Chapter 1: A Crow to Pluck
Fate.
I didn't believe much in it when I was younger. I used to just think everything that happened to me, everything that made me what I am today, was all just coincidence and circumstance.
But I know better now.
What happened that night was meant to happen, at least it was meant to happen here in this universe I belong to.
Just as you were meant to read it in yours.
It was raining heavily over New York City.
The downpour was so bad that barely anyone wanted to go outside, save for the few who just needed to run a couple of meters across the smaller streets.
It was in one of these smaller streets in Queens that a small hooded figure quietly dashed down. They puffed as they quietly slid under the protection of a covered shop doorway, clutching a tattered satchel close to their chest just as thunder rumbled overhead.
"Just a little. There we go" a girl's voice muttered as the figure made to slide down some stairs and under the protection of a shop doorway dug down below the pavement.
The establishment was closed, the curtains shut over the windows. Nobody would care if she was sitting there. Besides it was better than a dumpster, and a lot less odious.
"I don't mind spendin' everyday, Out on your corner in the pourin' rain. Look for the girl with the broken smile. Ask her if she wants to stay awhile. And she will be loved, and she will be loved*" the girl hummed quietly, yanking down the dark hood to run a hand through sopping wet golden curls.
As she did so, blue eyes surveyed the rainy surroundings shrewdly, both darting each time there was a noise that wasn't water on the ground or roof.
Ok let's hit the pause here for a second, and by second I probably mean a couple of minutes.
Okay maybe not that long but I'll probably get soaking wet by the- oh Christ! This breaking the forth wall is harder than I thought.
Damn Deadpool for making it look oh so easy!
Anyways I think you can probably guess who I am by now.
Yep that's right.
I'm the loser in the rain with the bad clothes and an even worse body odor.
Not that that was my fault. I mean come on, it's not easy to take a bath when you've got no bathroom, or any room anywhere to crash.
Besides it's not like there' was anyone there to notice.
"Hey"
No one except her that is.
With a yelp the girl leapt out of the doorway and back into the rain, staring wide eyed at the face of an elderly woman that had suddenly appeared in the doorway, staring out at her with narrowed eyes.
"Just what do you think you're doing?"
The first impression the young girl had, was of an old decrepit bird, such was the sharp extremely wrinkled face of the elderly lady. Her slender eyes too were dark and beady and stood out sharply from her deep red skin and snowy white hair, wisps of which fell over her shawl clad shoulders which hunched as she hobbled out on a short walking stick.
Though the top of her head only reached the young girl's shoulder she still emanated a great presence, one which made the younger female stay rooted where she was and not run like she was so tempted to do, even as she bleated.
"who-who're you?"
"My name is Fala and whilst we're on the subject of names who are you and what are you doing in front of my shop, girl"
"I'm-I'm Via. And I'm not doing anything on your porch ma'am. I-I just needed to get out of the rain, honest." the girl Via blurted out sheepishly, gulping as the dark beady eyes narrowed to slits as they looked her up and down.
After what felt like an hour (though it was probably more like half a minute) Fala sighed and shook her head.
"Is someone coming to pick you up?"
"In this rain. Not likely" Via snorted before adding under her breath "Not that anyone would come anyway."
"You don't have a family?" the old woman frowned and the girl just shrugged and turned her back on her.
"Listen lady this chit chat is fun and all but I've got to find another place to crash. So, sorry to bother you, I'll just-Whoa!" Via spluttered as something hard reached out, hooked over her arm and swung her back around.
She stared in surprise at the small smug smirk spread across Fala's face as she tugged hard at her walking stick, which in turn tugged Via right back to face her.
"Um…ma'am I'm sorry but could you just-gah"
Where the old woman got her strength from, Via did not even know, nor did she have time to question it as she was tugged her down to eye level and placed once more under that piercing stare.
"Hmm…interesting" the old woman mumbled as she considered the girl's eyes. Both orbs were a bright clear blue, that sparkled even under all the grime and grit of the city with a bright spark.
The old woman's face softened considerably and her grip on her walking stick relaxed somewhat, though her voice was still a harsh coarse rasp.
"That's very interesting. Say my dear, how would you like a nice cup of tea. I daresay it would ward off those chills from the rain"
Via didn't even have time to respond as she was all but dragged inside the door which shut with a definitive snap behind her back.
Yeah so that happened.
Typical!
It's just my luck the town crazy lady decides to take me in for the night.
But if you thought that was the weird it's nothing compared to what's coming up next.
"There you go, nice and hot"
"Uh…thanks…" Via frowned as a cup of very hot tea was pressed into her grip, almost burning her fingers on impact.
YEOWCH! Hot-hot-hot! Damn! What did she heat this up with? A nuclear reactor?
Quietly as she could she took a tentative sip of the drink, and set it down in her lap. It wasn't bad, but she just wasn't a tea person. Also, she didn't want to burn her tongue off.
Her hostess however did not seem to notice as she bustled around the small kitchen, her walking stick banging around and hitting the lower shelves with loud thuds and clangs.
It's a wonder her neighbors get any sleep at all
Via glanced up at the ceiling above and then to the room around her. Along the walls shelves upon shelves of crystals, amulets and bottles of powdered things that Via wasn't sure she wanted to know, sat motionless. And then there was the clutter of strange silver and golden instruments that surrounded her chair and the store counter or hung above her head along with many different dreamcatchers.
"Ah…That's the stuff"
Via quickly turned just in time to see the old woman fala, bumble through a curtain of beads that hung over a small doorway before plonking herself down in the chair behind the shop counter and taking a large swig of tea.
"So Via, tell me where do you come from?"
"I…I uh…don't know. Here in New York I guess" Via mumbled, keeping her eyes firmly fixed on the wall behind the woman's head. "Uh nice place you got"
"Oh it's small, but I make do" the old woman waved her off, keeping her eyes fixed on the younger girl's face, studying it, analyzing every feature.
"You were orphaned when you were very young weren't you?" she frowned.
"How did you-" Via spluttered but Fala just steamrolled over her, wrinkled brow furrowing if possible even deeper than before.
"You said no one was coming to get you. Then there's your satchel. You pack light and your shoes are well worn, which means you've been walking for more than a day, perhaps weeks. I could continue to list all the contributing factors to your situation, but I believe you understand the gist of things"
"Of course I do. Jesus lady were you Sherlock-ruddy-Holmes or-or a detective in your past life or something"
"Neither." Fala smirked, her dark eyes twinkling from over the rim of her mug as she took a sip "I am only what I am"
"…o…kay?" Via gulped glancing around again for anything that could distract her from those piercing eyes. Eventually her blue gaze found a box just behind the opposite side of the counter.
"What is wrong child?" Fala asked quietly and Via gulped.
"Th-that box. The one behind you"
"Hmm? Box? Ah you mean this?" Fala's smile widened warmly as she reached behind and pulled out the box.
It was small and seemed to be woven of something reed like with golden web like patterns over blue, but that wasn't what had Via stumped.
No.
It was the fact that there was a humming sound coming right for it.
"It is made from birch bark and porcupine quills" Fala said, oblivious to the anxious expression on her young guests face as she quietly slid off the top cover "Lovely I'll grant you, but not as pretty as what it contains."
"And it contains what exactly" Via frowned as an old wrinkled talon like hand reached into the box and pulled out…
A woman paused in mid step down the old stone stairs of the Monastary.
She was a strange woman, tall, with a bald pale head covered by the hood of her golden robes, which crinkled as she twisted around to search for the source of her disquiet.
And there it was. Like a tiny note on a piano except this instrument was playing from so far away it almost seemed like a distant echo. And yet at the same time it could be heard crystal clear through the fabric of time and space. It was the tiniest of hums.
"Hmm…odd…now why would she be doing that?" the woman murmured softly to herself, just as footsteps sounded beside her.
She turned sharply but quickly relaxed as she saw who it was.
A dark man, with dark hair and dark clothes that included a long green tunic. His eyes, keen and sharp were quick to find the woman's as she asked.
"How is the good doctor? Settled into his rooms well I hope?"
"As well as could be expected." The man smirked, but his face fell into one of concern as he caught sight of the slight stiffening in the other's face. "What is it? Has Kaecilius made another move?"
"I'm not sure" the woman murmured, more to herself than the man "but I must go to New York tonight"
"New York?" The man frowned in confusion "But the sanctum there is-"
"It is not the Sanctum I go to." The woman cut across him firmly "No…rather I need to pay a visit to an old friend. I have some questions that need answering."
"Would you like me or one of the other masters to accompany you? If Kaecilius discovers you're there alone he might-" the man asked quickly but the woman shook her head and he fell silent.
"That will not be necessary. I will not take long. Kaecilius will not even know I was there. In the meanwhile, keep watch over the Doctor, something tells me his first night here will be difficult"
"A dreamcatcher?"
Via blinked as she looked down at the small circular woven work. It was only five centimeters in diameter, with three small feathers attached to the bottom with golden beads whilst a short cord of thin leather looped up from the top. The net in the middle was like the spider web of the box that the trinket had come from, only it had a small bright blue bead set in the center, that glinted in the dim shop light as Fala passed it over.
"Pretty trinket, isn't it?" the old woman smiled, but her eyes were still ever watchful as she kept a close eye on her young guest's fingers.
"I guess, I mean, I don't know much about dream-catchers or anything-" Via shrugged and Fala chuckled softly.
"Not many people do. You see child, the dream-catcher originates from the Ojibwe people, of whom it is said were protected by a being called Asibikaashi, the Spider Woman. To put a long story short, Asibikaashi used her powers she took care of the children the land, however when the people spread around the country protecting them became difficult for her to do on her own. So, to help her, the mothers and grandmothers of the children wove magical webs from willow hoops and sinew. With these nets, the dreams of the children would be filtered, only allowing the good dreams to enter the mind whilst the bad disappeared with the rising of the sun."
"Sounds like a lot of people got a lot of good night sleeps then huh?" Via snorted as she turned the small dreamcatcher over in her fingers.
"I see you are skeptical of magic and mysticism" Fala's smile faltered ever so slightly.
"No. But kids like me, we don't have that luxury of believing in things like myths. Especially since neither gets bread on the table or in our stomachs"
"Perhaps you are looking for dreams in the wrong places"
"Perhaps" Via shrugged "but another luxury us kids out there in the gutter don't usually have is time to ponder our lives like the good normal peeps up here, let alone waste our time dreaming"
"I see…that is a shame then."
"Yeah…yeah it is"
There was a silence as both girl and old woman just gazed down at the tiny dreamcatcher, both their eyes misted over as they mulled things over in their heads.
Eventually it was Via who broke the silence as she looked up to peer out the shop windows.
"Oh…it's stopped raining"
Fala blinked and followed the girl's gaze outside.
"Indeed it has" she conceded after a small pause.
Via however did not pay her much heed and instead stood quickly up.
"Right…I believe that's my cue. Thanks for the tea and the sit down but I've got to get a move on. "
"And where will you go?" Fala asked quietly and Via just shrugged again.
"Dunno. Wherever the wind, or my stomach, takes me I guess. Oh yeah, here you probably need this back"
At first Fala thought the child was trying to offer her a handshake, then she saw the dreamcatcher in her palm.
She opened her mouth, shut it, then smiled and reached out to the young girl's hands…only to curl the girl's fingers around the small net gently.
"No. You should keep it." She smiled gently in response to the surprise on Via's face "After all a young girl like you could use a few good dreams. Who knows maybe they will lead you to where you need to go"
"Perhaps. But then again maybe not" Via smiled, sheepishly trying and failing to mask the embarrassed flush on her cheeks. "I don't usually have much luck with those kinda things"
"Maybe now you don't." Fala shrugged "But who knows, the future is not set in stone, and a new day is on the morrow, one with new possibilities"
"If you say so" Via smirked as she quickly tied the leather cord around her neck and tucked the dreamcatcher under her grubby T-Shirt.
"Well then…uh…thanks for everything. And for not y'know leaving me out in the cold and rain. That was mighty decent of you"
"It was nothing child. Truth be told I was glad for the company than anything else" Fala nodded as she held open the door and let the young girl out.
"Well…thanks and g'night" Via bobbed her head as she lifted her hood to cover it, completely missing the slight golden gleam in the depths of the old woman's eyes as she smiled softly.
"Good night child. May you dream well and safely tonight"
A man stood in the shadows of a building fire escape, eyes keeping watch on the street below like a hawk as a small scrawny person hopped out into the wet but no longer raining streets.
Just an unfortunate soul of the street.
He mused taking in the height and build of the figure.
It was a child, a girl no less, in her early teens.
Despite his composure his heart clenched a little. Had time and fate been kinder to him in the past, his son might have been about her age by now, maybe even a couple of years older…
No. Don't think about the past. Keep yourself in the present.
The man quickly shook his head out and watched the small figure quickly make to bob her head quickly to a hunched shadow in the doorway, who quickly looked up to his spot.
Had he been a lesser man he might have been alarmed by her perceptiveness. But Kaecilius was no ordinary man, just as Fala was no ordinary elderly lady.
With a quiet grace he jumped down from the fire escape landing catlike on a closed dumpster before quickly hopping down into the alleyway below.
As he strode out into the street he looked about himself, stiffening ever so slightly as the young teenager from before spared him a glance as she passed him by.
Underneath all the scruffy dirt of the street, two bright blue eyes took in his golden tunic and his grey ponytail. But even as her eyes met his sharp ones, the girl's grubby cheeks flushed pink with embarrassment before quickly vanishing into the shadow of a black hood as she off to the alleyway that he himself had just come from.
"Scaring young ones Kaecilius? Such behavior is unfitting of a master such as yourself."
"Yes it would be unfitting if I were still a master. But the company you chose to keep is no concern of mine old friend."
Kaecilius turned to face the shop door where the old woman Fala stood, her smile wide and inviting but her beady eyes piercing and focused.
"Ah…so you wish to peruse my collection, do you? If that is so, then perhaps you might like to come inside and we can discuss terms more comfortably"
"That will not be necessary. There is only one relic of true value here, and we both know you will not part from it so easily"
Fala's smile vanished, to be replaced by a scowl that made her face look (if possible) even more bird like than ever even as she raised her arms.
"Whoever said I would ever part from it at all?"
The corners of Kaecilius's lips curled.
He didn't want to do this...but he had no choice.
After all he'd made it this far, and now there was no going back.
Via was only a couple of alleys away when she felt the first tremor. At first she just thought she'd tripped over a piece of garbage. But even as she regained balance and began to run towards a fire escape she felt the ground shake and her legs buckled.
"What the hell?" she cursed, barely stopping herself from falling over as the ground rippled beneath her feet.
Wait…RIPPLED?!
"Just what did she put in that tea?" Via wondered as she watched the asphalt on the ground literally rise and fall like water ripples in a pond.
And it wasn't just the ground. The walls of the building too vibrated, though their occupants didn't seem at all perturbed by the motion.
It was like a silent shock-wave had just been blasted from an invisible bomb.
A bomb that had just come from the direction she had just left…
The direction of Fala's shop…
"Come on Via listen to your head." Via hissed to herself as she prodded her own temple "Heart gets you in trouble and head keeps you alive…and talking to yourself in the middle of the road" she added glancing around herself as if expecting someone to pop out from behind a dumpster with a straight jacket.
But no one came. Or at least no one came from the dumpster.
Rather someone ran around the corner.
Someone who looked an awful lot like that strange man she'd just passed by, only his grey hair was perhaps a little disheveled and his hands and tunic were stained with red.
The man stopped in his tracks as he stared at her, and then stared at her chest.
Via looked down but only saw the small dream-catcher sitting gently over the front of her sweater.
She looked up quickly and was alarmed to find the man already charging towards her.
"Shit!" she yelled as she began to scramble back, only jumping out of the way just in time as the man leaped upon her.
He almost grabbed her ankle with his bloody hand as he rolled on the ground and smoothly back to his feet, but Via was just too quick to jump on top of the dumpster next to her and up onto the half-drawn ladder of the fire escape just above it, up two flights of stairs and straight through a glowing orange ring of sparks.
"GAH!" Via squeaked in fright as suddenly gravity began to pull down on her midriff and her hair and hood suddenly fell back from her face.
"HOLY MOTHER OF-AHHH!"
She screeched like a banshee as she looked down only to find herself hanging upside down on the ladder, her back many, many meters above what looked like the top of another building.
There was the crunching of footsteps and Via looked back up only to see to her horror her attacker in pursuit of her climbing skillfully his way up to her fast.
Gotta get away! Gotta get away!
With wide eyes, she looked down to the roof of the building below her.
It was a long drop but she'd much prefer taking her chances getting squashed like a pancake than getting killed by a weird ninja fast guy or whatever he was.
"I must be insane" she whimpered, as she let the railing go.
She saw the man staring at her from the upside-down in surprise as she fell, down, down, down and…
She lurched mid fall as something like a human hand grabbed at her hood and tugged hard.
At the same moment, the calm soothing voice of a woman breathed in her ear.
"Hold on child"
Via barely held back from vomiting as she was quickly tugged sideways, the field of gravity changing so that now it was beneath her feet as she and the person pulling her stumbled through a ring of sparking and fizzing orange energy, away from the strange upside down world...and away from her would be killer.
FuzzyBeta:
Hi Guys!
So whilst this hasn't been my first MCU fanfiction (I made some Avengers/Thor ones a year or so back and just recently deleted them), this is still my first fanfiction for Doctor Strange. I've always been a marvel fan but it was only till i heard the movie was coming out this year that I finally started looking through Doctor Strange and i fell in love with it, especially after i saw it in cinemas! So if there's any big Doctor Strange Fans reading this feel free to point out any inconsistencies or mistakes with the facts (but please be kind because i'm still pretty new).
Also just to keep things clear I've tried to keep the facts about dream-catchers and Native American Folklore as simple as possible, but if there's anything wrong or incorrect feel free to point it out and i'll see what i can do about it (As i don't want to offend anyone by accident). And while we're on the topic of ethnicity the name Fala is Native American and means Crow.
Well if that's all okay and good to go i hope you guys enjoyed reading the first chapter, and i also hope you liked my OC (who i will try to make as Non-Mary Sue as possible).
Please fave or review if you liked ;)
FuzzyBeta OUT!