~XIII~

"AHHH!"

"OOFF!"

After sailing, quite literally, through several different realities - blocks, dinosaurs, one like a black and white TV series, even paint - they finally came flipping out of the electric blue, star-shaped portal and into their destination.

Wherever that was.

They, all four of them, all landed hard on a grassy area - which looked to be the top of a building.

"We still in New York?"

"Yeah, looks like it - a New York..."

"Ugh, my head is spinning-"

"I'm surprised you didn't puke," America told Stephen.

"This isnt my first wild and weird trip, kid."

"The other you puked."

"Yeah, well, Other Me also had questionable hairstyle choices." Stephen looked around, taking in their surroundings. "Yeah, looks like New York-" He was suddenly cut off by a loud gag and he quickly bent over a flower pot, quite literally spilling his guts.

America winced. "Yup, there it is..."

Cloak tried to help by using it's collar to wipe Stephen's mouth, but he just batted the help away. "Okay, you've gotta open up another portal and get us back there, now."

"I can't."

"What do you mean you can't?"

"I don't know how, I can't control my powers."

"You just did it. Wong is back there all alone with Wanda and I'm not leaving him there! I mean how hard could it be? Even I could-"

"Hey!" cried Catalina.

"Stephen," Kat cut in.

His tone and expression softened. "Sorry. Maybe there's another you in this universe and maybe she can control her powers."

"There are no other mes."

"What do you mean, how do you know?"

"I've looked. And I never dream." America gave a sad shrug at this fact.

Stephen nodded, but it was clear that he was already impatient and frustrated. "It's okay kid. We'll find another way - wait, maybe there's another me. Another, other me..."

The group headed down into the streets of this new New York. "Wow, so many flowers-" ACHOO!" Kat's admiration was cut short when she heaved a huge sneeze. Cloak reached over to wipe her nose. "Thanks, Buddy."

"Whoa!" They were almost run over by the oncoming traffic.

"They go on red?" cried Stephen, watching the cars speed by when the traffic lights changed from green to red.

"First rule of multiversal travel: assume you know nothing," America told them.

"Okay, we know nothing..."

The traffic lights changed now to green for the cars and red for the pedestrians. Stephen gave a sweep of his arm. "Go on red."

As with their New York, there was no shortage of people here. They were soon separated in the dense, ever-moving crowd.

"America? Catalina?"

The sisters disappeared and then reappeared just as quickly. "Number Two: find food. Preferably pizza, see, pizza balls." America proudly held up a colourful plastic bowl full of exactly that: pizza balls.

"How'd you pay for that?"

"It's free. Food's free in most universes - it's weird you have to pay for it in yours."

"Hey!" The vendor yelled after them as they passed by. "You didn't pay for that!"

"Oh crap," cried America. "Maybe it's not free..."

"You just stole from Pizza Papa, and Pizza Papa always gets paid," stated the vendor, clearly not impressed. PIZZA PAPA was painted on the side of his stand.

"Okay Pizza Papa, calm down, she's just a kid," stepped in Stephen.

"Oh, look at you. That's one hell of a costume! You got this down at the Strange Museum, didn't you?"

"Strange Museum? You have a museum?"

Stephen waved his hand before the man who promptly began squirting mustard on himself and punching himself in the face. They just kept going.

"Harsh much?" said America.

"Don't worry, it's temporary."

"So what, it'll wear off in a few minutes?"

"More like three weeks."

America snorted with laughter.

"Not bad, Strange," said Catalina.

"So how many realities have you been through?" Stephen asked America.

"Including this one? Seventy-two - seventy-three."

"Were we paint in one of those?"

"Yeah. You do not want to get stuck in that one - it's really hard to eat."

"Take a walk down Memory Lane," said an automated voice. "We remember so you don't have to..."

They now stood before a display of some sort, which looked like a screen. Catalina stepped forward and the screen flashed and changed, opening up a memory: herself, and several other look-alikes, all wearing suits with identical designs yet in the colour that represented their respective Infinity Stone:

Space = Blue

Time = Green

Reality = Red

Mind = Yellow

Soul = Orange

Power = Purple

"The Infinity Gauntlet," she explained. "You see, there are the six classic Stones, that hold the very fabric of reality together: Space, Time, Reality, Mind, Soul and Power. Then there are others within that foundation: Ego, Rhythm, Build, Continuity and Death."

"Death?"

"Oh yes."

Ego = White

Rhythm = Fuchsia

Build = Dark Blue

Continuity = Light Purple

Death = Black

She stepped back, Kat taking her place. The screen flashed and changed again, this time to -

Darkness. Just darkness.

A flicker of red emerged, slow and burning. Kat shuddered and stepped away.

Stephen tried next. This time, the screen changed to show him and Christine, many years previous, sitting together at a fancy restaurant.

"Your watch!" cried Kat, eyeing the long box Christine handed to him in the memory.

"Yeah," he said distantly. Then he stepped away. "This is a waste of time."

He started to leave, but America hadn't tried it out yet. For her, the screen showed two young girls in a lush field picking flowers.

Both sisters gasped. "Home!"

"Catalina! America!" a female voice called.

"Over here, Mama!"

"Here Mami!"

Two women, arms linked, appeared, approaching the two girls.

Another gasp. "Mamá y Mamá!"

The four women, young and older, embraced in a loving hug.

Suddenly, America gasped - Memory America and America herself standing there with them.

A large bee had landed on her hand. She screamed, her eyes beginning to glow and a giant star tearing through the world around them. Their two mothers were instantly sucked away, the two sisters following mere seconds later, separated, two and two.

Catalina winced and turned away.

"You're right, we don't have time for this. This was a bad idea..." America hurried away, Stephen chasing after her.

"What was that?" Catalina asked Kat, referring to her memory.

"Darkness. Pure darkness. Let's go."

"That was the first time you opened a portal, wasn't it?" Stephen was saying to America when the doppelgangers caught up.

"Yes. I killed them."

"Hey, you don't know that."

"I opened a portal using powers I can't control and sent them to a random, probably deadly universe-"

"Hey, again, you don't know that. And if your moms are anything like their daughters, they survived."

America couldn't help but smile a little. "Not bad." Then she said. "So the woman with you in that memory was Christine?"

"Yeah."

"Did you blow it with your Christine? Other You did."

"Of course."

"Why'd you do it?"

"Wasn't intentional, kid."

Pushing the memories away - for now - they continued to wander the streets of this flower-filled NYC, not seeming to come any closer to locating this world's Stephen.

"Maybe we should go back and ask Pizza Papa, he seemed like a real fan," Catalina joked.

"Or we could try the big ass statue." Kat pointed.

Across the street and around the corner, a hulking stone figure stood tall before none other than the New York Sanctum. The statue was of a beardless, high-collared Stephen, with a plaque below.

Doctor Stephen Strange gave his life defeating Thanos. This statue stands before the doors of his Sanctum to honour and mark his sacrifice which will never be forgotten.

"'Gave his life defeating Thanos'," America read aloud, shocked. "You're dead?"

"But then who guards this sanctum?" asked Kat.

"Oh no-"

A figure emerged from the front doors, coming towards them.

"Mordo!"

Borrowing from the comics with the extra Stones :)

Lots of sweet cameos coming up as you know! ;) Can't wait!

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