...
As far as Hawk was concerned, there was no getting around it: until that Celestial was dead, he would never be able to put this behind him.
He hadn't gone after the bastard before because the Celestial had stayed hidden. Hawk had felt him watching from the dark, but sensing a pair of eyes and figuring out who they belonged to were two very different things.
This time, though, the Celestial made the mistake every rat in the shadows makes sooner or later. He exposed himself.
Secrecy was his only protection. Now his death knell had sounded, and Hawk planned to answer it himself.
"Speaking of which…" Hawk pictured the reckoning ahead, then arched a brow at Wanda. "Think I'll see you when I go after him?"
Wanda laughed softly. "You want to?"
"Of course."
"Even if I give you a hard time?"
"I'd be more worried if you stopped." His smile softened as he held her gaze. "For the rest of our lives, wherever we are, you never have to hide what you're feeling from me. Not once."
Hawk had nothing to hide from the woman who was with him through every part of his Sacred Timeline. He never wanted their marriage to become like Odin and Frigga's: regal, polite, and so careful that they seemed like strangers.
If Wanda still felt comfortable getting annoyed with him, it meant there was no wall between them. Hawk thought that was a good thing.
"Even when I'm taking shots at you on purpose?" Wanda asked.
"Taking shots at me?" Hawk widened his eyes in mock surprise. "When two people are in love, that's called flirting. Wait, was that what you were doing? Huh. I never noticed."
Wanda pressed her lips together, unable to hide her smile. Then she returned to the subject. "You probably won't see me this time."
"Why not?"
"Because I don't want you to see me when I'm not really with you." Her face grew serious. "If I show up when I'm supposed to be somewhere else, there's only one reason: you're in danger. And I don't want to see you in danger."
"So what you're saying is, this trip's going to be perfectly safe."
"Don't get cute, Hawk."
"What did I do?"
Wanda gave him a long, knowing look. "Don't even think about putting yourself in danger on purpose just to make me appear. I'll be waiting on Earth-828. Come and get me."
"That thought never crossed my mind. You're accusing an innocent man."
"An innocent man?" Her laugh was full of disbelief.
"Who torched an entire galaxy just for the chance to see me?"
"Me."
"Exactly." Wanda lifted a hand and gently stroked his cheek. "I'll be waiting for you on Earth-828. If you want to see me sooner, stop wasting time here. Besides, that no-good drinking buddy of yours has already noticed what happened to this universe. If you don't leave soon, he'll come up here himself."
Red-gold Phoenix fire flickered in Hawk's eyes. His mind reached across the boundary between worlds, found Mephisto below, and then came back to Wanda.
"All right. I'm going."
"Then go."
Hawk looked up at the sky. A phoenix made of red-gold flame appeared above him, spread its wings, and soared upward. It broke through Earth's atmosphere in a moment and disappeared into the darkness of space.
Yet Hawk himself remained standing in front of Wanda.
Her brows rose. A moment later, she understood and shook her head with an exasperated smile. "You're ridiculous."
"Wherever you are, I'll be there." Hawk spread his hands. "I refuse to leave the woman I love alone in a world without me."
The man in front of her was Hawk, but not his main self. He was an incarnation, formed by Hawk's Cosmo around a piece of his soul. Hawk's real body was already heading back to their home universe.
He couldn't have done this in just any universe. But this one belonged to him now. Here, the laws of reality followed his will.
After enduring Wanda's silent stare for a moment, Hawk shrugged. "All right, there's one other reason."
Wanda said nothing. She merely smiled and waited.
"Our daughter's staying here too. You may have permanently revoked my vote on how we raise the kids, but if Visor Boy ever hurts her, I still reserve the right to beat his ass."
Only then did Wanda look away. Her gaze settled on Cyclops, who stood at a second-floor window of the Institute.
"Let's hope he doesn't screw up, then," she said. "If he does, he's going to die horribly."
"Horribly," Hawk agreed, his voice perfectly calm.
If Jean ever got hurt, Hawk wouldn't hesitate. He wouldn't care who started it or whose fault it was. Cyclops would end up in the deepest prison of the Underworld for eternity. They could figure out the blame later.
Jean stayed quiet next to them, still trying to process her parents' bickering, flirting, declarations of love, veiled threats, and everything else between them. She had just managed to collect her thoughts when Hawk tilted his head.
"Mephisto's here. I'm heading down to Hell for a couple of drinks."
"Be home early," Wanda told him. "It's shopping day."
"I know."
Right in front of Wanda and Jean, Hawk's body turned into smoke. A breeze blew through and scattered it, leaving no sign he had ever been there.
Jean stared at the empty space, her mouth open in shock, then slowly turned to Wanda.
"Mom?"
"Mm-hm?"
"Dad just…"
"He went to Hell to drink with Mephisto," Wanda replied matter-of-factly. "Why? Did you want to go too?"
"No." Jean gave her a flat look. "Weren't we just talking about him going back to our universe?"
"He already did."
"He did? Then who was just standing here?"
"The Hawk who went home is your father," Wanda said. "The Hawk who stayed here is also your father. He left a piece of his soul behind. What else could he do when you wouldn't go back?"
Jean frowned. "When did I ever say I didn't want to go back?"
Wanda merely smiled at her.
With Wanda looking at her like that, Jean's confidence started to fade. "Maybe I just… missed you too much to leave?"
"Oh?" Wanda's smile deepened. "You missed me so much that you couldn't bring yourself to go home with your father?"
Jean thought about it for a moment, then nodded firmly. "Yes. That's exactly it. I wanted to stay with you."
"But I'm not here either."
"What?"
Wanda copied Hawk's favorite gesture and spread her hands. "I'm on Earth-828. The me standing in front of you is just like the version of your father who stayed behind. I'm an incarnation made from a piece of my soul."
Wanda had woven herself into every point along Hawk's Sacred Timeline, so she existed at every moment and place within it. Each version was still Wanda in every important way, formed from the same soul.
Ironically, Hawk had Wanda to thank for teaching him this trick. She made him feel the pain of having his soul torn into countless pieces by his own flawed torrent of time.
That way, she accidentally showed him how a soul could come apart, and how to split his own without being hurt.
Jean stared at her mother, dumbfounded. A moment later, her eyes widened in disbelief.
"So you two really did leave me here all by myself!"
"What?" Wanda blinked at the sudden counterattack. "We're both standing right in front of you."
"You just said the two of you here are only pieces of your souls. They aren't the real you."
Wanda narrowed her eyes. "Young lady, are you trying to change the subject?"
"No." Jean shook her head so quickly that she looked like a bobblehead. "You still left me here alone."
She said no, but her darting eyes told a different story. Wanda saw through her right away.
"Fine. You can go home too. With me on Earth-828, Billy and Tommy need someone back home to keep an eye on them, and I certainly don't trust your father with the job. You can go back and help me take care of your brothers."
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