This was out faster than I expected. Little time to edit, but it's here. I'm winging it too in order to make a story that connects to the next part that's already written. essentially I'm flying blind, but I will make it through this, I promise. thank you all for sticking around through the long waits.

IDon'tOwnMarvel

I paced down the hall in the mirror dimension, wandering into the library with a smile and almost walking right by Wong. I didn't make it so far though as he looked at a light that turned from green to red. He got up with a sigh and pushed into the mirror dimension too to look right at me.

"You aren't allowed in here yet." He pointed to the door. "Go."

"Come on, man," I sighed dejectedly, cursing out the detection spell on his desk in my head, "It's not like I can break anything in here. It's not the real world."

"The Ancient One was clear." He waved his hands, starting up a spell. "You are not to access the library until you are out of the mirror dimension."

"You know, I learned one cool thing from being here-" I pointed at him, backing towards the door so he didn't hit me with another wind spell. "I don't get headaches when I use the purple power thing here. Plus, I've gotten a lot better at not wearing myself out outside."

"Are you threatening the book keeper?"

I rolled my eyes and turned around. "No, Wong, I love you. I could never."

He scoffed to himself as I walked back down the hall with a deep frown. I'd just have to spend my time working on my new trick so the Ancient One was impressed when she came back to talk to me about my getting here.

My one conversation with Steve was short-lived and while I acknowledged that I might have overreacted a little, he didn't let it go so easily and tried to press an apology. Eventually, I managed to give him a similar speech that I gave Tony. Steve took it a lot more willingly and told me to take all the time I needed. Supposedly, and according to my mentor, I needed to reach out again sometime after I completed her version of 'therapy' to catch up on what was going on over there. And…that was last week.

So, naturally, as we finished up 'week three' of me being in a glass prison in Nepal in the middle of September, I was getting to the thing I never boxed up, but simply just never remembered. The Ancient One said it was important because it was how I got the power I had in the first place. She said it could push me to unlock more of my full potential. Honestly though, I'm pretty sure I've seen it all. I'm just excited to be 'trained' and have access to learning spells like she promised.

Plus, I wanted to use a sling ring to check on Peter.

"Hey, I did something cool." I smiled when the Ancient One wandered into the room we'd been using. "Wanna see?"

She waved a hand at me to go ahead with a second lady following in after her.

"Who's this?" I asked, picking up the wooden chair leg.

"This is Ruby." The Ancient One replied, making the woman with white robes smile too. "She is here to assist in digging up that day. As you know, it will be difficult work to keep some memory lost while uncovering other bits."

"Right," I nodded at the lady. "Nice to meet you Ruby. Want to see me make purple fire?"

"Sure." She folded her hands behind her back while I held the chair leg between my hands.

I focused on the air flow around me, feeling it mix with the energy rolling up my spine. There was a small spark coming off my thumb as the first result before I refocused again and held it tighter. Then, the wood sprung up in purple flames, making me smile.

"See?" I shook the fire out easily and waggled the charred wood in my hand to show it off. "Wicked cool, huh?"

The Ancient One nodded with a small smile. "What brought on that discovery?"

"Well, you said the thing about the elements and how they have different sigils, right?" I explained, "And I don't have a lot to do here now that you made me clear out the boxes in the old thinker. So, I wondered what would happen if I tried to mix and match with what I can already do."

She looked between my eyes carefully for a moment before pacing closer and walking by me. "Never do that outside of here."

I opened and shut my mouth before nodding and tossing the wood over my shoulder behind me. "Got it. No experimenting outside. Noted."

"We need to talk about what you remember already." Ruby started then, pacing closer with the Ancient One standing behind me. "Are you ready to see? My mentor will guide the memory, and I will block what should not be seen."

"Great." I took a careful breath. "I've faced Nazis and my mom again in a time period shorter than a month. What could possibly get to me now?"

"I'm just saying that if the Psychic called me out specifically, then there has to be something significant that's gonna happen." Peter insisted, sitting and kicking his legs over the edge of the bridge while on the phone. "There's no way they don't give hints, right? Can't you just ask them so I'm prepared?"

"It's not how it works." Happy sighed back, "The Psychic doesn't disclose any information about the future. Getting the suit is your hint."

"They didn't say anything to you?" Peter leaned back on a beam, watching the sun set. "Come on, there's gotta be something."

"There's nothing, Buddy," Happy walked through a loud area over the phone and pulled it away to shout at someone before going back to Peter. "She doesn't say things to the actual Avengers about the future, let alone me."

"So, it's a she?" Peter smiled a little, "And you've met her?"

"Of course I've met her." Happy grumbled, "She's on vacation right now and she doesn't like being bothered. No one's gonna track her down to try and ask her about your divine purpose, alright? If she told someone that you're important, then you are. But that doesn't mean it's gonna happen tomorrow."

Peter sighed at that. "It could be years from now. Got it."

"Don't do anything stupid because you think you're invincible." Happy reminded him too, "If you mean something, you don't want to be dead when your time comes. I know she won't be happy about it and then I'll get to listen to the bitching."

"Thanks, Happy." Peter got up and started walking along the bridge.

"Yeah, you gotta stop calling me about this. You better be dying the next time you call or I'm blocking you."

Peter pulled the phone away from his ear when Happy hung up on him and frowned before webbing the phone to his hip and jumping off the bridge. Divine purpose or not, he had work to get to.

The scream of terror and pain haunted me only briefly before Ruby flicked her hand and the memory paused. I looked on at myself halfway between the emptiness between universes and the bubble that held this universe together. Something about the Empty intrigued me too as I turned my eyes away from my frozen self to look at a large shadow only illuminated by the light of large purple orbs spread around the area.

"What's that?" I asked, pointing at the shadow of something large. "Is that Dormammu?"

"No." The Ancient One barely glanced up at it. "That isn't important."

"It looks like someone." I squinted, pulling at the memory with the area around us glitching from my prodding.

"Stop trying to see." Ruby ordered through gritted teeth. "I don't believe it's in your right to know."

I scratched the back of my head and pried at some other memories. Maybe there was something in the few comics I read that explained it.

"It is." The Ancient One looked between my past self and me then before nodding Ruby on. "It is part of her story. Let her see."

My cries were silenced with my head going through the barrier and being hushed by the emptiness of the space inside. The shadow moved closer then and I watched it carefully, the face hidden under the shadow of the cloak it wore, making it difficult to see clearly. It was inhuman and massive. It stopped nearby and watched my past self curiously for a moment and then looked around.

"I'm not supposed to interfere."

Those words hit me as I remembered seeing the shadow before too. Its hand reached out closer and I was pulled back by the Ancient One to look on as it just touched the barrier next to past-me. My past self went shooting through then, surrounded by a glowing purple. I reached out to touch the barrier too and drew a finger across it as the large being backed up again and turned to float away.

I blinked and I was standing back in the room with a furrowed brow. "That's like you said before- the barrier of the universe."

"Lincoln," The Ancient One held out a hand, building an illusion up from the center. "You possess a fraction of the power that holds our very universe together."

I stared wide-eyed at the illusion she made with her hand.

"The Power Stone." She explained, waving a hand over the stone and making it ripple and expand across the space. "Created as one of six-"

"It's an infinity stone." I chuckled nervously. "You're joking."

She shook her head. "The universe is powered with six elements. You hold some of that in you. From where you've traveled, and with the past assistance of a Watcher, you are capable of not only holding the power stone, but using it in spells."

I looked up at her fast. "Can we start now?"

She only cracked an amused smile before vanishing the illusions of the power stone's capabilities and then handing me a sling ring. "Your room is the same as before. If you can get out by tonight, we'll start tomorrow."

I actually smiled then as Ruby exited with the Ancient One and left me with the sling ring. This wasn't the most conventional way, but it was really her style. Naturally, and with nothing else to do, I got to work with a smile.

It may have taken a bit and I decided to be patient with myself after an hour. Just laying down on the ground and focusing on the buzz of energy under my skin seemed to help before I got up and tried again. It took that and a bit of visualization of my bedroom here before I could get some more sparks in. Except, these sparks being added were purple.

Thus, the creation of a meshed purple and gold portal was created, making me giggle excitedly before bounding through it into my room.

"I'm a sorcerer!" I pumped my fist in the air. "Woo!"

My eyes fell on a pile on the bed shortly after too and I shut the portal to inspect it and the small note.

'6 at the library.'

I pulled up the clothes underneath and smiled at the white robes.

"Oh hoho ho." I set them back down to grab at a pair of brown plain clothes marked 'nightwear' too. "I'm really a wizard now."

The next morning, I was in the white robes and very excitedly making my way to the library. You know, I'm not exactly the type to get over-excited about studying, but this was magical studying. It was, in some senses, going to be lit.

Wong was a little begrudging and moody the next morning when I went out to him with my robes on, but he handed over my set of books anyways. I left them in the library and brought back a scone from breakfast before plopping myself down to start reading up on the most basic foundations of spell work. It was cool to take notes in a separate notebook that had been unceremoniously dropped on my head when I was halfway through reading the first page. The pencil came two minutes after that.

I wasn't so sure yet about barging in on Tony and Steve, even after our talks. Naturally, I put my new coping skills to the test and decided to set a specific date. If I gave myself a week and also told them that I'd be back to catch up in a week, then I would have no other choice than to follow through with the promise unless I wanted Tony busting down the door again. That had to be a good strategy if I ignored the fact that Peter Parker was probably starting to get up to no good now that his school had started.

I was still figuring out how and where I might be needed there too.

Let me tell you though, six days passed a lot faster than I expected, especially since I was spending a lot of my time reading and studying. I'd half-learned a shield spell and managed to hold a portal open on my own, but outside of that, I was expected to do a lot of reading and meditation. Plus, there was one fighting class that I crushed.

Though, after a full week, I really just spent most of my time in the library.

"What were you listening to?" A familiar voice asked, coming closer and then passing as Stephen Strange.

I watched him walk briskly by me with Wong, right near the restricted section in this private collection room. Wong picked up another book off a shelf nearby while I looked up to see Stephen Strange peering around the corner to see the chained up books. My journal was of these chained up books and seemed to catch Strange's attention, making him round the corner curiously and look over the books before stopping in front of mine.

"None of the knowledge in Kamar taj is off limits with one exception." Wong relayed, making me actually pick up my head to watch them. "Only practices are banned."

"What's the exception?" Strange stared hard at my leather bound journal before pulling it off the shelf, shockingly enough.

And right in front of me? I could've scoffed at the entitlement. I always forget how self-absorbed Strange was.

He flipped open a page and frowned at it before flipping to another and another. I could see the writing, but it would appear that he could not.

"This book just has bad drawings." He held it up only for Wong to snatch it away from him in record time.

"Never touch this." Wong gave him a serious look, closing the journal gingerly and placing it back on the shelf.

"Why not?"

"The only restricted knowledge in all the sanctums." Wong closed the chain too and huffed to himself in annoyance. "By reading that, you could cause incomparable damage to our very fabric of reality."

Dramatic, but possibly accurate.

Strange furrowed his brow a little. "Who wrote it?"

Wong shook his head with a small scoff and shoved a small stack of books into Strange's arms before passing me a look that said it all about his feelings on Strange.

Yeah, I can't believe him either. I smiled a little back, rolling my eyes.

"Come on. Don't do that silent thing." Strange pleaded quietly. "Why would you keep it if it's so dangerous? Why not destroy it? Can it be destroyed?"

"It can," Wong replied, sounding quite annoyed. "But it is not ours to destroy or tamper with, which is why you should never attempt reading it."

It was a little funny to think of Strange getting all worked up about my journal, but to be fair, it was very like him. Of course that man would be drawn to the only thing in the library that he's not allowed to read or look at. Anything in the private collection would probably have him drooling to read them. He was a little like Tony in that way: Inquisitive to a fault.

And, speaking of Tony, I was still hesitant to meet up with him, even as I stood in my bedroom with a sling ring and a date and time to keep. If I didn't show in the next three minutes, he would probably call or panic. As of right now, I was two minutes past the decided time and had to take several deep breaths before I raised my hands to make a portal. Willingly or not, I needed to know what Peter was up to and catch up with Tony about this whole therapy thing that Pepper said he wasn't doing.

He looked over immediately from the table with Steve when they saw the portal open too and I tried not to wait too long before forcing myself to step through. It was an almost shameful and awkward feeling as I stepped in and looked around, spotting Clint and Nat in the kitchen behind me too.

That's when I noticed the other chairs at the table too.

"Oh, so you made it a thing." I looked between the four of them.

Tony shrugged lightly, sipping his coffee like he couldn't care less about me being there. "I was sick of listening to them whine about it."

"It's nice to see you again, Lincoln." Steve smiled a little, making me roll my eyes as I shut the portal behind me.

Clint came around the barrier wall in the kitchen and paced over to stand where the portal was. "What is that?"

"Sorcerer magic." Steve tried to fill in casually, looking at me next. "I didn't know you could do that sort of thing."

"I'm learning." I pulled out a chair beside Tony and sat down. "The Ancient One said I needed to learn some new tricks, and I wasn't going to say no to teleporting. It's mostly just learning how to control the many tricks of my purple lightning thing."

"The many tricks?" Clint raised an eyebrow, sitting down with his own coffee and everything bagel. "What other tricks?"

"Well, I'm supposed to find that out." I explained, waving a hand absently. "You know, by working on it where I'm not going to get anyone killed. The Ancient One knows more about it than anyone else on this planet. She can help me."

"I don't like this 'Ancient One' title." Clint huffed, "It sounds like a weird magic cult to me."

"It-" I looked away in thought before nodding. "Yeah, no, it's definitely a cult. They're just a good cult."

"A cult would make you believe that." Natasha chimed in, getting a small look from Steve. "How do you know that this woman isn't trying to use you for herself?"

I tapped my hand on the table. "Uh, I know her? She wouldn't do that. And even if she was, she would be using me to protect the earth from metaphysical threats. It's her sworn responsibility as the Sorcerer Supreme. I don't think she's going to be around for long now that Strange is here too."

"Strange?" Clint snorted at the name, picking up his bagel. "Is he our next battle? I have kids so you have to tell me my schedule if you can."

"No, he's a new Avenger." I shook my head, "He's good. He's just a little full of himself at the moment. Kinda like Tony before the whole trip with the Ten Rings."

"Uncalled for." Tony muttered, cupping his coffee with his hands while Clint dug into his bagel.

"Anyways." I shook my head, "Learning new things, trying to heal…what else is on the list? Peter Parker?"

"Weird kid." Clint said with food in his mouth. "Do the webs come out of him?"

I shook my head. "No. He makes them and puts them in little devices on his wrist. He's real smart. Like Harley."

"How do you know Harley?" Tony frowned at me before scoffing at my small smile. "Of course."

"I would like to hear more about these tricks you can do." Natasha chimed in, making me shake my head again.

"No, I need to know what Spiderman is up to." I looked at Tony. "Can you make him email mission reports to me?"

"Should we be worried about what Peter is doing?" Steve asked then, "He's really just a kid. He's fifteen."

"He's gonna fight people whether we're monitoring him or not." I ran my fingers through my hair and sat back. "I won't let him do anything traumatizing. Tony is the only one who's supposed to have intervention."

Tony smiled a little at that over his mug, taking another sip.

"He falls into a lake at one point." I mentioned, thinking about if I should say anything at all on Peter. "You have to watch out for that, Tony. He's gonna chase after some dude with wings."

"Sam?"

I waved Steve off. "No. The Vulture. It's not your fight though and it's really important that you and everyone other than Tony and Happy don't interfere."

"He needs to learn." Natasha explained to Clint's hesitant look. "If he doesn't experience the things that he does, he might make different decisions later on. Decisions that impact the timeline more."

"Tony has to be humbled," I continued for her. "Strange has to be humbled, Loki has to learn to be empathetic for his brother, and Dr. Banner has to go to Sakaar. It all leads to something else. It's fragile. And I still don't know what Pietro is going to do to the timeline."

"Ugh, he's been intolerable since you left." Clint shook his head tiredly with the bagel reduced to crumbs on his place. "You know he found out where I live, right? Laura keeps letting him stay for dinner and I've had it about up to here with his barging in. I wanna smack him so bad."

"He thinks of you like family." Natasha smiled a little in amusement, passing me a small look too. "Clint doesn't like it when Pietro offers the kids rides to an ice cream place down the road."

Clint shuttered a sigh, shaking his head in exhaustion. "That kid is taking over my house."

"Wanda too." Tony reminded him with a similar amused smile. "They just like being around a family, Robin Hood. Lighten up."

"The shrink said the same thing." Clint turned the conversation, looking up at Tony. "Oh, that's right: You wouldn't know anything about that."

Tony rolled his eyes dramatically and changed the subject again. "I'll have Pete send you emails. Do you need a computer?"

"I need quite a few things." I admitted, "I kind of left abruptly."

"I can help you get some things." Steve volunteered fast, getting looks from the others. "...If you want."

"Steve's trying to kick you out." Tony hummed thoughtfully, still wearing that smirk. "Again."

"I'm not, Tony." Steve knitted his brows together in worry. "I'm just offering."

"You need to relax a little." I shook my head at him. "I did my therapy, okay? I'm not pissed off, I'm just unsettled. I didn't expect Captain America of all people to want me dead. Natasha, Clint, Tony, or Fury, I'd believe. Steve Rogers was never on that list. We talked about this already."

"I know." He settled in his seat again. "I still feel guilty."

"Good." I rolled my eyes for the hundredth time. "I get to live with the unsettling fact that you wanted me dead at one point and you can live with the guilt. That's what makes it even. I don't carry your guilt for you because you don't have to live with the betrayal. That's what the Ancient One taught me. I'm not responsible for the guilt of the people that hurt me. I'm only obligated to repair relationships if changes are made and boundaries are set to avoid pain in the future."

Natasha blinked at that, shaking her head and looking away.

Tony stared at me. "Where'd you learn all those words? The cult?"

I shrugged, "I'm quoting."

"Of course you are." He scoffed a little, "Stop quoting people. It makes me want to smack you."

"It was well said." Clint looked back over at the kitchen longingly.

"We set boundaries." Steve lowered his voice. "I'm not gonna…hurt you. I promised."

"Yeah, but you still said it before." I reached over to take his coffee and he let me pull it away from him with a small frown. "Apologizing doesn't make things go away."

"I know."

"I'm just saying that I'm not gonna trust you overnight." I gestured vaguely with a hand, feeling my heart thumping in my chest as the conversation bordered on stressful. "I'm working on it. Obviously, I don't want to be scared of you, but I can't exactly control that. All you're doing is stressing me out more by pushing at being helpful or apologizing and telling me you feel bad. You're not helping."

He fell silent at that and I looked back at him for a moment longer before revisiting the hostile tone I'd used. I opened my mouth to try and say something else, only for him to speak up first.

"Okay."

"Okay?" I raised my brows at him in question. "What?"

"I'll work on it." He almost whispered, "I don't know how to fix it, but I'll stop doing those things."

"Thank you." I looked to Tony for support but he just kept his eyes trained on his coffee with the other two adults. "Oh, grow up, guys."

All three looked up and away with Clint checking his watch and then clearing his throat. "I have a…plane to catch."

"Nat, do you want to join me?" Tony offered then. "I need to work on your suit."

Nat nodded and Steve and I watched them all get up to leave. Tony passed behind me and tousled my hair on his way by.

"I left your phone in your room."

I looked back at Steve then who also had his eyes trained on Tony's abandoned coffee cup. For a moment, I just stared too, watching his silence carefully and knowing that I could make a run for it if I wanted. Eventually, and after many beats of silence, Steve did speak up.

"What can I do?"

What do I call her? Peter wondered, pacing in his bedroom with the computer open to send his first email.

Tony Stark had given him a special email just so that he could send mission reports directly to the Psychic lady instead of to Happy. It made him feel a lot more important to be given that privilege and direct line. Sure, he couldn't really confirm that it wasn't an email set up by Happy so he stopped getting calls all the time, but Peter also couldn't confirm that it wasn't the Psychic on the other end. He couldn't take that chance, so he was trying to make sure the email didn't sound stupid.

He must've been up until one in the morning trying to work out a mission report that didn't look dumb. This was one of those things he wished he could ask Aunt May about. She would probably know how to write decently enough for the Psychic.

But, honestly, how does anyone write emails to someone who has infinite wisdom and knowledge on the future?

He was exhausted the next day at school and still panicking about the email he sent, worrying that it wasn't enough or that it was too much. Peter was literally losing sleep over this.

"Dude, it's Liz." Ned nudged his arm, making him look up only briefly at the girl hanging posters in the lunchroom.

"Oh," Peter dropped his head back in his arms on the table. "It's Liz."

"You stay up late working on that lab paper?" Ned asked, leaning his head on his hand. "You know it's not due until Tuesday, right?"

"No," Peter sat up and shook his head, reminding himself to be grateful of the situation in the first place. "Mr. Stark wants me to send emails to this important lady he works with and I don't know how to write emails that she'll want to read."

"You were up late writing emails." Ned nodded in understanding, "Tony Stark giving you homework is weird. Is he like your mentor?"

"Kinda." Peter played with the stem on his apple, twisting it and only glancing up at Liz once more as she stepped down from the ladder. "He's really busy though so we haven't talked much in person since I had to visit the Avengers Tower."

"Internships come with work, I guess." Ned shrugged again. "You can do it though. Tony Stark probably pays pretty well if you are able to actually get a job there after High School. Not to mention, uh, working around the Avengers. Actual Superheroes. You might end up working in the same building. I mean, can you imagine going to put away files for Mr. Stark and you pass by Captain America on your way? That's gotta be crazy."

"Yeah, that will be worth it." Peter sighed to himself.

"You can tough it out." Ned assured him with a smile. "If you're sending emails to someone now, that must mean you're on Ironman's radar."

Peter smiled finally too. "I can do this."