Type: Stephen Strange X Reader

Warnings: Bereavement (to an extent, I thinks ^-^')

Requests: Open

A/N: I hope you guys enjoy it :)

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Sighing, you closed the hard-back book you had on your lap and placed it on the small table beside your chair. You took a glance around your cabin as you rested your head in your hand with your elbow on the arm of your comfy chair for a moment. It was so peaceful here, you thought to yourself quietly before standing up and approaching the window. You lived in one of the remote mountain villages in Nepal with very few other people. Shivering slightly, your eyes took one last glance out across the luscious, emerald forest which surrounded the tiny settlement. It was noiseless and often you found it too silent but it was for the best. Whilst you knew people, you were quite lonely here.

"I could go back to Kamar-Taj." You pondered quietly to yourself still gazing at the tranquil scene.

However, you had left for a reason.

Your mother used to practice the mystic arts as well and was a good friend to The Ancient One. She was an experienced sorceress and had gotten you involved with the community at the temple after your father had died suddenly. You never spoke much to anyone after your father's tragic death, and so your mother had brought you to the temple to see The Ancient One to see if she could coax you out of your silence. The Ancient One had done more than make you open up in the end; she also opened your eyes to a world of unbelievable and beautiful talent.

In the beginning, your mother would take you to see The Ancient One and would leave you with her for a short while each day. For the first week or so, you would simply sit in her presence as she kindly made you honey tea which you didn't drink. Instead you would just stare at the intricate patterns on the floors or walls of the room you were in. Sometimes she would talk to you and other times she would join you in your silence.

Then one day she simply said, "Speak when you are ready. I will be here to listen."

The next day while she made tea you finally spoke for the first time in just under two weeks, "It's hard."

The Ancient One simply smiled gently before replying, "Losing someone is never easy," She spoke in an understanding tone, "We love them, miss them and grieve them. We hurt but we heal and never forget them. But what one needs to think about is living their life to the fullest to make their late loved one proud."

"How?" There was a pained and lost look on your face when you had said this.

"Maybe a new hobby would suffice?" The Ancient One had put this to you as more of a question than a suggestion.

After that, The Ancient One had agreed to teach you the mystic arts personally, being a close family friend after all. Your mother was happy that you were coming back out of your shell and couldn't thank The Ancient One enough. Of course, The Ancient One wasn't there for you all the time as she had matters to attend to herself. In those times, you often joined certain classes with your mother and had made a friend there around your age at the time or you could be found in the library reading up more on certain forms of the mystic arts. With all the effort and dedication you had put into studying and practicing the mystic arts, you were becoming one of the best sorceresses there. You aspired to be more like the Ancient One with every lesson you had with her. Everything was good again for a couple of years and then it all changed as quick as someone could snap their fingers.

There was a battle. One of The Ancient One's previous students had gone against her teachings. They called them zealots because of their extremist loyalty to Dormammu rather than the Ancient One. Kaecilius was the one who had ruined your life. He stole your mother from you, took her life without a second thought. Each time you thought back to that horrific moment, all you could see was the merciless, callous look upon his face as he ran a space shard through your beloved mother.

A tear snuck out of your tired eye as you gazed at the scenery. After that horrible event, you returned to your silence willingly. You had grieved for so long in your chosen solitude and now you were finding the quiet painful.

It was time to return.

Except, when you did return, Wong greeted you with what you would consider good and horrible news.

There was a new Sorcerer Supreme rather than the Ancient One for she had perished when trying to fight Kaecilius. At that point of the story, you were filled with rage - not only had Kaecilius taken your mother but he took more of your family too - but Wong continued to say that Kaecilius was gone for good. The rage dissipated into sorrow for the losses that had occurred in the time you had been away. Your parents were dead, the Ancient One was dead, Mordo was gone, you only had Wong and now there was also some stranger in place of the Ancient One.

"You are still welcome to stay, Y/N." Wong looked hopeful that you would.

A soft smile ghosted your lips, "I'll think about it, thank you, Wong."

Whilst you wete unsure of whether to stay or go, you kept telling yourself that you had remained engulfed in your silent solitude for too long. Knowing that the Ancient One was gone now too, you remembered what she had said to do: 'live your life to the fullest' to honor a loved one's memory. Woe still wrapped itself around your mind because of the regret you felt for not getting to talk to her for one last time but now you were determined to make your life work again, to make both your deceased parents and the Ancient One proud.

You were introduced to Stephen Strange that day too. Everything happened a little quickly but it was best to know who was 'in charge' now, so to speak. There was a hint of arrogance that practically hung around him but you greeted him with respect all the same. He wielded the Cloak of Levitation which you found quite impressive, along with the amount of knowledge he had acquired in such a short space of time. The Cloak recognised you from before and floated off of his shoulders, giving you a little pat on the head.

You smiled at it's actions, "Nice to see you again too." Your voice was quiet.

"You've seen it before?" He enquired.

"I used to train here for a while until - " You paused, the silence answering for you, "Well, yeah, I was here before. I left for a couple of years." You gave a solemn nod.

Stephen looked at you with a burning curiosity in his eye, "What happened?"

"I - I'd rather not talk about it." Came your answer. You weren't ready yet.

"I'm sorry." He apologised quickly, "I didn't mean - "

"It's fine, you didn't know." You interrupted him just as fast as he had responded, "So, you're the new 'Ancient One' then? Only Master Strange?"

"Uh, Doctor - I trained as a Doctor and I prefer to keep my title the same." He corrected you.

"Right. Sorry about that." You apologised.

"That's fine, you haven't met me before so you wouldn't have known." He gave you a little smile.

A friendly smile crossed your lips at the repetition, "I won't be a bother - "

"Wong tells me that you were one of the best sorceresses here before you left. He said that you still are so I was wondering if you wouldn't mind covering one of the classes?" He had to ask with an apologetic look on his face, "If you don't mind of course, you don't have to."

"Oh, I mean, I'm probably a little rusty but I guess I could - "

"Perfect." He flashed a smile, "I'll be in the library, find me when you're done." And with that, the new Sorcerer Supreme left.

You didn't even know where to go.

A couple of hours later you found Stephen in the library like he had asked you to. He was sat at the desk, his head buried in one of the chronicles that you recalled reading before some time ago. The lights were dim in the library; a candle on the desk made the shadows dance across his face, defining his cheekbones a little more with the occasional perfect flicker of the flame. You walked over to the desk.

"How was the class?" He enquired without turning his head away from the book.

You were merely surprised that he realised you were there given how intensely he was staring at the words on the pages, "It was alright - I'm not used to teaching but it was good." You answered, "One of the students recognised me. It's always nice when you're remembered."

"Mm hm." He mumbled, turning the page faster than you could have finished reading the first page.

You noticed that his gloved hand was shaking and you frowned a little, "Is everything okay?"

"Hm?" He looked away from he page this time and up to you instead. There was a hint of pain in his blue orbs as he looked at you for clarification.

"Your hand." You nodded to his shaking arm.

"Oh, I'm trying to find a spell to hinder it - the shaking." He answered quickly.

A thoughtful frown crossed your brow as you went to sit on the opposite side of the desk, "I can help." You gave him a friendly look as you held out your hand across the table.

"It's fine - "

"You can't concentrate with the pain." You pointed this out now with a soft look.

Stephen's expression turned into one of defeat. Whilst his mind possessed a photographic memory, he was struggling sometimes to pay attention to certain tasks. His eyes met with your again but he didn't speak, he simply reached his hands over the mahoghany desk for you to take. You offered him a small smile as you took his gloves off. You saw that he was about to protest but then decided against it. One could hear a pin drop in the library. As you pulled the gloves off of his hands, you saw the scars and met his his gaze with worry.

"What happened to you?" The questions left your lips quicker than you could process it, "I - I'm sorry - I didn't mean it like that."

"No - it - it's fine - " Stephen swallowed as his cerulean eyes fell on you again, "It happened in a car crash." He then elaborated his story in a bit more detail.

You gave a compassionate nod and your gaze with each other held for a few seconds before you hurriedly looked back down to his hands. You found that, for the first time in a long while, the silence felt different but pushing that aside, you focused on your current task. Stephen's hands, whilst decorated with scars, were still soft albeit a little bit cracked - he used to be a surgeon after all. You found beauty in his marked hands; the scars branched out as though they were the many tributaries of a calm river. Magic seemed to pulse from your hands to his, soothing the prominent pain he said he felt.

As you were doing this, Stephen's stare never wavered off of you. Your tied-back H/C hair shone a little in the candle light, he saw your kind E/C eyes were focused on his hands and the gentle brushes of your smooth hands against his made him shiver slightly. You took care with the spell you were casting and he was grateful for that except your spell was appearing to do more than just doven the pain. You could feel his eye contact on you the whole time and a warmth rose in your cheeks as you finally finished off the spell.

Gingerly you met his gaze once again, "Better?" Your question was almost inaudible.

"Yes, much - thank you." He then nodded, hurriedly retracting his hand.

"Good." A small smile lighted your lips.

Silence engulfed the room again as you silently got up, walking over to one of the bookcases to glance at the plethora of books. There were still some you had never read before. Slipping one out from its place, you returned to the desk, no words leaving your lips as you took your seat and began to read the book nonchalantly. A familiar feeling of being stared at returned and your curious E/C eyes looked up to see Stephen giving you an inquisitive look.

"Yes?"

Stephen blinked as he realised that he was staring again, "Sorry, I just - I know you said that you'd prefer not to talk about it but, what did happen to you?"

You frowned with uncertainty yet it soon changed to one of defeat, "You did tell me yours." Came your mumble before a sigh and you closed the book, "I've had a life full of loss. Lost my dad at a young age, lost my mum during one of Kaecilius's raids here and of course the Ancient One when I was away." You looked down at the table hesitantly, "It hasn't always been good but at least I can thank you for getting rid of the man who murdered my mum." You forced a tight lipped smile.

Stephen continued to look at you for a moment with a sympathetic look and the speechless air almost seemed to cloak the both of you reassuringly now. Unspoken words were simply understood through a gaze. Silence could often be an unwanted solitude but in that moment, the quiet was comfortable.

For the first time in forever, the quiet wasn't painful or reflective but just comforting.

Stephen offered you a small smile, "Thank you again - both for the spell and for trusting me enough to tell me that."

"You're welcome." Was your response accompanied with a more genuine smile.

He sat back in his chair and stretched before standing up, "Do you want to train with me?" He asked now, "Or would you rather stay here and read?"

You glanced at the book on the table and then back to him, "I guess I'll train with you." You smiled a bit wider, giving him a friendly look.

Stephen gave you a delighted look as he offered his hand for you to take, which you promptly did. You had had enough of the library-like atmosphere that had surrounded you for most of your life. You were going to live your life to the fullest by making new friends and defending the sanctums - the former of which it looked like you were already doing. After all, absolute silence leads to sadness and you didn't want that anymore.

Glancing back to the empty library, a softer smile graced your face. You were leaving all the woe behind in the quiet.

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A/N - I feel like it could have been better but hopefully I'll improve as I continue to write these oneshots ^-^ Also, do you guys think it needs 2nd part? Idk but I would appreciate it if you could say ☺☺☺
Also, if any of you lovelies have lost someone recently, I know it can feel like the whole world is ending but I promise you it gets better. Just remember to talk to someone (I don't mind if you talk to me!) and also remember that once you have mourned, you need to carry on to make your late loved one proud. ❤❤❤ Remember that they would want the best for you 😊

"Absolute silence leads to sadness. It is the image of death."
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau