Which witch which did it was it?, Part 1.

Arbor Mundi

"Dragon, please tell me one more time, why am I coming with you?"- Agatha Harkness asked.

"I'm looking for a witch so I might as well have a witch assist me."- Aragorn said with a beaming smile.

"It can't only be that! I doubt you need my help for that."- Agatha let her mistrust show on her demeanor.

"Ms. Harkness, I'm also doing a study on the effects time displacement has on Haloans. Your help will be greatly appreciated and rewarded."- Spark added.

'Are you also in on Wanda's getting laid scheme?'- Aragorn discreetly asked.

'Yes, she agreed to try a few of the new generation of high potions in return for my assistance.'- Spark answered.

'Similar here, I'm getting a spell for probability tempering.'- Aragorn confessed.

'That's interesting... Will you upload a copy in the Grand Repository of Knowledge?'- Spark asked, his intentions unmasked.

'Sure, Spark. I'll upload the optimized version once I'm done with it.'

"How much of a reward are we talking about here?"- Agatha asked, a glimmer of interest in her eyes.

"I can give you 1 favor."- Spark offered.

"Make it 1.75 and you've got a deal."- Agatha countered.

"... Okay, 1.75 favors."- Spark agreed.

'What the heck is 0.75 of a favor? What do you do with it?'- Aragorn asked.

'One of the little ones gave another half a favor, giving ideas to some of the maids. One thing and capitalism lead to another and now we divide favors by the centesimal point.'-

'I still find it hard to believe that the official currency of the Crystal is 'The Favor'. 'Shines' would have been better.'- Aragorn lamented.

'I thought 'The Spark'.'- Spark said.

'... Yeah, that's a currency I could invest in.'- Aragorn confessed to Spark's sentiment.

"Alright, let's go then. Spark, remember that you'll be the only one we will meet in the past so make sure to protect yourself from the temporal reinstatement."- Aragorn reminded the AI with perfect memory.

"Noted. Safe travels, Master Chief."- Spark answered.

"So?... How do we do this?"- Agatha asked, some anticipation mixed in her voice.

"Like this!"

Aragorn enveloped her in a barrier, to isolate her from the time flow, and then he stopped following the flow of time. 

The way time flows—and is perceived by Aragorn—is similar to the laminar flow of water from a huge hose. Aragorn moves at the same speed as the flow of water, but if he wants to go to the past—the water behind him—all he has to do is stop moving and let the past 'catch up' to him and then move again at the speed of the flow to stay in the past.

Agatha certainly doesn't have Aragorn's innate maneuverability for time, so Aragorn isolated her from the flow and dragged the bubble containing her with him. 

To the normal—non-draconic—eyes, it looks like the record of the world is being played back at high speed. To Aragorn, it feels as natural as stopping moving—this is the case because Aragorn experiences time in a similar way to how humans experience the three spatial dimensions.

They see the scenes of the past month play backward, the birth of the tree, the arrival of something and Gaea, the hole in space, something jumping into the door, the green explosion that gave birth to the green door, the mundane lives of the citizens of Santiago... and then it stops, they returned to the same speed of the flow of time.

Santiago, Chile, in its previous splendor stands before them. Millions of soon-to-be-dead citizens enjoy their day-to-day lives. 

"Aragorn, that was strange."- Agatha commented as he flew them to the epicenter of the event. A slight displacement in the spatial location is expected.

"What was?"- Aragorn asked as he tapped on his P-Link to send Spark the package of info pertaining to their circumstances.

"I didn't see you during the 'playback'."- Agatha explains. 

"Oh, that! You'll see when my past self takes action. Patience, MotherWitch."- Aragorn cryptically says.

Not long after, they landed close to where the Green Door was opened.

"Who do you think it was?"- Aragorn asks after making sure they were undetectable by anything other than Spark.

"No witch that I know would willingly destroy herself, witches are selfish to an extent. If the objective were something like world destruction, I would have more than a few suggestions. Even world domination makes sense, but not universal ending—that helps no one that I know of—What about you?"- Agatha.

"I think Selene Galio is somehow involved."

"Oh, her..."- Agatha said before going silent to think about this possibility.

"She fits in my previous statement. She is power-hungry, lacks empathy, has an inflated sense of self-importance, believes she is superior to others, is manipulative, lacks remorse, is superficially charming, and like most immortals... she is extremely bored. But even then, she wouldn't put her oh-so-important behind on the line."- Agatha said with some conviction after thinking more seriously about it. 

"I thought so, but I think that someone is manipulating stuff from behind the scenes."- Aragorn.

"What do you mean?"- Agatha asked.

"There are various parties involved in the opening of the door. We have the witch, the Shi'ar, and Xavier. We know Xavier was simply idiotic and nobody manipulated his ass, he simply didn't like me and liked the Shi'ar better. Next, we have the Shi'ar, somehow they got in contact with this witch to create a distraction big enough to involve me. And finally, the mystery witch, who should have known nothing about me, Jean, and our conflict with the Shi'ar."

"The missing piece in this puzzle is whoever put the witch in contact with the Shi'ar."- Agatha said after thinking over what Aragorn explained.

"Exactly! Xavier knew the Shi'ar, he knew Jean, and he knew me. The Shi'ar knew about 'Aragorn the Shine Dragon (Overlord of Earth)' and they knew of Xavier. Xavier told them about Jean being the Phoenix's host and both parties knew about me being the custodian of Jean."

"... Ah, I see! You mean to say that even though they had all the info they couldn't take action because they knew you would stop them. They knew of Jean long before through Xavier but they didn't abduct the girl, which implies that they didn't have a way to distract you. Hence, a fourth party most likely exists responsible for putting in contact the Shi'ar with the witch who possibly knew of the method to distract you..."- Agatha connected the dots.

"Yes, that's what Spark and I thought. This fourth party was someone who either wanted to kill me or end it ALL... Or they didn't know how dangerous the being on the other side of the door was. It should also be someone who had extensive information about the workings of the universe since most can't willingly open a semi-stable path to the Below Place."- Aragorn said.

"But how does that correlate with Selene Galio?"- Agatha asked.

"I can answer that, Future Ms. Harkness."- Spark appeared from Aragorn's P-Link.

"The Master Chief and my future self discovered a few companies that benefitted from the downfall of Chile, whether directly or indirectly. On the surface, all these companies are unrelated, they operate in different sectors of the market and they originate from different countries, it's normally impossible to find the string connecting them all, but my future self did..."- Spark projected names and brands and a few transactions or seemingly coincidentally benefits that these organizations got after the fall of Santiago.

"The Hellfire Club?"- Agatha asked.

"Correct! The connection is very thin, which is why we are not sure but we know that at least they profited one way or the other from the tragedy."- Spark concluded.

"It's of course not conclusive evidence, since the rich usually find ways to profit no matter the circumstances."- Aragorn said.

"So that's why you said her name... But I still don't think this would be her modus operandi. If it was her, she would have preferred a more direct method of reward. She doesn't lack money, she is immortal she would never lack funds, what she lusts for is life force. She would have sacrificed these 5 million lives to herself, not to the unreachable destination they went to—The Below Place."- Agatha.

"That's why I think there's a fourth party involved. Someone who managed to force Selene into this suicidal feat and someone who wanted me or this universe dead. Someone who knew I was hard to kill—if it's the former—and that my killing would warrant extreme measures."- Aragorn explained.

"Couldn't it have been the devil? You had a running-in with him, didn't you?"- Agatha asked.

"My initial conclusion was the same."- Spark said.

"He would have died with the rest of this universe, and the only way of escaping this place was through Otherworld, but Barbie followed standard protocols and she severed the connection this universe had with Otherworld when the energy of the Green Door was registered."- Aragorn explained.

"Barbie?"- Agatha asked for clarification.

"Opal Luna Saturnyne."- Aragorn made an illusion of her.

"Oh, the Omniversal Majestrix of the Dimensional Development Court. Hahahaha! She does look like a Barbie."- Agatha found it hilarious.

"So, what now? Why did you get us here 12 hours before the event?"- Agatha.

"... Because I didn't know if the witch made her appearance way before the door was opened or just right as it did."- Aragorn looked away in the most nonsuspicious way he could.

"I also need to run a few tests on you, Ms. Harkness."- Spark pulled attention away from Aragorn's suspicious expression.

"I'll set the place ready."- Aragorn said and began to pull a couple of bean bags out of his storage and some refreshments. 

The following hours were spent playing Monopoly and Uno while Spark ran test after test on the fox witch. About 5 hours before the event, Agatha fell to the temptation and allowed Aragorn to give her tails the premium finish he usually gives Emma's... Her life was never the same after that.

A few minutes before the door she asked something that's been on her mind for a while now. 

"Aragorn, how come we are not saving any of these people? I know we are not the paragon of goodness but don't we usually save the victims we can?"- She ran a hand through the only tail she managed to pry from the dragon's claws and enjoyed the impossibly softness of her fur—Aragorn held hostage the other 5.

"We can't. You can't see their souls but theirs are claimed—marked—already. When The-One-Below-All's destruction claims you... you can never go back. There's no saving anyone here."- Aragorn lamented. 

"... That's b-"- Agatha started but was interrupted.

"She is here."- Aragorn's eyes flashed red for a moment.

A tall black-haired woman, draped in black, carrying a crying baby who gave unhealthy amounts of radiation off, walked through the streets, she dragged the shadows behind her and this was in a literal sense for she controlled them.

While people ignored her like she wasn't there—like they lived in separate phases—she walked past the Dragon and Witch—none the wiser—and then put the babe on the cold floor and surrounded it with pieces of a dark greenish rock.

"Do not blame yourself, do not blame me, do not grieve for them, do not blame the world for from this moment on you won't be able to blame anything... You may find solace in the company of the millions that will follow your path. This is not what I nor you wanted, but such is reality. In the face of power that can bend my will, you are as inconsequential as the others in this city... I'm sorry... I truly am."- She said to the wailing innocent baby. 

This was her farewell message before a massive magic circle flashed and the baby transformed into a lump of veiny green flesh and a humongous neon green door opened.

People had about a second to analyze the situation before they dropped dead. There were no cries, no wails, no panic, no pain, just almost instantaneous death which followed after a green flash of EGR.

"She was not as remorseless as you said."- Aragorn said while he summoned the staff carrying the Soul Stone and used it to place a tracker on her soul without her knowing.

"She is different from the last time I saw her..."- Agatha moved her sight away from the lump of suffering that used to be a baby.

He returned the staff to Halo and used his eyes and psionic energy control to analyze her being.

"This... makes no sense."- Aragorn commented and looked in another direction, peering through veils, space, dimensions, and more until his eyes rested on the panicking form of Mephistopheles.

Selene Galio opened a portal and walked away with her head down, only taking a quick look back when the portal was about to close. Self-loathing and pain were apparent in her face, while her eyes were red in color—even the sclera.

"What doesn't? Her suicidal behavior? Her trying to take us with her?"- Asked Agatha with barely contained rage.

"There is an energy signature monitoring her soul which belongs to Mephisto, but that guy is in as much panic as the rest of the people in the know... Fuck! It's probably another Mephisto or worse, the Council of Red."- Aragorn cursed.

"What is that?"- Agatha asked, her eyes unmoving from the massive door.

"An association of Mephistos from other realities, but they shouldn't be here. As far as I know, there's literally nothing that could help their agenda here."

*BOOOM!*- A massive Aragorn-shaped blob of reality appeared, it looked like someone took water from the most crystalline lake in the world and then made it take the shape of Aragorn. Except it was made of reality.

"... So that's what happens... Reality is trying to fill the hole you left by supplanting you."- Agatha commented.

Reality loathes paradoxes, and since there can't be a past without Aragorn or an Aragorn in the past, it takes his role throughout the past—and future if there's any.

"To me, it looks and reads like the Master Chief."- Spark said.

"What's their agenda?"- Agatha asked, this time closely following the actions of RealityAragorn.

"They want to release a guy called the First Firmament from a place called the God Quarry to shape reality as they please... Oh! I think... maybe Mephisto-616 manipulated the council into releasing TOBA to end the multiverse."- Aragorn mused out loud.

"Suicide? Another one? After this is over it might not be a bad idea to repay him for the lost souls with a breath of erasure..."- Agatha gnashed.

"Damnation! Why can't they just die without involving the rest of us who don't want to?"- She cursed.

"Let's go back, I have a witch to hunt for, and then figure out how to deal with the council."- Aragorn's tone was laced with annoyance. 

"I have everything future me needs, thank you for your help, Ms. Harkness."- Spark said before disconnecting from the P-Link.

Aragorn encased Agatha and moved to catch up to the present. When they returned they were back where they left, just 12 hours ahead.

"Hey, I just thought this, but why did you take us 12 hours from when we left if you could have dropped us just a moment after?"- Agatha asked.

"And add 12 extra hours to my already old age? No, thank you."- Aragorn said with some skepticism and mockery in his voice.

"12 hours is like nothing compared to my age, compared to yours..."- Agatha said leaving the obvious question unasked.

"I should go look for the witch. Will you come with me?"- Aragorn ignored her.

"No, I'm good. I have a witch girl to look for..."- There was some solemness in her eyes.

Agatha had felt her seals had disappeared when she returned, there was a succubus that needed to answer some important questions about teen pregnancy.

Watching the witch portal away, Aragorn tapped his P-Link and sent the new info to Spark.

"Spark, put the girls on high alert until I find out if the Red Council dares to have any more machinations concerning my universe."- Aragorn's face turned draconic for a moment, but it soon returned to its usual self.

He raised a hand for the staff of the Soul Stone and with a subtle pulse he found the location of Selene Galio. The stone was returned to Halo and Aragorn jumped into where the soul of the witch rested. 

Nova Roma

A city reminiscent of ancient Rome, surrounded by the Amazon Jungle, the marble white buildings contrasted splendidly with the green forest. About 50,000 citizens inhabited this hidden jewel. 

In a domus of grand and elaborate architecture—without losing its Roman flare—the Dark Priestess resided. 

"Come out!"- She ordered.

"Who says I'm hiding?"- Aragorn responded by manifesting like the Chesire Cat. Smile first followed by his eyes, horns, tail, and then the rest of him.

"... Mr. Abner, Don't you know how unattractive it is to teleport into a maiden's room?"- Selene said—in recognition—hiding behind her seductive demeanor.

She only knew someone was there because of the intuition she had honed throughout her seventeen thousand years of life.

"Why would I care about that? There's no maiden here, is there? All I see is a witch that shouldn't have opened the door that day."- Aragorn reached for her head.

Her eyes wide open now, terror ensuing, and a determination to end the intruder's life burst forward.

She snapped her fingers, hoping for something... which didn't happen. She waved a hand trying to manipulate the energy in the room... which didn't happen. She used her internal well of life force—life force she'd been accumulating for millennia—once more nothing happened. She desperately tried every trick in her bag. Spells, conjuration, curses, nothing worked!

"Submit, I will spare you, your life is not at risk... for the moment... I just want some information."- The witch tried to move away, but Aragorn had long since restricted her body in a barrier. 

She tried to summon the help of the shadows but something was interfering, her telekinesis was just as useless. Telepathy? She wouldn't dare to intrude into the mind of a telepath officially acknowledged as the strongest in the known world, even if she was eight hundred times his age. There was only one last resort...

Aragorn carefully grabbed her head by the side of her ears—her black hair falling over his fingers—he caressed her scalp softly with his action and she smiled wickedly for she had won! She tried to siphon his life force... but nothing happened. Seeing the confusion on her face Aragorn said:

"There can't be life force in something that isn't alive, can there?"- Her eyes fluttered for a moment before she fell asleep and Aragorn invaded her mind.

"What a mess..."- Aragorn mused.

The truth was that a possessed individual approached the Hellfire Club about a promising deal, "A two by the price of one if you will," he said. They would sell their services to certain extraterrestrial operatives who were having a hard time extracting an asset—Jean Grey—in return, they would be handsomely remunerated and be given information about a certain blonde mutant whose clone they lost.

Sebastian Shaw saw this as an opportunity to get his hands on alien tech, a thought various members of the club shared. There was some cautious reluctance by the more level-headed associates, "Why did you decide to approach us?" one of them asked. However, the possessed individual explained that they approached them specifically to get the help of Selene Galio.

Understanding that the transaction looked legitimate enough, the reluctance seemed to be dispelled, greed was majorly responsible for this flawed way of thinking.

Another member asked for the reproductive organs of Jean Grey—Essex, no doubt—and a few details were ironed out.

All of this happened while Selene was away—her descendant, Amara Aquilla, had disappeared from her residence in Nova Roma—when she returned—looking to enlist the help of the Hellfire Club in her search—and was presented with the deal she felt that something seemed wrong, 'It seems too coincidental,' she thought.

She asked what they needed from her—her peers barely could contain their greed—the possessed individual explained that she just had to use a vessel and establish a semi-permanent anchor between this vessel and a certain dimension. The individual explained that the vessel had to be under the age of 6 months and that it had to be highly resistant to radiation poisoning.

A certain member of the club—who had previously requested the reproductive organs of Jean Grey—said he had the perfect match in a newborn he had found that had been spiking the Geiger counters all around South America the past weeks.

Selene declined, not being willing to stain her hands with innocent blood. A change in character happened a few centuries ago when she gave birth to the first of her descendants.

This didn't please the possessed individual, who burst into flames leaving behind an enraged flaming skeleton. The Ghost Rider complained, "You're not supposed to be like this, Dark Priestess!" and then claimed to have taken hostage Amara Aquilla. 

Left with no other choice Selene followed through with the preparations for the summoning ritual and the Hellfire Club went to move their chess pieces on the supposition that probably something bad was going to happen in Chile. This was not their first time dealing with this type of situation.

"Why is Essex part of the Hellfire club?... I guess... as expected from a doomed reality."- Aragorn said out loud, some resignation laced in his tone.

Aragorn looked through the dimensional veil, at a certain devil, and said:

'Mephistopheles, you gave your contract with the Ghost Rider to another version of you...'- The extradimensional devil in question jumped in alertness when he heard Aragorn's voice in his head. 

He looked around until it found the thread of concealed psionic energy and followed it back, to look eye-to-eye with Aragorn.

'... Yes... He almost killed me along with the rest of this forsaken universe in his machinations! I can't take the contract back if that's why you're contacting me.'- Mephisto said solemnly.

'No. You don't have to do anything, you've done enough. You had to go to the Council of Red and blab about me, didn't you?! Just stay put and do nothing. I don't think I need to tell you that they are not your allies, do I?'- Aragorn ordered.

Mephisto shook his head in denial and a fierce expression marred his face, one filled with murderous rage.

'Do you have an Amara Aquilla in there? or do you know her whereabouts? Your Ghost Rider kidnapped her.'- Aragorn inquired.

'No. I lost contact with him as soon as I lost ownership. And what a waste that was, he was already my perfect tool, a husk that did what I asked.'- Mephisto confessed and lamented.

'Okay.'- Aragorn disconnected.

'I guess I will have to take ownership of his hell after I erase him.'- Aragorn thought to himself as he decided the future of the devil.

"Wake up!"- Aragorn shouted and slapped Selene.

Selene jumped a little in alarm but soon enough glared at Aragorn.

"... Did you get what you wanted?"- Selene answered, her eyes changing red as she tried to cast. Rage abundant.

"Stop that. It's futile, even if I let myself be killed you could never possibly do it."- Said Aragorn, and then released her.

"... *AGH!*"- The witch shouted as she tried to use her magic, but nothing happened. She couldn't even feel it. She couldn't accept it—her magic, her life force, all of it had always accompanied her throughout her life, and now? Now she couldn't feel any! She didn't want to accept it! She felt powerless, furious, afraid, resolute, and most of all, confused.

"Selena, wake up to reality! Nothing ever goes as planned in this accursed world!"- Aragorn said while checking off something on a small notebook he pulled out with a pen.

"You can't harm me you can't escape me, accept reality for what it is. Stop trying to delude yourself, you're too old for that."- Aragorn patiently said.

"What do you want? Are you here to kill me? You may not know this, but I can't die, so say what you want, and LEAVE!"- She demanded in frustration.

"You're mistaken. You can die in one way and I can make you disappear in another two. If I was here to kill you I would have overwritten 'Selene Galio' from your head and built another in your place... I would have made you my pretty little slave and had you do whatever I demanded, and the best part is that you would've enjoyed it! Because I would have made you like that; you would think of me as your reason for being, your love, your god, your master, your everything! I would have made you 'be' only for me... Effectively killing you. Ego death might be worse than the normal type."- Aragorn smiled evilly as he remembered Xavier. 

'~Darling...- Death spoke in his mind.

'Oh, Noona?- Aragorn asked.

'Do you have a slave fetish?'

'I don't think so, I was being facetious.'- Aragorn responded.

'... Are you sure?'

'Yes.'

'Really sure?'

'...'

'...'

'... Do you have a slave fetish?'

'... :Shy: :Willing: :Thrilled: :Aroused: :Expectant: Of course not! But if you do... I don't mind trying it out...'

'... I've always wanted to have a sex slave #ChildhoodDream. You shall do, Noona! Be honored! You shall be my Onahole from this moment on! I accept no objections!'- Aragorn knew how to read obviously telegraphed innuendoes.

'~Hehehe'- She said before closing the telepathic channel.

"I could also destroy your soul. Not even you—Externals—can resurrect if there's nothing to return from."- He said offhandedly as he walked to her vanity and sampled her perfumes. 

He admitted to himself that she smelled great—intoxicating even—whatever she was using his girls would appreciate.

"You think I care about death? I'm old, kill me now if you will it, I would be grateful if you did. I need no waking up or whatever the shit you said. Just get this over with."- She walked to the minibar and brought out a bottle of high-proof alcohol.

"Even if I could help you find Amara Aquilla? Is she not the reason you took 5 million lives?"- Aragorn used a pipette and 'safeguarded' a few drops of the fragrance he liked, for later use in the fabricator.

"I DIDN'T TAKE THOSE LIVES WILLINGLY! It's the Ghost Rider's owner's fault! They took the girl from me! Was I supposed to let her die for people I had no love for?! What would you have done in my place?"- She shouted in rage.

"Oh, I'm not judging you. I would have done the same, and worse—much worse—for the ones I love. I would have taken an entire continent's worth of lives if that meant the lives of my loved ones. I don't think you should blame me for your helplessness, Selene. I'm simply telling you that she might be alive, I have business with her captors, and I have business with you. I'm suggesting an amenable collaboration between two not-exactly-enemies and not-exactly-friendlies, you and me."- Aragorn said.

He floated to Selene, who was about to serve herself a drink, he brought down a bottle from Halo and stopped her before serving her some of it.

"I've been told this one tastes better. I'm not much of an alcohol type of guy, but the reviews speak for themselves."- A honey-colored liquid with a few gold-glowing floating tendrils was served. It looked as if millimetric golden jellyfish were floating on the amber fluid.

She observed the mystical-looking fluid and drank it without much hesitation. The thing in front of her already held her life in its grasp, what use was there for poison?

"The reviews are entirely accurate, this is divine."- She said while seductively licking her black-tinted lips, not because she was trying to seduce the 'thing' in front of her, but because this way of moving, speaking, thinking, and acting was ingrained in her by years of faithful repetition.

"Who has the girl?"- She asked, icily.

"A Mephistopheles from another reality... Possibly a whole council of them, I'm still not clear on that part."- Aragorn confessed.

"She might as well be dead... and that would be the best case."- She commented, the sadness and resignation in her heart threatening to overflow. Her eyes grew misty.

"Seeing how you're a useful pawn and the failure of the previous plan... it's highly likely that they kept Amara alive."- Aragorn explained his conclusion.

"... I want a contract."- She asked without caring what he wanted. Why would she care about consequences when she was already responsible for the fall of Santiago? And this was just one entry in her long list of 'accomplishments'.

"Sure, witch. I'll sign as many as you want."- Aragorn smiled.

Soul contracts didn't really work on him, so he didn't care.

"... What do you want from me?"- She asked, after getting her desired confirmation.

"The Hellfire Club houses some members who live rent-free in my Shit-List. You can keep whatever pieces are left after I'm done with them. Oh! And you'll keep in contact with Hydra."

Aragorn sweetly smiled, yet his eyes turned red.

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{This Chapter was split due to word upload limitations.}