Avengers Endgame spoilers in the story below!

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No matter which way he looked, Dr. Strange was overwhelmed by what he was seeing, and it was an unsettling feeling for him. He wasn't often taken aback and very rarely did he find himself at such a loss, but this was a very different situation than he had ever faced and having just come back from oblivion had done a number on his mind. He was just coming to terms with the fact that everyone had been gone from existence for five years when it had felt like mere seconds, and it had yet to sink in as he looked out over the destruction. You were five years older than the last time he had seen you, making finding you that much more impossible with so many faces in the mix.

"Wong, do you see (Y/N)?"

"I thought she was with you?"

"Dammit. I haven't been able to find her since this all started. I'm not sure if I know what she looks like anymore."

"I'm certain that she has more pressing matters to deal with than to drop by for a hello."

"Helpful, thanks. Just tell me if you see her and try to not let her out of your sight."

"Sure, I'll do my best between not getting shot and trying to avoid being eaten alive by whatever these things are," Wong snapped back, just in time to block an attack by the exact thing that he was just unable to define. "You see, this is exactly why I said no when you wanted a dog for the sanctum."

Strange stopped and turned to his partner, his expression tense but filled with disbelief and utter confusion. "You thought that this is what I meant? I was thinking something a bit more domesticated."

"I wanted a cat."

"I'm allergic to cats."

"Oh! Is that why you've been avoiding T'Challa?"

"What? Do you...seriously, you do know that he's not a real cat...right?"

Wong smiled to himself, "look around you, Strange. I don't know what I know anymore."

~~~

On the side of the massive battle furthest from your Sorcerer Supreme, you were struggling to hold your own against the force that Thanos had dropped on you, using every skill that your mentor had taught you before the snap had taken him away. Wong had done his best to keep your training going, but he barely had it in him to protect the sanctum even when it no longer held the time stone. The loss of Strange and so many others around him had left the two of you unsure of yourselves, so you spent a significant part of your time away, finding that Natasha welcomed you readily. She needed as many eyes and ears looking out for what was left of the world, and you needed something that made you feel like it was still turning every day.

You looked out over the melee and searched for Strange, but any time you thought you caught a glimpse of his cape through the hazy smoke and flashes of fire, it was gone just as quickly.

"Incoming!"

You spun around at the shrill of terror in the sky, seeing a different flash of red hurtling straight towards you; it was so fast that you had no time to conjure a shield for yourself, so you instead hurried to try to at least slow the kid's descent and save him from a few more injuries than what he was already wearing. When he came to a halt, crashing into a large section of the building that had shattered and splintered away from the rest, you hurried to check on him, only to see him clutching the gauntlet in wide-eyed, hyperventilating terror.

"Hi, I'm P-peter. Peter...P-peter Parker."

"Hey, Peter Parker," you answered, trying your best to look calm. He clearly needed it, and he also clearly needed to get rid of the glove of death that he was gripping to his chest. "You got something for me?"

"Actually, I should probably take that."

Peter looked between you and the new lady, decked out in sparkly blue, red, and gold with a glow around her that frightened him a little; it also put him in his place, and that wasn't holding the gauntlet.

"No, I've got it," you insisted, hands out. "Spidey, up top."

"Parker, over here," Carol insisted harder, stepping even closer to nearly block you from him. "It has to be me. Hand it over."

"Hey, I don't know who you are," you huffed, "but I do know what I'm doing and I need to get that glove to that van over there. Captain's orders."

"I know what I'm doing too, and I'm a Captain just the same, so I feel safe in pulling rank here. We can get into this more later-"

"Can one of you just do it please," Peter interrupted, "and maybe sooner than later? I really don't want to be carrying this around anymore so I'm starting to not care which one of you takes it."

You and the new addition looked to each other, then to the battle continuing around you and weighed each of your options. You could waste even more time and argue with each other about who would be the one to risk themselves and take the glove, but there just wasn't any more time to be had, and someone needed to just break down and step back. You decided first that it would be you, but this was far from over as a discussion.

"Fine," you relented, taking a step back though still guarding Parker, "I'll stay here but I'm watching you and I will jump in if I need to."

"Deal," Carol nodded, reaching out to Peter and taking the gauntlet in hand. She rose from the ground and hovered just above you, the glow that she wore beginning to strengthen to a brightness that you could barely tolerate looking at without your eyes stinging like fire. Tears had already formed from the heat, but you couldn't look away. "We should talk later when this is done," she added. "I feel like we could probably get along. You're as stubborn as I am."

"Sounds interesting, sure," you smiled in return, "I could use a night away from work."

"Can you just go?" Peter barked out. "Both of you are really awesome but I don't feel like you're giving this the seriousness that it deserves-"

"Calm down, Parker. We've got this," Carol answered complacently, giving him a subtle wink before shooting away and across the battle. She was immediately out of sight other than the power that surged all around her; you were almost certain that you should be able to see that from the other side of the world and there was no way to not be impressed and completely enamored.

"Okay, so, you're the spiderling that I've heard so much about," you said, focusing back on the kid. "Queens, right?"

"Yeah. Thanks for the help back there, by the way. Where are you...I mean...who are you again? How do you know who I am?"

"(Y/N). I apprentice with Dr. Strange."

"Oh, right! He mentioned that you should be here. When we all woke up and he told us that you guys needed our help, he was freaking out that he had to find you first."

"Well that's good to know. Maybe I'm doing something right?" Reaching down to give the guy a hand to help him up, you surveyed the area again to decide if it was safe to move. Fires raged in every direction and they sky was black and thick with the smoke of what used to be the Avengers compound. Everything around you was death and destruction, but even in the midst of it all, the young man grabbing your hand had an annoying air of innocent enthusiasm. "Wait. Aren't you the one who thought that Strange was a fake name?"

"Yeah, I'm never gonna live that down, am I?"

"Hmm, well, Tony thought it was funny as hell. Once he was able to find things funny again."

"Oh, shoot! Mr. Stark!" Parker gasped, letting you go. "I need to find him! We'll talk later, bye!" As if he hadn't been injured at all, he had the strength of youth on his side as he leapt up into the air on a well-placed web, leaving your sight nearly as fast as Carol had only moments before.

"That kid is a complete spaz," you mumbled under your breath. "No wonder Stark likes him."

~~~

With the spider-kid off to find Tony and with your about-to-be-new-best-friend Carol gone and fighting her own battles, you worked your way across the field and towards the largest grouping of sorcerers that you could see, hoping that Stephen would be there amongst them. There were people you passed by who you knew, and many that you didn't, and you tried to make a mental note as to who you would be sure to introduce yourself to later. It was clear that anyone in the world, or maybe even the universe at this point, was here and fighting on one side or the other.

"There you are!" Strange snapped, rushing to your side and grabbing your arm firmly. "I told you to not leave my side and what was the first thing you do?"

"Sir, I felt it better to spread out our resources. The two of us together can do less than covering a greater area." You hoped that the lie would work, but from the look in his eyes it wasn't doing anything of the sort.

"Who told you that?"

"Cap, obviously. Strategy is his thing, right?"

Stephen looked out and over the group, surveying the sight and realizing that there were beginning to be more wins than losses in front of him, and he couldn't help but relent to your reasoning. "Yes, I suppose it is. Still, as my apprentice, you should have checked in with me first. Are you alright?"

"Better than ever, considering. Are you?"

"Glad to be back," he finally smiled, albeit weakly. He couldn't help himself at the overwhelming relief in seeing you in one piece, standing once again in front of him where he could see that you were safe. He pulled you in for a quick hug, only to be abruptly pulled apart again. "Now go on-"

"Is anyone else seeing this?"

Pepper's voice broke out over the group, but you and Stephen were directly in the line of what she was terrified of; a giant rush of water was threatening to submerge the entire field, the full contents of the lake beginning to spill over and nearly on top of you.

"Or, perhaps stay!" Stephen urged, changing his mind.

Wong was only a few feet away, leading the others to raise a barrier over the battle as best as they could to try to hold the water back. He wanted to join you and Strange, to help hold the rush of certain death away, but his concern was quickly calmed as the two of you held your own easily.

"I'll hold the water here, make a wall to keep it back once I release it!"

You were already one step ahead of him, spreading out a wall of energy around the edge of the broken lake. The orange glow of your power lit the sky as brightly as the raging fires around you had, drawing the attention of the others to stop and watch in awe for a few seconds before they had to return to their fight. You were fairly sure that you heard a colorful expletive from the young spider, followed up by a scolding from his mentor; it may not have been real, but it was entertaining to consider, nonetheless, and any laugh was welcome during the hell you had found yourself standing in.

"Now see, if you would've told me that you were a wizard, our conversation would've been different," Carol joined in, landing at your side. "That's really impressive."

"Thanks!" you smiled widely. "You too! You took down that ship by yourself like it was nothing. You should've seen the look on Cap's face! I think Thor might have peed his pants a little, he was so excited. Seriously, that was epic."

"Sure, but you're doing actual magic. It's so cool, I had no idea that you could do that!"

As your mutual fangirling continued and the compliments went on, Peter had returned to stand next to Stephen, the two men watching incredulously at how the sudden shift in your attitudes towards each other had happened. With a tap on the doctor's arm, Pete shook his head as his thoughts began to swim and he started to worry about the trouble that the two of you could get into.

"Are we sure that having those two working together is a good idea?"