Author's note: In the interest of keeping this fic rated T, I've posted an outtake from this chapter (titled which witch) separately—if you feel so inclined, feel free to give it a read :)
this side of paradise
by Ninazadzia
Earth-616:
Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters
Day Ten
When Loki, Stephen and Wanda stepped through the portal from Kamar-Taj, Charles Xavier was waiting for them.
"Did it work?" he asked.
Stephen nodded, while Loki picked at his cuticles.
Charles didn't even need to look inside of Stephen's mind to know he wanted to throttle Loki. "Doctor Strange—why don't you go speak to Ms. Chavez, catch her up to speed? I think she would prefer to hear all of this from you."
Stephen clenched his jaw, nodded, and wandered down the hall, where America had barricaded herself. Wanda followed him in a daze. Once they were out of sight, Loki looked up from his cuticles.
"I know he's angry," Loki started. "But he has to know, I did what I did for the greater good."
Xavier nodded. "He does. But that doesn't mean he approves of your methods."
He'd seen their minds, that first day, as they prepared to fight Romanoff and Rogers—he'd gotten to see the inner workings of Wanda's, Stephen's and Loki's minds.
He saw the relationships Loki had forged with the two of them, gaining their trust, working as a team, all under the pretense of drawing out Natasha Romanoff and Steve Rogers, their multiversal "threat"—and Charles saw what was really going on, and what Loki's true agenda was.
Loki, of course, had realized this.
"Yes, Laufeyson—I knew what your aim was," Charles conceded. "My surprise was that you let me into your mind at all. That's very uncharacteristic of you Loki's, from my understanding."
Loki couldn't help but smile. "I had a feeling you would say that."
Charles remembered what he'd seen—flashes of Loki, in another universe, talking to a variant of Professor Charles Xavier, leader of the X-Men. The hours the two of them would spend together, discussing the situation with Kang, and the realization—one day—that Kang wasn't just after Vibranium, to fuel his army—he was after Enzo Barnes, Bucky and Yelena's son.
From there, they concocted a plan. Loki used the Darkhold, to dreamwalk into Earth-1610, to Enzo's universe—and he found Enzo, at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.
Except, in this reality—at that point in time—the school had moved underground.
Earth-1610:
Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters
After Day X, Before the TVA Prison Break
"What happened here?"
Loki and 1610-Xavier didn't need to exchange pleasantries—all it took was one look into his mind, and Xavier saw exactly where he was coming from. Still, he paused before responding.
"I know you can read my mind," Loki continued, slowly. "And I know that you know who sent me here—you did."
Xavier nodded. "Yes, I see that." He sighed, looking at the stacks of books on the shelves beside him. "All of my years of research, and study—and all this time, the multiverse is real." He shook his head. "I suppose I should have prepared better."
"I'll ask again," Loki continued. "What happened here?"
Xavier sighed. "It was years ago. We were attacked, although I couldn't say by who—they were beings with technology far more advanced than ours. And it wasn't just us they targeted. It was anyone with the gene, any one of the mutants."
"But let me guess," Loki interjected. "They were looking for one in particular."
Xavier nodded. "They didn't even know his name, or even that he was here—they just knew they were looking for a child of the Black Widow. I don't even think their leader told them why he was a target, or what his powers are—I don't know if he even knows."
Loki nodded. "Oh, but he does." He cast a projection of his memories, and showed Xavier his conversation with Mobius, about the incursion, and their realization that Natasha Romanoff and Steve Rogers were about to cause one—and he showed him their imprisonment in the TVA, and how moments later, the technologically advanced army—the one Xavier had told him about—showed up at Yelena and Bucky Barnes house.
"Doesn't the timing of that seem convenient to you?" Loki asked.
Xavier nodded. "I figured it was Enzo. Yelena was one of my students, many years ago—even though her powers only manifested recently, I trained her, taught her how to fight."
"You know she's not supposed to be here, right? She was supposed to die, as an Avenger—she was supposed to sacrifice herself for the Soul Stone."
Xavier nodded. "When I met her adopted father—well, now he's her husband—I gathered as much." A grave look crossed his face. "I always knew that his actions would have consequences—I just didn't imagine how much."
This time, it was Xavier's turn to cast a projection.
The army—Sentinels—invaded the planet, scouring the universe for any sign of a child of the Black Widow. It helped that the army didn't have any personal information—they didn't know which Black Widow, that the child was a boy or a girl, where the child was from, or anything of the like—only that they knew the child was a mutant, and had supernatural abilities.
What ensued was what Charles had always feared would happen—what Erik, his old friend, had always told him would happen, ever since the existence of the X-gene—and mutants—became public knowledge.
For members of the human race, it turned into a full-blown witch hunt, for anyone who inherited the gene.
Women who carried it had to undergo forced sterilization—individuals suspected of enhanced abilities were ripped from their homes, taken away by cover of night, and thrown into prison while they awaited questioning. The X-Men were forced underground, and all the while, Charles had a feeling that whichever mutant the Sentinels were after—one of his students or not—he would know it when he saw it.
And then, a year later, it happened. Yelena Belova showed up on his doorstep, with a child in her arms.
She was shaking, her eyes glowing, as she radiated an energy she didn't know what to do with.
"What the hell is happening to me?" she managed.
Charles took one look at her, and at the child in her arms. He hadn't seen Yelena since she graduated at the age of 18, and hadn't met her son, Enzo—but one look at his cherub face, and at his steely blue eyes, and immediately, Charles knew.
Enzo Barnes—Yelena's toddler son, who had just learned how to walk and could barely say "dada"—was the mutant the Sentinels were looking for.
Xavier wiped away the projections of his visions, and turned to Loki. "This man—Kang—he hasn't shown his face on our planet, not once. If he's here, he's keeping a very low profile."
Loki shook his head. "He's not." He pulled up projections of his own—of other armies, invading universes in search of Vibranium, before leaving and moving on to the next one. "Enzo might be his target—but that's a defensive measure. He's really after Vibranium."
"Vibranium," Charles echoed. He shook his head. "Well, that explains why he wants Enzo." He turned back to Loki. "There is none, on our universe. There hasn't been in years. I saw to that, personally."
"The same goes for most places, in the multiverse—and even on the universes that do have Vibranium, from what we know, it's not just that. He's looking for a specific kind. The kind imbued with the power of the Space Stone."
Xavier thought for a moment. He looked again in Loki's mind, and saw what he had spoken through with his variant, on Earth-838.
He saw the plan.
"Just so I'm clear—you want to send out Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff—the ones that went missing from this universe—on a wild killing spree?"
"Think about it," Loki started. "We know that Enzo is here, on this universe—but Kang doesn't. The most he knows is that it's a child of the Black Widow, and that I meddled with this Universes' future, by stopping an incursion. He doesn't know exactly who he's looking for, and he's not any closer to finding Vibranium now than he was fifteen years ago—all he's been going off of is following incursions. He thinks that an incursion means he's closer to finding Enzo—and that's the only incursion I've actively prevented, since I took over the TVA."
"What are you saying?" Xavier asked. "That it's in our best interest to release Romanoff and Rogers, to create more incursions?"
"Not just create them—they'll buy us time. Kang knows they were at the center of the incursion I prevented—and he knows they're after a child." He motioned to the ruins around him. "For all he knows—maybe he got the wrong universe. Maybe the child he's looking for isn't actually here, but somewhere else. And maybe, just maybe, it will take the heat of off your universe, and keep Enzo safe."
Xavier couldn't help but laugh. "As if you care about Enzo's well-being."
But Loki nodded, gravely. "Enzo is our only chance at defeating Kang. Because if Kang ever does get a hold of the Vibranium he's looking for—he'll be unstoppable. So, yes, actually—it is very much in my best interest that we keep Enzo alive."
Xavier thought for a moment. "This 'plan,' you speak of—you don't have me fooled." He couldn't help but smile. "You already released them, didn't you?"
Loki sighed, and conceded. "In my defense—has it not calmed down, recently? Fewer attacks by Sentinels?"
As much as Xavier hated to admit it, Loki had a point—the attacks had grown more sparse.
"This Vibranium—do we have an idea of where it is?"
Loki shook his head. "But I know someone who might. The other you, the one I've been working with—he knows about the multiverse. He's the one who taught me how to Dreamwalk."
"Dreamwalk?"
With that word, she finally emerged from the shadows.
This was Loki's first time encountering the Scarlet Witch—her hands were singed black, and her hair was pulled back by a red crown. The look on her face was one of sheer terror.
"You should know better than to Dreamwalk, Laufeyson," she said with a shake of the head. She held up her scarred hands. "Take it from me—nothing good ever comes from tapping into the power of the Darkhold."
"Ms. Maximoff—is there something you know, that you would like to tell me? About the multiverse?" Professor Xavier asked.
She paused for a moment, before shaking her head. "All I know is I've been having all sorts of dreams, lately—about another version of me, somewhere out there." A wave of darkness crossed her face. "She's in pain. She's…well, she's grieving, I think." She then looked at Loki. "And in that dream, I saw a Vision—a man, made entirely of Vibranium. With powers from the Mind Stone."
Loki furrowed his brow. "Well, yes, of course—he was your lover, on my universe. He's one of the Avengers."
And it was as those words escaped his mouth—as the memories came rushing back to him, about the Battle of New York, and the tesseract, and the tesseract's history, per an enslaved Clint Barton and Erik Selvig—that it dawned on him.
"No." He shook his head. "Oh, Allfathers, for the love of all that is good and Holy—you have got to be kidding me."
He couldn't help it. He laughed. He threw his head back, unable to contain his laughter, which was something into between panic and terror at the sheer irony of the situation.
"Care to enlighten us, Loki?" Xavier asked.
Loki was practically crying, he was laughing so hard. "It's just—oh God, I hope I'm wrong—I have this awful feeling, that I know which universe Kang is looking for. And it's my home Universe, the one from the sacred timeline, the one the Time Variance Authority tried so desperately to protect."
He shook his head. "I've seen it before, the tesseract—I know where it was, during World War Two. And I know for a fact that there's Vibranium on this planet."
"Well then," Xavier said, exchanging a look with Wanda. "What do you need to do, to prepare for battle? I'm assuming your goal is to flush him out, to ambush Kang on this universe."
"First, I need to be sure." Loki's mind was racing as he spoke. "I can't risk setting a trap, only for him to realize there's no Vibranium in that universe—we've got one shot at getting this right. So I need to make sure that I'm not bluffing, that when I sound the alarm and he comes to that universe, there actually is Vibranium."
"That presents a level of risk," Wanda murmured.
Loki nodded. "I know." He looked back to Professor Xavier. "That's why we have to protect Enzo. We have to keep him safe."
"And you're proposing we do that by, what—allowing Romanoff and Rogers to complete this mind-controlled killing spree in the multiverse, so I'm clear?"
"I know, it's not ideal. But we need to get this army off of your planet. Every moment Enzo spends here, he's at risk."
"How about this," Wanda interjected, snapping her fingers. "Why not send Enzo somewhere he will be safe—I mean, you got here, didn't you?"
"Right, well, since you apparently know how Dreamwalking works—I'm not here, I'm just renting a variant's body. And as far as we know, there's only one variant of Enzo anywhere in the multiverse."
"What about these tempads?" Charles asked, having seen them in Loki's memory.
Loki groaned. "This was my fault—we can't access this universe using the tempad. I wiped its coordinates off the grid. That's why I had to Dreamwalk, to get here."
They all thought for a moment, the three of them stumped.
"In the meantime—I can cast a spell, and cloak Enzo."
Wanda snorted. "Don't you think we've already done that?"
"On this planet, yes, but I mean for the multiverse—I can make it so that no one knows he's here, except for me. And then, when the time is right—when we find another way to travel here, that doesn't involve dreamwalking, when Kang finally does show his face—we'll be ready. We'll attack."
Earth-616:
Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters
Day Ten
As Xavier traveled out of this vision, and snapped back to reality, it all came rushing back to him.
Wanda and Loki finding out about Stephen Strange's connection to the multiverse, and specifically, his connection with America Chavez—how America Chavez was being trained in Kamar-Taj as an apprentice in the mystic arts, and had the power to travel the multiverse.
More importantly—America could bring other people with her, when she travelled the multiverse. Meaning she could bring Enzo with her, once the timing was right, to fight Kang.
They had their mode of transport, to get Enzo off of Earth-1610—not that there was any rush. Because as much as Xavier was reluctant to the idea, Loki's plan had worked. Setting Romanoff and Rogers loose in the multiverse had pulled Kang's army away from Enzo's home base.
All they needed left was confirmation about the Vibranium, the hunch that Loki had about it being on Earth-616.
The Runestones, the agents of chaos magic—once the Xavier from Earth-838 heard from Stephen about the Scarlet Witch on his universe, and how she was Dreamwalking into alternate universes in search of her children, after having lost her husband—Vision—to Thanos, Xavier knew.
He knew that the Scarlet Witch, and the variant of Stephen Strange in front of him, were from Loki's home universe—Earth-616. And that all of the evidence in front of him pointed to a very compelling case supporting Loki's gut feeling, that the Universe with Vibranium—the one Kang was looking for—was, in fact, Earth-616.
Just before his death, 838-Xavier managed to reach Loki, using the Runestones he'd been given.
"There's a variant of one Stephen Strange here. He's with a Ms. Chavez, who has the ability to travel the multiverse."
Loki looked to the Charles Xavier in front of him. He took a deep breath, waiting for Professor Xavier's response.
"Stephen Strange is speaking with America Chavez right now—you'll accompany her to collect Enzo Barnes, once they're finished," Xavier stated.
Loki nodded. "Thank you."
"How long do we have?" Xavier asked.
Loki pulled out the runestones. They were radiating still, the glow indicating that their magic still emanated through the multiverse. Encased inside of them were Natasha Romanoff and Steve Rogers—the homicidal variants, frozen in their own pocket reality.
"About a week. Ten days, at most."
"You'll need a team."
Loki motioned down the hall, to where the X-Men slept. He thought of the Avengers, and the Thunderbolts.
For a moment, he thought of the pocket reality. He knew the power the two of them had—and, more importantly, the power Natasha Romanoff would have, thanks to the pocket reality he placed her in.
Xavier knew it, too. But he also knew better than to request that Loki keep them there, in the pocket reality.
"I already have a team," Loki murmured, as America Chavez emerged from her room, after finishing her conversation with Stephen Strange.
He turned to her, not paying any attention to the scowl on her face. "Ready to go, love?"
Earth-616:
Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters
Day Ten
After his conversation with America Chavez, Stephen resolved to rip the band-aid off. He knew he had to talk to Wanda.
He knocked on the door to her room. When she didn't immediately open it, he jiggled the doorknob, and once he saw it was unlocked, let himself inside.
Wanda stared at him from across the room, her expression downright murderous.
"I can explain."
She used magic to shut the door behind him. She took three measured, deliberate steps forward, looked him up and down for a second, and then reacted.
For the supposedly "good" variant of the Scarlet Witch, Wanda Maximoff still packed a mean backhand.
The second Wanda's hand collided with his face, Stephen knew he would have a bruise or worse. He winced for a moment, before going, "yeah, I deserved that."
Evidently, his reaction wasn't satisfying.
"How could you?" she seethed. "How in the hell could you go along with this ridiculous goddamn plan—"
"—Because it's not ridiculous, Wanda, it's actually brilliant."
Her jaw dropped. It took her a moment to gather herself. "Do you know what he's done? I mean do you have any concept, really, about the havoc Loki brought to countless universes, including mine?!"
"Listen to me—"
"No, Stephen, actually it's your turn to listen to me." A gust of magic radiated off of her as she spoke. It pushed him back. "All of this 'greater good' bullshit, pretending like Loki is doing all of this out of some self-sacrificing goodness in his heart—he's doing what he always does. He's playing God. And so are you!"
She couldn't help it—she laughed. The Stephen Strange in her universe was the exact same way. "I mean, it's such a fucking cliché, but there it is—doctors have God complexes! And you're literally no fucking different."
Stephen shook his head. His cheeks were burning at the insinuation.
"I only found out earlier today. I had nothing to do with Romanoff and Rogers, running around the multiverse and killing every variant they could get their hands on."
Wanda shook her head. The anger on her face morphed into something else—something Stephen wasn't quite able to place.
"Wanda. Look at me."
She snapped her attention back to him.
"You have to believe me." This time, he walked across the room, taking her hands in his. "I never would have gone along with it, had I known."
She furiously shook her head, which only made Stephen hold on tighter.
"Let go of me," she snapped, attempting to be released from his grasp.
"Wanda—"
This time, she shoved him. Magic emanated from her hands as she pushed him back. It only made him hug onto her tighter.
"I said—" she pushed him back with more magic, "let me—"
He was able to catch her fist in his hand. And as he did, he noticed how dangerously close he was to her face.
Before he could think better of it, he leaned down, and kissed her. And by god did she kiss him back.
They stumbled backwards, practically crashing into the nightstand behind them, Wanda furiously grabbing at his robes and yanking them off unceremoniously. All the while, he pulled at her hair and pulled her in close, trailing kisses from her mouth to her jawline to her neck and everywhere in between.
"I fucking hate you," she breathed in between sobs, as she shoved him back onto the bed. She shook her head. "I really do."
But the look in her eyes told Stephen that the only thing she hated about him, was that she didn't hate him. Not at all.
"Come here."
He didn't need to tell her twice—she threw herself on top of him, straddling his waist, as she bucked her hips against his and furiously kissed his neck, his chest. She dug her nails into his back as he used magic to remove her robes—at least the outermost layer—with the flick of his wrist.
She worked her kisses back to his mouth, and bit his bottom lip so hard she drew blood. And for the first time since she'd met him, all of those months ago—as she spat the blood out of her mouth and into his face, and relished in the delight of his reaction—she finally reminded him of the Wanda Maximoff he once knew, on his universe.
He was watching Wanda, the Good Witch, transform into the Scarlet Witch before his very eyes.
He didn't know who this version of Wanda Maximoff was, the one kissing him, and stripping off his clothing—but he wasn't sure that he cared.
They lay awake for a few moments afterwards, staring at the ceiling. Wanda finally broke the silence.
"So. We have a week."
He nodded, slowly. He half expected her to be as far away from him as possible, on the opposite side of the bed—instead, she was curled up right next to him, her head nestled into his neck.
He couldn't decide if her presence was soothing or alarming.
"One week to fortify Kyiv," he muttered.
He thought of who they had on deck, to help defend Vibranium, and fight Kang. He thought of the conversation he'd had with America, all of an hour ago, when he explained her role in Loki's master plan—his "brilliant plan," as he'd called it.
Maybe it was the post-nut clarity, or the fact that they'd taken care of two homicidal variants and traded them in for one significantly worse one—but the more he thought about Loki's plan, the more holes he saw in it.
There was one part of Loki's plan, in particular, that Stephen knew would present some challenges.
Apparently, Wanda had read his mind. "You're right. Bucky and Yelena can't be anywhere near Ukraine when this all goes down."
Author's note: aaaand that's just about a wrap on the complicated, multiversal world-building :)
For the rest of this fic we'll be focusing primarily on Bucky and Yelena. Thank you to everyone who took the time to read + comment on this plot-bunny, it means more to me than you'll ever know xo