The crowd of people screamed as the Ancient One's limp body crashed through a glass visor and onto the sidewalk. Stephen, Mordo, and Amber appeared from the horde, shoving people out of the way. Stephen knelt beside her, examining her body quickly.

The three were soon in the hospital once again, Stephen solely running down the hallway with the Ancient One on a stretcher. "Christine!" Stephen shouted down the hallway, his hand gripping tightly on the railing.

Christine tipped her head back in annoyance, closing her eyes. "Are you kidding me?" Looking to see Stephen had an actual patient with him, her eyes widened. "Oh my god,"

"It's not fibrillation," he described as Christine and other nurses rolled her straight into an operating room. "She has a stunned myocardium."

"Neurogenic?"

"Yes."

Stephen relieved himself of the cloak, dressing in a blue operating gown and snapping on latex gloves. Picking up the scalpel, his hand still trembled. Tightening his grip around it, he looked up at his former colleague. "Nic?"

Nic adverted his gaze from the Ancient One, moving beside Stephen.

Stephen turned his hand, holding out the scalpel to him. "We need to relieve the pressure on her brain."

Nic looked taken back the offer before nodding and taking the blade from him. Suddenly, the monitor went flat sending everyone into a panic. Christine stepped away. "We're losing her!"

"We need to increase her oxygen." Stephen directed,  standing beside the bed.

"I need a crash cart!" Christine ordered, beginning CPR on her. Stephen observed her, noticing her dilated pupils. The screen beside them glitched, going unnoticed by everyone except him.

Stephen jerked back, his astral form detaching from his physical one. The Ancient One floated out the room, Stephen chasing after her.

"What are you doing? You're dying!"

They travelled until they were on the balcony, outside the cafeteria.

"You need to go back to your body, you don't have time," Stephen informed her, the two hovering outside as the world stood still.

"Time is relative. Your body hasn't even hit the floor yet. I've spent so many years peering through time, looking at this exact moment. But I can't see past it."

The two watched a helicopter in the air, it's blades barely moving. A string of lightning burst from the clouds in the distance, flowing outwards like little streams of water.

"I've prevented countless terrible futures. And after each one, there's always another. And they all lead here, but never further..."

"You think this is where you die." Stephen thought aloud, peering over to her.

"You wonder what I see in your future?" She asked absentmindedly.

"No."

The Ancient One gave him a look, flashing him a smile. Stephen bowed his head. "Yes..."

"I never saw your future. Only its possibilities. You have such a capacity for goodness. You always excelled, but not because you craved success, but because of your fear of failure."

"It's what made me a great doctor," Stephen commented.

"It's precisely what kept you from greatness. Arrogance and fear still keep you from learning the simplest and most significant lesson of all."

"Which is?"

She turned to him, meeting his gaze. "It's not about you. When you first came to me, you asked me how I was able to heal Jonathan Pangborn. I didn't. He channels dimensional energy directly into his own body."

"He uses magic to walk." Stephen said to himself.

"Constantly. Amber does as well. That's how she learned to speak again and fully use her hands."

Stephen's mind replayed Amber sitting on his bed in his dim room, giving him her warm smile and muttering the words, 'I was convinced'. Her words finally made sense to him.

"They both had a choice, to return to his own life or to serve something greater than themselves." she told him, another crack of lightning coming from the clouds.

"So, I could have my hands back again? My old life?" Stephen wondered, his eyes partly filled with newfound hope.

"You could. And the world would be all the lesser for it. I've hated drawing power from the Dark Dimension. But as you well know, sometimes one must break the rules in order to serve the greater good."

"Mordo won't see that way, neither will Amber." he informed her quickly.

"Mordo and Amber's souls are rigid and unmovable, forged by the fires of their youth. They need your flexibility, just as you need their strength. Only together do you stand a chance of stopping Dormammu."

"I'm not ready." Stephen interjected, moving his head towards her but not looking at her.

The Ancient One's lips ghosted a smile. "No one ever is. We don't get to choose our time," She grabbed his hand to give it a reassuring squeeze. Stephen returning the gesture.

"Death is what gives life meaning. To know your days are numbered; your time is short. You'd think after all this time I'd be ready. But look at me, stretching one moment out into a thousand, just so I can watch the snow..."

Stephen's gray eyes illuminated with light as more lightning slowly appeared. When he felt his hand being released, he looked to see the Ancient One gone.

Back in the operating room, the monitor gave a continuous beep, the doctors stepping back from the table with casted eyes.

Stephen stood in front of the sink, washing his hands slowly. Christine entered the room, hesitating when she was the red cloak floating near the wall. Stephen's hands slowly lowered before he reached out and grabbed Christine's.

She glanced up at him. "Are you okay?"

They faced one another, Stephen remaining silent.

"I don't understand what's happening."

"I know," Stephen replied with a low voice. "But I have to go away now."

Amber silently walked along the halls, trying to locate where Stephen was to ask about the Ancient One. As she passed the room that Christine and Stephen were in, she halted to a stop, observing noiselessly.

Christine held onto Stephen's hands, which cupped her face gently.

"You said that losing my hands didn't have to be the end, that it could be a beginning," Stephen said, receiving a nod from her.

"Yeah. Because there are other ways to save lives." Christine tipped her head.

"A harder way."

"A weirder way."

Stephen laughed quietly.

"Doctor Palmer, the ER, please. Doctor Palmer, the ER." the PA said, making her glance up.

Stephen frowned. "I don't want you to go."

Christine stared into his sad eyes before slowly moving up and placing a gentle kiss on his cheek. She smiled at him sadly before walking away, leaving Stephen standing there.

Amber watched, her feet seemingly to be glued to the floor. Forcing herself to look away, her lip quivered, tears filling her eyes. Quickly inhaling, she wiped the corners of her eyes and walked away. As she spoke in a whisper to herself, her voice wavered, "Never again..."

Stephen looked over his shoulder at the flash of blue before Amber disappeared around the corner.

Stephen's eyes filled with tears of his own, torn between two choices.