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~.And The Stars Aligned.~
by Iland Girl
'for those with gentle hands'
Chapter Two
Song Choice: Life in The Fast Lane by The Eagles
I ran down the hallway as fast as I could.
Finally someone I knew well enough to dive into their arms. My Dad has always been a very warm and kind person, and so I didn't expect it when he grabbed my shoulders and stopped me from getting to close.
"Where in the Hell have you been?!" He shouted at me. I was taken aback as I looked up to the enraged face of my father.
"Do you have any idea how worried I was?! You vanished into thin air missy!" Dad scolded me right there in the hall as I gulped.
"Daddy….."
"Don't you dare. How did you get out of the car?" Dad demanded. The doctor tried to edge around him when he saw the blood in my hair.
"Sir your daughter is bleeding-"
"I don't care!" He snapped before glaring at me. "How did you get out of the car?"
Before I could answer him two nurses came up to us.
"Mr Hubert, your daughter is bleeding." One of the male nurses said in a very deep voice. One that held a lot of threat if he didn't let me go. By this point I wasn't sure if I was shaking from the shock of the accident, or the shock of my parent screaming in my face. Dad looked worse for wear, an arm in a cast and a few stitches here and there, but otherwise he didn't look too badly off. My Dad glared at the nurses before dropping his hands and standing up. He ran his hands through his hair and took a breath.
The female nurse knelt next to me and gently touched my shoulder. I flinched, looking at her with shock. She smiled kindly at me and I settled under her touch.
"Can you tell me who brought you to the hospital?" The female nurse asked.
"I told you she was in the car crash!" My father said. "She vanished when we were getting out."
"I'm sorry, Mr Hubert, but there was only your wife and you in the car when they pulled you out of the water." One of the doctors said, giving another a look. I watched one doctor slip away as my Father shook his head.
"Well yeah, she was there and then she wasn't. It was like magic." He laughed. He looked down at me and shook his head before dropping the grin. "Why does my wife suffer, but you walk away with a boo boo?"
The doctors and nurses step between us, and the next thing I know some men in uniforms came around the corner to talk to my Dad. He's told something before he starts fighting and they pin him to the ground. He looks at me between the pant legs of all the adults and I can see, for the first time, a look of being completely and utterly lost.
They hauled my father up, and his shouts had turned to pleads. Then as they got further down the hall they turned into cries for my Mother.
I swallowed hard as the female nurse gently tapped my shoulder and turned to me.
"It's going to be alright sweetie." She told me in a soft and calm voice.
The lady looked me over for any wounds, but save for a few cuts and scrapes I really was unharmed. They asked me where the blood came from, but I just said, "Ms. Walters was bleeding."
Later in the day they let me see my Mom. She was strapped to a whole bunch of machines, and the doctors told me she was sleeping, but she wouldn't wake up anytime soon. I didn't understand why, but I didn't say or do anything save for shake as I held my Mom's hand.
Later on another woman came in to speak to me. She said she was a social worker and asked me if I would like to stay at a house for the night. While I had said no, opting to sleep in my mom's hospital room, the lady eventually convinced me to sleeping in a bed. I did as much, curling into a ball in the back seat of her sedan. Yet at every truck that passed up I bolted up and started to sniffle. When we finally got to a house, the woman opened the door to show me another lady.
She was beautiful, with dark skin and hair along with eyes like warm honey.
"Alice, this is Penny. She and Riley will take care of you tonight." The woman said as a lighter skinned man came to stand next to the lady. Penny smiled down at me while Riley looked at me with a slight pity. The woman ushered me in before speaking with Riley as Penny showed me to a room. I sat on the bed while she looked me over.
"Would you like to have a bath?" I heard Penny ask me. I didn't say anything. She asked me what I preferred to sleep in, but I didn't say anything. I just kept picturing the drop from the bridge, the boy on the chair, and the look of utter loss in my Father's eyes.
"My Dad isn't a bad man." I said softly. Penny paused and looked at me with an emotion I couldn't quite pin. Then she bit her lip and nodded.
"I don't think anyone is all bad Honey." She told me before getting up and walking out the door. I sat and waited to the sounds of the water running. Penny returned with a cloth and began to wipe my face and arms gently.
"Then why did they take him away?" I asked, confused. She paused before continuing.
"Because they had to help him. They weren't taking him away Dear, they were making sure he didn't get left behind." Penny said as she wiped under my eyes. Tears pricked forwards as I remembered my Dad's face and my Mom's still body underneath blankets and her face covered in tubes and masks.
"I want my Mommy." I whispered, tears freely falling the first time that day. "I want my Daddy."
Penny stopped wiping me up and looked at me with sorrow filled eyes. She then gently wrapped her arms around me and brought me to her chest. I didn't have it in me to stop her, and I began to cry louder and louder, until it turned into a wail. Penny held me all night, and in the morning she made sure I slept quietly.
The next part of my story is a bit of an interlude. You see I ended up staying with Penny and Riley for a few weeks after that, and then Penny talked about adoption. I ended up being adopted, but things never changed. From day one I felt welcomed in that household. They let me call them Aunt Penny and Uncle Riley, and sometimes Uncle Riley's best friend Uncle Sam came over and he would always bring a treat for me. I truly felt like I was part of the family. I went to school again, and started to get comfortable in my new home town in Queens. After the funeral for Ms. Walters, who didn't make it out of surgery, they officially signed the papers and I was legally a part of the family.
However this part of the story isn't necessarily important to the bigger picture. Sure I could go into grand detail of how Uncle Sam bought me a Blue Suede track for my seventh birthday, or how Uncle Riley would sing a duet with me when he was home. How sometimes I would cry to sleep because I couldn't explain how Ms. Walters put me to bed differently. Or maybe I could tell you the story of what would come to be known as the pine and apple cheesecake fiasco, maybe even explain how I got into the band The Eagles and Kings of Leon. However other than my constant visits to the hospital to see my comatose Mother, none of it truly mattered. You see, while I enjoyed every minute I got, in the end it was just a small stepping stone.
There were a lot of mysteries that happened here too. A lot of moments I'm not sure made sense. When I look back I can't figure out who paid my Mom's medical expenses, or why my Dad hadn't been sent further than the Psych Ward. They only let me visit him once, and I was on the far side of a glass pane from him. He looked awful, and I felt awful just looking at him. He was hardly a shell of who he was before.
I had walked in from school seeing Aunt Penny shake the hand of a man in a suit a few times, but otherwise I never thought anything weird was going on. So I carried on like nothing was wrong, and I went to school like a good girl. Well, then things got weird.
I remember going into town with Aunt Penny one day. She was showing me Times Square as a treat since I hadn't gone beyond Queens in about a year. We were just walking around minding our own business when an intense ray of light came from Earth and hit the sky. I stared up at it while Aunt Penny tried to pull me away.
It was then that I could see small little figures flying down from the top of the light, and they were coming down fast. Aunt Penny dragged me away as a cop car whizzed by us on the street. One of those things came flying at us and I screamed. Aunt Penny turned just in time to duck out of the way as the monster shot at the streets. But Aunt Penny tripped and dropped my hand and I ran a few more steps before realizing I had lost her. Turning back, I saw her look at me, and then behind me. Her eyes widened with fear, and she screamed.
"ALICE!"
I turned to see one of those monsters standing not far behind me; his gun aimed straight at me.
It was like everything had gone into slow motion, an intense fear came over me, but it was like my heart beat was only getting louder and not faster. The creature let out a screech as it pulled the trigger.
I watched as the light came flying at me, watched as it came closer, and in the back of my mind I knew this was it. This was happening. Not even enough time to scream, I looked into the eyes of my killer.
Then nothing.
Not nothing as in I was hit, but rather nothing as in I was no longer in that place.
Instead of was standing in a courtyard. It was dead silent compared to the loud roars of New York. There was thunder and lightning, rain poured heavily onto me and felt like it was washing me clean. The dirt that had muddled into my hair was now slipping down my face and back within seconds. I just stood there for the longest time, uncertain of what had just happened.
"You have been causing quite a bit of trouble lately."
I didn't jump at the voice, my whole body not even shaking from the cold. Instead I turned slowly to the voice. A hooded person stood just into the shelter of an overhang, watching me closely. I just stared at them over my shoulder, feeling tears freely slip down my face. No words left my mouth as I gazed at the person in a cloak. All I could see under the loose garb was their mouth, which was set in a neutral line. They stood very still for a long time before moving their hands and speaking.
"But it appears your adventure has only just begun." The said as a circle of sparks appeared at my feet. I didn't get to do anything before I was dropped through the floor. I fell long and hard from the sky, screaming when I began to see buildings below. I screamed bloody murder as I near the side of the Empire State Building. And it was only when I almost hit the ground that I closed my eyes and hit something hard.
Only it didn't hurt to hit that thing, and as I looked up from covering my face with my arms I could see nothing but red and blue. Completely confused, I looked up more to see that someone was holding me against them. One arm open as they grasped a long thin rope to swing up to the side of a building. We landed softly, and I looked up with confusion as I was gently set down.
"Easy does it, I've got you now." A young boys voice said. I looked up in awe, into a mask that concealed my saviour's eyes. I stood on shaky legs as the boy checked me over for injuries. He was asking me questions, but everything was catching up to me as I started to sniffle, sniffle, and then I cried.
"Hey- Oh! No no no don't cry! You're safe now, see? You're alright! Umm…. There there…" He awkwardly patted my head and I tried my best to not cry.
"Where- Where are we?" I asked, looking around. The place looked very much like New York to me, even through bleary eyes.
"We're on Stark Tower, but um, how did you start falling from the sky?" The boy asked me as he knelt down to my level. I sat on the roof, looking to the earth below.
You'll have to understand, at this point in my life I hadn't a clue what was happening to me. I still don't completely get it, but now I'm used to it. Back then? I had better luck finding God on a flatbread than understanding how this whole thing worked.
So as I sat down on the roof and looked up at my new hero, I couldn't help but be confused.
"I was in a courtyard and I fell." I said through hiccups as I tried to calm down. There was a long pause as the mask vigilante stared at me.
"You… Fell from a courtyard….. Into the sky…." The boy said slowly. I nodded as though it made perfect sense. The boy scratched his head.
"Okaayyyy, what's your name kid? You look kind of familiar." He said. I stared at him, wondering who he was.
"Alice, who are you?" I asked.
"Spiderman, nice to meet you- Wait, Alice Hubert? Little Alice who loved superhero comics and bragged that she talked to Tony Stark?" Spiderman started, sounding more surprised.
"Yeah…?" I answered, albeit hesitant as I didn't understand why he was so shocked.
"But- But Alice went missing years ago, and she should be almost fifteen by now? How old are you kid?" Spiderman asked. I frowned at him and crossed my arms.
"But I am Alice! And I'm eight. You don't have to be so-"
Unfortunately I didn't get to finish scolding Spiderman as I was now sitting on a pile of rubble. It looked like I was back to where I had been when that monster had shot at me. I didn't move for a moment, but instead I looked around and found that everything seemed to be over. There were ambulances everywhere, people looking and calling for people. Dead monsters were everywhere, but otherwise nothing else looked to be happening.
"Alice! Alice!"
I flinched when I heard Aunt Penny's voice. Looking over my shoulder I could see Aunt Penny limping over to me. She practically collapsed next to me and enveloped me in a hug. She was shaking so badly that I reached up and petted her hair.
I'm not sure here along the way, but sometime after this I started to get used to all the scary stuff. Honestly I think it was kind of a coping mechanism. For now I focused on soothing Aunt Penny, because she probably needed it more than me. She was crying as she kissed my dirty cheek and hugged me again.
Over her shoulder I could see several people standing together. A few were looking at me with curiosity. One of the people stood out to me in his red and gold suit.
Iron Man, or rather, Tony Stark, stood in the streets and looked at me with an almost smile. I waved at them curiously before going back to petting Aunt Penny.
"Where did you go?! I've been looking for you!" Aunt Penny sounded angry, and flashes of my Father yelling at me came back. However unlike my Dad, when Aunt Penny saw my eyes her face softened.
"I was there, but then I wasn't. I saw someone with a cloak on, and then I feel through the ground and was flying through the sky! Then this Spiderman saved me and now I'm here-"
"Wait-Wait what? Falling through the ground to the sky? Sweety did you hit your head?" She asked, checking me over.
"No, I didn't hit my head! Spiderman saved me!" I insisted. Aunt Penny's brow furrowed deeper as she continued to subtly shake.
"Pardon the intrusion Madam," I heard a deep voice before the sun was blocked out by a looming figure. "But I believe it best you get checked out as well. Perhaps I can watch your child in the mean time."
The man was big, with long blonde locks and massive muscles. I stared up at him with surprise before looking to the other side of Aunt Penny where Iron Man appeared.
"Point Break's got a- well, a point. We'll watch Alice for the time being." Tony insisted. My Aunt looked so overwhelmed by all of these people that she just nodded and Tony called over someone to help her. She wasn't taken very far, still within my sight, as I turned back to the two men. The other man knelt down in front of me and smiled gently.
"How are you, Lady Alice?" He asked in a deep baritone voice. I stared at him, into his deep blue orbs for a long moment, trying to remember when we had met.
"How do you know my name?" I asked, my brow furrowing. The man just smiled at me and glanced to Tony.
"I am friends with Mr. Stark. He has told me of your talents." The man explain. I looked to Tony for confirmation. When he nodded with a small smirk I turned back to the kneeling man and held out my hand.
"Pleased to meet you….." The man looked to my tiny hand before taking it in his.
"I am Thor, son of Odin. The pleasure is all mine." He said while gently grasping my hand in his. I found it odd that this man looked at me with such familiarity. As though he was amused by my actions in some way. I looked down to see how small my hand was in his, barely covering his palm. He was truly a big man.
"You said talents… So you believe me? I'm not crazy, neither is my Dad." I insisted, looking between the two of them. Tony's lips were in a thin line as he looked down at me before nodding. "Then can you get Dad out of the hospital? He's not a bad person, really! He's just scared too."
Out of the corner of my eye I could see Thor's brow furrow before he too looked to Tony. The billionaire sighed before kneeling down as well.
"Alice, your father is very sick. If I could I would help him, but I can't." Tony said in a soft tone. "But I will make sure he is treated nicely, alright? Now I know this is going to be scary, but you'll get used to it. Right now your first job is to take it easy on your Aunt Penny. She's very scared, and as much as you probably want to tell her all this stuff, now's probably not a good time."
"But-"
"No buts, we'll figure this out, but right now you need to go to your aunt and help her too. Okay? Trust me, going back to normal will make you feel better." Tony insisted. I gulped before nodding. There was no point arguing, the adults were (sadly) usually right about this kind of stuff anyway. Both men stood tall then and looked down to me. I looked to the group still a little ways off that had a handful of individuals. One was wearing all green with long black hair, at least from when I could see. He entire time I looked at him he was staring back in our direction. He distracted me quite a bit, and Thor noticed.
"Don't worry Alice, you are safe now." Thor said down to me. I looked up to him and frowned.
"Who is that man in green? Why is he staring at us?" I asked. Thor hesitated and looked from me to Tony. The shorter man shook his head quickly before Thor looked back to me.
"That's my brother Loki, and he's probably impatient for my return." He said as he gently placed a hand on my shoulder. "Take care Alice, may we meet again."
Thor began to walk back to the group, but I noticed that Loki was still staring in this direction even as his brother returned. I stared for a moment longer before Tony put a hand to my back.
"C'mon kiddo, let's get back to your lovely aunt." Tony said before ushering me along. We returned to my aunt shortly after. Aunt Penny had a minor concussion and so Tony arranged for us to have a ride home. Everything seemed to have returned to normal too. I spent a few days home from school even after they reopened to make sure Aunt Penny was feeling okay. She was still really jumpy, and I worried she would always be now.
Our house was still standing, though there were parts of the neighbourhood that looked like they had taken a blow. Within a week the wreckage had been fixed up and the monsters were removed. I went back to school shortly afterwards. While I was there I couldn't help but think about that Spidey guy. He said we went to school together, but all of my classmates didn't quite fit the bill.
On my way home my first day back I missed the bus. Having to get used to my new routine again was a pain. I jogged after the bus for a short while before giving up. However someone else came blazing past me, only to lose the bus at the corner. I cocked my head at him as he gave up chasing our transport. When I finally got closer to him I realized he was an upperclassman.
"You're Peter Parker, right?" I asked, remembering the boy that was often bullied. He turned to look at me and awkwardly waved at me.
"Uh y-yes. How do you know my name?" He asked. I shrugged.
"Everyone knows the guy who snorted milk out his nose and then passed out." I said, shifting my weight between my feet. Peter stumbled over his words, his cheeks turning pink.
"I'll have you know I've outgrown that!"
"It three weeks ago."
He had no comeback to that. Watching him stand there, fuming, made me grin though. He looked really funny getting all flustered like that.
"I'm Alice Hubert, and it's nice to meet you." I said politely. Peter calmed down and looked at me with thin lips.
"Uh, right, nice to meet you. So um, you take that bus too?"
We ended up walking back to the school so that Peter could call his Uncle Ben to pick him up. He offered me a ride after hearing we lived just a block apart. He and I got on the same page talking about the stuff that happened just a month prior, and I slipped in that I had spoken to Iron Man and Thor. We chittered back and forth for a long time before his uncle arrived and drove us home. Apparently Aunt Penny knew Ben and May Parker, the pseudo parents to Peter, at least that was what Mr. Ben Parker told me. The knowing my Aunt part, not that he was a fake parent.
When I got home I waved to Peter and Mr. Parker before turning to see that there was a man at the door. This was a man I didn't recognize at all. He wasn't the same man that came here other times, and I was beginning to think that he was dangerous with how rigid Aunt Penny was standing. She slammed the door in his face, so I stepped around the front yard and to the back. Slipping inside, I took off my shoes before hearing Aunt Penny from the mud room. She was crying, and not just soft, subtle ones that she had done before, these were full on wails. I heard her punch the wall and jumped at the sound. When I came around the corner she was in full view. I approached her slowly, hoping to console her.
"Auntie Penny?" I asked slowly. She jolted to look up at me, her eyes completely clouded over. "What's wrong?"
"He's gone." She said in a hollow voice. "Riley's gone."
Gone? I didn't understand. Did she mean…?
"Is he- did Uncle Riley-" She never let me finish as she threw something in her hands across the room. It smashed into a vase, which shattered. The action made me jump as Aunt Penny stood up.
"He's dead! Dead! Like your nanny and your mother if they ever take her off that bloody machine-" The rage and anger in her voice died as she realized what she had done. I stared at her with shock as her hands flew to cover her mouth. She shook her head and took a step for me. "Sweetie I-"
She started to cry again, falling to the floor. The news aught up to me as I realized what she had been saying.
Uncle Riley was dead.
I didn't know the specifics, and I wouldn't learn them for many years to come.
At the time though, I just sunk to sit next to my aunt, and together we cried on the floor.
Hey all!
So this story has a mind of it's own. As I said before, I have a ton of notes on this story, but I also have a lot of spaces for choices. And those choices are little moments that affect the story a lot. Side note: there will be a lot of references to other movies, tv, and games. Can you pick them out?
So... I'm set to see Infinity War this Friday (super pumped) but I've been really thinking about the ending to this story. I knew the moment I thought of Alice how this story was going to end, and that means it likely won't be anything like the Infinity War that as out today. I will be incorporating it into the storyline once I see it, but otherwise, I'm in no rush to alter my plot.
You see, it may not seem like it now, but every moment in this is very important. The first ten chapters will be me setting up the plot, and then from there carrying it out. This story is going to be a friggin' doozy. It's huge, likely 50+ chapters. So I may branch it off with a sequel at some point, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
Right now i really need feedback. The reviews (thank you so much for those who reviewed!) are very helpful for me in determining whether I'm actually being clever, misleading, or too obvious and boring.
Also, again Alice could be paired with virtually anyone, so if you do think she'd be cute with a certain character please say so soon!
Another thing is Chapters could range anywhere from 8,000 to 500 words, dependant on what's happening, so don't be alarmed if they suddenly get shorter. Think of this story as Alice telling you what her life was like. In some gaps it will be huge, in others very small. So don't panic if they're suddenly not as big as expected!
Toodles!
Iland Girl
