Variation - W.M.

Chapter 15 - November 7

I don't really know how long I stayed in 2023, walking around aimlessly once my strength had come back and touring the town of Westview.

I had to admit, I liked Wanda's version a lot more. Westview without The Hex was bleary and depressing.

But thinking about The Hex made me think about Wanda, and what she had said to me. Maybe, if only in that sense, it was better I was stuck here. She wouldn't have to deal with me.

But in reality, there were other upsides; such as the Avengers and my brother.

"What would happen if I saw myself?" I asked the clock, glancing over at where she sat on my shoulder. "Would I explode?"

"Of course not, sugar. It would be just like meeting any other person. You've already changed this timeline and the TVA has more pressing matters than variants at the moment" Miss Minutes said, eyeing the water I was swirling my legs around in. "Should you be doin' that?"

I looked down at the murky pool water, leaves floating near my feet as I created a tiny whirlpool. "No. I'll probably get a disease or something." That didn't stop me, though.

"Are we goin' back to 2016?" The accented clock asked after a moment and I sighed, pulling my legs out of the pool.

"I have stuff there, so I guess."

With the help of Miss Minutes I opened a timedoor to my room in 2016, slipping through it.

"Welcome back, Ollie" JARVIS said and I hummed.

"How long was I gone?"

"Seven hours, thirty-nine minutes and four seconds."

I nodded, looking down at the TemPad. I reached forward to click on Miss Minutes but was stopped when the pad was taken out of my hand by an annoyingly familiar red mist.

I scowled and looked up, about to chastise the woman but stopped at the disappointment on her face.

"You left without saying goodbye. I understand not saying it to me and the Avengers you don't talk to, but you left without saying it to Pietro and Natasha and even Steve."

I opened my mouth to say something but she held up a hand, not done with her rant.

"You shut them out for days but they still came to make sure you were doing okay and then you were gone, Stark telling us you went through one of your little time traveler doors."

I knew she was right. I knew that I deserved to be yelled at and scolded but I couldn't bring myself to do anything but correct her.

"Timedoor."

Wanda looked as though she wanted to say more but then she simply shook her head, throwing the TemPad back to me. I lunged, grabbing it so it didn't break.

"Do what you want, but if you plan on leaving like that, stay away from my family" the brunette hissed before stalking away.

Once again, the things I knew I should do grew. I should apologize to everyone and make it up to them. I should thank them for caring for me even when they knew I was lying.

But instead I focused on myself. Directions and theories I had yet to explore in order to get me home.

Because as much as she had hurt me, I knew that I didn't belong in this timeline, and that I needed to get back to my Wanda.

I brought up Miss Minutes, watching her fly out of the TemPad and onto the dresser.

"What about going back in time and trying to get back on the original timeline?" I asked.

"That wouldn't work, sugar. You only ended up here by accident. You were traveling when-"

"The multiverse was created, I know. But what would they do in the TVA to go from timeline to timeline?"

"I'm not sure. I don't have that kind of information here. But whatever it is, it would take a lot of power."

Power. That word was starting to piss me off.

I scoffed and turned off the TemPad, tossing it on my bedside table and trading it out for a notebook.

My eyes flickered over the neat writing I had spent so long working on and my heart clenched.

I began ripping out the pages, my anger wet with tears. "Stupid fucking time, stupid fucking Loki, stupid fucking Wanda and her Hex, stupid-"

My rant came to a standstill when I saw the two columned page I had drawn on my second day, noting the similarities and differences between this timeline and my own.

Now more than ever those three similarities seemed utterly pathetic.

I skimmed the tiny list disdainfully, gripping the page corner tighter in preparation to pull it out when I stopped, my eyes landing on three words.

The time stone.