Enchanting Sparks | (Doctor Strange x Female!Reader)

Chapter 24 - The Bill Comes Due

- Stephen's POV -

"Are you okay?"

I was washing my, now trembling, hands in the sink. The Ancient One had accepted her death, now leaving me to try and stop a Dark Dimension overlord from consuming the Earth. I turned to see (Y/n) standing in the doorway.

"Christine... She said you'd-"

I rushed in to hug her, cutting her words off. I held her, as tightly as I could without hurting her, trying to bury my head in her now messy, tied up hair. She started to stroke the back of my head, sensing my anxiety.

"Shhhh. It's ok, Stephen."

I could feel her wet cheeks as I moved my head back up to look at her. Her eyes were glassy. She had clearly been crying, something I had rarely seen her do before. She had known The Ancient One since she was a child. Practically the only family she had. And now she was gone. I moved my hands to the sides of her face as she rested her head against mine. We both sighed. It had been such a long day, but we both knew it wasn't over. She unpeeled herself from my grip, using her hands to fill the empty space between mine and gave me a small smile.

"How do you feel...?" She asked quietly. 

I could see she was trying to hold herself together. It had now been apparent why she held so much resentment for Kaecilius. She was an incredibly loyal person. Even at a time like this, where she had just witnessed her only parental figure die, she was concerned about me and my wellbeing.

"No-" I stopped her. Her small smile faltered and transformed into a puzzled expression at my sudden word. "How are you?" I asked back, moving one of my hands to her hair.

She sighed.

"I don't know." 

A tear had fallen from her face and streamed down her cheek, "We can't stop now though." She hung her head, looking at the floor. "If we stop, if we fail, her death will be meaningless." She said, a stern look returning to her features as she looked up to meet my gaze. I gently pressed my lips to her forehead. She was right. As much as I wanted her to mourn and let it out, we didn't have time to stop.

"We should go..." Her voice was quiet as I pulled my lips away from her. I could tell that she didn't want to leave, enjoying the quiet little bubble we had, the only peace we had gotten for a few hours.

"Yeah..."

But just as she turned to start towards the door, I pulled her back in, one hand on her wrist and the other fishing for her waist. She hastily spun into my arms and I kissed her. It wasn't rushed or heated, but it was filled with love. To let her know that I'd always be there for her as I know she would always be there for me. We melted into each other, savouring this small moment we shared before we returned to the reality of the Dark Dimension looming over Earth. 

As we broke apart, I saw another tear slip down her cheek as she looked up at me, searching for words. I smiled at her expression, her loss for words and her relaxed features. She was perfect, and she couldn't help returning the smile.

"You know we will need to talk about this later, right?"

"I know." I smiled.

So with that out of the way - not that I wanted it to be out of the way - I grabbed the cloak and flung it back over my shoulders. (Y/n) stood in front of me, back against the mirror, and adjusted the cloak, popping the collar. And from her expression, I think she agreed, that it suited me quite well, that was, at least, before the cloak started trying to dry the tear streaks off my cheeks.

"You and this cloak need to stop fighting." She giggled, patting my shoulders as I wriggled to dodge the red fabric attacking my cheeks. And we turned and headed out.

---

- Third POV -

Back at Kamar-Taj, Mordo stood over the rubble that now covered the meeting point between the 3 sanctums. Stephen & (Y/n) appeared through a gateway behind him.

"She's dead." (Y/n) spoke, sorrowful as she held back tears. It was hard hearing those words as she stepped towards Mordo and rounded the crumbled room.

"You were right, Strange. She wasn't who I thought she was." Mordo's voice was coarse, conflicted. This realisation that she had been channeling dark dimensional energy infuriated him under the surface.

"She was complicated." Stephen defended. After his talk with The Ancient One, he felt sympathy for her. Yes, what she did was not right, but like she said, it was for the greater good.

"Complicated?" Mordo quested, looking up at Strange in disbelief. "The Dark Dimension is volatile, dangerous. What if it overtook her? She taught us it was forbidden, while she drew on its power to steal centuries of life." He added, trying his best to hold back his anger but not doing a very good job at it.

"She did what she thought was right." Stephen said, looking to both Mordo & (Y/n). Although they hadn't discussed this yet, he felt (Y/n) to be much more understanding than Mordo. Either because she had known now for a little while before it all came out and understood her good intentions, or purely because she hadn't fully registered it yet.

"The bill comes due." Mordo spoke his realisation out loud, "Don't you see? Her transgressions led the Zealots to Dormammu. Kaecilius was her fault-"

"Kaecilius did this to himself." (Y/n) interrupted.

Mordo scoffed at her comment, "And here we are," He continued, "in the consequences of her deception: a world on fire."

"Mordo, London Sanctum has fallen, and New York has been attacked. Twice." Stephen started,

"You know where they're going next." (Y/n) added, looking to Mordo, hoping they can sway him.

"Hong Kong." Mordo answered quietly.

"You once told me to fight as if my life depended on it, because one day, it might." Stephen glanced to (Y/n), a reassuring nod met his gaze, "Well, today is that day. I can not defeat them alone."

As he finished, (Y/n) moved over to stand next to him, showing Mordo that she wanted to end this. She was prepared to lay her life on the line for this. Her gaze pierced through his. On previous missions, Mordo had always pushed (Y/n) to fight stronger, show no mercy when the time came to, and he always reiterated that he would do anything to keep the natural law in balance, including sacrificing his own life. So, upon seeing her determined expression, he, reluctantly, nodded and Stephen raised his arms and conjured a gateway leading to the Hong Kong Sanctum.

I wish we got to see more of Karl tbh. MoM kinda just used him as a cameo.

The final battle commences!

Until next time <3