Dr. Strange’s apprentice.
marvel Stephen Strange + gender neutral apprentice reader
this post should read as reader being gender neutral and of a teen age, please message me if it doesn’t and I will make necessary amends! author’s note: I tried this idea out after seeing Spider-Man: No Way Home and then didn’t like it so I forgot about it, but seeing Multiverse of Madness kind of made me think about it again... so here it is. I’d recommend that you have watched both films (and definitely Avengers: Endgame!) just to be sure nothing is spoiled at all. summary: Stephen Strange does NOT like having an apprentice. you are said apprentice. need I say more?
warnings: none really <3
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Strange wasn’t exactly... thrilled to have you as an apprentice to begin with... but it was Wong’s orders
and Wong’s words were final. you both knew that.
Strange made it very clear when you first started learning things from him that this wasn’t going to last long if he had a say in it, and it did seem to be going that way... for a long time
each tiny mistake or accidental slip up was enough for Strange to go running to Wong and demand that you be removed from him, but Wong refused every single time without fail
it stayed this way for a long time, you even went to Wong yourself one night to ask if he would separate you and Strange, because you knew you were making his life hard
then, in an odd twist of events, you saved Strange’s life, risking your own in the process
and he finally realised that you were just a scared kid who had powers they didn’t understand
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you’d saved Strange’s life when he was fighting an unknown creature, it had somehow made its way to earth, and was attacking New York
you’d been told to stay away, but you saw that Wong was tied up fighting the creature and then Strange was being lifted off of the concrete–
Wong tried to stop you, calling out your name, but you were already running towards the creature in a blind panic
you might not care much for Strange on the surface, but he had taught you some valuable lessons and shown you things you’d never seen before, so you felt inclined to try and help
your powers were seriously out of control at the best of times, but somehow you concentrated it enough that you scared the creature off with a few well aimed blasts
you also angered it, so once it had retreated, it started coming back
and it was looking directly at you.
it nearly had you, and if you hadn’t managed to slide underneath it and then take cover under a car... no one wanted to think about the consequences, not even Strange
Strange had then quickly opened up the mirror dimension, Wong grabbed and pushed you (rather ungracefully) through a portal to safety in the New York sanctum, and there you waited for their safe return
the lecture you’d received was a long and boring one from Wong, but Strange only had good things to say when it was all over with
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there were many reasons for you becoming Strange’s apprentice, one being that you were practically a loose cannon
you held immense power, for what reason no one knew, but you were on earth and that meant you were under the protection of the Masters of the Mystic Arts
they kept you well hidden from the governments of earth, and if they ever came knocking, they soon forgot why
in terms of your powers before meeting Strange and Wong, you had been reckless and not aware of the potential consequences, and after meeting them you were scared of your powers and held them back
you had been perfectly happy to be savagely fighting Thanos and his army, retrieving the Infinity Stones and being on a large battlefield surrounded by enemies, but now you realised that you needed to gain some control
your powers were wild by nature it seemed, and you didn’t exactly want to control them, because that meant you did less damage in battle
less damage when fighting meant that you appeared weaker, that was how you saw it
no one was more against becoming an apprentice than you, after seeing Tony’s sacrifice and knowing that Nat would never come back, you just didn’t want to be controlled like that
but, Wong had strongly insisted after seeing your potential on the battlefield against Thanos and his army, and eventually you realised that you needed some guidance
to be honest, neither you or Strange had completely agreed to the whole thing, Wong just kind of pushed you together hoping for the best.
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most days, Strange had you studying some ancient book or cataloguing the library, again
a lot of the time, you felt like a glorified housekeeper.
you had a long list of chores to complete each day before anything else could even be considered in terms of training
Strange insisted that doing several chores at once meant you learned better focus and coordination, you just saw it as child labour
on the rare occasion that Strange trusted you to partake in something practical and physical, it often went entirely wrong :(
neither of you quite fully got over the ‘teapot incident’ now that you think about it…
the teapot incident was widely known but rarely spoken about.
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after some months, you were permitted to start using your magic around the New York Sanctum
BUT only in small amounts, per Wong’s strict set of instructions
your magic was not the same as Strange’s… no one quite understood what it was, so he was trying to discipline you into controlling it
and it was proving useful, although some days were much harder than others
a prime example being the day that you woke up and chose violence, purely because of your mood, and ended up getting into quite the argument with Strange over a recent practical experiment that ended badly
the infamous argument saw the New York sanctum empty of sorcerers in mere minutes
it was characterised by a lot of broken furniture and hoarse shouting and loud swearing
whenever you thought you’d said enough, another thing popped into your head and you started shouting again
“AND YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE, STRANGE?” became an overused phrase that day
Strange had just argued back, lowkey throwing insults around too, which only angered you more
Wong had just returned from a mission overseas when the argument began
and when he opened the portal and saw the state of the place, he stepped back through and said to himself
“I’ll come back later.”
Strange was the one to stop arguing first, much to your surprise, and he locked himself in his room to let you calm down
and stop himself from going “AND ANOTHER THING–”
but peace was finally made when Strange ordered a lot of pizza
like a lot
you made your apologies whilst watching cheesy chick flicks, and Strange promised to try harder with his patience and understanding your position as a scared teeanger with immense power at their fingertips
you felt like the good days were very good, when they came around
you loved them like nothing else, and on those days, Strange looked at you as if he was… proud, almost.
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in the present day, you’ve discovered that your powers may be able to access something Strange has been fixated on for a long time
he likes to call it the ‘multiverse’, but you think it’s a big lie
you were debating this late one night with Strange as you let cheesy chick flicks play in the background, and Strange told you to try and access the multiverse
when you stubbornly refused, he hit you with:
“oh come on, if you say it can’t possibly exist, then you won’t be able to reach it, will you? so there’s no reason why you can’t try.”
he had you there, either you tried to access it and prove him wrong by finding nothing, or you accept that it existed and did nothing
you couldn’t stand to see him sat there all smug, so you got up from the stiff antique sofa, determined to prove him totally wrong
you had moderate control over your powers now, sometimes using large amounts tired you out and that’s when things would go wrong
but you weren’t going to need much to prove Strange wrong.
you closed your eyes, searching through the earth, finding nothing, and you were about to turn to Steven in triumph when you saw it
another you.
you were watching yourself in an entirely different universe and you had no idea how. you opened your eyes, heart hammering in your chest, sweat on your face, and looked at Strange with wide eyes.
“are there other versions of us in the multiverse?” you asked, weakly.
Strange sat up, hooked on your words
“yes, there would be, in theory. why?” he asked, as you looked around the room as if you’d just seen a ghost of a famous celebrity
“I think... I just saw me, but different.” you swallowed to control your breathing before closing your eyes again and holding out your hands to try and feel for anything unusual
there, it felt like... a bump beneath wallpaper, a splinter in a plank of wood, a loose tooth...
you grabbed onto it, and spontaneously opened up what could only be described as a portal to several other universes that neither of you recognised, or knew what to do with
Strange shot out of his seat, pulling you away from the portal you had opened, before starting to get closer himself
an almighty screech from one of the universes that made the entire sanctum tremble scared you, and with one hasty flick of your hand the portal closed,
like it was never there
Strange turned to look at you, an unreadable look on his pale face
“I am not doing that again.” you whispered.
“oh, you’re doing that again kid.”
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after the ‘multiverse portal incident’, which you had both kept deathly quiet and top secret, Strange started training you differently
he was teaching you aggressive tactics, he started emphasising speed and power rather than taking it slow and steady by studying the opponent first
when you finally questioned him, he vehemently denied that the portal incident had anything to do with the sudden change in training
but you knew better than that.
you spoke to Wong one night, against your better judgement, and let him in on what you’d pulled off randomly one night
in truth, since opening that multiverse portal, you hadn’t been able to pull it off again
you’d tried, in secret, late at night when Strange and Wong were out of the sanctum
but there was nothing. you couldn’t even see that other version of yourself anymore
you hoped they weren’t hurt, or worse
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Wong then suddenly removed you from Strange, denying you any communication with him until it was deemed ‘safe’
“what on earth do you mean ‘safe’? is he in danger?” you asked, desperately trying to understand what Wong’s motivations were
“something... unexplained has been going on recently, and until I can rule out the multiverse as a cause, you will stay here. you are not to reach out to Strange under any circumstances, am I being fully understood?” Wong was deadly serious, and you found yourself agreeing silently
you were confined to Kamar-Taj from that day onwards, and you regretted ever telling Wong of that night, because you found that being ripped apart from Stephen had hurt more than you expected it to.
each night you tried desperately to make a portal to Strange, but Wong had you in a room that seemed to heavily dampen your magic
there were always guards outside of your door, listening, too
you felt like a prisoner, even though you knew that wasn’t what Wong intended to do
eventually, you gave up on trying to reach Strange, and he wasn’t exactly making much of an effort to reach you
that made you sad, really sad, and you started spending more and more time in bed than around Kamar-Taj with your personal guards getting fresh air
Wong didn’t even notice your absence, only your guards did, but they weren’t allowed inside of your room unless you were in imminent danger so they couldn’t help
until Wong let you speak to Strange again, you didn’t know what else you were waiting for
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days seemed to melt into one big thing, you struggled to find motivation or interest in anything the longer it went on, like a broken record. you found yourself reminiscing your precious time with Stephen, your mentor, your only true friend in this world. if only you hadn’t opened that stupid multiverse portal... if there was a way to undo that night, you would, in a heartbeat, reverse it all. you’d simply let Stephen be right and refuse to even entertain the idea of accessing the theoretical multiverse. you closed your eyes, and felt sleep approaching, when the sky darkened outside. curious at something actually happening at Kamar-Taj for once, you watched the windows with drooping eyes. you didn’t make the move to get out of bed though, that was too much right now. you felt a strange energy filling the grounds of Kamar-Taj, something you had encountered once before but not for a long time. now you were feeling something. you walked over to the windows, pressing your face right up against the wood, and saw the Scarlet Witch. she must’ve seen you too, because her head tilted ever so slightly in your direction, before you backed away from the window and fell onto the bed. why was she here? no one had heard from her since... Westview, was it? you couldn’t really recall, you didn’t know her well enough, but Wong and Strange might know her. there had to be a reasonable explanation to her being here. you found your bedroom door unlocked, thankfully, but your personal guards were nowhere to be seen. that wasn’t right, they were normally here all the time, day and night, like a pesky fly in summertime. you had only just made it down the hallway when the sounds of battle from outside reached your ears, and you froze. the Scarlet Witch was attacking Kamar-Taj, and you had absolutely no idea what to do about it without Strange here. ✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧
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