2 | BLACK HEART | MARVEL: PRE-AVENGERS ASSEMBLE - THOR DARK WORLD ✔️

thirty, cracks wrought with ichor and gold

When she came to the familiar hill, she could see the ghostly figure a top. Baggy shirt danced as the wind swept through her, dark hair wild in its grasp as she stood as still as a statue and stared down at Casia with eyes of the darkest blue.

As if the night itself had crawled into her skull and made its home there. Nestled right against the psyche as if it were a child to its mother, clawed for its attention and for its feed, and purred as she drew her fingers across its skin. 

Casia clambered up the hill. Her assent much slower and more controlled than the last time. The eyes were on her the entire time, analysed every move and falter.

Lusine clasped her hands together before herself and regarded Casia without a flicker behind that face. Casia responded with a much peppier greeting, equivalent to the excitement at finally moving forwards with controlling her magic. A progression towards finally returning to the life she'd once owned.

"I feel it right to let you know that I will not be going easy on you, Radcliffe," Lusine said, voice low. Another home of the night, flooded with bats and wolves and all critters in between. "This wont be a quick fix and you will need to continue to practice the techniques I teach you once I have left your company."

"I understand," Casia replied with a nod of her head. She'd always thought that this would happen. Lusine would grow tired of her and she would abandon ship as soon as she possibly could. Leave her to her own devices where she would inevitably collapse in on herself with no one there to pull her back. A predictable cycle, without doubt.

"I want you to conjure your fire and control it within your palm. Only a small flame, but still difficult to hold steady," She told her. "Let me explain." she extended her own hand and turned her palm to the sky. "Do not overthink. Imagine the magic coming through the veins in your wrist and amassing in your palm."

Lusine's hand lit with a ball of white magic it flickered once and twice before it died out. Without a word, the women watched the wind carry it away.

"Just like that," Lusine finished, voice quiet as her hand fell to her side. For a moment, she frowned down at it as if it had betrayed her. Perhaps it had.

Casia wet her lips. "I'll give it a go," She said and folded away her worries just as she'd always been taught to.

With a clear mind, she knew she could overcome her nerves and find focus in her power. It was an unavoidable part of her; she had to deal with that to be able to wield it with pure confidence.

The lesson had been taught when she'd first picked up a gun. Weapon was cold and clinical in her palm; offset in the hand of a girl. Cruelty held by innocence, cradled with fear of failure. This fear was what set her apart from the rest. No one wanted it as much as she did. Forged her upon the thin, grey line or morality.

That ambitious drive to succeed overcame the little girl and left behind an agent.

And, as most lives do, hers had come full circle. That girl had emerged once more from beneath the shroud, ready to learn once again.

Casia turned her palm to the grey skies, took a breath and began to imagine the power inside of her. Imagined turning the key in the locked cage and beckoning the phoenix to emerge. And he smiled right at her with those burning teeth, but she held her nerve.

The molten bronze thick as it toiled within her heart began its burn through her veins. Her jaw clenched as the pain struck, though it wasn't a shade of the force she'd been dealt before. More of a weak punch than a truck mowing her down.

"Good," Lusine encouraged, "keep going."

The power reached her palm at last with a shuddering relief. The glow of it ebbed beneath the thin skin, whispered for release at long last.