Once Wanda had stepped inside his room, Stephen shut the door behind her. The smile on his face was inviting, and his tone was friendly, but they both knew this wasn’t going to be your ordinary, afternoon chat. If anything, Stephen was trying to soothe any nerves Wanda might have so she might feel comfortable.
Funny, when he was a practicing surgeon, his bedside manner was never this good. Do the operation, cash the paycheck, and bask in the notoriety for yet another success. The feelings of his patient, or the patient’s loved ones, wasn’t even a consideration.
But Stephen wasn’t fooling himself with Wanda - he had an ulterior motive. She was the Scarlet Witch, the embodiment of Chaos Magic, and a Nexus Being, somebody with vast amounts of power literally at her fingertips. And, if prophecy was correct, the one that would cause the destruction of their world. What did she know about her powers and the prophecy? And more importantly, how stable was she? Could she take up the mantle of responsibility? Not everybody was as capable as he when he’d been granted the role of Sorcerer Supreme. Could she be somebody he would need to watch out for while in Derleth? What exactly were the extent of her powers while here? Had the magic that trapped them muted her abilities?
“Furniture, compliments of IKEA,” he joked, gesturing to one of the seats he’d positioned by the window that looked out over the Green. “A far cry from the Sanctum, but we’ll make do.” He smiled again. “Would you like anything to drink?”
***
Honestly, Wanda wasn’t entirely sure how this conversation would go. She’d learned a great deal from the Darkhold since it’d arrived in Derleth - different spells and rituals and a little bit of lore and history - but she hadn’t yet figured out how to reach across dimensions and wasn’t sure that she could just yet. Learning from Loki helped some - if anything, he had a certain style of his own when it came to illusions and his abilities and she was able to recognize them the more time she spent with him, and could even do some similar things herself. Overall, though, she knew that she was more powerful than she had any right to be - or that she even wanted to be - and to avoid people being afraid of her...she kept it to herself.
Having Doctor Strange there was certainly interesting. He’d already admitted to knowing her as the so-called Scarlet Witch, and he recognized what her powers were, but after the things she’d been told...Wanda didn’t know if she could fully trust him. Hopefully she would by the end of this encounter.
Returning his smile politely as she stepped into his room, Wanda took a moment to glance around. She saw no sign of the runes she’d learned from Agatha, and nothing felt restrictive - so after a moment she relaxed and walked over to the chair he indicated, sitting and looking at him. “The Sanctum?” She asked curiously, not familiar with the term. At the question regarding a drink, she nodded.
“Tea, please, if you have it. Otherwise, nothing.”
***
“It’s where I hang out when I’m not trapped in a multidimensional reality bubble,” Stephen replied, with sarcastic cheerfulness. He turned to prepare the tea, by switching on a hotpot and putting a kettle on, all without magic. Stephen could’ve easily caused a cup of tea to manifest in Wanda’s hands, but his intuition told him that the mundane way would be better around her. He stood by the kettle with his arms casually folded across his chest as he waited. “Think of it like… a library, a museum, and a haunted house, all rolled into one. The building’s stood there for hundreds of years, in what we now call Greenwich Village in New York City. Living there is one of the perks of being Sorcerer Supreme.”
He then turned to open and look inside a nearby cupboard. “I have green, Oolong, and a personal favorite of mine, Pu-ter, a strong, black tea blend from China.” He smirked. “I might’ve taken a short trip outside of Disney to gather some supplies.”
Stephen hoped this chit chat would help Wanda relax.
***
She watched him silently as he started the water, but paid attention to his words all the same. It was an odd thought to think of there being a building in New York for so long, but it sounded nice. “What are the other...perks?” Wanda asked, since sorcery seemed very different from what she could do, but wanting to know more all the same. It still galled her a little that Agatha had known so much about her while she’d known so little in return. She felt as though she was trying to catch up with people like her and Strange.
“Oolong would be fine.” She smiled a little at that. “You went to China since we’ve been here?” Wanda wasn’t too surprised, given others had visited places it seemed - and she herself had gone to New Jersey just to see if anything there was the same, or if the people knew her.
They hadn’t.
“Did you shop for anything else besides tea?” She asked in addition.
***
Stephen had to think a moment before answering Wanda’s first question. “I’d say having full and free access to the largest collection of magical knowledge is the best, but mostly the title comes with a lot of responsibility. It’s my role to be on the front line whenever the Earth is attacked by magical and mystical attacks. It also paints a huge target on me, by sorcerers or other entities who might want to take me down a peg, or take me out of the equation.”
Like Loki. Maybe even Wanda? He didn’t have the Time Stone anymore, so he couldn’t see into the future what sort of Scarlet Witch she would become.
The kettle started to whistle, so Stephen took it off the heat and poured two mugs full of hot water, added a tea bag to each, while saying, “Yeah, I did, among other places. I brought back some spices, clothes, a few knick knacks.” He gestured with his finger to point out a metal plaque hanging on the wall of an Oriental dragon and a tiger fighting one another. “But mostly I wanted to see what sort of magic there was on that version of Earth.” He handed one of the mugs to Wanda. “Spoiler alert. There isn’t any.”
***
“This library - it must have all kinds of books and tomes in it. I imagine you must have to study a great deal,” she replied, not exactly sure to ask if he knew of the Darkhold, let alone how to find out if he’d seen it. Instead, she listened to him and nodded a little at the talk of responsibility. One thing she’d learned while training as an Avenger was that she needed to be careful, and hold herself accountable for her actions, no matter the consequences. Wanda just never thought she’d be here now, with so little.
“Perhaps I’ll do a little traveling myself, while we’re still here.” She wondered if the power of Derleth would truly pull her from any other place in the world at the start of the new week, of if she might be able to break free of it by remaining here, in a world without magic...aside from her own, if Strange was to be believed.
As she took the mug, Wanda smiled her thanks and cupped both hands around it. “Do you have any sugar? I like mine very sweet.”
***
“Oh! Sorry ‘bout that. I was going to offer… I only have honey, will that do?” From the same cupboard that he got the tea came a jar of organic honey, which he placed on the windowsill for Wanda to take, followed by a spoon for stirring.
“There are, and I did,” Stephen said, sitting in the seat opposite hers. “But I came up with a neat little life hack. I’m probably not the first to do this, but I was pretty pleased of myself for coming up with the idea. While my material body rested, I continued to study in my astral body so I could study all night long and not lose out on sleep. Multitasking at its finest. Do you know how to do astral projection yet?” That was a good segway into a conversation on what she did and didn’t know.
“MIght as well take advantage of traveling while we can. From what I’ve been told, we might not find ourselves in such ideal conditions again for a while.”
***
Nodding slightly, Wanda picked up the jar and spooned some honey into her tea, then picked up the other spoon and stirred it a few times, almost lazily as she looked back up at Strange when he sat. It amused her a little to hear that he thought he came up with the idea of studying on the astral plane, but only picked up her tea and took a sip before she replied.
“Yes...it’s one of the few things I know,” she admitted. There was a great deal she was learning, but she didn’t see the point in telling him too much. Instead, she decided to turn the conversation in a slightly different direction.
“Have you heard of a witch named Agatha Harkness? I learned from her that my abilities are a type of magic, rather than a product of experimentation as I thought. She taught me a couple of things, just before I came here.”
***
“Good, then I won’t have to explain it.” Stephen gave her a concerned look. “So, you’re also aware of the dangers involved with astral projection?” He then had a curious thought, “That is, if you’re even affected by any of them.”
Interesting.
Stephen momentarily went into a train of thought, pondering this idea, but was derailed by the name. “Agatha Harkness…” He repeated it, ominously. “Only by reputation. She’s been successfully keeping a low profile for centuries, but I know the damage she’s wrought. That’s right, your powers are the purest form of Chaos Magic.” A pause. “What else did she teach you?”
****
“What are they?” She asked, not entirely sure if she knew what he meant by that - though the statement about whether or not she would be affected gave her pause. Just how much did he know about her and what she was capable of?
“Very little. She wanted to steal my powers for herself, but she did call me the same thing you did. The Scarlet Witch. What do you know about it?” Wanda took a sip of her tea as she studied him.
***
Stephen settled more comfortably in his chair. That was a problem, people starting to use magic but not knowing or understanding the dangers and consequences. At least Wanda was asking, Stephen had to give her that. If he could help the Scarlet Witch learn what her powers entailed, maybe a dangerous prophecy could be averted. Or not. This was a pocket dimension, one where she’d immediately forget everything they spoke about when she left. But maybe, just maybe some lessons could be retained? Maybe that was one of the reasons why they were here? Stephen grappled with finding some logical reason for their entrapment, and while he wasn’t going to say this was the reason, it gave him hope.
“Astral projection, essentially, is your spirit leaving your body, but still being attached to your body so you can return to it. That connection is maintained by what is called the sutratma, or the Life Thread of the Antahkarana, or just simply, the Silver Cord. Think of it like an umbilical cord. If that cord is broken, the spirit is released, resulting in bodily death, though the spirit continues to wander on. There are entities living on the Astral Plane that may attack, resulting in the cord being severed, or even worse, the complete annihilation of one’s spirit. The longer one remains in the Astral Plane, the easier it is to…” Stephen paused to find the right word to use, “...forget one’s self, and get lost. The connection is also lost if the material body is killed, which is why it’s important to make sure its protected, both physically and magically, since an uninhabited body is ripe for certain entities to take possession of it.”
That was a lot of information at once, and Stephen waited to see if Wanda had any questions or comments.
On the topic of Agatha Harkness, all Stephen could do was tap his fingers in an irritated fashion upon the arm of his chair. “That’s her M.O., alright. What happened to her? Did she escape?” Or did Wanda kill her? “What I know about the Scarlet Witch is from third or second hand information, at best. Books referencing another ancient text which has been lost.”
***
Again, both hands cupped her mug as she kept her eyes on him. There was the temptation to reach into his mind - first to see if she could, and second to get the answers for herself - but she refrained from trying and instead listened attentively. “Entities on the astral plane? I wasn’t aware of that.” But now that she knew, Wanda would take precautions. When she’d used the plane to study the book, it had seemed safer and more practical, and she wondered too just how much of her had been there and how much remained in her body, since she knew she could still walk and talk and do things.
“What kind of magical protections do you use when you’re on the plane? For your physical body.” While their powers were very different, she imagined she could likely adapt it to something that would suit her, as she had in her battle with Agatha.
At the question as to what happened to the witch, Wanda shook her head slightly even as she decided to omit certain facts. “She’s fine - she has settled down for now, in a quiet life. But I know how to get in touch with her if I need to, back in our universe.” When she needed to, if Agatha was to be believed. After another sip of tea, she raised her gaze to Stephen’s.
“She mentioned a book - the book of the damned? She called it the Darkhold, and said it mentions me...well. The Scarlet Witch. That there was an entire chapter devoted to it. Have you come across that book in your studying?” Wanda had no intention of telling him that she had the book here, but wondered what his reaction would be. “I can’t say that I’m fond of hearing that I’m in a book described in such a way.”
***
“There’s a spell that casts a protective circle around your body that can effectively block most, if not all, outside interference, I can teach it to you. But there’s something about your powers that you might not know yet.” He took a sip of tea and set the cup aside, freeing his hands to steeple them in front of his mouth for a moment.
There was a good chance she already knew this information. If she didn’t, she’d probably figure it out on her own then wonder why she wasn’t told, so although Stephen was concerned, it was his responsibility. “Among the different types of magic, yours is unique in that it's not necessary for you to learn any spells. For you, the forces of magic flow naturally, so essentially all you need to do is imagine it, and it manifests.” It was terrifying to think one being could wield such power, which was why Stephen was very careful around Wanda. He may be the Sorcerer Supreme, but he could do only so much against a Nexus Being. His hope was that she would use her powers responsibly.
“The Darkhold, yes. That’s the one I was talking about.” He reached for his cup. “Pages of it were copied into the Book of Cagliostro, which I have read. The chapter detailing the Scarlet Witch was not included, but they are described, in part. Other sources, such as the Book of the Vishanti and the Thanatosian Tomes, give more details.” A thoughtful expression came upon his face. “If we’re described in a way that’s disagreeable, I’d try to strive in such a way as to prove them wrong.” He finished his sentence with another sip.
***
“That makes sense, I suppose. I mean...ever since I started using my powers, all it took was my...will. I just thought they were from the Mind Stone before,” she added. The thought of having limitless power was certainly an attractive one, but Wanda wasn’t a power-hungry person, and honestly? The thought of hurting others further was what stopped her. Not because she would be blamed, but because they would be hurt. All she’d wanted to do in Westview was feel better, and to help others feel the same and she’d been horribly mistaken there.
Wanda still didn’t know how much of what happened had been her, or Agatha. Heroes don’t torture people, the witch had told her in her effort to get Wanda to give up her powers. And whether or not she’d intended it, Agatha’s words had been something of a moral conscience for her at the time.
“I wonder if the library here has any of those. I’ve heard that it has magical books and items. Maybe something there will have more information.” Looking up at the sorcerer at his words, Wanda gave a faint smile. “I feel as though that’s what I’ve been trying to do for years now. Prove others wrong about me.”
***
“Not from the Mind Stone,” Stephen agreed with Wanda. “But from the same, ancient and eternal force, dating back to the creation of the universe itself.” He wanted to ask further questions about her experiences with Agatha and what exactly happened to her, but it was better to let go of the subject, asking later after he’d gained her trust more. “Now’s your chance,” he added, hoping that would be of encouragement.
“That’s a good question, about the library.” He drained the remaining tea from his cup and set it aside. “How do you feel about paying it a visit, together?” The way he sat forward in his seat indicated that he’d be ready to go now.
***
“I have the feeling I have a great deal of history to learn,” she said dryly as her eyes fell to the cup itself. When he said this was her chance, she wondered if maybe she should tell him about what happened in Westview, where for a short time...she’d gone too far, and had been that terrible creature the book warned about. Instead, she lifted her gaze to his and after a moment, drained the last of her tea as well.
“Let’s go,” she said, adding a smile as she moved silently to her feet.