The Blue Mage (Wanda Maximoff X Male OC) (ON HOLD)

Chapter XXI - A Ring for a Gravestone

 Avengers Compound, August 17th, 2018

Twenty-three days after the Snap

Victor Faust POV

The world turned into a blurred silence. There were images, yes. Some sensations like his shoulder being grabbed, his back patted, or his lips meeting cold liquids. In truth, none of it might exist at this point. With just one snap of his fingers, Thanos eradicated half of the life in the universe. Just to prove a point.

There was another blurred voice coming to his ear.

Victor trusted the Mind Stone so much, and he still failed. His plan should have worked!

Again, the blurred voice in his ear.

He should have stayed behind and protected Vision. Wanda would surely kill Thanos if his failure did not distract her. She would save them all where he fucked up. Why did he think he could protect them all? A pathetic waste of space—that's what he was now.

The blurred voice grew louder. Someone shook his shoulder.

"Victor! Are you in there?" He turned and saw those baby blue eyes of Steve. His strong and shaved jawline was now clenched hard. There was this pattern of tight muscles on his face that all morphed into the visage of an old man. As Faust looked closely, he started to notice the tiny red veins in Steve's sapphires, the small bags forming under his eyes, and the fact that the color of his skin was gradually going paler. "Victor?" Steve repeated.

"Huh? I mean, what did you say?"

"I said that Tony was back from space."

A tiny, miniscule spark of hope lit up inside Victor's soul, like a lonely matchstick in the winter storm.

"Is Strange with him? With Stephen, we can figure something out."

"I'm afraid not. It's just him and two ladies, who I'm guessing are aliens, since one has a blue skin and the other brought back their ship with her hands." Steve sighed as Tony rolled up in a wheelchair hooked up to an IV.

Stark went on a tirade about how they all failed, which is true as far as Victor is concerned, but no one needed to listen to that. Stark started to blame Rogers for breaking up the Avengers until he dropped to the floor with a loud crash. The chronic exhaustion finally put him to sleep. He hardly looked like his former self. His hollow cheeks swallowed his pale skin. From the small opening in his robe, Victor could count his ribs.

The blurred, white silence was starting to get a hold of him again. The thought of leaving once again appeared in his mind. However, the only place Victor wanted to go was where Wanda left.

A metallic scrapping sound brought before him a can of opened beer. Faust nodded gratefully at Thor, who was slowly munching on roasted chicken. It's funny; as a child, he would be ecstatic to have a connection with the God of Thunder, but now it all seemed like a bad, morbid joke. Thor and Victor barely spoke to each other. Since the battle, they have been communicating through their eyes and gestures. Both blamed themselves for losing. Yes, everyone did that, but the unfair truth is that they had a real chance at killing Thanos.

Victor eagerly drank the bitter drink. Since the battle, he could barely hold any solid food. It's definitely one of the aftereffects of using Edmund's spell. His soul couldn't handle something so disgustingly different from Order magic or the energies from Avlee.

"Father rarely spoke of what he would do after his mission."

Who said that? Victor started to pay attention to his surroundings.

"-But every time he mentioned 'The Garden,' that's where he would go."

"Oh shit!" Victor jumped at hearing the talking raccoon. Rocket, as he was calling himself, ran to the console. His small claws tapped the room's floor. He furiously punched keys and pulled out a space map. "When Thanos did the snap, he generated one of the biggest power surges in history. Two days ago, we were able to pick something similar." The raccoon turned to the blue woman. "Nebula? Can you find his planet in this sector?"