A/N - No your eyes do not deceive you! This is a fully edited version of CHAPTER ONE!

WOO 3 YEARS LATER BUT NEVER SAY NEVER!

But I do say patience is a virtue because I am not fully back to writing this story yet.

I have been working on improving the storyline and editing the 13 chapters I have so far in 15 minute bursts between work calls.

DUDES FINDING A TIMELINE FOR DS WAS SO HARD? AND THEN IT WASN'T!

Google was just being pedantic smh...

Also...WandaVision peeps - MY HEART SWELLS WITH JOY AND THEN SHRIVELS WITH DEEP, DEEP FEAR AND SADNESS AS TO WHAT WILL HAPPEN.

Also lol: "She recast Pietro?!"

Sorry had to digress with that for a mo 😂 I am also working on "I Am Ironheart" - I switch working between this and the Spider-Man fic because I be like dat oopsie...

I will be finishing It Started With Stealing first though before I dive in fully head first to dis fic or da other Marvel fic :)

ANYWAY I TALK TO MUCH - HERE IS A MUCH BETTER CHAPTER 1, HOPE YOU ENJOY:

*cue Marvel opening theme*

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They always trained early in the mornings.

Her Uncle would be found knocking on her door at 6am, on the dot, every morning since she had turned sixteen. Since then, even twelve years later, she was stood in the same place every morning (excepting weekends) at 6:30am; in the first training room, on the right side of the corridor on the fourth floor of the New York Sanctum. The same place she had been in her whole life. Now, it wasn't that she was a creature of habit (although, she probably would have been conditioned into one by now) but, she hadn't been exposed to the outside world a lot since the incident - not that she remembered it ever happening. She was the bird that had regularly been discouraged from leaving the nest and now had no real desire to.

Thankfully for her, on this day, she didn't appear to have a migraine – a problem that had been a prominent part of her life and had been growing worse in the past year. Often, she would suffer from these debilitating migraines, yet no one ever really new why – not even the normal doctors could explain the reason for these frequently painful occurrences. She wondered if it was partly due to her grief of losing the Ancient One at the start of the year but something deep within her told her that it wasn't. Ashamed to even think it, part of her mind felt relief and she had no understanding as to why – the Ancient One had loved her like a daughter since the disappearance of her mother and the death of her father so how could she possibly feel relief at the loss of family?

She headed straight over to her spot, knees shoulder width the part. Breathed in, breathed out, cleared her mind. Yet not really. Her thoughts had always been jumbled, always seemed to have an odd thought when she didn't really feel herself thinking, and she was still distracted easily however she wasn't as bad as she used to be. With sorcery, it was important to have no distractions when first starting out.

Magic required your complete and utter undivided attention.

One.

She thrust her hands forwards in the shape of a triangle. The training room was minimalist: dark, patterned mahogany made up the walls: a couple of beige and grey mats were on the floor; simple little wall lights were lined up along the sides of the room and there was a simple sliding door to allow access to the room.

Two.

She brought her hands back to her chest, still holding the shape of the triangle. There was a single window in the room; with her current stance, she couldn't see it but if she did look out of the corner of her eye, she would get a hint of the city outside. Tall buildings, terribly slow traffic, pavements full of people hurrying to work to school or to wherever they were going. Sometimes, she wondered what it would have been like if she had gone to a real school. Of course, she could read and write and do arithmetic; she hadn't been taught only ancient sorcery after all.

"Focus, Tessa." Came her Uncle's stern tone.

Three.

She rose her hands up, a sparkling, golden line forming as she did. How could he have possibly known that she was letting her thoughts wander? It wasn't like it mattered anyway; she could still hold the spell. Refraining from rolling her eyes, she continued, unwilling to let him see any other hint of distraction on her part.

"Breathe."

Four.

Her hands parted just above her head as she drew a circle in the air, the sorcery also following her movements as she did. Exhaling, her eyes rested on her Uncle as he walked in front of her.

Five.

Her hands met in the middle again, just below her waist. Motioning with her hands in a plethora of different ways now, patterns appeared amongst the inside of the circle.

"Concentrate now." His watchful gaze conveyed the seriousness about the situation as he continued to stand in front of her, hands hidden behind his back, "Now fight!"

In an instant, the circle she had created split into two as she reached to grab a hold of each piece. Magical fans, glowing semicircles; whatever ridiculous things people called them, they were still her weapons for that current moment in time. Tessen (the fans) were her favourite weapon to conjure – had been a favourite of the Ancient One too – but perhaps she was biased. Advancing on her Uncle, she leapt, ready to kick until he revealed his hands to be holding wooden escrima sticks that glowed at the tips. Sorcery ran through the grains of the oak, offering it a golden hue. He batted her leg away from him and moved his leg slightly, so that he was facing the side of her before attempting to strike for her neck.

She blocked.

The fight continued for a while and she could tell that he was tiring, however, her head was also pounding. Perhaps she hadn't drank enough water but, either way, no one would stop a fight in real life just because you had a bit of a headache coming on. She kept going, kept pushing herself, kept fighting until a short, sharp pain pierced her temple. Tessa's attack faltered for a moment, allowing her Uncle's weapon to make immobilising contact with her stomach. Wincing from the pain in her head, rather than the hit, she fell back onto the solid, wooden floor.

"Wait, wait!" She yelped, her one hand clutching her head while she held the other out to stop him.

Her Uncle did so at once and was crouched beside her in no time at all. In any other circumstance, she would have never stopped but the pain was more excruciating than ever. Like a butter knife slowly being pushed into her skull, the pain continued. Cradling her head, she sat up and looked at him, blinking hard.

"Can we stop for today?"

"Is it another migraine?"

"Yeah – ah!" She clenched her jaw as another pulsing pain hit her again, "My head – God, this is the worst one yet!"

Never had she experienced a migraine as intense as the one she was suffering from then. Her Uncle frowned at her, clearly concerned, yet it also looked as though he were contemplating something more than his worry. One could see the cogs turning in his head as he kept a steady gaze with Tessa.

You would never be able to work out what he was thinking though – Tessa often tried and failed, as did many others, but her Uncle simply wasn't one of those easy-to-read people. In fact, rather than just a Master of the Mystic Arts, one could consider him as a Master of the art of being inscrutable. Even when content with his life, he would barely smile. The only time one would know what he was feeling would be when he was frustrated or vexed, and he would simply storm off in a huff like a young child. Tessa rarely saw him do that though as she never seemed to vex him. Even when she thought she had infuriated him somehow he would never react badly.

Never to Tessa, anyway.

Without a word, her Uncle stood up and offered her a hand to which Tessa gladly took.

"Go and rest for today. We'll pick it up again tomorrow if you're better." And then he left the room in a hurry.

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A/N - One edited chapter in and we already have a plot hole because...4th floor? Where is that??? Can I math? Kinda! Can I explain why I am not changing it to solve the problem? Yeah...magic...there is a 4th floor but you just can't seeee it (I mean neither can I but that is besides the point...)...

And yes I went to Specsavers, if ykyk 😏😂