Stephen had decided that it would be best for Rachael to be taught the way the Ancient One had started teaching him: basic training. This allowed Stephen to show Rachael what to do, but she didn't get to try it until he said so. There was also a lot of theory and discipline that went into it. Rachael had lost control before because she wasn't disciplined enough. It was going very well. Rachael's movements were more fluid when he would let her try spells herself. Her patience was beginning to grow thin, though.
"We've been practicing for ages. I must be ready by now," she muttered one day. "Stephen, when do I get my test?"
"Patience, Rachael," Stephen said. "What are the most important rules I've told you?"
"No spells until you say, no going to other dimensions, and no battling demons until you think I'm ready," Rachael recited.
"Good," Stephen said. "You'll get your test soon enough. Now, take those books we were looking at back to the library and take a short break. Be back here in one hour for more training."
"Okay," Rachael said. She kissed Stephen on the cheek. "I love you."
"I love you, too," Stephen said. "Away with you, now."
Rachael giggled before taking the books and walking away. She went into the library and put the books back in their respective places. As she was putting the last one back, the door to the library creaked open. Rachael turned around and saw Mordo coming in.
"Hello, Mordo," she said calmly.
"Rachael," Mordo nodded back politely. Rachael raised her eyebrows. She'd expected Mordo to snap at her to be quiet or something.
"Did you need anything?" Rachael asked.
"I just wanted to speak with you," Mordo said.
Rachael looked around the room to see if Mordo was actually talking to her or if he was talking to someone else. She pointed to herself. "Me?"
"Yes, you," Mordo said. "I think we've gotten off on the wrong foot and I wanted to apologize."
"Well, uh, thank you," Rachael said. "Did Wong and Stephen put you up to this?"
Mordo chuckled. "No, not at all. This is just me righting my wrongs."
"Apology accepted," Rachael said. "I hope that we can get along better in the future."
"My thoughts exactly," Mordo said. "So, how is your training going?"
"Good, I think," Rachael said. "I'm almost ready to become the Sorceress Supreme."
Mordo laughed again. "I don't think so. You haven't proved yourself yet."
"Alright, if this is you being a jerk again-"
"No, no, I'm trying to help you," Mordo said. "You haven't passed the final test. And I don't mean your redo of your first test."
"What test?" Rachael asked. "Tell me. What test?"
"Demons from another dimension," Mordo said.
"What?" Rachael breathed.
"Yes. Any one of us here can get a few demons to the corner of a room," Mordo explained. "If you want to be the best, you have to go to another dimension and bring some back. And not the type of demons that you were tested on, no, you've got to bring something really powerful back and then defeat it."
"Yeah, you're lying to me," Rachael said. "Stephen told me to never go to another dimension or battle any demons until he thinks that I'm ready. Sorry, Mordo, but I think I'm going to trust the man who I've known for twenty-four years over someone who hates me."
Without another word, Rachael walked out of the library and back up to the bedroom. Stephen was meditating. At least, that was what it looked like. He was sitting cross-legged, but was floating due to the cloak of Levitation. His arms were held out with the middle and thumb of each hand touching. He looked very calm. Rachael cleared her throat. Stephen's eyes opened and instead of gracefully floating to the floor like Rachael thought he would have, he let out an extremely loud scream and fell to the floor with a crash. Rachael ran over to him.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
"Yeah," Stephen groaned in pain. "I should be fine."
"Are your hands alright?" Rachael asked, gently taking his hands in hers.
"They're fine," Stephen said.
"Sorry I scared you," Rachael said.
"That's alright," Stephen said. "Did you need something?"
"Yes, actually," Rachael said. "I don't mean to sound like a snitch, but Mordo just tried to get me to go to another dimension to bring back a really powerful demon and defeat it to prove myself."
"What?!" Stephen said. "That's it. I can't do anything when it's just nasty comments, but this could have meant your life. He's leaving right now. I need to go talk to Wong."
"Stephen, are you sure?" Rachael said.
"I'm absolutely sure," Stephen said. "If you had listened to him, you could have died."
"I feel like I did something wrong," Rachael muttered.
"Why? By telling me that Mordo basically attempted to kill you?" Stephen said.
"When you put it that way," Rachael shrugged.
"I"m going to talk to Wong," Stephen said. "Do you want to come with?"
"Sure," Rachael said.
Stephen and Rachael walked downstairs. Wong was in the kitchen making Stephen's lunch. He turned around when he heard Stephen and Rachael enter. He nodded to them.
"Master," he said. "What can I do for you?"
"We need to banish Mordo," Stephen said. "He just told Rachael that she needed to go to another dimension, bring back a demon, and defeat it to prove herself."
Wong looked shocked, but much calmer than Stephen. "That could have killed her."
"No crap, Sherlock!" Stephen said. "Sorry, I'm just angry right now."
"Calm down," Wong said. "Then you can call him here and talk to him."
"No, I won't calm down," Stephen said. "I've been too calm with him, but now I've had enough," Stephen went to the door and opened it. "MORDO! GET IN HERE NOW!"
Mordo came in the room. He looked exasperated with Stephen. "What?"
"I've just had a very interesting conversation with Rachael," Stephen said. "She says that you told her to go to another dimension and bring a demon back to battle. Is that true?"
"Of course not!" Mordo said. "She's lying! But we all know who the noble Sorcerer Supreme will believe! There's no justice here since the Ancient One passed.
That accusation stung Stephen. He was trying as hard as he could to live up to the Ancient One, but he wasn't her. He would take Rachael's word over Mordo's any day, but he had to be fair to Mordo. He had endured a lot in the past year. The sympathy was gone when Mordo spoke his next words, though.
"I wasn't even in the library this morning!" he protested. Stephen fought not to smirk in triumph.
Gotcha, he thought.
"I never said that she saw you in the library," Stephen said. Mordo instantly paled. "Right. You have one night to get your things together, but I expect you gone tomorrow."
"Stephen wait," Rachael said. "Give him one more chance."
"Rachael, he could gotten you killed," Stephen said.
"I know, but...but just give him one more chance," Rachael said. "You gave me one more chance, and I completely blew it. Why can't you do the same for him?"
"But-" Rachael gave her boyfriend a look. Stephen sighed. "Fine. Mordo, you have one more chance. But if anyone comes to me with a story like this again, you will be banished. Understood?"
"Yes," Mordo said.
"Good," Stephen said. "Now, go. I don't want to see you for the rest of the day. Rachael, come with me. I want to talk to you."
Rachael followed Stephen, worried that she was going to get a scolding from him. They walked to their bedroom. Stephen sat down on the bed and patted the space next to him.
"Sit down. I'm not going to bite," Stephen said.
Rachael sat down next to him. "What is it?"
"You wanting me to give Mordo a second chance makes me think that your ready for your final test," Stephen said. "You could have just let me banish him, and then all your troubles would have been over. Instead, you made me let him stay here."
"You really think I'm ready?" Rachael asked.
"Of course," Stephen said. "I'll give you your test next week. Now, come along. I'll need to train you some more."
-----------------------
Rachael tossed and turned in bed. It was the night before her final test, and she couldn't sleep. She was so nervous. It was her last chance to prove to everyone that she wasn't goofing around anymore. She and Stephen had been practicing from dawn till dusk with very few breaks every day. He thought she was ready, but she didn't know if she was. After she turned again, Stephen rolled over to face her.
"What is it?" he asked.
"I'm so nervous," Rachael confessed. "What if I mess up again? What if I make you look like an idiot?"
"Don't worry about me," Stephen said. "You'll be fine. You're ready, Rachael. Try to get some sleep. You're going to need it."
Rachael nodded and scooted a little closer to Stephen. He wrapped an arm around her and shut his eyes. He was asleep within minutes. Rachael, however, still couldn't sleep. Although they had made up, Stephen's words about her treating it like a game and not taking it seriously echoed in her mind. Mordo's quickly joined in.
Rachael only got a few hours of sleep. All too soon, Stephen was waking her up and telling her to get ready. She put on her clothes and brushed her hair and teeth. She presented herself to Stephen.
"How do I look?" she asked.
"Professional," Stephen said. "That's probably what we want."
"Good," Rachael said.
"Come here," Stephen said. Rachael walked over to him. She bowed her head and let Stephen put the Eye of Dyvtia on her. He gave her a quick kiss on the forehead. "Don't worry. You'll do just fine. Now, let's go upstairs and show Mordo that you're going to make a wonderful Sorceress Supreme."
Stephen walked Rachael up to the attic. Wong and Mordo were already there. Stephen gave Rachael's hand a quick squeeze before going over to stand by them. Rachael looked scared beyond belief.
"Take a deep breath, Rachael," Stephen said. "Now, all you have to do is drive the demons to one corner of the room, chain them, and send them back to their dimension. Got it?"
"Which dimension should I send them to?" Rachael asked.
"Oh, it actually doesn't matter," Stephen said. "They're basically just animals. They in every dimension except ours."
"Convenient," Rachael chuckled.
"Yes," Stephen said.
"Can we please get this show on the road?" Mordo said.
"Why? Do you have somewhere to be?" Rachael snapped. She turned back to Stephen. "I'm ready."
"Alright. I'm going to open the portal...now!"
Stephen muttered an incantation and the portal was opened. Demons came flooding out, screaming horridly again. Rachael didn't lose her nerve this time, though. She immediately started whispering and moving her hands. Stephen watched as the demons became trapped in a large tube-like shield.
"Very good, Rachael," Stephen murmured.
"She's got good control for someone who's only been taught for a few months," Wong said. "She's doing better than you did at that point, Stephen."
"Oh, thanks very much," Stephen said sarcastically.
"She'll slip up, just you watch," Mordo said.
Rachael didn't seem to hear any of their comments. Stephen watched in awe as one of the demons managed to escape the shield, but Rachael put it back in its place before long. He felt he could burst with pride as a grin broke across his face.
"There's no catching her out today," he said proudly. "That's right, Rachael, start pushing them to the corner of the room. Concentrate...keep your eyes locked on them. Look at her!"
"She'll never get them to the corner," Mordo said. Stephen glared at him and rolled his eyes.
Rachael kept driving the demons to the corner of the room. She finally made it. Stephen almost yelled out in excitement, but managed to keep his mouth shut. Rachael kept her eyes locked on the demons as she cast a spell that wrapped the demons in chains. She then opened a portal to another dimension and sent the demons into it. She turned around to face Stephen, Wong, and Mordo. She looked exhausted, but extremely proud.
"You did it!" Stephen said, bounding over to her. "You did wonderful, just wonderful!"
"Thank you," Rachael said. Stephen cupped her face in his hands and kissed her passionately.
"Well done," Wong said.
"Oh, shut up," Mordo muttered.
"Good job...Sorceress Supreme," Stephen murmured.
"Thank you," Rachael blushed.
"What would the new Sorceress Supreme like to do first?" Stephen asked.
"Get some more sleep," Rachael said.
"What the Sorceress Supreme wants, the Sorceress Supreme gets," Stephen chuckled.
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So, MARVEL just revealed that Wong isn't gonna be Doctor Strange's servant in the movie and I'm just like:
Great...now I have to go back and edit.
Haha, we all know that's not going to happen.
So I ruined a table in my living room today. Not on purpose, of course, and I feel really bad about it. But now my parents are mad at me (which is totally justified, I'm not b****ing about it) and now I'm just here like:
I'm a legit mess who's going to live in her parents' basement until she's forty.
Today's Doctor Strange meme is: