An Entity Within | Stephen Strange

2 - Marcus's Dilemma

A/N - Heyyyy another edited chapterrr...

The above is Ryan Gosling looking kinda like what I expect Master Marcus Kent to look like only...imagine he isn't smiling...and that he is serious-looking 24/7...and that his blonde hair is greying slightly 😂😂😂

Anyways, hope ya like it 😄

________________________

It had been a number of hours since he had sent Tessa to rest. Outside the world was shrouded in the dark of the night, tension hanging freely in the humid New York air; there were fewer people wandering the streets, fewer cars on the road and most shops were closed. The cars that still drove about had their bright headlights on, creating stunning reflections in shop windows and brought a shine to the slightly damp tarmac roads.

It was quiet in the sanctum.

Most had decided to retire to bed early and some meditated in the training rooms provided. There was effectively no one in the corridors.

Marcus paced in the relic room. His nails had been bitten down to the skin, his dark blonde, greying hair had been ruffled with anxiety and his eyes were wide, tormented with worries of the past. Tessa was getting worse. He could see it. He knew it. It had to be something to do with what had happened all those years ago, with what had happened earlier this year. His eyes fell back upon the slightly stained wooden floor by one of the relics. Even though it was years and years ago now, the guilt was still there, haunting him at every turn. Taking Tessa in was supposed to smother his burning guilt. With the Ancient One gone now and a stranger in her place, who was he supposed to confide? She was one of only two people to know about the accident. He didn't even know the new Sorcerer Supreme, yet he had the power to know about Marcus's past if he so wished.

Would he even react the same as the Ancient One did? He couldn't risk it if the sorcerer wouldn't.

If only the Ancient One were still here. He rubbed his hands over his eyes in despair. She would know what to do. She would have been able to train Tessa better than he ever could. Maybe she could have even taught her how to repress it like the Ancient One had done so for so long. That damned Entity had screwed up everything. They couldn't get rid of it; it would hurt Tessa too much. They couldn't get it to leave her; it wouldn't respond to anything they said. However, it hadn't hurt her...badly...yet. In fact, it had made her stronger and more powerful than any of the other sorcerers and sorceresses he knew. All that raw power was clear in the way she fought. Her stamina was higher than one would expect; her agility was out of this world; her reflexes were faster than a lightning bolt.

It had never fought back. At least, not until now, not until after the death of the Ancient One earlier in the year. That had to be the reason why she was having them: the headaches, the migraines, the very occasional fainting spells, the few and far between nose bleeds - it had to be because the Entity had now realised that it could fight back. 

He really did treat Tessa like a daughter but if she knew what he had done then perhaps she would never forgive him.

He couldn't forgive himself.

And knowing Tessa loved him like a father was enough to ease some of that guilt. He didn't want to give up his only source of relief from his grave misdeed.

"Marcus?"

Master Kent turned his head and saw his friend, Elijah, at the door. There was a look of anxiousness upon his face as he walked over to Marcus, who had an equally perturbed gaze.

As Eli neared, he spoke quietly, "What did you want to talk about?"

"Tessa."

"Why Tessa?"