84 Scarlet Witch, The Darkhold, Book of the Damned

***

"Boys, it is time to sleep," Wanda Maximoff clapped her hands with a smile on her pretty face.

Two boyish voices grumbled in unison as footsteps were heard. "AAH, mom!"

Wanda lovingly looked at the two bratty children.

They were her twins.

Her lifeline.

They meant everything to her and nothing could replace them.

Billy and Tommy were the names of her adorable twins.

Each one of them rushed to their own beds, waiting for her to tuck them in, appropriately.

"Mom, can't you just start with Tommy? Rituals first," Billy grumbled as soon as Wanda leaned down to touch the blanket.

Billy was a cute little boy with shoulder-length coffee brown hair.

"O-Okay then." Wanda decided to start with Tommy, who was usually the more obedient one of the two.

Billy was just the stubborn type.

"You can tuck me in, mom?" Tommy's childish voice made Wanda turn her attention to him.

Wanda sweetly smiled down at Tommy as she walked and sat on the bed, next to him."I will, unlike your stubborn brother."

"You know...a family is FOREVER," Wanda unconsciously brushed Tommy's short hair, her eyes adoringly looking at the smiling boy who just replied with a childish nod.

"We could never truly leave each other even if we tried." She looked back at the stubborn Billy with a motherly look.

Those were her sincere motherly teachings.

She wanted her children to depend on her more, their own mother.

Billy showed a pitiful, apologetic look."Mom, I changed my mind. You can come and tuck me in if you want."

"Okay," Wanda chuckled lightly with a smile and kissed Tommy's forehead before proceeding to Billy's bed.

She lightly brushed off his hair and gave him a pearly smile.

***

[SCARLET WITCH POV]

I hurriedly opened up my eyes with a foolish smile on my face before pursing my lips.

I had the same dream again.

My children.

My dear twins who I have missed so much that it hurts.

Every night, I had recurring dreams of my two babies in a possibly different reality plane.

Seeing their innocent and carefree smiles, unaware of the evils and atrocities of the outside world, maybe me eternally happy.

My children were still alive and kicking...it didn't matter even if they were my variants.

They were still mine.

My children and I would always have that connection forever.

We would never be separated.

I don't know what happened for me to be able to access the dream dimension and perceive the existence of the multiverse.

A larger playground out there filled with parallel versions of ourselves.

'All thanks go to the person behind this multiversal mess for giving me a chance to pursue my babies,' I thought as I sat up from the bed.

Yes, what I needed now was only the final catalyst to complete my plan...the Multiversal Traveling power.

The power to cross over realities...I deeply needed it and I could do anything just to claim that power as mine.

Oh, and the candidate just had to fall into my sight.

Fate was paving my path to eventual success.

I was quickly getting close to meeting my own children.

You can't blame my extremely potent maternal love.

The Darkhold currently in my possession had really helped me in pursuing that girl clad in a jean jacket, America.

"My little minions seemed to have already pushed the girl to my own universe," I muttered silently with a sly grin on my lips.

I climbed off the bed and looked at the vibrant brilliance of the sun rays penetrating through the window.

After a moment, I couldn't help but frown, my eyes squinted in concentration.

Eh, I felt something was amiss but I couldn't put a finger on what it was.

This only made me cautious and ruthless enough when someone interfered with my plan.

I had to be careful.

I didn't want any unstable elements and anomalies but since I was extremely confident in my magical powers, I relaxed a little bit.

What happened in Westview was something I didn't want to do anytime soon!

'I have already lost Pietro and my husband...I don't wanna lose my little babies anymore,' I thought with a sad expression on my face as scarlet chaos energy started to alter my surroundings into a corrupted, desolate domain.

The domain had no vibrant brilliance of the sun or the soft touch of nature.

It was a red world under the withering corruption of chaos and dark witchcraft.

In front of me was an ancient book that looked like the personification of madness and corruption, something otherworldly that shouldn't exist in this plane of existence.

The Darkhold.

The Book of the Damned made my wishes come true.

It only showed me the way.

"A mother must do whatever can be done for her children, Strange."

By sun dawn, I wanted to visit Kamar Taj.

It was inevitable for me to fight the masters of mystic arts and the best sorcerer Dr.Stephen Strange.

***

[NOAH'S POV]

"You know of the Time Stone?" Dr.Strange asked with a serious expression on his face.

I reckon that was something that only he, Wong, and the Avengers knew about.

"Hmph, of course, I know of the Infinity Stones," I scoffed while I stared at America who was still looking at me warily.

"I am not the one after you, girl."

I had to reassure the cute, helpless thing.

"How can I trust your words when you are some unknown person who just had to pop out of who god knows where when I am currently on the run? Doesn't that look too suspicious?" She spoke quickly in an uneasy tone, clearly shifting nervously in her seat.

"Yeah, it's sus. But I can at least do this to open your eyes...look here Strange," I smiled, unbothered by America's wariness.

I lifted my hand and imagined the structural build-up of the Time Stone, and proceeded to form its colloidal particles at a sub-atomic level.

[Matter Manipulation].

That was the ability to create matter out of nothing.

It was right to say that this ability was just a lesser variation of Reality WARPING and manipulation of Everythingness.

It didn't take long before a shiny dark-green thumb-sized gem appeared on my hand, brimming with the almighty power of TIME.

That was the Time Gem, one of the Infinity Stones.

And I effortlessly made it by doing some simple [Matter Manipulation], just for show off.

"I-It can't be the Time Stone, right? This is an illusion!" Wong couldn't help but blurt out his disbelief.

He then looked at Strange for confirmation, only to find him also lost in a haze of disbelief.

I chuckled lightly at their exaggerated reactions.

"Strange, do you believe me now or do you want to test the fine texture of this shiny stone?"

Stephen Strange returned to the realm of the living after a moment of constant inspection of the stone.

He almost choked on his spot when he heard me talking about touching the stone to confirm if it was real.

He then looked at me with a no-so-happy gaze, probably cursing me inwardly.

I knew he wasn't a fool.

Anyway, which mortal was crazy enough to touch something emitting crazy amounts of cosmic radiation?

"You are a cosmic being, right?" Strange asked in a rather, respectful tone.

"In the flesh." I opened my arms theatrically.

Stephen Strange looked at America who wasn't exactly catching on to what was happening or what they were speaking about.

"He isn't the one after you, trust me."

"Remember we are dealing with some sort of witchcraft, here."

"Okay, if it isn't him. Who is it then?" America Chavez breathed a sigh of relief and continued to ask while looking back at him.

"That's what I also want to know, uh, what's your name?" Strange awkwardly asked with squinted eyes.

It was pretty funny that they still didn't know each other's exact identities.

"America... America Chavez." She introduced herself with a slight tilt of her head

"And you are supposed to be the Sorcerer Supreme or something?"

"I am not the Sorcerer Supreme," Strange denied outrightly.

Wong's expression changed a little bit and spoke comically. "I am the Sorcerer Supreme."

"Oh, the other you was the Sorcerer Supreme, you know from another universe," America looked surprised while saying awkwardly.

"She is right, Strange. The Multiverse is real and those dreams that you had been experiencing are the projections of your other selves in other parallel universes," I decided to enlighten them just a little bit.

Dr.Strange looked at me and decided to believe that theory, only a little bit though.

'Hmmm, let's go to the dead pony-tailed Strange then,' I snapped my finger and immediately changed our surroundings such that we were now at the top of a tall building.

My actions took the three by surprise.

'Wow, such fine control of power. I wish I could finely control my powers just like him.' America had a sad expression in her pretty eyes but she looked at me in awe.

I could easily perceive her emotional spectrum like an open book without even using telepathy.

"What are w-" Wong wanted to ask something but when he saw another Strange lying dead on the floor, he remained silent.

The Truth was already there in front of them.

"Those markings on his body are not from the giant octopus, right?" Wong came to a realization and looked at Dr.Strange.

"Yeah, the dark creature in my dreams did not have runes ingrained in its body," Dr.Strange slowly spoke with a reminiscent look.

"If it was not sorcery then it was-" Wong started.

"WITCHCRAFT!" Both of them said at the same time while looking at each other.

I clapped my hands in appreciation.

Those two truly know their things well.

"It was witchcraft indeed. Well, that someone who is well versed with the voodoo and hex stuff would be visiting us any time soon from now."

" Why don't we return to Kamar Taj? My back is aching, I need a place to stay."

America cast me a weird look, her gaze lingering longer than intended on my handsome face.

And when I looked back at her, she averted her eyes demurely, evidently shy from being found.

What a sneaky one.

"You know of her?" Dr.Strange looked at me with more incredulity, probably wondering how much knowledge I had.

"Of course...I know everything," I replied jokingly.

"If you know everything then can you tell us who is after me then?" America looked at me, her eyes shining with hope for a positive answer.

I touched my chin with a thoughtful look.

"Hmm, let's go to Kamar Taj first."

"You are a liar. I don't know why I almost believed you," America looked away and didn't talk to me again.

Wong looked at me for a moment lost in his own thoughts before circularly waving his hand to open up a space portal connecting to Kamar-Taj.

We were going to Kathmandu, Nepal.

I couldn't wait to see the Himalayan ranges and Mt.Everest.

I was truly a lost cause.

Anyway, another thing would make the trip worthwhile and interesting.

I will get to see poor Wanda!

***