Despite the late bedtime, Zira woke up and made it for the morning meditation with Bhikku. She knew that if anyone would be able to help her, it would be him. She struggled a little bit with the class, but was ultimately able to follow his guided meditation. Once he sounded the end of class, Zira seized the opportunity to go to him. She explained the situation and, for the first time since she had met him, he looked serious.

"Looking for repressed memories is dangerous, Zira," Bhikku said. "You often find things that you do not wish to see."

"It's important. I have to know something," Zira insisted. Bhikku sighed and nodded. He had her bring her mat over next to his so that she was facing him. She sat down in front of him and began to breath slowly. Bhikku rang his singing bowl three times before he began guiding her.

"Find the last memory that you have of your mother. The strongest memory that you have." Zira called up the last time she was lucid and told her off for wanting to go and give Dr. Strange a piece of her mind. It was clear as day. She could even hear her mothers voice. "Now, follow that stream further back. Allow it to carry you beyond that memory." With a deep breath, Zira followed a bright light behind her younger self to a memory further back. She kept going until she reached something that she recognized but didn't remember.

A blue living room, furnished with a grey couch, matching loveseat, and a chestnut coffee table. A young Zira, approximately 2, was sitting on the floor, building with blocks. Her mother and her Aunt Sheila were sitting on the couch.

"You should say something to him," Sheila was saying.

"He doesn't need to know," her mom said.

"He's a big deal, now! You and Zira could live practically in luxury!"

"And have her subjected to the mess of a broken home? Go through the mess of paternity tests and court dates? What if he gets fussy about visitation? No, I'm not saying a word. She'll find him on her own when the time is right," Diane said.

"And what if he comes looking for her? What if he finds out and makes your life a living hell over it?"

"He never even bothered to ask my name let alone try to get ahold of me after that night, Sheila," Diane scoffed. "Stephen Strange wants nothing to do with me or Zira. And you will not say a word to anyone about this," she added, her scoff becoming a stern tone that Zira would hear hours before her death.

"Come back!" she heard Bhikku's voice command her. The image before her went black as she opened her eyes, her breath shuddering. Bhikku was looking at her, his gentle eyes now filled with concern and sternness.

"She knew," Zira said. "My mom knew all along and she never told me." Her voice was cracking and she suddenly became acutely aware of her tear-filled eyes as they clouded her vision and ran down her cheeks. Bhikku pulled a small handkerchief out of his robes and handed it to her. She wiped her face and eyes, her hands shaking.

"Now that you have this information, what will you do with it?" he asked.

"I don't know," she admitted, handing the piece of cloth back to her teacher. "I can't exactly confront my mom. She's gone."

"While you cannot change what has been done, you can choose what will come next," he pointed out. Zira thanked him, rose shakily from her mat, put it away, and left. She suddenly had a lot to think about.

Thinking about everything that had happened over the span of 24 hours was causing Zira to have anxiety attacks. Instead, she refocused on her work, choosing to put information away in place for helping to prepare for Mordo.

During some trials, she realized that in a pinch, going astral was going to be a bad decision, and conjuring portals to other realms wasn't always going to be possible or safe. Therefore, there needed to be a quicker solution to repairing severed connections.

Wong was not surprised to see the silver-haired student walk into the library a few days after her fight with Mordo.

"Wong, do we have any books on how the sling rings work?" That caught him off guard.

"How the sling rings work? Why do you need to know that?"

"Research for my medical work," Zira said simply. He thought for a moment, and decided not to argue with her. He took her back to the masters section of the library and started pulling down a few books for her.

"Stephen told me everything," he said as he pulled a book off of the shelf. Zira paused, closing her eyes as she shut the book Wong had previously handed her.

"And?"

"I cannot say that I am surprised," he admitted. "All of the masters said that you two were very similar. You turning out to be his daughter only strengthens that connection."

"My mother didn't want to tell me," Zira said, taking the new book he was handing her. "She said she didn't want me to get caught up in the mess of court dates, parenting agreements, child support, visitation, all that. She didn't want me knowing that I was growing up in a broken home; that I would find out in my own time."

"She was right. You did find out in your own time."

"What if I had gone and talked to him that day? Would he have even noticed?"

"Probably not," a voice said from the doorway. Wong and Zira looked to see Stephen standing there. He still looked a little worse for wear, but he was walking. "Or I would have ignored it intentionally." Wong handed Zira the last book she was going to need and left without a word. The few other masters in that section of the library noticed the two of them and left as well.

"You wouldn't have wanted me?" Zira said, feeling small.

"You said it yourself, Zira. I was a dick," Stephen said, slowly walking towards her. "I might have at least acknowledged that you could have been mine and done the paternity test, but I would have abandoned you and your mother."

"You did, you just didn't know it." Zira muttered. Stephen sighed and looked down.

"You're right. I did abandon you," he admitted. Zira looked him, eyes wide. He was admitting everything...and seemed remorseful. "I'm not sure if you want to try and make up for lost time-"

"Dear sweet powers that be no," Zira said. There was a small moment of silence and Zira did not fail to notice that Stephen relaxed a little bit. "How about…." she said after another minute. "We just start here? This is the beginning. You just became a parent, but I'm 18. Your main responsibilities are really no different than what you've been doing." Stephen pondered that for a minute, then grinned.

"You're on," he said. Zira settled at the table and Stephen settled across from her. They spent the next few hours studying and deconstructing the magic behind the sling rings that they used almost every single day. This went on for a week and a half. They sat at the same table with the same books. There would be times of pure silence as they read and took notes, and other times when they were in deep conversation of theory and practice. One night, after completing her chores around the temple, Zira realized just how comfortable she had gotten with him. She had started looking forward to their study sessions.

On the 12th day of that cycle, Zira was fussing with a spell circle when she suddenly saw a hole through the table she was working on. Stephen was in the stacks looking for another book when she shouted triumphantly. He came running and smiled as he saw what she had accomplished. Zira turned and looked at him, a mile-wide smile on her face. Her heart swelled when she saw the look of pride in his eyes. Turning her attention back to the spell, she took a deep breath and exhaled slowly as she ended the spell.

"We did it," she said quietly, stumbling slightly as the effort of maintaining the spell lifted from her shoulders.

"You did it," he corrected her, putting a hand on her shoulders to keep her from falling. They both looked at the spot where she had just cast the spell.

"Now we just have to try it on someone to make sure it won't kill them," Zira commented.

"We could wait until Mordo shows his face again and try it on him," Stephen said bitterly. Zira whipped around and looked at him, eyes wide with shock. Stephen caught himself when the shock and horror on his daughters face. He sighed and looked down.

"Sorry," he muttered. "He insisted on me breaking my oath to do no harm and got mad at me when I figured out a solution that didn't involve killing anyone when Dormammu attacked." Zira nodded.

"Then I guess I need to figure out a solution that would do the same thing, right?" she said.

"I'm not going to ask you to do what I did," he insisted. "I was willing to hold Dormammu in an infinite loop and let him kill me over and over again. I'll die permanently this time before I let that happen to anyone else, especially you." Zira's eyebrows raised when she saw how serious he was. She sighed and looked him square in the eyes.

"I figure out how to do this without killing," she promised him. Stephen smiled and nodded.

"Is it bad that I'm glad I didn't know I was your father until now?"

"What do you mean?"

"You have my determination and intelligence, but you grew up to be a much better person than I was or probably ever will be. Isn't that what parents are supposed to want for their children?"

As Zira took a breath to answer, a rapid beeping started coming from her pocket. With a frown, she reached in and pulled out the communicator Josh had given her when she left for Kamar Taj. She tapped it twice.

"Josh?" she said at it.

"ZIRA!" came the frightened shout. "You need to get to the mansion quick! Some lunatic is here and he's trying to take our powers! Keeps muttering something about sorcerers!" Zira and Stephen looked at each other, eyes wide.

"Mordo," was the only word that came out of Stephens mouth.

"Where's the professor? The other X-Men?" she asked.

"The X-Men are out of state, and Professor X is lecturing in England," Josh replied. "Please hurry!"

"Get everyone out of the mansion," Zira ordered. "Go by the escape tunnels. I'm on my way." She and Stephen stood up as she conjured a portal outside of the mansion.

When they stepped through, though the night was quiet, Zira could hear the commotion coming from inside. Her heart leapt to her throat and she unhooked the Wand of Watoomb from its place on the back of her belt. As though reading her mind, Stephen put a hand on her shoulder.

"Zira, we need to think about this carefully," he warned. Zira sighed through clenched teeth, making it sound like she was hissing, but she didn't move. He was right, they had to think. "Let's focus on getting everyone out first, then we can take care of Mordo. Now, where are the escape tunnels?" Zira hooked her weapon back on to her belt and started thinking about where each tunnel was and where it came out. The main one came out about a mile away. Taking a deep breath, she conjured a portal to where the exit was and sure enough, several students in their pjs came running through, confused. A few of them were youngsters she had taught and recognized her almost immediately. In the meantime, Stephen conjured another portal to the Sanctum and sent them through it. One of the youngsters, a red-headed girl named Angie with a pyrokinetic mutation (a stereotype to some, but she delighted in being able to light her hair on fire and it look good), gave Zira a big hug before she went to the Sanctum.

"Angie, where are the others?" Zira asked before she left.

"A few of them took the north tunnel, a bunch took the east one," Angie answered.

"What about Alpha Squad?"

"They volunteered to hold this guy off until you got here." Zira nodded and sent her off, but not before she started feeling sick.

"Zira, focus," Stephen warned her, keeping the Sanctum portal open. "We still have a bunch to save." Zira shook her head and nodded. From what the other groups said when she guided them through the portals, everyone else was out except for her former team. Once the portals were closed, she unhooked her weapon and looked at the main doors. She turned and looked at her teach...her father, who was also looking at the mansion with concern. When their eyes met, each one saw how scared the other one was.

Zira took a deep breath...and ran full pelt at the doors, blasting them open with a burst of energy from the Wand.

"Be careful!" was all Stephen managed to shout out before he lost sight of her. He knew that he was in no condition to fight, so all he could do was pray to whatever deity was listening.

Please...please keep my daughter safe