"Christine!"

At the Nurse's station, Christine tilted her head back in annoyance, muttering under her breath after recognizing Stephen's voice. But when she turned her head and saw that it was an emergency, Christine rushed to the stretcher.

"It's not fibrillation. She has a stunned myocardium." Stephen announced as Christine joined them.

"Neurogenic?" She inquired, joining the rest of them in pushing the stretch straight to the ER.

"Yes."

Soon, Stephen let go of the stretcher, Christine noticed,causing her to let go as she stared at him in confusion. Stephen waved his hand at her, gesturing her to join them while he stays back. He needed to take care of something before he heads into the surgery room.

Christine nodded, her eyes flickering to the woman entering the emergency room with urgency. Christine instantly knew right away why he was staying behind.

Christine rushed to follow the paramedics into the surgery room. With Christine gone, he walked over to Lenore, who was standing in the middle of the room, her eyebrows scrunched together in worry as she approached Stephen.

He held her arms, giving it a reassuring squeeze before he rubbed them slowly in a comforting manner. It helped Lenore, she took a deep breath, in and out as she looked up at Stephen.

"We'll do the best we can to revive her." Stephen brought his hand up to her cheek, wiping the tears from them. Lenore nodded and didn't say anything, she could tell how good of a doctor he was, she believed that he could save her.

So she didn't say anything and leaned into Stephen's touch. Stephen sighed softly, wanting to be with her during this time. But he had to leave and help save the Ancient One from dying.

Before he left, Stephen took the cloak of levitation and placed it over her shoulders. The cloak attached itself manually into her shoulders. A smile tugged at the corner of her lips, laughing softly as the cloak wiped the tears from her cheeks.

Lenore gazed down upon it and smiled gratefully, "Thank you."

"I'll be back. Why don't you go to the Sanctum first, take a rest?" Stephen suggested and Lenore immediately shook her head in disapproval.

"No, I'll stay here. I want to know what happens immediately."

Stephen nodded softly, he stared at her for one more time before he rushed back to the surgery room. When he arrived, the nurses helped him put on his surgical gown, afterwards, he went to grab a pair of sterile gloves while he walked up to the cart containing their equipment to pick up a scalpel.

But as he lifted it off the table, his hands began shaking. He still wasn't healed and so, cannot perform the surgery. He sighed dejectedly, realizing that he won't be able to help them like he told Lenore.

He peered up from the scalpel, his eyes surveying the busy room until his gaze fell upon one doctor. He stood in front of the monitors, observing the Ancient One's vitals while he worked on his gloves.

"Nic."

The doctor turned, eyebrows raised curiously as he made his way over to Stephen. Stephen turned the scalpel around, handing it over to Nic with a determined look in his eyes.

"We need to relieve the pressure on her brain." He instructed him in a soft voice. Nic nodded while he took the scalpel from Stephen's hand and joined the rest of the surgeons helping revive the Ancient One. Stephen watched from a good distance, this way, he could tell them what they could do to help the patient while not getting in everybody's way.

Everyone worked orderly in the room, but the Ancient One's vitals were deteriorating, Stephen started to think that she wasn't going to survive.

And it happened after a few seconds, the monitors released a loud, beeping sound the monitors revealed that her vitals were still not rising to their normal value.

"She's still dropping." One of the nurses announced as the monitor let out an alarming sound. Christine Palmer looked up from the Ancient One, eyes widening in shock as she saw that her vitals were dropping dangerously low.

"We're losing her!" Christine declared urgently while she ran past Stephen to grab the defibrillator.

"We need to increase her oxygen!" Stephen instructed and one of the nurses heard his order, quickly grabbing an oxygen mask to put over the Ancient One's nose and mouth in hopes to increase her respiratory rate. Stephen stepped forward, peering down and noticed the her eyes were already glossing over.

He started to worry, fearing for her life.

As Stephen took a step back from the surgery table, he heard a static-like sound coming from his side. His eyes sweeped towards the source of the sound, which came from from one of the monitors. The numbers in them glitched for a brief moment and none of the surgery staff noticed it except for Stephen.

He started to realize what happened to make it act like that. It could only mean one thing and he had just experienced it not so long ago. He breathed out in preparation while walking backwards, stopping at a few feet away from the staff. He closed his eyes while his body jerked back when he detached his astral from him his physical one. As he floated out of his physical form, he saw a glimpse of something moving from the corner of his eyes and when Stephen looked, he spotted the familiar golden robes of the Ancient One.

The Ancient One phased through the doors and into the corridors with Stephen following closely behind her. Stephen called her as they went past the hallway, into the hospital's cafeteria and onto the balcony.

Stephen stopped beside her, watching her with concerned eyes as she stared forlornly into the distance.

"You have to return to your body now, you don't have time." Stephen reminded her urgently, worried that by any second they waste, the lesser the chance she'll stay alive.

He couldn't go back seeing the look on Lenore's face when she finds out.

"Time is relevant. Your body hasn't even hit the floor yet." The Ancient One replied, her gaze still fixated on the view in front of her.

A low rumbling sound prompted Stephen to follow it, he turned his head. In the skies, a helicopter was flying by, but its blades spinned so slow that they seem like it wasn't moving at all. Behind it, a string of lightning appeared from the clouds, moving just as slow as everything else around them.

Stephen stared at it in bewilderment and awe.

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

"You think this is where you die." Said Stephen after turning around, taking off his gaze from the view in front of them to the Ancient One.

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

"No." He replied immediately.

The Ancient One turned her head at him, giving him a look while smiling teasingly. She knew he was curious about it.

Stephen, knowing that the Ancient One saw through him, bowed his head in shame and said. "Yes."

"I never saw your future, only it possibilities. You have such a capacity for goodness. You always excelled, but not because you crave success but because of your fear of failure." She answered.

"It's what made me a great doctor." Stephen remarked, his gaze fixated on the Ancient One.

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

"Which is?" Stephen asked with his eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

The Ancient One turned around to face him, finally 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."

When the Thunder rumbled, The Ancient One took her gaze off of Stephen to follow the sound to watch the lightning form ever so slowly in the sky.

"He uses magic to walk?" Stephen said, his eyes filled with realization.

"Constantly. He had a choice, to return to his own life... or to serve something greater than himself."

"So I could have my hands back again? My old life?" Stephen wondered, it was his initial plan at first after all.

"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 it that way." He pointed out.

"Mordo's soul is rigid and unmovable... forged by the fires of his youth. He needs your flexibility... just as you need his strength."

"What about Lenore?" He asked, "She'll be devastated to know when she hears that you're..."

Stephen dropped his shoulders as he sighed despondently.

The Ancient One gazed down, a warm smile taking over her features as she remembered holding Lenore in her hands for the first time, she was just a small baby years ago, left on the steps of Sanctum Sanctorum in one rainy night. She knew from the moment she laid her eyes on her that she was special.

"She will understand. She knows the hardships a Sorcerer Supreme must go through. I am thankful that she convinced me to allow you into the temple months ago." The Ancient One smiled at the memory, "She's special."

"She is." Stephen mumbled softly beside her, a smiled tugged at the corner of his lips.

"You will need her strength as well. Only together do you stand a chance of stopping Dormammu."

"I'm not ready." Stephen told her.

"No one ever is. We don't get to choose our time." She answered before moving her hand to Stephen's, holding it with a reassuring grip. "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 that I can watch the snow."

And to watch Lenore, her daughter, grow up.

Stephen turned his head, following her gaze. Stephen stared at the lightning that appeared from the clouds, the feeling of dread faded away. At that moment, just as the lightning disappeared so was the Ancient One's grip on his hand. He turned his head to look upon his hand before peering up to where she stood.

A soft sigh escaped his lips as the space beside him was no longer occupied.

The Ancient One was gone.

*

Stephen blinked, his body jerking forward as his astral form returned to his physical form. Christine stood in front of him, both of her hands holding his arm and chest respectively, as if she was there keeping him upright.

Christine looked at him with concern.

He observed the room, seeing everyone cleaning up with a steady sound filling the air. Stephen's gaze drifted towards the heart monitor showing only a steady, straight line, the digits beside it both were zeros.

She was really gone.

"Are you okay?" Christine asked Stephen, letting him go once she deemed that he was able to stand by himself.

"Yeah." He replied simply, he clearing his throat as tears welled in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Stephen. She's gone." She said softly with her hand back on his arm, rubbing it in a comforting way.

"Yeah." He said, his voice breaking, "I should tell Lenore."

"Sure, I'll take you to her."

Both Christine and Stephen removed their surgical gowns and gloves onto the trash bin in the corner of the room before Christine led Stephen to where Lenore is. He prepared himself as he walked through the hallways of the hospital he once worked in.

"There." Christine pointed at the sleeping figure inside one of the waiting rooms, she was the only one there. A smile tugged at the corner of his lips with how comfortable Lenore looked with the cloak of levitstion draped over her body like a blanket.

Christine's eyes flickered to Stephen, noticing the smile on his lips as he gazed at Lenore.

"So," Christine started, "That's her, huh?"

"Hmm?"

"Lenore. Your Teacher?"

"One of my teachers." Stephen corrected, "But she's the one who really gave her time to help me to perfect everything."

"Whatever." Christine said, rolling her eyes with a smile, "Just...don't mess it up this time."

"What do you mean?" Stephen questioned, his gaze now on her.

"You know what I mean, Stephen." Christine faced him and stood on her toes so that she could plant a kiss on his cheek. "Go to her."

Stephen nodded, smiling at Christine as he watched her walk away. With Christine gone, Stephen walked up to Lenore's sleeping figure, she was sleeping so peacefully that he'd hate to wake her up and tell her the bad news. But he had to.

As he settled down on the seat beside her, he froze, like all the words in his mouth had suddenly disappeared, rendering him speechless. Never had he told a patient's family that he'd lost them during surgery since all of his surgery would always be successful, he was used to giving them the good news and receiving praise for it.

But now, he had to tell them the bad news and he couldn't speak. He expected it to be this hard, especially when it comes to Lenore.

And so he mustered up all the courage he had in his body and prepared what he was tell her. He placed his hand over her shoulder, shaking her gently to wake her up.

Lenore moaned in response, rousing from her nap while the cloak slowly moved away from her body, it floated beside her seat. Lenore sat up from her seat, her eyes puffy from crying before she peered up, meeting Stephen's worried gaze.

She felt her heart drop and her eyes widen.

"H-How is she?" She asked, her voice dripping with hesitation like she didn't want to know the answer to her question.

Stephen shook his head with a despondent look upon his face. "I'm sorry, we tried our best but...she's gone."

Lenore's eyebrows furrowed, her eyes glistening with tears before looking down, her bottom lip quivered as soft sobs escaped from them. Stephen slid off of his seat, situated himself in front of Lenore in a kneeling position before he took he into her arms. Her loud cries were muffled by th fabric of his robe, heading them made his heart drop.

"It's going to be okay." Stephen reassured her as his hand went up to her head, stroking her back in a comforting way.

Lenore moved away from Stephn, she still held onto his shoulders. "C-Can I see her?"

Stephen sighed through his nose and nodded. He brought himself back to his feet before helping Lenore up from her seat. Lenore held onto his arm, her forehead pressed against his arm as Stephen led the way towards the morgue.

As they walked inside, a worker saw them, eyes widening in recognition when he saw Stephen. Stephen beckoned for him to leave the room for the two of them and the man nodded, he walked around the room of them before leaving the room all to themselves.

"There she is." Stephen said, looking down at her.

Lenore's gaze fell upon the body resting on top of a metal table. At that moment, she let go of Stephen's hand and approached the body with a few, slow strides. She peered down at the body, one look at her face, Lenore started crying again, unable to hold back her tears even if she wanted to.

She moved her hand across the metal table, stopping at the spot where she thought the Ancient One's hand is before slipping her hand underneath the white blanket. She sniffled softly as she grasped her hand, it was no longer warm, but cold as the room they were in.

But she rubbed her thumb across her palm, touching them for one last time before she could say goodbye.

"I love you, Mom." She pursed her lips, looking down at the ground as she refrained from letting out a sob.

Her shoulders shook from crying, making Stephen walk over towards her to put both of his hands on her arms, giving them a soft, comforting squeeze.

Lenore brought her hand on top of his, holding them while her thumb grazed the back of it.

"I could've saved her..." she mumbled, tears running down her cheeks once more, the events of her fight with Kaecilius played in her mind multiple times, she just stood there, watching. The guilt built up inside her chest that she let out tears once again.

"I could've helped but no..." she muttered softly, looking up at Stephen. "I just watched..."

"It's not your fault, Lenore." Stephen took his place beside her, Helios hand going up to her face to cup them in his hands. "Don't blame yourself."

"But I could've helped, we could've..."

"She did that to keep us safe." Stephen wiped a single tear running down, "Dont blame yourself over what she did for us."

Lenore's bottom lips quivered as she inched closer to Stephen, wrapping her arms around his torso. Stephen hugged her back, rubbing her back in a comforting manner as he stared at the Ancient One's body.

"It's going to be okay." He said, repeating the words he had told her minutes ago. He didn't know what to say at that moment, he only told her words that she need to hear right now.

"He's going to pay for this." Lenore said against his chest, making her voice sound muffled.

"What?" Stephen held her by her shoulders, pulling away to look at her.

"Kaecilius." She stated flatly, wiping the tears from her face, "He's going to pay for what he's done."

Lenore broke away from Stephen to face the Ancient One again. And although she wanted to stay there much longer, she wanted to get back at Kaecilius what what he's done.

She slid her hand under the blanket, holding her hand one last time. She swallowed the lump forming her throat so that she could speak clearly.

"Goodbye, Mom." She said softly as she held the end of the blanket, "Thank you for everything you've done for me."

With that, she pulled the blanket over her face, covering it finally before she faced Stephen and said.

"Let's go."