𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒆 ━━━ ❪...

a/n
[ can i just say, absolutely insane
this 온라인카지노게임 has 44k reads! thank you all
sm! and i deeply apologise for making
you wait so long for this but i've been
going through it. it's a lot time coming
but i'll try and have the next chapter
up asap. i'm so sorry <3 ]

WARNING: mild cursing/
descriptions of violence

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TWENTY-NINE
𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯
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"STONEKEEPER...ANY LAST words?" Ebony Maw hovered to them, his spindly fingers curled, he pressed his hands together dictatorially. The brute followed him, holding a rusted, hefty piece of metal.

Wanda looked to Stephen, she was standing next to Wong, behind him, they'd positioned themselves in a triangle formation.

The Sorcerer Supreme crossed his hands together bumping his fists and orange circles of magic appeared around them. He shook his head, "Don't need them. You're trespassing in the city and on this planet."

The obsidian-coloured creature lurked stupidly towards them, he was there to do the former's bidding. The stumbling lackey murmured something incomprehensible. Ebony Maw spoke, "Bring me the stone."

The lackey dragged along his piece of metal obeying his orders. Wanda shot straight at him with a red bolt sending him backwards, towards Maw, who pushed him aside with the flick of his wrist, sending him into a stack of parked cars.

Maw looked somewhat impressed with the witch, his head twisted in amusement, he lifted his hands. He made pieces of destructed brick float upwards, he morphed them into stone daggers and he sent them flying towards the Doctor and Wong, they using portals to send them hurtling back into Maw's direction.

The spindly man lifted a car, making it float in front of him as a shield. One of the sharpen rocks still reached his face, cutting across his skin — he reacted quickly, using the water from a hydrant to send Wong flying to the ground, unconscious.

Wanda was still behind them, loading her attacks onto Cull Obsidian. She had him backed into a corner, scarlet vines grew from her fingers and wrapped around his body. He was pressed into the ground, she had the advantage on him. The Scarlet Witch sent him flying in a burst of light.

The creature recovered quickly and started crawling out from the rubble, he was swung the large chunk metal of metal he was holding. It charged towards her, crashing the rubble that stood in his way.

Her hands were filled with glowing light, she was holding him up in front of her, she felt her heart pounding — fuelling the ruby-red waves that held the monster into place. Anger coursed through her blood.

"Your powers are quaint," Maw curved his fingers towards the Eye Of Agamotto, his eye on the prize that was hidden inside — the Time Stone. "You must be popular with the children," he sneered.

When he tried grabbing the amulet, it scorched him, smoke fizzled from his hands. Stephen grunted, "It's a simple spell, but quite unbreakable."

"Then I'll have to take it off your corpse!" The creature spat forcefully, pulling the wizard from the building, and throwing him onto the ground.

Strange opened his hands, attempting to use the emerald stone, however, Maw pulled cables from the ground, curling them around his body — bounding him by his neck, the other cables squeezed his torso and legs. He wheezed, "You'll find...removing a dead man's spell...difficult."

"You'll only wish you were dead!"

Wanda was pleased to keep attacking Cull Obsidian, she had him cornered, she raised scarlet fumes to his neck. It would only take a twist of her fingers to snap his neck, her eyes glowed red, she raised her other hand ready to strike down.

A cold feeling came over the Scarlet Witch and the light in her crimson orbs dimmed down until they were their normal colour. She'd broken their only rule — she could feel every ounce of his struggle intensely. Wanda's eyes widened and she looked upwards to see Stephen being lifted into the sky by Ebony Maw. She grunted, dragging the creature up into the air, she bent backwards and sent him into a pile of smashed cars.

Flames struck behind her and she didn't bother to check if Cull was still alive before pushing herself off the ground. Ebony Maw twisted his head, scowling, he pushed a car towards her. The weight sent her backwards, pushing her to the ground. Beams of red held it away from her face.

She let out a breath, her energy was focused in one place — him. A stream of energy erupted from her chest, making the vehicle burst into flames around her. Her head titled, her eyes started to glow once again.

"Wanda!" Wong called out from behind, he had let Cull Obsidian fall into a portal, "the Sanctum remains unguarded."

"I have to follow him..."

"I know," Wong sighed, he sliced through the creature with the portal. He looked back at the monster, there was no time to argue with her. He turned to her one last time, "Be careful!"

"I will," she nodded, pushing against the ground to lift herself into the air. Stephen's cape led the way, helping her fly towards the circular spaceship in the sky.

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DARKNESS BEFELL THE Q-Ship, the vessel was almost entirely isolated, apart from two people. Ebony Maw had Doctor Strange bound, levitating him in the air. Sharp, glass needles pointed towards him, all inches away from him skin. As the spindly creature had taken time to explain, any movement and Stephen would be impaled.

The Scarlet Witch watched from afar, biting back any sudden urges to twist Ebony Maw's scrawny neck from where she hid behind the rock. She needed to be rational. The needles could pierce Stephen's skin before she flicked her wrist.

She looked around the ship, spotting a large metal piece of machinery. Wanda twisted her fingers, picking up, and throwing it to the other end of the ship. Maw turned around, looking for the source of the noise, and Wanda took her opportunity to stand.

"You get your own," she said, wrapping him in red and slamming him into the wall. She picked up the falling needles in a crimson wave so they raced towards the creature, impaling him. Maw fell, lifeless, a wrinkled pin cushion.

Stephen fell to the floor immediately, and Wanda raced to him. She helped him up, putting an arm under his.

"Are you okay?" Wanda asked.

"What are you doing here?" Stephen grabbed onto her arm, hoisting himself up. "You should've stayed with Wong."

"You're welcome, Stephen."

"You know what I mean," he huffed, "you and I both know how dangerous this is. They could've used your help back there. When Vision came back, there was only one way to get rid of the stone..."

"What are you talking about?"

"He came to me himself. We spoke about similar molecular integrity. If the stone was exposed to a source that parallels its own..."

Wanda only thought about it for a moment, letting it register, and it took her back a little. "I can't. No. I couldn't do that to Vision."

"I would never suggest that, but..." Stephen shook his head. "We can't waste a single second. We don't have the luxury of choices." Wanda didn't get a chance to second guess what he meant by that before he moved on. "We've got to turn this thing around, get the stone back to the Sanctum where it's safest."

"Any suggestions on how we would fly this thing? You got a book on flying alien spaceships hidden in that cloak?"

A small smile tugged on his lips. "Unfortunately, not."

"He'll be expecting Maw. This ship is set on a course for Titan."

"That could be risky..."

"Fighting on earth is risky. More people get hurt. At least this way the only one getting hurt is him."

He pursed his lips, letting silence sit for a few minutes before speaking. Earth was always the priority.

Stephen chuckled softly, "Look at you — making decisions for the greater good."

Wanda beamed, batting her eyelashes at him jokingly. "Why, thank you, Doctor..." She walked them over to a raised platform where they could sit down.

"Thank you," he caught his breath, "you know, we'll probably be here for a while. And, I don't like to say it but there is a possibility that we might not...make it. I might want to get something off my chest, in the event..."

"Wait..." Wanda shook her head. "I...we're making out of this alive, Stephen. I'm not going to dramatically say everything I've been feeling in the nick of time before we..." Before they died, she almost said. They weren't going to die. Dying would be a cruel joke for people with magic like theirs. "No—I don't want it to be a goodbye."

"And if it is?"

"We're not having this conversation."

He took her hands.

"We have to...if it comes down to saving the stone or us— we can't hesitate."

"You can't?" Wanda pulled her hands back, "or you won't?"

"I need you to understand that if it comes down to saving each other or the stone, we have to think about our priorities."

"Our priorities?" Wanda breathed out. "That sounds a lot like you're suggesting we let each other die."

"I'm saying if...I were to be compromised. I'd want you to do what is necessary to get the stone, and yourself to safety. To protect the universe. I thought you understood..."

"Well, I don't. I don't understand why you'd want me to sacrifice you. Why you'd ever think I would?" 

"I thought you understood that this came with sacrifices."

"I'm not here for a job, thanks. I would've gone to apologize to Stark years ago if I wanted to be employed that badly. But, I wasn't interested in being a martyr..."

"We have to make the right choice."

"The right choice," she mumbled, swallowing a bitter chuckle. Her Sokovian came back in times like these, when she was angry and she wasn't thinking about how to twist her tongue. "I forget that you're a man who prioritizes the wrong things. But...if it was between the world, the universe, whatever...I'm still picking you."

"Hey," Stephen said, and it sounded grave and pleading. He didn't sound this vulnerable often. Wanda turned to him quickly. "You can still be here. That's everything, okay?"

Wanda didn't know what to say. They were drifting in space, standing at each other's feet. She looked into his eyes, and felt like admitting it all, like if they didn't make it out of this it might not be enough to say how her heart was feeling. The words didn't make it out. She nodded, weakly, and they kept floating through the galaxy.