Fate’s Sacrifice | Stephen Strange (Request)
Request: “reader doesn’t remember that she’s with stephen and he has to basically help her get her memories back”
Pairing: Stephen Strange x femme!reader
Word Count: 2.5K
A/N: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS REQUEST AND YOUR PATIENCE. The reason this stayed in my drafts was because I thought I was too vague, too wordy, couldn’t think of a title, and started a story line I didn’t know how to finish that strayed from the request sorry lol. Plus I’m a sucker for Stephen being in doctor mode, sue me.
If anyone has a better title name lmk.
Enjoy.
She had no dreams. At least ones she could remember. It was like her body was protecting her from seeing things that she shouldn't see. It was like they were always on the tip of her tongue, a small semblance to let her know there was something there, just deeply hidden.
Yet, there was always a feeling there; a feeling of someone familiar.
"This is the third time this month, Stephen, it should not go on," The voice spoke softly, but the threat was unmistakable. However, the voice wavered the more it revealed, "You're torturing her."
"Do not-" The other voice raised through emotion he clearly tried to hold back, "This is what she wanted."
"It's not right," The other voice was gruff, unwilling to budge.
"And you think I enjoy this?"
"It doesn't help that you keep scrambling her brain."
"They're coming after her, this is the only way to keep her out of this," Stephen all but bellowed, a volume he rarely took with his companion, "She's a sitting duck without our help."
"We cannot intervene."
She thought that maybe she had finally been able to dream, but with the warmth from the crackling ring above her, she knew she was fully awake. She looked into a room that wasn't hers where two men stood firmly arguing. Beside them a young girl with a look of worry on her face as she frantically tried to close the portal in front of her.
"Stephen-
"Not now, America," He hadn't bothered to look at what she needed him to, only continuing his arguing.
"Stephen-
There was something pulling her forward. Something that caused her to quietly move until her bed sheets were no longer tangled around her ankles. Her eyes were wide with wonder as she stepped through the portal, refusing to blink too afraid the image in front of her would disappear.
The atmosphere was cold and it could be felt deep in her bones. It was like coming home to an empty house that needed some warmth. That needed her.
"Sorry, I just..." The insincere apology tumbled out of her mouth because it was the only thing she could think of to fill the silence that fell over the others that stared back at her.
She knew this was far from a dream. It was happening more often when she'd wake up hearing a soft crackling. Living in a city warranted strange noises happening all the time, but this one felt distinct. She could pick it out with ease. It was like a pet scratching at her door that just wouldn't leave her alone.
Then there were the other times. They were always small openings where only she could see to the other side and see who had conjured the ring, but it was never big enough. Soon she learned about the novice on the other side, but she'd never been this close to crossing over to the other side. She knew at a moment like this it wasn't a good idea to go through the mysterious portal, especially when it had closed behind her, taking her only escape away from her.
"You cannot be here," One of the men spoke to her, pushing the two others behind him as he took her by the arm to escort her out, "This is no place for you."
"I-I-
"It was my fault, Wong," The young girl went running after him, "Every once and while when I you know," She held up her hand pretending to open yet another portal, "It's her on the other side..."
America was confused by Wong's demeanor. He was far more patient with her learning than Stephen was. She wasn't sure who the woman was or why she had rattled the two others so much, but she learned in her few months of training to never question the universe.
However, Stephen always did, particularly when it involved her.
---
"We've got to stop meeting like this, Dr. Strange," Her smile blew wide at seeing him on the other end. It was rare for his portals to open to her. The pull was usually exclusive to America or even on a unusual occasion, Wong.
His voice was dull, full of feigned annoyance as he saw her on the other side, "You've got to stop being an anomaly."
At least that's what Stephen called her. It was the easiest way to explain to her why the sanctum always willed her back. It wasn't all a lie, but it wasn't even close to the truth. It also helped mask his own confusion as to why his spell didn't seem to stick the way it was suppose to.
However, it was still what prevented her from connecting her past to the man standing before her, "When are you going to let me help figure that out?"
"You're going to get me in trouble with Wong," He tutted characteristically as if trying to ignore his own desire to welcome her help.
"I think you manage to do that on your own," She stretched out her hand, seeking his to help her into the Sanctum side of the portal.
He missed her wit. He missed everything about her and it felt like a piece of him died every time she returned. Her presence never angered him, but he needed to keep a facade to keep her at arms length.
When he reached halfway forward to help her through, he finally noticed her surroundings, questioning it immediately. It differed from her usual environments, "How did you get here?"
"What?" She looked behind her to the place she'd just left. It was like she had just blinked back into consciousness, not even realizing where she was herself.
Once Stephen had her securely behind him, he peered over the ring again. It was dark and cold, seemingly cavernous, but it was no doubt a deep, forgotten part of the subway. The echoing drips were the only thing that could be heard and it was too dark to really see anything beyond what the ring of light the portal provided.
"What is this place?" Stephen asked, feeling the cool draft that almost made him step further to investigate. As much as he liked to claim he was all knowing, he had yet to come across something quite like this.
Her eyes seemed hesitant to answer, like she wasn't sure herself or too scared to reveal how the place made her feel. His eyes studied her face, understanding almost instantaneously what had happened, but he didn't give her a moment to catch up to his actualization.
"How did you get there?" His finger pointed harshly to the opposite end. His look turned just as harsh, trying to make sense of the woman who stood before him.
"What do you mean?" She instinctively turned defensive, stepping back from him. It was as if she was moving away from him entirely, as if in a moments notice he'd reach for her with a malicious intent and leave her where she had shown up from.
His eyes softened for a moment as he stepped forward to meet her back within the Sanctum, trying to ease any anxiety she held, "Do you know what this place is?"
"Should I?"
"It's-
"Stephen!" The two flinched like teenagers being caught sneaking in past their curfew. Wong bound towards them with determination, "Close that, now."
Without hesitation, the portal was no longer.
"Look-" Stephen attempted to squash any misunderstanding, but Wong had already cut him off with a caution of his own.
"I have warned you against this-
"Wong, this wasn't intentional-
"You are not supposed to bring her-
"I didn't, she was already there."
Wong paused, recognizing the doctor's veracity. The entire situation bothered him. From the start his advice was never followed. He wanted the best for her, but there was only so much the two in front of him would agree with at the time. Now, he understood just how much of a necessity it was to have their lives so intertwined. The universe was making that plain to see, even if it defying the natural order of things.
"How long has that been going on?" Wong's attention finally turned towards her, interest peeked in worry.
They teetered around the topic, but never held back with the interrogation. It never failed to make her waver.
"I-I don't know," Her words stumbled out as she tried to find her voice and offer the truth.
Her eyebrows furrowed in her own confusion. Her mind felt foggy when she went to think back on it. She struggled to remember how she had gotten there. Minute by minute, the more unsettled she became.
"She isn't safe," Stephen's voice was low and held a new tone full of protectiveness, "She should be here."
Wong looked at him in agreement, but didn't dare let the words pass his lips. He looked between the two before saying, "Just leave me out of this."
She hoped to take advantage of finally spending longer than a handful of minutes in the sanctum, but she struggled. She felt like she was floating throughout the rest of the day. Anything that was said to her felt lost upon her. Everything seemed dulled and far from her touch. All of her senses followed suit. It felt like a fever dream, where she wasn't all there, but neither were her surroundings.
The building was mystical, but something felt different when she entered. It felt like the building was living and breathing on it's own. The drafts within felt like small whispers to her that she strove to decipher. Her daze only broke when a pitched noise pierced the silence and caused her ears to ring. She followed the sound to it's source and stared into the deep red of it's center. She thought if she reached forward and touched the deep red relic she'd find her answers
"Don’t!"
She hissed back in pain, her hand feeling a burning sensation in it's wake. She pulled her hand to her chest when Stephen stepped closer to inspect the damage. He wanted to say more, reprimand her to trying to touch the ancient item, but it worried him more the way fear had settled in her eyes.
"What was that?"
"The relics are..." Stephen knew what her question really meant, but he navigated expertly around providing her the answer she actually wanted. He drew in a breath of explanation, "Finicky things...you never really know if you'll get along or not."
"Right..." Her confusion stayed present on her face and her eyes were anywhere but his. Stephen could see turmoil behind her expression. It was yet another unknown that would keep him up at night.
"Are you alright?" He reached for her hand to see any remnants of the burn. It was a selfish move on his part, but he was just desperate to have her close.
She stayed quiet, waiting a beat to gather herself. Stephen bite his tongue for the moment, waiting for her to answer, but he could see the red of her hand and how one wrong move would have her running for the hills.
His eyes were cast down as he inspected her hand, but the flickered up briefly while he asked his question, "Where did you go?"
Stephen wanted to know where her mind was in it's fragile state. It hadn't gotten past him that she had been off. The thousand-yard-stare gave it away and stayed throughout the time she'd been under the same roof as him.
On instinct, he wanted to blame himself. But just as fast he wanted to find the easy solution. Yet, both would need to wait, her state too delicate to be tampered with.
She shook her head like trying rid anything lingering in her mind, "Nowhere."
Stephen didn't push further as he conjured up things to help relieve the pain of the mystical burn. It truly wasn't bad, nothing a few days wouldn't clear up. But he needed to know his care would help her. It was the closest he could get to feeling useful to her.
"You’re a doctor, right?" She spoke quietly, afraid to break Stephen's concentration, "I mean, well, before this."
"Yes."
With his thumb, Stephen held the gauze down on her wrist. After a few circles around her wrist, he brought it across her palm, passing her thumb, and around the back of her hand. Then he held onto the tips of her fingers before he passed the white fabric along her thumb again creating a cross and followed this pattern a few times to secure the burn.
She added lighten to the conversation as she joked, "I've yet to see the credentials."
The process of wrapping her hand was like muscle memory; something innate within him to care for her. He slowly took his time to place everything perfectly secure, as if savoring the moment before pulling his diploma out of thin air.
"So readily available," She teased further. Holding it in her available hand, her eyes filtered over the paper, "This happen often?"
"What? That people ask me to prove I'm a doctor?" His sarcasm came back naturally. She nodded, her smile becoming teasing to mirror his, "No, just you."
It was almost identical to how she had first asked him all those years ago. Her curiosity never ceased. And currently, she looked at him like she hadn't forgotten him completely.
She recognized the way he looked at her, like he saw her a certain way others didn't. She wanted to question it, but there was also a plea she recognized in his countenance. One that begged her to just remain present for just a moment longer.
"I have this feeling that Wong hates me." The statement rolled off her tongue before she could really think of another way to phrase what was eating at her.
On the contrary. Wong and her had been close friends, long before Stephen had ever shown up on the doorstep of the Kamar-Taj. The two were thick as thieves, getting into all sort of otherworldly trouble. With her around was the only time other than Macau that Stephen had seen him let loose. She was better for everyone.
"He just takes time to warm up to people," Stephen dismissed her slightly, willing any excess items away. It wasn't a wrong assumption as Stephen experienced it first hand, "I've know him all these years and I've only just now moved out of acquaintance territory."
There that feeling was again. That sense of familiarity that would settle comfortably in her chest. It was in that moment that she realized what the common factor of the doctor in front of her. It was as if he'd always known her and always knew how to comfort her with his sense of humor.
"And you?" She watched him just as carefully after the latest thought, "Think we can be friends?"
Stephen eyed her fondly for just a moment before answering, "If fate allows it."
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The Owl Sanctum
A crossover between The Owl House and Doctor Strange (2016)
SYNOPSIS:
The magic of Doctor Strange and The Owl House collide in The Owl Sanctum, and at the center of the story is the teenage foster brother of self-assured teen Luz Noceda, Stephen Strange, whose life changed forever after a horrific car accident robbed him of his mother and the use of his hands.
When Stephen and Luz accidentally stumbled through a portal to the magical realm of the Boiling Isles, their lives began to change for the good as the foster siblings find themselves in a world where magic, witches, and demons are real! There, they meet Edalyn “The Owl Lady” Clawthorne, the most respected, feared, and powerful witch on the Boiling Isles; and her small, furry sidekick, King, as they stay with them at the Owl Sanctum.
Luz wanted to become a witch, so Eda agrees to take her in as her apprentice, but Stephen doesn’t want to learn magic beyond healing his hands for he has to retain his childhood dreams to become an Earth surgeon as he had gone through every magical treatment imaginable and every college-level textbook for any hope of a magical remedy that can heal his hands and his nerve damage.
But Stephen quickly learns that he was born with magical abilities because he has the heart of a witch with a magic bile sac and later discovers the journal of the Ancient One, a powerful Sorcerer Supreme from long ago who left behind a series of clues which lead to the most ancient and powerful artifacts she left behind all across the Boiling Isles to ensure that converging dark forces and mystical threats can’t get their hands on them.
With Eda’s teachings, King’s encouragement, the Ancient One’s journal as a guide, and the help of new friends Clea, Wong, Amity, Willow, and Gus, Stephen and Luz are well on their way to find the most sacred of magical relics of the Ancient One – such as the Book of Vishanti, the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak that acts as the antithesis of the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak, a box set of Sling Rings, the Wand of Watoomb, the Cloak of Levitation, the Mirror Scroll, Dragonfang, and even the Eye of Agamotto, created by the father of the mystic arts, the mighty Agamotto – and battle against unseen forces of Agatha Harkness, Baron Karl Mordo, Emperor Belos, Nightmare, Mephisto, Dormammu of the Dark Dimension, the Imperator, Umar, and even…Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch!
Despite how much they drive each other nuts, Luz and Stephen still genuinely love each other and always have each other’s backs.
The Owl Sanctum explores and follows the narrative of what would happen if the events of The Owl House (2020-2023) occurred differently with the inclusion of the mystical world of Doctor Strange – including Stephen Strange, Clea, Wong, The Ancient One, the Dark Dimension, Scarlet Witch, the title of Sorcerer Supreme and much more.
(Link for more details)
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