the Infinity Stones at her finger tips.
That maybe it's her destiny to lose all those that which she loves.
That maybe a family is not the path for her.
That maybe this who have fallen were right.
That maybe she can never be together with the ones she loves.
That maybe the secrets of her creation were for her own good.
For she can never be happy if she has magic.
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[ i am not ready to end this series but we're getting there ]