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[x-scarletwitch.livejournal.com]

Strange comes with something unexpected--he has to say goodbye to Wanda. For how long, neither of them know and it affects both of them more than they would have thought. Words go unspoken in the end but they're understood. They decide to make the best of the few hours they have left.



Changless ~~ Carbon Leaf

Call my friends to share some wine
To share some laughs, and last goodbyes
My photographs of these years
Will make me laugh through the tears

What are the odds, what are the odds?
This ends and we don't meet again
What are the odds, What are the odds?
That I will miss your smile

Take awhile! Take awhile! Take care and
Fly away and see the world
Take awhile! Take awhile! Take time and
If you need rest, I'll keep your nest
Changeless

Let fondness be our souvenir
To keep it warm, we'll keep it near
Otherwise with no heart to recall...
A memory's just a memory after all
I will not leave this pulse alone
Though it may take the long way home
I will not wait until the end
For my applause for you my friend

What are the odds, what are the odds?
This ends and we don't meet again
What are the odds, what are the odds?
This ends and we won't meet again
What are the odds, What are the odds?
That I have missed your smile

Take awhile! Take awhile! Take care and
Fly away and see the world
Take awhile! Take awhile! Take time and
If you need rest, I'll keep your nest
Changeless


Wanda was sprawled as elegantly as one could sprawl underneath one of the large trees on the campus. With the heat starting to get tolerable, and her headache certainly not, working outside had seemed like the best place to do some work. It helped that with summer, the campus wasn't crawling with students cutting class and throwing footballs and whatnot around on the grounds.

Books spread out on a blanket, she gave up for a minute and stared at the sky, trying to decide if napping was a good idea or not.

As always, the sight of her made Stephen Strange smile, although this time the smile was tinged with regret. But he recalled the 'conversation' with Amanda the day before, and reminded himself that emotions sometimes had to come second. Stopping at the edge of the blanket she'd spread on the ground, he cleared his throat lightly. "Do you mind if I join you, Ms Maximoff?" he asked, the smile turning lightly teasing.

Raising her head, she laughed and waved him over, nudging a few books to the side with her finger tips. "Oh, if you must, Mr. Strange," she returned, raising herself up on her elbows to watch him settled down next to her. Leaning up, she brushed a kiss against his cheek and laughed again as he went a little pink. "What brings you out here instead of that ancient text you were determined to conquer today? Looking for me or just a happy coincidence that you stumbled across me?"

"A bit of both, with some disquieting news thrown in, just to make things interesting." Her hair, as undisciplined as ever, blew across his face as she kissed him, and he closed his eyes for a moment, inhaling its scent. This was going to be difficult. "I'm afraid I won't be able to take you to dinner tonight," he said, leaning back a little and composing his features. "I have to be on a plane. To Kuala Lumpur."

Tilting her head, Wanda gazed at him in slight surprise. Not really about the cancellation, they had both had to cancel on each other in the past, but this...felt different. "Something's happened, hasn't it?" she asked, catching onto his mood suddenly. Something had to have happened, for him to give her that look like he was dreading the next few words. Part of her wondered if she didn't already quite know where this was going.

"A lot of somethings, none of which I can actually tell you about." Stephen took a breath, fixing her face in his mind - memories were going to have to be the only thing to sustain him for a while. Perhaps always; his words to Amanda, about the correct order of things over-riding connections were coming back to haunt him. "I'm afraid I'm going to disappear for a while, Wanda. A long while. There's work I need to do, and I can't afford, I can't let myself be... not distracted, because you're far more than that, but..." He trailed off, as always when it came to matters of the heart at a loss for words. "I'm sorry."

Wanda closed her eyes for a second, and then opened them, smiling sadly at him. Some part of her knew that was maybe what he was going to say, if not for those reasons exactly. It hurt, not as much as it would have under other circumstances but more than she was expecting. "Stephen..." Shifting slightly, she leaned against him, enjoying this for now. "I think apologizing will just make it worse. Considering what I do, I more than understand...does not make it any easier, mind you." She flashed him a bit of a grin.

"Of course you do. Part of why this is so difficult..." Slipping his arm around her, possible student witnesses be damned, he rested his head against hers. "It's not fair on you," he said at last. "To make you wait when I don't know myself how long this will take. And this won't be the only task - even if it succeeds, there will be a lot of work for me to do to make sure it stays that way. I tell Amanda so often that she can't let herself be guided by her emotions, that magic demands that you stand back and assess things rationally. And now it seems I need to re-learn the lesson myself." His voice caught a little, and he had to stop, turning his face slightly and pressing a kiss to her temple.

"It's not fair on either of us," she pointed out, reaching for his hand. "I know you cannot tell me what's going on, but if it involves that much secrecy and magic, I know it's probably not going to be the safest assignment. It's hard, isn't it? Being responsible?" There had been more than a few interrupted nights because of the X-Men.

"Not as safe as sitting in my office, no. But it's what needs to be done." He smiled wryly and squeezed her hand gently. "Saving the world usually is hard, isn't it? I just wish..." Shaking his head, he banished the thought. There wasn't a lot to be done, and wishing only made it worse. "Keep an eye on Amanda for me?" he said instead. "She's vulnerable, right now. There's been too many losses and she won't accept my guidance, even if I was here to give it."

"I will, I promise." Wanda shook her head, curls going everywhere as the breeze picked up. "Saving the world...oh, I wish it were easier. At least you don't have to wear leather." She thought for a second and grimaced. "I'm going to assume you won't be able to get in touch much."

"I never did get to see you in that. It's most unfair," Stephen said, sounding more like Haroun for a moment there. "And no, not much. If anything, being in touch will only endanger you and the school – if there's the least suspicion things aren't as they seem, that I'm not simply taking a sabbatical from college life and indulging in my own research..." He didn't need to finish the sentence. "And I leave in a matter of hours. For that I truly am sorry - so little time, so much to fit in."

"We need to lead different lives, with less secrets. Of course, then we might be bored silly. Thankfully, if you need to get in touch with me, you can always get ahold of my clan, which maybe easier. Though still dangerous." Wanda tilted her head back and regarded him for a moment. "How long do we have? A short while, at best?"

Stephen moved just enough to look at his watch. "Two hours, give or take. Luckily I travel light, so there won't be much need to queue at the airport." He caught a certain expression in her eyes and smiled a little. "You have plans. Possibly schemes. I know that look."

Not nearly enough time but all they had to work with. "I'd try the whole innocent look, but you know me well enough by now," she said, laughing. "My project can go jump off a cliff for the next two hours for all I care. We're not going to be able to see each for...who knows how long?" Wanda suddenly grinned wickedly at him. "And I really don't want to say goodbye in front of your students."

The grin was infectious, and he leaned in to steal a kiss. "No, as much fun as it would be to scar them irrevocably, this sort of thing deserves my undivided attention." He quirked an eyebrow almost mischievously at her. "Is this the part where I say, take me, I'm yours?"

Stupid as it was, that was when she nearly cried. Fighting back the tears, Wanda scooped the books into her satchel and then grinned at him. "I only have two hours to finish corrupting you? Such a shame but I guess I'll have to make do with what I have."

Stephen didn't miss the sudden blinking, or the way she busied herself with packing up her books, and bit his lip. But when she looked up at him again, the smile was back, and he rose to his feet and extended his hand courteously for her to take. "Shall we?" he asked, with a small bow, and as he helped her to her feet, he pulled her suddenly against him, wrapping his arms around her tightly. "Thank you," he murmured into her hair, and she could feel the slightest tremble in him as he held her. "For being so... you."

Wanda didn't say anything for a moment, just pressed herself against him and breathed in his scent. They had been heading towards the road she had never thought she'd find herself in again and now this. She didn't dare say anything, though, it would only make things worse. "Be safe?"

"If anything happens, you can come save me. In the leather outfit," he joked gently, feeling the tension in her. "I'll be fine, dearest. Don't worry about me."

Laughing a little at that, she glanced at him with a small smile. "Oh, ~my heart~, of course I will. And you will too, that is what makes us...us." Wrapping herself as tightly as she could, she nudged them towards his office. "In the meantime, we only have two more hours to make the wait--however long--as bearable as we can."