Her head was hurting, and she was tired of hearing the city's noise around her. The noise of shouting and honking exploded in her ears, and she drowned in the bright lights. Riley stumbled across the street. A car slammed on its brakes and honked angrily. She didn't care. Her chocolate hair fell across her face in untidy waves, and she brushed them angrily back.
Her fumbling feet seemed to follow the pulse of the city, leading to its heart. Riley's unfocused eyes brushed past the sign for Bleeker Street. She continued to stumble her way down the sidewalks.
Suddenly, the pulse leading her stopped. She looked up at the building she was in front of. It was tall, with swooping arches and a unique window. If she focused, she could've sworn she had seen the symbol before.
Where ever she had seen it, it didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was the pounding in her head and how comfy the stoop of the house looked. So she laid, and she slept.
<>
"Well, what do we have here?"
Riley jerked awake, sitting up and glaring up at the oddly dressed man in front of her.
"What do you want?" she snapped. Her voice might have been angry, but it was clear she was in pain. Her eyes were unfocused and hazy, and her voice was slurred.
"Being able to get into my house would be nice," the man quipped. If Riley squinted, she could have sworn she had seen the man before... But something about his goatee was throwing her off. She realized she had been laying in the way of the door.
He watched as she struggled to her feet, leaning heavily onto the door frame. His key jingled as he unlocked the door. Riley noticed a small caduceus key-chain attached to the old looking skeleton key.
"Why don't you join me for some tea?" he offered, "I'd offer you something stronger, but it looks like you don't need any help there."
Riley straitened herself up, brushing her hair into submission. "I'm not drunk, thank you very much," she winced, "but tea would be nice."
He led her inside, and she squinted at the bright lights. The man watched her for a moment before gesturing to a chair. She sat. "Do you want an aspirin or something, Ms...?" he trailed off. "It's Harper. Riley Harper. And no thanks to the aspirin, I'm fine," she muttered.
"If you don't mind me asking," the man's voice was soft as he handed her a small cup of honeyed tea, "Have you been diagnosed?"
She hummed, sipping on the tea. It warmed her and eased the pain pounding in her temples. "Malignant brain tumor on the lining of my brain. It's growing everyday and pressing into my brain. One day, it'll just press too far."
"Stage three or four?" he asked.
Her eyes never left him, studying his face again.
"I see now," she murmured. His eyebrows furrowed as where she knew him from fell into place.
"Doctor Strange," she sounded angry.
"You know my name?"
"You were my last hope."
<>
Strange paced his room, back and forth, back and forth. The woman had left a few hours earlier, vanishing into the hazy sunset like a dream; but her empty tea mug confirmed she had been there.
Back and forth, he was going to wear a hole in the carpet. His red cape hovered in the corner of the room, offering no guidance. The Ancient One had told him once it was a fickle thing, and he glared at it angrily, once again finding the Ancient One's word true.
It wasn't his fault, not really, was it? He couldn't remember every dying patient that begged for his help. He held his hands out in front of himself, watching as they trembled. He was a sorcerer now, he couldn't help her anyway.
Even if he wanted to.
You could train her, the voice in his head whispered, train her like the Ancient One trained you. He brushed his shaky hands through his hair, leaving it sticking up wildly. How can I train a pupil when I still have so much to learn myself? He pushed the thought from his head, leaving his room and walking purposefully down the corridor.
He pulled the door open to the main temple of Kamar-Taj, walking calmly past the Eye and into the library. Strange paced in front of the softly glowing books. He picked one up out of its chain, opening it and flipping through the pages.
It was on gardening. He angrily shoved in back into its spot. Who needed a book on magic gardening anyway?
He picked up the book next to it, thumbing through the pages. This looked promising. The whole book was on locator spells. He sat down, reading the pages at an almost alarming speed.
Strange got up, and put the book back. A ghost of a smile played at his lips as he walked back to the doorway to the New York sanctum.
Back in his own sanctum, he reached out and picked up the cup she had drank out of. This would work perfectly.
<>
In her musty apartment, Riley laid in her bed and ignored the pulsing in her vein and her head. It was like something was drawing her to the middle of the city, back to the house that held the man who refused surgery on her brain tumor almost a year ago today.
She burrowed deeper into her covers, if there was one word to describe Riley, it was stubborn. Plus, she thought to herself, I can't go back! Not after how I stormed out earlier. Her mind flitted to the news stories she had read earlier in the year.
She reached for her phone and typed Doctor Steven Strange into the search bar. Immediately, news stories popped up.
STEVEN STRANGE, RUINED AFTER RECKLESS CAR CRASH
DOCTOR STRANGE'S CAREER ENDED AFTER HORRIFYING ACCIDENT
WHICH IS STRANGER, THE CRASH OR THE MAN? AN INSIDE LOOK INTO THE LIFE OF STEVEN STRANGE
Riley scrolled through the old stories, reminded of the sick feeling of pleasure she had felt when she first heard the news. Serves him right, she had thought. Now, just reading the headlines made her feel sick; but then again, he wasn't the same man she had met a year ago either. He had changed.
The man a year ago wouldn't have offered her tea, let alone wore a red cape.
What was up with that anyway?
She dismissed it. Surely he was allowed a certain amount of eccentricity. If he wanted to walk around flaunting a red cape, so be it.
A crackling noise made her jump, and her veins hummed with energy. She hopped out of her bed, sliding across the wall to peek out of her door. There was a circle of gold light in the middle of her living room. Wait, wasn't that Strange's living room she was seeing? Yes, she remembered the green carpet and the expensive furniture. So why was there a gold circle with Strange's living room in it in the middle of her living room? It was all too confusing.
Wait... There's a portal in my living room! her mind screamed.
Out of the golden sparks, a tall figure emerged. It was Doctor Strange, his cape flowed behind him and his hand clutched her empty tea mug.
The gold portal disappeared as quickly as it came.
"Do you believe in magic?" he asked.
She paused a moment, "I'm starting to."
A/N
hope you enjoyed the first chappie. Its set after the movie so Strange is in charge of the NY Sanctum. Hopefully it'll get good quick because wow. This chapter sucked. I always just go right ahead and have them meet first chapter. Guess I just don't like wasting time.
Anyway hope you liked!
Vote, Comment, Share! ~Lady_Loki_00
YOU ARE READING
Lights → Doctor Strange
Fanfiction"Doctor Strange." "You know my name?" "You were my last hope." After western medicine failed her, Riley Harper started looking for other cures. Little did she know her search would lead her straight to the man who had failed her once before...
