Well, here's the Doctor Strange fanfic I promised. The idea came to me in a dream where me in my usual teenage self tagged along with Strange. Have fun!

Disclaimer: Marvel belongs to Disney, which means they stay busy, cranking out magic and assembly line whimsy.

Prologue: The Beginning

2014

Metro-General Hospital, New York City

The neurosurgeon paced around his office worriedly. He had calculated the survival rate of his current patient, and her chance of surviving was an abysmally low possibility. There was only one thing to do now: Break the news to her.

So he left his office and entered the patient's room. She was a woman by the name of Sophia, and he hadn't bothered to check her last name.

"Ma'am, I'm afraid your odds of surviving this are one to fourteen million six hundred and five." The doctor said. The patient just sat up and gave a soft reply.

"If you can't save my life..." She said weakly, "At least make sure my son has a good one."

"I'm afraid I cannot promise you that, ma'am." The neurosurgeon replied, "It's just... I can't just be saddled with a kid. I hope you can understand."

"Very well. The choice is yours..." The patient responded, and the doctor sighed.

"Fine, I promise your son will be taken care of, ma'am." Then he left the room to prepare for her surgery.

A loud long beep was heard in the surgery room.

"Get me social services." The doctor said.

"Uh, what, sir?"

"I am going to make an adoption."

That was the first and only time in his whole career Doctor Stephen Vincent Strange had ever failed to save a patient.

And on his honor he was willing to make up for it.

Whatever it takes.

Even if that meant raising a child to fulfill the patient's final wishes.

"So, you're leaving, Salazar?" A teenage girl asked her boyfriend three years her junior. The two of them bonded as childhood friends due to their mutual lack of father figures, and that friendship blossomed into love.

"Not really, my beloved Rosalyn." The boy replied, "I'll still be going to school here in Midtown, I'm just gonna move in with Mr. Strange in his penthouse."

"Mr. Strange? As in the Doctor Stephen Strange?" Rosalyn asked, then swooned, "Oh, he's my hero!"

"Well, he's only doing this because my mother told him to." Salazar retorted. Rosalyn cocked her head. "What happened?"

"Well, after mom's surgery failed, Mr. Strange pulled me aside and told me she made him promise I'd be taken care of, and he showed me some papers that he was now my legal guardian." He explained, "Meh, I don't blame him for her death. If he couldn't save her, then nobody could've saved her. At least he adopted me as soon as possible. I bet it'll be better than getting stuck in the shitty foster system, so I'm just rolling with it."

"Okay, I guess. Maingat ka, ha?"

"Yes, I'll be careful, Rosalyn." Salazar rolled his eyes. At this point, he was probably fluent in Filipino from hanging around his girlfriend and her mother. "Anything you want me to bring you?"

"I don't know, his autograph?" The Filipino girl joked, "Just kidding. Good luck, okay? I love you."

The two lovers leaned in for one last kiss, then Salazar left, walking home to pack his things.

"Take a look around, kid." Said the doctor, "Your room is over there. I trust you can make your own food and get to school on your own?"

"Yes I can, Mr. Strange." Salazar answered.

"Good, because I won't be here most of the time. As a doctor, I've got lives to save, so don't expect me to be around often. Understood?"

"Yes, Mr. Strange."

"Thank you. You are now dismissed. Go unpack your things or whatever, I'll be taking my leave."

"Wait, I have a request." Salazar said. Stephen looked at the boy and asked, "What is it?"

"Can I have your autograph? My girlfriend looks up to you, she wants to be a doctor someday."

"Sure thing, kid." And so, Strange took out a notepad and signed a page. He took it and handed it to the teen, whose eyes lit up.

"Thank you, Mr. Strange."

"Don't mention it."

"Thanks again for the autograph, Salazar." Rosalyn said as she set down the tray of food. They were eating at a Filipino fast food chain called Jollibee, which they went to often ever since they were kids.

"Don't mention it, Rosalyn." Salazar replied as he took a sip of his Pepsi. He took his order from the tray, which consisted of two pieces of burger steak (a burger patty covered in gravy and topped with mushrooms) and some rice. "Honestly, I believe Mr. Strange himself is a good man, he's just really cold and aloof."

Rosalyn bit into her fried chicken. "Yup, that sounds like the Strange I've heard about. What's it like living with him?"

"He's usually not around and spends his time working shifts at the hospital. The few times he is around consist of him sleeping and telling me to leave him be, but he has cooked food for me a couple of times."

"Interesting..." The Filipino girl mused, "Well, I hope you're alright. Are you?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." The American boy answered, "I've moved on from mom's passing and now I'm just going with whatever comes next."

"Well, I've a feeling something's gonna happen sooner or later." Rosalyn warned, "Call it intuition, I guess. I have a sense that you were entrusted to him for a reason."

"Eh, whatever." Salazar rolled his eyes. His girlfriend sometimes had a flair for the dramatic. "What could possibly go wrong?"

As it turns out, everything.

A few months later, in early November, Doctor Stephen Strange was caught in a horrific accident which damaged his hands.

"We found this, kid." The rescue team said as they handed Salazar a birthday card. Inside was a standard greeting handwritten by the doctor himself, and the boy found it sentimental that he remembered his birthday.

However, what were they going to do, now that Strange can't perform surgery anymore?

"We're going to Kamar-Taj." The former doctor said suddenly one day. His living quarters were now in a mess; what was once filled with luxury was now all gone as he sold it all off one by one to try and find a way to fix his hands.

Salazar looked up from the book he was reading. "Excuse me, what?"

"A man by the name of Pangborn told me about this one place where his spine managed to heal." Strange stated, "Pack your things, we're going to Kathmandu, Nepal."

"But why would you bring me along?" The boy asked, "Why do you still keep me around?"

The doctor looked like he was about to explode, but calmed down. "I made a promise to the only patient I let down; the only patient I failed to save. And on my honor as Doctor Stephen Strange, mark my words, I will keep that oath to my grave."

"Okay then." Salazar decided not to push further, for it seemed like a touchy subject for the man.

That's all for now, I guess. The next chapter will focus on getting to Kamar-Taj and their introduction to magic. I hope this has been interesting so far!

This is Vanillite the Dragonslayer, signing off.