remember the doubt
by which now I stand

you write the book
on the way it all ends

the way it ends
prototype

⋆⋅☆⋅⋆

To many, the Sanctum Sanctorum located in New York City was just some old building. Some think it's a household, others say an old museum with even older artifacts-no one knows except for those of the Mystic Arts. Anyone outside of the order (or anyone deemed not a threat) has set foot inside of the sanctum. Until now, that is.

Stephen manifests a cup of herbal tea, a known remedy for headaches, trying his best not to get stressed over the three curious teenagers roaming the sanctum who were bound to ask numerous questions about the mythic artifacts within it.

He takes a sip, preparing himself for the unavoidable onslaught of questions, when he turns to find one of them attempting to open a display case the held a once dangerous weapon. "I'm sorry, are you trying to steal from the sanctum?" Doctor Strange speaks, startling the pair.

"We just wanted to hold it." Ned gaps, immediately backing away from the case with raised hands. "It's cool looking!"

"And dangerous. It drives its wielder into insanity, utilizing their negative emotions to drive them into said insanity. Where nothing else matters but the crave for bloodshed." That was before Dr. Strange was able to remove the curse, but he wasn't about to let them know that. What's the fun in that?

Expecting for them to cower in fear, he awaited for them to back away and leave it alone, but his tale only seemed to be disregarded with woe. "Dude. It's just like Skyrim's ebony blade!" Ned exclaims, the pair looking to each other in realization.

"Sick!" Peter mumbles, eyes widened as he took in every inch and detail of a real, enchanted ebony blade. Strange's eye twitches.

"Nerds!" Michelle calls over her shoulder, flipping through one of the many books the sanctum has to offer, sure of it there's secrets inside of it that could be useful to her.

"Y/n would be just as excited if she were here." Peter says matter-of-factly, not deterred even the slightest by her offhanded comment. Strange snaps his fingers, pointing to him at the mention of the girl's name. "Let's talk about that!" He cheers, wanting to shift from idle talking and finally get down to business. Any longer doing nothing, their dimension (amongst many others) could be at stake.

Ned's face scrunches in confusion. "About how Y/n is just as big of a nerd? Maybe even bigger?" Strange feels himself getting older by the second.

"No. About how her current whereabouts could mean the end of the world." Strange cuts to the chase, making three chairs appear behind the teens, their abrupt appearance causing them to fall into its comfort. All they could do was stare up at the pacing Doctor in shock, it happening way to quickly for them to process.

"When I sensed the timeline shifted, I originally had suspected it was because of you." Stephen motions to Peter with a swoop of his hand. "But I found I was wrong when I looked further into the timeline. Neither of you were suppose to be down there, including Y/n."

Peter's cogs began to churn as he tries to fill in the holes, attempting to fill in the missing pieces that would surely reveal themselves if he kept his mouth shut and listened to Doctor Strange's insight, no matter how much he wanted to ask if you were okay, or not.

"She kicked it off as soon as she crossed that gate. In the original timeline, she was suppose to turn around and let the Avengers know what she found. But by proceeding alone, she threw herself in danger that she couldn't possibly handle on her own-no matter how strong she is."

And there it was. That unwarranted guilt. Strange knew there was nothing that could been done, for Y/n was her own person and made her decision, but the look on their faces-it made him guilty, even so when he was just the messenger.

You aren't allowed to interfere. There was nothing you could have done, Strange had to remind himself, continuing with a quick breather. The trio brace themselves for the worst. "Whatever was down there opened up multiple gateways to multiple dimensions. It was unstable-unprecedented. It could have, and would have, torn out dimension to pieces if either or [Y/n/The Avengers] didn't interfere."

Gateways. Other dimensions. The multiverse theory was true and Peter or the others couldn't find it in themselves to be excited about it! What the hell did they get themselves into?

"Someway, somehow, Y/n managed to cross into another dimension, which left ours spider-less. Until, well. . y'know." Strange motions to Peter yet again, allowing it to sink in.

It wasn't just a bite, those very words relayed into Peter's brain, his eyes burning as he starred at the very bite with unblinking eyes. "In every universe, there's a spider person protecting it's city. With no Y/n, the universe needed someone else to fill in her shoes."

Ned shoots out of his chair with a loud gasp, staring preposterously at Peter. "No way!" Yes way. "That's what that was? You were bit by a radioactive spider and ruled it off as nothing?!"

"It's not like coming across a radioactive spider is a normal occurrence, Ned." Michelle chimes in. Out of everyone, she was seemingly the one keeping it together a bit better than everyone else. Peter? He's losing it.

"She's going to kill me." He mumbles.

"That's what you're worried about? Don't worry about that. In just a day, there won't be anything to kill when the inevitable resumes and tears our dimension apart and we cease to exist." Nonchalantly, Strange says, instilling fear in each kid.

"Can't you just use your magic and bring her home?" Michelle asks the obvious, arms crossed as she stands up from her chair, their current dilemma proving to be too heavy to be sitting. "You did it with us, do it for her."

"No can do. It would have been different if she had landed somewhere where she didn't exist, but in this particular universe, a variant of herself does. A carbon copy, too."

"And?" Michelle pushes, Strange's answer not making much sense to her.

"And. Funny thing about carbon copies of your original self, if you manage to land in a universe with one, you merge together to avoid an imbalance in the universe. We take her variant out of her's, her absence will eventually tear a gaping hole in their timeline-a plot hole if you will-and will collapse said universe."

Judging by their expressions, Strange is doing that thing where he tries to relieve the pressure of their situation with terrible, inappropriately timed jokes. Oops.

"Not the time, dude. Not the time." Ned disapproves with a shake of his head.

Strange clears his throat and continues forth. "Lucky for us, with Y/n being there, she shifted their timeline, too." He attempts to comfort. "An event will soon follow where she'll be separated from her variant, only if-you go in after her and put your new genetics to use." Any comfort he managed to stir up was thrown out the window by his very words.

"You're serious? I barely just got bit, the process hasn't even started, yet!" Peter bursts with nerves.

"Then you better utilize the little time we have. The time-window is small. You don't go in, our world, her variants world, and countless others will be at stake." Fear tactics. Most times they work, sometimes they don't. They'll either make you buckle under the pressure, or give you the very thing you need to buck up and tackle the problem. Let's just hope it's the latter for our dear Peter.

But the thing about Peter, he didn't even need to think twice about his decision, his mind already made up just at the mention of Y/n's name. The one thing he was truly hesitant about, was trusting himself to execute the mission successfully. In failing to do so could mean ceasing to exist, no matter what he chooses. But maybe he has an advantage. He was the one who saw through your beginning as Spider-Woman, helped you get through trials and error.

"What universe did she manage to land in, anyways? Is it a dystopian? Futuristic?" Ned asks, ever the curious boy.

Dr. Strange cringes at the minor detail he somehow forgotten to mention, turning to Peter with uncertainty. "How's your French?"

━━━━━━━━ 𝑻𝑶 𝑩𝑬 𝑪𝑶𝑵𝑻𝑰𝑵𝑼𝑬𝑫
(july.18) sorry guys, this one is kinda boring considering it's a filler chapter and explaining a few confusing things! but I promise the next one will be a treat <3

merging variants? has anyone ever heard such a thing?! what could this mean for our dear y/n? to what extent does this affect her? stay tuuuned

edited: x/x
words: 1453