A/N: (To all those impatient for the chapter, please skip to the second to last line of this note.) My goodness! There are no words to describe how sorry I am for taking so long to update this story. As many of you know, college has taken up nearly all of my time, considering I had over 20 credit hours to complete to get into my dream college. But it was all worth it because I got in! Now getting back to the subject of tardiness, I also had 3 unfortunate visits to the emergency room a few months ago for something I thought was deadly, but just turned out to be about 10 bones in my spine and neck that had been dislocated due to a surfing injury about a year ago. I could go into more detail, but I'm sure that you would much rather read the chapter than listen to me drone on about myself. I will lastly say that your kind words over these hard months helped me get through a lot of my problems, and it also made it torturously hard not to write. In any case, thank you all for your thoughts :D I'll try to respond to every one of you; except the guests of course :( Just always know that you guests are as important to me as the members here. Again, this chapter is no more T rated than the movie, but it is sure to take your emotions for a terrifying spin. For the double hurt/comfort fans, I'm sorry, but this chapter doesn't have that level of hurt in it, but it should still be a hard read for you. However, I do have a real double hurt/comfort chapter planned for the future that's sure to satisfy all your sadistic needs ;) Please enjoy the fruits of my labor!

Chapter 11: Threading The Needle

~S~

Previously: Stephen's body was now shaking, and felt as cold as ice, even through his clothes. As if things couldn't get any worse, Stephen loses all balance as well as consciousness and falls.

But the cloak is there to catch him before he hits the ground.

Transpiring now...

"Stephen!" Wong exclaimed, immediately running to the doctor's side.

The cloak pulled Stephen's unconscious body away with a small jerk.

Wong frowned angrily at this and just stared at the cloak. "Now is not the time for games, he could be dying. Hand him over to me."

The cloak kept undulating in mid air, turning its sights from the librarian over to the exit.

Wong knew exactly what the crafty piece of fabric was up to and unless he could convince the cloak to perceive him as a friend the garment was going to abduct Stephen, potentially killing him.

The librarian tried to reason with it. "Look, I won't hurt him. You can trust me, I'm his friend too.

The cloak listened to what Wong was saying, but didn't exactly have faith in the man. While it was true that Wong had a kind heart and a good soul, he was still lacking in his ability to make crucial decisions. Decisions that the cloak knew needed to be made right this second. But as fate or design would have it, Stephen's injuries were admittedly beyond the cloak's limited expertise. The only options were trusting Wong or escape.

The cloak looked even more uneasy and took another glance at the Sanctum door.

Wong frowned. He was losing this battle. He took a risky step forward. "I care about him too… but if you don't let me help him you may lose your "friend" -still wasn't completely comfortable making that comparison.

Wong's last words seemed to finally coerce the cloak, as the garment slowly floated over, relinquishing its cherished possession over to the librarian.

He nodded his thanks and faced the cloak. "Help me get him into bed."

The cloak was very eager to help and carried Strange alone, leaving Wong to walk himself inside the room. But before the cloak tried to cover him with itself, Wong stopped it.

"I need to examine him for possible injuries first."

The cloak was first taken aback, but then seemed to understand and just floated quietly above them.

The librarian's search began at the head and moved downward towards his arms, and finally his legs. The chunk of flesh removed from his arm had in every way seemed like the cause of the problem, but it was healthy; no infections and no signs of blood poisoning to be found. Granted, Wong wasn't a doctor, nor did he have the medical training required to make an in depth and more accurate analysis. But he was learned in one very particular area more than anyone at the Sanctum. Alien weapons and instruments.

The alien weapon used was called a Flux ionizer.

"Stay here with him. I'm going below to get some supplies," Wong directed.

The cloak waited for the click of a door before floating down to Stephen.

The garment tensed when Stephen's face twisted momentarily, and it spotted a bead of sweat traveling down his forehead. If the cloak could express its anxiety in a human way by crying by his bedside, it would most definitely be doing that already because nothing could cut it deeper than seeing its chosen hurt and dying. But, considering its limited expressions the cloak satiated itself by resting on Stephen's chest until Wong came back.

The librarian's footsteps were heard pounding up the stairs about fifteen minutes later and he came in covered in cobwebs and dust carrying a silver tray filled with an assortment of green and black bottles and syringes that had the cloak staring curiously at them.

"Sorry it took me so long. I haven't been down there in 50 years," Wong clarified while setting the equipment down on the table two feet behind his bed. He then began the meticulous task of brushing off the cobwebs from himself, but briefly walked outside to shake off the dust from his clothes before coming back to the room. He didn't want to pollute the air and worsen the doctor's condition.

It wasn't until Wong had finished unpacking everything that he noticed where the cloak was settled.

A sigh forced itself out of him as he came to grips with his lack of control over the situation. He supposed It wasn't detrimental for Stephen's chest to be clear at that moment. The cloak could stay there a while longer.

With everything set up, he first cut away Stephen's pants up to his upper calf, which was too swelled up to use any other methods. When he finished uncovering the wound, he saw that it was deeper than he initially thought; an angry long red line extending from his ankle to his upper calf that was caused by a poisoned knife. And going by the greenish puss inside, the doctor didn't have long.

Wong grabbed two medicinal vials and poured them generously on the wound.

It started to fizz and foam up until the edges of the wound weren't visible. The poison appeared to be dying.

Wong let out a breath of relief and turned towards the human blanket that had become Mr. Strange. It… he was breathing smoother now. The librarian reached to pull the cloak aside so he could see the doctor's face.

The garment gave him a quick swat on the hand...

"Hey! Don't do that I have to see his face," he yelled.

Wong moved his hand again and was rewarded by another quick swat.

Wong muttered to himself. "Why couldn't another artifact have chosen Stephen? The Belt of Circese would never do this. The dagger of Amerise is polite. Why did you have to choose him?"

Wong tried once more to pull back the persistent cloak and again, he was slapped on the hand. This time it was hard enough to make him fall to the ground.

The librarian grunted angrily as he picked himself up. "You really are a fickle thing… either let me see his face or I'll remove you permanently."

The cloak jolted like it was startled by Wong's words and slowly peeled itself away, revealing Stephen's face. The color was thankfully returning to his skin and what's more, he was starting to come to.

just as Wong waited for his eyes to fully open, they snapped shut again and his body started to convulse.

The librarian shouted at the cloak. "You see what you've done by this foolishness? If I had gotten to him sooner…" The cloak suddenly flew upward and then jolted again, but it was more of a quivering jump of fear than surprise.

Wong shrugged his anger away for the time being. "Never mind," he replied and held his arms out in front of him over Strange. Stephen's entire body turned translucent so Wong could see the path of the poison more clearly. Most of it was near his heart, but the rest was still by his ribs but moving fast. He didn't have long.

Wong turned to the cloak who was currently sulking near the ceiling. "We have no time for your moods. Keep him still for me," Wong ordered.

The cloak turned in time to see the librarian readying a terrifying instrument that the garment had been privy to see used only a handful of times over the centuries.

"Don't even think about it."

The cloak slowly retracted the flap that was aimed to knock the instrument from Wong's hand.

This was not what he expected to ever be doing. Since his arrival 40 years ago, he had only been tasked with keeping up with his studies, and when he got a little older and more practiced in his magic, training the students at Kamatajr. It wasn't until the library's former guardian was beheaded that he then became the next guardian. But still, no matter the length of his service, the closest he ever came to applying medical knowledge was bandaging his own superficial wounds from amateur thieves looking to expand their spell repertoire.

There was no bandage in his hand now, but a syringe filled with a magical antidote with a five-inch long needle that was hovering over his dying friend's chest. Mistakes couldn't be made this time. All that he had was the limited medical knowledge that filled the books in the sanctum's library, and his own intellect to work through whatever would happen. Not much when faced with such a daunting situation, but he supposed it was better than having nothing.

The sound of Stephen's labored breathing and the springs of the bed creaking loudly from his much more violent convulsions worked to push the librarian out of his hesitant mind and into doctor mode.

Wong took a short breath in to prepare himself and stabbed the syringe into Stephen's chest where the poison was concentrated the most.

The cloak latched on hard to the doctor's still form.

The librarian had to cringe as he felt the needle slowly tearing through multiple layers of flesh, not used to the feeling, but he kept steady pressure on it as it descended deeper into his chest, though his hands shook slightly.

It only took about a minute to reach the poison and then he released the antidote at a much slower but consistent pace to help Stephen's body better absorb the substance instead of overwhelming it; as he had learned from his recent readings.

There was just two more minute's worth of antidote left to be administered. Wong saw the blackness around Stephen's heart starting to dissolve and the green puss that was oozing from the wound on his leg was dissipating.

Wong felt a warmth surge within him as Stephen's convulsions were stopping as well. Stephen was no longer dying because of him. The thought brought a bright smile to his face and he felt proud that he was able to keep a cool head in a crisis of an alien caliber. Quite literally.

Turning his head to see if the doctor had awakened, Wong caught sight of something truly heartbreaking.

The cloak had wrapped itself around every square inch of Stephen's chest that it could, allowing two of its flaps to latch onto one of Stephen's sides, while the other was gently stroking his cheek.

Wong nearly burst out with: No No he's alive! But then he thought better of it seeing how it would most definitely startle the poor thing. Instead, he spoke softly. "I was successful in removing the poison. He's going to be fine."

The cloak perked up and turned toward him. It then did the unexpected and brushed a small part of itself over Stephen's closed eyes.

Wong caught the reference. "He is alive, but he just hasn't awoken yet. Give him time."

"Who can stay dead with all this racket?"

The sound of Strange's overused, but rumbling voice grasped both their attentions.

"Stephen, you're awake," Wong said, in a more relieved than happy tone. He very nearly rushed over to him before being thankfully reminded that he was still grasping the now empty syringe and hypodermic needle that needed to be kept still and removed in twenty seconds.

The familiar rumble of the chest beneath the garment was the first sign. The second was words produced from it and both stirred the cloak to awareness from its mourning.

The first thing Stephen saw when he cracked his eyes open was red. "And I see you've made yourself at home again."

The cloak surged with great joy and soared up in the air, doing a few twirls before landing gracefully on the doctor's chest again.

"Yes, I missed you too. Now please let go of my face."

When the cloak moved away from his field of vision, Stephen could clearly see Wong's fingers grasped around the plunger of a syringe… and it was sticking out of his chest

"I take it that I interrupted something," he remarked.

"Yes, this part would be easier with you passed out," Wong replied.

"Oh, well sorry for coming back to life at an inconvenient time."

Stephen smirked, but Wong's brow creased with concern. "Seriously though, how do I do this with you conscious?" He thought for a moment. "I could knock you out?"

Stephen waved him off. "No no, that won't be necessary. I'll just leave my body until you're done."

"Um, Stephen your normal enzymes have been altered, which will make this a lot more painful."

Stephen was too busy working on separating his astral form from his physical form to hear the librarian's voice..

Wong waited for Stephen's astral body to separate from the tangible one. He carefully watched the doctor's tense expressions, frowning when his skin grew taught again. "It's not working, Stephen."

Strange opened his eyes, meeting Wong's. "Why isn't it?"

Wong spoke solemnly. "I believe the poison weakened your magic."

"Great."

Wong sighed. "What do you want me to do?"

"Not knock me out. Just pull it out. I should be fine."

The librarian gave him a questionable look. "Stephen, did you not hear me? Your body isn't producing normal enzymes right now which will make this a lot more painful. The needle has to be removed, but preferably with you unconscious." He narrowed his eyes. "And believe me, you want to be unconscious."

Stephen stared him down. "I'll be fine. I've had a lot of experience with pain.

Wong still wasn't satisfied. "I could have the cloak smack you with this metal tray." He pointed to the tray.. "Or the cloak could just hit you on the head. It knocked me to my feet for just trying to move it out of the way not too long ago."

The cloak did a dramatic turn from the librarian, settling on the edge of Stephen's right shoulder in a sort of peeved sitting position.

"Cross that off then." Stephen's voice was tight with laughter as he turned toward Wong again who appeared to be keeping his laughter at bay as well, however little it was.

Stephen met his friend's worried gaze. "Well? On with it then."

With Stephen turning down every option, Wong had no choice and began slowly pulling the needle out.

Stephen groaned and inhaled and exhaled sharply as the stinging pain in his chest worsened exponentially. This spooked the cloak and it took only a second for the realization to take effect and it was naturally settled on Stephen's chest again, gently squeezing him.

"I tried to warn you," Wong said, pausing in his movements.

The doctor spoke through clenched teeth. "Keep going."

Wong obeyed and pulled the needle out even slower, before being stopped.

"No. Don't go slow. Pull it out as fast as you can." In truth, he hadn't expected so much pain, no matter what Wong said about bodily enzymes… It was just a needle. A long needle, but that should have been making much of a difference. None the less, there was the very prominent feeling of the needle scraping up his dry skin. Dry. His blood flow must have been affected by the poison, not his enzymes. What kind of poison was on that knife?

Something soft and velvety grasped his hand tightly, which took him out of his thoughts. Of course.

But the cloak was trembling.

Normally, something as superficial as this wouldn't cause the cloak to tremble. Strange had been through much worse and the garment never showed its fear to that extent. And it wasn't Strange eliciting this response. As far as he knew, anyway. Perhaps the Cloak suffered more in their three days of captivity than he was aware of. After all, they were separated for a few hours.

A new spark of pain pulled Stephen from his thoughts and he felt the cloak tremble a bit harder.

With the strength he could muster, Stephen gently placed his hand on the shaking garment on his chest and stroked it reassuringly. "It's okay," he crooned in that rich deep baritone that the cloak liked. He felt the cloak squeeze his hand in response.

Stephen breathed through the next waves of pain, strangely comforted by the garment atop his chest. And judging by now the small shivers from the cloak, it was also being calmed.

"One more inch."

Stephen closed his eyes, preparing himself. The last inch was going to hurt the worst, especially without much blood to lubricate the area.

Stephen tensed and bit his lip to keep from crying out, producing a strangled cry as the tip of the needle pulled out of his chest and he collapses on the bed from exhaustion.

Wong quickly pulled out some gauze from his robe and pressed it to the small hole in Stephen's chest before it bled, causing him to flinch. "Sorry about that," he said compassionately, but also in an assertive 'told you so kind of manner.'

Stephen just stared at him pensively while trying to return his breathing to its normal pace, while Wong cleaned the used supplies before promptly exiting the room.

While all the doctor wanted was to lie motionless in bed, these events served to remind Strange of his other injuries and his doctor side needed to be satiated.

Keeping the gauze pressed to his chest, Strange sat up to survey his other injuries.

The gash on his leg was... bleeding onto the bed. His blood flow must have returned to normal.

Stephen searched around for the gauze, but soon remembered that Wong had taken it along with the other supplies. Instead of just letting himself bleed all over the bed until Wong returned though, Stephen took the barely used gauze from his chest and placed it over his leg.

However, in the process of doing this, a drop of blood from his arm splashed onto his leg.

Stephen tried to shout. "Wong! Come back, I need the gauze again." But with no answer, he had no choice but take care of his injuries himself and decided to head to the bathroom to do it. The cloak floated off of him as Strange sat up and started for the door. His steps were shaky and blood was dripping down his arm and leg as he hobbled his way out of the room and just barely made it to the bathroom before he collapsed.

The cloak floated off of him as Strange sat up and started for the door. His steps were shaky and blood was dripping down his arm and leg as he hobbled his way out of the room and just barely made it to the bathroom before he collapsed.

The cloak had to float him over to the toilet so he could sit down, but thankfully Strange was able to put the lid down before he was placed there.

Grabbing two fist fulls of tissue paper, Strange pressed them to his wounds, causing him to wince.

Though he understood why he started to spontaneously bleed, Strange didn't feel right about something. It was more of a nagging sensation than something that was urging him to follow through.

The cloak, at this time, was hovering by the sink and facing him.

Stephen felt he needed to assure it somehow. "It's okay, the bleeding will stop soon."

The bleeding would stop soon and he could return back to his room. It could.

Ten minutes of pressure should have been enough for his blood to congeal again, but when Strange removed the tissue, blood pooled up again, now dripping onto the bathroom floor in larger amounts. This was getting out of hand now. If he continues to lose blood for too much longer, he is looking at a blood transfusion or even death if he can't find a way to stop it.

Seeing as the last option is very likely now, Strange makes up his mind about the only thing that should be done. He stands up and the cloak latches onto his shoulders again as he makes his way back to the room, or rather, floats back. The cloak must have sensed that his energy level is too low to make the trip himself.

Once inside the room, Stephen directs the cloak to float over to his dresser as he retrieves his sling ring, and then directs it to set him back down again.

By this time, Stephen's condition has worsened. His forehead is soaking, his breathing is shallow, his eyes getting slightly red and dark circles have formed under them.

Sensing its chosen's fading energy, the cloak didn't listen to his request and stayed hovering above the ground while Stephen fought to open a stable portal. It took a few tries, but a spark of gold soon ignited and carved a stable portal for travel.

Wong opened the bedroom door just as Stephen stepped through the portal, only catching a glimpse of the crimson cloak as the last sparks of the gateway dissipated in the air.

A/N: Oh no! Doctor Strange is dying! But why is he bleeding to death?