Lights → Doctor Strange

{then, you can be free}

Riley twisted her hands nervously in front of her, fidgeting with the Amulet around her neck. She brushed her short hair behind her ear. Strange watched her, his shields up and waiting. Riley shifted from foot to foot. She wasn't looking forward to failing.

"Just try," Strange encouraged her.

She concentrated, pulling from deep within herself in hopes of creating even a flicker of magic. Her forehead broke out in sweat as she pushed at the solid wall in her mind that kept her from accessing the Amulet.

Her hands shook as she held them out in front of her. After a couple of minutes, she sighed heavily, returning her hands to her sides. "I can't, Strange," she muttered, "I just can't do it."

He let his shields fall, walking forward to her and taking her hands into his own. "You have to try, Riley."

She pulled away from him, "What do you think I was doing?"

"Your magic came so easily to you before you don't know what it was like to have to start from scratch," Strange explained, "You have to start small."

Riley grudgingly shifted, she didn't want to admit that he was right. "Magic came easily for you too," she grumbled.

He gave her a sideways smile, "Not as easy as I make it look. It took me quite a while to grasp the basics. Now, why don't you give me the shield form?"

Riley quickly made the motions that were supposed to form a shield, but nothing happened. "This is ridiculous," Riley sighed.

Strange gave her a cutting glare, "Look, do you want to get your magic back or not?"

Riley shut her mouth and went to work, going through the motions of creating a shield twice more. Nothing happened. Her eyes swam with tears as she tried once again. It had been so easy for her before that she had taken for granted all the miracles she could do. She hated Mordo for taking her magic and humiliating her. She hated him with her whole heart.

She could barely see through her tears as she tried it once more, a tiny spark of magic appeared. Strange gasped, giving her a bright smile. Riley gave him a watery grin, "Did you see that?"

Strange laughed, a genuine, lilting laugh that broke through Riley's doubts. "Amazing!" he exclaimed. Riley wiped the leftover tears from her eyes as she went through the motions again. Nothing happened, but the new flame of hope in her heart didn't die.

They spent the rest of the morning chasing after her lost magic.

<>

"What do you mean, Mordo was spotted?" Strange asked the council.

"I meant what I said, Supreme," the master of the London sanctum ground his teeth. "He was spotted just hours ago by one of my senior sorcerers."

"And you're positive it was him?" Strange asked warily. He didn't want to be chasing ghosts.

"As sure as I can be," the London master bit back.

"Leave me," Strange commanded.

The master of the London sanctum shot him a dirty look before exiting the room. Strange slumped back in his chair and rubbed his forehead. It was supposed to be a short meeting about the normal magical skirmishes, not a meeting about Mordo having escaped the Mirror Realm.

Strange wasn't sure what he would tell Riley. She hadn't been able to produce any more magic since that little spark, and her hope was fading just as fast. Also, Strange was sick of being Sorcerer Supreme. He no longer wanted the prestigious title, not that he would ever tell the other sorcerers. Just imagining the look on the London master's face added steel to Strange's blood.