The Flames of Amarra - DR STRANGE x OC - COMPLETE

SURPRISES

“You don’t want to leave,” Wong said, following Nora in the library while she was putting away some books. 

“I do, but I’m cleaning the mess before you take over,” she said with a smile. He looked at the books she was placing on the shelf and arched a brow at her. “Yeah… I’ve been looking into that balance thing Mordo talked about. He’s not entirely wrong.” Wong quietly nodded. “You knew that already.”

“Strange may be powerful, but he’s new to the mystic arts. And so are you.”

“How bad is it ?”

Wrong shrugged. “It’s nothing. We could have millenia ahead of us before this imbalance threatened our reality. The Ancient One was wrong, but Strange isn’t the Ancient One. Mordo was also wrong, and you shouldn’t be reading about this.”

“I should be reading about whatever I want,” she laughed. “The first week wasn’t so bad. I didn’t know you had to talk so much.”

“It was worse when you were there with me,” he said, handing her another book. 

“That’s rude. We’re friends, it’s different. I don’t want to be friends with these people.”

“I didn’t want to be your friend, Nora. You forced me,” he replied, always so seriously. “You asked for two days, and now you won’t leave.”

She sighed and shoved the rest of the books in his arms. “Okay, I’m going.”

He walked back to his former desk while Nora ran to her bedroom. It was her last weekend in her apartment before giving it back, and she was lucky enough to have Kelly packing for her during the week. Her father said he would take care of the furniture, but she still needed to put the last few things in boxes. 

She briefly waved at Wong on her way out and took the familiar trip back to New York, and then back to her apartment. She mentally took note to remind Wong to take it off before her tenant found a magical gateway in the middle of the guests’ bathroom. He would freak out and never give her deposit back. Knowing him, he’d also contact the press to take a look.

For hours, she fought against the yawns and filled herself with caffeine. She only had to pack the stuff in her office, but she had no idea she accumulated so much in a room so small. She smiled at the memories this room would forever keep.

The day her father forced her to hang her diplomas on the wall, telling her how proud of her he was. The day they sat there for hours after Kelly announced her pregnancy, convincing themselves that they’d be lucky and the baby would be a boy. The day she had way too many drinks after learning that the baby would be a girl and she cried herself to sleep, sitting against the wall. The day they tore down everything she pinned on the wall, happy to be free of the ring. 

She spent so many years in that apartment, and now she was closing a new chapter of her life. She’d spend her time on the other side of the world, surrounded by magic, and she’d come back two days a week to her parents’ house, in her old bedroom. She knew there was also a spare room in New York if she wanted to, but the idea of only seeing her family two days a week when she spent months seeing them almost every single day was still hard, and she’d make living with her parents work. After all, it was only two days a week.  

When she was finally done with packing, Nora was starving. Kelly was helping in the restaurant, her parents were babysitting Emi, and she didn’t really want to hear a baby’s cries. Her teeth were tearing her gums apart, and Nora wanted to be as far away from her as possible. 

As she was calling the restaurant to keep Kelly updated on the packing and order herself some food, she remembered that Stephen never got his celebration for his promotion. They talked about it when he came to check up on her after her first day, probably to see if she killed a student. She told him she owed him some real food and promised to get something from her brother.