Lessons In Love: Chapter Twenty-Eight: Blood In The Cut (Part 1)

Stephen and Victor were eating a pretty big breakfast. They shared most of it, and the two of them were taking about their father.

Victor told him something that his father said to him, and the subject amused the older brother as he ate.

"Dad always tells me that you drive too fast. I'm not supposed to ever get in a car with you."

"He's right. I'll give him that one."

Stephen looked up from the food. He saw that rebel without a cause, named Bucky, walk by the window of the family restaurant.

"Wait here, ok. I'll be back."

Stephen got up from the table, and he playfully messed up his little brother's hair. Victor gave out a short laugh, and he tried to fix the damage to his appearance.

Victor liked his hair a certain way, and his brother's behavior made him smile. He felt better being around Stephen. Victor did not want to be at home. The fifteen year old looked out the window, and he took another bite of his giant waffle.

Stephen pushed the door to the restaurant open, and he followed after Bucky. He was headed back toward the hotel, and it looked like he was out all night.

Bucky didn't want to go back to that room. He thought about hitch-hiking, but that plan was pretty dumb. He had no resources to use, and the rowdy brunette kept his hands in his jacket.

Bucky looked dead ahead, and he saw Steve carrying stuff to Stephen's car. The blonde had multiple bags, and Tony was right beside him.

Bucky didn't want to talk to them. He turned around, and focused on the person that was walking in his direction. Stephen stopped a few feet in front of Bucky, and the anger that he had returned.

"Bravo on the alarm."

"Jeepers, did it wake you up too?"

Bucky shrugged. He didn't expect the alarm to wake up every single inhabitant of the hotel. He thought the set-up of that was idiotic. He wanted to tell Stephen to blame management, but he chose to say nothing instead.

"No, but you woke up Victor. He thought they were sirens, coming to take the dead."

Victor was in a very dark place. The death of their sister had him in a very depressed state of mind. Bucky's punk antics were the absolute last thing that Victor needed.

Stephen wanted to hurt him. He started to slowly clench one of his fists, and Bucky remained cool as a cucumber.

"I didn't think the whole place would light up from it. Lesson learned, I guess."

Bucky didn't want to dwell on any of that. The dead weren't taken, so everyone could drop the dramatics. The brunette looked back over toward that car, and it became clear that they were noticed.

Steve was looking in Bucky's direction, and the brunette let out a soft sigh. He completely ignored Stephen, and tuned out whatever it was that he eventually said.

Stephen didn't think that Bucky heard what was said. He didn't feel acknowledged, and he clenched that fist a little tighter. Stephen took a step toward Bucky.

Steve and Tony were talking about heading in their direction. Tony mentioned that Stephen was pretty annoyed with the fire alarm going off, and Steve didn't like the scene that was up ahead.

They finished up their innocent "necking" back in the room, and the two of them decided to head out. Steve wanted Tony to know that he returned his feelings. He liked him back, and he didn't want that odd tension to continue.

He planned to talk to Bucky, and figure out what was going on.

Steve wasn't sure when he would be able to talk to him, but he felt like the group needed to get on the same page before they all traveled together again.

Steve and Tony started walking toward the other two, but they stopped when they saw a bright green glow. Stephen took another step, and he listened to a voice that was inside his head.

Someone, or something, told him that he could hurt Bucky. It said that he could twist him back in his place. Stephen was so angry. He felt brushed off, so he clenched both his fists.

Bucky was struck down by a powerful force. He flew forward, and collided into the side of the hotel office. Stephen held his glare, and he immediately started looking down at his hands.

Bucky processed what happened, and he pulled himself up from the wreck. It felt like he got hit by a car, but he wasn't injured.

What Stephen did caused a scene. People from all around started looking, and Bucky yelled out that he needed to relax. Relax? Stephen glared over in his direction again.

That was something that the would-be-doctor did not want to hear. OK. Ok. Steve had to step in front of Bucky. The blonde headed in front of his friend, while Tony headed over to Stephen.

"I think he's a mutant or something."

Bucky said something to Steve, and then he brushed all the dirt off of his jacket. Steve glanced back in the would-be-soldier's direction.

What the heck is going on with you Bucky? Steve was surprised by his behavior. It was different.. he was antagonizing Tony, and causing mischief.

Steve pondered that, but then he decided to focus on Stephen. He looked pretty ticked off. Tony started talking to him. He asked him where Victor was.

Tony figured that was the sweet spot. Stephen was protective of his little brother, and just mentioning him might soften him up. Tony was right, because Stephen started stepping and standing in a different way.

He continued to glare at his target, and he was listening to the voice in his head. Tony's voice would break through it, and Stephen started glancing in his direction.

"I'll go get him. I'm sure he'd love to see you like this."

Tony threatened to get Victor. Did Stephen want his bro to see him all huffed up over some punk? Tony didn't think so, and he stepped closer to him.

What happened next was truly bizarre. Tony almost reached Stephen, but something orange started forming behind him.

Tony stopped moving, and he stared at some peculiar light. It formed a shape behind Stephen, and Tony's eyes stretched open wide.

An orange circle was formed behind him, and Tony saw an arm poke out from within it. Steve and Bucky saw the circle as well, and the two of them stood in shock.

The orange circle was a portal. The arm that poked out belonged to an older version of Stephen. That older version stopped someone's body from moving, and he emerged from the spinning portal.

Dr. Stephen Strange stepped in front of Stephen Strange, and he inspected his younger self. He made sure that he could not move, but Stephen could see what appeared in front of him.

Tony looked at those weird friggen clothes. He thought some sort of space alien popped out of that circle. He stared at the cloak as it moved around, and then Tony rushed over to them.

He stopped and looked at two very different versions of Stephen. Tony asked the intruding one what he was doing. Why couldn't he move? The questions kept going. Why why why? How how how? What what what?

It started sounding like chirping, and the older Stephen looked in the direction of the noise.

He took in the sight of a seventeen year old version of Tony Stark, and it made him smile. He thought that Tony was cute, and noisy. The brunette saw that smile and it made him take a step back. What the heck, man?

The older Stephen changed his tune after a moment, and he looked over at the portal. He decided to close it, for now, because the scene around them needed to change.

They had way too many onlookers. Stephen kept his younger self in place, and he turned toward the rest of the group.

He saw a Bucky Barnes, a baby Steve Rogers, and a bunch of randoms up ahead. The randoms needed to go about their business. He debated how to handle it, but those thoughts immediately disappeared.

All of Stephen's thoughts stopped when he heard a different voice amongst the randoms.

Dr. Stephen Strange "Sorcerer Supreme" had not heard that voice in a very long time. Victor loudly asked to know what was happening, because he couldn't wait any longer for his brother to return.

The situation was confusing and scary. Victor didn't understand what he was looking at.

The older Stephen turned around in that cloak. He stared at a ghost, and he listened to him speak. He concluded his thoughts on the randoms, and the Sorcerer closed his eyes.

He took Victor, Tony, Bucky, Steve, and his younger self away from the world that they currently knew. Three of them were aligned with powers that they didn't understand,

For the safety of others, they needed to be moved to a place where they could learn.

Stephen took them all the way to a magical place called Kathmandu. He also took them to his dimension. The Sorcerer took them there because he was in control of it. In other dimensions it was still being run by different versions of the Ancient One.

He didn't want to mess with that. His younger self was still held in place, while the others processed the change in their location. They all spun about and looked around.

Noisy questions kept popping up. Every single one of them started talking, but the older Stephen did not respond to any of them.

He decided to leave all the babysitting up to his wonderful comrades.

Chapter: END

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