The Scarlet Apprentice 2: The Multiverse Between Us

Focused training

The sympathetic shine of the moon remained as the only light source for y/n as she stayed in the locked bathroom. While waiting the ache in her hand to settle down and become bearable, y/n sat with her back against the bath and her wrist in her lap. For a few moments, her exhaustion would catch up to her and cause her to close her eyes as the temptation of sleep whispered to her. However, every time her eyes closed and her body tried to sleep, her neck would give up on her head, and she'd be forced to wake up.

Soon, she gave up on trying to wait for her hand to heal, so she wandered the dark halls with her wrist in her hold. There were a few times where she accidentally bumped into something or leant against the wall for support as her tiredness begged her to lie down, but nothing made too much of a disruptive noise, thankfully.

The very moment y/n's free hand felt the soft touch of the back of a couch, she collapsed onto it and closed her eyes, no matter how comfortable she was. She didn't care for comfort anymore, she just wanted her dreams to be better than her reality.

When the sun rose over the skyline and the morning had come, Wong was the first to leave his room. On his journey through the building, he found y/n, spread across the couch as if she'd been thrown on to it. With a gentle nudge, he woke her up and made her a coffee, where he then sat with her while she drank it to make sure she was feeling alright. Of course, y/n didn't tell Wong what had happened that led to her sleeping on a random couch, but Wong didn't seem like the type to pry for answers.

For the first hour of the early day, Wong and y/n spoke. They spoke about magic, books, literature, and they even brought up Strange a few times. Then, when the noise of more people being awake became clear to the two of them, Wong had to return to his duties.

After very little food and her one cup of coffee, y/n headed straight to the training room. She knew Strange would be busy having breakfast and getting ready, but she didn't waste a minute waiting for him once she was in there.

The training outfit she had been provided had been altered and added to in order to appeal to y/n. She kept the baggy but comfortable bottoms that were tied at the waist, but relieved herself of the robe. It wasn't actually a robe - y/n just called it that to annoy Stephen. Instead of the magic protection chest piece, y/n had tied wide, white fabric around her torso, chest, and around the shoulders. And, finally, she had wrapped fabric around her fists which had parts of it hanging down that would float through the air whenever she moved her arms. Although it wouldn't protect her as much as the original piece did, it was comfortable, breathable, and, most importantly, cool.

When Stephen entered the room and saw y/n stretching when he expected to see nothing at all, he paused in shock. All the questions he asked immediately were ignored, but he assumed it was because y/n had a bad sleep. After about an hour of decent training, Stephen thought it best to talk to her.

"You're very focused this morning," he noticed, his brow cocking as he watched her fight back a response. When he saw the fire burning in her eyes and picked up on the fact that she hadn't said anything sarcastic to him at all, he frowned to himself, "everything alright, y/n?"

Slightly shocked at the unexpected worry coming from Strange, y/n froze for a moment. However, in a matter of seconds, she moved her hair out of her face and balled her fists again, "do you wanna put some effort into this training, or you wanna take it easy on me?"

"I don't like the changes to your outfit." He changed the subject, hoping it would distract y/n from the thing that was clearly bothering her.

"If you didn't give me such a shitty one in the first place, then I wouldn't have had to change it." She shrugged before swinging a charged fist at Stephen that he barely managed to block.

With her wrist in his hand, he moved her gently to study the magic bursting out of her veins, "you've got some serious power, y/n."

Without acknowledging the fact that the sorcerer supreme complimented her power, she yanked her hand away from him and shook it off, "are you trying to flatter me so I lower my guard?

"No, I'm just complimenting you," he tried to tell her, "can you not take a compliment?"

"Not when there's possibilities of an underlying motive, no," she shook her head, "I won't take it."

"God, you're paranoid," he squinted as he studied her. "I don't think Wanda ever had to worry about this when she was with The Vision." He was joking. He was only joking, but y/n didn't take it that way.

While he positioned himself for another round of training, she stood still and steady. Suddenly, all the memories of last night had flooded back to her, despite how deeply she tried to push them down.

That spiteful flush of bitterness pushed her over the edge and ignited the rage she felt last night. Only this time, she had someone to hit.

In the blink of an eye, y/n had forced her energy down her veins and into the palm of her hands before throwing it harshly at Stephen. The lapis cloud didn't take long to get to him once it immediately swarmed through the space between the two.

Strange didn't have any time to react or to defend himself before the impact hit his chest and he was flung to the other side of the room. The moment he fell on his back, he rolled over and crouched down, placing one hand on the ground, while the other rested on his leg. His eyes rose to y/n - who stood panting and watching him - before his lips parted.

"Impressive."