Disclaimer: I do not own The Avengers, only Elysia

Chapter 1: Golden Child

The door to Odin's Vault opened with a creak and three small children cautiously made their way inside. Their eyes sparkled in awe as they looked around at the various objects that had been placed upon individual pedestals in the entrance of the large room.

The artifacts in the room meant something different for each child.

For Thor this entire room was a demonstration of how brave and fearless his father was. To be able to defeat and conquer this many enemies only further cemented his desire to be just like him. One day he would be the mightiest king that Asgard had ever seen.

Loki looked around the room and saw a glimpse of a future he desperately longed for. He could see himself fighting alongside Thor and bringing tokens back home as a reminder of the adventures they had been on.

Their thoughts were halted when a voice rung out through the room.

"Thor we're not supposed to be in here, we should leave before someone discovers us."

Thor resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he turned around to stare at the little girl that clung onto Loki's arm behind him. He had wanted to explore his father's treasure room, like any young boy would, but he couldn't help but think that it would have been easier for him to do if he had left his sister behind.

"Elysia you worry yourself too much" he said addressing the younger girl. "What father doesn't know won't hurt him. Besides it's not like we're going to touch anything, we're just going to look. There's no harm in looking at things."

Elysia huffed and a pout worked its way onto her face. She'd admit that at first she too had been eager to see what lied beyond the vast doors that they had never been allowed past, but doubt had quickly taken root in her heart once they actually managed to sneak inside. What if someone caught them? She did not want to have to look Frigga in the eyes and see disappointment flashing back at her.

Elysia found herself in a difficult position. Odin and Frigga had been kind enough to take her in and raise her when her parents had passed and she did not want to cause them to regret their decision. On the other hand she also didn't want to risk agitating her brothers with continued cries of protest.

She spared a brief glance at Loki's face, taking in his look of wonder and decided that it wouldn't hurt if they stayed for a few more minutes. So she shut her mouth and clutched onto Loki's arm harder as she was led deeper into the room.

Upon seeing her acquiesce Thor smiled brightly and moved to continue looking at all the various treasures his father had obtained over the centuries. However Loki was more sensitive to his sister's feelings and tried to take her mind off of the possibility that they would be caught by one of their father's guards.

"So have you chosen a title for the naming ceremony yet?"

Loki's efforts backfired when a dark look passed across her face. Soon her eyes became glossy and Loki quickly scrambled to figure out the cause of her distress. "Hey now, what's the reason for these tears?"

Elysia looked up to see concern etched across his face and the sight only made her want to cry more. "It's just…" She looked for the words to explain, "It's just that I can't find a name. The ceremony is coming up and I can't find one worthy enough of a princess." Tears finally made their way down her cheeks as she finished voicing her plight.

By this point even Thor had made his way back to them and both brothers shared a look of complete loss. For them coming up with their own titles had been easy, in fact they had made a game of it.

As if on cue both boys turned to each other, eyes wide. "Aye Elysia, what if we play a game to help you pick one? That's the way Loki and I found ours" Thor said placing a hand on her shoulder. He couldn't stand it when one of them cried. As the eldest brother it was his job to make sure they were content at all times.

Seeing her tears stop and the questioning tilt of her head the boys decided to throw out ideas, hoping that she would take to one.

"There's the Goddess of Honesty."

"How does the Goddess of Fun sound?"

"Goddess of Kindness is a good one."

"I think you'd like being the Goddess of Flowers."

"Goddess of Friends wouldn't be so bad."

"What about the Goddess of Sweets?"

Both Loki and Elysia turned to Thor, Loki in bewilderment and Elysia in horror. "I don't want to be the Goddess of Sweets! The princess of the nine realms cannot be addressed as such, everyone would laugh at me."

Thor threw his hands up, "Well it's not like you would be pleased to call yourself Goddess of the Hunt, you are not a lover of violence remember? So we have to stick to gentler things."

She knew he was right and her shoulders deflated, "I won't ever be able to find a name in time."

Loki could no longer stand to see the dejected look on her face. He had to do something. "What if we were to share?"

The room went silent and Elysia stared up at him, her jaw practically falling to the floor. She couldn't believe what Loki had just offered. To share a title with someone was equivalent to binding yourself to them for the rest of your natural born life. There were soulmates on Asgard who wouldn't even do such a thing.

Thor stared at Loki in astonishment. He loved his siblings, don't get him wrong, but to share one's title of God or Goddess was not something that many did. In fact there had only been a handful of ones who had throughout all of Asgard's history and they had all been soulmate pairs.

"The God and Goddess of Mischief has a nice ring to it don't you think?"

The tears that filled Elysia's eyes were no longer of sorrow but of gratitude. "Loki I thank you truly, but I cannot take your title from you." The simple fact that he had offered made her feel cherished beyond belief. Loki had been so excited when he had told her that he had found the perfect name for his upcoming godly status, and she had agreed. Mischief was exactly what Loki was good at and it encompassed all of him in one perfect word. That's not even counting all the illusion magic that he had learned in the meantime.

Although Loki had been completely serious about sharing the title he knew that Elysia would most likely reject it out of principal alone. He had good faith that she would find a name to call her own, but until then, "Well you have my express permission to use it if the time comes and you still find yourself in need."

He had to take a step back when she threw herself into his arms. It was common knowledge that Loki was not particularly fond of sharing. However he found that Elysia was a frequent exception to that rule. Even though he loved Thor they were still vastly different from one another. Thor always opting to follow in their father's footsteps whereas he was more than content to stick by his mother's side and learn the softer ways of magic.

Elysia on the other hand was just like him. Preferring to stay by his side during Frigga's lessons, and always the first to demand peace in any situation. She had a calming presence that he often basked in. Not to mention the fact that she looked like him enough that they could actually pass as real siblings, with her midnight colored hair and pale complexion she was often referred to as his carbon copy.

The three of them began moving forward, happy that the problem had been temporarily solved. The further into the room that they walked the darker it got. Elysia's right hand released its death grip on Loki's arm and was came out in front of them.

Elysia closed her eyes and concentrated on absorbing a few of the atoms around them and molding it into light, just like Frigga had taught her.

That had been a truly exhausting lesson but well worth the effort. It was then that they found out Elysia had a natural affliction for not only absorbing the energy around them but also bending the molecules in various ways. One of her goals was to be able to absorb the molecules in the air and create water which she would then try to freeze into ice by manipulating the very same molecules.

It had taken her weeks to accomplish without mistake but in the end she had been able to do it.

Thor and Loki smiled warmly as they watched her create a ball of light within her hand. Their sister had always been a shy creature that often times felt inferior to others. Both of them hoped that as her magic progressed that her confidence in herself would as well.

Eventually they found their way to the eternal flame and stopped to marvel at it. The flame had been something that they read about during their lessons, but to actually see it in person was beyond their dreams.

Over here child.

Elysia's head whipped around at the voice, thinking that one of the guards had finally caught them. But to her surprise she saw no one. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. She could have sworn that she heard someone…

This way child.

Thor and Loki were caught up in their own conversation about how they thought the eternal flame had come to be, not reacting to the sound in the slightest. A chill ran up her spine when she realized that she was the only one who had heard it.

Out of the side of her eye Elysia noticed a glowing blue light peeking its way around the corner.

That's it, over here.

Against her better judgement she slipped away from her brothers and slowly made her way around the corner following the light that was beckoning her. Located at the end of the hallway was a dark blue cube covered in engravings sitting atop its own pedestal.

This was the Tesseract, a powerful relic from a story that Odin had told them many times before bed. Elysia had not known that it had resided down in his vault room all this time.

The shining blue light that emitted from within the cube made it seem almost ethereal in a way, she found it to be mesmerizing. It drew her in closer and sure enough she reached out with her small hand to place it onto the frontal side of the beautiful object.

You will save us.

As soon as she made contact the spell was broken and she tried to jerk her hand off but something kept it there. Her magic started to flare in response to her panicked state, green sparks lashing out from where her hand was being held.

Elysia felt like she couldn't breathe. All she wanted was to run back to her brothers and never come back this place again. She started to gasp for air watching the cube with wide, terrified eyes.

There is nothing to fear, we will not hurt you. I'm so sorry child but you are the one we need.

The green color of her magic changed to a bright blue light before she felt a burst of something powerful rush into her. Everything slowed down, her gaze grew empty and became firmly placed upon the cube. She could hear the faint sound of someone calling out her name but couldn't quite make out who it was, it felt as though she were underwater.

Thor and Loki had been enjoying their dispute about what the eternal flame was really created for and Loki had gone to look down at Elysia, hoping to get her to side with him when he noticed she was gone. He knew that Elysia was not the type of child to wander off on her own, especially when they were sneaking around where they shouldn't be.

At his brother's sudden silence Thor turned to see what had quieted him when he noticed the same thing Loki had. The sharp sound of gasping kick started the boys into movement and without a moment to waste they were racing towards the sound.

Only for them to stop dead in their tracts at the sight of their little sister hovering in the air above one of their father's artifacts.

Thor went to start forwards but Loki held him back. He didn't want to startle her and make things worse. Although he didn't think things could get much worse than this. "Elysia…" he began, speaking softly. But before he could finish she was spun around to reveal golden eyes.

There was a blank look adorning her face. They had never seen anything like this. Eyes completely golden, the color overtaking her pupils.

Thor could not believe that he had taken his focus off of Elysia, even for a moment. It was his job to look out for her and he should have done so. Especially in a room full of war prizes from other realms. He prayed to the Allfathers, swearing that he would never make such a mistake again if they would just release his sister.

He didn't know it but Loki was thinking the exact same thing. He may not have been the oldest but Elysia was his little sister too and he had the same responsibility as Thor when it came to her.

Just as suddenly as she turned, whatever had a hold on her let go and she dropped to the ground. Both boys ran to her side quickly, ignoring the way the cube above them burned a violent blue before fading back to its original dormant state.

Straightaway Thor picked her up and rushed out of the very doors that they had so carefully opened only an hour ago with Loki on his heels. They continued to run towards the healers, praying that they would not be too late.

Typically Frigga would be in the middle of her lesson with Loki and Elysia around this time but her husband had requested that she sit in for a few of the negotiations he had to attend to. He had said something about needing her there to exude a calming presence but she had a feeling it was really because he wanted to spend time with her. Raising three children did not leave them with very much time to themselves.

Odin was sitting atop his throne as per usual and Frigga had taken her place to the right of it. She was actively trying not to show just how boring she found all of this, and she had to stifle her laughter when she saw her husband trying to do the same.

Suddenly the doors to the throne room were thrown open and one of the servants ran inside, eyes wide and out of breath. Odin stood at attention immediately, and Frigga feared the worst.

The last time someone had burst through those doors it was to warn them that they were about be under attack.

"Allfather, it's the princess!"

When Elysia came too everything was dark. Oddly enough she could see herself but nothing else around her, just a vast empty nothingness.

"Hello?" She tried to call out, halfway hoping that someone would answer her, but an echo of her own voice was all that returned. She tucked her hands underneath her arms and held tight. The dark was not something that she had ever been afraid of before but now she wasn't so sure if it was as harmless as she previously thought it to be.

Hello child.

Elysia jumped and started frantically looking all around. It was that voice again, the same voice that got her into this situation in the first place! Elysia could not be described as an angry child in any sort of way but she was definitely feeling frustrated when she failed to see what was speaking.

You can be calm now, no harm shall come to you here.

"Where am I?" Elysia demanded of the disembodied voice. She was trying her hardest to force commandment into her tone, trying to make whoever was behind the voice fear upsetting her. However she had never been good with being firm, it just wasn't in her nature to be anything but gentle.

We are resting within your mind. The strain of first contact proved to be too much for your young body and we had to intervene.

Elysia stopped and opened her mouth a couple times but no words came out. This voice was telling her that she wasn't really awake and instead was roaming around the empty confines of her own consciousness.

She felt some of the tension leave her body at the newfound knowledge. Surely she would be safe inside her own head. Now that she didn't have to fear for her immediate safety she had more pressing questions to ask. "Why did you not release me when I tried to separate myself from you?"

We are sorry that it has to be you but alas we have no hand in what fate decides. This road will be difficult for you little one, but never doubt in your ability to endure. Just remember that it's okay if you choose not to forgive us for this, for we understand.

"Forgive you for what?" Elysia asked confused. This voice wasn't making any sense. What had it done to her that was so bad that she would not be able to forgive it? And why had it evaded her question?

This weight which no one should have to bear.

Elysia didn't have time to reflect upon the sadness laced within the voice when a sharp pain resonated throughout her entire body causing discomfort to flare across her face as she grit her teeth.

For we have found that even stardust comes at a price.

That was the last thing she heard before she was once again plunged into complete darkness.