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Description
Stephen's P.O.V:

After the fight with Dormammu and (Y/N)'s mindcontrol she disappeared completely. It's like she just vanished from earth's surface. The Avengers and I searched earth, looked everywhere possible. I used my astral projection to look everywhere as it is faster and easier, but no luck so far. I even went to Attilan to ask king Black Bolt and Queen Medusa if by chance (Y/N) went there, but she wasn't there either.
At least that's as far as they knew. Though, I doubt they wouldn't notice someone entering Attilan.

Once the mindcontrol was broken I was able to see how much it bothered her. She was terrified even. When she looked around herself and was able to see her friends, all wounded by her own attacks, it is eating her up inside, I know that.
That's why it is even more important for me to find her. To let her know it wasn't her fault.
But she is nowhere to be found. I can't sense her on earth. I was meditating for hours on end, day for day, but nothing. The Avengers too, keep an eye on her whereabouts.
Stark created a program that would inform him should any camera find someone looking like her.
Although I can tell Stark doesn't like me, and even though it is based on reciprocity I have to admit he is a brilliant man. He isn't in the top 5 of smartest people on earth for no reason.
I think even S.H.I.E.L.D. are in on this search.
Anyway, I hope she will be found soon.

But she might not even be here. I thought about the possibility of her being in a different dimension. After all, when she walks through the shadows to go to a different place she has to be somewhere. It might be possible she goes to her own dimension and from there, opens a portal to wherever she wants to go.
If this is how it is working I just need to find the right dimension and I will finally find her. After more than a week of her having just disappeared, everyone is already extremely worried. Also people are talking. They miss her.
And I miss her too.
The meetings with her, training together, or the meal we shared, it felt nice. After my Ex-Wife Clea left, I thought I might be alone forever. I thought I wouldn't WANT to be with someone, actually. Of course, there have been random flirts, just like during my time before becoming a sorcerer. This part of my personality did not change. But (Y/N)... she is a lovely woman.
She is honest, kind and extremely intelligent.
Spending time with her feels great, makes me feel a kind of warmth I didn't feel for a long time.
One I didn't feel since before my sister's death.

It feels like I can share anything with her and she wouldn't judge me. Like she understands. And this is such a wonderful sensation. The closest relation I have at this time is with Wong, but I can tell, what I could have with (Y/N), it could be so much more. Maybe something I never had before.
I don't know what she thinks about me, how she feels. But I can feel energy coming from her everytime we meet. I can feel her happiness. And I am happy too, to know she enjoys to spend time with me.
I want to be with her again.
But for this to happen, I need to find her.

It might sound naive, to say I would feel affection for her after knowing her for such a short amount of time. But it just feels right.

Again, I make my way into the top floor of the Sanctum. I lift my leg, then the other to cross them, hovering in the air. I need to meditate again. I don't have time to waste. And I also need to keep an eye on other things. But while I am checking the Dimensions I can also look for her.

----------

Days after days pass, and still no sign of (Y/N). I am starting to get frustrated. I am loosing hope of finding her. Also in no Dimension seems to happen much. This Dimension is mostly safe. There are just mind-parasites going around. I've had lots of calls lately. People not waking up from their sleep with glowing marks on their skin. I just need to get into the minds of those people to kill the parasites. It is quite easy.

But somehow...this safety doesn't matter to me as much as it should.
I can't stop thinking about (Y/N), can't stop worrying about her. What if something happened to her, and that's why I can't find her. This uncertainity drives me insane. It makes my hands shake more than usually.
Endlessly I've been walking around the room in circles, thinking... I know that Stark also has no leads about where she could be right now. And the Avengers are just as worried as I am.
And people are starting to ask questions. Itis bothering us all that we aren't able to give answers.
And even through her absence I can sense my feelings for her are just growing with my worries.
Every time I think of her I can feel my stomach tigthening, out of fear that she might not be alive anymore. That I wasn't able to safe her when she needed it.
I should concentrate on other things. Wong is trying to distract me. He tells me to eat and sleep properly. But I don't want to waste precious time.

----------

It's dark outside. It's almost a whole month since (Y/N)'s disappearance.
I am often awake at night. I can't sleep properly.
My mind is busy all the time but I can concentrate enough on my duties. I still fight and take care of this world, take care of things others can't even see. Dormammu is properly banished to the Dark Dimension. He still sometimes manages to send some of his creatures, but they are easily killed.

It is no distraction though.

I can't think of a single Dimension I didn't look for her in yet. It seems to be hopeless. No sign of her for so long.
I know, as the Sorcerer Supreme I should be able to distance myself much easier. But noone ever teached me how to ignore my feelings. And I am not even sure if I want to. With all the despair are coming all the good feelings too, and as long as this happiness comes along with it, I will also accept all the bad feelings.

I stare out of the window, watching cars and people pass by outside. The full moon is shining, illuminating the otherwise dark bedroom. Probably I don't even have to worry about her. I know she is strong enough to defend herself against pretty much everything. But still, she has grown to be very close to me, even in a short amount of time.

She IS something special.
And beautiful.
When I close my eyes I can see her bright eyes smiling at me. So eager to know more about me. Her (h/c) hair, framing her face carefully and in the most complimenting ways.
I can't stop thinking about her desirable lips, seemingly soft and red, her cheeks with a healthy, rosy color to them.
Her curvy body...

I shouldn't think about her this way. I really shouldn't, I know that.
Instead I should do something, work on finding her. Yes.

I take my cloak of levitation, then my legs lift into the air and fold them in front of me. My eyes close automatically and I fall into a trance-like state. Astral projection is the best way to find what or rather who I am looking for. My senses become sharper, and completely focus on the task at hand.

It is easy to understand how it works. My mind, soul and energy leave my body for a while, to instead travel where I want them to, leaving my body to rest. At the same time I leave it vulnerable though. Most of the time Wong remains wherever my body is to keep it safe. It feels like I am racing at high speed through every dimension existing.
In the beginning it was quite difficult for me to handle but I was able to adapt to it quickly. Now it is one of the things I do the most besides fighting. Keeping an eye open to make sure everything is like it should be.

I concentrate on her energy though, it helps to know what it feels like. If I should come across it it will feel familiar.

Looking through dimension after dimension, checking again and again everytime I looked through all of them, I am working as fast as I can.
Really, I don't know for how long I've worked until my eyes fly open, a blue glow coming from them. I can sense her again. And she is close. Very close.
I lower my feet to the ground and turn around. And there she is.
She looks tired. Under her eyes are dark circles and her skin is paler than it usually is.

"Stephen. Why are you looking for me?", she asks. Her voice makes clear she is worried.
"(Y/N)..." I can't think for anything else to reply right now. I feel so happy to see her. She is alright and I can feel energy rushing back into my body, one I didn't feel since she left. I feel reliefed that she isn't injured, happy to see her again, proud that it is me she came to talk to first, not anyone else.
I step forward, gently place my hands on her upper arms to pull her against me. She inhales deeply in surprise, but once she is pressed against my body she relaxes and rests her head against my shoulder. The heat of her body against my own feels comforting, and I feel all the worries and doubts from the last weeks dissipating.
"I am glad to see you again, (Y/N). I was worried something happened to you, I needed to know you were uninjured all this time." Her arms wrap around me, squeezing gently.
"I am glad to see you again too. You have no idea how much I missed you, Stephen." Her voice is muffled from where she speaks into my tunic, and I can feel the heat of her breath against my chest. I glance down at her. Her eyes are closed, dark lashes fanning out against her cheeks. Her rosy lips are slightly parted as she lets out a small, shaky breath.

Her grip around me tightens, and I lift one hand up, my fingers tangling in her soft hair, caressing gently.
"I don't want to hurt you again. And the others. I just-..." she sighs in frustration.
"It wasn't your fault. It was Dormammu, he controlled you, you couldn't have done anything. It's enough of a surprise you managed to fight his mindcontrol like you did."
"But I hurt you, I hurt my friends. No matter if I was controlled, I caused you pain. I can't risk to let it happen again."
"Dormammu is spellbound to the dark dimension. He can't leave it, and he will not be able to do this again from where he is now."
"But he managed to free himself before. And he isn't the only one able to control my mind."

I can hear and feel her worries, her sadness about what happened, and her fear of it happening again. But I won't let it happen again.
"I will keep you safe,(Y/N). Noone will do this to you ever again."
Silence spreads in the room for a little while, just the sound of our breathing audible.

"You promise?"

I just nod in return. She pulls away slightly, staring up at me silently. I guess she is looking for a trace of a lie, but she won't find one. I mean it.
Noone will ever hurt her this way again. She is under my protection.

"I don't want to go back to the Avengers tower. Not yet. Please, I need some time before I go and see them again. If you say it wasn't my fault I believe you, but it was still my body and my powers that caused harm. I just as well could have hurt innocent people and before I go to see anyone I need to handle this."
"If you don't want to go there I can't force you, but please stay here at the Sanctum with me. You'll be safe here. This building is warded heavily, against things the tower's security wouldn't even notice entering."

She stays silent for a moment. I try to will my hands not to shake. I don't even know if it is from how nervous and scared I am about her leaving again, or if it is just the remains from the wounds. The shaking never stopped.
(Y/N)'s gaze moves down to her feet, her hands now resting on my chest. I move one of my hands to cover hers, gaining her attention again. Her head tilts slightly to the side before she finally replies.
"Alright, I'll stay here. But just if I am no burden to you."
Relief floods my body and a smile spreads on my lips. I quickly shake my head at her words. "You would never be a burden, (Y/N), I would be happy to have you here for as long as you need to be."
She laughs softly, shaking her head.
"Still the charming guy I see." she grins at me. I return it gladly. "Well, that's my wonderful personality."

She punches my shoulder playfully, laughing more.
It sounds so melodious to me, I need to make her laugh more. The way her face brightens up... it's beautiful. I have to resist the urge to caress her cheek, or to just touch her.

Usually, with random women I don't hold back with flirting, but with (Y/N) I don't want to risk anything. If she wouldn't like my attempts I might loose her as a friend, and she is too important to me to let this happen.
I lead her downstairs into the living room, my hand gently resting against her back. She seems to be tired, probably had a lack of sleep because of bad dreams. I could enter her mind to make sure of it, but it's not really needed to know I am right. We sit on the sofa together, and she seems to relax even more against me.

Sleep is catching up with her now.
I would offer her to show her to the bedroom, but...she might need some comfort, someone close to her to show her she is not a monster.
Slowly I wrap my arm around her, making sure she is okay with it. She doesn't seem to mind, just relaxing more into my touch as I pull her against my side. Her head gently drops onto my shoulder, her eyes closed and breathing calm and steadying slowly.
I carefully place a kiss on the top of her head, the scent of her shampoo reaching my nose.

It doesn't take long for her to fall into a peaceful sleep, klinging on to my robe gently to keep me close.

Even though there is no chance of me pushing her away if I can have her that close instead.

I will let her sleep now, and tomorrow we will talk.

Description
Stephen's P.O.V:

After the fight with Dormammu and (Y/N)'s mindcontrol she disappeared completely. It's like she just vanished from earth's surface. The Avengers and I searched earth, looked everywhere possible. I used my astral projection to look everywhere as it is faster and easier, but no luck so far. I even went to Attilan to ask king Black Bolt and Queen Medusa if by chance (Y/N) went there, but she wasn't there either.
At least that's as far as they knew. Though, I doubt they wouldn't notice someone entering Attilan.

Once the mindcontrol was broken I was able to see how much it bothered her. She was terrified even. When she looked around herself and was able to see her friends, all wounded by her own attacks, it is eating her up inside, I know that.
That's why it is even more important for me to find her. To let her know it wasn't her fault.
But she is nowhere to be found. I can't sense her on earth. I was meditating for hours on end, day for day, but nothing. The Avengers too, keep an eye on her whereabouts.
Stark created a program that would inform him should any camera find someone looking like her.
Although I can tell Stark doesn't like me, and even though it is based on reciprocity I have to admit he is a brilliant man. He isn't in the top 5 of smartest people on earth for no reason.
I think even S.H.I.E.L.D. are in on this search.
Anyway, I hope she will be found soon.

But she might not even be here. I thought about the possibility of her being in a different dimension. After all, when she walks through the shadows to go to a different place she has to be somewhere. It might be possible she goes to her own dimension and from there, opens a portal to wherever she wants to go.
If this is how it is working I just need to find the right dimension and I will finally find her. After more than a week of her having just disappeared, everyone is already extremely worried. Also people are talking. They miss her.
And I miss her too.
The meetings with her, training together, or the meal we shared, it felt nice. After my Ex-Wife Clea left, I thought I might be alone forever. I thought I wouldn't WANT to be with someone, actually. Of course, there have been random flirts, just like during my time before becoming a sorcerer. This part of my personality did not change. But (Y/N)... she is a lovely woman.
She is honest, kind and extremely intelligent.
Spending time with her feels great, makes me feel a kind of warmth I didn't feel for a long time.
One I didn't feel since before my sister's death.

It feels like I can share anything with her and she wouldn't judge me. Like she understands. And this is such a wonderful sensation. The closest relation I have at this time is with Wong, but I can tell, what I could have with (Y/N), it could be so much more. Maybe something I never had before.
I don't know what she thinks about me, how she feels. But I can feel energy coming from her everytime we meet. I can feel her happiness. And I am happy too, to know she enjoys to spend time with me.
I want to be with her again.
But for this to happen, I need to find her.

It might sound naive, to say I would feel affection for her after knowing her for such a short amount of time. But it just feels right.

Again, I make my way into the top floor of the Sanctum. I lift my leg, then the other to cross them, hovering in the air. I need to meditate again. I don't have time to waste. And I also need to keep an eye on other things. But while I am checking the Dimensions I can also look for her.

----------

Days after days pass, and still no sign of (Y/N). I am starting to get frustrated. I am loosing hope of finding her. Also in no Dimension seems to happen much. This Dimension is mostly safe. There are just mind-parasites going around. I've had lots of calls lately. People not waking up from their sleep with glowing marks on their skin. I just need to get into the minds of those people to kill the parasites. It is quite easy.

But somehow...this safety doesn't matter to me as much as it should.
I can't stop thinking about (Y/N), can't stop worrying about her. What if something happened to her, and that's why I can't find her. This uncertainity drives me insane. It makes my hands shake more than usually.
Endlessly I've been walking around the room in circles, thinking... I know that Stark also has no leads about where she could be right now. And the Avengers are just as worried as I am.
And people are starting to ask questions. Itis bothering us all that we aren't able to give answers.
And even through her absence I can sense my feelings for her are just growing with my worries.
Every time I think of her I can feel my stomach tigthening, out of fear that she might not be alive anymore. That I wasn't able to safe her when she needed it.
I should concentrate on other things. Wong is trying to distract me. He tells me to eat and sleep properly. But I don't want to waste precious time.

----------

It's dark outside. It's almost a whole month since (Y/N)'s disappearance.
I am often awake at night. I can't sleep properly.
My mind is busy all the time but I can concentrate enough on my duties. I still fight and take care of this world, take care of things others can't even see. Dormammu is properly banished to the Dark Dimension. He still sometimes manages to send some of his creatures, but they are easily killed.

It is no distraction though.

I can't think of a single Dimension I didn't look for her in yet. It seems to be hopeless. No sign of her for so long.
I know, as the Sorcerer Supreme I should be able to distance myself much easier. But noone ever teached me how to ignore my feelings. And I am not even sure if I want to. With all the despair are coming all the good feelings too, and as long as this happiness comes along with it, I will also accept all the bad feelings.

I stare out of the window, watching cars and people pass by outside. The full moon is shining, illuminating the otherwise dark bedroom. Probably I don't even have to worry about her. I know she is strong enough to defend herself against pretty much everything. But still, she has grown to be very close to me, even in a short amount of time.

She IS something special.
And beautiful.
When I close my eyes I can see her bright eyes smiling at me. So eager to know more about me. Her (h/c) hair, framing her face carefully and in the most complimenting ways.
I can't stop thinking about her desirable lips, seemingly soft and red, her cheeks with a healthy, rosy color to them.
Her curvy body...

I shouldn't think about her this way. I really shouldn't, I know that.
Instead I should do something, work on finding her. Yes.

I take my cloak of levitation, then my legs lift into the air and fold them in front of me. My eyes close automatically and I fall into a trance-like state. Astral projection is the best way to find what or rather who I am looking for. My senses become sharper, and completely focus on the task at hand.

It is easy to understand how it works. My mind, soul and energy leave my body for a while, to instead travel where I want them to, leaving my body to rest. At the same time I leave it vulnerable though. Most of the time Wong remains wherever my body is to keep it safe. It feels like I am racing at high speed through every dimension existing.
In the beginning it was quite difficult for me to handle but I was able to adapt to it quickly. Now it is one of the things I do the most besides fighting. Keeping an eye open to make sure everything is like it should be.

I concentrate on her energy though, it helps to know what it feels like. If I should come across it it will feel familiar.

Looking through dimension after dimension, checking again and again everytime I looked through all of them, I am working as fast as I can.
Really, I don't know for how long I've worked until my eyes fly open, a blue glow coming from them. I can sense her again. And she is close. Very close.
I lower my feet to the ground and turn around. And there she is.
She looks tired. Under her eyes are dark circles and her skin is paler than it usually is.

"Stephen. Why are you looking for me?", she asks. Her voice makes clear she is worried.
"(Y/N)..." I can't think for anything else to reply right now. I feel so happy to see her. She is alright and I can feel energy rushing back into my body, one I didn't feel since she left. I feel reliefed that she isn't injured, happy to see her again, proud that it is me she came to talk to first, not anyone else.
I step forward, gently place my hands on her upper arms to pull her against me. She inhales deeply in surprise, but once she is pressed against my body she relaxes and rests her head against my shoulder. The heat of her body against my own feels comforting, and I feel all the worries and doubts from the last weeks dissipating.
"I am glad to see you again, (Y/N). I was worried something happened to you, I needed to know you were uninjured all this time." Her arms wrap around me, squeezing gently.
"I am glad to see you again too. You have no idea how much I missed you, Stephen." Her voice is muffled from where she speaks into my tunic, and I can feel the heat of her breath against my chest. I glance down at her. Her eyes are closed, dark lashes fanning out against her cheeks. Her rosy lips are slightly parted as she lets out a small, shaky breath.

Her grip around me tightens, and I lift one hand up, my fingers tangling in her soft hair, caressing gently.
"I don't want to hurt you again. And the others. I just-..." she sighs in frustration.
"It wasn't your fault. It was Dormammu, he controlled you, you couldn't have done anything. It's enough of a surprise you managed to fight his mindcontrol like you did."
"But I hurt you, I hurt my friends. No matter if I was controlled, I caused you pain. I can't risk to let it happen again."
"Dormammu is spellbound to the dark dimension. He can't leave it, and he will not be able to do this again from where he is now."
"But he managed to free himself before. And he isn't the only one able to control my mind."

I can hear and feel her worries, her sadness about what happened, and her fear of it happening again. But I won't let it happen again.
"I will keep you safe,(Y/N). Noone will do this to you ever again."
Silence spreads in the room for a little while, just the sound of our breathing audible.

"You promise?"

I just nod in return. She pulls away slightly, staring up at me silently. I guess she is looking for a trace of a lie, but she won't find one. I mean it.
Noone will ever hurt her this way again. She is under my protection.

"I don't want to go back to the Avengers tower. Not yet. Please, I need some time before I go and see them again. If you say it wasn't my fault I believe you, but it was still my body and my powers that caused harm. I just as well could have hurt innocent people and before I go to see anyone I need to handle this."
"If you don't want to go there I can't force you, but please stay here at the Sanctum with me. You'll be safe here. This building is warded heavily, against things the tower's security wouldn't even notice entering."

She stays silent for a moment. I try to will my hands not to shake. I don't even know if it is from how nervous and scared I am about her leaving again, or if it is just the remains from the wounds. The shaking never stopped.
(Y/N)'s gaze moves down to her feet, her hands now resting on my chest. I move one of my hands to cover hers, gaining her attention again. Her head tilts slightly to the side before she finally replies.
"Alright, I'll stay here. But just if I am no burden to you."
Relief floods my body and a smile spreads on my lips. I quickly shake my head at her words. "You would never be a burden, (Y/N), I would be happy to have you here for as long as you need to be."
She laughs softly, shaking her head.
"Still the charming guy I see." she grins at me. I return it gladly. "Well, that's my wonderful personality."

She punches my shoulder playfully, laughing more.
It sounds so melodious to me, I need to make her laugh more. The way her face brightens up... it's beautiful. I have to resist the urge to caress her cheek, or to just touch her.

Usually, with random women I don't hold back with flirting, but with (Y/N) I don't want to risk anything. If she wouldn't like my attempts I might loose her as a friend, and she is too important to me to let this happen.
I lead her downstairs into the living room, my hand gently resting against her back. She seems to be tired, probably had a lack of sleep because of bad dreams. I could enter her mind to make sure of it, but it's not really needed to know I am right. We sit on the sofa together, and she seems to relax even more against me.

Sleep is catching up with her now.
I would offer her to show her to the bedroom, but...she might need some comfort, someone close to her to show her she is not a monster.
Slowly I wrap my arm around her, making sure she is okay with it. She doesn't seem to mind, just relaxing more into my touch as I pull her against my side. Her head gently drops onto my shoulder, her eyes closed and breathing calm and steadying slowly.
I carefully place a kiss on the top of her head, the scent of her shampoo reaching my nose.

It doesn't take long for her to fall into a peaceful sleep, klinging on to my robe gently to keep me close.

Even though there is no chance of me pushing her away if I can have her that close instead.

I will let her sleep now, and tomorrow we will talk.