THE APPRENTICE (DOCTOR STRANGE STORY)

33

"Hazel" Tony walked by the front of the ship "Nebula and I are playing again, wanna join?"
The man walked to the seats and put a hand on the leather cushions. He watched as she turned to the side, hugging her knees.
"Wanna try having a go at the food?,"

"No," Hazel said for the first time that day. Her voice was hoarse and her eyes were swollen. Her cheekbones were sunken and circles formed around her eyes.

"You've got to eat" Tony knelt down beside her, struggling to make contact. It's been 22 days since the snap, 2 and a half days since she's eaten.

"Really? I never knew," she spat venomously. Hazel's eyes softened at the thought of her attitude. "You can just take it, I'll be fine, Tony,"

"No" Tony shook his head and grabbed her arm to sit her up.
The girl was limp and lifeless, like a raggedy doll. "Hazel Wolfe, you need to eat,"

"What's the point? We're dying tomorrow." Hazel held her chin up high to look him in the eyes. "Tony, take the food,"

"See, I'd feel guilty if I had so it'll just end up wasted," he shook the bag of food and offered it up to her. "Just a bite"

"Fine!" She sighed and took the bag harshly, then proceeded to take small bites. Even eating was exhausting. Feeling the food travel down her throat was exhausting. Chewing it up was exhausting.

Tony stared at the girl for a few seconds, feeling his heart pinch just for a little bit. "He wouldn't want to see you like this-,"

"-I should've been the one" Hazel interrupted quickly and gritted her teeth "Look at me. I'm useless. He's the Master! I'm a waste of life. Why did this happen to me?!,"

"I know how you're feeling, we all do," Tony didn't know how to respond, frankly because he still felt strong feelings about Stephen giving the stone up.

"He was the only thing I had" Hazel sniffed and slouched her back. "You know what's stupid? I don't think I even needed the magic and sorcery and all the adventures. He was enough, just him was more than enough,"

"You have a lot more to live for, kid," Tony couldn't help but scoff at her "trust me when I say that,"

"How would you know? I don't have parents and my sister left me. He was literally all I had." Tears started to flow out of her eyes "I should've just died,"

Tony grew silent for a good amount of time, then crossed his arms. "When he was dying, h-he was telling you something. I don't remember what and I couldn't hear you well, but what was it?,"

"Um- um, he said that he um, he said that he loved me," Hazel's voice grew shaky, making her look up at the ceiling of the ship to avoid the waterworks. "And he told me to remember everything he taught me,"

"Which is?,"

"Well, magic. You know, to work on my defense, to own my craft, all the magic things," Hazel summarizes. Tony only looked at her, not accepting the answer "he always told me to fight like my life depended on it because one day it will, and others will be depending on me, too,"

"See?," Tony propped his foot up on the chair and put his arm on top of it. "He trusted you. He saw it in you. Don't let this all stop you,"

"Right," Hazel nodded and sighed "right, yes,"

"Well, I'm gonna go and finish my game with Nebula, I think I need to lose this time cause we all know she's at least a little bit sadist," Tony said and straightened himself up.

"Take the food with you," Hazel said and started to get comfortable in the chair "I think I'm fine now, maybe offer some to her,"

"Right, well, see ya" Tony said as his footsteps became less and less distinguishable.
Hazel looked out to the galaxy, purple and blue hues reflecting on her eyes. She didn't want to face whatever feelings were arising, so she slept.

Oddly enough, doing nothing was tiring, and napping only made her more tired. It was a never ending cycle of sleepy.

It was when some kind of golden light burned brightly against her face when she woke up from her slumber. Hazel almost thought she was in the afterlife.

However, she was greeted by a woman. This woman was levitating, and was wearing a superhero suit. She was human, that, Hazel was sure of, and something told her she was going to get them home.

The ride back to earth was almost surreal to her. It was like one moment, one wrinkle, one person in the universe could just change everything. Minutes ago, they were destined to die the next day. Now, they were landing in front of the Avengers tower.