𝕻𝖊𝖓𝖉𝖚𝖑𝖚𝖒 - [𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲]

𝐢𝐱. 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘪 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄 — maybe i deserve this

━━━━━━━

 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐍 Stephen and Mordo went just as Emilia, and Stephen for that matter, thought; Stephen was thoroughly beaten by Mordo within minutes. Perhaps that was harsh, Stephen did hold his own for a short while, primarily defending rather than counter-attacking, but within five minutes, Stephen was on the ground with Mordo spouting words that surely struck fear into the former surgeon's heart.

 "Fight like your life depends on it, because one day it might!"

 Now, Mordo wasn't exactly incorrect, nor was he wrong to point out such a fact to the sorcerer in training, for enemies came with the job. If the world encountered enemies of such magnitude that even the Avengers couldn't take them on, the role of being the Earth's protectors fell to the sorcerers that lived across the planet.

 Be them young, old, experienced or not, they would all come together and fight. Tao Mandala's would cover the surface of the earth and shield it from outer invasion, each sorcerer was expected to fight; they could refuse, turn away and leave, but a majority would band together and protect their home, to protect their people.

 That was what Mordo had tried to mean, yet he seemingly missed the mark and instead further added to the ever-growing list of reasons for Stephen to leave, that he should run and forget about his time within the Kamar-Taj.

 Emilia had swiftly helped the man to his feet and dragged him off to his room; and rather than dwell on the ominous words that Mordo had spouted, the two simply laid beside one another as they read.

 Stephen had stacks upon stacks of books cluttering his already tiny room, books that Wong would most certainly chase down with ferocity unlike any other. The former surgeon had no personal belongings to make his room his own, and thus on some occasion or another Emilia had managed to leave behind various blankets and pillows that had once cluttered her own room.

 Stephen had noticed, obviously, considering his dull room was now littered with fluffy pink and grey blankets as well as matching pillows, yet he didn't say a word.

 Later that same night, Stephen had finally managed to make his way back to his room from dropping off as many books as he could carry to a rather aggravated Wong, he had all intents to simply fall onto his bed and allow the night to overtake him into a deep slumber... Yet there was a single light on across the hall.

 It was beyond late... If anything, it was just ridiculously early, and still, Emilia's light shone through the cracks surrounding her door. Now Stephen knew that at some point, late nights and early mornings would have very much been a thing for the woman, with being a physicist with unforgiving deadlines and all, but not once had she been awake so late.