...It started with Mistake #1

An Avengers (Loki/Captain america/ Bruce banner) fic

Disclaimer: The Campbell household, the Black Forest Witch, and the plot line belong to me, the Avengers belong to Marvel.

To whom that may read;

I guess the easiest way to explain my predicament at the moment is to start at the beginning of my confusion and explain through that. Now that I know all I should never have known, I'm not entirely sure I would go back and change it. Most of them aren't happy memories, but they're the ones that matter.

Now, what you have to understand is, that when you make a deal with the Witch of the Black Forest, there is a price for everything. You can wish for anything, anything at all and it will happen on the spot. The cost comes after your wish, and that's the thing…

She doesn't tell you what the cost is…

Until she takes it.

~X.X~X.X~

Cecelia hated rain; it was always thick and harsh in New York. The sky was black and lightening broke open the clouds. Cecelia could barely see through the fogged windows, but the lightening lit up her reflection in the glass. Hair soaked and make-up ruined, the brunette attempted to wipe off the day's make-up with one hand while the other held her phone to her ear. She got an ear full from her mother, literally. Her ear hurt from her mother's rant on how unsafe she was.

"Mother, please, calm down. Mom… Mom… Please, listen!" But Cecelia would never be able to get a word in edge wise with her mother. Abigail Campbell was one of those worried mothers who were relentless in their quest to keep their baby safe. However, Abigail wasn't just scared, Abigail was deathly afraid of most anything. Cecelia was surprised she was as unafraid as she was, her mother being the scaredy cat she was.

"Cecelia! You could get pneumonia! I mean it, stay out of that rain, I can't believe you ran out in the rain for fun. What if you got hit by lightning?" Her mother continued on. With a sigh, Cecelia put her towel down and pressed her warm head against the cool window glass.

Her apartment stared out into the alley, not much of a view but the rent was cheap and it was one block from the library and three from the campus. Cecelia wanted to be a cop; she wanted to be the hero. If there was one thing Cecelia wanted to be since she was little was a super hero! She was going to try in New York, if she could make it in New York, she could make it anywhere.

Looking out the window distracted her from listening to her mother's threats of making her come home. Abigail Campbell could threaten all she wanted; Cecelia would never leave this city. It needed her, she could just tell. Especially now, as Cecelia's eyes set on motion in the alley, someone ran and a group chased them.

"HELP!"

"Mom! I gotta let you go!" Cecelia snapped and within a moment she snapped the phone shut. Cellphone dropped on the side table; Cecelia rushed to the window's edge and ripped it open. The harsh, needle like rain greeted her, and the brunette wore only a pair of jean shorts and a short, thin sweater, landed bare foot on the escape ladder platform. Her feet froze to the harsh metal, but Cecelia ignored the cold. It was always cold.

She pushed the ladder down; Cecelia wrapped her body around it and slid down. Her hands stung with the cold, slushy like bars that seemed to hit her at her bones. Gritted teeth helped keep the cold at bay as Cecelia leapt off the ladder and over the dumpster. After a skid in the rough rain, she rushed towards the woman who had cried out.

It was obvious this was going to be a gang rape; she was in one a rain jacket and flats, no umbrella or even a purse, just a woman out for a walk. A dangerous idea in the darkness of this rain, Cecelia knew never to try and fight it. It was better just to dance out on the roof in the rain, not go for a walk in it.

"SOME ONE HELP!" The woman screamed. That's when she collided into Cecelia who greeted her form with open arms. In seconds, she had dragged the both of them into the shadows against the walls, hidden in plain sight, thanks to the rain and shadows. Cecelia held her hand over the woman's mouth and took a deep breath.

She hadn't thought this through, as always. The rain was growing harder as the woman held deathly still in her hands.

For a moment the foot-steps were quiet and the whole alley hushed. Cecelia kept her breathing as light and quiet as possible. Would the men give up that easily? Clenching her eyes shut, she dared not even look around for them.

"Got cha!"

"Shit!" Cecelia hissed. Hands snatched the woman from her grasp and others pulled them apart. Rough grips held her arms apart and a foot kept her frozen, cut toes from moving. The sting of the dirt and grime were finally settling into her bones, shivers ripping through her back.

"Oh! We've got a friend."

"We're not friends and you guys are just cowards! Preying on a helpless woman because not even sluts will fuck you!" Cecelia snarled, ripping at the hands holding her. In the dark rain, lightening lit up the sky and showed her 4 men, all in masks. The largest one looked right at her through his black ski mask, one held the woman. Her make-up ran down her face and her screams fell silent.

"oo' boys, we got a loud mouth… you guys usually scream the loudest." The leader snarled. His dirty fingers grasped Cecelia's chin and pulled her towards him. When he tugged, the other's loosened their grip. Cecelia took her moment of the other's weakened grips. A whip of her hand, she yanked her right hand from a man and smashed her lower arm into the leader's ear, pushing him to her left, her left foot spinning into the crotch of the other man. Like a deranged wild child, Cecelia clambered over the leader and charged at the woman, running right at the man holding her.

With a slippery momentum, she smashed into the man who freed the woman. She bolted.

"Fuck my life…" Cecelia snarled, rolling off the man and attempting to clamber after the woman. With her cries and screams, she would only attract more predators.

"Oh! No you don't!" She didn't anticipate the leader recuperating. He whipped around and snatched her ankle. "You're mine, bitch!"

Cecelia kicked for her life, swung her arms as hard and fast as she could. She managed a couple blows, but the man was toppled on top of her, attempting to pin her down. He had her legs scratched against the frozen pavement; the paper cut like scratches began to burn.

The alley floor was beginning to flood with all the down pour and Cecelia had to throw her head back and forth to keep from being face first in the water. It was rising to her nose and it was getting harder to breathe.

"Not so mouthy now, are we?" His grimy finger peeled at her pants. Cecelia took a deep breath and thrusted her butt up into the air, her tailbone connected with his pelvis. It was swift and as painful as she could muster. "Bitch!"

His fist was against her skull in moments, pushing her nose into the thick, murky water of the alley. His nails scrapped her scalp and pulled her head back harshly. Her hair screamed in pain, her face twisted in pain but she made no noise. She couldn't give him the satisfaction.

"I'm going to kill you now!"

"You don't have the balls!" Cecelia sneered and thrusted with as much force as she could. She could hear the connection, and feel it, it thundered through her as lightening lit up the sky. Just as she was about to do it again and force herself up, the man fell off.

He laid there, on his side. His ski mask was 95 percent off his face, showing his eyes looking right at her. The lightening blew up the sky again and showed his cracked skull; blood pooled into the rain water, his giant, almost black eyes just stared into hers with shock and pain. His lips were parted to speak but the words would never leave.

Cecelia laid there in the bloody water for a moment, unable to think or breathe until she looked up. There stood the woman with a giant, bloody, spiked pipe. She must have found it along the ground and came back to save her. Tears welded up in Cecelia's eyes as she tried to move but her whole body wouldn't. It burned and froze, her throat beginning to build a lump that didn't let much air move through.

"You saved me…I… What do you want? Whatever you want, name it and it's yours."

For the first time since Cecelia had been to New York, Cecelia thought of going home. Just for a little while, just to get her mind collected. School could wait her mind and body hurt, and her emotional state was wrecked. All Cecelia wanted was to lie on her mother's bed and read books with her mother like she had when she was little. Warm, safe, and loved. Something she wasn't in New York.

"I want to go home." She mumbled into the water.

That was Cecelia's mistake.

In the flash of lightening, Cecelia watched the woman change from a raincoat to a ragged black gown and long, sharp red nails. Her short blond hair rushed into long, black locks that framed her crooked face, a giant, sick grin plastered on it. Eyes wide with panic and fear, Cecelia opened her mouth to speak, but the woman dropped down and grabbed Cecelia's hand, pushing her broken, crooked face into Cecelia's face.

"Done!"

In the next flash of lightening, Cecelia was gone.

~X.X~X.X~


Author's Notes: This is a little darker than I usually write, but I got the idea and i love it. The set up is the whole story is written in the fashion of the three main character's Journals. Cecelia, Abigail, then Cassandra, then it'll repeat again. Any reviews, comments, questions, I'd love to hear 'em.

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