Taipan // Doctor Strange

Chapter 15

Alaria's lips involuntarily parted as her eyes widened in shock. Fear gripped her throat as she struggled to come back with something convincing. "Who told you that?" She chuckled, unsure of how her face mimicked her tone's facade.

Fuou sat back and crossed her arms, pausing to again tuck a piece of fallen black hair beneath her ear. "I have my sources." She said, narrowing her eyes. The woman could tell that this feminine was on the offense now; and was playing something she didn't like. "There's something off about you, Taipan."

"I agree." she snapped under the pressured ambiance, standing from her chair and scooping her half eaten meal from the table. "I'm in the presence of a student that doesn't know her place." Fuou's face shifted into realization. "Perhaps next time she will think of the potential consequences one faces when addressing a master inappropriately."

"But you said you weren't-"

"Do not question me again." And Alaria turned away, her temper at boiling point in correspondence with an anxious emotion gulping at the hollow breaths she tried to take. How could she know? The only two that were there were Mordo and Wong.

The old name put her further on edge; Had Mordo returned? Why did he get in contact with some student from Kamar-Taj?

Her feet unrhythmically stomped to the New York Sanctum, her body a shaking upheaved mess that expressed itself in the tremor of her hands. But she stopped- right before the entrance.

She couldn't tell Stephen. What would he think? He knew more than she did on the matters of dark magic and would probably identify the source of her power within the second of hearing it. Then she would be thrown out of the entire temple, or worse, maybe killed for what she had performed and kept hidden. She wasn't putting anyone at risk, was she?

"Stephen," Alaria's body had subconsciously pushed her through the gateway, and her thoughts immediately veered towards apologizing for the night before.  Standing again in the doorway of his study, she saw him seated in his cloak, hunched over a book that had no previously particular spot amongst the many that lined the room's walls. He hummed a response of acknowledgment before taking another bite of a red apple that was grasped in his left hand.

"What happened to Stevia?" he asked, his eyes watching the pages of his book flip as he changed what he was reading.

Alaria gave a half-hearted smile, her jovial attitude had diminished and all that was left was a sunken frown and drooped eyes. When no response emitted from her throat after his remark, the man glanced her way, then accepted a second and longer look to furrow his brows and sit up. "Are you alright?" he asked, placing his apple down to grip the arm rests of the chair and push it backward, standing.

Alaria did not feel fine, but the fear of him turning her away scared her much more than Fuou or Mordo.

She nodded and pushed a strand of hair from her face, beginning to build confidence to speak. "I just wanted to apologize for-" for what? leaving when she'd overstayed she visit? Had she? "Last night?" The questioning air made Stephen chuckle- easing a bit of the shakiness Alaria felt in her spine.

"It was a bit lonely," he remarked with a drawling sigh, "But I did get those dishes finished."

The woman's stiff posture refused to withdraw with his attempt of re-breaking the ice, but all she could do was watch as he stepped closer. Suddenly, the image of her snake began to dance within the confines of her thoughts. As seconds became a minute, her eyebrows began to furrow at the dull pain in her temples increasing. Stephen seemed to react too- she didn't pause to wonder why, as his expression mimicked hers and he turned away, moving to a cushioned seat to the right side of the room. "I don't-" he began carefully, placing the palms of his hands to rub his forehead. "I don't feel well."

Alaria could see the imagery in her head- the Taipan's fangs penetrating the flesh of a lamb.

Horror struck her being as the sequence faded. She turned her head away from Stephen, away from his general direction, as she noticed the heavy beating her heart made against her chest, and the rise and fall of her lungs in correspondence to the hyperventilation she felt. "What do you feel?" it was barely an audible question, but a necessity to ask.

Stephen took a long second to respond. She feared he was connecting dots she herself had yet to draw on. "It felt like-" past tense. Alaria drew in a reassuring breath of relief. "there was fire climbing through my veins." She listened to him standing again, keeping her face turned away as the urge to frown bit at the twitching corners of her lips. "I'm alright-" he paused again. "You're not."

"I am," came the girl's quick reassurance, closing her eyes and turning her head to face him. "I've just got a headache is all." Which was the truth.

Alaria felt Stephen's hand wrap around her arm, offering a direction for her to go in- into the room farther, and placed her in front of the chair he had just risen from. She had no intention of staying in his presence- and yet if Mordo had returned, if Fuou knew her secret or even did the slightest bit of investigation.. she felt this was the safest she could be. Just as the first night she was in Kamar-Taj. Before Strange had become the Sorcerer Supreme and Protector of the New York Sanctum. "I'm not very good at making tea.." Stephen wondered aloud, releasing her petite limb the moment she was leaning in the crevices of the recliner. "How does a glass of milk sound?"

"You don't have milk," The woman had to laugh at his attempt- despite the apprehension and confusion she felt. She kept her eyes pointed downward beneath their lids.

"I don't?" He asked, "Alright, I'll be back." And she listened to the steady beat of his feet fade into the large structure until nothing but the heavy traffic outside could be heard from the lack of thickness the large window gave to the street. She didn't know where Stephen had gone to, and she didn't much care; Would she ever be able to look at him again? What kind of person attacks an ally and friend involuntarily? What was inside of her?

The urge to read the book beneath her mattress swelled so much so that she nearly rose from the chair she was placed in, but she couldn't walk away from him again- even if the circumstances were different. Even so, the longer she put off learning about herself and Death, the better she felt.

Her chest began to rise and fall steadily as she tucked her toes beneath her seat, bending and lifting her knees to her chest in a curled position that kept her warm. In her haste the hour before she had left her cloak folded over the chair at the table; perhaps Wong would pick it up for her to save the embarrassment to the students.

At least 15 minutes passed; although in truth Alaria had no sense of time. The main door to the building could be heard opening and closing rather quickly, and the familiar rhythm of Stephen's footsteps became louder and louder until they were unhindered by the walls of other rooms.

"I got some milk," came his voice, pulling the woman out of her lulled trance slightly. "Would you like it warmed up?"

Alaria's attitude had had the opportunity to regain it's composure a bit as she peeled open one eye and glanced in his direction. After a moment of staring at him, she opened the other.

"How do you feel?" she asked, watching as he shrugged his shoulders.

"My arms are a little tired from holding this jug up, but I'm fine." she couldn't help but grin at his comment and gesture to the unopened milk, and also feel relieved that the Taipan thing had passed.

"I'm sorry to ask," she laughed a bit, sitting up straighter and dipping her head to look at him through her eyebrows. "and I'm only asking this because I instigated a date," she watched his shoulders rise and a smile widen with a chuckle, "Could I just have a glass of water?"

Stephen lifted his finger and pointed accusingly at Alaria, "You owe me $3.37 cents." he said as he turned his back away, quickly making his way to the 'boring' kitchen with a plastered grin beginning to make his cheeks ache.

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Waiting for the perfect moment to squish these two together.. looks like some shits going to go down though, lol poor Alaria.

Hope you enjoyed, leave me a comment on your opinions - I would so very much appreciate it <3

p.s i have Bronchitis at the moment which is why I'm being slow!

xx A.