THE APPRENTICE (DOCTOR STRANGE STORY)

45

As soon as everything was over, Hazel immediately fell into her bed. That night was the best sleep she's had in her life. All responsibilities were gone, she could sleep knowing she's helped save the universe; that she got Stephen back.

When she woke up, the girl immediately got out of bed and ran down the stairs to check on Stephen. She felt the urge to do it, to make sure everything was real. She had to make sure he'd still be there when she woke up.

"Hey." Stephen smiled as he stood by the stove, trying to cook something up. The oil popped and splattered around, Hazel feeling a wave of relief.

"Hey." She smiled back and walked over to the pan. Stephen was making some pancakes that were folded and crumpled up. "Are those-,"

"-Pancakes," he answered and flipped it. "The only breakfast food I can cook. I'm not the best at flipping without magic but they taste alright."

"They look like half assed tacos."she criticized as Stephen conjured up a shield to block the drop of oil approaching her.

"Like you can do better," he hummed and thought about it for a second "you know what? Don't reply to that."

The two actually liked doing simple tasks without magic. One, because it helped them stay grounded. Secondly, it lets them enjoy being human.

"Oh wow, you made them from scratch!" Hazel looked over to the bowl and observed the batter.

Stephen smiled smugly and scooped up the pancake.
He got impatient and poured all the batter in, making a huge and thick pancake.

"It's now an actual cake." He muttered with a smile and waited for it to sizzle, then flipped it. When it was done, he put it on the plate and walked to the table.

"Hey, lets try the big one." Hazel suggested and handed him a fork. The two dug in, the pancake being soft and slightly raw in the center. "Hey, this is good!,"

She smiled at the fluffiness of the cake, tasting slightly sweet and vanilla like.

"See? I told you." He pointed a fork at her "I developed it myself,"

"You looked online, didn't you?,"

"I combined a couple of online recipes which makes the recipe fundamentally mine." He responded and shrugged.

"So what do we do with that?" Hazel reaches for the book of Caglliostro and sighed sadly at it.

"We'll keep it and preserve it," he responded.

Hazel skimmed through the pages and found the page of her prophesy, making her frown. Her eyebrows crinkled at the sight of writing in pencil.

It is not the staff that makes the sorcerer, but her skill and identity.

"Weird." Hazel muttered, making Stephen peer over and read the writing.

"It's in the Ancient One's writing," Stephen observed "must've been a message, she probably found out through Steve,"

"You know, it was so weird being in the same city as past you," she muttered "by the way, the Ancient One's pretty cool,"

"I know, right?" He said and checked more pages, then frowned. "No message for me?,"

"Hey, you had a pre-death chat with her," she recalled "I never even got to speak to her, all she told me was to essentially not screw things up,"

"Fair." He nodded "see, I knew she'd like you."

"I don't know what I'd do if she didn't," Hazel laughed "I don't even know-,"

"Someone's here." Stephen shot his head up a little and a sound from the bottom of the sanctum echoed. It was a shy and coy knock. "Lets do the thing."

Hazel smirked and so did Stephen. He made the doors open, the silhouette of a woman entering the door. The two stood in the shadows, to be intimidating.

"What business do you bear?," Stephen asked, the sound of his footsteps echoing around the place.

"Uh, is Hazel here?" A voice asked, shaky and obviously intimidated. Hazel's face fell at the sound of it.

"Stella?" She walked quickly to the doors and found her sister. She was her height, hair dyed with blonde, and was considered attractive.

"Hazel! I-I've been looking all over for you!," She immediately ran into her and crushed her in a hug, the girl not hugging back. "How have you been? Where have you been? Who is this?,"

"Doctor Stephen Strange, and you are?" He narrowed his eyes suspiciously at her and tapped his foot against the floor as the doors closed.

"Stella, her sister," she explained