Carmine Jewels ║ Wanda Maximoff

Chapter 79 - High Hopes

"Hey, it's okay, boy. It's okay. Scott's a friend." Keira whispered in a comforting tone, holding Nikato back. While the Kangal might accept her friends, strangers, like Scott was in this case, was another story. Scott's infernal pacing and muttering did nothing to soothe the dog's agitated state, and the only thing holding him back was Keira's arms around his chest.

But Scott was too caught up in his own head to even notice that the only thing that kept him from being knocked to the floor by a one-hundred-and-forty-five-pound dog was a pair of arms.

And the rest of them were just speechless. How could Scott even stand before them? How was it possible? Or were they all having the same hallucination? A collective breakdown of their minds?

Steve, who was the most sympathetic in the room, shot a worried look at the still-pacing Scott. "Scott. Are you okay?" He asked slowly, his forehead wrinkled in concern.

"Yeah." This finally brought Scott to a halt, who pressed his hands over his eyes. He sucked in a sharp breath before looking around at them. Only then did it seem to dawn on him where he actually was. "Oh, there's a dog. Hi, doggie." He did a little wave in Keira and Nikato's direction before shaking his head, as if trying to get himself back on track. "Uh, have any of you guys ever studied quantum physics?"

"Only to make conversation." Natasha shrugged casually.

Scott pointed to the redhead, relieved that someone would be able to understand him at least, as both Keira and Steve just looked blank. "Alright. So... five years ago, right- right before Thanos... I was in a place called the Quantum Realm. The Quantum Realm is like its own microscopic universe. To get in there you have to be incredibly small. Hope. She's my, uhm... She w- was my..." He had been gesturing wildly while talking, but now, his hands stilled as he struggled to find the words while the pain of having lost Hope washed over him. "She was supposed to pull me out. And then, Thanos happened, and I got stuck in there."

"I'm sorry, that must've been a very long five years." Natasha said sympathetically. What mustn't it have felt like to be stuck in a dimension where time didn't matter? Like he had been stuck there forever?

"Yeah, but that's just it. It wasn't. For me, it was five hours." Scott waved away her concerns. Okay, so forever didn't last as long as they would've thought. Upon seeing the confused faces around him, he continued. "See, the rules of the Quantum Realm aren't like they are up here. Everything is unpredictable. Is that anybody's sandwich? I'm starving." He hurried across the room and scooped up Natasha's nearly untouched sandwich before stuffing it in his mouth.

"Scott. What are you talking about?" Keira frowned, not really following what Scott was saying.

"So... What I'm saying is, time works differently in the Quantum Realm." Scott's voice was a bit muffled since his mouth was full of sandwich, but he kept going despite that. "The only problem is right now, we don't have a way to navigate it. But what if we did?" He started pacing again, rambling on while Natasha and Steve shared an uneasy look.

"I can't stop thinking about it. What if we could somehow control the chaos, and we could navigate it? What if, there was a way that we could enter the Quantum Realm at a certain point in time, but then exit the Quantum Realm at another point in time? Like..."

"Like before Thanos..." Keira breathed at the same time as Scott uttered the words. She finally understood what he was saying. And if there was a chance, even a small chance of it working, they had to try. How they would do it, she had no idea. But Scott was here after being presumed dusted for five years, so anything had to be possible, right?

"Wait." Steve held up a hand. "Are you talking about a time machine?"

"No. No, of course not. No, not a time machine. This is more like..." Scott waved his hand in the air, trying to think of a better word, but came up short. "Yeah. Like a time machine." He admitted eventually. "I know, it's crazy. It's crazy. I- I- But I can't stop thinking about it. There's gotta be... some w- It's crazy." He sighed and looked down at his shoes. Maybe he should just give up the idea.