Seeing Scarlet - Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

~IX~

Spoilers for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ahead! Please proceed with caution!!!

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"Yeah, I think I'm ready to talk about what I discovered in Westview..."

Suddenly, the weight of her words, which had been forming on her tonuge, ready to spill from her lips and reveal it all to him, stopped her there, right in her tracks. Too much - it was all too much.

No, she was not ready. Would she ever be? 

"Actually, never mind, forget it," she decided, quick to brush it all away. "Thanks for sharing though." She got up to leave the room. "If you need me I'll be meditating and drinking tea.  Good night Stephen - sweet dreams."

Sweet dreams indeed. If only they could be so lucky. 

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"It was so nice of Christine to invite me to her wedding," Kat said as they readied themselves the next morning for the event.  "Especially seeing as we've only met once, and briefly at that."

"Yes, Christine is very kind," Steven said, reminiscent. 

"Are you sure you're okay though?" she asked. "I mean, I know this must be kind of hard for you..." She didn't need to continue, it was all very self explanatory. Because Christine is getting married today to another man while you and she have a very complicated past...

"I'm fine," he assured her.  "I'm happy for her."

"Need some help?" she asked, nodding to his tie which he was struggling to tie in the mirror, thanks to his still injured hands.

"Yeah thanks." He turned to her.

Instead of tying it herself, she waved her hand and made the tie tie itself. She winked. 

They arrived at the church, sitting mid-row. They were joined shortly thereafter by a man who addressed Stephen.

"Dr. Strange."

"Dr. West. Kat, this is Dr. Nick West. Dr. West, Kat is my - partner..." He hesitated on this last word.

Kat reached over Stephen to shake the man's hand, Stephen's old and new lives meeting once again. "Hello, Doctor West, pleased to meet you. You may call me Katarina."

"A lot changes in five years," Dr. West said, trying to fill the slightly awkward silence. "I blipped too, you know, and I lost everyone, including my two cats, and my brother."

"I'm very sorry," Steven sympathized.

"Yeah. But I can't help but wonder, did you make the right call? Was there any other way?"

"It was the only way. There was no other way," Stephen  insisted. Kat felt him stiffen beside her. He seemed to be trying to reassure himself more than anything. She knew it haunted him and had ever since Titan and then the final battle at the ruins of the Avengers Compound. 

West shook his head. "Dr. Stephen Strange, you always had everything, got everything - but you didn't get the girl."

"What does that mean?" Kat demanded, perhaps more harshly than intended - or was it? 

But this was not answered, or further elaborated on, and perhaps for the better. The music began then, the doors opened, and the guests rose to their feet as the bride appeared. The wedding had begun. 

Christine met their eyes as she walked by, smiling at them  on her way up to meet her soon-to-be husband, whose name was Charlie. 

Following the ceremony, the reception was held at an upstairs venue where food and drinks were served and guests could mingle. Stephen, as usual, wasn't chatting with other guests, keeping to himself - that is, until Christine herself came along.