Her blue eyes went wide as she looked down to her hands, being able to see the ground through her own body. She floated above in the air as her lifeless physical body collided with the floor by the pot of green plants "oh my God oh my God oh my God" she said frantically, examining her transparent floating body "w-what did you do?! What the-" she dropped down to her feet, being able to stick her hands inside of one another like some sort of hologram.
"Are you ready to listen now?" The woman questioned, putting her arms down at her side.
Jessi gritted her teeth, the heart in her chest beating a mile a minute when she saw her physical body laying passed out on the ground "listen?! No, you listen here-!" she was about come up with some random, offensive nickname like Caillou or Charlie Brown, but her common sense got the best of her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, knowing full well that this person has far more authority then she ever could in her lifetime "Look" she said slowly, opening her eyes back up "My name is Jessi Stark"
"I know" she crossed her arms "and you're here for Doctor Strange, whom I haven't met quite yet, so you must be from the future" Jessi pressed her lips into a thin line and gave a shrug in response "and I'm only assuming that something has gone wrong where you're from, meaning that you must come to the past to try and correct the mistakes that were made"
"I've come for the time stone" she stepped forward, clasping her hands together "We need it, to bring back all of the people who were killed in my time, billions and billions of people!"
"I cannot"
"Please!"
"I'm sorry" she turned and began to walk away around the bed of flowers "I can't help you, Jessica. If I give up the Time Stone to help your reality, I'm dooming my own. I cannot, I'm sorry"
"Wait, whoa whoa hold on, wait-" Jessi chased over her, hopping over her own body on the floor "I've done some research on time travel, watched some movies too. And I don't think that's- that's correct. Your reality won't be doomed, we're just-"
The sorcerer supreme halted her, extending her hand out as Jessi skidded to a pause. With a swift movement of her other hand, she created an orange, visual demonstration of the infinity stones. The long line of orange energy shot across the roof and out into the city. Jessi watched it weave through the buildings "The Infinity Stones create what you experience as the flow of time" the sorcerer began, and as she spoke, the six stones appeared and circled around the orange stream "Remove one of the stones, and that flow splits" she picked up the green stone, and a dark stream of energy emerged out from the orange one like the branch of a tree "Now this may benefit your reality. But my new one, not so much. In this new branched reality, without our chief weapon against the forces of darkness, our world will be overrun. Millions will suffer"
Jessi understood all of what she was saying. She saw how this new dark, alternate time could destroy an entire timeline. She had never even began to think that there were timelines other than her own, the thought never crossed her mind. She wasn't the only Jessi out there "Okay, well... It's not like we're going to keep the stone" Jessi lifted her finger "How about this, once we're done with the stone, we can return it back to you, we'll return each one into its own timeline at the exact moment that it was taken. So... it'll be as if it never left. Would that work?"
"I suppose it could, but you're leaving out the most important part" she allowed for the orange demonstration to fade, and the line dispersed into the thin air "In order to return the stones, you'd have to survive" she said gravely.
"We can, I know it" she placed her fingers to her sternum "We've made it this far"
"I don't know if I can believe you" the sorcerer said skeptically, her eyes remaining on Jessi "I cannot risk my reality for one that is not mine. I'm sorry to disappoint you, but now you should go"
"Oh, oh come on!" Jessi was complaining like a child by now, desperate to change the woman's mind.
She lifted her hand to silence her "It's the duty, of the Sorcerer Supreme to protect the Time Stone."
Jessi scoffed, glancing to the side as she placed her hand to her hip. That statement humored her in many ways "Protector of the time stone, hilarious. Then why the hell would Strange give it to me?"
The sorcerer paused swiftly, her ears pricking at that. She turned slightly on her feet to see the Stark. Jessi was rubbing her fingers through her short hair in a defeated manner, practically ready to give up because there just seemed to be no reasoning with this stubborn sorcerer. She's even more stubborn then Stephen ever was. The new tone present in the woman's voice caused for Jessi's eyebrow to raise "What did you say?" she asked in confusion. Jessi looked up to her, her head tilted to the side.
"Strange" she replied simply "Before he was taken away by this maniac named Thanos, the one who killed half of my universe, he gave me the time stone. So that's why it's funny when you tell me that he's the sole protector because... b-because that's what I saw, that's not what I experienced. He made me to the protector"
"Did he give it to you... willingly?"
"Yes! Willingly. Actually, I didn't even know it" she admitted in exasperation "I wasn't even aware that I had it. Maybe a few days or so after he was taken, I discovered the stone in my pocket of all places. He had given it to me secretly so that it could be safe, but in the end, Thanos got it" she finished her sentence on a low note, looking away from the woman as the traumatic memory resurfaced.
"Why? Why would he give it to you?" she questioned.
Jessi raised her arms up in a shrug, a confused smile present on her lips "I've been asking that same question for five years now, and I have no idea. Maybe..." she sighed, gazing momentarily at the city as she thought of the Doctor "maybe... he made a mistake, I don't know"
The sorcerer's eyes had settled on the middle distance as her lips parted in deep though "Or I did" she whispered with her eyebrows furrowed. Jessi crossed her arms, not being able to understand just what she was thinking. The woman looked her in the eyes again "Strange was meant to be the best of us"
"So..." Jessi began slowly "you think what?"
"... He must've done it for a reason" she breathed.
"He did" Jessi nodded slowly, extending her hand out towards the city to motion as she spoke "my Dad had told me that Strange looked into the future, and was able to see some fourteen million alternate futures. But... t-that has after he left, after he had given me the stone, so it just doesn't make sense as to why he would..."
"I do not know, but I know that we must trust his judgement. So-" the sorcerer took a step back and opened up the eye necklace that was around her neck, revealing the light from the stone "I trust Stephen Strange more than anyone" She used her thumb and pointer finger to lift the glowing green gem out from its holder. Jessi hesitantly went to take it, being reminded of what happen the last time she touched the stone. The memory of her hand closing around it, and the stone exploding painfully in her grasp as she tried to grab it before Thanos could take it. The sorcerer set the stone gently in her hand and closed her fingers around it, holding onto Jessi's momentarily "I'm counting on you, Jessi"
After that, she let go. Jessi held the stone in her palm, the light glowing against her skin "I won't fail you" she murmured, closing her eyes for a quick second then opening them back up "I won't". She returned back to her physical body with the stone, falling backwards and landing inside of her skin, before getting back up to her feet "Thank you" she nodded and took off into the blue sky towards Stark Tower. The Sorcerer supreme walked to the edge of the roof and watched her fly away into the city.
"I now see why you chose her, Doctor" she said quietly to herself, a smile creeping up on her pale lips "a bit stubborn, and... young-" she shrugged "but I understand".