You and Strange walk through the portal and into the closet. Strange stumbles a bit but you hold him up as the two of you walk towards the door. You grab the handle and open the door and the two of you walk out of it and stumble in the hallway of an hospital. "Can I help you two?" A woman in scrubs asked as she walks up to you and Strange.

"Dr Palmer, where is she?" Strange asked her.

"Sir, we need to..." The woman started to say but Strange shouts over her. "Where is she?!?"

The woman jumps back, startled, and said. "At the nurses station." Strange let's out a groan as you look back at the nurse and said. "Thank you."

"Christine!" Strange shouts.

At the end of the hall is a woman in blue scrubs and with reddish brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, staring down the hall at you and Strange. "Stephen?" She said, in confusion, then she sees him staggering and she comes over to you two. "Oh my God. What..." She stammered then she looked over at you. "Who are...."

"We need to get me on a operation table now. Just you." Strange said.

Christine looks at him confusion and was about to argue until Strange said. "Now! I don't have any time!" She nods and leads you two through the double doors on your left and you carry him through them.

"What happened?" Christine asked as you look around the operating room and see long table like bed in the middle of the room surrounded by medical equipment.

You and Strange walk over to the table and you help him lay on it as he said. "Stabbed. Cardiac tamponade." Strange lays on the table and Christine walks over to him and opens up his tunic a little more to look at the wound. "What are you wearing?" She asked.

"It's called a tunic." You replied.

She looks up at you, quizzically, then lightly knocks on Strange's chest. "The chest cavity is clear." She said.

"The blood....is in the pericardial sac." Strange said, weakly, then he closed his eyes and goes limp.

You freeze in place for a moment then run over to his side and take his hand in yours. "No. No, no, no,no, no!" You exclaimed, frantically, as Christine looks over and sees what you were going on about. "Stephen! Stephen!" She shouted then she goes over and grabs a needle, full of blood, and hovers it over his chest, trying to find the right spot to insert the needle.

Please don't leave me. You thought as you watch Christine aim the needle at his chest and was about to insert it until you two heard a voice say. "Just a little higher." You jump a little as Christine falls back against the surgical tool table, screaming. You look over at your side and you see Stephen in his astral projection.

"Please be careful with the needle." He said.

"Stephen? Oh Lord, oh Lord. What am I seeing?" Christine asked, frantically. "My astral body." Strange replies.

"Are you dead?" Christine asked him.

"No, Christine, but I am dying." He said. She looks down for a moment then straightens up.

"Right. Right. Yeah. Alright." She mutters as she walks back over to Stephen's body and hovers the needle over his chest.

Strange reaches out and phases his fingers into his chest and lights up to show her where to stick the needle. "I've....I've never see a wound like this before. What were you stabbed with?" Christine asked.
"I don't know." Strange replied then he looks over at you with a questionable look. "I don't know what that was. I've never seen anything like that." You said.

"Now, who are you?" Christine asked you.

You look over at her then over at Strange, who bites his lips. You weren't sure what you would call yourself to Strange. You knew you two were friends but with what's happening lately, with you and him making out every chance you two could get, you weren't for sure if you two were more than just friends.

"I'm (y/n) and I....I....I guess you can call me a close friend." You said as you look over at Strange, who had a small smile on his face. You smile back at him as Christine looks between you two, obviously not believing that you two are just close friends. "Uh-huh." She said, with uncertainty, as she holds the needle and inserts the blood into his chest.

Strange looks off to the side and straightens up. "I'm going to have to vanish now." He replied.
"No. I..." Christine started to argue but you look over at him.
"Is one of them here?" You asked. Strange nods then looks between you two and said. "Keep me alive, will you?"
"Do you need me to....?" You started to ask but he disappears as you and Christine stare at each other for a moment then look around the room. "Okay! Okay." She said.

In the Astral Dimension, Strange and the Zealot begin to tackle each other and start to throwing punches at one another all around the room, phasing through objects and even through you and Christine, then they phase out towards the hallway, still throwing punches and kicks at each other.

They make it back to the operating room and the Zealot starts getting the upper hand by punching the snot out of Stephen until he finally kicks him, knocking Stephen out.

In the real world, the heart monitor let's out a long beep, signaling no heart beat. You and Christine stare at this in a panic and Christine hurries over to the defibrillator and turns it on, charging it to 200. "Stephen, come on." You whispered as the machine charges and Christine places it on his chest and it jolts his heart.

In the astral plane, the Zealot is about to crush Stephen's head until Stephen's eyes open as he feels a jolt of powerful energy go through him and it knocks the Zealot out of the room. Confused, Stephen looks down at his hands then looks over at the defibrillator and he gets an idea.

You let out a sigh of relief as his heart rate beeps again wgen you hear him say. "Hit me again!" Christine jumps back in surprise, again, and she said, through her clenched teeth. "Stop doing that!"
"Up the voltage and hit me again!" Strange commanded.

"What? Are you crazy?" You asked him.

"No, your heart is beating!" Christine argued.

"Just do it!" Strange shouted and he disappears again.

Christine sighs then ups the voltage on the defibrillator. After it finally charges, she places the pads on his chest and shocks him again.

In the astral dimension, the Zealot comes back and Strange grabs him by the shoulder and holds him up against the wall. He feels the jolt of the defibrillator again but this time more powerful. The Zealot looks at Strange in fear as Strange screams and suddenly the zealot is gone.

You and Christine look at each other for a second then look down at Stephen when he jolts awake scaring you and Christine. "Oh God!" She exclaimed. You look down at Strange and asked. "Are you okay?" He looks up at you and makes a small smile. "Hey there." He said, weakly, as he places his hand on your cheek. Christine sees this and whispered. "Okay."

Just seeing that gesture and the way Strange was looking at you confirmed to her that you were more than a friend to Stephen. In the years that she's known him, she has never seen him look at a woman the way he did with you and even though she was a little sad that that's not her he's looking at, she was happy for him.

Afterwhile, Christine begins to sew up the wound and said to Strange. "After all this time, you just show up here, with this woman, and fly out of your body?"
"Yeah, I know." Strange chuckles as she continues to sew him up. "I wrote you two emails, but you never responded." He said.

"Why would I?" She asked, a hint of anger and annoyance in her voice.

"Christine, I am so, so sorry. For all of it. You were right, I was a complete asshole. I treated you so horribly and you deserved so much more." Strange said, apologetically.

"Stop. You.....you're clearly in shock." She replied and you and Strange chuckled at this. "I mean, what the hell is happening? Where have you been?" She asked.

"Well, after Western medicine failed me, I headed East, and I ended up in Kathmandu." Strange replied.

"Kathmandu?" Christine asked, confused.

"Yeah." replied Strange as you nodded. Christine stops sewing and looks down at Strange and asked. "What, like the Bob Seger song?"

"1975, Beautiful Loser, side A." You and Strange said in unison.

Strange and Christine look over you, startled that you knew that. "My father was a huge Bob Seger fan." You replied. Strange smiles at you as Christine chuckles at this. "Then, I met this wonderful woman and she brought me to a place called Karmar-Taj and I talked to someone called the Ancient One, and...." Strange said then Christine talks over him.

"Oh. So you joined a cult."

"No, I didn't. Not exactly. I mean, they did teach me to tap into powers that I never even knew existed." He said.

"Yeah, sounds like a cult." She said.

"It's not a cult." You and Strange said.

"Well, that's what a cultist would say." She said and you and Strange chuckle as he begins to get up.

"Wait, Stephen.....what do you think you're doing?" Christine asked as she stops him with her hand on his chest.

"I'm late for a cult meeting." He replied and he gets up. You go over his right side and help him up while Christine goes to his left and helps him as well.

The three of you walk out of the room and into the hallway as Christine asked. "Where are you two going? Just tell me the truth."

"Well, a powerful sorcerer, who gave himself over to an ancient entity who can bend the very laws of physics, tried very hard to kill us." You said as you three get closer to the closet.

"But I left him chained up in Greenwhich Village and the quickest way back there is through a dimensional gateway that I opened up in the mop closet." Strange finished as the two of you reach the doors to the closet. "Okay. Don't tell me. Fine." She said. You smirk as you turn the handle and open the door.

Christine looks at the gateway, her jaw drops open as you and Strange walk in the closet and head towards the gateway. Strange gestures for you to go first and you jump in and Strange follows after you. He turns back to Christine and said. "I really do have to go." And he gesture to close the gateway.

You and Strange walk down the hallway and see the body of the Zealot, dead on the floor, the Cloak standing near it. Strange bends down and takes his pulse but he doesn't find one. He looks up at you and shakes his head as you bite your lips. Strange looks down at the man then grabs the Cloak and, in one fluid movement of his hand, the Cloak whips around on his shoulders.

You smile in amusement as Strange takes your hand and the two of you walk up the stairs and see that Kaecilius is gone. "Strange! (Y/N)!" You hear a voice shout. You and Strange look over and see Mordo, seemingly okay, walking toward you two. "You two are okay." He said. "A relative term, but yeah, we're okay." Strange replied. Mordo look, at Strange and see the Cloak on his shoulder.

"The Cloak of Levitation. It came to you." He said, pointing at the Cloak.

"No minor feat. It's a fickle thing." You hear another familiar voice say. You look to your side and see the Ancient One walking up next to Mordo. "He's escaped." Strange replied.

"Kaecilius?" The Ancient One asked.

"Yes, and he can fold space and matter at will." You said.

"He folds matter outside the mirror dimension? In the real world?" She asked.

"Yeah." You and Strange replied.

"How many more?" She asked.

"Two." Strange said.

"I stranded one in the desert." You said.

"And the other?" She asked.

"His body was in the hall." Strange said.

"Master Drumm was in the foyer." You said.

"He's been taken back to Karmar-Taj. The London Sanctum has fallen. Only New York and Hong Kong remain now to shield us from the Dark Dimension. You two defended the New York Sanctum from attack. With its Master gone, it needs another or maybe two, Master Strange and Master (y/n)." The Ancient One said.

"No, it is Doctor Strange. Not Master Strange, not Mister Strange, Doctor Strange." Strange said, firmly, as he glares at the Ancient One. "When I became a doctor, I swore an oath to do no harm. And I have just killed a man! I'm not doing that again. I became a doctor to save lives, not take them." He said, angrily.

"You became a doctor to save one life above all others. Your own." said The Ancient One.

"Still seeing through me, are you?" Strange asked with a smirk.

"I see what I've always seen. Your overinflated ego. You want to go back to the delusion that you can control anything, even death, which no one can control. Not even the great doctor Stephen Strange." She sneered.

"Not even Dormammu?" Strange asked her.

"He offers immortality. It's our fear of death that gives Dormammu life. He feeds off it." She replied.

"Like you feed on him." Strange accused.

You and Mordo stare at Strange in shock as he continues. "You talk to me about controlling death. Well, I know how you do it. I've seen the missing rituals from The Book of Cagliostro." He said, getting closer to the Ancient One's face.

"Measure your words very carefully, Doctor." The Ancient One said in a low threatening voice.

"Because you might not like them?" He asked.

"Because you may not know of what you speak." She replied.

"What's he talking about?" You and Mordo asked her.

"I'm talking about her long life. The source of her immortality. She draws powers from the Dark Dimension to stay alive." Strange replied. You look between Strange and the Ancient One as Mordo said. "That's not true."

"I've seen the rituals and worked them out." Strange said as he glares over at Mordo then he looks back at the Ancient One and said. "I know how you do it."

The two of them stare at each other in silence until you asked her. "Is this true? Is he telling the truth?" She doesn't reply to you but continues to stare at Strange.

Finally, she speaks up and said. "Once they regroup, the zealots will be back. You'll need reinforcements." And with that she walks away.

You start to follow after her until Strange places his hand on your shoulder and said, gently. "(Y/N), she's not who you think she is."

"You don't have the right to say that." Mordo said as he approaches you two.
"You have no idea of the responsibility that rest upon her shoulders." He continues.

"No, and I don't want to know." Strange replied.

"You're a coward!" Mordo accused.

"Because I'm not a killer?" Strange asked.

"These Zealots will snuff us out, and you can muster the strength to snuff them out first." Mordo said.

"What do you think he just did, Mordo?" You asked.

"He saved his own life! And then whines about it like a wounded dog." Mordo shouted, angrily.

"When you would have done it so easily?" Strange asked.

"You have now idea. The things I've done...and the answer is yes, without hesitation."

"Even if there's another way?" Strange asked.

"There is no other way." Mordo replied.

"You lack imagination." Strange sneered.

"No, Stephen. You lack a spine. And your precious girlfriend, she has killed as well." Mordo said, venomously.

You glare at him and said. "That was one person and you know damn well that it was an accident!" You shouted as you get up into his face.

Both of you glare at each other as Strange looks over at you and asked. "You've killed before?" You close your eyes and take a deep breath through your nose then let it out through your mouth and turn to face Strange.

"I was on a mission to take down a rogue student. I was only going to bring him back to Karmar-Taj but the plan went horribly wrong. We ended up fighting on the edge of a mountain and I hit him with a spell that had enough force to knock him back causing him to fall off the cliff. I tried to grab his hand but....it was too late." You said, sadly.

Strange walks closer to you and takes your hand in his, you look up at him as he looks into your eyes and said. "(Y/N), I....." But at that moment you three heard a sound at the front of the Sanctum.
"They're here!" Mordo exclaimed.