Chapter 9: Breakfast is served in the other dimension

Stephen Strange

I didn't know how long I was unconscious for. I only knew that eventually, I regained feeling. But even then, I was sleeping like a rock.

At one point, I felt something cold and wet on my forehead.

I jolted awake and grabbed for the nearest thing within arm's reach.

Which happened to be, in fact, the hands of my old friend and mentor, the Ancient One.

If I wasn't so groggy, I would've been surprised.

She had been dead for years.

"Calm yourself, Doctor Strange." she said gently.

She pushed me back down into a soft bed.

"You've had a very trying ordeal."

I searched for the others; Loki, Wanda, and the three Peters. But I couldn't see anything from my view except a paneled ceiling overhead and a water basin at a bedside table.

"I was with other people. Where-"

"Yes. Your companions. They're here."

"What…happened?"

"All questions will be answered soon."

My eyes felt droopy. I closed my eyes again into what felt like another eternity of sleep.

When I woke up, my head was much clearer.

I sat upright. Now I had a better view of my surroundings.

I was in a bedroom with a long, slanted ceiling. A translucent window let in gray daylight.

To either side of me were extra beds.

I stood up on shaky legs. Just how long was I out?

Someone had switched out my robes when I was asleep. Now I was wearing a white t-shirt and old-fashioned trousers.

To my far right was an open door. I walked to the door and descended down a tight spiral of wooden steps.

When I got to the bottom, Peter was standing right at the foot of the stairs.

And by Peter, I mean my Peter Parker, not the others.

Someone exchanged his jeans for khakis, but he still had on the same gray shirt that he had been wearing earlier.

"Hey," he said. He glanced behind him. "Um, we were wondering when you were going to wake up."

Wanda, Loki, and the two Peters were seated at a table with various breakfast foods, looking up at me. We were in another small room with paneled walls. But there was an open entryway to the left that showed a much larger chamber with Oriental design.

I rubbed my head. I had a burning headache that was kind of fading away.

"Where is she?" I asked.

"Wanda? She's right there."

"No, the Ancient One."

"Who's that?" he asked innocently.

"Wait, have you seen anyone since you woke up?"

"I think there was a robed nurse or something," the brown-eyed Peter said. "But I was almost completely unconscious, so I don't know."

I sat down in between Wanda and our universe's Peter.

"So you all just sat down and started eating?"

Wanda shook her head.

"A woman came in and told us she was a friend of yours. She also said we could eat."

She looked at me, expecting some sort of explanation.

"I think she was a cancer patient or something." Peter 3 said.

"And there's also a note for you." the blue-eyed Peter handed me a slip of paper.

Doctor Strange,

I hope you and the others enjoy the meal we've laid out for you. I will converse with you and provide a proper explanation once you have eaten your fill.

It was signed by the Ancient One.

Wanda passed me a cup of steaming coffee.

I nodded my thanks and took a sip from it.

I made a face. This had absolutely no sugar in it.

Our Peter passed me a sugar bowl.

"Yeah. Old-fashioned, I know." he said.

As I spooned sugar into my cup, I noticed that there was small printing on the spoon.

It was a brand from a company that had been out of business for decades.

This meant that the dishes set would have to be an antique. And yet there was no rust.

The youngest Peter heaped a large helping of eggs, bacon, and breakfast pastries onto his plate. He wolfed down the food as if he was starving. I now understood why MJ gave him that bag of bakery items. The poor kid didn't have enough to eat.

Peter 3 raised an eyebrow.

"When was the last time you ate?"

"When was the last time any of us ate?" he countered with his mouth full.

"Touche."

Peter had a good point. I had no idea how much time had passed since we were all at Wanda's house.

"What was the last thing you remember?" I said to no one in particular.

Loki chewed on a hard biscuit and swallowed.

"The universe coming apart at the seams. That's what I recall."

Peter kept focused on his plate.

"All those people….were they…are they….?"
"Let's not think about that right now." I said quickly.

We had no answers for what happened. But horrific possibilities hung on my mind like a heavy rain cloud.

Even though I had several theories, each more horrible than the first, I didn't want to discuss them with Peter. He had been through enough.

Peter 3 changed the subject.

"Where are we exactly?"

"Somewhere tied with the Masters of the Mystic Arts." I said.

He raised an eyebrow. "The who?"

"Wizards." the youngest Peter said casually.

I fought the temptation to correct Spider-Man.

"I'm thinking maybe the New York Sanctum, London, maybe even Kamar-Taj in Nepal." I said.

Peter 3 blinked a couple of times.

"We're in Nepal." he said with an incredulous tone.

"Maybe." Wanda said for me. "I mean, we really have no idea where we are."

"In case you haven't noticed, all the windows are fogged-up." Loki added.

Our universe's Peter had completely finished his plate.

"Are you gonna eat that?" he asked, eyeing a belgian waffle on the oldest Peter's plate.

Peter passed it to his younger counterpart.

"Go for it."

"Thanks."

"You know, they have all this great food," the blue-eyed Peter said. "You'd think they'd have pop-tarts or fruit loops or something."

Wanda held up the glass milk bottle with an old-fashioned stamp.

"Are the mystic arts users always this retro?"

I shook my head.

"We use normal milk cartons."

I knew some mystic arts users left the Sanctum or Kamar-Taj to buy goods such as microwavable meals and Bath and Body Works soap.

We may be guardians of our reality, but we still enjoy the simple things.

Wanda's comment got me thinking.

In the 1980's, all the mystic arts establishments installed electric systems in living quarters. So far, I hadn't seen any outlets in this room.

Sure, there was an overhead lantern that provided the main source of light, but I knew that that was powered by a simple glow spell instead of actual electricity.

"Who's the Ancient One, Strange?" Peter 1 asked. "Is she like a supervising wizard or something? Because I've never seen her in the New York Sanctum."

"You couldn't have met her." I said. "She's supposed to be dead."

I looked at Peter 1.

"And that was three years before the snap."

Peter had a dire look in his eyes.

"I think those beds up there had spring mattresses." Peter 2 said. "When was the last time you used a genuine spring mattress?"

"That storm that we survived guaranteed that we could travel anywhere in the universe." Loki said.

"And to any time." Wanda added.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say we've time traveled." the youngest Peter said.

He locked eyes with the other two Peters.

"You're quite right, Mr. Parker." said a voice.

Wanda, Loki and I whirled around.

It was the Ancient One.

"How do you know my name?" Peter asked.

I knew that answer.

"She's viewed the future to determine the outcome in which we defeat Dormmamu." I said.

Peter 1, Wanda, and Loki all choked for a second.

"Come again?" Peter 2 asked.

"Yes. An interdimensional demon that will threaten to destroy our reality." the Ancient One said.

"Uh, wasn't that Thanos's job?" Peter 1 asked.

"No." I said. "His goal was to wipe out half the population with a twisted vision of trying to save the universe. Dormammu only feeds off of our reality."

"And I assume you guys stop him, right?" Peter 2 asked.

"Because you said you fought him and you're still here." Peter 3 said to Peter.

Wanda, Peter and I both shared a dark look. Loki watched us intently. He had told us that he only knew the future up till he was killed. He didn't know what happened after Thanos left the ship.

"It came with a heavy price." Wanda said.

"Come with me." the Ancient One said.

With a brief motion of the Ancient One's hands, we breezed into her study.

It was so sudden that all three Peters fell.

"Please don't do that." Loki groaned while Wanda pulled Peter 1 to his feet.

The Ancient One's study had obviously changed. There were books here that I didn't recognize. And the desk was organized differently.

"I would advise you to brace yourselves." the Ancient One said grimly. "I'm sure you want to know how and what has happened to your universe."

"And this isn't our universe?" I asked.

She shook her head.

"No. This is a growing branch in the timeline that has survived…." she hesitated.

"Survived what?" Loki asked.

"Annihilation."

"I'm not following." Peter 2 said as a dire look spread across his face.

"I think it's better that I show you."

The Ancient One raised her hand and strings of light pulled towards her palm.

"The timeline was once a uniform steady flow."

The strings of light flattened out and became a pulsing stream.

"It was disturbed."

Two strings broke off and created their own branches of time.

"I was there when it happened." Loki said.

Was there guilt in his expression?

The Ancient One continued.

"These were the first two branches formed."

She laid her eyes on the two older Spider-Man.

"They are yours."

Further along the timeline, more branches formed, but not as bright as the first two.

"The timeline hadn't been completely altered." Loki said. I could see realization growing in his eyes. "The original TVA was still surviving, so you were marked as High-priority Variants."

"Yes." agreed the Ancient One. "And from what I've gathered, the storm that you survived destroyed the entire timeline."

With a wave of her hand, all the streams of light disintegrated into dust except for a few branches which then formed into their own timelines with their own branches.

We stared at the model in shock. It was just a model, right?

What the Ancient One was proposing was unbelievable.

"I'm sorry." the Ancient One said. "Your universe…and all those living in it….were destroyed."

"So, they're dead." Peter 2 said. "Everyone. We're the only survivors."

"I'm afraid so." the Ancient One said.

He gave a dry chuckle.

"Everyone….." Peter 2 said, his wry demeanor fading. "Even…"

The two Peters gave him pained looks.

"Even MJ." Peter 1 said.

Then he collapsed. Peter 1 and 3 caught him before he could hit the floor.

I studied Loki and Wanda. They didn't seem to be grieving at all. But it made sense. Loki was an outcast of his own timeline. In theory, he hadn't lost anything.

Wanda had already lost most of her family. There wasn't much to miss.

Instead, she had a thoughtful look. I had to remember that she had considered the Avengers her family for some time.

Black Widow and Captain America had already died. But what about Hawkeye and Falcon?

The other two Peters were trying to help the blue-eyed Peter. And as for myself, I was just stunned. Wong, Christine, everyone I had ever known besides the people in front of me had perished. It didn't feel like they died. It just felt like I left. And I had.

"Why are we here?" Peter 2 said shakily. "How did we survive?"

"Your combined powers broke through your own universe, protected you and took you to this point on a growing timeline." the Ancient One explained. "As for why you ended up here, I do not know."

"What year is it?" Wanda asked.

An American newspaper appeared in the Ancient One's hands.

She gave it to Wanda.

"This should be self-explanatory."

It was the New York Times, dated March 11, 1942.

THE WAR RAGES ON!

ALLIES SUFFER DEFEAT IN EUROPE

We had landed right in the middle of World War 2.

Hi guys! Thanks for reading and thanks for the positive reviews!