Lights → Doctor Strange

{I just need some time}

Riley woke first, to her pleasant surprise. Her fear of not waking up was cured as soon as she laid eyes on Strange. He looked so calm as he slept, the usually harsh lines of his face softened in the morning light. She reached up and brushed at the white streaks in his hair. A grin tugged at her mouth as she pet his hair.

He sighed, slowly opening his eyes. Riley's hand froze, still halfway through his hair. Strange looked over at her and smiled. "Hey," he whispered. Her hands unfroze and kept petting his hair, "Hi, you."

Strange sat up and stretched. "Looks like you woke up just fine," he teased.

Riley just gave him a half grin, her hands itched in the way that reminded her that she hadn't wielded magic in a while. She slowly got up out of the warm bed, unsteadily climbing to her feet. She swayed for a moment, regaining her balance. After a long minute, she stepped towards her dresser.

"Strange?" she asked.

He was standing by the door, watching her putter about the room. "Yeah?"

"Shower," she mumbled.

Strange nodded, "Okay. See you soon?"

Riley's brain worked overtime to think of the words she needed to say. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She pursed her lips and offered Strange a pleading look. He sighed and moved out of the room, leaving her alone.

Riley gathered her things and went into the bathroom. She stood in front of the mirror, taking in her ragged appearance. Her fingers trembled as she reached up and peeled off the bandage on the right side of her head. Her stomach lurched as she saw the jagged pink wound running across the side of her head.

A thin brown fuzz of baby hair grew around the wound, accentuating the alien looking strip of healing skin. She opened the bathroom drawer and pulled out a pair of scissors. Angrily, she held the long pieces of waist length hair in one hand, hacking it off to chin length. It looked uneven and choppy, and she spent a few minutes making it look presentable.

It was better, she thought as she looked at herself in the mirror. The right side was shaved down, exposing the healing wound. The left side was chin-length and fluffy. It actually looked kind of okay, she thought. Sort of like something an Amazonian warrior would wear. That thought made her smile.

She cleaned up her mess of hair and started the shower, cranking up the heat. The steam flooded the bathroom. She showered quickly, toweling off and brushing her newly cut hair. She was awfully tired for having done so little.

Riley yawned as she left her room in search of Strange. She found him in the hallway, pacing up and down. He stopped when he saw her, freezing in place. "Your hair," he said, clearly taken aback.

She felt the short brown locks nervously, "You like it?"

He gave her a tight grin, "Yeah. It suits you."

Strange kept pacing up and down. His pacing made Riley nervous.

"What's going on?" she asked.

Strange paused in his pacing, "Have you used magic since you woke up, Riley?"

Something in his tone of voice made Riley think he already knew the answer, but she shook her head anyway.

"Try," he asked her.

Riley turned her hands so her palms were facing up. She closed her eyes, concentrating on drawing power from the Amulet. Nothing happened. She growled, her anger sparking up in what should have powered the Amulet to cause great destruction, but she couldn't even get a flame to appear. It was like there was a brick wall separating her from her magic.

She opened her eyes, looking at Strange pleadingly, "What's wrong with me?"

Strange came over and gently brushed a piece of her short hair out of her face. His face was sad as he placed his hand on her cheek comfortingly. "Mordo. He stole your magic. I just wanted to make sure it was true."

Riley pulled away from his hand, "Why didn't you tell me?"

She was so angry she didn't even realize how fast the words came out of her.

"Why didn't you tell me first thing?" she asked, her voice raising with each word.

"I couldn't, Riley," Strange explained, "I already had so much bad news, I couldn't bring myself to tell you. But I knew I had too, and soon, because if you didn't hear it from me, you'd figure it out for yourself."

Riley's eyes welled with tears. Her hands itched to use magic she couldn't even access. She wasn't special anymore. She was just a girl with a brain tumor that science had cured. Just Riley. Normal, average Riley.

Strange stepped towards her and she stumbled back away from him. The tears spilled over her eyelashes and down her cheeks. "There could be a way, sort of like therapy, you could regain some of your magic," Strange said hopefully.

Riley's shoulders shook with a wracking sob as she listened to him. She never even considered having this taken away from her, not once. It was a gift that she had took for granted, all the way up til it was gone. Bile rose in her throat until she was sure she was going to be sick.

"Riley?" Strange whispered, reaching towards her.

She backed away from him, walking further down the hallway. "I just need some time," she mumbled.

He just nodded, turning on his heel and walking  downstairs. Riley stumbled to the mystic window and opened it, leaning out and vomiting into the churning blue sea below her. She retched again, but nothing came up.

Riley sat back on her heels, wiping her mouth with her sleeve. Tears rushed down her face as her eyes caught on her watch. The Seal of Vishanti, like her Amulet, stared back at her from the face of the watch. She fumbled with the band, trying to pry it off her arm. She didn't want it, she didn't want the reminder of her missing powers.

She finally got it off of her arm, and drew back to throw it into the sea. Her fingers brushed on the back and grazed the indention before she could throw it out. She paused and flipped the watch over to read the engraving:

I didn't believe in magic until I saw you -S.S.

Fresh tears rushed down her face as she dropped the watch into her lap. Her hands moved to the Amulet around her neck, and this she really did throw out into the sea. It made a splash as it hit the water, and instead of it helping Riley, it just made her cry harder.

Her hand clutched the watch desperately as she mourned the powers that had once made her special.