Stephen Strange stared at the walls in his study. They were blank. Just like his mind. Wong had told him several times that it was not his fault but it was. Perhaps if he had seen another outcome......

"Do not pity the dead
Pity the living."

It was not like he felt bad for Tony's death,it was more like he felt guilt for the grief he had put them in.

Peter

Pepper

Morgan

Rest of the Avengers...

Christine was right,he was an arrogant jerk who cared only about himself.

His hands were still shaking.

Like his reasoning.

Shaken and self centered.

The room swam before his eyes as he recalled the countless times he had seen the others die in gruesome ways.

He himself had died several times.

Slashed

Crushed

Stabbed

Blasted

Burnt

Exploded

And many others until he lost count of the number of times he died.

He knew he just had to do it.

He had not taken into account the consequences.

"The bill always comes due." Mordo had said. It has come.

Strange could feel it. It was suffocating him and making him shiver even though he was sitting in front of the fireplace.

His hands shook more violently.

He put his face in his hands and felt moisture. He had not realised that he had been crying.

His entire being was at war with each other. He remembered the words,

"Between the acting of a dreadful thing
And the first motion, all the interim is
Like a phantasma,or a hideous dream:
The genius and the mortal instruments
Are then in council;and the state of man
Like to a little kingdom suffers then
The nature of an insurrection."

Well,he hadn't betrayed anyone yet he felt horrible and these words felt the best to describe the situation he had been in then. Still was in now.

A hand touched his shoulder and he jumped violently.

He turned around to see Wong looking at him concerned.

"Stephen, beating yourself up will not help. You can't do anything." He says placidly though the frustration was detectable. Well anyone would be frustrated repeating the same speech for a week.

It had only been a week.

And everything was still fresh in his mind.

His funeral.

Thanos...

He muttered something incomprehensible as Wong sighed.

"Take a vacation."

"A what?"

"A vacation. V—A—C—T—I..."

"I know very well how its spelled Wong."

"And what does it mean?"

"Taking a holiday?"

"Precisely."

"I am..."

"The Master of the New York Sanctuum. But a little vacation never hurt anybody."

"Who are you and what have you done to my Wong?"

"*Your* Wong's perfectly alright. It's you who isn't."

"But..."

"No buts. You are going and that's final."

"Where to?"

"Oh,I am sure that you will figure it out for yourself."

Wong paused at the door. "Tea?" He asked.

Strange nodded.

Wong left the room.

He was left alone once again. He tried to chase away the negative thoughts. And tried to instead think about this vacation.

Where the heck was he supposed to go? He had SHIELD tracking him down all the time,so he wasn't really interested in a vacation. But perhaps getting out of these oppressive walls would do him some good.

Perhaps.