Chapter 4

I hope you never look back but you never forget
All the ones who love you
And the place you left
I hope you always forgive and you never regret
And you help somebody every chance you get
Oh, you find God's grace in every mistake
And always give more than you take

My Wish by Rascal Flatts

Rose move quietly with Steve as they entered the tower. He took her up several floors, where she exited onto a hospital floor. A man patched her up and examined her leg she heard his name was Bruce, and thanked him when he left her alone. Steve left, promising to be back shortly. She fiddled with her back pack when a woman entered with short red hair and tight black clothing. The woman had her gun out in seconds and Rose had her wand out. The two staring each other down. "Natasha-" a man said and Rose saw the Archer as well followed by Steve.

Steve entered the room putting himself between her and the two. "YOU! YOU BROUGHT ME RIGHT TO THEM!" She yelled at Steve, who turned to her but kept his eyes on the woman and Archer.

"Rose, lower your wand. Natasha, Clint, lower your weapons." Steve said, the two seemed to hesitate before lowering their weapons and Rose did the same.

Steve felt guilty, and watched Rose from where he sat at the table. She had just undergone intense interrogation from Fury, Natasha, and Clint. Now Rose and Loki were in an intense stare-down almost as if they were playing a mental game of chess. Steve still didn't like the idea of Loki joining them, but knew if Loki was to be rehabilitated it was probably for the better. He was only with them for a month now, and this was the first time he had not seen Loki pull a prank on anyone but instead be completely interested in something... more specifically Rose.

The other Avengers were watching closely as the two didn't move a muscle standing in the middle of the penthouse. Thor seemed like he knew what was going on by his smile but Steve didn't want to ask. Finally Loki broke the silence, "Very interesting, Miss Weasley." He started to circle her as if she was prey and he was the predator. Her eyes narrowed and Steve watched from the sidelines. "You and I could make one very powerful alliance."

"I don't associate with killers." She seemed to growl almost like a wild animal at him.

"True... but you can't not associate with yourself." Loki sneered back.

Steve watched as her eyes widened then narrowed as they found Loki once more, "That was an accident."

"It was your fault and you know it." Loki retorted, now face to face with the red haired witch.

Steve interjected, "What are you talking about, Loki?"

"Ah, so you haven't told them?" Loki smirked, and Steve could see the fear in Rose's eyes.

"They don't need to know." Rose spat out.

"Tell us what?" Tony piped up.

"You haven't told your new friends that you killed your best friend?" Loki smirked as he scoffed at Rose and Steve stiffened with the new found information. "You killed him to save yourself."

"It was an accident!" Rose growled, clenching her fists.

"Did you or did you not kill him!?" Loki interrogated

Rose looked defeated now and Steve moved in, "That's enough Loki."

Loki seemed happy with his work and moved away from Rose. Steve saw tears in her eyes and stepped towards her, but she took a step back. Steve watched her limp with her crutch and go to the elevator, leaving them alone.

Rose sat down on the bed of Steve's floor. He had offered her his room until they found out where they were going to put her floor. She pulled the photo and clutched it close and she fell asleep.

Rose's Dream

She looked around and recognized the place immediately and started to move to find Scorpius. "ROSE!" She heard the yell in the dark and she spun to see him running towards her, grabbing her hand and she started running with him. "Keep, moving Rose. Whatever happens, Keep moving." She heard him say as they ran through the forest, barely dodging hexes and jinxes.

"Why are they after us?" She managed out as they jumped over a fallen branch.

"They're after us... it's Prisoners that Escaped." He said as they dodged another hex headed for their heads by jumping behind a tree as they ran. That was all she needed, and they ran. His hand suddenly jerked from her's and she looked back, stopped and turning back to help, trying to get the magically bound rope off of him with every spell she knew of. "Run." She looked at him wide eyed. "Rose, run."

"I can't-"

"ROSE RUN!" He shouted, and she turned, made it a few feet and turned to see him struggling against them, he wasn't bound now, so she raised her wand.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" She shouted, at the one attacker just as Scorpius moved slightly in front of him. She froze as the spell hit him. She watched her best friend's form crumble to the ground, lifeless.

"NO!" She screamed, sitting up out of her sleep and looking around the room to find no one there. She burried her head in her hands. "I want to go home." She cried, "I want to go home, please." She looked up at the ceiling now before over at the mirror on the back of the bedroom door. She moved over to it, part of her knew that if she touched the mirror nothing would happen. A small part of her wished the it would be the Mirror of Erised, she moved in front of it and saw herself, she looked to either side of her in the mirror but no one was there. She reached out to touch it, wishing maybe if she touched it she would find a way to contact her family, they had used the old mirror system for communicating. She touched it, "I'm okay... I can't find my way home..." She said to herself in the mirror, but no answer. Not even a shimmer of the glass.

She went back to the Penthouse and sat down for dinner. "So what was Loki talking about early, Rose?" Tony asked bluntly, causing several glares from the Avengers.

"She killed her best friend, to save herself." Loki replied in a monotone voice, Rose flinched at Loki's words.

Rose looked downtrodden and said, "It's my fault... If I hadn't sent the killing curse..."

"Then you fled." Loki said.

"That's enough, Loki." Thor spoke in a thunderous voice, with more authority than they clearly have heard before as the Avengers all looked shocked at him. "Our Little Ravenclaw, did not mean it."

"You always defend the wrong ones, brother." Loki scoffed.

"Wait, how did you know I was a Ravenclaw?" Rose interjected looking down the table at Thor, who sat proudly.

"Ah, Young Witch, I am Thor Odinson, God of Thunder and Sky." Thor proudly stated before giving the witch a knowing look, "You should never look back, but you should also never forget all those who love you, and the place you have left. I hope you learn to forgive yourself but not regret the decisions you make. Death and the Three Sisters of Fate obviously believe you belong here."

"Wait a second... Death? Three Sisters of Fate?" Tony asked confused.

Rose thought for a moment before looking at Thor then to Loki. Before speaking, "Death is supposedly a figure. He was prominent in one of the stories that my mother would read to us when we were little. He granted three brothers a gift for using their magic to cross a river, the eldest a wand more powerful than all, the middle a stone to resurrect his dead fiance, and the youngest a cloak of invisibility. The Eldest found his throat slit after winning countless times and boasting of the wand, and Death Claimed the Eldest. The Middle found that the stone brought her back but did not make her happy, and so he hung himself, and Death claimed him too. The youngest evaded Death, even though Death looked high and low he could not find the youngest. When the youngest became old he passed his Cloak onto his son, and greeted Death as an old friend." Rose looked at Thor and Loki before asking, "Are you saying I'm dead in my world?"

"That isn't a children's story." Natasha said grimly.

"No. Although, one cannot pass between worlds without being dead first, or Death knows he or she is needed more in another world than their own. The Three Sisters of Fate must have destined you to be here, now the question is not how you arrived but rather... why." Loki said wisely.

"So Rose is dead?" Tony asked.

"Not hardly. She is fully alive here, but in her world, she is dead." The God of Mischief and Chaos spoke with wisdom. Rose sat quietly taking it all in. She couldn't go home.

"So, what happened in your world that ended with you here?" Clint, the Archer, asked.

Rose remembered that night well. She hated it. But she told them the story, "My best friend, Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy, told me to meet me by the forest in Hogsmeade as to why I wasn't sure. But I arrived and everything was quiet, much more quiet than normal. Then I saw him round the corner being chased by several men in black cloaks. He grabbed my hand and we ran, we found the old secret passage back to our school, Hogwarts, that lead up through the Whomping Willow. We made it out and the Willow took out about two men, but we were running for the Forbidden Forest. We passed Hagrid's Hut, and darted between the trees. We knew our way around, we often explored the forest at night when Filtch wouldn't catch us. But this was different. We ran, further and further and further into the forest. The men were closing in on us. He told me no matter what keep running. I asked him who they were... he said they were escaped prisoners of Askaban. We ran further, and my lungs were burning now but his hand suddenly was jerked from mine." Rose shook her, trying to get the images out of her head. "Flashes of light around us, and I tried to help him up, tried to get the rope untied. But he yelled at me to run. I did. I turned around to see him free now and trying to fight off the men. So I shot the Killing Curse. I watched in horror as he moved the wrong way, and his body collapsed to the ground... unmoving. I ran. I ran not knowing where I was going. I went to disapparate and I felt a hex or a jinx hit my back. Next thing I knew I was in a Hospital here in New York City. All I had is what was in my bag when I disapparated. I don't remember meeting Death, Sisters of Fate, nothing. All I remember is appearing here in this world."

The Avengers, Pepper, and Jane remained quiet now. Before Thor spoke and Rose heard the centuries of wisdom in his voice, "Sometimes Death and Sisters of Fate have their own plans, where we ourselves do not have any say in what happens. They have already planned every moment, small things may vary but they have planned everything."

"But I still miss them." Rose mumbled.

"Don't forget them, your hometown, or school. Don't forget anything that made you into Rose. Just because you can't go back doesn't mean you can't find happiness." Steve said just loud enough for everyone to hear. Rose had learned about all of them earlier that day, and Steve was the man out of time frozen in ice until a couple years ago. He would understand her predicament better than anyone.