Hello, hello, remember me?

I am everything you can't control"

~ "What you Want" by Evanescence

Anja pulled herself away from the car she had slumped into, taking in the people around her. There was destruction everywhere and she feared what else may come. Steve had regained his balance as well by now as he came to stand by her, shield in hand. Somewhere along the battle, he had lost the helmet like head covering he had been wearing earlier.

"You alright?" he said quickly as he glanced around the street. There were no Chitauri in sight, but to Steve it was more like the calm in the eye of the storm. He started moving down further down the street, heading back to where he had been holding several Chitauri off before he had been called to help the civilians.

"Yes," she said as she drew forth her own bow. Her quiver felt considerably lighter since she had been in this battle and she figured she had about ten good shots left within the ivory compartment. "Where are the others? Do you know?"

Steve shook his head as he glanced over at the evacuees. "Tony's still got the perimeter, and Natasha was heading up to Stark Tower last I saw her. As for Thor, Barton clued me in that he was taking down one of the big aliens down on Sixth Street with Banner."

Anja nodded before her silver gaze widened and a Chitauri beast lunged at Steve from seemingly out of nowhere. As quick as a whip, an arrow was in the string of her bow and it was zipping through the air to lodge directly in the thing's left eye. She thought that was the end of that attack, but Steve's call to her brought her back from her momentary victory.

When she turned back to Steve, she could make out his figure through a haze of newly created smoke. Another second later, she could figure out that he was looking up at the high buildings that framed the street… and the countless figures that were scaling the walls in a reptilian fashion.

Chitauri warriors were coming down the walls, the unnerving sound of their battle calls chilling Anja to her core. She swallowed once as she glanced over at Steve, her bow already in hand as she felt her powers surge within her… only this time dark magic accompanied the basic magic. Steve looked away before her eyes started to glow silver again.

A Chitauri lunged at her as it made it to the first story of the building. She dodged it quickly, registering that Steve was fighting two of the beasts head on. She produced an ice dagger and sliced into the Chitauri warrior's throat, but not before it had backhanded her across her left cheek. She let out a cry as she stabbed the thing over and over, taking it down and sending as much magic as she could into the beast. Another one came at her, and the blast from its spear narrowly missed her as she ducked down. She waved her arms around her head, focusing on one of the cars behind several of the beasts that had landed on the ground. The car was made of metal, and it would serve the purpose she needed. Briefly, she closed her eyes, latching on with her powers to the basic molecular structure of the metal and pulling it forward.

The crashed car skidded across the pavement, taking out the oncoming warriors in its path… only this time, it didn't stop. Anja's eyes went wide as she transformed into her mist state and the metal contraption went through her. As she solidified back on the ground, her reason returned to her. That had never happened before… She had always been in control of her abilities. She had never put too much into her abilities… it had always been the other way around. Now, even her most basic magic felt like dark magic when she was manipulating it: out of control. The power that she had just experienced was dangerously close to what she had felt earlier that day before she had collided with Steve... and startlingly similar to what she had felt that night on the riverbank in Asgard.

Despite her shaky feeling, she whipped her arms around her head, pulling water from a fire hydrant and freezing several Chitauri on site. Steve knocked one out of the way with his shield before axe-kicking another one down. As a brief pause in the beasts' onslaught came about, Steve turned back to Anja. She was breathing heavily, her bow in hand as she glanced around with the prowess of a huntress.

There were still several ranks of Chitauri on the buildings, and Anja found herself wondering why they didn't come down to fight her and Steve at the same time. She was thankful for their relent in the attack. She knew if they all came at them at once, she and Steve would last little more than a few minutes… if that.

A hard thud came from behind her as a large mass hit the ground, and Anja had an arrow in her bow and was facing the place she had heard the sound come from in nearly the same second. She lowered her bow sheepishly when she saw the red flash of Thor's cape.

Prince Thor looked at Anja for the briefest moment, slightly perplexed by her silver eyes. "Anja, what is wrong?" he said after a moment.

Anja furrowed her brow. She was still shaking, but other than the uneasiness at her knees, she felt just fine. "Nothing," she replied. She glanced at Steve briefly.

"Have you seen my brother?" Thor boomed. Anja shook her head.

"Not for a while. He was trailing Natasha last I saw him," Steve replied.

Thor nodded. "These beasts are waiting on his command to attack, no doubt," he said after a brief pause. Anja looked back up to the Chitauri on the buildings. Her magic was flaring again, yet she still felt the darkness building up as well. She inhaled, readying herself.

And then the onslaught began. Anja dodged as many beasts as she could. Through the battle, she was able to make out Thor and Steve fighting back to back. She wielded her magic, finally able to get it back on track as adrenaline spiked through her system. Thor's hammer was colliding left and right with Chitauri warriors, and Anja fired bouts of ice and water at the enemy as she manipulated the water from the air.

Steve was fighting hard as well, but Anja was unable to spare him a glance as she drove an ice dagger into an oncoming Chitauri's chest and spun quickly to do so to another that was running straight for her.

Then she saw Steve go down, sustaining a blast from a flank of Chitauri that had advanced on the small group on foot. Anja whipped her last arrow out of the quiver, taking aim at the oncoming beast and sending an arrow in between its eyes. Thor blocked a few of the blasts with his hammer before smashing a car and sending straight it towards the Chitauri. Thor's hand came down to help Steve up as Anja made it to the two.

Steve produced a bloodied hand as he removed his palm from his abdomen. Anja herself was covered in bruises and cuts and the burn on her elbow still caused her a great deal of pain.

"Do we need to pull back?" Thor said quietly as he studied the injured mortal.

"What?" Steve said through obvious pain. "You getting sleepy?"

Anja pursed her lips together in a fine line, taking the two in… before a Chitauri she had thought to be dead at her feet swiped her legs out from under her and she felt the sting of a blade in her abdomen as her head hit concrete.

*o*O*o*

When Loki's emerald gaze opened again, he could feel the energy of the Tesseract's portal above him waning. Try as he may, he could not find it in him to care though. Every bone in his body hurt and all he wanted to do was go back to sleep. But sleep was for the weak, and he was not weak. At least he had thought so.

A soft groan escaped his lips as he inched further into the room. That was when he came upon a silver necklace burning bright in the single ray of sun in the deepest recesses of the room. A silver arrowhead was on the chain… but it was missing a golden feather… Frantically, Loki looked around from his place on the ground. He found the item he was looking for, letting out another groan as his shoulder blades protested to the stretch as he reached forward to grab it. His hand came down on the golden feather, dragging it through the dirt and rubble towards him. It had been the one he had given Anja in Asgard, part of her necklace that her nephew had given her.

With an irritated huff that had nothing to do with his injuries, Loki's fist came around the pendants and a single tear trailed from the corner of his left eye. No, he was not weak. But somehow he knew that his little skylark was not his anymore.

*o*O*o*

Anja had had her fair share of pain in life. As a healer, she had seen it. And as a mother, she had experienced it first hand in childbirth. But now, with the blade of a Chitauri penetrating her body, she knew what true pain was.

No cry came to her lips as Thor swung his hammer at the beast, knocking the thing clean off of her as Steve leaned down to her in a panic. Thor was not far behind, but he kept a watchful eye as Thor tried to help her.

"Anja," Thor boomed. "How badly are you injured?"

Anja squeezed her eyes shut tightly, so many images burning through her head as she tried to block out the pain… and hold onto consciousness.

"Anja," Steve said a bit more quietly. She could feel his warm palm at her cheek, coaxing her to open her eyes. Anja was lost in her thoughts as they came to her in waves. Loki in the gardens, The Great Library of Vanaheim… Her sister Selena, Fandral, Andrew… a green eyed, dark-haired baby boy smiling up at her for the first time… Loki's touch… and kiss… and the feel of dark magic…

"Anja!" Steve said loudly as he looked down at her. By this point, Steve was looking down at her, a hand at his communicator. "We need medical back up. Now." She could make out his figure through the slits of her eyes, and she shook her head. Mortal medics would not be able to help her. She turned her attention to Steve, seeing his figure, but nothing else. Steve… The mortal man that had been nothing but kind to her since they had met… a true gentleman whose world she was trying to save.

"You know what you need to do, My Skylark… Darkness is within you and it will break free of its own accord…"

Loki's words were clear as day through the pain, and when she opened her eyes, a mirror-like silver overtook her silver irises once more. Dark magic could destroy worlds, but she would find a way to make it save this one. Loki would not take this world. Not when there was so much worth saving.

"I know you'll do the right thing..."

Phil Coulson's, that small, mortal man, words came back to her, mixing with Loki's. Yes, she was going to so the right thing. She was going to destroy the army that dared harm any innocent.

*o*O*o*

Steve had been watching dumbfounded as Anja fell to the ground. As he leaned over her, he couldn't shake the feeling that she was lost. He had seen death one too many times to his liking and he was familiar with the sense of dread that accompanied it.

He felt like kicking himself. He should have seen this coming. That Chitauri hadn't been dead… If he had known, he could have done something to keep her out of harm's way… after all she had been through he felt she was owed that much.

But then she had opened her eyes, and almost instantly the wound in her side had healed… only her eyes were doing that weird thing again. Thor was knocked a few steps backwards as Anja sat up. Dark energy was rolling off of her in waves. As quick as a flash, Anja had disappeared, her gaze resting on several Chitauri that were coming towards them once more as she lighted on top of a car. Steve could tell that she was not Anja in those moments. Something else had a hold of her… what it was he didn't know. Loki probably had something to do with it.

Thor was watching as well, dumbfounded. "Are you seeing this?" Steve said hesitantly. Anja had always been so controlled around him. Now, all she seemed to be was lost. The way she moved almost reminded him of Loki's fighting stances; graceful, lethal, and fluid.

That thought was solidified as she seemed to focus on an incoming Chitauri speeder… and disintegrated the thing on site. There were no remnants, merely a blinding light and it was gone.

Anja kept at it for several minutes, gliding blindly up and down the block as she destroyed the Chitauri that came at her. Blasts were fired at her form, several taking her square in the chest, yet she did not waver on her course.

Thor was back in the fight, but he was keeping a watchful eye on the sorceress that had seemingly come back to life. In the middle of the battle, Romanoff's voice came through Steve's communicator.

"I can close it. Can anybody copy? I can shut the portal down."

"What?!" Steve exclaimed. "Do it!"

"Wait." Stark's voice came through the communicator loud and clear.

"Stark, these things are still coming," Steve said as he glanced up at the sky. Chitauri were still coming from the portal and showed no signs of stopping.

"I know. But I've got a nuke coming in in two minutes. And I know just where to put it."

Steve looked to the portal, then back to the obvious path of a missile. "Stark… You know that's a one-way trip."

Steve swallowed, aggravated from his limited viewpoint on the ground. What the hell was SHIELD thinking! This was a civilian population that his team had been protecting. Stark had the situation under control… he hoped.

Steve turned back to Anja's form, watching the mirror-like state of her irises as she wreaked havoc on Loki's army.

*o*O*o*

Anja was barely aware of her actions in those moments. The movement of molecules seemed to fade, and yet her magic had never felt stronger. As she glided through the city, seeking out Loki's army, everything was so simple. She watched her actions as if she was in another body. The movement of battle around her was muffled, as if from a dream.

"Anja!"

All her pain from the past year seemed to be brought forth, and she was forced to overcome it. As much as she could, she did. Loki's face was always in her mind, a face she knew now she wanted to see again… but whether she wanted to strike or kiss it, she was uncertain. As her rage grew, a static field seemed to cling to her. Dark magic was welling up deep within her, and it left her insides cold as the darkness rolled off of her in intense waves of heat. She needed to cool down. She needed to exit this state. This state of being was something she had never even read about, yet she found herself in it as she destroyed Loki's army.

"Anja!" There was that voice again… distinctly American and one she knew well at this point.

As she looked around, her eyes lighted on another Chitauri. The cold within her built up even more, her heart hammering against her chest… she couldn't take it. She would explode! Yet her magic had other ideas. The Chitauri that had been coming at her disintegrated on site as she focused on it.

Anja's soul was thrashing about within her. Her body was doing one thing, yet she could not bring herself to stop it. Selvig had said there was something more that could be wrong with her… Was this it?

Her entire being felt like it was pulling itself apart! She could not think of a way to stabilize herself after this. Her son's face flitted across her memory and Loki's as well. Another blast erupted in front of her as she caused an automobile to explode… And then a warm hand came up to her cold one. It was not the man whose touch she needed, yet it comforted her all the same.

As she looked down from the height she had hovered to, she saw a blue figure looking up at her.

"Anja, come on. Just let it go." It was Captain Rogers and he was helping her. "Anja, you're gonna hurt yourself. We've got this under control. Stark's fixing to shut the portal down." Steve ignored the shot of what felt like ice travel from Anja to his own arm as he looked up at her. "It's not worth it."

Loki's face flitted across her mind once more… Aric… Thor… Selena… And then Loki again… and her father…

At the memory of her family, Anja fell to the ground, collapsing in Steve's arms as the super soldier caught her. She blinked once, the glow of her eyes fading back to silver.

Her gaze was focused on the sky… and from where she was she could see the Man of Iron narrowly missing Stark Tower with a missile… and heading straight for the portal. What was he doing!

Steve had turned his attention back to the portal before Anja blacked out, her body unable to take any more of the sights in front of her.

AN: Oh yes, there is one final plot twist up my sleeve, guys! Haha. This weird little transformation will be explained next chapter. ;) Next chapter shall be the last, with an epilogue to follow, but I already have so many plans for Thor 2 and I haven't even really seen or read anything about it yet. Yall would be interested in reading it when the movie comes out though, right? *looks pleadingly at screen* XD

Lots of Loja next chapter... but I'm not giving anything away just yet... ;)

Reviews are love! I seriously don't know what I would do without my dedicated reviewers. Thank you so much for sticking with me. This road has been a long one and I have kept everyone waiting longer than necessary at the worst of times. Thank you, thank you, thank you for sticking with me!

~Sirius