chapter nine
death overture

        Sabrina stands alongside Mordo in the ruins of the room of doors back in Kamar-Taj.  The Cloak of Vitality hovers just over her shoulders.  Even it seems to know that Sabrina does not want to be touched.  Sabrina cannot stand to stay in the hospital.  Not again.  The hospital would only fuel the fickle hope that The Ancient One would survive.  She and Mordo grieve in silence.  Mainly because that is the only way that Sabrina has ever known how to grieve.  She grieves Abiral silently because nobody else seems to grieve him.  She grieves Master Drumm silently because his death was regarded as nothing but an inconvenience and nobody else grieves him (but surely, everybody is deserving of grief).  Because somewhere out there, somebody is crying for another person who is killed.  It doesn't matter if they were good or bad because our world is not dictated in terms of good and bad.  Our world has never been black and white.  Only shades of gray.

They are not only grieving for The Ancient One's death, but they are grieving for the person that they thought she had been.  Sabrina mourns the time when she thought that The Ancient One could do nothing wrong.  She mourns the time from before.  Because surely, before the lies and deceit The Ancient One was a good person.  Sabrina grieves the fact that she will never be able to forgive The Ancient One—not completely anyway—because, at the end of the day, The Ancient One had never apologized.  And now she never will. 

They cannot grieve for much longer.  Sabrina knows this.  Mordo does too.  The Ancient One was just an overture for the death that will follow.  The Ancient One will not be the last to die.  Kaecilius will make sure of that.  The more time they spend in this silent room, the more time Kaecilius and the Zealots have to regroup.  The more time they have to cause destruction.  The more time they have to kill.

A portal opens from behind them and Sabrina does not have to turn around to know that it is Stephen who steps out.  "She's dead."

Sabrina bows her head with a sort of finality.  She knew long before Stephen had appeared that The Ancient One was dead.  But Stephen's news suddenly makes it more real and suddenly, Sabrina is filled with a regret that was not there before.  She thinks it's almost tragic that The Ancient One had died, possibly believing that Sabrina resented her for what she had done.  And in a way, Sabrina thinks that there will be a part of her that will always resent The Ancient One.  But resent does not take all her love away.  She wonders that The Ancient One's final thoughts were.  If maybe, in her last few moments of life, she did feel guilt for what she had done to Sabrina. 

"You were right," Mordo says.  "She wasn't who I thought she was."

"She was complicated," Stephen replies.

At this, Mordo finally turns around to face Stephen.  He looks around the ruins of the room of doors and throws his hands in the air.  "Complicated?"  He turns back around and begins to pace around the rubble.  "The Dark Dimension is volatile.  Dangerous.  What if it overtook her?  She taught us it was forbidden...while she drew on its power to steal centuries of life."

"She did what she thought was right," Stephen argues.

"Lying to me was right?" Sabrina asks suddenly.  Her voice is strained and choked back by tears that refuse to fall.  "Using me as a scapegoat come the day the Dark Dimension cuts her off?  That was the right thing?  Nothing you say will be able to justify her actions."

"The bill comes due," Mordo says.  "Don't you see?  Her transgressions led the Zealots to Dormammu.  Kaecilius was her fault.  And here we are...in the consequence of her deception.  A world on fire."

"Mordo, the London Sanctum has fallen.  The New York one has been attacked twice.  You know where they're going next," Stephen replies.

"Hong Kong," Mordo answers.

"You told me once to fight like my life depended on it because one day it might," Stephen starts, moving closer to Mordo.  "Well, today is that day.  I cannot defeat them alone."

Mordo looks back up at Stephen with a renewed determination in his eyes.  Both of the men then turn to Sabrina.  She takes a deep breath and The Cloak of Vitality wraps itself back around her shoulders.  Its embrace is warm.  The kind of warmth that she craves.  Sabrina was just a child when this war started.  She still is now—hopes to be for a few months more—and she's been dressed up in an adult's uniform and thrown into the midst of it without a single warning.  But she can't desert her comrades now.  Not when there is so much at stake.  Not when she's still hunted for the marrow in her bones.

Sabrina does not have a choice but to fight in this war—she wishes she does because if she did, she would choose to sit out of this fight a thousand times over.  Sabrina is not a fighter.  Yes, she seeks fights to bleed, to know that she's still alive—but their opponents had never stood a chance against them to begin with.  This is a different kind of fight.  A fight with a gruesome outcome.  This is a fight that ends in death.  This is the kind of fight that Sabrina might not come out alive.  She doesn't know if she's prepared to make this kind of sacrifice—but she doesn't have much of a choice, does she?

She nods.  "Let's do this."

Stephen opens a portal and together, the three leap through.

They are greeted with the destruction of Hong Kong.  Wong had taken Sabrina to Hong Kong once, to learn more about the culture that they shared.  (Is it even Sabrina's culture anymore?).  She remembers that day vividly.  It would always exist as one of her favorite days in the back of her mind.  Something to play on an old film reel on a rainy day in the future.  He had taken her to Dim Sum and teach her more Chinese.  At the end of the day, he had promised to take her there again.  He never did.  And now, it seems, he never will.

Sabrina raises a hand above her eyes to shield them from the dust that blows past in the wind.  Buildings have topped and are nothing but broken carcasses of what they once were.  Beaten and broken cars line the streets, turned upside down and on their sides.  There are little fires everywhere and broken bodies lining the streets.  A dilapidated police car pulls past them as citizens run and scream in terror.  A crew of firefighters has gathered around the rubble as they extract the bodies that have been buried beneath them. 

And just beyond that, over the tops of the skyscrapers is a purple vortex, rumbling and crackling with light.  Sabrina stares at it, transfixed.  There's a tug in the pits of her stomach.  A tug that urges her to run towards it.  And then she remembers what Kaecilius had told her.  You were once Darkness, and to Darkness, you shall return.  It is inevitable.  And so, she purges the urges and pushes them to the back of her mind, and refocuses on the destruction around them.

"The Dark Dimension," Mordo utters.  "Dormammu is coming."

The presence of the Dark Dimension can only mean one thing: they had failed.  The Hong Kong Sanctum has fallen.  Sabrina can't help but think that this is her fault.  If she and Mordo had not mourned for as long as they did—if they had not mourned at all—maybe, Hong Kong would be saved.  Maybe there wouldn't be this much blood on their hands.  Or maybe, she'd be among the bodies of the Sorcerers who had perished.  Sabrina does not know what would be better: for her to die among those who had perished, or to survive but live with the guilt of living. 

"You think it'll hurt?" Sabrina wonders aloud.

Nobody answers.

"It's too late," Mordo murmurs as Kaecilius and the Zealots come into view, emerging from the cloud of dust that surrounds Hong Kong.  "Nothing can stop him."

"Not necessarily," Stephen whispers after a few moments.

Sabrina watches as he brings his ring and middle fingers together in front of the Eye of Agomotto.  The center of the pendant unwinds to reveal a glowing green stone.  Sabrina screws her eyes shut as Kaecilius and the Zealots charge at them.  They are sorely outnumbered.  They will not make it out of this fight alive.  And suddenly, Stephen throws his arm forward and for a moment, everything stops. 

Sabrina watches, transfixed as Hong Kong repairs itself.  Signs hang themselves back up, cars fix themselves, and the fire hydrant becomes intact once more.  The bodies disappear and become reanimated once more.  Mordo flinches as a blur of a person shoots past him, knocking him in the arm. 

"The spell's working," Stephen reports.  And with that, the three break into a sprint towards the Sanctum that stands just at the end of the road.  "We've got a second chance!"

"Oh, shit!" Sabrina shouts as she collides with a pedestrian, tumbling to the ground just seconds before a sheet of scrap metal soars where she had been standing only moments before. 

Sabrina feels a hand grip the back of her tunic and yanks her up from the ground.  A hand covers her mouth as she tries to let out a scream of alarm and grips her around the waist as she's dragged away from Stephen and Mordo.  Sabrina clasps her hands together and shoves her elbows back into her assailant's stomach, hard.  The hand around her mouth loosens and she's able to twist out of the deadly embrace that the Zealot has entangled her in.  She whirls around and kicks them in the side, sending them stumbling into the nearby building wall, just as it reassembles itself, trapping the Zealot within the foundations of cement.

Sabrina stumbles away from the temporary grave, shielding her eyes as a thick could of dust envelops the street.  She coughs and crouches on the ground, covering her head with her arms, and hoping beyond hope that nothing will come sailing towards her.  She can't see anything.  She is walking blindly through a storm with no end in sight.  There's no use in scrambling blindly when she can walk into an awaiting blade.  She attempts to shield her face from the onslaught of debris that cuts open the skin on her face.  The Cloak of Vitality does its best to protect her, but even then, it is just a cloak.

The dust congeals into a cloud and disappears just as Morodo swings the Staff of the Living Tribunal high above his head.  The golden cord that extends from it wraps around Kaecilius's ankle and Mordo swings him into the nearest building as the tile replaces itself over him, trapping him under layers and layers of tile and cement until nothing but his hand remains above the surface of the building.  He will suffocate in a few moments.

The three stand in a line and watch as the Dark Dimension begins to lift.  The pile of rubble starts to soar upward as the nearest skyscraper begins to pick itself back up again.  The top layer of the rubble removes itself to reveal Wong, stretched across a slab of cement with a blade embedded in his stomach.  Sabrina feels her stomach twinge. 

"Wong!" Stephen exclaims in alarm as Wong's body dislodges itself from the blade and jumps up from the pile of rubble.

Stephen releases Wong from the spell just as Sabrina pounces on him, hugging him tightly and holding on as if he might fade away again.  Sabrina can stand to lose many things, but not Wong.  Never Wong.  Wong is quick to hug her back. 

Once Sabrina releases Wong from her embrace, the latter looks around at the reassembling of Hong Kong and down at the glowing stone hanging from Stephen's neck.  Stephen only lets out a heavy sigh and shakes his head.  "Breaking the laws of nature.  I know."

Wong only pants as he turns around to gaze at where his body had lay only moments before.  "Well, don't stop now."

"When the sanctum's restored, they're gonna attack it," Stephen says.  "We've gotta defend it.  Come on!"

They tear across the street as Hong King continues to rapidly repairs itself.  The longer the spell lasts, the faster time rewinds itself.  They need to make it before the spell breaks.  A loud humming fills the air behind them and the four all whirl around to see that Kaecilius has broken out of his temporary prison.  Before any of them can react, he presses his raised hand into the ground, sending a wave of shock toward them.

Sabrina lets out a scream as she's thrown off of her feet.  The green band of time around Stephen's wrist shatters as he hits the ground, and suddenly, everything around them stops moving.  With shaking arms, Sabrina lets out a pained groan as she pushes herself back onto her feet. 

"Get up, Strange," Mordo encourages Stephen, who remains face-first on the road.  "Get up and fight.  We can finish this."

Mordo settles into a fighting stance as Kaecilius as the Zealots approach.  Sabrina thinks they all know that they will not make it out of this encounter alive.  But that doesn't mean that they won't go down without a fight. 

"You can't fight the inevitable," Kaecilius starts as he walks toward them.  Inevitable.  Stephen lets out a shaky breath as he slowly pushes himself up off of the ground.  

Inevitable.  The word rings in Sabrina's head.  You were once Darkness, and to Darkness, you shall return.  It is inevitable.

And suddenly, she knows what she must do.

"I can end this," she says quietly.

And before she can convince herself to stay, Sabrina turns and leaps into the air.  The Cloak of Vitality takes her into the air.  Winning always comes with at a cost.  Just as you cannot summon something from nothing, you cannot win without sacrifice.  This time, Sabrina is the sacrifice.  And for some reason, she feels at peace with her sacrifice.  Her hands had made mistakes before.  Perhaps she can make this her last good mistake.  She is willing to give herself up, to bargain her life away to Dormammu if it means that Stephen and Wong and Mordo can live.  She doesn't look back because she knows that if she does, a tiny voice in her head will urge her to return to her friends—to her family.  But she can't.  Not this time.  She can go anywhere she wants, but just not home.

"Sabrina!" A voice calls. 

Stephen.

"Doc?" Sabrina replies, startled as Stephen appears on her right.  "What the hell are you doing here?  You need to go back."

"You don't have to do this, Sabrina," Stephen replies.

"I do," Sabrina replies.  "And I'm okay with it.  Please don't try to talk me out of it."

"There's another way," Stephen tells her.  "But you have to go back, and you have to trust me.  Do you trust me?"

"Yes," Sabrina answers.  They've been through too much together for her not to trust him.  "But I'm staying with you.  Because if your dumbass plan doesn't work, we're going to need a Plan B."

"Okay," Stephen agrees as they enter the purple vortex. 

Sabrina looks around in wonder.  The floating planet-like objects remind her uncannily of cells.  She follows Stephen through the multicolored dimension before they finally land on one of the planet-like objects with a soft crunch.  Sabrina watches as Stephen raises his wrist and waves his hand over it.  A band of green forms around it before fading away.

A loud rumbling erupts from behind them and Sabrina whirls around to find herself facing a large purple eye.  The eye of her creator.  Sabrina finds herself reaching out for Stephen, for some form of comfort that comes in his hand clasped in hers and squeezing it tight as a gust of wind blows at them and the rest of Dormammu is revealed.  He is but a floating face in the sky, but Sabrina knows that he is capable of so much more than she can ever imagine. 

Sabrina had once been a part of Dormammu—a part of this very vortex.  In a way, Dormammu is her father.  A father that she will never truly know.  It's almost funny how, once upon a time, all she had wanted as a family—one of her own blood and bone—and now that she looks at her creators, all she can think is that she never wants to be like them.  It's sickening, in fact.  But Dormammu is not her father.  Not anymore.  Because once, Sabrina was Darkness.  But now, she is so much more than that.  Sabrina was once a part of Dormammu until she had been siphoned off and taught to be human.  But there's still that fear now, that new fear that grows in the back of her head.  The fear that she will, eventually, succumb to the laws of nature.  That one day, she too will turn out to be just like Dormammu.  And the thought terrifies her.

There's something that tethers Sabrina to the floating face in the sky and it takes all of her willpower not to come closer and touch him as she and Stephen float to a closer planet.  It's the part of her that knows that she had once belonged to Dormammu (being stolen does not change the fact that fundamentally, Sabrina will always belong to Dormammu).  Stephen's hand in hers makes it easier to remember who she is and who she will not allow herself to become.

"I see you have brought what once belonged to me," Dormammu says.

Sabrina thinks his voice could cause earthquakes.

"Dormammu, we've come to bargain," Stephen calls out to the void.

"You've come to die," Dormammu replies.  "Your world is now my world...like all worlds."

"If you kill him, you'll have to kill me too!" Sabrina shouts.

"Okay," Dormammu agrees.

Sabrina and Stephen conjure their shields just as shards of rock are pelted at them from all sides.  Sabrina doesn't know how she should feel.  A father willing to kill his own daughter without hesitation.  Without remorse.  And maybe, it's because he knows, that one day, Sabrina will return to him in death.  You were once Darkness, and to Darkness, you shall return.  It is inevitable.

Dormammu opens his mouth and a beam of bright purple light shoots out.  Sabrina and Stephen plant their feet into the surface of the planet as they shield themselves against the beam of light.  Sabrina cries out as she feels her magic weakening.  And then her shield shatters.  The glowing purple eyes of Dormammu are the last thing that Sabrina sees before everything goes dark.

And then, just like on a film reel, time rewinds.

Sabrina watches as Stephen raises his wrist and waves his hand over it. A band of green forms around it before fading away.  A time loop, she realizes.  The Dark Dimension is a place beyond time.  Stephen is willing to give away eternity, trapped in an endless time loop with Dormammu so long as everyone else gets to live.  And Sabrina is willing to stay with Stephen until the end.  Until Stephen tires of the time loop.  Sabrina is willing to bargain away everything she has so that Stephen can live.  (But a part of her knows that Stephen will never break the loop).

"I see you have brought what once belonged to me," Dormammu says as he reveals himself.

"Dormammu, we've come to bargain," Stephen replies.

"You've come to die," Dormammu replies.  "Your world is my world my—what is this?  Illusion?"

"No, this is real," Stephen replies. 

"Good," Dormammu replies.

Spikes of rock shoot up from the surface of the planet below them, piercing Sabrina through the stomach.  The glowing purple eyes of Dormammu are the last thing that Sabrina sees before everything goes dark.

Stephen and Sabrina glide closer to the immortal in the sky.

"I see you have brought what once belonged to me," Dormammu says as he reveals himself.

"Dormammu, we've come to bargain," Stephen replies.

"You've—what is happening?"

"Just as you gave Kaecilius powers from your dimension, I've brought a little power from mine," Stephen replies.  He holds up his wrist with the glowing green band around it still intact.  "This...is time.  Endless.  Looped.  Time."

The ground rumbles as Dormammu draws closer.  "You dare?"

Stephen glances up as Dormammu raises an arm above them and brings it down. "Oh, fu—"

The glowing purple eyes of Dormammu are the last thing that Sabrina sees before everything goes dark.

"I see you have brought what once belonged to me," Dormammu says as he reveals himself.

"Dormammu, we've come to bargain," Stephen replies.

"You cannot do this forever," Dormammu replies.

"Actually, I can," Stephen replies with a shrug.  "This is how things are now.  You, me, and Sabrina trapped in this moment.  Endlessly."

Dormammu grows as he draws closer to them.  So close that Sabrina could reach out and touch him if she wanted.  But Stephen's hand clasped in her own reminds her of who she is and what she will not be. 

"Then you will spend eternity dying," Dormammu replies.

"Yes," Stephen agrees.  "But everyone on Earth will live."

"But you will suffer."

"Pain's an old friend."

Sabrina and Stephen do not have enough time to react before Dormammu shoots the purple beam of light at them.  The glowing purple eyes of Dormammu are the last thing that Sabrina sees before everything goes dark.

"Dormammu..."

Stephen and Sabrina are impaled by the spikes.

"I've come to bargain!"

"End this!"

A planet crashes, burying Sabrina and Stephen beneath it.

"Dormammu...Dormammu...Dormammu."

They are impaled.

The glowing purple eyes of Dormammu are the last thing that Sabrina sees before everything goes dark.

They are strangled. Torn apart. Disintegrated. They die. But the loop remains intact. And if the loop remains intact then so does Earth. They do not truly die, but they do not truly live either. But the thought of life continuing on Earth is enough for Sabrina. And she begins to realize, as she's trapped in the endless loop of death, that her sacrifice alone would not have been enough to stop Dormammu. Dormammu would take her back and conquer Earth just as he had always planned because she does not mean as much to Dormammu as she had thought. And maybe it's because he, too, has realized that Sabrina will never be like him.

"You will never win," Dormammu threatens as Sabrina helps Stephen up from the ground.

"No," Stephen agrees. "But I can lose—we can lose—again...and again...and again...and again...and again, forever. And that makes you our prisoner."

"No!" Dormammu shouts.

And they are impaled by spikes, hurtled down at them.

The glowing purple eyes of Dormammu are the last thing that Sabrina sees before everything goes dark.

"Stop!" Dormammu shouts as Stephen and Sabrina land on the planet before him. "Make this stop! Set me free!"

"No," Stephen replies. "We've come to bargain."

"What do you want?" Dormammu demands.

"Take your Zealots from Earth," Stephen replies. He raises his hands, bending his middle and ring fingers so that they meet his thumb and pressing his hands together. "End your assault on our world. Never come back. Do it, and I'll break the loop."

"Isn't it beautiful?" Kaecilius asks as he slowly approaches Wong and Mordo. "A world beyond time. Beyond death."

Sabrina and Stephen land silently behind Kaecilius.

Mordo and Wong stare at them in shock. Had they not just been in front of them only milliseconds before?

Kaecilius slowly turns around to face them.

"What have you done?" He demands softly.

"We made a bargain," Stephen answers simply.

Sabrina watches as Kaecilius' hand begins to turn an ashy color. Kaecilius stares down at his hand, alarmed as the ash spreads. "What is this?"

"Well, it's everything you've ever wanted," Stephen replies casually as Wong and Mordo cross the road to join them on either side. "Eternal life as part of The One. You're not gonna like it."

"You know, you really should be careful what you wish for," Sabrina tells Kaecilius.

They watch as the darkness spreads and the brands on their foreheads glow brightly. Kaecilius and the Zealots convulse with cries of pain. They are lifted into the air from where they stand as the ash flies off of their bodies and tangles in the wind like fall leaves. Sabrina watches as they disappear into the Dark Dimension until there is nothing left of them that had once rendered them human. They belong to Dormammu now. Completely and totally.

"Yeah, you know, you really should've stolen the whole book," Stephen says, his eyes glued on the Dark Dimension. "Because the warnings...the warnings come after the spells."

Laughter erupts from beside Sabrina. She, Stephen, and Mordo all collectively tear their gazes away from the receding Dark Dimension to see Wong clutching his side as he laughs hysterically. A smile spreads across Sabrina's face and she can't help but join in on the raucous laughter. For now, she doesn't think about Dormammu, she doesn't think about The Ancient One or Kaecilius or the blood that still stains her tunic. She laughs because she doesn't have anything else to do, and laughter has always been infectious, and what better way to celebrate a victory?

Sabrina had thought she knew the end of this battle—with her becoming Darkness once more, just as Kaecilius had predicted. But this ending, this ending with her and Wong's laughter is much sweeter. It feels more like a victory with her there to celebrate. She wishes that she could freeze time and forever stay in this moment.

"Oh, that's funny," Wong finally manages to say between laughs.

Stephen's gaze lingers on them for a few more moments before he raises his eyebrows and shakes his head before resuming the time spell over Hong Kong. Sabrina watches with a grin as the Dark Dimension folds in on itself and the Sanctum is repaired, standing tall once more. Time resumes and Sabrina lets out a happy sigh.

If she could bottle up this feeling inside of her chest and drink it forever, she would.

"We did it," Wong says with a happy grin as he begins to walk toward the Sanctum.

"We won," Sabrina agrees, following after Wong with Stephen right behind her.

"Yes. Yes, we did," Kaecilius says in a low voice. He remains rooted where he stood. The three stop in their tracks and turn to face him. "By also violating the natural law."

"Look around you," Stephen replies. "It's over."

"You still think there will be no consequences, Strange?" Mordo replies. "No price to pay? We broke our rules. Just like her. The bill comes due. Always. A reckoning. I will follow this path no longer."

The laughter dies from Sabrina's eyes as Mordo's words sink into her like knives.  The look that he gives them feels like a stab through the gut.  Disgust. Pure and utter disgust.  It's a look that Mordo has never ever given Sabrina.  Not when she couldn't put up a fight against him.  Not when she jumped off of Kamar-Taj.  Not even when she had told him what she really was.  I don't think I love you anymore, his expression seems to say.  This hurts more than death, Sabrina thinks.

Nobody moves as Mordo turns his back on them.  Nobody moves as he starts to walk away.

"Mordo!" Sabrina shouts.  She moves to run after him, but Stephen reaches out to stop her. 

She can only watch as Mordo disappears.

author's note: this was....a lot.  i'm sorry.  next chapter will be A LOT shorter in comparison, i promise.  i really hope that by sending sabrina with stephen, that i didn't fuck up stephen's character development up too badly, but i felt like the sacrifice that sabrina was about to make (and the sacrifice that she did make) was also really important for her development & just her relationship w/ stephen in general.