A/N: Hey everybody! I am so so so sorry about the wait! Unfortunately, my life kind of went totally haywire on me. I had a family member pass suddenly, I had to take her cat and my brother is getting married. It's a lot at once, however, I did see Dr. Strange last weekend and that sort of re ignited my muse. I figure playing around in Miss Marvel's Marvel universe will distract me from some of the drama that is going on right now. I think that's all I have for the time being.

On with the show!

P.S. Thank you all so much for the faves, follows and the one comment I got! I really appreciate it! It always makes my whole day!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot, Arlowe and Sapphire!

Mystic Arts 101

Stephen

To say that Stephen was shocked would be an understatement. When he finally agreed to go help Stark, he had no idea what to expect but he certainly didn't expect a full grown woman close to anything like Arlowe was. When Tony said 'Adopted daughter' he had expected a young girl or maybe an older teenager not a 22 year old woman with magic dripping from every pore. The magic he felt pulsating from her was like nothing he'd ever felt before.

Usually, a person had to learn the mystic arts; magic wasn't something someone was born with however this girl seemed to be exception. To think, he wasn't even going to go in the first place until Wong practically forced him to. Even though he considered Tony Stark one of the smartest people he knew, and he was really loathe to admit that, he also considered the man to be a giant pain the ass to deal with but Wong 'helpfully' reminded him over and over again that when he took over the Sanctum Sanctorum, his job was to police any magic going on in New York City whatever that magic might be.

So he couldn't just 'Ignore it' like he wanted to.

So, when he finally went to check the situation out, he was extremely glad that he did. There was no way on god's green earth he could leave a girl that vulnerable to deal with that much uncontrolled magic all on her own. He still couldn't believe a 4'11'' slip of a girl could contain that much magic inside of her.

Entering his study, he decided the best course of action would be to meditate so he could clear his mind and think of what the proper way to deal with this (and help her) would be. He hadn't had to teach anyone anything thing in so long he didn't think he could even do it anymore.

The last time he remembered teaching anybody anything was when he was still a neurosurgeon back when he was still a royal pompous asshole and remembered being total and complete garbage at it because his head was too far up his own ass to care or even think about helping anybody else. He would have to try and beg Wong for help at this rate.

As he tried to clear his mind, he could still feel Arlowe's lingering sadness. Not that he could blame her for the way she was feeling. He knew what it was like having everything he knew suddenly ripped away from under him. The only difference was, he played stupid games and won stupid prizes and deserved what he got.

Poor Arlowe just had everything bottom out from under her without warning. Her being so upset was understandable, hopefully he could somehow help her to understand it was for her own good.

A few minutes later, he felt the sadness begin to dissipate and he knew that she must have fallen asleep.

He prepared himself to meditate. Just as he began to relax and his eyes began drifting shut, he felt a sharp tug around his neck and he let out an annoyed growl. As of late, his cloak was being a giant asshole and he had no idea why. It started when he decided that he would try rekindling his relationship with Christine.

The cloak decided that it didn't like that idea very much and did everything in its power to wreck everything whenever he was with her. What's worse, when Arlowe fell out of the portal, the cloak wanted nothing more than to 'check her out' and it actually seemed interested in her. He had no idea why that was.

In fact, it still wanted to go and check her out. He had to force it to stay put. However, it just refused to listen to him.

"Oh come on! Would you behave yourself?" He hissed at the cloak in annoyance.

After a few more minutes of trying to fight with it, he gave up and just let it do what it wanted. It disengaged from him completely and decided to leave the room.

"Fine! Go and sulk you annoying red beast of burden!" He yelled.

Sighing, he went and sat cross-legged in the middle of the room. Calming himself, he shut his eyes and began his meditation.

2 Hours Later

As he exited his state of meditation, his blue eyes popped open and he let out a relaxed sigh. He felt so much better and had also decided on the best way to introduce Arlowe to the mystic arts.

Getting up off of the floor, he winced as his back popped and crackled. He was not used to meditating on the floor. Normally, he would just use his cloak and levitate in place. He exited his study and decided to go and find said cloak. He had an idea of where it was. Sure enough, the cloak was levitating in front of Arlowe's door.

He could only assume that there was something in her magic that was drawing the cloak to her.

Using his magic, he called the cloak to himself. Surprisingly, it obeyed him and settled back onto his shoulders without a problem. As much as he would like to figure out what exactly the cloak's problem was, he had bigger fish to fry at the moment. He had to start introducing Arlowe to the mystic arts as soon as possible before she accidently blew up something important like his whole sanctum.

Entering his library, he hoped to whatever god was up there that Wong was still there. He tended to come and go as he pleased so there was no guarantee he would actually be there. Sure enough, he couldn't see Wong but he could hear movement and he let out a breath he didn't even know he had been holding.

'Thank god.' He thought, relieved.

Sensing his presence, Wong poked his head out from around a series of bookshelves.

"So, how did it go?" He asked in a tone that clearly indicated that he already knew the answer to the question.

Stephen fought the urge to roll his eyes; he supposed he had that one coming with all the fight he put up about doing this earlier.

"Well, the problem is bigger than I first thought, I'll admit it. This girl has magic dripping from every pore. Hell, she almost blew Stark away with the flick of her wrist. She needs help. There was no way on god's green earth I could let her stay at the tower safely. I brought her back here with me." He explained.

Coming out from around the bookshelves, Wong had his eyebrows slightly raised in shock and let out a low whistle. His thoughts exactly, this situation was unbelievable.

"Well, that IS a serious situation." Wong agreed.

He nodded and rubbed the side of his temple as he thought.

"She loathes change so I think starting out slow would be the best. I am thinking books, like mystic arts 101 type books." He said.

He watched with confusion as Wong began to snicker.

"What?" He asked in confusion.

"Nothing, it's just I never thought, I would actually witness the day that THE Doctor Stephen Strange actually did something that benefited somebody else completely." He laughed.

His look of confusion quickly morphed into one of annoyance.

"WONG!" He yelled in exasperation.

"Okay, okay, alright! Books on the mystic arts 101 coming right up!" Wong said, holding his hands up in surrender.

He fought the extremely immature urge to make an obscene gesture behind Wong's back as he disappeared back behind the book shelves. When Wong re-emerged moments later, he saw that he was carrying a stack of very familiar books under his arm and was pleasantly surprised.

These were the same books he read when he began his training in the mystic arts. They will be perfect for Arlowe to learn at her own pace. She could start with reading the books, she could switch out the books with new ones whenever she wanted to and then when she felt ready he could start teaching her how to conjure her powers on command.

Watching Wong place the books on the table in front of him, he regarded him with approval.

"Thank you Wong, these will be perfect. I owe you one." He praised.

"Actually, I think you might owe me twelve at this rate." Wong said, snickering some more.

"Wong…" He warned.

Wong merely laughed and disappeared behind the shelves this time for good.

He shook his head in exasperation, apparently saving everybody from Dormammu using the Eye of Argamotto counted for absolutely nothing these days.

Seeking out Arlowe's emotions for a moment, he sensed that she had woken up. Perfect.

Picking up the books off the table, he put them under his arm and left the library. He sure hoped that Arlowe was in the mood for some light reading.

Arlowe

Letting out a long groan, Arlowe cracked open her sore eyes and rubbed them. She hated when she fell asleep crying, her eyes always felt all gritty when she woke up. Looking down at herself, she realized that she hadn't even taken off her leather jacket before she passed out. Knowing that she would be here for god knows how long, she decided that she better get comfortable and set up her room how she liked it.

Honestly, exploring was at the bottom of her list of crap to do for the time being. Getting up off of the bed, she took off her leather jacket and placed it on the chair that sat in front of the desk.

Picking up her duffle bag up from by the desk, she placed it on the bed and opened it. Sifting through its contents, she pulled out a pair of sweat pants that she swiped from Tony's wardrobe forever ago and her favorite sweat top that said 'hello there' written on it. She changed into them and after a small internal debate, just chose to just leave her bra on.

With her crappy luck, Stephen would come knocking at the door and that was just a whole bunch of hell freaking no. She didn't not want to be caught without a bra in front of him. No thank you.

Seeing that there was no closet in the room but a beautiful wooden wardrobe instead, she placed all her clothes inside of it just how she liked them.

Picking up her toiletries, she went to go and explore the bathroom. If the rest of this insane room was in any indication, she would not be disappointed with it and she was right. It was large and just as ornate as the rest of the place. It had a beautiful, large claw foot type bathtub and a pillar sink with a mirror hanging over top. This was just not fair, at this rate this room alone would make her never want to leave this place.

Not that she would ever say that out loud or anything. After setting up her toiletries the way that she liked them, she left the bathroom making sure to keep her hair brush with her.

She had to deal with her crow's nest head at some point; she might as well do it now. Placing the hair brush on the desk momentarily, she took out her laptop and also placed it on the desk.

After plugging it in, she turned it on and booted it up. After checking that everything was working, she picked up the brush off of the desk and took off her bandana. She threw the bandana onto the bed and started trying to brush out her obscenely curly hair. Every time she hit a tangle, she let out a string of curse words like a dirty trucker. Being around Tony made her pick up a lot of interesting foul language over the years.

Halfway through her efforts, a knock sounded at her door and she thanked every deity above that she decided to leave her bra on.

"Um, come in?" She said, although it came out more like a question.

The door swung open and she watched Stephen step into the room carrying a huge arm load of books under his arm. She looked at them curiously, she always loved a good book and these books looked particularly old and interesting. She could see that Stephen seemed happy at her reaction to the books and she could tell that he was reading her mind again. The jerk. Between him and her dad did either them know what the in the HELL privacy was?

"I take it you are feeling a little better now?" He asked knowingly.

She rolled her eyes at the question, this mind reading crap was getting on her nerves.

However, she couldn't stay irritated at him for long; the allure of the books under his arm was overriding her irritation.

"Yeah I am. What's with the books?" She asked curiously.

She watched him smile at her curiosity and suddenly all she could think about was what Darcy said earlier. Dammit all, she tried to turn it off before he could read her thoughts but by the way his smile turned into a shit-eating smirk she did a terrible job. Stupid Darcy and her inability to think with the right body parts. She thanked God and heaven above that she knew that he didn't say anything about it.

"I know this is difficult for you, so I thought these books would help you learn about the mystic arts at your own pace. When you finish these books, you can switch them out for new ones, read as many as you want until you are ready to take the next step." He explained.

Okay so that was actually a really a nice thing to do, as of late people seemed to forget what she wanted when they were trying to help her and she knew that they were trying to help her but feeling like she was being steamrolled all of the time was very frustrating. Having the option to actually do things her own pace was very refreshing.

"Thank you so much Stephen, you have no idea how much this helps me." She said, genuinely grateful.

She watched his shit-eating smirk morph back into a genuine smile.

"You are welcome Arlowe. My offer still stands; if you need anything please don't hesitate to find me." He replied, repeating his offer from before.

She thanked him again and he walked back to the door way. Before he left, he cast her one last slightly lingering glance with his intense blue eyes before exiting the room and shutting the door.

She looked at the closed door with an indescribable look on her face, still hanging onto her brush with her left hand.

'What the hell was that? Is an afro and baggy clothes the new sexy? Because that was definitely a look a man would give a woman.' She thought in confusion.

Shaking her head, she decided it would just be best to ignore whatever that was. She finished brushing out her hair and threw the brush onto the bed.

She was extremely eager to get into those books he left for her. Cracking open the first one, she realized very quickly that google translate would become her best friend. At the same time, she also realized she would need to connect to the internet to use google translate. Damnit, she should have asked Stephen about the Wi-Fi while he was in the room.

Well, there was no way in hell she was going to find him and ask him for it now.

Looking around, she decided to take a chance and open the desk drawers. If she wanted to leave a Wi-Fi password somewhere it would be there. Sure enough, in the second drawer she opened was a little while piece of paper sitting inside of it.

'No freaking way.' She thought to herself in wonder.

Picking up the piece of paper, she saw that there was one word written on it. She tested it out and it was in fact the Wi-Fi password. Somehow, she couldn't even say that she was shocked anymore. After she got connected to the internet, she dove right into the books.

Sometime later, her phone beeped somewhere from the bed. Stopping what she was doing, she went and fished out her phone from the covers. She opened it and found that she had a text message from Steve. Somebody else she never got to say goodbye to. She opened the text message and almost burst out in uncontrollable laughter.

Unfortunately, no matter how many times she tried to teach him how to text it never worked. He literally texted like a 90 year old man, it was hilarious. The text looked like autocorrect puked all over it.

Seconds later, she received a more legible text that she could actually read.

Hey doll face, so you left the tower without saying goodbye to Steve and me? We're hurt-s

The text came from Steve's phone but it wasn't Steve it was Bucky. She winced, Steve and Bucky were like the big brothers she never had, especially Bucky. When Bucky first came to the tower, he was such a damn mess from what HYDRA did to him and she felt for him. She tried to help him any way she could and Tony hated it. She eventually got to him to tell her why he hated it so much. He told her that Bucky killed his parents under the control of HYDRA and while she felt terrible for Tony, she couldn't blame Bucky for what HYDRA did. She did end up being able to convince Tony to let him stay but Tony would have nothing to do with him and she understood that.

I'm sorry Bucky, I had no choice. It's my powers, they are out of control. Tony enlisted Doctor Strange to help me control them so I had to go to the sanctum with him.-A

It was completely odd that Bucky could text so much better than Steve considering they came from the same time; she supposed HYDRA ended up being good for something after all.

What?! He left you in the hands of a complete stranger, A MALE complete stranger? Is he insane? If this guy hurts you in any way Steve and I will wreck him!-S

She couldn't help but laugh out loud at Bucky's text. He was ever the big brother.

Bucky relax, I am okay. Believe me this is a good thing. I need to get control over these powers before I blow something up. When I get more settled you could probably even visit me if you wanted to.-A

You better believe we will, you take care of yourself, doll face.-S

I always do, Big Brother. Ttyl!-A

Ttyl, doll face.-S

Putting down the phone, she let out a large sigh. She was a little more than pissed at Tony for not telling anybody she was leaving. Deep down, she knew that he was just trying to do what was best for her because he was her dad and he loved her. As much as it upset her, he knew that trying to say goodbye to everyone would likely have ended up resulting in some kind of loss of control of her powers.

He had been just trying to protect her, like he had been doing since she was 10 years old. As upset as she was she also also so grateful for him and Pepper for giving her the family that she so desperately needed.

Deciding that she really needed to get her mind off of missing everybody, she went back to her books. She didn't stop until the clock on her computer told her it was around 3:00 am and even then she wasn't going to stop until her stomach reminded her that she hadn't eaten anything in god knows how long.

Well, damn. She still didn't want to explore but it looked like she didn't have much of a choice. She supposed she would have to put her big-girl panties on and go and find the kitchen because she needed to eat something before she hit the floor.

Quietly, she exited her bedroom and walked down the hall bypassing all of the doors. She exited the hallway and passed many rooms filled will all kinds of items. From her dad's files, she knew that these items were called relics. She couldn't believe how many there were and they were all humming with magic. It was like nothing that she had ever seen before. Suddenly, she felt a weird pull that she had never felt before. Was that her magic?

Something told her to follow the pull so she did. It took her to a glass case with the most beautiful necklace encased inside of it. It was made of a blue stone carved into the shape of a tear drop and had a silver chain. On the side of the stone, somebody had carved an intricate sliver dragon into it and the stone itself seemed to emit a soft glow. It was calling to her and she didn't understand why. Just as she made to reach out to it, a soft feminine voice called out to her inside of her head.

Not yet, my little Guardian. Now is not the time.

She somehow knew that the voice inside of her head was not bad but it still scared the crap out of her.

Leaving the room quickly, she managed to find the kitchen without stopping to explore any other rooms for the time being.

When she thought of the adventure that she was going to have, this was so not what she had in mind.