“I’m having an existential crisis. I was coming up with New Years resolutions, and I realized I’m too far gone. There’s no fixing me now.” The words from the Sargent were clipped, his blue eyes hardened to match the glinting vibranium of his arm. The once playful man had been through hell more than his share of times, between fighting in a war, being brainwashed by H.Y.D.R.A… The issue with the Sokovia Accords, Stark… He was at his end.
James could remember times when New Years Eve was a great time, the ladies were easy to pick up, the alcohol cheap, the music loud. He had fun back in the day, waiting for the New Year to be brought in, often with a kiss or two from a stranger. Living in New York had it’s perks this time of the year, even if the snow was impossible to shift through some mornings.
Putting a cigarette between his teeth he lit it, inhaling as if the nicotine was the only cure for the poison in the air around him. The little red book haunted him. Without much time he could be changed back into the monster that had murdered countless people.
Like Howard and Maria.
Picking up his pace as he moved, he glanced back to the other person he had spoken to so gruffly, his cold gaze softening slightly as he frowned, pulling the lit smoke away, puffing out the grey cloud.
“It’s better if I just vanish. Make sure I’m far, far away from anyone at all times. I lived like that once. It wont be too much trouble to live like that again.” The lie was well worded, his chest tight at the thought of being so alone again. He finally had his friend back. Steve was back in his life and he hadn’t been a danger to people for a good long while. He’d made new friends.
“Touch my spell circle one more time. One more time.” Ella said hand up, tone threatening giving it a moment before she went back to her spot on the floor, chalk meeting concrete again as she focused on writing ruins out correctly.
Fiona began muttering an incantation in Latin while shuffling the cards expertly.
“Now Doctor, what question do you have for the spirits?”
She asked as she began to spread the cards out before them.
“See it in your mind’s eye and ask honestly, and they will answer in kind.”
She decided to do a more simple spread rather than a full formation, it usually is less overwhelming for first timers that way.
Strange stared at the cards, recalling the charlatan who’d presented a novelty-store-quality deck of tarot cards at the function he’d attended years ago. He was still struggling now, with an experienced and genuine card reader in front of him, to believe any of it.
Nevertheless, he closed his eyes to focus on his question, and then opened his eyes.
“Can I protect this reality from the dangers that lay in wait within the Multiverse?”
Fiona extended her hand and moved it about just above the spread out deck, allowing the spirits to guide her toward the card sequence that would convey their answer.
She began pulling cards and lining them up in a row from first to last.
The High Priestess
“Interesting, The Priestess represents mystery and the unknown, something that has yet to be reavealed. Perhaps an event that has yet to be triggered or a secret that will be brought to light.”
The Magician
“This card speaks of your skill, determination and resourcfulness, likely your proclivity for the mystical arts.”
The Tower
“The Tower represents catastrophe and destruction, it indicates a sudden and unforseen change and a loss of control”
The Seven of Wands
“This card indicates you will be pushed to battle but you will stand your ground, you will be tested and it will be tiring however you will turn the strains of conflict to your favor.”
The Six of Wands
“This final card indicates you will be victorious in your endeavour and your goals wil be acomplished.”
“All in all it seems that your chances are quite good I would say.” Fiona said with a small smile.
“I do, it’s a flexible form of divination. The cards allow me to glean information about the future, receive messages from ancestors and reveal insights about people.”
Fiona walked into the room Strange presented to her, it was considerably larger than her room back in England. She looked around a moment before turning back to Strange.
“Would you perhaps be game for a reading?”
She asked with a playful smile. She twirled her hand and a deck of cards conjured in her palm.
“I would be most interested indeed to see what they have to say about the Sorcerer Supreme himself. I think you may find my perceptions usually are not so dull or vague as a party trick.”
“Well,” Strange replied, “I’d certainly trust your reading of the cards more than I trusted the girl that read them at that party back in the day, especially after the one medical board member who she told would have a long and successful career ended up losing everything in a sexual harassment scandal four months later.”
He entered the room and took a seat across from Fiona. He wasn’t completely convinced of the accuracy of Tarot reading, but he was too curious about Fiona’s powers and knowledge to reject her offer.
Fiona thought on the revelation of the Ancient One using the energy of the Dark Dimension to sustain her immortality. Even being as experienced as she was, potentially exposing her mind to Dormammu’s influence seemed a very dangerous risk to take.
“I suppose I can understand how that would be upsetting. I’m sure your mentor had her reasons to do what she did, she was always very mysterious to me, in the times that I met her I never was able to read her, she must have been very good at hiding it.”
“I have to practically drown myself in Lightforce energy to keep my own magic under control. Perhaps the Ancient One felt that drawing on the Dark Dimension was only the only way to do what needed to be done.”
“I’ve come to realize that, now,” Stephen explained, “She was careful to keep it from everyone, but Kaecilius and his followers exposed her secret to us. It was still in defiance of her own rules, and to Mordo, it was a betrayal of what the Masters of the Mystic Arts stood for. I’ve come to see things a bit differently; that sometimes the rules can’t apply.”
“But we are obligated to find every possible way to obey them, Stephen,” Wong argued. “You and I and the rest of the Masters know this.”
“So did Mordo, surely…and yet, it would seem he’s the one draining the powers of other sorcerers. It’s his Sling Ring.”
Wong shook his head, ashamed at how such a renowned and respected Master could have fallen so drastically.
“We need to plan a course of action; Mordo is as wise and cunning as any of us; perhaps even more so. If we face him unprepared, we’ll lose,” Stephen declared. “Fiona, we’ll need your help. Would you be willing to stay here, at the Sanctum, with us until this is resolved? If he knows you have his Sling Ring, your life may be in danger.”
Fiona nodded her head in agreement, a powerful and vengeful sorcerer on the loose bodes ill for a world still recovering from the chaos of billions of people suddenly reappearing after 5 years.
“I will stay, at least until he can be captured and the stolen power recovered. In the mean time we should formulate a way of drawing Mordo out.”
The matter of the barrier being breached still lingered in her mind, Mordo doesn’t seem to be the type to do something like that, if he indeed believes that magic is being misused.
“Do you know of any reason Mordo would breach the barrier? From the way you describe him he doesn’t seem to be the sort who would do it.”
Fiona furrowed her eyebrows, she gave a quizzical look at the both of them. “The bill comes due” the way Wong looked at Strange and the way he said the phrase made her go cold. Her own encounters with rogue sorcerers would sometimes leave her shaken but never so much that she would cleanse the world of magic all together.
In her two and a half centuries of practicing magic she could only count on one hand the amount of people she knows of that would deserve that kind of punishment.
“This Mordo, he takes magic from others because he believes that sorcerers abuse their powers, for someone to go to that conclusion seems so extreme, what led him down that path?”
Strange quickly recalled his last moments together with Mordo, on the streets of Hong Kong near its Sanctum, after Kaecilius and his followers were claimed by Dormammu.
“No price to pay. We broke our rules, just like her.”
“The Ancient One,” Stephen explained, “had been drawing power from the Dark Dimension to stay alive. Mordo felt betrayed. He felt that sorcerers who dabbled in or misused such power were disrupting the natural flow of life.”
He recalled learning of Jonathan Pangborn’s loss of his powers shortly after the Hong Kong Sanctum incident, and realized the truth. “Mordo took Jonathan’s powers…and now he’s moving on to other sorcerers…wherever he can reach them.”
Fiona thought on the revelation of the Ancient One using the energy of the Dark Dimension to sustain her immortality. Even being as experienced as she was, potentially exposing her mind to Dormammu’s influence seemed a very dangerous risk to take.
“I suppose I can understand how that would be upsetting. I’m sure your mentor had her reasons to do what she did, she was always very mysterious to me, in the times that I met her I never was able to read her, she must have been very good at hiding it.”
She demurred, folding her hands together.
“I have to practically drown myself in Lightforce energy to keep my own magic under control. Perhaps the Ancient One felt that drawing on the Dark Dimension was only the only way to do what needed to be done.”
Fiona snapped her fingers and the tea disaperated in a flash of white light, replaced by a large ornate tome that was embellished with a pentagram on its face. The pages of the book seemed to leak black, red and white energy from their edges as if unable to fully contain their spells.
“I believe I know where we can start, given that divination has failed to locate the source of the disturbance, I think I may have a solution.”
She produced a folded up piece of paper from within the pages of the grimoire where it stuck out like a bookmark. Unfolding it revealed a letter written in red ink. Fiona released the page from her hands and it glided to the two sorcerers opposite her for them to look at.
“This is a letter that was sent to me a few days ago, the witch who wrote it says that she was approached by a stranger who tried to siphon her magic, this stranger possessed one of those portal rings that Sorcerers here use. I was wondering if you might know who she spoke of.”
“A Sling Ring?” Wong asked, incredulous. “Only the Masters of the Mystic Arts possess those rings.”
Strange furrowed his brow and felt the color run from his face as memories surfaced and the image of a possible suspect crept into his consciousness. He recalled the betrayal in the man’s eyes, seeing Stephen as someone willing to break the laws of nature as the Ancient One did. He had claimed that sorcerers abused their powers and were creating the very imbalances the Masters had sworn to prevent.
“The bill comes due,” Strange said, repeating the words spoken at that fateful moment.
Wong’s eyes widened as he realized who Stephen was speaking of.
“Fiona,” Strange said, “I think I know who we’re looking for: Karl Mordo. He was a Master of the Mystic Arts, but he walked away from them, believing that sorcerers were abusing their powers. I…I think he may be the one stealing powers.”
Fiona furrowed her eyebrows, she gave a quizzical look at the both of them. “The bill comes due” the way Wong looked at Strange and the way he said the phrase made her go cold. Her own encounters with rogue sorcerers would sometimes leave her shaken but never so much that she would cleanse the world of magic all together.
In her two and a half centuries of practicing magic she could only count on one hand the amount of people she knows of that would deserve that kind of punishment.
“This Mordo, he takes magic from others because he believes that sorcerers abuse their powers, for someone to go to that conclusion seems so extreme, what led him down that path?”
Fiona set her tea cup on the table and used her hands to flatten out a few wrinkles in her dress as she reminisced.
“In my time I have traveled to alien worlds, found lost archives, fought a contingent of vampires and even expelled a demon that sought control of my body.”
She paused, looking distant for a moment her head slightly tilting to the side. Her expression shifts to worry.
“I have indeed come here to ask for your help.”
Fiona said looking up at Strange and Wong.
“There have been troubling signs, witches have been disappearing you see, I have found evidence that it may be the work of Maleficarum, witches who use magic for ill ends.”
Her worried expression returns as if imagining every terrible thing that could be the cause of the disturbances.
“I fear these events may be symptoms of something far more sinister, early yesterday I felt a ripple, a disturbance on our plane, a rather sizeable one, as if the veil between our world and the others was breached temporarily… from our side.”
As Fiona spoke, Strange listened with rapt attention. He could see that Wong, too, was entirely focused on her. When she spoke of the Maleficarum, Strange and Wong exchanged a knowing look. They knew of the sizeable coven of witches who had dedicated themselves to using their power to inspire fear and chaos, as well as destroying other magic users who’d defy their sinister intentions.
Strange leaned forward as she mentioned the disturbance she’d felt. “I felt the same disturbance, but its source was being masked. The power used to protect the identity of the caster had to be significant.” The incident had frustrated Stephen, as his powers were such that he should’ve been able to search all of reality and connected dimensions to find the focal point of that breach.
“Fiona, I think your arrival’s turned out to be very fortuitous. We should work together to stop Maleficarum and protect the ones they’re targeting.”
Fiona snapped her fingers and the tea disaperated in a flash of white light, replaced by a large ornate tome that was embellished with a pentagram on its face. The pages of the book seemed to leak black, red and white energy from their edges as if unable to fully contain their spells.
“I believe I know where we can start, given that divination has failed to locate the source of the disturbance, I think I may have a solution.”
She produced a folded up piece of paper from within the pages of the grimoire where it stuck out like a bookmark. Unfolding it revealed a letter written in red ink. Fiona released the page from her hands and it glided to the two sorcerers opposite her for them to look at.
“This is a letter that was sent to me a few days ago, the witch who wrote it says that she was approached by a stranger who tried to siphon her magic, this stranger possessed one of those portal rings that Sorcerers here use. I was wondering if you might know who she spoke of.”
Fiona swirled her right index finger in the air and from it extended a jet of inky black energy that twirled and convalesced on the table in front of her. It did so for a moment before condensing and dissipating, leaving behind a fine china tea set, the tea itself already hot.
“More than you can imagine,” Strange acknowledged, still remembering the many, many, MANY times he had tried to bargain with Dormammu, with each time resulting in his death. Only after the primordial entity had lost patience with the determined sorcerer had it capitulated and agreed to leave Earth alone.
The Sorcerer Supreme took a bite of his corned beef sandwich, chewed and swallowed before clearing his throat and addressing Fiona again. “So, 245 years…where have your journeys taken you? Gotta say, I’d be interested in hearing of some of the things you’ve seen in that time.”
Also,” he said, taking a sip from his can of cream soda, “if you’re into investigating and containing dangerous magic, does that mean you’re here for that reason?”
Stephen couldn’t help but feel a bit awkward, as he and Wong chowed down on a big Katz’s lunch while Lady Dimitrescu sat with them, refined and proper as she appeared, drinking tea in a fine china cup. Then again…Masters of the Mystic Arts had to eat too, right?
Fiona set her tea cup on the table and used her hands to flatten out a few wrinkles in her dress as she reminisced.
“In my time I have traveled to alien worlds, found lost archives, fought a contingent of vampires and even expelled a demon that sought control of my body.”
She paused, looking distant for a moment her head slightly tilting to the side. Her expression shifts to worry.
“I have indeed come here to ask for your help.”
Fiona said looking up at Strange and Wong.
“There have been troubling signs, witches have been disappearing you see, I have found evidence that it may be the work of Maleficarum, witches who use magic for ill ends.”
Her worried expression returns as if imagining every terrible thing that could be the cause of the disturbances.
“I fear these events may be symptoms of something far more sinister, early yesterday I felt a ripple, a disturbance on our plane, a rather sizeable one, as if the veil between our wold and the others was breached temporarily… from our side.”
Nodding her head at the idea Fiona stepped inside, the sound of her boot-heels clicking on the hard floor echoed in the otherwise quiet room except for the ruckus of the people and cars of the New York streets pouring in behind her.
“I would be delighted.” She said “I haven’t yet had afternoon tea.”
She paused momentarily to take in the room, it wasn’t too dissimilar to the Sanctum in London she had seen. Unassuming from the outside but inside a stately example of construction hide a secondary purpose to house many dangerous magical artifacts.
Wong and Doctor Strange led her up the grand stairs to a room that housed a lounging area where a couch and a few arm chairs surrounded a low-rising table. The two sorcerers took to the couch and she to the chair directly in front of them. She sat neatly with her legs crossed and her hands in her lap.
“Thank you for humoring my impromptu arrival, I normally send a letter before appearing at someone’s home.” Fiona said feeling a little abashed at dropping in unexpectedly.
“It’s no problem. We’ve come to be used to unexpected visits,” Doctor Strange replied, recalling Thor’s visit to the Sanctum and Bruce Banner’s rather abrupt arrival not long after.
“They keep things interesting, to say the least,” he added with a smile.
Stephen found it odd that he’d never heard of Fiona since becoming one of the Masters of the Mystic Arts, especially considering that Wong was familiar with her. That lack of knowledge made him quite curious about her. While her abilities were a mystery, his attunement to the realm of magic allowed him to sense the power within her. He didn’t get the impression that her intentions were in any way malevolent, and he felt a bit guilty for even considering such a thing, but the precious items within the Sanctum required that Strange and Wong be cautious at all times.
As Wong set out the food from Katz’s, Stephen decided he’d try to get to know her better. “So, since Wong already knows about you, I’d love for you to bring me up to speed. Tell me more about yourself, Fiona.”
Fiona swirled her right index finger in the air and from it extended a jet of inky black energy that twirled and convalesced on the table in front of her. It did so for a moment before condensing and dissipating, leaving behind a fine china tea set, the tea itself already hot.
She poured out the dark liquid into one of the dainty cups she conjured. She then blew on it before taking a small sip.
“My name is Fiona Dimitrescu, a practicing witch of 245 years.”
Fiona took a small spoon from the set, using it to shovel a little sugar into her tea.
“My trade is investigation and containment of dangerous magic and other supernatural anomalies.”
She swirled her tiny spoon in her cup while speaking, the silver making tiny tinking sounds against the porcelain.
“After your encounter with Dormammu I imagine you understand the necessity of such work.”
Due to the dangerous nature of her natural magic Fiona relies on the energy of the Lightforce to fuel most of her spells.
The Darkstorm:
The Darkstorm is a magical anomaly that was created when the World-Seed, a magical artifact designed with knowledge of Chaos Magic by Fiona’s great great grandmother and her coven, was ruptured prematurely and corrupted by Chthon when the witch betrayed her agreement with him. To prevent the power of the corrupted magic from consuming the world the witch took it into herself. The power went silent after and it was forgotten by the proceeding generations until it reemerged in Fiona and destroyed her village.
The Darkstorm is capable of warping reality around it and can sustain itself indefinitely by feeding on the innate chaos of the universe if not contained. It can also siphon the energy of living things to extend the life force of its host.
Tangled AU for Stevella bc why not. (Side note I will give Stella a different name until she reveals the real one to Steve)
This is the story of how I died! Well actually it isn’t even my story, it’s about A Lost Prince with magical golden locks but lets go on with it before you leave.
Years before now, a prince was born from a good family but with the powers to heal people with just his hair. He lived a sweet good life until he became 4 and that’s when things happened! Steven would be locked away in the Tower for years and haven’t seen his family or friends because he was taken away. The evil stepfather Red Skull. It was also his 18 birthday and his stepfather left him alone for the weekend.
Elizabeth Strange our girl on the run. She stole the crown from the Royal kingdom of corona and being chase down by a horse until she climbs into a tower. “Alone at least.”
Or so she thought as Steve hits her with a frying pan and Elizabeth wakes up tied up in blonde hair. “Get me out of here?! Who is here there..?” She can hear him until out self a sunkissed man in golden gorgeous locks and a deep purple suit as her eyes smirked.
“Who are you and how did you find me?!” Steven yelled out holding a frying Pan as his Chamaeleon Bucky on his shoulder glaring at the girl.  “Okay Blondy-” Elizabeth said scoffing. “Steven-!” He replied glaring, “Answer me.”
Eventually she told him that she was running away from a few pals of her along with her name. Elizabeth even tempted to flirt and give Steven a charming smile witch in return got threaten with a frying pan twice. “I want to see floating light!” “You mean the lanterns they put out every year for the lost Prince?” “Yes! Your taking me to see them.” “No can do Blondy!”
Soon enough there was an agreement as they went on their way. They went to the snuggly duckling singing “I got a dream” and Elizabeth bit forced into the mess singing even one guy saying her dreamed sucked. 
They were chased down by everyone in the kingdom, fighting then met up a few new people and ended up trapped in the water gasping for air. “We can’t get out and weird screwed!” Elizabeth exclaimed. “I’m no sorry Strange I should’ve never left my tower and I messed up and..”
That’s when she revealing her real name chuckling, “Estella.” “What?” “My real name is Estella Romano. I figured someone should know.” “I have magic that glows when I sing! I have magic hair that glows when I sing!” Steven started singing in his head as his hair glow golden helping them escape.
Estella got out of the water gasping for air in shock, “H-his hair glows?! How does it hair glow?! Why does it glow?!” She looked at Bucky for answers and he shrugged. Steven told him that it isn’t that all his hair can do. They soon found shelter in the woods.
Steven noticed the cut on Estella hand wrapping his hair around it saying, “Whatever you do. Don’t freak out. Alright?” She just nodded in return as Steven sang and his glowed healing the wounds on her hand. “Don’t freak it!” Estella was freaking out a bit but hide it with a laugh, “Freaking out? Who’s freaking out? I’m not freaking out, that was cool actually.”
Chamaeleon Bucky was laughing his little ass off at their reactions while noticing the chemistry between them. Suddenly after Estella left, Red Skull appeared telling Steven that his little girlfriend is a tool and will sell him out soon enough, leaving him the dirt. He refused to believe him and decided on wanting to tell her the truth soon enough instead.
Estella returned smiling, “Am I gonna get super powers because of this? Cause that would be cool.” Steven laughed, “No I don’t think so. But tell me about yourself, why the name change?” She nodded and told him the reason, “I read this book about this beautiful adventure called The Tales of Elizabeth Strange and I decided to use the name..since it made we feel and look cool. It’s stupid but it gave me a purpose in a way since I was a street rat..” He then told her about his hair, “It can’t be cut..if it does, it turns brown and loses its power, never growing back.”
They kept talking and laughing the whole night. Seeing different side of themselves along with their dreams.
The next morning they woke up a horse named Max who was basically ready to beat up Estella but Steven was about to convince them to fight another day since it’s his birthday. As you can imagine they went to the Kingdom and had such an amazing time. They stole cupcakes, braided Steven’s hair, danced and read books in the library.
They ended up dancing and out of breath holding hand blushing like two idiot feeling so many emotions throughout the day.
Later on, it was time for the lanterns to lift up the sky. They stayed on a boat talking about their dreams as Steve asked, “What if this dream isn’t what I always wanted? After that, what then?” Estella smiles taking his hand, “That’s the good things about dreams, you get to make new ones.” Soon enough, the lanterns lit up the sky as the world felt like a beauty of love filling up the time there.
Cue the ‘I See The Light’ scene! Steve and Estella watch the lanterns light up the sky as they sang their hearts away holding hands while Bucky hid his eyes and turned away snickering at the pair.
Steve leaned in to kiss her and Estella followed suit ready but stopped short noticing the goons (Stabling Brothers) from her earlier travel glaring at them. She made them park the boat and Estella went to deliver the crown back to the thugs in exchange a nice night but they knocked her out framing her against the guardsmen. Steve noticed she hadn’t return as him and Bucky got worried as they went searching for her but ended up being taking home by Father Skull after knocking out the goons. It sucked!
Estella woke up chained around to flower with crown in her hands screaming for help as guards were about to lock her up for her crimes. Father Skull took the flowers out of Steven’s hair telling him to not leave again, that he was wrong about loving Estella and that the world is a cruel place. Steven was quiet as he left since he was holding a flower that was wrapped in cloth with a sun on it as he looked around the room. Everything started to click as he muttered walking down the stairs, “I’m the lost Prince..”
We then cut between Estella fighting off the guards along with thugs from the bar who came to help and Steven fighting off Res Skull. Finally Estella run over to The Tower to save Steven but instead is stabbed in the back as the Red Skull chains her while she whines in pain. Steven is worried and upset saying, “For the rest of my life I will fight! I won’t stop trying to get away from you, but if you let me heal her I will go with you!”
Estella screamed for him not too but Steven didn’t listen cupping her face, “You gonna be fine. I’m gonna heal you.” Estella cried out, “N-no Steve I can’t let you do this, I can’t save me..” “And I can’t let you die..not when I can prevent it..”
And unexpectedly Estella took a sharp piece of glass and in one swoop chopped off Steven hair as it turned a dark golden brown. Red Skull yelled out in anger, “What have you done?! What have you done?!” Bucky smirk pulling out a thick bunch of hair making Red Skull trip and fall to his death.
Steven stayed their in shock rushing over to the love of his life holding her asking, “Why did you do that..?” “I couldn’t let you live with him..” She replied slowly dying out and cough, “Y-you were m-my new dream…” Steven smiled softly and sadly said, “You were mine.”
Steven watched her slowly dying feeling his heart break in half and Bucky looked away feeling sorry. Eventually Steven couldn’t hold back anyone as tears fell out and one fell onto Estella cheek sipping into her skin. Suddenly a burst of magic that formed in a flower flew across the room and around them breathing life back into her.
Estella slowly stirred up as her eyes fluttered opened smiling weakly, “..hi.” Steven gasped bursting into the hugest smile, “Stell! Hi.” He pulled her into a hug as they rolled onto the floor one onto of the other chuckling holding onto to each other. Smelling each other’s scent and whispering sweet nothings into each other’s ears. Bucky giggles and smiles teasing the pair happily.
Estella smirked now able to see him better in the light saying, “Have you ever told you, I have a thing for brunettes?” Steven laughed gently grabbing her collar, “Shut up.” Without a moment to reply or even think, Steven pulled her into a passionate long awaiting kiss and she happily returned it wrapped her arms around his neck. 
Hours later they left the god forsaken Tower returning to the Kingdom of Corona happily with Bucky and their new horse Maximus. Steven was returning back home to his parents and they happily brought Estella into their family.
Needless to say, the lost prince returned back to his kingdom bring light and hope into the world, Maximus become a new royal horse, the thief became a knight and the Chamaeleon stayed the same but with more charm.
And if ever wondered, if Steven and I ever got married, well after years and years of asking he finally said yes—Stella! You know how it actually happened—alright honey, I finally said yes. —and they lived happily ever after.
Once Helena let go of the goblet or cup of sorts, - or when her abilities let go of it - she could feel a small ache in her shoulders and arms, even just after a small act and movement like that one. It took a lot from her mentally, took all her focus, just to make sure she didn’t fling the object somewhere accidentally or even make the object teleport. And though the work took a lot from her mind, it could easily drain her physically at times too.
“Thank you, Doctor. It’s… odd finally having time and finding the right place to work all this out.” She let out genuinely, watching as Strange let the cup slip into a portal he conjured just beneath it.
Even just from the few things she’d seen him do with his abilities, she could tell he was very great at handling those abilities and they seemed quite powerful too. She admired his skills, to say the least, and she hoped one day she could have such a strong control over her powers too. Helena’s eyes flickered to the pedestal the cup had abandoned, eyebrows raised as she heard it clink onto the stool and regain its balance there as she listened to Strange speak of teleportation.
With furrowed eyebrows she turned as he disappeared only to reappear once more a few feet in front of her. “Okay… Okay… I think, I can do that,” She said with a nod, mostly trying to assure herself of it and convince herself. She noticed before how that seemed to help her often enough if she did ever try to teleport somewhere on purpose, though it went wrong in one way or the other most times, but simply believing in herself in her abilities helped her a bit.
With closed eyes, she took a deep breath, imagining the spot next to him, visualising exactly where she wanted to be and which way she wanted to be facing. A bronze glow emitted from her entire figure this time, the glow especially strong at her head and just above it, though it did flicker a bit. As she focused, she felt herself teleport, opening her eyes only to find herself in the bed of grass that had been past that tree where the cup had landed. And she’d managed to fall from the teleportation as well, landing on her knees as she steadied herself, though the grass was luckily soft enough to land on.
Brushing the slight dirt off of her hands, Helena looked to Strange with a small smile. “Well, could have been worse.”
“It’s a start,” Strange replied, cocking his head and smiling. “I wouldn’t expect you to nail it on the first day. It took me weeks to just open a portal. The Ancient One left me at the summit of Mount Everest until I could open one. Thankfully it didn’t take me long.” He quickly looked at Helena and chuckled, reassuring her, “Don’t worry, I won’t do anything like that to you!”
In the blink of an eye, Strange and Ella were standing back at their starting point in the garden, looking at the pedestals with cups and the tree ahead of them.
“What I will do, though, is tell you what she told me: ‘You cannot beat a river into submission. You have to surrender to its current, and use its power as your own.’“ Strange walked around to face Helena as he continued.
“Focus and control is vital, but you have to find a balance between control and freedom. You have to free your mind and let the current of your power carry you exactly where you want to go, or do what you want it to do, and no more than that. It doesn’t make sense; trust me, I know…but before this is all over, it will.”
“You’re right… I suppose it is a start of some sort.” Helena returned the smile, hands still brushing against her trousers, trying to get rid of the stray strands of grass and muddy dirt tainting her palms. “On Mount Everest? God, sounds both interesting and scary- And I trust your reassurance.” She laughed lightly, almost feeling a shiver descend down her spine at the mere thought of standing there on top of Everest, alone and most likely nervous.
Helena managed to keep her balace as her and her mentor suddenly returned to where they stood earlier. The teleporting wasn’t getting too weird, but she still wasn’t quite used to the feeling, especially when she decided to work it herself.
Keeping her eyes on the pedestals for a moment before turning towards Strange, she nodded along to what he said. “Thank you… The Ancient One does sound as wise as she seems. And you make some good points- I think- I think I’m just scared, scared of dipping my feet too far into the current.”
