Chapter 7: Fault
Sorrow like a ceaseless rain
Beats upon my heart.
People twist and scream in pain,—
Dawn will find them still again;
This has neither wax nor wane,
Neither stop nor start.
People dress and go to town;
I sit in my chair.
All my thoughts are slow and brown:
Standing up or sitting down
Little matters, or what gown
Or what shoes I wear.
~Edna St. Vincent Millay, "Sorrow"
Wong was in the library reading some records when he felt a sudden change in the power flow within the Sanctum.
"Dammit," Strange said at the same moment. Levitating his laptop to the ground, he opened a portal and stepped through to Wanda's room. Wong followed.
She was sitting at the desk surrounding herself in a red glow.
"No," Strange scolded, snatching her out of the field she was creating and setting her on her feet.
"Please," Wanda begged. "Just for a few minutes. Please."
"Pull yourself together. We've got a world to save, and all you can think to do is go back to your interdimensional peepshow?"
"I can't do this! I can't face this without him!"
"You can, and you will. Because the world is counting on you. This world needs you to be a hero, not a nervous wreck wallowing in your grief."
She seemed to shrink under his words. "I'm no hero. Obviously. In fact, I was made to be the opposite."
He stared at her, something in his expression changed. He half softened while still trying to remain stern. "I know what you did when Thanos attacked in Wakanda. I know what you sacrificed. If that doesn't make you a hero, no one is worthy of that word. I need you to be that Wanda Maximoff again."
She stood frozen for several seconds, then said in a quiet, choked voice, "I never counted on having to live with it."
After several more seconds of tense silence, Wanda suddenly lurched toward the door, fleeing the room.
Wong glanced at Strange questioningly.
"Let her go," he said. "If she wants to go drown her sorrows, fine."
"What did she do when Thanos attacked in Wakanda?" Wong asked.
Strange didn't look at him, but at the open door. "She and Vision decided it was better to destroy the Mind Stone than let Thanos get it, even if it was still in Vision's head. Wanda used her power to destroy it. Thanos used the Time Stone to get it anyway."
"Lǎotiān!" Wong swore. "How can you be so hard on her, knowing she's been through that?"
"Because with her powers, she needs to be stronger than this. The things she could potentially do are absolutely incredible, but she's squandering that potential, hiding away, wasting her life. She should stop worrying about herself and use her powers to help the world."
Wong stared at him incredulously. "You're saying she's being selfish because she can't handle what she's been forced to go through? She needs help, not criticism."
"True, but she hasn't sought help. She's run away from everyone who cared about her."
Wong sighed and rubbed his forehead, wondering how someone as brilliant as Stephen Strange could be such an idiot. "When you came to us, you were a wreck: desperate, destitute, ready to throw away your life. And all you had lost was the use of you hands. She has lost her family, her team, and you're telling me now she was forced to sacrifice the life of the one she loved. You were a surgeon, Stephen; tell me, if you saw someone whose body was as wounded as her spirit is, would you expect them to heal themself? Or even be able to seek help on their own?"
That stunned Strange into silence.
With an exasperated sigh, Wong portaled himself to the library, leaving Strange to hopefully think about what he said.