THE APPRENTICE II

1

Hey guys! This is officially the start of Hazel's story! Just a head's up: this story will be a lot more rich than the first one and will be exploring some heavy things. Other than that, enjoy!

Hazel floated around the monastery and watched the different classes take place. A fluttering feeling lurked inside her while she was observing things return to normal. It was a major accomplishment for her, to find the life she never knew she wanted and keep it.

"Boo." Wong appeared behind her with a smirk on his face, she simply squinted her eyes at him.

"You're not scary." She hummed and cleared her throat. Wong growled and gave her a playful push. Her face grew serious as she clasped her hands behind her back. The sorcerer searched for any more students around the monastery. "How many did we lose?,"

"18," He reported with a small frown on his face. "Thanos' army was fierce,"

"They're heroes." She stated and stepped back a little. She gave Wong a small smile "You all are,"

"This never would've happened without you," he continued "Strange wouldn't be back here if it weren't for you,"

"Well, I wouldn't say back, he still hasn't returned. I'm starting to think the snap was useless on him," she rolled her eyes. "He tried to be mysterious again and left me note- its been 16 hours,"

"Probably out on a mission again," he shrugged and gestured to the foyer "in the meantime, why don't you have some tea with the masters?,"

"Maybe next time, I don't feel like it,"

"Well, in that case," he turned to her. "Why don't you teach a class? It'd be nice if you'd-,"

"-Hey, I think I should be going. I think he told me he'd be back in..." she looked down at her watchless wrist swiftly as she hastily walked away from him. "oh, now! Welp, bye!"

Wong grumbled and crossed his ams at her absence as she disappeared in thin air. When Hazel opened the doors, she found Strange walking around calling her name. The image of him back in the Sanctum triggered a satisfying and comforting feeling that lightened her heart.

"There you are!," he sighed with relief.

"Here I am? Here you are!" She corrected with an angry tone, then crossed her arms. "You've been gone for, like, half a day!,"

"Well, I wrote you a note. I assume you taught that class?" He raised an eyebrow and the girl only tilted her head cluelessly. "Oh, come on, Hazel! I leave you one thing to do!,"

"Oh, I'm sorry- you mean this note?" She lifted it up in the air and revealed a piece of paper that had scribbles on them. "You do know that your handwriting's completely unintelligible, right?,"

"Have you never been to a hospital or a pharmacy?,"

"I have, but that doesn't mean I can understand your little code!" She stretched out her arm to distance the paper from her, as if it would reveal the text. "You know what I see? I see: "Hey, Hazel- what is this? Ban-bandit? Banshee? Tyrant, cookie." The rest, I can't understand- and that's the PG version!,"

"It says: "Hazel, I'm going out for a mission, be back later in the day. Try to teach a class today and help Wong out." You're exaggerating,"

"No I'm not, you're just a doctor,"

"I fail to see that as an insult,"

"It's not, it's just...a thing." She travelled up the stairs to return a book in its shelf, then laid down on the floor. "Oh! By the way, Nick Fury's been asking for us,"

"What? Then what'd you say?,"

"Unavailable, obviously." She smirked

"Nice." Stephen let out a small laugh and stood by her, watching her stretch out on the floor and put her hands behind her head. "His matters are usually so...trivial,"

"A little worrisome, now. Tony and Natasha are gone, Steve's probably gonna die soon, Thor's doing his own thing, Bruce is...well, he's whatever he is, Clint finally retired,"

"There are others." He concluded and shrugged. His eyes travelled up while recalling the remaining heroes and took a breath "Yeah, yeah I get why you'd be worried."

Just as the man finished saying that, a small knock came from the Sanctum doors. Hazel quickly got up from the floor and the two's heads turned to one another, Stephen taking the queue to cast the visitor inside.

"Shit!" The voice yelled and footsteps pattered from all around.  May fumbled inside and her eyes wandered the sanctum with wonder. She was just about to touch a relic when she was interrupted.

"Oh, don't touch that," Stephen warned "It won't be pretty,"

"May, what are you doing here?" Hazel asked and transported her beside them. "Tea? Coffee?,"

"No, no, I just came here to deliver a message. Peter says you've been difficult to contact? He said he couldn't call you,"

"Oh, right, we're not really tech-y." She shrugged and began to organise her surroundings. "So what's the message?,"

"Well...Have you heard of the things happening in Europe?," She asked

"Um...no." She shook her head

"Not our division," he added while she was stacking books on top of each other.

"Peter needs your help. Apparently, Nick Fury assigned him on this...thing and it might be too much for him to handle. It's- they're these big monsters and he was talking about elements? I don't know, it sounds dangerous and I've been really worried about him,"

"She doesn't deal with non-mystical threats,"

"No, wait, I can help," She blurted out after consideration. "I have nothing else to do,"

"Seriously?," Stephen scoffed with his lip curled up,  which made her squint her eyes at him.

"Yeah, just...just send me the details of where he is and I'll come right after." She smiled at May "is that it?,"

"Yes, thank you. Thank you so much, Hazel! If you ever need anything, um, I owe you one." She returned the large grin and hugged the girl who stiffened up. Hazel created a portal back to their apartment and the woman stepped in, waved at the two, then left the Sanctum.

"You're not actually gonna help the kid, right?,"

"He's my friend,"

"Sure he is." He let out a humourless laugh. making her furrow her brows.

"I promised him I'd be there if he ever needed me." She squinted her eyes at him. "You know how I am with promises,"

"I know, I know. I just..." he sighed and crossed his arms. His cheeks were starting to flush out of frustration. "I don't like the thought of you being alone with him in Europe,"

"I'm sure we won't have time doing anything else." It was her turn to roll her eyes at the man.

"Fine." He frowned and found comfort in her large grin. "Be safe,"

"I will,"

"Have fun, come back ASAP,"

"I will. Bye!"

Stephen watched the girl leave and was left standing alone in the middle of the sanctum. An uneasy feeling lingered over him, his mind started to convince him to come after them.

"Nah, she's fine." He soothes himself and shook the feeling off, then checked his watch. The cloak tightened itself around him when a noise creaked from upstairs.