The Flames of Amarra - DR STRANGE x OC - COMPLETE

A LITTLE HELP

⌚ 3 MONTHS AFTER THE SNAP

Nora grabbed the next box on the front porch and carried it to the truck. She sighed heavily and checked the glove on her finger. She had been working too much in the house lately, it was almost falling apart. Another thing to add to the list. 

“Do you know how to drive that ?” Nat asked, tapping on the large truck Nora rented. She followed Nora back to the porch. “So what do you say ? With Tony retiring and almost everyone leaving too, I’m asking everyone I know. You did good last month.”

“You know I didn’t have a choice.” Nora took another box and went back to the truck. “I’m living on the other side of the country, and I’m not moving.”

“Please, I have people in Wakanda and in space ready to help. And you can teleport, so that’s not an excuse,” Nat argued. “People know you. And they like you.”

“Yeah, about that. What’s wrong with people ?” Nora asked, leaning on the truck. “Aren’t people supposed to be scared of fire ? It won’t hurt me, and I’m more scared of it than anyone else.”

Nat laughed and handed her a box. “You showed up when no one else was. You fought, and you tried to protect the world.”

“Not really what I was trying to do,” Nora scoffed. “Maybe I should talk to one of these journalists constantly following me and tell them I don’t give a single shit about the world.” She paused and left her next box in the driveway. “Look, it’s not that I don’t want to help you. But I can’t. I’ve spent the past week emptying my brother’s house to rent it. My father can’t go back to work, and my brother’s wife won’t leave her room. I have bills to pay. Hospital fees. I need a job, and a real one. The little free time that I have, I already told Wong I’d help him. Since the UN agreed to leave him alone, I’ll have to be the messenger.”

“I understand,” Nat finally said. She walked back to her car and stopped before getting in. “Just a heads up, I heard they’re thinking about a commemoration. Your name is on the list.”

“Great. I can’t wait.”

Nat drove away, leaving Nora to her boxes. She was exhausted. She hadn’t slept in days, and was only alive thanks to coffee and cigarettes. She kept putting boxes in the truck until it was full and locked the house for the day. She’d probably come back late at night, but she was good for now. 

She sat on the sidewalk and lit a cigarette. For a minute, she looked at the box in front of her feet. She smiled at the first framed picture she found. Kelly and Ethan’s wedding. Before the ring. Nora didn’t even remember how happy she used to be. They all were. And now…

She lit another cigarette and noticed someone leaning on the truck, looking at her. “You’re alive,” she said. 

“Your father told me you were here,” Lance said, sitting next to her on the sidewalk. 

“He hates you.”

“He loves you more,” Lance laughed. “He said you might need a friend.” He looked at the box and quickly stood up to put it with the others. “You don’t have to do that alone.”

“I was looking at that one,” Nora sighed. When he sat back next to her, she glanced at him. “So ? Who did you lose ?”

“An uncle and a cousin. We got lucky.”

She stared at him for a while before being able to speak. “How fucked up is that ? We think we’re lucky when we lose uncles and cousins, now.”

“You know me, I’m an optimist.”

“Yeah, I used to be like that,” Nora breathed out. She looked at the house behind them and sighed. “Ethan would deal with all of this better than I do.”