Changing Hearts

Chapter 2

It was a very quiet night in Kamar-Taj. The nighttime training had stopped and all the students had departed to their respected chambers to start again tomorrow morning. The moon hung brightly lit in the sky and stars danced around it in a circular motion. The sky gave of a dark, greenish blue hue, something very odd for nights in Kathmandu, Nepal. However, in the silence of the night, one angry young woman was still awake. Stomping down the hallway, Remi turned a corner and stopped right in front of her chambers, slamming the door behind her and locking it tightly.

Looking around her room she strode towards her bed. Remi ran a hand through her messy black hair and sat down on her bed. She took a moment to calm herself down by taking labored small breaths and stretching her arms over her head with her hands folded together, repeating this motion until she felt the negative chakras running through her body evaporate until she felt an aura of calm takeover. Once she was satisfied, she swung her legs over the mattress and pulled the sheets over herself. She reached for the lights switch above her head but as she was about to flick the lights off, something on the desk to her right caught her attention.

A small picture frame lay next to a small bright desk lamp. Remi reached one hand over and picked up the portrait. A smiling little girl with the same facial features was standing next to an older woman with long silvery white hair, a wide gummy smile spread across her face as well. Remi stared at the picture with sad light amber eyes. Hugging the picture, she began to say a small prayer.

"Grandmother, please let your spirit watch over me. I do not know how to control this darkness in me…" she spoke in her native language. Once she was finished, she looked at the picture. Tears began to brim in the corners of her eyes as she started to remember the events that occurred the days before she had arrived at Kamar-Taj. Shaking her head, she tossed the thoughts aside and placed the picture back on her desk before turning out the lights. All she needed to do now was sleep and pray that tomorrow morning would go a lot smoother than today.

Once the morning light hit, almost immediately the students awoke from their slumber. They crowded the hallways of Kamar-Taj, heading out to get themselves ready for another day of training. Remi awoke around the same time as they did, and got dressed. Tying her hair back into a thick high bun, she stepped out into the hallway and looked around, almost the students in her corridor were out and she followed right behind them, but she stopped in her tracks when she heard a sound that was brought to her attention. Stopping in front of one of the bedroom doors, she saw it was cracked open a bit. She could see in the slim opening part of the bedroom. Looking towards her, the other students paid no attention and they vanished from sight.

Remi looked at the bedroom door once more. Starting to grow concerned, she knew that the Ancient One did not like late beginners and always reprimanded students who were late for training sessions. She opened the bedroom door and went to awake the late morning riser, but stopped dead in her track when she saw it was his bedroom that she walked into. Stephen Strange was sprawled out snoring loudly, hugging a pillow underneath him and covers spread everywhere. She eyed him curiously and noticed the supplies she had dropped off last night tossed onto the floor. Looking at him, she gathered them up and placed them neatly onto the dresser across from his bed. A sleepy moan escaped Stephen's lips that caused her to turn back around, but she scoffed when she saw he was still fast asleep.

"Christine…" Stephen groaned. "I'm sorry, please forgive me for shutting you out."

Remi froze when she heard him talking. Who was Christine and what did he mean by he shut her out? Remi decided to step closer to his bedside to figure out just what was going on with this neurosurgeon. Quietly trotting towards his sleeping frame, she leaned in to listen better. She could see Stephen's chest lightly heave up and down with each breath he inhaled, and his mouth hung open to let air in. He still had his scraggily light brown beard and his hair was a total atrocity, sticking up in all ends and curling randomly in certain spots. From what she could see, he still looked like a homeless man who had just felt like he was in heaven when he laid on a real bed for the first time. Technically, she thought to herself, he was a homeless man who had just lost everything in the world he came to work hard for.

"Christine?" Stephen suddenly asked. Remi watched as his body started to shake. "Christine? Christine!" he repeated suddenly. Remi yelped and shot up when his body reared upward, and before she could make a run for it, his right arm shot up and his hand grabbed her shoulder, pulling her forward. Remi tripped forward and landed right on top of Stephen, who laid back down and pulled her top of him. He let go of her shoulders and his hand slid down to her elbows, gripping them tightly. Remi felt incredibly embarrassed to be on top of him.

"Christine, thank you for forgiving me," a smile spread across the doctor's face and he began to wrap his arms around Remi's body, pulling her even closer to him and his face leaned in closer.

"What in the actual hell?!" Remi reared back and her eyes began to grow angry. She rose her hand and swiped it across Stephen's face, a good thwack echoing through the entire bedroom and down the hall. Some students who were heading to the training grounds stopped to listen, growing confused and looking around.

Stephen's blue eye shot open and he felt a searing pain spread throughout his cheek. His eyes darted around the room and much to his horror, he had a very angry young woman straddling his hips. Growing horrified, he immediately shot up, causing her to drop off him and onto the floor.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" he shouted at Remi.

"Me?! What are you doing?!" Remi snapped right back. "Do you like to accost women while you are asleep?! How dare you put your hands on me!" she walked right back towards him and before Stephen could say anything, she gave him another good slap across the opposite side of his face. Stephen grunted and this was hard enough to send him sprawling off the bed and onto the floor with her. Remi balled a hand into a fist and walked right towards him, grabbing a bewildered Stephen by his throat and holding him in the air. Stephen gasped for air when he felt her hand around his throat lift him in the air. Instincts kicking in, he grabbed Remi's free arm with both hands and jerked her forward, making her gasp and drop him. She tried to retaliate but the doctor in one swift motion pinned her to the carpet, him atop of her.

Remi was taken aback by how strong he was. Stephen looked at her with raging eyes and gritted teeth. However, he made no move to injure her. Suddenly, his facial features softened and before both knew it, they were just staring at each other, a doctor atop of a bewildered Kamar-Taj student. Suddenly, both of their heads shot towards the door as it burst open, Karl Mordo and the Ancient One stepping in.

"What in the name of Mahal is going…on?" Mordo stopped in his tracks along with the Ancient One when they saw the position they both had caught them in. Remi and Stephen's faces grew bright red and they shuffled their weight, Stephen dropping off Remi as both quickly rose to their feet. The Ancient One cleared her throat and walked in front of Mordo.

"I have received word of a disturbance coming from your bedroom, Mr. Strange. Now I see what was happening," the Ancient One shot Remi a glance of disappointment, causing her to straighten her posture.

"What? No! Nothing happened between us," Stephen interjected. "She was only trying to-I was just-it, it was my fault."

"It does not matter who is at fault. You are both late for your lesson, now please, for the love of God, get out now!" Mordo ordered sternly. However, Stephen looked down and saw he was still in his pajamas. Excusing himself, he closed the door behind him as Remi exited the bedroom with Mordo and the Ancient One, quickly putting on random robes and a pair of boots. Waiting outside for Stephen to get ready, Remi turned and saw Mordo and the Sorcerer Supreme giving her disapproving looks.

"I am very disappointed in you, Remi. I thought I knew you to be a mature young woman," Mordo scolded.

"Me?! Stephen's the one straddling me!" Remi accused like a six-year-old.

"Enough of this, the both of you! We are late for today," the Ancient One ordered, a hint of anger in her voice. Remi's glare disappeared and she shrunk back. It looks like this day was going to be worse than yesterday, she realized.

Stephen walked outside onto the training grounds, a look of malice spread across his face. He was forced to join the training group with two good hand-sized bruises across his cheeks. He could not even believe a girl like Remi's size could even be that strong. She was only a foot shorter than him, but boy her strength was already proven to be a forced not to be reckoned with. The students surrounding him stared at his face with confused expressions but they were ordered to get back to their training lessons by Karl Mordo. Stephen looked around and he was ordered to join the last empty spot between two female students.

"This is going to be great," he thought to himself.

"It looks like you are training with me today," a voice suddenly tore him from his thoughts. Turning around, he saw it was none other than the face of the devil herself. He could see her wrapping white bandages around the palms of her hands, tightening the same orange leather armguards he had seen on her arms yesterday. She wore different robes this time, instead of sangria they were a bright yellow and navy blue that somehow coordinated nicely together. He looked down and saw she had on the same roped up sandals around her knees and ankles. Even though she was a pain in the butt to deal with, he could tell she had the face of a hardworking, no nonsense person.

"Your face looks like it has seen better days," Remi commented the bruises with a victorious smirk.

"Because you slapped me twice," Stephen held two fingers up to her face.

"Well you tried to kiss me in a surprise sleep attack, but…I will admit, I do believe I could've handled myself better," Remi eyed him with a slightly sympathetic look but her eyes immediately narrowed and she got into a fighting stance.

"Kiss you?! What on Earth…" Stephen was at another loss of words.

"I went to wake you up for breakfast, but I overheard you talking in your sleep about someone named 'Christine', and before I knew it, I was on top of you and you had your lips puckered out and everything!" Remi waved her hand in front of her face and gestured towards her own mouth.

Stephen's face grew bright red but he stayed silent. He did remember a wonderful dream he and his ex-girlfriend, Christine Palmer, a surgeon he worked with back at the Metro General Hospital. He remembered her opening his arms out wide for her, a smile spread across her beautiful face calling his name and telling him she loved him. He ran towards her and she caught him, smiling into his light blue eyes. He told her he loved her but before he could kiss her, he was awoken with a hard slap across the face.

"Hello, Earth to Mr. Strange!" Remi snapped. Stephen blinked twice and turned his head towards her. "Get into fighting stance. You're about to see just how much you don't know about the Mystical Arts."

Stephen eyed Remi suspiciously but did as he was told. He halfway bent his elbows upward and made two fists, jumping back and forth using one leg at a time. Remi eyed him with amusement but she immediately ran after him with arms stretched out behind her back. Stephen was caught off guard by how fast she was, barely even being able to dodge a single punch that was coming straight for his right cheek, He stepped to the side and caught her leg with his foot, making her fall to the ground flat on her face. Remi shot her head up in shock and shot the doctor an angry glance before she kicked her knees in the air over her head and landed facing away from him back on her feet.

Stephen eyed her movements with his jaw wide open. Turning around, Remi looked at him with a glare and ran straight for him, Stephen got ready and ran just right after her the same way. Before they knew it, both had begun to clash, with Remi doing most of the hitting and Mr. Strange doing the dodging. Remi kicked at his face and stomach, backflipping behind him and catching herself on her hands, trying to kick at him with both her legs so she could push him forward onto the ground. However, it seemed like every time she had tried to attack him, Stephen was aware of her sudden change of stance and did everything in his power to avoid her moves.

"Why aren't you fighting me?!" she asked as she continued to strike at the doctor. "Show me your strength!"

"What kind of strength?! Right now, I'm trying to prevent a crazy lady from killing me!" Stephen sneered.

"It's part of training! For one to be ready to learn magic, one must be ready to fight!" Remi breathlessly reminded him. Stephen stopped for a moment to let the words sink in, but before he could get ready, Remi front flipped towards him with her arm winded out, her fist making contact underneath his chin. Stephen was sent skidding on the ground and hit a brick pillar. Remi stopped her fighting and walked towards the slumped over doctor.

"Why did you not attack me? Do you know how to fight?" Remi put one hand on her hip while breathing heavily.

"Apparently not," Stephen groaned as he got to his feet.

"Before you can learn magic, Stephen Strange, you must be ready to defend yourself. In Kamar-Taj, we do not learn the stereotypical magic where you mysteriously pull a rabbit out of a big top hat or you saw your partner in half while she is strapped in a large metal box. You learn magic where at one point, you will be ready to face your demons."

"I guess it's hard when you're a new student just starting out, huh?" Stephen rubbed his sore neck from her strong punch.

"You must be ready for a situation there is no turning your back on. I will not remind you again," Remi chastised him before turning her back and walking away.

"But you didn't train me, you kicked me around like a ragdoll!" Stephen protested. Remi stopped walking and turned her head only slightly to meet his angry gaze.

"I am a master student, not your elementary school teacher, Mr. Strange. This is not New York City, this is Kamar-Taj. Here your position as a respected doctor means nothing."

Stephen wanted to say something, but Remi turned on her heel and walked away, leaving the confused doctor to fend for himself as students around him continued to train, paying him no mind.

In the library, Remi sat down at one of the tables, reading a book with a focused look in her golden amber eyes. She observed the foreign language written, reading aloud barely above a whisper so no one could possibly hear her. She sighed and continued to flip through the pages while eyeing the words carefully and precisely. After everything that had transpired, she did not bother to train Stephen anymore for the rest of the day, instead instructing Mordo to look after the "dog" as she put him. After all, why would one such as herself train someone who would turn out to be a waste of time in the future?

"Miss Ramirez!" a voice startled her. Shooting from her seat, she saw the glare of the new Kamar-Taj library's guardian, Master Wong. He was a Chinese man with a bald head and wore the same sangria colored robes, a stern look in his dark colored eyes that could even sent a chill running down her spine. Wong eyed her with disapproval before walking towards the book she was reading and closed it.

"You are supposed to be training with the others, why are you here?" Wong inquired as he returned the book to its rightful shelf.

"Because I needed a break," Remi lied, though she shook her head at her own words.

"The Ancient One does not like laziness, Miss Ramirez. Even though you are a master student, do not think you can slack off and venture around Kamar-Taj whenever you please! You are representing a whole new generation that will defend our world from mystical threats, so do your part and listen to orders!"

Remi scoffed and looked down at the ground with a solemn look. She did not like it when Wong scolded her for only coming into the library to read, but she understood his point. Turning on his heel, he instructed her once more to leave before he felt compelled to inform the Sorcerer Supreme of her presence in the library. With those words, Remi quickly bolted out and Wong left to continue his priorities of making sure the library was in order.

Stephen decided to retreat to his quarters early once night settled in. The first day of training was not easy and Mordo kicked his butt like a chained dog, dodging moves and blows to his body as best as he could. He wished that he had more time to rest and ready himself, but he knew he would not be getting his way anytime soon. This is not Metro General Hospital, he told himself, this is Kamar-Taj. Stretching out his aching muscles, he noticed the dresser. The supplies that Remi had left him was neatly collected and sat on his dresser.

"What is her deal?" he thought. "She acts like a mad dog around me, and she barely even knows me! I wonder what I did to deserve her cruelty. Or maybe…is she treating me this way for a reason?"

His mind was interrupted when he heard a small knock on the door. Turning around, he saw it open and once again, Remi appeared before him. Stopping in her tracks, she eyed the doctor for only a moment before closing the door behind her. "I came to uh…drop these off."

Stephen noticed she had a couple of ice packs in her hands. When he met her gaze again, she averted his eyes. Stephen could have sworn he saw a look of guilt in those enticing eyes of hers, but she cleared her throat and walked towards him, holding her arms out and waiting for him to take his dew so she could get out.

"Uh…thank you," Stephen took the ice packs and sat them to the side. Nodding her head, Remi turned to leave, but Stephen cleared his throat. "Look I…I know we haven't gotten off to a good start, but…but I still don't understand why you are being so callous towards me."

Remi listened to him and inhaled through her nose. "When I was informed of your arrival, I did not like the idea of an arrogant doctor coming into a place of such knowledge. Now I realize…I realize I should've handled myself differently."

Stephen listened to her words.

"I will admit, I cannot stand the sight of you, but I do hope that…we can tolerate each other to a certain level. We pay no attention to one another unless we are training or you are under my tutelage."

The doctor eyed him with his mouth agape, but he knew she was serious. They stood there for some time before Stephen nodded his head, hearing her words loud and clear. Remi cleared her throat and retreated from the bedroom, closing the door behind her instead of slamming it.

To Be Continued…

Whew! Five pages, over three thousand words, and another chapter has been completed! Don't forget to leave reviews. If you all liked it, did not like it or if it could use some work, do not hesitate to notify me. I take your words to heart! :)

See ya next chapter! :)