The Flames of Amarra - DR STRANGE x OC - COMPLETE

MOMENT OF TRUTH

Every book Nora could find was confirming what Mordo said. Every imbalance in the mystic energies could become a threat to reality. It all made sense. That was probably why the Ancient One refused to help Nora, after all. What she meant when she said the price to pay was too high. And the more she was reading about it, the more she realized she probably should have never let Stephen cast that spell on her. 

Along with Nora’s guilt, the nightmares came back. Every single night, Mordo was standing between two chairs. One where Nora was sitting, patiently waiting for someone to take the second one. Every single night, he was asking her to choose between herself and the person sitting in front of her. And every single night, Nora chose to live. It never mattered if the other person was a stranger or her own father. Inevitably, she was choosing to live. Every single night, she was watching people die because of her selfishness.

She tried going back to the priestess’ apartment, looking for a clue about her family. The place hadn’t been emptied in weeks, no one reported her missing, chances were this woman had no one left. Hidden under the bed, she found a box filled with dolls made of straw, leaves drawn on brown paper. Everything she had left was the people she was pretending to help. 

Nora considered going back there and talking to them. She could tell them she was sorry. She wanted to apologize to someone. But knowing who killed the woman they all considered their protector, she wouldn’t have been able to look them in the eye and tell them it would be okay. How many people would never get closure from their loved one’s death just because of the secrecy around magic ? 

When she came back to New York after a few days, Nora decided at the last minute not to go back to Kamar-Taj. She needed some time alone, and what better way to be alone than walking in crowded streets where no one knew anyone. In the middle of people living their lives and tourists visiting the city, she was completely invisible. 

After hours of walking alone, taking three different bus rides and a failed attempt at getting in the subway, Nora ended up God only knew where. She overheard a small group of people talk about a memorial and decided to follow them, hoping that paying her respects to someone she didn’t know would take the guilt away. She quietly made it to a covered basketball field and leaned against a wall, next to a kid holding a ball in his arms. She gave him a small smile and listened as people were talking about their friend. 

A man had been murdered here. The police wouldn’t help them, saying that it was collateral damage of gang rivalry. These things happened. That man was apparently a good man, and no one was doing anything to find his murderer. Nora felt her throat tightening, knowing all too well how it felt. She didn’t know this man, but she could have. He could’ve been any of the people Mordo killed. A few people talked about how much they missed him, and she wished there was something she could do for them. 

Before going back to the Sanctum, she watched as people were taking turns lighting candles for the deceased. In a last attempt to get rid of her guilt, Nora lit up all of their candles at the same time. In the general confusion, an old woman started crying, taking this as a sign he was telling them that he was still with them. Nora smiled at the kid, still holding his ball, and walked away. 

She had no idea how to go back to Bleecker Street. She spent a few minutes looking for a hidden spot to portal herself back to the Sanctum and slowly walked to the library. She didn’t feel like going home, she didn’t feel like helping Tobias. She just wanted to read and forget what her life had become in the past few months. 

“Feeling better ?” Stephen asked when he entered the room a few minutes after her. 

Nora looked up from the fireplace. “Hm ?”

“Wong said you were sick.”

“Oh, yeah. I got a cold, nothing to worry about,” she said, turning back to the fire. 

“A cold,” he repeated. “You, unbothered by any temperature changes, training under the rain for hours and never showing up with a jacket, got a cold.” He sat in front of her and crossed his arms. “You used to be better at lying. Or maybe you took your ring off and you forgot to tell anyone ?”

“It’s still on,” she said in a quiet voice. “Maybe I just don’t want to talk about it ?”

“Fine. But I know there’s something wrong with you. And the last time you acted like that, you were plotting the Apocalypse,” he stated. “Only this time it seems you've got Wong on your side.”

Nora turned on her seat after a minute and looked at Stephen’s current read. She never knew he was into newspapers, and if she hadn’t been consumed by her guilt, she would’ve found it pretty funny. When he turned the page, her eyes got stuck on the picture in front of her. 

“I went to a memorial for him today,” she said without even thinking. 

Stephen looked back at the picture and arched a brow. “You knew him ?”

“I don’t know anyone in New York except you, Wong, Christine and the guy from the coffee shop down the street. I was walking and I just ended up there.”

“He went to Kamar-Taj.” He closed the paper and pointed at the picture of the man. “He’s the one who talked to me about it in the first place. The name I wrote on Wong’s list, it was him.”

Nora closed her eyes. She didn’t want to know, but she had to ask. “How did he die ?”

“Stabbed. But he had the same marks as the others. And the wounds he healed himself from were back when he died, but he was fine when I met him,” he explained. “The man we’ve been looking for is behind it, but the authorities are talking about-”

“Gang rivalry,” Nora finished. 

She left her chair and walked away. She needed to talk to Wong. She needed to talk to someone. But she couldn’t breathe, and there wasn’t enough air in the Sanctum. She needed to get out, but her legs weren’t moving anymore. Her chest was hurting. Her head was about to explode. She wanted to scream, but her lungs were crushed in her chest. 

Stephen grabbed her shoulders as she was standing in the middle of the stairs and forced her to turn around. “Nora, it has to stop. It’s time you tell me what’s going on. Since when do you have panic attacks ?”

For a second, she considered running away. She’d ask Stephen to lift the spell he put on the ring, she’d go back home and try to live the rest of her days far from everything else. Instead, she closed her eyes and started crying. She couldn’t keep it to herself anymore. She had to let it out.

“It’s Mordo. He killed them all.”

__________

Hi !

✨