Heart of Iron

Summary: Stephen is really proud of how fast he's learning after he makes his first portal but then comes the astral projection that changes his life forever as he comes face to face with a force from a universe not his own and an ancient relic that will change the fate of his world.

"Shut up."

"No, seriously."

"I said, shut up."

"Aren't you supposed to be some genius doctor?"

"I'm warning you."

"Oh, come on. You have to admit that it's funny. No, it's hilarious."

"You. Don't you get into this, too. It's all your fault, anyway."

"She's not to be blamed for you being a dumbass, Stephen. That's all on you."

"Last warning, Wong."

"I'm honored that I'm at fault for this. You losing your cool like that was priceless."

A growl.

"Come now, Strange. You really made an idiot out of yourself. The woman had said just moments prior to that that she had constructed herself a body and that many things wait for her. Do you really think anyone would go through all that trouble just to kill themselves in the end for an unworthy waste of space Titan?"

"For as long as I've known her, she spoke of an enemy that had erased her from existence before the birth of the universe, of a purpose she needs to fulfill so she can rest, of wanting everyone to be safe so she isn't needed anymore. Enemy defeated. Purpose fulfilled. Everyone's safe. Please excuse me for making the only logical assumption with these facts and the way she was acting like she was ready to die."

"Well, you know what they say about assumptions."

"Don't start with me, Wong."

"Besides, I've only told you about my 'ancient enemy' on the literal last day we've talked. You didn't even know I'm not a living person before then, so don't even-"

"The point of this conversation, Toni, is that I thought you were dying so of course I freaked out!" Stephen finally exclaimed, glaring at his two friends who had been teasing him nonstop since it turned out Toni's new body was just exhausted as it still hadn't adapted to the ways she used it in the battle against Thanos and she just ended up needing a good nap to be as good as new. "I've been looking for you since the day we thought the Heart of Iron was stolen and it's been a long two years! I thought I was losing you all over again, you douchebag!"

Toni just rolled her eyes, even as she leaned on Stephen for support as they walked towards the meeting Fury had arranged in order to get the full story as to what the fuck happened as soon as Toni wakes up. She woke up two hours ago and Stephen had managed to delay the meeting by insisting she needs nutrition and a throughout checkup before he was letting them lay in on her, calling on his doctor's rights. In those two hours, unfortunately, Wong and Toni seem to have become fast friends and while that eased Stephen's heart, he also cursed their meeting as they almost immediately ganged up on him to tease him about his - very embarrassing - freak out when Toni passed out from exhaustion. They were menaces to society and all good Sorcerer Supremes alike.

Worst of all, the Cloak of Levitation loves her and has spent the past two hours mocking Stephen for getting to snuggle with Toni while he didn't. Traitor. Let's see if Stephen buys him his favorite fabric softener anytime soon for this betrayal.

Toni at least seemed to soften at that, favoring him with that warm smile of hers that he had missed so much and feared never seeing again. It looked even better now that she could relax. She no longer had anything to worry about and it showed by how much lighter her gait was and how her eyes sparkled more. Her plan had worked and the universe was safe. She could live out the rest of her life this time around without worrying about idiotic tyrants and galactic warlords.

"While I insist on correcting you about the name of this little wonder," she tapped lightly on the blue light in her chest. "Being the Arc Reactor and not any sort of heart and that it was stolen, only by me, mind you, I am sorry if I worried you. I just want you to know it was never my intention to worry or hurt you, even though I knew, logically, that it was bound to happen either way. We had gotten too close for it to be otherwise."

"And that's not a bad thing, either. Is it?" Stephen didn't think so but Toni might have an entirely different perspective on that. She kept talking about cycles she's lived through and Stephen still remembered with terrifying clarity how Stephen had, apparently, stolen Toni 'from him', whatever he had actually meant by that. The Sorcerer Supreme had his suspicions about what all of that meant and the explanations Toni will give once the meeting starts, but he didn't really care about that for the moment. Toni's response was all that mattered.

"Of course not. It's great!" The woman exclaimed enthusiastically, grinning up at him. "I've had rare few constants in my very long existence, Stephen. You were always one of them, this way or that."

"Is that why you were always angry at the thought of me leaving the order?"

Toni winced at that. "Only partially. It was mostly because I've seen cycles where you never became or quit being a sorcerer, let alone the Sorcerer Supreme. Let's just say no matter what I did, those universes were screwed."

Yeah, Stephen winced at that, too. "How many did you see and live through?"

"I stopped counting after fourteen million six hundred and five."

Now both sorcerers winced as they tried to digest the information. The mere thought of that number sent chills down Stephen's spine. It wasn't a small number. Just the thought of his friend going through over fourteen million existences ... How was she still sane? How hadn't she lost her mind? How was she still so kind and bright and willing to fight and sacrifice for an ungrateful universe? He wasn't sure if he could have held up under such a burden. Sure, he had died only the Time Stone knows how many times in his struggle with Dormammu, but this ... This was different. Toni had watched it all begin and end and begin again only to end once more in a continuous loop, not being able to stop it repeating again and again. No matter what she had done, what she sacrificed and lost, how hard she fought, what she won or even the defeats she faced, it would all just start all over again until the universe received the ending it wanted. It had taken Toni so much more than fourteen million six hundred and five cycles of the universe for her to find the solution it would accept. And that was only the number of times she had bothered to count. Who knows how many more there were between that fourteen million six hundred and fifth and the one happening now!?

If he had ever lacked admiration, respect or awe of Toni before, that realization gave him a more than healthy amount.

"In how many did you win?" Wong asked and didn't even flinch when Stephen gave him a furious glare. That was perhaps the stupidest thing to ask her right now that he could think of. There's a fucking good reason Stephen hadn't, no matter how tempted he was.

"One." That caused both sorcerers to pause, stopping in their tracks in the middle of the Avengers Compound hall they had been walking down in order to get to the meeting room.

"But ... but ... "

"It's this one," she cut off whatever Wong was trying to say, looking Stephen in the eye for some reason. "In the first cycle I have any recollection of, we barely knew each other for twelve hours when we fought Thanos. You used the Time Stone to look into the future and saw exactly fourteen million six hundred and five. In fourteen million six hundred and four, we either lost or won by unacceptable means. There was only one victory. You, or rather the Doctor Stephen Strange of that universe/cycle, led us down to that path by giving up the Time Stone for me. Thanos won. We lost. Half of the universe was turned into dust. He destroyed the Infinity Stones. Thor cut off his head. We had no means of getting everyone back. Five years later, we did. I invented time travel. We went back through time and collected the Infinity Stones. Sacrifices were made. I built a second Infinity Gauntlet with my nanotechnology. The Hulk undid Thanos' snap with his own. Everyone was brought back. Unfortunately, Nebula, who was on the time travel team with us, got captured and Thanos used her device to come into the future with us. We fought. He got his hands on the Gauntlet. You pointed one finger up fir me. One. I knew this was it. I managed to wrestle the Stones from him without him noticing. He snapped his fingers, intent on killing everyone. Nothing happened. I snapped. Thanos and his army disintegrated. Everyone was safe. I died. I thought I could rest. And then I was born again."

"Toni ... " the horrified doctor turned sorcerer breathed, aghast that it had been him who had not only gotten Toni killed but had also imprisoned her in these repetitive cycles.

"I lived. I fought. I sacrificed. I died. I lived again. I killed. I lost. I grieved. I won. I died. I was born again." Toni never looked away from him, never sounded accusing. There was a sad little smile on her face. "At first, I was only aware of the lives I lived. Then, I started being aware of things after my death and then things before my birth. As more cycles passed, the more I was aware of. At some point, it got to being from start to end. Everything. It was horrible until I learned how to influence things even when I wasn't alive. The game changed then but we were still in the endgame. Every cycle was a round for us. There was no real victory or defeat. Neither of us succeeded in our goals. Until last cycle, when I finally understood. Until this cycle, when I finally found a way to end it."

"How can you be sure this is the end? That there won't be any more cycles after this one?" This time, Stephen didn't glare at his fellow sorcerer. It was a valid question, one he was sure Toni must have tortured herself with in the millions of years she'd spent alone or building Kamar-Taj with Agamotto.

"I can't. I don't," Stark replied, finally looking away from Stephen's eyes, breaking their lock. "Neither nor both of our deaths was the answer, so I figured both of us staying alive was. Unfortunately, Thanos and I are indeed connected with each other and the universe. I have been blindly following my first cycle's actions and plans and goals in ridding the world of Thanos and the threat his madness represents. I'm actually ashamed that it had taken me so long to figure that out, given that the Stones reacted to us both."

"They seem to prefer you," Strange observed, eyes flicking to where the Infinity Stones were still dancing around Toni and, now that she was leaning on him as they were making their way to the meeting, Stephen, as they had ever since Toni passed out. The Cloak still occasionally batted them away, seemingly annoyed with the levitating gems. Well, they were sort of stealing its thunder.

"They often do, in the end. Anyway, as for the no more cycles part of your question, that's pretty much impossible. There will always be a next cycle."

"Then what was the point of you doing all of this?" Wong asked, incredulous, and Stephen realized he had echoed him. If the cycles will just repeat coming, all of this seemed pointless in his book. Toni had just wasted another cycle and will have to do the same in the next one all over again. It seemed like too cruel a fate to exist. An endless torture. A loop of pain and loss and struggle.

But Toni didn't seem disturbed or deterred by this. In fact, she only rolled her eyes at them. "The point was that I have finally managed to create an eternal prison for Thanos, which means, when the next cycle dawns, he'll still be trapped. I quite literally sealed his fate. Every cycle that happens from now on until the multiverse itself ceases to exist, Thanos won't be able to bother anyone. He's stuck out of time, out of space, out of reality, out of ever dimension and universe and even outside of the space occupied by beings who do not exist within the universe. I doubt even the One Above All would be able to reach him now."

"Who?"

"An entity more powerful than Dormammu but, thankfully, benevolent." Stephen decided he'd have to read into that. He'd never heard of this 'One Above All'. And from the looks of it, neither had Wong. He guessed there were perks to being a practical god/goddess, such as knowing some real important, big deal people and entities. "Anyway, aside from that, I'm hoping that doing this will enable me to forget everything when the next cycle begins."

"What? Why?" Wouldn't it be easier to protect the universe from other threats if she kept her memories? And then Stephen winced when he realized how selfish that might be, despite the selflessness of the thought's origin. Toni had already been at this for trillions of cycles. She wanted rest. She'll probably welcome death this time around like an old friend and be completely thrilled if she feels her memories and awareness start to fade. She deserved that oblivion. "Right, never mind."

Iron Maiden just laughed that twinkling laugh, the sound of which he had missed and truly feared he'd never hear again. Despite everything, relief and warmth finally washed over Stephen and he felt his lips tilt into a hopeless grin. Wong must think him an idiot. Or, more likely, a lovesick idiot. Stephen wouldn't even deny it. He knew the truth himself. He had been very awkward with himself after he realized the nature of his feelings for Toni given that she was practically a ghost and not even that. Even when he had believed her to have never been a real, living person, when he had berated himself constantly for falling in love with the sentience of an ancient, powerful, magical artifact, he couldn't shake his feelings for her, couldn't rationalize them away, and he had resigned himself to his feelings being genuine and deeply rooted. He had thought himself a fool for being more than willing to settle on loving a person he will never be able to hold outside of the Astral Plane and had called himself a million different kinds of idiot and, in the end, he had just wanted her back. He wanted to apologize. He had been such an asshole and-

And he hadn't apologized yet.

"Wong, can you leave us for a moment? There's something I want to discuss with Toni, please." Toni and Wong exchanged a glance, as did he and Wong and then he and Toni. The Cloak just watched them all like it was following a tennis match before shooing the other sorcerer away and attempting to do the same with the Infinity Stones that irked it so. Wong just rolled his eyes and huffed at it but followed along, going no doubt to the meeting room to inform the Avengers of their immediate arrival, but the Infinity Stones didn't budge, which led to an animated argument between seven entities that could only use gestures to communicate and it looked angry and aggressive and resembled an argument more than anything. Soon enough, they were distracted enough that they didn't realize Toni had pulled them a bit away from them so they could talk. Well, the Time Stone did and was, surprisingly enough, content to just hover by them as though it was watching. It was a bit unnerving how it was just ... floating there, but Stephen had at this point seen stranger things.

Go figure this was his life.

"Right," he drawled before taking his gaze away from all of the Stones and the Cloak, instead turning his attention back to the expectant but knowing Toni. She just smiled at him and patted him on the chest companionably.

"It's okay, Stephen. I know what you want to say and it's okay. I forgave you a very long time ago." He must have been making a very incredulous expression that was either hilarious or a bit off putting, because she laughed and Strange tried not to get lost in the sound or the stars that were twinkling in her eyes. Oh, by the Vishanti, he was nothing more than a lovesick idiot. Still, that laugh was definitely worth any embarrassment on his part. "Oh, Doc. Did you forget already? I've known trillions of versions of you for who knows how many years and I've known you for a good number of months before we had our argument. I know how you are. I know how you can lash out. And while I won't deny that it did hurt my feelings to be reminded of just how little humanity remained in me, I got over it. I never held it against you. You were just told that what you're looking fir is impossible by someone whom you considered a mentor and a close friend, if I dare be optimistic about that. I reacted much worse to some of the things my friends told me over the cycles. Or didn't tell me but I found out anyway." The last was muttered under her breath, so obviously not meant for Stephen to hear, even if he did. Still, he didn't ask. It was obviously something that probably still bothered her more than she'd like to admit. Like it bothered Stephen still that his hands shook. It was just something one must learn to live with. "Either way, you don't have to apologize to me. I get it."

Stephen frowned in sadness at that, feeling a painful pang in his heart. "But I do need to apologize. Just because you understand why someone did or said something doesn't mean they're not wrong or that their actions and words hadn't hurt you. You're allowed to feel wronged, Toni. You have emotions, too. No one's asking you to be a robot." He paused, taking a deep breath and taking a careful step away from Toni, keeping a wary eye on her in case she suddenly lost her footing.

"Stephen?" The uncertain, confused way she said his name was not something he was used to from Toni. He didn't like it. She was the strongest, most powerful person he had ever known and it wasn't even just because of the power she holds - which he still didn't quite understand, but he figured she'd explain soon enough. Toni was just amazing the way she was because she was that way. She didn't need anything else to be strong.

Which is why he gave her a deep bow at the waist, face towards the ground, the way he had been taught in Kamar-Taj to apologize when he feels he had shown disrespect to someone whom he truly appreciates and respects. It's an Asian thing that he found humbling and that he had purposefully learned about just so he can properly apologize to Toni. "I'm sorry." Toni was silent, out of shock or uncertainty as to how to take his apology remains to be seen. "I should have never said the things I did, no matter the circumstances. You have ... Always been someone whom I've felt the deepest respect and appreciation. You've taught me so many things and been my friend and the light of my life when my days were dark and dreary and everyone around me pretended it was perfectly fine. The nights we spent talking, joking and laughing together are some of my fondest, most precious memories and you are, without a doubt, the best friend I have ever had. I hold you in the highest regards, Toni, and I hope you can forgive me and my foolish words. I have been unfairly cruel to you when you have never been anything but kind and caring towards me. I'm not going to ask for forgiveness, as I believe that should be something you freely give, however I am selfish but also not a liar so I will openly admit to hoping for it." He stands up straight again, meeting Toni's eyes with a small, sad smile of his own when he sees the disbelief in her eyes. "I've searched for you for as long as I have because the thought of never seeing you again is practically a physical pane. I've missed you, Toni, and am infinitely glad that you were alright and that you are alright right now. Whatever happens from this point on, remember you will always have a friend in me, whether you want me as such or not, and that you will always have my full support."

"Stephen ... " she whispered softly and said sorcerer shrugged a bit awkwardly.

"Well, unless you suddenly decide you want to destroy the world." He tried to grin and dispel some of his awkwardness from how intense everything got and was relieved when Toni laughed. "You know I can't, if that happens." He figured he might as well continue the joke. "I am the Sorcerer Supreme now and it is my duty-"

"Shut up, Strange," was all Toni said before leaning up, wrapping her arms around his neck and unexpectedly pulling him down into a surprise kiss. And has officially shut down. Reboot, reboot, reboot! It wasn't even a deep or carnivorous one, just a tender brush of lips that lingered for a number of seconds before the brunette pulled back and smiled mischievously up at him. He must have had quite a dumbstruck - or more accurately lovestruck - expression on his face because she giggled and gave him a flirtatious wink even as she patted his cheek fondly once, twice and then pulled back. He was only half aware of the Infinity Stones immediately zooming over to her, once again dancing around them like she was the sun and they were a part of her solar system, much to the Cloak's annoyance at being ignored.

The red piece of sentient magical cloth would have huffed had it had the parts necessary to preform the action before drifting over to its master. Stephen didn't even notice when it settled on his shoulders and patted his cheek in much the same way Toni had moment before. When he didn't react even to that, the already annoyed Cloak nearly poked him in the eye to get his attention and even then it was successful only in getting the mighty Sorcerer Supreme to touch his lips in a dreamlike daze.

"You coming, Doc?" Toni's voice, though, snapped him out of his stupor and he looked up to see her sauntering away without a backward glance but not too fast of a pace, clearly expecting him to follow.

Hopelessly lost in his warm daze created by love, blushing and ignorant of the butterflies flying around his head, Stephen did.

He'd go wherever Toni did, as long as she would take him.