Search for the Soul Gem

Chapter Seventeen

     I was running down the streets of Midtown Manhattan. Gun shots, screams, and animalistic growls filled the air with chaos and electrified the air with a sense of urgency. My lungs burned as I pushed myself along another block. I skidded around the corner and came to a jolting halt. A familiar woman lay on the sidewalk, blood staining the front of her shirt, her dark hair splayed out on the sidewalk around her head, and eyes staring unseeing at the sky. I gasped and dropped down next to Thalia. 

     "No!" I breathed. I took her head in my lap and looked down at her face. Her eyes looked up at me hazily.

     "Lucy?" she managed to get out, her voice was a violent croak. I took her hand and pressed it to my cheek. 

     "Yeah, Thalia, it's me. You're gonna be just fine. Everything's going to be okay," I whispered. She stroked her hand down my cheek. Suddenly her hand went around my throat. I choked out in shock and clawed at her hand. 

     "It should have been you," she hissed as her fingers bit into my skin. She pulled herself up painfully, her face contorting with the agony of the movement until her face was inches from mine. 

     "T-Thalia," I choked out, clawing at her hand. 

     "You should have been the one dying on the sidewalk. Not me. What a waste. You can't even keep a site for a few days without managing to get it blown up," she hissed. I broke free from her hold and scampered away from her. My back ran into something hard and unyielding. I looked up slowly and came face-to-face with the alien that killed Thalia. It raised it's scepter at me with a threatening smirk on it's monstrous face. I raised my arms and screamed.  

     My eyes flew open and I gulped down a gasp of air. My whole body clenched as I waited for the impact of the scepter in my chest. My fingers pressed against the warm flesh of someone's chest. My mind was still fuzzy with sleep and I wasn't sure where I was. It felt like I couldn't breathe and my heart was racing a million miles a minute. I looked up to find Tony still fast asleep under me, his arms laced around my waist lightly and his soft heavy breathing bringing me back to reality. The memories of the night before came flooding back to me. Tony shifted slightly and pulled me closer to him and his head lulled over to the side, his breath fanning over my face lightly. But suddenly I wanted nothing more than to run away. To hide away where no one could find me. I slipped myself out from under Tony's arms and padded across the room to the doorway. As I passed by, I dropped down and picked up his shirt where it'd been thrown last night. I pulled it on over my head and stepped out into the kitchen, closing the bedroom door behind me. My feet hit the cold floor quietly as I made my way down the hall and back to the kitchen. I leaned against the counter and pressed my palms into my eyes. In the black of my eyes, all I could see was Thalia's face. 

     "JARVIS, can you make me some hot chocolate? Quietly please?" I muttered, wiping my eyes with the back of my hand. 

     "Sure thing Miss Scaffer. Would you like me to wake Mr. Stark?" JARVIS asked. 

     "No!" I said hastily but quickly lowered my voice again, "No, let him rest," I said. A mug of steaming hot chocolate rose onto the counter before me. I took the mug in my hands and padded toward the stairs that led to the landing outside. I took the stairs up slowly and reached the glass doors that led to the landing where Tony landed his Iron Man suits. 

     "JARVIS can you let me out please," I asked half-heartedly, looking down at the mug in my hands. The doors popped out and a cool burst of air hit me, "Thank you J," I muttered as I emerged into the crisp New York evening. I walked out onto the landing and sat down on the edge, the cold metal biting into my bare legs. I hung my legs over the edge, swinging my feet lightly. The mug was the only things keeping me grounded to reality as I looked down over Manhattan. The lights of late night workers out numbered the amount of stars I could see, even at this height. Distant sounds of traffic drifted lazily from the street below. The city was alive and moving just like always. The city hadn't been change four years ago. I had. The Battle of New York hadn't changed the world. It's changed me. I wasn't the same Lucy today as I was that day when I woke up. As I dressed for work and walked to the bus stop with my best friend. For one, I'd just woken up half-naked in bed with Tony Stark. Thalia would have been proud. I choked out a laugh that was mostly a sob and looked down at the mug in my hands. Tears flooded my eyes as I thought of Thalia laughing. She always used to nag me to get out more. What would she say if she could see me now...