@thiscrimsonsoul from [x]:
Wanda sighed, understanding what America meant but disagreeing wholly. "I think... my being here has less to do with me and more to do with his own guilt. I think he feels like a lot of... what happened... was his fault, or that he didn't do enough to stop it. To stop... me. So this might be his way of... I don't know, maybe feeling like he's doing something right or... trying to fix things. I think it's just his way of salvaging a situation he feels he screwed up. That's my best guess from what I know of him." She shrugged. "But he shouldn't feel that way, it... none of it was his fault. It was my fault," she said, not really wanting to dwell on that fact for any longer than she had to. "Don't read into things. It might have just been his face," Wanda said, actually cracking a small smile. "What I mean is... Stephen can be a little defensive sometimes. I don't know him that well, but he seems like someone who prefers to keep people at a distance. And if I had to guess, he's probably feeling really guilty about what you went through, and maybe he's getting grouchy with you instead of just saying that he's mad at himself." She shrugged again. "I don't really know, though, like I said, I don't know him that well. And I'm not a psychologist." "Look, if you really think he hates you or has some problem with you, then why don't you try to-" Wanda started to say, but then there was a loud knock at her door and she froze, eyes wide. "Wanda? Are you awake yet? I need to talk to you about something," Stephen called. It was a little early in the morning, maybe, but after his conversation with America, he needed to talk with Wanda. She... couldn't stay here anymore. Maybe. He didn't know. The last thing he wanted to do was reject an unstable witch with reality-bending powers who was already going through it in a big way, but he also had to think of America's well-being too. He'd be able to sort out some kind of solution, he thought, if he could just talk it through with Wanda. There had to be a solution that worked for all parties involved, and he was determined to find it. Wanda didn't answer at first, looking to America and trying to think fast. "Get in the bathroom...?" she suggested, more mouthing than speaking so Stephen wouldn't hear. "He probably won't look in there. It's that way," she said, pointing to one of the other doors. Of course she could just... compel Stephen to go away. Make him forget why he came. Make him suddenly want to run off to do something else. She could. It would be so easy... and quick... to just... No! No, she was done with things like that. She had to be, if she was ever going to recover and live any sort of normal life.
America might have said something in response - even had her mouth near open - when the knock on the door comes. She freezes, too, but it's of a different sort: at least the witch is supposed to be here; she's not supposed to even know about this place.
And then she hears Stephen's voice, and her eyes grow wide, and the witch is suggesting she go hide in the bathroom, but she's got a better - in her mind, at least - idea.
Stephen can always find her in a bathroom.
He can't find her in another universe.
Which means she can't get into trouble!
"Can you hold him off for, like, five minutes?" America whispers, eyes already glowing. She's got enough control that she can find her way back from wherever she is; she just doesn't know how long the portal will stay open once she steps through it. Five minutes, tops. If that. Five minutes should be more than enough time.
Theoretically.
Then, without waiting for an answer, America turns and punches a star-shaped hole from this universe into another one. She half steps through, pauses, and then glances back, biting her lower lip before saying, "Unless you, um, you know, wanna come?"
