Chapter One: Falling

A/N: Well, here's the new and, hopefully, improved version of the first chapter. It's longer, more detailed, and actually seems like it was written by a high schooler rather than a 6th grader. I have a plot and scenes that are definitely going to happen, but I'd appreciate suggestions. This is set between before Thor at the moment. The first of many chapters will be more Thor based, but it'll definitely be more Avengers based later. I've rewritten and rearranged so much with this. I just hope I haven't screwed it up now that it's been revised. Enjoy the reread, I guess? Disclaim: I own nothing but my OC and story!

Jane Foster loved stargazing. It let her mind relax from astrophysics and helped pass the time. She didn't worry about Eric or Darcy, she never got stressed, enjoyed a meteor shower or two. She could point out almost any constellation and was always ecstatic to find new ones. The idea had been Eric's ever since she'd nearly worked herself to death and almost ended up in the hospital. Well, you had to work to pay the bills and being a rookie scientist didn't exactly bring in a very big paycheck at the end of the week. You didn't discover some life changing theory every day after all. She was always so stressed between keeping up with Eric and keeping up with her own work that she hadn't had a chance to relax and unwind in, well, ever.

Everyone used to tease her in school, saying that a nerd like her would never be good enough to make it in the real world. When she talked about living under the stars and discovering something that would change the face of science as they knew it, people scoffed and laughed. Her parents had been extremely supportive, scraping up enough money to send her to school to get all of her degrees. Now, here she was, camped out under the never ending expanse of twinkling diamonds in the sky, cool as a cucumber and more relaxed than she'd been in years.

Tonight, there wasn't a cloud in sight. The slight breeze made the warm spring night feel comfortably cool. The rest of her actual equipment was in her RV, parked about a quarter of a mile away. She had set up her telescope a few minutes ago, but couldn't bring herself to look away from the breathtaking, dazzling canvas above her. Taking out a sketch pad, she drew every little thing she saw until she was satisfied that the image wouldn't fade from her mind before putting it away and finally attending to her telescope. She angled it just so before looking into it, adjusting it ever so slightly. The night seemed perfect.

Until the storm came.

She jumped when thunder rumbled and lightning flashed across her field of vision. Wind whipped her chestnut brown hair briefly, yet the sky was devoid of storm clouds as far as she could see. Strange. She glanced at the sky as if some would suddenly appear. Nothing but inky blackness.

"What the-," she began to say. Before she could finish her sentence, a streak of orange flew across the horizon, heading straight for her. Jane didn't know what it was, but she didn't care. Her fight or flight instincts kicked in and she took off. She ran towards her RV in an attempt to escape. She almost got away unscathed. Almost.

She was caught in the blast radius of the crash and sent flying forward. She landed on her head, spots filling her vision, tumbling to an unsteady stop and sending dirt and grass flying up around her. She looked up once the world stopped spinning, a faintly glowing fireball meeting her gaze. It had been a plane crash. The plane was small, but big enough for at least 10 (including the pilot and co-pilot); it was colored red, blue, and black. A wing had been blasted by lightning, catching fire. The left engine suffered a similar fate, blowing apart the front left portion of the plane.

Jane shakily stood up, a lump forming on the back of her head. She saw the wreckage and her heart floored. No way anyone could survive that. She hoped though, and cautiously approached the plane. That's when she heard it, a faint noise in the distance. It sounded like… crying? She paused and looked around; maybe it was a wounded passenger? No, the sound wasn't close enough to be from the wreckage. She started to head for the other side of the plane before she stopped. The cry suddenly began to grow louder and that's when she looked up.

Something, something alive, was falling. She stared, put two and two together, and ran towards where she thought it would land. The living thing was hurtling at breakneck speed towards the ground. Just in time, she caught a bundle of blankets in her outstretched arms, stumbling as she did so. Bewildered, she peered closer and discovered it was a baby.

"Oh my God," she gasped. The baby was a girl with wavy, dark-brown hair, soft, chocolate brown and baby blue eyes, light brown skin, and small scars and burns scattered across her face. She looked up at Jane and immediately ceased crying. A smile lit both their faces: Jane's with relief and the infant's with joy and wonder.

"Well hello there cutie," Jane said with a voice full of affection, "What happened to you?" She smiled wider as the baby let out a giggle and gently touched her cheek, miniscule fingers as soft as silk. Jane glanced back at the destroyed plane and headed towards it. The door had been ripped off at some point, so she easily gained access to the interior. She was horrified at what she saw.

Four pale, cold, bloody, lifeless bodies lay before her covered in broken metal and shards of glass. Both pilots were slumped forward in their chairs. A man with dark brown eyes, dark skin, and curly hair that looked similar to the baby's lay not too far from a woman with light brown skin, pale blue eyes, and straight red hair. Both looked around 30 and everyone was covered with blood and cuts. The child reached out to the two on the floor and cried out, tears falling down her cheeks. 'Her parents,' Jane realized as she tried to calm her down.

"Shhh," she cooed. "It's alright, I'll take care of you." She could hardly take care of herself, what with her job and all, but of course she could take care of a baby. Why not, right? She wanted to go home and forget this night ever happened, imagine it was all a nightmare and she would wake up in her bed, but she knew she couldn't. She walked back to the RV and adjusted her hold on the bundle of blankets.

That's when she saw the feathers.

Curious, she untangled the baby from the blankets and examined her back. Rainbow colored feathery wings were tucked underneath her, shimmering like scales, glistening bright in the moonlight. Jane's eyes grew wide, blinking, shaking her head, even pinching herself (just incase this was just a really weird dream) because she couldn't believe it. Cautiously, as if contact with them would burn her, she let her fingers graze the wings. Yep, they were real. Retreating to get her telescope and throw it unceremoniously in the back seat, she started the engine and made a decision.

"You need a name," Jane told her. She looked up at Jane with sleepy eyes. "How about… Angel?" A, "Did it hurt when you fell from Heaven?" joke briefly crossed her mind. A soft giggle was heard as she looked down at the sleepily smiling bundle of joy. She'd never been a mom, never really had siblings or super close relatives, didn't know the first thing about being a parent at all, but her face softened at the look on Angel's face as she closed her eyes. What was she going to tell Eric? What was she going to do?

XxX

High above the heavens, a golden clad figure stood watching the two with interest, when he noticed the wings on the infant and uttered, "The Prophecy…"

Closing A/N: This chapter was unbearably short to me, still is, but it's an improvement, right?