"Stephen." Wong stood from his chair, nodding at him as he entered the library.

"Wong." Stephen nodded back curtly.

"What do you want, Strange?" Wong asked with suspicion in his voice.

"Books on astral projection," Stephen answered flatly, showing a grim expression.

"You're not ready for that." Wong shook his head, making no sign to move from his place.

"Try me, Beyoncé." He sassed back, jerking his head to the side. He quickly raised his eyebrows, waiting for a reaction. When he got nothing, Stephen rolled his eyes and letting out a scoff. "Oh, come on. You've heard of her. She's a huge star, right?"

Wong tilted his chin forwards, expressionless.

"Do you ever laugh?" Stephen muttered, growing annoyed with Wong at this point. Stephen shifted his gaze quickly, grumbling his words. "Come on, just give me the book."

"No." Wong replied, his voice deep.

When the sun was finally setting over the horizon, Wong sat at his desk, studying more about the magic of energy. His finger tapped against the page as his ears filled with Single Ladies by none other than Beyoncé, to hear what Stephen was actually talking about.

What he did not realize, was small portals appearing behind him as Stephen snatched the books right off the shelf. Wong quickly turned from his page, seeing nothing. When he turned back, the book that he was reading was gone.

Night quickly fell over Kamar-Taj and Stephen's physical form was fast asleep. He was in his astral form, floating cross legged at the end of his bed, thumbing through one of his stolen books.

A few light knocks on the door made him turn to see Amber huddle in, a tray with tea in hand. She looked up, stopping when she saw him in bed, already sleeping. When she was about to leave, Stephen's astral form quickly entered the real world. "Amber."

Amber turned around, careful not to spill anything. She glanced up at his floating form, seeing his book in hand. "Stephen." she greeted back, her shoulders relaxing. "I was going to offer you some bedtime tea...but, I see you are obviously...busy."

"Bedtime tea?" he asked with a raised brow and a side smile.

"Whatever you want to call it." she rolled her eyes.

Stephen nodded, closing the book before gesturing with his hand. "Come in. I'd love some tea."

A warm smile grew on both of their lips as she walked in further, setting down the tray. Meanwhile, Stephen entered back into his real body, sitting up and rubbing the tiredness from his eyes.

Once his cup was prepared, she handed it to him, her smile still present. Stephen raised the cup to his lips before pausing. "What's in this?"

"Just tea. With a little honey." she teased with a chortle before sipping on her own drink. Stephen joined in on the laugh, noticing she was still standing.

"Uh, please," he said, gesturing to the unoccupied space, moving to sit at the edge of his bed to make more room for her.

She quickly thanked him, taking his offer. Sitting for a rather cumbersome moment of silence, Stephen turned to Amber. "So, how did you end up here?"

Amber looked up into his eyes suddenly, as if coming back from a daze. "I'm sorry?"

"What happened to make you end up in Kamar-Taj?" he asked again, patiently waiting for her answer.

"Oh." she nodded, shifting in her place. "Well," she started, interrupting her words with a nervous chuckle. "you'll be surprised on how I got here."

Her eyes moved to his hand that held the cup, tracing the prominent scars along his fingers.

Stephen remained silent.

Amber sighed, standing to her feet to light a few candles to properly bring some light in the room.

Planting herself on the bed again, she looked down at her nails before into Stephen's grey eyes. "Before this place, I thought my life was the best..."

Twenty-five year old Amber walked in front of her body mirror, gazing down in awe at her newly bought dress.

A warm smile appeared on her lips as she picked up the skirt, moving into her large bathroom to apply her makeup. Filling in her brunette eyebrows, she went for a more subtle and natural look.

Once that was finished, she let her natural white-blonde hair cascade down her shoulders and back.

Nodding in approval, she moved over to her shoes, slipping on her heels.

Amber was excited for the event one of her friends invited her to, saying there was a special person speaking that night.

Climbing into her matte black Lamborghini, she quickly revved the car up, entering into the nights cold embrace. The drive to the event was an hour away, and Amber grew bored fast.

Grabbing her phone out of the cup holder, she switched her focus back and forth from her phone to the road, trying to get her music app open.

"Ugh, come on." she scold, regretting that she set a long password on it. Amber got it wrong twice accidentally before shaking her hand in frustration. "Come on! You piece of sh–!"

Her voice was cut off by a car horn. Gasping, she looked up into blinding headlights.

"Wait." Stephen narrowed his eyes curiously. "You were in a car crash too?"

Amber nodded, moving to place her empty teacup on a table nearby. "Yeah. After the accident, I was left with paralysis in both hands, and my neck hit the sheering wheel, making me go mute. My boyfriend, at the time, completely vanished once he heard I couldn't talk anymore. God, I was a mess."

"He's an asshole for doing that." Stephen shook his head, anger rising in his blood. Amber shook her head, lazily shrugging her shoulders.

"Eh...I understand why, though. I don't think he would've wanted to learn sign language."

Her feeble and dry laugh made his heart break a little, seeing the sadness in her eyes. Stephen remained silent, thinking over what she said. His eyes squinted. "Then how did you get your voice back?"

Amber's lips tiredly pulled into a smile as she gazed into his eyes. "I was convinced."

Stephen was confused by this.

"You'll learn. It only takes time." she said, placing her hand on his, his own hands free from the cup.

Both of their cheeks heated with colour as Amber adverted her gaze, retracting her hand. Stephen quickly grabbed her hand, stopping her.

Amber stared in his dark gray eyes in the moonlight. Shifting her gaze down, she got up. "I should..."

Stephen quickly reached up, cupping her face and bringing their lips together. Amber was shocked at first, but quickly returned the kiss, bringing her hands up to touch his jaw.

He slowly pulled her down onto his lap, his quivering hands gripping her sides. She didn't mind this at all. Breaking from the kiss for air, Amber slowly helped Stephen strip him of his shirt before he slipped hers off after. He stared at her in awe now, his voice barley a whisper...

"You are so beautiful."