A/N: Happy Halloween! Instead of a Michael Myers fic though, here's the final chapter to the Frank and Wanda story! Enjoy!
Frank and Wanda entered the Sanctum, just as Doctor Strange floated down from the second floor to greet them.
"Strange." Wanda murmured, just as the sorcerer's feet touched the floor.
"Wanda." Stephen nodded, before looking towards Frank. "Mister Castle. Thank you for bringing her here."
Maximoff looked over towards Frank in sadness, realizing what happened. That Strange asked him to take her here.
"Sorry." Frank mumbled. "He told me you'd only listen to me, and…"
"...and I deserve it." Wanda whispered, making Strange raise an eyebrow. The Scarlet Witch looked towards the Sorcerer Supreme, as acceptance flashed through her eyes.
"Are you sure you want to do this, Wanda?" Strange asked, holding out his hands in preparation of a spell. Maximoff nodded, sparing a glance back at Frank.
"No prison will be able to hold me if I lose control. Not even the Raft." she said sorrowfully. "This is the only way."
Stephen nodded in agreement, as he slowly lifted his hands up. Behind him, an invisible wall cracked into triangular shards, while Frank and Wanda stared at their reflections.
"The Mirror Dimension." Strange revealed. "Just like ours, but whatever you do has no has no effect on the real world."
"So… you'll keep your end, yeah?" Frank suddenly asked. Wanda raised her eyebrows in surprise, staring at Frank in astonishment.
"What… what are you talking about."
Instead of Castle answering, Strange did, deciding to clear his throat first.
"Mister Castle agreed to bring you to me under one condition: that I help train you in using your powers." Strange revealed. Wanda blinked her eyes to keep tears from falling, as she suddenly engulfed Frank in another hug.
"Thank you." Wanda sniffed, looking up at the Punisher. "I don't… I don't understand this power, but… I will."
Frank let out a murmured "Yeah", before looking up at Strange
"How long you gonna have her here?"
"As long as I deem it." Stephen answered. "She did enslave an entire town, after all."
Maximoff solemnly nodded, but still looked at Frank with hope.
"Once I can come back, I'll find you-"
"No." Frank quickly shook his head. "No. That's not a good idea. I will not let you throw everything away for me."
"What are you talking about?" Wanda asked, while Frank gently pushed her to arms length.
"Come on, Wanda, you saw me give Harkness that gun." Castle said bitterly. "I wanted to kill her. I wanted to."
Frank looked away for a moment, licking his lips out of nervousness, before speaking again.
"And she's not the only one." he continued. "There's people like her all over. Powerful people, serious people. So I'm gonna find them, and kill them. I'm gonna murder them, Wanda, because that's my life. That's what I'm going to do. You wanna be apart of that?"
Wanda stared at Frank in stunned silence, but he wasn't done.
"Yeah… you can do things I can't, but I can do things you can't." he murmured. "And that makes me… it makes me…"
Frank sighed, staring down at the skull on his vest.
"This. Harkness was right. I'm just some kind of Reaper. A harbinger of death, she said."
Castle shut his eyes tight, letting out a sad sigh… only to find a hand on his shoulder. Ever slowly, he opened his eyes, looking down to see Wanda had closed the distance between them.
"And I'm the Scarlet Witch. The harbinger of chaos." Wanda smiled sadly. "But our fates aren't decided by that book."
Seeing Frank still looking at her in doubt, Maximoff reached her hand up towards the side of his face, stopping when her fingers were just inches from his temple.
"May I?"
Realizing what she was going to do, Frank nodded, watching her smile widen. A tiny strand of scarlet magic suddenly exited her fingertip, phasing right through Castle's head and diving into his mind. The Punisher's eyes turned crimson for a moment, and he was no longer in Doctor Strange's Sanctum.
Frank blinked the red haze from his eyes, looking to his left to see Wanda standing next to him, in the middle of a junkyard. In an instant, Castle knew where they were, as evidenced by the memory of himself wearing a black long-sleeved shirt, covered in blood, and holding up a copper canister. At his feet was a man in a white shirt and suspenders, which were now marred with both men's blood. Castle knew this man well, having had to protect Amy from him when they first met.
John Pilgrim.
Wanda and Frank watched on, as the memory of Frank heaved the canister, preparing to bash Pilgrim's face in, when the beaten man suddenly grabbed his leg, whispering out a desperate plea.
"Wait… when you kill them… don't hurt my boys…"
If Wanda showed any emotion to Pilgrim mentioning his children- two sons, like herself- she didn't show it. Meanwhile, the bloodied and beaten Frank relented, lowering the canister, before setting it on the ground.
"I know who you are…" Pilgrim continued, resting his head back. "You're the Whirlwind…"
The memory suddenly faded, and Castle found himself and Wanda back in the Sanctum, with Strange patiently waiting.
"That's who you are, Frank." Maximoff whispered. "Maybe you are the Reaper from the Darkhold, but that doesn't define you. So don't be afraid of who you are."
Castle wore a small smile, hearing Wanda repeat what he told her in that foxhole, and nodded.
"Yeah." the Punisher mumbled, before giving her one last hug.
"We'll see each other again. You gotta trust me on that one."
Despite the embrace, Frank felt Wanda's head bob up and down, before the two of them pulled away from each other. Maximoff turned back around, slowly walking towards the Mirror Dimension's entrance, giving a respectful nod to Doctor Strange. Just before she crossed the gateway, Wanda looked over her shoulder one last time to Frank, and after seeing her a sorrowed nod, she stepped into her new prison.
Stephen raised his hands up, and the entrance to the dimension closed up, leaving himself and Frank alone in the Sanctum.
"Thank you, Mister Castle." Strange repeated.
"Yeah." Frank muttered, as he reached into his coat and pulled out the Darkhold.
"Almost forgot. I never really knew what to do with magic shit anyway."
Strange swiftly took the book from the Punisher, before letting go and letting the Darkhold levitate away on its own.
"Thank you. I'll see to it that the Darkhold is under strict lock and key." Stephen told him. "I believe you know the way out?"
Frank grunted out a "Sure", before turning on his heel to leave. Just as he reached the door, Castle looked over his shoulder, asking one final question.
"Before we left her, Harkness said we didn't know what we've unleashed." Frank revealed. "Something's coming, yeah?"
Strange pursed his lips, as his eyes widened slightly from worry.
"Yes. Something is coming." Stephen confirmed. "I will have to look into it, but if it's what I believe it to be, it could be the end of our reality."
Castle gave a grim nod, before turning back around and pushing the doors open, walking out of the Sanctum to find his van was still miraculously there. Frank let out a low grumble, as he got into the vehicle, ignoring how he was already missing Wanda's company, and started the engine, before driving down the streets of New York.
Three Months Later
Frank hid in the shadows of a warehouse, silently watching two gangs meet. One of them carried a large briefcase of cash, while the other had crates full of experimental weapons. When Castle leaned in for a closer look, it was clear that the weapons used to be from HYDRA and SHIELD's armory, complete with energy rifles and the Destroyer gun.
"So you here to make a deal? I got you." one of the criminals holding an advanced weapon smirked. "But that deal's gotta be you handing over the cash and walking away."
Frank scoffed, as all the gang member began pulling out firearms.
"Man, I should've known you'd try to double cross us!" a criminal on the other side, the one with the briefcase, shouted as he pulled out a regular pistol. "But I guess we're gonna party instead!"
Frank rolled his eyes at the display, as he stepped out of the shadows. Time to make his presence known.
"HEY ASSHOLES!"
Every criminal's head whipped in the direction of the barking, seeing a man in a black trench coat and bulletproof vest walk forward, with a white skull spraypainted on his chest.
"Welcome to the party."
Frank threw back the sides of his trench coat, revealing customized machine pistols. Just as he was about grab his weapons, one of the gangsters with an energy rifle shot him in the chest, making Castle stumble and fall to the ground. The rest of the criminals didn't waste any time, with half of them unloading bullets into his vest, while the other half rushed forward to beat the fallen Punisher. Frank tried to get up, even firing his weapon and killing a few of but all he got for his trouble was a kick to the face, as more gangsters proceeded to beat the tar out of him.
After what felt like several minutes later, the beating finally stopped, only for one of the criminals to appear in Frank's vision, holding onto the Destroyer.
"Looks like Christmas came early, boys!" the gangster grinned, as the gun began to glow a dark orange. Frank choked out blood, trying to focus all his willpower into getting back up, but his body refused to listen. Just as he thought it was finally going to be the end, the entire warehouse lit up in a brilliant scarlet color, with most of the gangsters flying over Castle' head. The criminal with the Destroy gun suddenly turned around, curious as to what happened.
"What the hell-"
The orange glow on the gun suddenly changed to a dark red, as the entire frame was engulfed in the same energy. Frank watched, as the gun was suddenly ripped away from the man and was disassembled in midair, before the pieces knocked the criminal to the floor. By this point, Castle had a pretty good idea what was going on, but he still propped himself on one elbow and looked up, just in case.
Standing in the middle of the warehouse was Wanda Maximoff, wearing the same outfit that manifested the day Agatha Harkness revealed she was the Scarlet Witch. Her eyes were glowing a deep crimson, as she slowly walked towards Frank, an orb of her magic conjuring into her right hand. That orb was soon put to good use, as one of the gangsters tried to rush towards her, but Wanda simply lifted up her hand, the orb shooting towards him and knocking the man into the far wall. Another criminals tried to sneak up behind Maximoff, and upon hearing his footsteps, she threw an elbow backwards, smacking into his face, before jabbing his chin and smashing her knee into his gut, coating her fist in magic for the punch. Before he even hit the floor, Wanda backhanded another gangster that tried to get behind her, before grabbing his pistol and pushing it to the side. Before the criminal realized what she was doing, Wanda snaked her arm under his, twisting her hips and ripping the firearm away from him, as the pistol's frame became engulfed in scarlet energy. With her magic infused into the weapon, Wanda pulled the trigger, seeing a nonlethal crimson orb shoot out of the chamber and hit the man in the chest, causing him to fly back and smash into the wall, where his body stilled.
With the gangsters all knocked out, Wanda quickly walked over to Frank, holding out her hand.
"Sorry I'm late." Wanda smirked, as Castle grasped her hand. "Wasn't sure what to wear."
Frank's own mouth formed into a smile, as Wanda pulled him back onto his feet, using her powers to make it slightly easier.
"Hey Wanda. I'm glad you came back."
Maximoff's grin widened, before it was replaced with worry.
"Are you alright?" Wanda asked, concern laced in her voice. All she got was a slow nod from Frank, who looked down at her in fondness.
"Yeah, Wanda. I'm good." Frank murmured, as she wrapped him in a hug. Despite that they were in a dirty warehouse, with at least a dozen unconscious criminals around them, Frank smiled, whispering in her ear.
"You found me."
The End
A/N: And that's the end of this fic! I had a lot of fun intertwining Frank and Wanda's pasts together and including some of my favorite scenes from the Punisher series.
Speaking of, their relationship isn't romantic yet. I am planning on taking it there eventually, and this story brought them closer than ever before, but I won't have them reveal their feelings yet (and Wanda's not going to read his mind out of respect unless he allows her).
Oh, and I'm not going to write a fic about Punisher fighting Zemo in Bagalia. I already did that during my Boys crossover series, and honestly, if I wrote another one in the context of my Frank and Wanda series, almost nothing would change, aside from Wanda giving Frank a magic bullet to kill Mandarin. I am going to do my own versions of Spider-Man No Way home and Multiverse Of Madness though, with Frank and Wanda playing significant roles, but that won't be until each film releases.
Until then, have a good one, and Happy Halloween!