Ha, you thought it was going to take long again didn't you? Loser. How does it feel to be wrong? Probably...actually probably pretty good since you get the new chapter. Um, someone forgot to tell T. Rycbar that if the fictional characters in her head are talking back, she might be a little crazy.

"Yeah, I have whole conversations with them at work." - T. Rycbar

Dude, are you okay? Probably not, right? I do worry about her sometimes. I hope she figures that out.

IDon'tOwnMarvel

Steve's apartment was actually pretty nice. I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't the slightly modern design that was seen throughout the place. There was also a very large amount of books on the shelves and stacked up on coffee tables that had caught my attention the moment I walked in. Stopping to pick a few up and read the titles, I found that a good chunk of them were history and non-fiction related books which fits well with his character. A couple of them were biographies too and I ended up looking over one about Martin Luther King Jr.

I feel like I might forget sometimes how much he missed. The Air force hadn't been an established part of the military yet when he was around. Segregation was a thing. A man out of his time.

"Have you read this one yet?" I asked, holding up the book to show him.

Steve frowned at the title and shook his head. "No, not yet. Why, have you?"

"No," I mumbled, putting it back to look at another book. "I don't really have to. We learn about him every year in school. We get the holiday off."

He nodded and hung up his coat. "Must be nice."

"What is?" I put the new book down and picked up another about musicians from the 60's.

"You learn about it in school." He explained, moving around the kitchen. "You already know all these people and I'm just picking it up now."

"Yeah I guess it is nice." I mused, thinking about how difficult it must be to be transported out of your time and into another.

Wait, didn't I just…? I snickered a little.

"What's funny?"

"Nothing." I smiled, shaking my head. "I just felt bad for you, jumping out of the past and all. Here I am jumping into it. You should listen to Queen or Elton John by the way. Their music slaps."

"I'll...add them to the list." He looked at me confusedly and tossed me a granola bar. "What- what does that mean though?"

"It means it's good." I suppressed a smile, abandoning the books in favor of the couch. "I'm just being funny. You don't have to get it."

He gave me a weird look before brushing it off. I just looked over the unfamiliar brand of granola bar almost longingly. I wasn't sure if I would ever get used to this kind of homesickness. It was a damn good thing I was going back home where we had regular 'Nature Valley' bars to eat. When the thoughts combined with the stress of the day started to wear me out, I just leaned back in my place on the couch and debated whether or not to eat the food that was offered to me by a guy who didn't like me before.

The paranoia was just added onto the fact that I wasn't really super hungry, so I ended up just setting it aside before crossing my arms over my chest to sleep. "Can you make sure to wake me up if I sleep in?"

"Sure."

"And please don't kill me in my sleep." I added, only half jokingly. "I know it might be tempting."

"I'm not gonna-" He cut himself off when I gave him an amused smile from across the room. "Sure."

"Goodnight."

"Yeah, goodnight." Steve turned off the lights, leaving me to drift off to sleep in the darkness of the living room alone.

The boxes shook loudly and I ran, slamming my shoulder into the door. Something was wrong. I couldn't open the door and walk out. It was sealed shut and locked, trapping me in the room while I could feel the burning on my chest and stomach return. It raked across my torso while the boxes shook louder, threatening to open at any giving moment. I couldn't breathe.

I gave up throwing my shoulder into the door from the burning and fell to the ground, drawing my knees up to my chest. The deep churning of dread pooled in my gut, leaving me to cry while the boxes didn't give in. I knew that at any moment they might open and I would be left to their will, to suffer. I pulled myself ever closer in fear despite the burns and bruises that littered my arms and torso. Then, they broke loose-

I jerked awake, shaking heavily with a blanket half over me and my heart racing. The phantom pains from where I had been burned slowly dissipated when I realized where I was. The light out the window had brightened slightly indicating that it was some time in the morning, and giving me all I needed to remember that I was safe.

After one or two relaxing breaths, I got to lessen the shivering and chattering teeth. The room isn't cold, so why am I shivering?

I shook my head to myself and looked around the apartment from my place on the couch. It didn't look like Steve was up yet, so I tossed off the blanket and got to my feet, stretching before finding and munching on the granola bar that I had abandoned a few hours prior. I settled down again in the chair opposite to the couch after a moment and let my eyes fall on the clock in the kitchen.

Six am, wow. I rolled my eyes to myself. Four hours of sleep is really going to hurt in the long run.

Now, I could wait for Steve to get up, but the guy wasn't really supposed to ever even know that the sanctum exists. Not to mention, it is harder to keep two people alive than one. If I went and the lady killed me, it was no problem for this universe. If they killed Steve, I would be dooming an entire reality because of how crucial he is to the plot.

"Ah, fuck it." I stood again and pulled my backpack on, making a pit stop in the kitchen first to throw out my wrapper.

I walked back across the apartment with purpose, sparing no look around when I went to open the door. However, my lack of observance was what got me here. The second I pulled the door halfway open, the sound of literal bells made me cringe. Looking up, one could clearly make out bells duct taped to the top of the door with the intention of making noise if someone like myself were to try to leave unnoticed.

The door to Steve's bedroom opened quickly and he made eye contact with me, clearly waiting to see if I was going to bolt again.

"Don't do it." He cocked his head at me in warning and pointed, making me sigh and shut the door.

"Fine."

"Can you not just wait until I get up?" He glared at me half-heartedly, turning around to go back into his room. When he emerged again, he had pants and an unbuttoned shirt on. "Why do you get up so early?"

"So I can catch my enemies by surprise." I shrugged, coming back across the apartment and snagging a book off the shelf before I sat down at one of the island stools. "You know, people don't give you enough credit sometimes. The 'bells' thing is pretty smart."

"Thanks." Steve pulled out a second bowl from the cabinet which piqued my interest until he went for the oatmeal.

I just waved him off. "I'm not hungry."

He just put one back and made himself breakfast, allowing me to see what book I was going to be looking at until he finished. Turns out, I was going to be subjected to reading 'A Movable Feast' if I actually did want to read. Wrinkling my nose at the title, I decided against pulling out my phone and just sucked it up and opened the first page. I never was big on reading books unless they had some sort of interesting material like spell books from Hogwarts or dystopias. I could sit down and actually enjoy reading something like that.

Steve had started washing out his now empty bowl and decided to speak, breaking me out of my reading trance from what turned out to be a genuinely interesting book. "So who is this Ancient One? You never specified."

"She's kind of complicated." I started, looking up from the book and trying to find the right words that wouldn't mess with this reality more than I had. "She's in charge of a defense system you guys have on this earth. I don't really know how much I'm allowed to tell you though."

He nodded and put the bowl aside, turning and leaning on the counter to face me. "That's...fine. What kind of defense system?"

"It's like some weird metaphysical defense against different dimensions…" I paused and frowned to myself. "Which is why I'm not so sure how she'll react to knowing I jumped right in without a problem."

Steve, despite my argument about him not being safe, followed me out the door back to the subway station. He used his card that he had but I absolutely did not give a shit so I just jumped the little barrier and kept walking. If he was bothered by me breaking the rules, he didn't say anything, so I decided to count that as progress in our professional relationship too.

It didn't take too long for us to arrive again at the front steps of the Sanctum again. It was time for me to give him 'the talk' about all this fate tampering.

I took in a deep breath of confidence and faced him. "Okay, so, I still don't know how she's going to react, so if I end up pinned to a wall or with a knife to my throat, you have to promise not to interfere."

He looked down at me, clear confusion written on his face. "I can't help you?"

I shook my head, looking back at the door. "No. She was never part of your timeline and she's really dangerous so you can't react and accidentally get hurt."

"What if they try to kill you?"

"They won't. Trust me." I smiled, you know, like a liar, and walked up the steps, knocking on the door. "They want to know how I got here more than they want me gone. Also, the Ancient One is nice enough that she probably won't kill a child."

"Probably?"

Before I was forced to give him an answer, the door swung open and I gave the Guardian of the Yew York Sanctum an innocent smile. "Hi. I still need to talk to the Ancient One."

"No." He didn't even blink and started to close the door, getting stopped when I stuck my foot in the way.

"Allow me to start over- I fell in here from another dimension. That means there's something wrong with your defenses." I had dropped my tone to be more serious. "We can help each other here."

He glared and lacked hesitation, grabbed the collar of my sweatshirt and pulled me in the door, making me stumble in after him. He released me inside to hold a hand up to the super soldier that tried to follow.

The guardian stood between us quickly, barring Steve from coming in. "Not you."

"Don't worry." I waved Steve off. "They're safe enough."

"Indeed we are." The Ancient One chimed into our conversation, making me turn to see her at the top of the stairs. "It's fine Master Drumm. He can come in."

Master Drumm. That was his name.

Master Drumm nodded and stepped back from the door, effectively allowing Steve to walk past him and stand next to me.

"Hi, I was hoping you could help me." I stood up a little straighter and felt my stomach twist from the nerves. "You know, if you have the time."

"Yes, it's nice to finally meet you, Lincoln." She cracked an amused smile. "I was beginning to think you weren't coming."

Steve looked between us confusedly, obviously a little lost.

I filled him in before he could ask. "She's good with names. Like me."

"That's one way to put it." She hummed, coming closer and halting only a few feet away. "You aren't the easiest to read from afar. I'm glad you finally showed."

"Yeah," I chuckled nervously. "Sorry if I kept you waiting. I kind of got kidnapped and then lied to about my situation."

She looked me up and down with just her eyes in an observing manner. "Yes, well, time has a way of correcting itself when threatened."

I sucked in a short breath at that and grimaced. "I threatened time? I mean, I know I told a few spoilers, but I was hoping they would help in the long run."

"They might." She nodded, passing a glance at Steve. "Don't spend time worrying about it. It's changed, then corrected, and now we are on a new path."

I bit my lip. Maybe I did deserve that beating up by the Hydra people. I guess that's what happens when you screw around with the chain of events. I was a little glad, however, that I was the only victim to the change. It could have gone a lot worse. I definitely will have to be more careful about that.

"Again, sorry about that." I nodded apologetically. 'I wasn't exactly planning on being here very long."

She motioned me along before turning and starting to walk towards a hallway adjacent to the stairs. I followed after with both Steve and Master Drumm at my heels. She didn't say anything more so I stayed quiet as well. Steve was smart enough to keep his mouth shut too which was helpful. The last thing I needed was to get the guy mentally scarred or killed by Ancient One and her fear-invoking power.

We turned down another hallway into a meeting room that reminded me of the one where Strange first met her in. I walked into the room behind her and barely moments after I had, a gust of wind flew past me and I turned just in time to see both of the men pushed out of the room with the door closing in their face. The Ancient One was simply pouring tea like she hadn't just thrown two grown men out on their nosy asses. Not wanting to be rude, I accepted the cup of tea she offered me and ignored the relocation of the other two.

"You know of my responsibility here, correct?" She asked, breaking the silence first and taking a short sip of her tea.

I nodded, still trying to look around at the room from my place. "Yeah, I know some things. Most of my information is limited to what takes place 4 years from now though."

She looked at me quickly and with narrowed eyes. "Strange."

I paused trying to determine what she meant by that. "Me...or the actual person?"

"The man who shows up four years from now. Dr. Steven Strange." She clarified, looking at me with a newfound interest.

"Yeah, I know all about him." I looked down at my tea, hiding a small smile. "He's a little rude at first but I'm glad he turns out alright."

"In most versions, he does." She mused before turning her attention back to me and taking a seat. I took that as an invitation and sat across from her at the small table while she went on. "I must say, you've stumped me for quite some time. You won't mind if I try to locate your dimension of origin, will you?"

I smiled knowing that we were finally getting to the important stuff. "No, not at all."

"It's just much easier when you find the actual body and spirit." She said, doing a quick motion with her hands and reaching them out to touch my head. "You might want to put down the tea."

I obliged and before I had a chance to react, I was back in space. It wasn't quite space space though. It was more of a dark 'area' filled with strange floating orbs. I took a particular interest in those small bubbled and colorful lights that spanned in all directions and seemed to never end or have any discernible pattern. After finding that I was in fact capable of turning and maneuvering my position in this gravity-less location, I located the Ancient One. She was pushing aside bubbles and searching around while occasionally looking back at me and shaking her head.

Suddenly, I was moved. I felt a rush in my head, stopping as soon as it started. The Ancient One was still flipping through different orbs and pushing a few aside gently while the others were just abandoned wherever she inspected them from. She must have transported me with her at one point. I felt a little uncomfortable being there only for reference, but if it was going to help me get home, I wasn't going to complain.

"That's odd." She said finally, pulling one orb close in particular. It had a different tone than the rest of them. It was dark. Like a ball of glass who's light just went out. Come to think of it, so did a few of the other ones around it. I hadn't noticed them until now.

"What is?" I peered over her shoulder, still unable to move on my own here.

"This universe." She started, holding it closer to her face to inspect it. "It matches you. Down to the very molecule of creation… yet, it's dark."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

She had gone silent again and started pulling few of the other dark ones to look at them, furthering my new unnerved state in the process. Then, she stopped and looked off into the distance. "Oh dear."

"I'm sorry, what?" I had lost the little bit of my respectful tone. To be fair though, she wasn't giving me any actual information.

"I didn't know he had made it this far." She whispered, holding the one she claimed to be my universe close, almost cradling it. "What has he done?"

I felt panic starting to pool into my chest while I continued to try and get answers. "Who's he? Just tell me what's going on."

She looked back at me with a deep sympathy written across her face, holding out the orb for me to take. Her hand lingered on my forearm while I looked down at the small universe and it's lack of light with dread.

"You poor child."

"Does she do this often?" Steve asked, mildly unnerved from being shoved out of the room by an invisible force. He was a little less offended by the fact that the other man had been thrown out too, but it was weird nonetheless. He didn't like leaving Lincoln alone with anyone strange either.

Not after Hydra. He thought, almost wincing at the memories. The images on those tapes that Fury made them watch were still fresh in his head, and in all honesty, he had no clue how that child was walking around as confidently as she was. She didn't hesitate to snap at him or make a joke which would be comforting or even a little funny if he didn't fear for her mental state. Yeah, he definitely felt bad about that. He also felt a little bad about the fact that he hadn't properly thanked her for allowing them to rescue Bucky. He owed her at least a 'thank you' for that move.

Master Drumm glared and turned away from the door. "Don't touch anything."

And with that, the oddly dressed man left down the hallway. Steve inwardly sighed. They must think so little of him. Lincoln had told him to avoid conflict here in an effort to keep the timeline stable though, so he listened well and just leaned back against the wall while he waited for her to come back out. She had sounded pretty serious about that statement too. He was technically looking into something he wasn't supposed to know existed. It felt wrong, but strangely enticing knowing that he never would have known about this place without her.

The Ancient One opened the doors again minutes later when Steve was still leaning on the wall and inspecting the architectural design of the hallway he was in. She looked at him once, standing up straight and calm. "She's...recovering. You can go now. We'll keep her safe here."

He felt his heart drop in worry immediately. "Wait, what's she recovering from?"

He mentally slapped himself for letting her stay in there alone with her. Stupid. What had happened?

"That isn't for me to tell you."

"Is she going home?" Steve pressed, ignoring the nagging in his head telling him not to push the lady for answers.

"She's staying with us for the time being." She replied simply. "It's safer for someone like her."

"With all due respect ma'am, you must know what happened the last time we left her alone for too long." He tried, more desperate now to get her out. For all he knew, they could suddenly want access to the information in her head and be hanging onto her for that reason.

The Ancient One paused in contemplation, looking over her shoulder once. "You care a lot for her?"

"I owe her a debt." He attempted to explain without outright admitting that he did in fact care about the kid. "I can't leave her alone."

The Ancient One looked him over for a moment before nodding once. "You can see her now. Then you must come back for her decision."

The mysterious lady stepped aside in the doorway and Steve wasted no time getting to the child kneeling in the center of the room. He crouched down and first noticed the blank stare she had trained on her hands held open in her lap. She looked pretty mentally checked out. The last time she looked this mentally checked out was in the security tapes. That wasn't a comforting sight at all.

"What did you do to her?" He asked quickly, reaching out a hand to touch her shoulder in an attempt to get her attention. Great, Fury's gonna kill me.

The Ancient one kept an even tone despite Steve's more pressing and accusatory questions.

"She is processing her loss. A man in your position can understand only a fraction of that feeling."

"Lincoln? Link?" Steve tried shaking her shoulders lightly, but when she looked up, she just looked past him as if he wasn't there. He turned to the Ancient One next. "I can't leave her here."

"Lincoln has to keep safe until she's done grieving." The Ancient One folded her hands behind her back nonchalantly. "It's dangerous for our world to have her leave in this state."

"Can't she stay with me?" Steve kept his eyes on the kid, trying to read any of what she was thinking.

"I'm afraid not. She will accompany me to Kamar-Taj." She paused then and looked at him. "But...you won't allow this, will you?"

He did feel slightly uncomfortable by the accurate reading of his stance, but responded anyways. "I can't. I'm responsible for her."

"Then what do you suggest?"

He was a little taken aback by this change. She had been so commanding and specific only a moment ago. Thinking about it, he knew he couldn't just let them take Lincoln away to Nepal. Who knows what kind of dangers are waiting for her there? There was no way she was about to go be locked up by a bunch of strangely dressed wizards. Not all alone at least. "Can I go with her?"

The Ancient One seemed relatively pleased with his answer and nodded her head. "Honorable request. You can come along. Master Drumm will help you gather your things."

She turned to the man behind her in the doorway. He nodded and then beckoned with a hand for Steve to follow. Hesitantly, he did. Said wizard now wore what appeared to be a pair of rings fused together under a small metal plate. Master Drumm noticed Steve eying the rings and gave off the faintest smirk before holding his hands out and spinning one in a circle. Steve stepped back in alarm when orange and gold sparks started to generate in thin air, slowly growing into what appeared to be a circle. Inside the circle, however, began to show the image of the inside of his apartment.

Master Drumm stepped through the supposed 'portal', but before Steve followed after he turned back around to face the lady. "How do I know you aren't abandoning me and taking her anyways?"

She gave him a slight smile as if entertained by his paranoia. "I do not apply the term 'honorable' to those I plan on leaving behind."

Steve, though still slightly suspicious, accepted that it was likely the best answer he was getting considering the circumstances. He carefully stepped into the portal after Master Drumm to find himself back in his apartment. Master Drumm stood by the portal and Steve got right to work shoving a few things in a bag. Normally, he would have taken the time to carefully fold and place the items in the backpack, but he still felt a little uneasy about staying too long with the odd sparkly portal being the only way to get back to Lincoln in a hurry.

Soon enough, he had grabbed anything he might need, plus the book he was currently reading, and stepped back through the portal. He was quickly preceded by the other man and watched as The Ancient One spoke to Lincoln in a hushed tone. The kid nodded at something she said and stood with her gaze still cast to the ground. She walked by him, pushing her hands into her pockets. The Ancient One passed the kid's backpack over for Steve to carry before walking after Lincoln and keeping by her side.

Master Drumm had turned and gone in the other direction since he probably had other things to do with his day. While they walked back into the main room and up the stairs, Steve kept stealing glances at the kid who was walking alongside the Ancient One numbly. Finally, after walking past quite the collection of mysterious objects, they pushed open a big pair of doors and entered a very different space.