Elemental Magic AU

CW: Character near death, mention of war, describing torture

~~~

A private research building recently collapsed, and right now, paramedics were searching for anyone who was alive. Among those paramedics was Stephen Strange, who hid his identity as a healer.
The team ended up finding someone, unconscious and buried under a bit of rubble, but alive. Barely.

They took him back to the ER, but couldn't identify why he was in that condition. They settled on mild crush damage, causing trauma that induced a coma. Stephen didn't agree, but couldn't say anything.
Stephen asked to have night shift with the patient, and the other doctors agreed. So, that night, Stephen went into the room, examining the patient a bit closer.

Healers have multiple side abilities, such as being able to tell if a person has magic or not. Stephen noticed that this patient did- a pyrokinetic.
With that knowledge, Stephen quicky identified the problem, and grabbed a small cup of water. He swirled it very carefully, imbuing it with a minor healing spell. He then walks over to the patient, helping him drink the water.

And he woke up, shivering and immediately curling into himself trying to warm up. "Wh-where am I...? Who are you..?" He asks. Stephen covers him with a blanket. "My name is Doctor Strange. What's yours?" He asks.

"Tony Stark.. Now where am I?... And why is it so cold.." Tony repeated, huddling in the blanket. "You're in the emergency room. None of the other doctors know this, but you feel cold because you're currently suffering from MDS." Stephen says.
"From... What?" Tony was confused. "Magic Deficiency Syndrome. You feel cold because magic is tethered to the soul; the less magic that's in your body, the weaker you feel. Should someone have their magic taken, they will also most likely lose their life as well." Stephen explains.

"Oh... W-well how do you cure it..?" Tony asks. Stephen sighs softly. "Not easily or immediately. Especially with how severe your case is. That water you woke up to drinking, think of that as your medicine. It helps rekindle your powers. However, magic takes a while to regenerate, even with the spell. You'll probably be here for roughly six weeks."

Tony groans softly, closing his eyes. Stephen looks down at him. "I'm your night nurse, so I'll be here every night starting my shift at 5pm. For now, rest, and remember, you can't tell the other doctors or nurses what I've just told you."

Tony nods a little before drifting back off to sleep.

~~~

After the first week, Tony was more active- less shivering, walking around a bit, that sort of thing. He was looking out the window when Stephen knocks before walking in.
Tony looks at him, then at the clock. He smirks a little, gaze going back to Stephen. "You're quite punctual." Stephen chuckles a little, closing the door. "I try to be. How are you feeling?" He asks. Tony shrugs. "Alive."

Stephen nods, grabbing one of the small cups. "Any progress as far as using your magic goes?" He asks, filling the cup with water. Tony shook his head. "No... I'm too weak to even make sparks right now, it's pathetic."
Stephen went over, handing Tony the magic water cup. "Not pathetic, just recovering." Tony looks at the water; it would look normal to any regular person, but magic users could see the pinkish red glint it had.

"Why do you give it to me like this, by the way?" Tony asks, drinking it after. "I find it easier to put my magic into physical objects, because I haven't had much practice using it by itself. Don't want to blow my cover. I can do little things, though, like restart a heart, control consciousness, heal small things like cuts and scrapes, that kind of thing." Stephen explains, taking the cup and throwing it away.

"By the way," Stephen continued, looking over at Tony. "Do you remember how you got into that situation in the first place?"

Tony looked down. "Yeah, uh.. I do. That place was owned by a normal person who was... Mad. Went insane trying to understand magic genetics. I was one of his lab rats he collected, and for some reason, I was his favorite. He would do all sorts of tests on me by taking several things- blood, spit, hair, skin sometimes. It's like I was his toy.

"One day, he decided to experiment to see if he could transfer magic from someone born with it, to someone who wasn't; he used me for that experiment. I remember being strapped to a table, one that was just cold enough that I couldn't use my powers to get out.
"He had this... Machine, or.. I don't remember what it was. All I remember is when he turned it on, it felt like.. well, like my soul was being ripped from my body- it hurt. This orange glowing light, that's.. that's what.. I don't know, last thing I remember is it exploding, then.."

"Then you woke up here.." Stephen finished, deeply invested in the backstory while also looking empathetic. "That orange light you described was probably an embodiment of the majority of your magic- most of it, I daresay. It most likely combusted due to your strong desire to escape. Again, magic is tethered to the soul. Downside, however, it had no way of re-entering your body, therefore putting you in death's lap."

Tony looks up at Stephen. "If I was so close to death because I lost my magic, how did you save me?" He asks.
"Because you didn't completely lose it. I had trouble detecting it, but it was there. A very small fragment of it. The medicine I've been giving you is helping that fragment regenerate back to what it was." Stephen tells him, holding his hands up to Tony's chest and casing a spell.

Tony gasps softly when a little orange light appeared between them, though this time, it didn't hurt. "Hey, there it is.." he whispers, looking at it. It currently had pink threads circling it- Stephen's healing spell.
"This light is essentially you, Tony. If I were to hold it, it should feel as though you are being held." Stephen says. "Why didn't it hurt this time..?"

"Because healers are supposed to deal with magical recovery. And because I didn't force it out, I asked it." Stephen responds, putting his hands back to his sides.
The light went back to Tony, who touched a hand to his chest lightly before chuckling a little. "You asked my magic for consent?" Stephen thought for a moment before nodding.

Tony just smiles. 'Dammit,' he thought. 'I've got a crush.'