Chapter Text
Strange raced forward, fast as his legs would carry him along the street, his hand gripping the younger girl’s tightly, practically dragging her along. Behind them, inhuman roars could be heard between the monsters fighting each other. It had given them a head start, but that wouldn’t last forever. The sky was dark overhead, though as he glanced at the stars he couldn’t find a constellation he recognized. In the different universes lead to different star groupings, something the girl beside him had explained. Said girl stumbled beside him, halting his running.
“We need to keep going,” Strange said to her.
She looked up at him, her warm skin paler than it had been earlier with a thin layer of sweat forming on her face. In her brown eyes he could see the pain she was struggling to hide, the exhaustion that had been settling into her. Soon enough she could collapse, they needed to get put more distance between them and those monsters. Strange brought his gaze behind them where the monsters fought, the Shadow creature had been attacking them, latching onto them when the girl opened a portal trying to get away from it.
And then the second monster, a ribbon creature covered in symbols appeared. Instead of outright attacking them, it went for the shadow monster and thus far had been winning. That didn’t make it a friend. For all he knew that monster wanted the girl as well and was trying to remove another obstacle in it’s way.
Strange focused back on the girl. “You need to open another portal.”
“I can’t,” she said hoarsely, shaking her head. “I-I don’t-“
“You have to,” Strange interrupted sternly, but not unkindly, “Those things are coming for you, we cannot let them catch you. One portal jump, then we should be safe.”
The girl stared at him, her expression scrunched at the thought of having to call on a portal when she barely had the energy to keep moving. But if she didn’t, then the monsters would catch up to them and they’d catch her. A shuddering breath left her as she gave a weak nod. However, just as she straightened herself, clenching her hand into a fist, the ribbon monster wrapped around her wrist and pulled her upwards.
Strange shouted after her, he threw his magic at the creature, slicing the limbs off that had grabbed her. In response it released her, she fell, but called on her power to fly forward. Normally she could hover with relative ease, but he could see she was off balance. Strange threw another spell at the creature to stop it from moving after the girl, just barely catching her as she fell, losing control of her powers.
“I’ve got you,” Strange said as he kept her upright and started running again.
Just then, the shadow monster appeared in front of them, looking like something out of a horror movie. It had no face, no real limbs, but it could shift into whatever shape it desired. For now, it seemed to favor an almost spider-like appearance which caused Strange to shiver. He let go of the girl, she fell to her knees and he apologized quickly for that, he hadn’t realized her energy was that low.
With the wave of his hands, he gathered the trees and rocks in the area to fly around, encasing the shadow creature. It should hold long enough for her to call on a portal. Strange pushed his hands together, trying to tighten the casing around the monster, but it wouldn't hold forever. A roar sounded behind him, the ribbon monster was moving towards them and would be on top of them in no time.
His eyes fell on the girl kneeling beside him, trying to take in more air. If either of these creatures took her, then who knows what kind of threat would obtain her powers. The powers of the multiverse were dangerous enough in the hands of a child, but in someone else with nefarious intentions? It could mean the end of universes. And he couldn’t let it happen. The girl tried to get on her feet, but her knees gave way, a wince on her face. She couldn’t do it and they were out of time. Strange threw another freezing spell to the ribbon monster behind them, it would hold it off for a small amount of time. Enough for him to take care of this.
“I’m sorry,” Strange said in a low tone, she lifted her head. “This is the only way.”
She swallowed, not sure what he was going to do next. Strange reached out his hand, she jerked upwards as the white power she has grown accustomed to was being pulled out of her, making her feel as every part of her body was turning into ice. Not even the denim jacket she wore could trap any of her body heat.
“Strange,” she said brokenly. “Please, don’t. You’re my friend.”
Strange inhaled deeply. “I can’t let these things take your powers.”
The girl squirmed in the air, her lip trembling. “You said you’d help me.”
“I’ve done all I can, but if someone else were to have your power, they would wreak havoc on the multiverse. In the grand calculus, your sacrifice is-“
Strange was cut off by the ribbon creature piercing his chest, causing him to break the spell on the girl and on the shadow creature which shot out in a dark explosion. The girl fell to the ground unceremoniously, her eyes wide with terror as the shadow monster charged towards her. However, the ribbon monster grabbed her quickly, and seemed to wrap around her, acting like a shield.
The creature then spread out, pushing back the shadow creature. It set her down on the ground gently. Without another glance, it began focusing all of its attention onto the shadow monster that continued to reach towards her. Strange lay on the ground, she rushed over to him to see he was still alive. He could see the hurt in her gaze, but the sadness for him as well.
“You’ll be alright,” she said certainly, eyes burning.
Strange didn’t have the energy to speak, but his eyes saw the movement above, he couldn’t warn her in time as the ribbon creature grabbed her, raising her up. The shadowy creature charged forward, the ribbon creature acted as a wall between the girl and the shadow. And then, the girl’s power began to react as fear for her life sparked forward and an unstable portal in the shape of a star appeared. It began to pull them forward until Strange felt himself sliding on the ground towards it.
With the last bit of his strength, he called on his magic to create discs that would cut the ribbons holding her. He swung them forward, they cut her free and he was pulled into the portal with the creatures, flailing about-
Stephen jerked awake, his heart pounding rapidly as he sat upright, eyes wide as blinding pain throbbed in his chest. It took him a few seconds to adjust to his surroundings, he was back in one of the rooms in the New York Sanctum. He’d fallen asleep watching one of the Star Wars movies even though he’d never been a big fan of them before. However a few weeks ago, he’d been called to watch it for some reason and had left it on repeat, watching one of them nearly every night. Strange leaned forward, letting his hands run over his face. In addition to his new need to put on the movies, his dreams had taken an interesting turn.
Every other night, he dreamed of himself with some girl he had never seen before in his life. And each time, they were running from some monster. However last night was different, he nearly killed her. She had some power, he didn’t remember it anymore, but it was dangerous. Things were after her and he couldn’t let anyone have her power or else world destruction. Her sacrifice would have been for the greater good, it made him sick. That girl was young, probably not old enough to drive her and he nearly killed her instead of finding another way.
Stephen shook his head, it was just a dream. None of it was real. Perhaps his old friend Nightmare wanted to bother him some more, but this felt different somehow. Regardless he could think about it later or let the dream fade away, for now he needed to get ready. Christine was getting married today, he needed to be there. Even though he couldn’t be the groom, he intended to be there to support her as a friend. He wished things would have been different between them, but he was glad she found happiness, it was no less than she deserved.
Twenty minutes later, he found himself at the church for her wedding sitting beside Doctor Wes. It had been a decent amount of time since the two of them last spoke with each other, Stephen didn't mean for that to happen. He'd been trying to get better at 'getting a life' that he apparently didn't have according to Wong. Seeing old doctor friends had been part of his way of getting out more.
“Dr Strange,” Wes greeted with a nod.
“Doctor Wes,” Stephen said, “It’s good to see you again.”
Wes gave a nod, “You as well. How are you doing?”
Stephen gave a sigh, “Same as usual.”
“That bad huh,” Wes remarked with a minor wince.
Stephen glanced ahead. “Could be worse. And you? How is the new position?”
Wes looked at his hands. “It’s nice to be working again, took so long to get it.”
Stephen barely held back a grimace at that. Like himself, Wes had been part of the half of the population to turn to dust for five years. Because of that, many businesses and companies weren’t hiring all of those people due to their absence and gap in resume. It seemed incredibly ridiculous to Stephen that businesses would reject someone based on that, fully knowing that millions, billions of people were lost in the Blip.
Since Wes had five years missing, hospitals had been hesitant to take him on like many doctors who returned because it seemed as if they were out of practice for five years. In reality those five years felt like a moment, a second. No time had been lost to them. Many people did take that into account, but many others didn’t and it caused a number of problems for everyone involved.
Stephen had been very glad when changes had been made courtesy of Captain America. Ever since he has taken down the Flag Smashers, the population of the returned had finally been able to fully reintegrate into society without so many barriers.
“I’m sorry about that,” Stephen said, his throat a bit tight.
Wes glanced at him. “You said you made the best, the only, play we had. If this was the best one, I’d hate to see any of the other options out there.”
Stephen visibly swallowed at that, but nothing else was said as the wedding march began. He tried to shake those words, to push them from his mind and focus on the wedding procession. However, he couldn’t do it. The Time Stone allowed him to see millions of possible outcomes against Thanos. Since he couldn’t see past his own death, he could only see scenarios in which he was still alive.
Part of that bothered him because that meant there were countless other ways they could have won and he didn’t make it and perhaps that would have been better. He had to work with what he had. And if he could be honest with himself, there were other ways to beat Thanos. Ones in which they got the stones from him and killed him, but down the line someone else comes for the stones and uses them in a worse way than Thanos.
There needed to be an outcome where the stones would be destroyed, so that those threats couldn’t use them again. In some of the battles they stop Thanos, but at the cost of almost every hero and Avenger, leaving the world defenseless against other worldly threats and the one underneath the earth’s surface. It had been a narrow margin, he couldn’t find a better outcome than this one. But it didn’t make him feel much better given all the suffering that happened anyway, because of the choice he made.
People would be hurt regardless. The wedding ended, it was time to mingle with the newly wed couple and other guests. Strange hadn’t intended to stay longer than to wish her congratulations, but considering it was her day everyone wanted to go to her which meant he had to wait awhile. His mind flickered back to the dream he had last night, he could still feel a slight ache in his chest where that monster had stabbed him. Even though he knew it wasn’t real, it felt real enough. A heavy sigh left him.
“You looked exhausted, you get any sleep,” came the voice of the bride behind him.
Stephen turned around to look at her, a warm smile on his face. “You look amazing, congratulations.”
Christine raised an unimpressed brow. “Don’t ignore my question. Have you been sleeping?”
“I’m not here to talk about my restless nights,” Stephen replied, he glanced at her empty glass and waved his hand, making red wine appear. “A little too on the nose?”
Christine rolled her eyes. “For you, at my wedding? Nah, it was perfect.” A frown returned to her face. “But seriously, Stephen are you getting any sleep? Is it Nightmare? Or are you worried about Mordo?”
Stephen exhaled heavily, “I’m okay. Today is about you.”
“My Stephen would never pass up an opportunity to talk about himself, clearly something is really wrong with you,” Christine said, her voice held the smallest bit of teasing.
Stephen let out a chuckle. “Things change. Many times I wished I’d been different.”
Christine shook her head. “I don’t. Even though you always had to be the one holding the knife, something I respected you for-“
“But couldn’t love me for,” Stephen supplied, his smile knowing. She wore a small wince at that. “It’s okay, I knew that was coming. How long would you say you’ve had it in the barrel?”
“Long time,” Christine answered honestly, a bit of sorrow in her gaze.
Even though their romance didn’t pan out originally as they thought, there was still more than enough love to last the two of them in whatever form it could take. No matter what, Stephen knew he would love her and only ever wanted her happiness. So long as she was safe and happy, it was enough for him. He’d take what he could get with her, grateful that she had stuck by his side all these years, through all the ups and downs. Many others would have abandoned him long ago, plenty had in fact, but for some reason, she never did. There weren’t many people like that. He was lucky to have found someone like her.
“Thank you for being with me all these years,” Stephen told her, a genuine smile on his face. “I’m glad you’re happy.”
Christine gave him a smile in return. “I am. I really truly am. Are you? Happy.”
Stephen nodded, “I’m happy.”
“Liar,” Christine said with a shake of her head.
“No, I’m happy,” Stephen insisted, not looking how unconvincing he sounded to his own ears.
Christine opened her mouth to say more when murmurs, the sound of cars crashing and some screams below reached their ears. The pair quickly move over to the gathering crowd on the balcony to look below and figure out what is going on. From their spot, they could only see people running away from something and screaming. Stephen took a final swig of his drink.
“I have to go,” he said to Christine, his tone apologetic. “Congratulations again.”
Before Christine could say anything, he pulled out his cloak from his pocket, spun it around as he jumped over the railing. With his clock in place, he called on his magic to change his attire and fly forward towards the chaos ahead. A car went tumbling forward, he could see a woman pushing her baby trying to avoid getting hit, but she wasn’t fast enough. He cast a spell, bringing forth a dog head from a different dimension and using it to catch the car and then letting it disappear.
With ease, he landed in the middle the street, his eyes scanning the area for the threat that was causing all of this chaos. Surely it wasn’t something typical, it had to be a monster of some kind. Stephen walked forward still searching when he spotted a young girl in a denim jacket skid to a halt near a bus.
She spun around her heels, drew back her fist and punched at the open air, blue lit energy almost like lightning crackled in the air. For a brief second, he could see a dark creature appear. Whatever was here had been cloaked, hidden from view. The girl turned away, she threw her arms back and then raised them, she managed to jump on top of the nearby bus.
“Come on,” she shouted at the air, hands clenched into fists.
The bus was lifted into the air, she barely grabbed ahold of it as it turned sideways. Stephen quickly moved forward, he called the spell to unveil whatever was here and as he did so, he was surprised at what he saw. The shadow monster from his dream last night. His heart started to pound harshly in his chest, no it couldn’t have been the same one- his thoughts were cut short when a new monster appeared.
A giant one with tentacles and… one huge eye? Okay, not the worst thing he had ever seen, but definitely Nightmare fuel for himself. Great, as if his dreams weren’t haunted enough. The giant one eyed creature waved it’s tentacles into the shadow, trying to take it down, but now doing the best of jobs. A second later, the girl began to slip down the bus, though she pushed herself off and hovered for a moment. However, then she started to fall.
Without wasting a second, he sent the cloak cover to her and it caught her so that she wouldn’t hit the ground, being her this way. Stephen called forth a light spell, moving his hands in the appropriate motions to bring forth the heat and light of a star. He pushed his palms outwards to the creatures, the giant eye turned away in surprise while the shadow creature seemed to wrythe there for a moment. So it wasn’t a huge fan of strong bits of light, good for him to know.
The girl was set on her feet by his side, however he couldn’t focus on her yet. Not when the shadow monster threw a bus at him. Quickly, he turned his magic into a giant saw, cutting the bus in half and splitting around himself and the girl. The giant eye charged at the shadow, effectively pulling down onto the ground harshly. This gave Stephen a chance to look at the girl. The exact same one he saw in his dream last night. Short curly brown hair hanging messily around her shoulders, paling tan skin, busted lip and temple with glassy brown eyes. In the dream she didn’t look okay and now, she seemed to look worse.
“I’ve seen you before,” Stephen said to her.
Her eyes met his, then glanced a way. “Look out!”
Stephen turned sharply to see the shadow monster had broken free from the one eyed one, shooting towards the pair of them like storm clouds. Just as he was getting ready to call a spell, a wall of magic appeared in front of him that he didn’t call forward. Just there on his right was Wong.
“You’re welcome,” Wong said to him as he pulled out his own weapon which was similar to a rope dart, though he could change the end with whatever weapon he liked. “I take the one on the right, you on the left.”
Stephen considered it. “And let you have all the fun? Now why would I do that?”
Wong was unimpressed with such a response, but said nothing more as his barrier seal broke given the amount of force the one eyed monster used to crash into the shadow one. The tentacles monster roared in what could only be described as anger, or maybe even frustration if Stephen was being honest. This was similar to the dream last night, a different flesh like monster fighting against a shadow one.
However in the dream, it hadn’t been clear whether or not that flesh one had been an enemy or a friend. It also seemed to be after the girl, but at the same time, it shielded her from danger. The ribbon flesh monster only attacked him, well killed him, when he hurt her. Other than that, it was focused on the shadow creature. Of course it could have done that trying to protect it’s prize and bring the girl to whoever wanted her in one piece.
Wong charged forward, his rope dart swinging around at the giant eye monster while Stephen focused his attacks on the shadow creature. Part of the shadow creature seemed to slither past him, reaching directly for the girl who had started to run away. However, before he could send the cloak to her again, the giant eyed monster batted Wong away into the closest building and grabbed the grip by her waist. The creature then lifted her up to a balcony, out of the way. As if in a way it was trying to protect her.
A moment later it swung down onto the shadow monster, prow Italy shattering the pavement beneath it. The shadow creature seemed to control its density at a whim, but not perfectly which meant timing would be key. Wong appeared again, he cast a spell to try and trap the tentacle creature only for it to grab ahold of him int he air. Stephen sent a flying disc to sever the tentacle holding his friend, causing black ooze to come from the severed limb. Gross. Wong landed on his feet, adjusting his robes with a pull downwards.
“Your welcome,” Stephen lightly mocked as he came to the man’s side, casting a net of light over the shadow.
“You know it’s custom to bow in the presence of the sorcerer supreme,” Wong said, bringing for a spell of chains of his own to keep the giant eye monster down.
Stephen didn’t glance his way. “Yes, I’m aware of the customs. I choose to ignore them.”
The shadow monster spread out beneath the light net, escaping his grasp before towering over the men, looking more menacing than it previously had. All the sides of it were jagged and smoky, still not face or real way to tell what it would do next given it had no limbs and took on whatever shape it deemed necessary. However, just aa it was getting ready to no doubt attack them it the girl appears once again.
“Go away,” she shouted at the top of her lungs.
She had jumped off the roof of the building behind him and Wong, fist pulled back. With another shout, she punched the shadow monster. A giant crackling star appeared behind the creature as it was slightly knocked backwards. Windows shattered behind it at the five of her punch, a breeze could almost be felt by himself and Wong. At the thought, Stephen casted a spell causing a strong wind to push against the shadow creature, effectively pushing it into what he assumed was a portal. The same one from last night.
The girl, hovering uneasily in the air, looked down at him, seeing what he was doing. In the next moment, she punches the shadow again, a giant blue star appearing and forcing it back until it had been sucked into the portal. The girl made the star disappear with a wave of her hand. Then in a snap, she stopped hovering and began to fall. The giant eyed creature wrapped a tentacle around her, effectively catching her.
Wong threw his blade rope forward, cutting the tentacle while Stephen sent his cloak to catch the girl. His cloak wrapped around her protectively, carrying her way causing the monster in front of them to scream in rage. They needed to take care of this creature. Wong began to distract the creature, attacking it from all angles while the cloak set the girl down behind Stephen. A quiet loan left her as she laid there, but she seemed to exhausted to move, he’d have to leave her there for now.
His cloak rushed forward to help Wong, covering the giant eye completely making the creature shriek. Using this opportunity, Stephen used his magic to pull forth grainy hands and take out a street lamp from the ground. It took a bit of effort, but soon enough he got, turned it around and threw it at the giant eye. Soon as his cloak got out of the way, the end of the street light pierced the giant eye, effectively killing it. The creature fell to the ground, all life gone.
Stephen turned abruptly away from it, his clock wrapping around him as he knelt beside the girl. Gently, he lifted her upper body into his arms, her head lulling slightly, eyes fluttering.
“Hey kid, hey look at me,” Stephen said a bit forcefully. Her eyes fluttered open. “You’re okay, you’re going to be okay.”
Wong appeared at his side. “Is she hurt? I didn’t see any injuries.”
“We need to go back to the Sanctum, now.”