~IX~

Spoilers for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ahead! Please proceed with caution!

Thanks and enjoy!

"Yeah, I think I'm ready to talk about what I discovered in Westview..."

Suddenly, the weight of her words, which had been forming on her tonuge, ready to spill from her lips and reveal it all to him, stopped her there, right in her tracks. Too much - it was all too much.

No, she was not ready. Would she ever be?

"Actually, never mind, forget it," she decided, quick to brush it all away. "Thanks for sharing though." She got up to leave the room. "If you need me I'll be meditating and drinking tea. Good night Stephen - sweet dreams."

Sweet dreams indeed. If only they could be so lucky.

"It was so nice of Christine to invite me to her wedding," Kat said as they readied themselves the next morning for the event. "Especially seeing as we've only met once, and briefly at that."

"Yes, Christine is very kind," Steven said, reminiscent.

"Are you sure you're okay though?" she asked. "I mean, I know this must be kind of hard for you..." She didn't need to continue, it was all very self explanatory. Because Christine is getting married today to another man while you and she have a very complicated past...

"I'm fine," he assured her. "I'm happy for her."

"Need some help?" she asked, nodding to his tie which he was struggling to tie in the mirror, thanks to his still injured hands.

"Yeah thanks." He turned to her.

Instead of tying it herself, she waved her hand and made the tie tie itself. She winked.

They arrived at the church, sitting mid-row. They were joined shortly thereafter by a man who addressed Stephen.

"Dr. Strange."

"Dr. West. Kat, this is Dr. Nick West. Dr. West, Kat is my - partner..." He hesitated on this last word.

Kat reached over Stephen to shake the man's hand, Stephen's old and new lives meeting once again. "Hello, Doctor West, pleased to meet you. You may call me Katarina."

"A lot changes in five years," Dr. West said, trying to fill the slightly awkward silence. "I blipped too, you know, and I lost everyone, including my two cats, and my brother."

"I'm very sorry," Steven sympathized.

"Yeah. But I can't help but wonder, did you make the right call? Was there any other way?"

"It was the only way. There was no other way," Stephen insisted. Kat felt him stiffen beside her. He seemed to be trying to reassure himself more than anything. She knew it haunted him and had ever since Titan and then the final battle at the ruins of the Avengers Compound.

West shook his head. "Dr. Stephen Strange, you always had everything, got everything - but you didn't get the girl."

"What does that mean?" Kat demanded, perhaps more harshly than intended - or was it?

But this was not answered, or further elaborated on, and perhaps for the better. The music began then, the doors opened, and the guests rose to their feet as the bride appeared. The wedding had begun.

Christine met their eyes as she walked by, smiling at them on her way up to meet her soon-to-be husband, whose name was Charlie.

Following the ceremony, the reception was held at an upstairs venue where food and drinks were served and guests could mingle. Stephen, as usual, wasn't chatting with other guests, keeping to himself - that is, until Christine herself came along.

"Christine, congratulations," Kat hugged the bride. "Thank you for having us, having me, here for your special day."

"Of course, it only seemed right. Thank you so much for coming. I'll have to introduce you to Charlie," she said, her now husband of about half an hour. "He's really quite a big fan of the whole, you know, cult thing."

Stephen chuckled at the reoccurring joke. "It's still not a cult."

Christine smiled. "I know."

"Congratulations." He hugged her. "I'm glad you're happy."

"Thank you, I am. I'm glad you are too, Stephen."

Stephen nodded. "I am."

She smiled. "Excuse me-" Then she moved to greet some other guests, the bride, of course, being in popular demand to talk to.

After watching her go, when Stephen turned back to Kat, he found her now looking rather grim.

"Why didn't you say anything about not being happy?" she demanded.

"I just said-"

"I know what you said, Stephen. But your eyes tell differently." She downed the rest of her drink in one gulp. "I shouldn't have come here, this was a mistake."

"Kat-"

But she was gone, having stalked off and vanishing into the crowd.

She was fuming, she could feel the energy coursing through her body - the magic, the chaos. She needed to clear her head.

This took her out onto the balcony, hoping Stephen wouldn't follow her. Right now she wanted to be alone.

But life, however, had other plans.

It was not Stephen who got her attention then, not him at all in fact, but someone - and something - else entirely.

There was trouble down in the streets below. From her vantage point she could see two young women were hurrying through the street, one clearly injured and the other trying to support her while also trying to hurry away - from what? From something, clearly.

Kat wasted no time in leaping off the balcony and into action - eliciting more than a few shocked cries from the other wedding goers.

When she hit the ground, her formal wear was gone and replaced by her familiar and comforting robes and cloak.

"Catalina!" the younger of the two cried, still hurrying along as Kat approached them.

When her companion, Catalina by the sounds of it, looked up from her bent over pained position, Kat stopped - they looked pretty much identical, despite slightly different hair colours and vastly different clothes.

You'd think she'd be used to this by now after the whole Lady Infinity and the Infinity Gauntlet affair with all the trouble with Thanos and the Infinity Stones, but no, this situation served as a stark reminder that looking someone who looked like yourself in the eyes was nonetheless shocking, no matter how many times it happened. Kass, Carina, Sigyn, Envy, Nora, Sascha, Kalyna... And, of course, the master behind it all, Lady Infinity herself. According to the Keeper of the Infinity Sones herself and some hinting, several others, including this new young woman. Chaos did still follow her around, lurking around every corner and in every shadow. Chaos indeed...

"Hello," Kat managed.

Her somewhat doppelganger didn't seem to quite share her level of surprise, nor her companion. "Hello."

"Perhaps I can be of some assistance-"

The concrete around them crumbled suddenly under the force of something unseen.

"It's coming!" cried the teenager.

"What is?"

"We don't know," she cried, however her panic told Kat that whatever it was, whatever this mysterious force was, it was a force to be feared.

"Here, into the bus!" Kat helped the teenager guide the injured doppelganger into an abandoned city bus, before leaving them so she could try and figure out what the hell was going on. This, however, backfired rather terribly.

"What's going on?" Stephen had joined the scene, cloak, robes and all as well.

"Not sure, some invisible something."

The bus now shook, causing the two ladies inside to scream. Stephen reached out, casting a spell.

A startling sight me their eyes.

Can't wait to see this movie again! It was unlike any superhero movie I've ever seen! :D

Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)