𝐈𝐍𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐓𝐄, doctor strange.

Past

Ana sat with her hands folded in front of her on the oak table filled with sorcerers in the London sanctum, and she felt small under the other sorcerers' stares of curiosity and distaste. Steven sat beside her in the Sorcerer Supreme chair at the head of the table, his eyes lazily held open and his chin perched on his hand, whose fingers tapped against his goatee in a silent rhythm. Dark rings were under his eyes, and Ana winced when she noticed how tired his posture and face was. She was tired, too, but she did her best not to show it and collapse into sleep at the boring meeting where no one had had the guts to say anything.

Finally, the London sanctum leader stood up quietly, clearing his throat. Every gaze turned to him, and he swallowed anxiously, biting his lip. He inhaled sharply before turning to Steven, who quickly copied Ana's position and looked with fake eagerness at the sorcerer, who opened his mouth to talk. " The other sorcerers of the sanctums and I have talked, and we propose an idea concerning the little..." He paused, his glance going to Ana, who shifted uncomfortably in her seat with a nervous gaze down at her hands in front of her. " Dilemma. Now, the men who attacked the cafe, we think, were after the girl sitting at this table today, Ana Grace Johnson. After thorough research, we might have found a cause as to why there is a mystic pull, so to say, about this woman, and why the men were after her." He finished with a confident tone, looking around the table for suspense.

" Her mother and father were Amelia and Jonathan Johnson." Gasps and mutters from every sorcerer rang around the room, and Ana felt her heart clench at the mention of her parents who she had never met. Steven cast a sympathetic her way, and he could see the emotion wrought in her eyes as she wrung her hands nervously around each other. Swallowing, he reached over the table and grabbed one of her hands, giving it a reassuring squeeze. She looked up to him with a slight surprised gaze before sighing deeply, giving a reassuring squeeze back, and Steven nodded at her with a soft smile before bringing his hands back together, his hands tingling.

" Amelia and Jonathan were some of our best sorcerers, the second in commands to the Ancient One herself, and they were brutally killed in one of the worst battles the mystic world has even seen twenty-nine years ago," he said anxiously, his voice quieting the whole table. Ana watched him with a blank expression, even though her stomach sloshed inside of her, her heart pumping wildly. Steven's reassuring squeeze had calmed her slightly, and her hand still tingled slightly from how warm his hands had been against her cold and small ones. " Their only child, his or her name unknown, had been pronounced dead on that day, supposedly killed along with its parents. Until now." Every sorcerer turned to Ana in her seat, and she bit her lip, glancing at Steven for what to do. He nodded, grinning softly so only Ana could see, and she inhaled sharply, turning back to the sorcerers who waited expectantly. " When I was born, I was handed off to an older couple that same day, and they had kept me for less than twenty four hours before handing me back off to the hospital, saying there was something different about me, something ungodly. The hospital handed me to the orphanage, where one of the nuns secretly taught me basic school and life skills until I was sixteen, when the orphanage threw me out, complaining I was a problem among the other children. I lived on the street, unable to get an education before I was applied for a job at the cafe that had been blown up, and I had stayed there since then."

Every sorcerer nodded with sympathy, and Ana exhaled deeply, turning to Steven, who nodded slowly, mouthing 'great job' to her before turning back to the London sorcerer, who was twiddling his thumbs, opening his mouth to speak again. " We think... she might have the power to control the mystic arts, like her parents. That would explain the mystic pull we have all felt. We also think..." He stopped here and looked around for confirmation. " We think she should take up training under the Sorcerer Supreme," he finished with a small voice, and Ana leaned upward in her seat, sending an incredulous look at the leader of the London sanctum, her mouth agape. Steven didn't move from his spot, but only stared wide-eyed with a blank expression at the leader of the sanctum. He slowly sat back down in his seat, and every head turned to Steven, including Ana's whose was blank except for the varying emotions in her chocolate-brown eyes.

Steven then stood and left the room silently, his jaw set as he glanced back at Ana, who stumbled from her chair to follow as they left through a portal, a stunned table of sorcerers behind them.