Dear lovely readers, thank you so much for reading! Truth is, I'd write Lyla's Story whether people read it or not, but all of the kind comments and motivation really make it more fun to write!
Special thanks to aleafinabook, wholockavenger, and WritersBlock039!
Wholockavenger, you're comments always make me laugh. The little things seem to set you into a fangirling fit, and it always makes me happy. Also, I promise I am not stalking you and putting the music you listen to in my fanfic.
WritersBlock, I love all of the comments you leave. They're funny and insightful, and it always brings a smile to my face when you pick up on something I thought was funny when I wrote it. Words cannot describe how much your comments make me happy.
Madi, you're my little sister, and I love ya. You always push me (rather forcefully) to keep writing, and without you I may have even forgotten about this beautiful little story. You're amazing. One of these days I'm going to meet you.
And for all 5,565 of you who have read this story, thank you. Not only have you shocked my friends and I on the sheer number of readers, but you inspire me to continue. Thanks.
Oh, by the way, there is some heavy duty plot twisting coming up. Also some EXTREMELY heavy duty FitzSimmons.
And sorry about the false alarm. I accidentally posted a blank chapter instead of this.
-Maddie
-Entry created on: 5/22/2013-
Nat wouldn't tell me what I'd missed, and it was almost infuriating. I needed someone, anyone to tell me what had gone on, but no one would.
I also began to notice something I didn't before- Bruce seemed different.
He was still quiet and kind, but entire body was faintly tinted green. I knew he was upset about something.
He wasn't the only one, either. Steve seemed quieter than he had been in the time I knew him. Natasha was somehow gentler than she had been so far with me, as if sparing my feelings. Clint even suggested playing I-Spy for a little while, before we went on our mission. Thor tried to convince me to stay behind and play taser-tag with Darcy.
The one who seemed the worse, though, was Pepper. Red rings surrounded her eyes. Her cheeks were streaked with tears that had begun stealing the makeup from her face, leaving pale trails behind it.
I knew it had something to do with Tony. The worst part was that I couldn't even find out where he was, let alone what he did.
Even worse, Dia taunted me about it in the back of my head.
'He's probably dead. You started liking him, and he's dead. You're a good luck charm, aren't you? Oh, maybe he's under Loki's control. I bet he is. Maybe he's killed people. I bet he has. That would kill him, wouldn't it? He tries so hard to change so that his genius wouldn't hurt people, and then BAM! He's slaughtered a small town!'
"Shut up," I muttered, holding my head in my hands.
"Ly? You all right?" Ava asked, sitting down next to me.
We (As in Matt, Ava, Devon, Jemma, Leo, Grant, and myself) had been hanging out in FitzSimmons's lab as we waited for Clint, who had been shot in the shoulder while I was unconscious, to finish his med-check. For some reason, he seemed to be the only one on the team who actually took damage from battles. Even Natasha, who went everywhere with guns blazing and personal safety at the back of her mind, seemed to never get anything more than a scrape. I was slightly suspicious of it, but made no attempt to ask her why.
"Yeah," I responded. "Have you seen Tony lately?"
She swallowed. "Um... Yeah, actually."
I perked up. She hadn't dismissed the question, or even left. Maybe I'd finally get some answers. "Great! Where is he?"
"No one told you?" She breathed, sounding as if she was making a statement instead of asking a question.
"Told me what?" I asked. When I didn't get an answer, I tried again, saying, "Ava, where is Tony?"
She seemed defeated. "While you were... Asleep, the Avengers went on another mission in attempt to stop Loki. Someone had sabotaged Tony's suit, and half way through the mission, it unlatched, leaving him completely vulnerable. Loki got him. We..."
Ava had kept talking, but I didn't hear her. Dia's victorious laughter in my head drowned out everything else.
Next thing I knew, Ava, Devon, Matt, Grant, and Leo were standing over me. "She's in shock," Leo whispered.
"We're getting him back," I whispered.
"What?" Devon asked, not quite hearing me.
"We're getting him back," I repeated, louder and more dangerously.
I heard a crash behind us. Turning, I realizing Jemma had bumped the table behind us and knocked a few pieces of equipment off the table. Grant visibly jumped a few feet, and his hand flew towards his holster.
"Don't scare me like that, Simmons, I nearly shot you," He breathed. I made a mental note about his ultra-alertness that made him jump.
Almost by default, I jumped up from where I was and began to help her. The year of Catholic school I had gone through was enough to make me do it almost automatically.
"Oh, Lyla, you don't have to help me," Jemma almost pleaded.
If she said anything else, I didn't notice, since I was too preoccupied with what I had picked up. It was small, only about the size of my fist, but it was flat and shiny. It was a metallicy red piece of armor, which I vaguely recognized as a piece of Iron Man. Had I been asked to guess where it belonged, I would have said it may have belonged to a piece of the leg. "What's this?" I asked suspiciously.
Jemma blanched. "It's just a piece of a prototype-"
"This is a piece to the Iron Man suit," Leo answered, taking it from me. "This would be one of the smaller pieces that would help lock the armor in place. Jemma, why do you have this?"
Jemma's expression became tight-lipped, unlike anything I had seen Jemma make before. One hand disappeared behind her back, and the other rubbed at her eye. "Leo, it's nothing, really," She pleaded with her partner.
Devon had already picked up on something else, though. "Do you where contacts?"
"What?" Leo asked.
"No, I mean Jemma. Does she need contacts?" Devon repeated.
"What? No," Jemma denied Devon's comment.
"Devon, we've kind of got bigger fish here," Grant tried to pull attention back to the piece of Iron Man's suit.
"Why would you think that?" Ava asked, lost to his point. I had turned around to face Devon, confused.
"Well, I've never needed contacts before, but I have worn colored contacts. They're pretty itchy, and I had a tendency to rub at my eyes when I wore them. Plus, I think I can see a tiny sliver of blue peeking out underneath your pupil. That doesn't really happen to someone who's not wearing contacts, does it?" Devon asked, tilting his head in an almost mocking fashion.
"Holy crap," Grant breathed.
"Well then, I guess I don't need these anymore," Jemma laughed almost snarkily. It seemed nothing like the Jemma I had come to know.
With ease, Jemma removed the contacts she had indeed been wearing, revealing the true sharp blue color of her eyes.
She was under Loki's spell.
She pulled her hand from behind her back, revealing a hand gun. "Funny, I almost thought I'd get away with that."
"But- Jem- How long?" Leo asked, looking downright pissed.
"How long what?" Jemma, or well, the personality of someone else that had been put into her, asked.
"HOW LONG HAVE YOU PRETEND TO BE MY BEST FRIEND, MY JEMMA, WHEN YOU REALLY WEREN'T?!" Leo screamed, catching everyone, including 'Jemma', off guard.
She laughed. It started off quiet and timid, but soon turned into full-out tear-inducing laughter. "Oh that's rich. Truth is, I am her. This isn't possession, really. Everyone is born with two parts to them. To put it simply, one is mostly good, and the other is mostly bad. Depending on what happens to them, a part is chosen. The spell only heightens the bad and makes the subject more inclined to obey whoever laid the spell on them."
Leo shook his head. "No. You're not Jemma. Jemma is a God-awful liar," He chuckled darkly.
"You don't know then? Well, long story short, Jemma and her little sister were horribly abused as kids. Poor little things. Their father always lied, told Jemma that she would be killed if she left the house. The only things she knew were from her mom's old med books. If Jemma had turned bitter, she would've turned out like this. An easy liar, quick killer, cunning. Instead, as soon as she learned she could, she ran away and took her sister with her. What a coward. To be fair, though, she was only nine. A rich couple found them, took them in, found out Jemma was a prodigy, sent her off to school, she met you, blah blah blah," Jemma made her disgust clear, rolling her eyes. "So your Jemma, as you put it, is sweet, innocent, and unable to lie. She's too scared to. She thinks it'll condemn her to the same thing she had to put up with."
I had realized at some point my breath had got in my throat. I let it out and sucked another one in quickly.
"You monster, you can't go around-" Grant growled.
"Can and am, Ward. Kindly shut your trap," Jemma spat. "Anyways, as soon as Loki took over the base Jemma had gone to to restock and put me in charge of her, he saw I was useful and sent me off to play the 'innocent girl' act. He told me befriend Lyla, take her x-Ray, and even sabotage Iron Man so he'd join our side. And on the inside, what's Jemma doing? Kicking and screaming and making a big mess. She is a mess. Why would you ever be in love with her? With me?"
The room was silent. The dark side of Jemma had accused Leo of loving her. Even more so, she doubted that anyone could love her.
"You're right," Fitz admitted quietly. "I do love her."
"Liar," Jemma spat. "No one could like me."
A breath caught in my throat. I realized that this Jemma wasn't just her darkest features, but also every ounce of self doubt and fear she had. Jemma loved Leo, but she was terrified that he didn't, couldn't love her.
"I love her. I love you, Jemma. Really, I do," Leo admitted. "I don't care what happened to you. I don't care about your dark side. I care about you. A lot, actually."
My heart had sped up exponentially. Despite the dire situation we were in, the only thought that entered my head was 'MY SHIP IS CANNON.'
Leo had started moving across the room, towards Jemma, who proceeded to move back. Jemma shook her head violently, repeating, "No, no, no one can love me, not really."
"Jemma Simmons, I do. I love you," He whispered before pressing his lips gently against Jemma's.
Jemma froze.
I remembered what Clint had told me about getting someone out of Loki's spell. That right there was the emotional shock. Now all she needed was a hit to the head.
I formed a ball of ice and focused on the backside of Jemma's head that was now turned towards me. I sent the ball whirling towards her, hitting her just hard enough to make her pass out. Leo caught her gingerly. He lifted one of her eyelids gently. "Brown," He smiled. "It worked."
"Yeah, it did," Matt breathed. He was the only one not shocked to the point of uncomprehendable shock.
Taking a breath, Grant warned, "I've seen parts of Agent Barton's recovery. It's nasty, Leo. Really nasty."
Leo nodded. "I've seen some, too. She won't be alone, though. Clint wasn't. I'll be with her the entire time."
"Hey guy- Okay, who murdered the sciencey one?" Darcy, who had just walked in on the shiftiess scene to ever be seen, asked.
"She was, urm-" Leo began.
"Mindf!cked? Figured. Anyways, Ly, the rest of the Avengers are heading out. Clint was just cleared," Darcy alerted me, eerily calm.
"Alright. I'll be there in a minute. Don't let them leave me," I told her.
"You got it, Elsa," She replied, heading off.
"Lyla, I know you've kinda began to care about Tony, but... Don't make the sacrifice play, alright?" Ava nearly begged.
"I won't," I lied. I had planned to, if necessary.
"Okay. Be safe, okay?" Devon asked.
"Okay," I smiled, hugging him, though I wasn't.
"Don't die," Matt stated simply. "Please don't. I hate funerals."
"I won't," I told him, though I nearly did.
I wouldn't have minded. I want to meet Jesus.
"You never told me," Grant began. "About your scars. Why only four?"
I rolled over my arm, revealing the scars. "These were from when I first moved to New York. These were the only ones I ever made. One for each of the people I couldn't bare to live without," I remembered, looking between Ava, Devon, and Matt. The last cut was for my mom. "I had to stop. I couldn't... I can't do that to myself. Neither can you, Grant. You're something brilliant, you just have to see it."
Seeing Leo reminded me of what I wanted to ask him. "Leo... Was everything you said about Jemma true?"
He nodded. "Every single word."
I smiled a brilliant smile and ran off to catch up to the Avengers.
Soon, Jemma would go through the one of scariest moments of her life.
Soon, she would wake, with no idea that Leo loves her, or that he ever told her.
Soon, the Avengers would come back, and Tony would be with them.
But I can't tell you about that.
I wasn't there.