𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍 — the mirror dimension

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 𝐈𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄 just how fast time seemed to pass within the Kamar-Taj; Stephen had been housed and trained within the walls for months now.

 Everybody could easily notice the changes within the man, Especially Emilia, who spent a majority of her time with the man. His arrogance had been quelled, not entirely, but Stephen wouldn't be Stephen without a sliver of arrogance and ego, she supposed.

 He had opened his mind to the mystic arts and was more than ready and happy to digest any and all information offered to him; he had approached Emilia a multitude of times to ask for her help with Astral Projection, and yet each time she had to say no out of respect for the Ancient One and her designated plans for the former surgeon.

 He was a quick learner, much like Emilia. He mastered anything thrown before him, now that he had surrendered his mind, spirit and body to the arts.

 Emilia, on the other hand, had become rather dedicated to her training. She had spent far too long within the Kamar-Taj and was growing frustrated with the lack of control to show for it. Lessons became more frequent, often resulting in both Emilia and the Ancient One sealing themselves away within the mirror dimension so that they could practice without worry.

 She progressed well; perhaps seeing Stephen finally prosper was the kick that Emilia herself had needed... Though her fear still permeated her bones; whilst she was more than happy to display light uses of her abilities without the safety of the mirror dimension, she couldn't bring herself to show her new tricks.

 From teacups to books, to seats and to tables. She could lift and levitate heavier objects without too much trouble, and yet the moment she stepped out of the dimension that protected people from her chaos, she reverted back to being utterly useless.

 It was disheartening, to say the least. It felt empowering and liberating to use her abilities without having to worry about unintentionally launching objects at passersby; but it seemed that the more she used her abilities, the more they craved to come to play in times where they needed to be contained.

 There were times where Emilia would demonstrate some of the things she could do for Stephen who found himself rather engrossed when the woman would so much as levitate a pencil before his eyes. The mere thought of Emilia being able to manipulate gravity confounded him.

 His mind would reel whenever he saw her use her powers; attraction and repulsion, that was the level that Emilia was on, being able to lift and lower objects at... Mild will. But the implications of what she could do with further training was both amazing, and terrifying.

 He hadn't brought up his musings to said woman again, not after the light snap she'd given him the last time, but he did think about it. Gravity defiance, gravitational upforce and downforce, flight, immobilisation, enhanced speed and strength... The possibilities truly did seem boundless.

 It wasn't like Emilia hadn't spent incalculable restless nights pondering the very same things; the possibilities of what she could do was the very thing that weighed down her chest and made her lungs struggle for breath.

 But it wasn't just the minute things that could possibly happen, it was the more consequential, far more dangerous ones that could potentially occur without her knowledge. She had already killed tens of people with the abilities that tainted her fingertips, if she grew stronger, and her control didn't prosper... No, there was no need to worry about such things; not when the Ancient one had promised to ensure that nothing like that would ever happen again.

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 The past week had kept Stephen busy indeed. With Emilia's refusal to teach him about astral projection the stubborn man had taken to pestering Wong. Three separate times.

 Wong, much like Emilia, trusted the Ancient One's guidance and training arrangements for the former surgeon; no matter how strong and capable Stephen was... Well, everybody was weary to let yet another student thrive and gain power so quickly, especially after Kaecilius.

 But ever the stubborn man who rarely took 'no' for an answer, Stephen had conjured a multitude of portals within the library to steal away the very books he had sought after.

 Emilia had been the first to notice, after showing up unannounced to his quarters just as she usually did. She had simply strolled in, just as he did with her on many occasions, and there, right before her, was not only the few books Stephen had pinched but also Stephen himself... Floating above his own body in his astral form.

 His head had snapped up, a fairly delightful 'deer in the headlights' look gracing his sharp features as he stuttered before finally uttering the words; "I can explain."

 Of course, his explanation had been exactly what Emilia had expected, a load of stuttering, fumbling and a: "Yeah, no, I took them without permission."

 A rather exasperated sigh had fallen from her lips as she heaved the books into her arms, snapped her fingers at him in quite a rude manner to get him to slip back into his actual body, before forcing the books into his arms and dragging him towards the Ancient One.

 "Emilia, please —" Stephen began, promptly tripping over the loose part of his robe and almost dropping the short stack of books.

 Emilia turned on her heel, walking backwards without a problem, "You know why we have these rules."

 "Those 'rules' don't make a lot of sense."

 She came to a stop, forcing the man in front of her to do the same as she swung her free arm wide, "If you don't agree with the rules, speak to the Ancient One, don't just break them. Honestly, why would you bypass Wong of all people? He's not daft Stephen, and you quite literally took the book he was in the midst of reading."

 "Fine, it might not have been my finest moment."

 "Finest moment? You seem to lack those."

 For once he seemed to keep his mouth closed as he tilted his head to the side and contemplated her words for a short moment. It wasn't exactly like he could disagree with her, after all, he was the one who had caused a majority of the issues within the Kamar-Taj recently.

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 "Once in this room, you begged me to let you learn. Now I'm told you question every lesson, ignore Emilia's warnings and instead opt to teach yourself." The Ancient One spoke, her tone just as smooth as always, never once giving a suggestion as to what she was feeling.

 Emilia stood to the side, her head cocked just slightly as she watched the Sorcerer pace with a fan in hand, flicking it every so often. A draft of cool air brushed around them; light goosebumps rose on Emilia's neck.

 Stephen, of course, had a witty reply on the edge of his tongue from the moment the Ancient One had begun to speak. He scoffed lightly, eyes begging to be rolled and yet he managed to resist, "Once you told me to open my eyes. Now I'm told to blindly accept rules that make no sense."

 The Ancient One shifted her eyes from Stephen to Emilia, and back again, "Such as conjuring a gateway in the library?"

 "Wong told on me? Stephen questioned, amusement tugging the corner of his lip into a lopsided smile as he peeped back at Emilia who, as usual, was accepting a cup of steaming tea from Master Hamir.

 "We both did." Emilia spoke after swallowing her sip, the honey soothing her throat that had been raw from yet another night of restless sleep and horrible dreams. With a careless shrug she approached him, an elbow poking into his side, "If you didn't break them, we wouldn't have to report them."

 "You sound like a child."

 "You act like one, and so I'll treat you like one."

 The sound of a throat being cleared brought their little staring contest and battle of petty words to a halt, each of them taking a step back from the other, having not realised just how much they seemed to gravitate towards one another.

 "You're advancing quickly with your sorcery skills. You need a safe space..." The Ancient One nodded to Emilia as she cleared herself from the floor, a swift and smooth gesture for the other occupants of the room to follow. One by one students and masters moved away from the centre of the mahogany floor.

 Emilia never did quite understand why the Sorcerer Supreme always seemed to insist on her performing spells and sorcery before Stephen; perhaps it was to further implant the idea that somebody who had fallen so far could pull themselves back up, and yet, it seemed absurd. Emilia had fallen far; but in her treacherous mind that seemed to fight away any kind of happy thought, she was nothing but a failure.

 Nonetheless, she obeyed her teacher and stepped forth. She thrust a hand forward and in a single sharp movement, a crack appeared in thin air, looking as though they were peering into a broken mirror.

 She moved onward as the cracks continued to split the air and branch out like an extravagant spider web; the more they grew, the more distorted the room before them became. A light breath fell from Emilia's lips, a mixture of both victory and frustration; victory in the sense that she had so easily split the world that they knew, shattering a path into an entirely different dimension... And yet frustration clawed at her; if she could tear into the very universe they stood upon, why couldn't she tame the abilities that ran within her veins?

 She shook her head lightly and blew away the stray hairs that tickled her skin, perhaps it wasn't just fear preventing her from mastering her absurd gift, maybe it was the self-doubt, the thoughts that ate away at her night and day, too.

 "Emilia?" The Ancient One's voice snapped Emilia out of her daze, and as though nothing had happened, Emilia's eyes seemed to flood with a falsified light; one that couldn't quite fool the Sorcerer Supreme, nor the former surgeon, for that matter.

 Emilia simply nodded, keeping silent as she grew closer to the crack laid before them, the intake of air that filled Stephen's lungs reached her ears as her leg passed through the crack, the rest of her body slowly following. The mirror dimension never ceased to amaze her. A complete copy of the world they knew, and yet nothing they did inside of the dimension affected the real world. It was a safe space for many of the students who were learning how to master the mystic arts, but more importantly, it was a space that contained Emilia and her unruly talents for throwing objects about.

 "What — What is this place?" Stephen's voice called out as he spun on his heels, taking in each and every slight distortion; the only thing that made it visible that they weren't treading through the real world.

 "It's the mirror dimension," Emilia answered for him, taking a step closer to the man as she shrugged a single shoulder, "The real world isn't affected by anything we do here; I learnt how to call upon this place so that I could practice controlling my abilities; nobody can get hurt, nothing can be broken."

 The Ancient One nodded along with Emilia's quaint explanation and the pure wonder on Stephen's face didn't go undetected, "The mirror dimension is ever-present but undetected. As Emilia said, we use the mirror dimension to train, but also to surveil... And sometimes to contain threats. You don't want to be stuck in here without your sling ring."

 That brought Stephens attention back to the present, "Hold on. Sorry. What do you mean, 'threats'?"

 Emilia promptly closed her eyes, a slight groan slipping from her lips as the Ancient One shifted the room; the floor seemed to rise and change, the pattern repeating itself over and over again, as though they were peering into a kaleidoscope.

 Emilia couldn't stand it. She could easily poke and prod at things inside of a lab, she could happily mix chemicals that were sure to eat away at her skin, and she could call a giant, green beast a former friend... And yet the moment the floor shifted and became a sea of nonsense, she had enough and had to seal her eyes shut to avoid her stomach churning.

 Only when the Ancient one spoke again did Emilia peel her eyes open, "Learning of an infinite multiverse includes learning of infinite dangers." The Sorcerer spoke up, her tone lowering as she stared a hole into Stephen, "If I told you everything else that you don't already know... You'd run from here in terror."

 As Emilia approached the man who had seemingly stumbled to the far end of the room, she could already see the remnants of terror brewing within ocean waves, his chest was heaving, be it from the sights he'd seen... Or the ominous words spouted by his teacher.

 The Sorcerer Supreme truly did have a way with words; she could soothe, and praise as much as the next person, her calming tone like a spoonful of honey... And yet it was her warnings, her words of caution that stuck with you. She could tell a children's story in her chilling tone and somehow it would become nothing less than a nightmare.

 Her eyes held wisdom that seemed far beyond her years, and by that alone, anybody who spoke with her, anybody on the receiving end of her warnings just knew to take them to heart.

 She swiftly made her way towards the exit, pausing for a short moment to call over her shoulder, "Emilia, Mordo is ready for your training session, you're more than welcome to join them, Mr Strange."

 And with that, she left them behind, trusting Emilia to keep Stephen at her hip and keep him from causing further trouble. She couldn't entirely remember when she had dealt Emilia the title of babysitter, but it worked, for the most part.

 "Does she ever stop..." Stephen trailed off, his eyes still trained on the rippling cracks suspended in the air, "Scaring people?"

 Emilia, despite the way her mind had previously fallen into her never-ending pit of utter darkness, laughed lightly, and she paid absolutely no mind to the way Stephen had torn his eyes away from the shattered air the moment the sound had caressed his ears.

 "She doesn't." Emilia concluded, recalling how her teacher would often bring up the beasts that roamed other words, and the threats of the multiverse, "But she does that with good intent. Better you be aware of the threats within this world and the next, otherwise — Knowing you — you'd run straight into the grimy little paws of some sort of beast."

 "You have such confidence in me."

 "Of course." Emilia chimed, a single side of her mouth tugging upwards as she nodded towards the rippling exit of the mirror dimension, "I think it's about time you start joining myself and Mordo with our combat training."

 Stephen quirked a brow, for he believed they simply used the mystic arts to defend themselves, and whatever else they all did, "Combat training?"

 Emilia hummed in response, swiftly brushing away the mirror dimension once Stephen's feet were on solid ground before her. The dimension crackled like sparks, the sound of a mirror being shattered filled their senses as it curled inwards on itself, disappearing in moments.

 "Whilst the mystic arts is quite handy to fight with... It's best you train your body too."

 Stephen stayed in his place, feet rooted to the ground as he watched Emilia walk away, she smiled as she went, nodding respectfully to the masters and students she passed; he couldn't help but feel as though Emilia actually belonged within the Kamar-Taj.

 He didn't, Stephen knew he didn't. But Emilia seemed to take to her mystic training, she listened, waited and did what was asked of her without... Many questions. She knew her way around, never getting lost within the building's beautiful walls, people knew her, and despite the fact she too was a student, they respected her greatly.

 It was only when Emilia finally turned and raised a brow at him that he truly realised he had been staring for quite some time; garnering a strange look from those passing by.

 A slight flush of embarrassment clouded his cheeks, the slightest dusting of pink; something that honestly didn't happen all too often, but it was something that Emilia laughed at, so he supposed it couldn't have been that bad of a thing; it was a laugh that pulled his own lips upwards, after all.

 Emilia finally shook her head at the man who had been so obviously staring at her back, only snapping from his daze when she had clocked on; it was quite the sight to see, arrogant, egotistical Stephen Strange looking bashful.

 It was delightful.

 "Come on, stalker." She finally called, her tone as soft as a feather as she moved forward to drag him by his hand, realising that he hadn't protested even once.

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24-08-2021

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