Hey there, before you read any further there is a previous fic that this is picking up after. If you haven't read it, please take a look at my profile. It's under the name A Duel Existence. Thank you!

-Moriarty

Hospitals were not my forte. There were a lot of things I hated about hospitals. I hated the sterile white walls. The mechanical beeping that only served to heighten my awareness of when I was stressed out. Like a metronome underlying a symphony of anxiety. Hospital gowns were absolutely too thin and covered not even close to enough skin for me to be comfortable. I hated the thin sheets they had on their beds that sucked just enough to keep the edge of a chill on your skin, but well enough for you not to be cold.

Wires everywhere, getting tangled up in everything including the other wires. The sharp smell of disinfectant that clung to literally everything. The smell was thick enough to taste. This hospital, however, was worse than a normal hospital in a multitude of ways.

There was no t.v. so what little time I have had to myself was spent in silence which was interrupted by the horrible beeping. There were no windows, so all of the light was flat and artificial making my already pale skin look ten times worse.

Thankfully, when I woke up, there were no tubes attached to me in ways that I didn't want to think about. Instead there was Nick Fury offering me a new life here on Earth. And despite my misgivings I had accepted.

What had happened felt far too close and so very far away from me. I found myself picking at the too-thin bed sheets nervously, running the material in-between two fingers. To think that all of this stemmed from a vacation trip astounded me. I had always wanted to see New York, and my dad had surprised me with a trip there. It was supposed to be wonderful. Instead the city came under attack by an invading force led by a misguided and sadistic fool.

My dad was killed. Even now the shock of it felt too vivid, too real. I didn't bury him either.

I grit my teeth and turned over in the narrow bed, listening to the steady beeping wishing that it could distract me from the march of my memories. Fury had said he was going to release me soon, that he just needed to make a few calls. That was yesterday. I had slept for a good portion of my downtime, but now I felt fine. Worse I had reached the state where I couldn't sleep any more.

Furious from the loss of my father I had offered myself up to lure out the coordinator of the attack. It wasn't hard, really. All you had to do was refuse to kneel to him. Show him that someone even as small as me could still stand up to him. That humanity would not easily break or bend in the face of the terror he sought to spread. He had been so angry then. Shot down a faceless girl that stood out in a crowd.

The memories there went a bit fuzzy. I remember the Avengers being near me. I remember a great warm darkness. And then I was suddenly whole and wracked with pain I couldn't describe, listening as the god who I had helped capture nearly purred over my agony. In the end though...he had sacrificed himself not only for me, but for the brother who offered me a chance to live. To bring me to his father, Odin, on Asgard to try and fix me.

Thor was supposed to see me when I got out. Fury said he wanted to personally introduce me to Tony Stark, which felt a bit odd. I mean, yes, after Odin healed me and deemed me a half-breed between human and Asgardian I had spent a lot of time around mythical figures who were gods, but I had kind of gotten used to that. Didn't think much of it at all actually. But to meet the Tony Stark. Iron man. I couldn't quite wrap my head around it.

The door opened. "Miss Lillith?" One of the nurses who had been checking up on me since I woke up stepped into the room. Everything in her demeanor screamed timid, but I had seen firsthand how motivated she was to get her job done. Brown hair neatly tucked back. Pale blue scrubs and eyes to match she was actually quite pretty. "If you'll follow me we can get you back to your things." She moved to me and unhooked a few different things and the horrendous beeping finally fell silent.

I swung myself out of the bed and instantly cowered feeling the breeze hit my exposed backside. The nurse smiled which wrinkled her nose in an adorable way.

"Don't worry. It's just me and you right now." She waited until I took a hesitant step forward. "Fury had some clothes sent for you." She explained ushering me into the hallway. Like the room the hallway was sparse. No decorations, only doors dotting the walls in regular intervals that reminded me of the beeping that I had just escaped.

"You must be excited." The nurse said breaking the silence. We passed a door that looked very much like my own door, with Thompson scrawled on the nameplate in dry erase marker.

"Yeah, I don't do very well in hospitals." I muttered trying to ignore the breeze.

"Well, I was talking about being back on earth, but that too I suppose." She said amicably. I wondered just how strange it was for her to try and make small talk with a person she knew had been to another planet. I would have been gob smacked should I have never gone on my little adventure.

"I missed it." I said truthfully. Another door passed. This one marked with Canada. I found myself pausing staring at the door for a moment. Who had Canada as a last name? I shook my head and kept going. Probably Captain America's cousin or something. I chuckled to myself which caught the nurse's attention.

"Something funny?" She smiled.

"I have a strange sense of humor."

Another door. Then another door. I stopped looking at the names and simply tried to keep myself on track behind her.

Eventually we stopped in front of another door looking the same as all the others. "Director Fury had us provide you with clothing." She mentioned as she pushed the door open. "I'll give you some space." She said planting herself against the wall. After a whole day of having nothing familiar around me the sight of my things neatly arranged on a table nearly made me cry.

"Garrett!" He was curled in on himself looking almost like a coaster save for the gleam of green near his mouth. Next to him lay Frigga's necklace. As I spoke he shivered slightly and lifted looking to me with a familiar ring clamped in his mouth. "Oh buddy," the ache in my chest nearly sent me to the floor, "good job." I breathed holding out my hand.

Garrett was beautiful, I realized, as he slowly cracked his mouth back open to gently deposit the ring into my palm. About a foot long, he was crafted from some dark and cloudy looking stone that was wonderfully smooth to the touch. His fangs, which flashed as he deposited the ring, were insanely sharp looking. The last I remembered of those fangs were the jolt as they had sank into my upper chest. He almost had the body of a black mamba, despite the color difference on the outside, but his head was more dragon-esque all ridges and elegant lines. His ruby eyes gleaming as he looked at me.

He flung himself over my wrist and curled around me, dragging his body up mine one loop at a time until all of him rested comfortably around my wrist and upper arm. There was a small pulse of joy from him and then he went still, only the slight pressure indicative that he was still alive.

I looked to the little ring he had given me. The green gem sparkled at me, reminiscent of another green, but I simply shook my head shoving the sorrow down and away from me. It wasn't time to mourn. Not now.

I put the ring on and glanced to see my backpack sitting next to a suitcase. A cursory look revealed my armor, newly clean from the looks of it. I turned to the side and felt myself smile.

"Jeans, Garrett!" I told him grabbing the dark and soft pair. "Real jeans. And a t-shirt!" I was nearly crooning with delight. They had even left some underwear and a bra. I didn't think too much about that last part. Instead I quickly shoved everything on, the plain black shirt and pants feeling like heaven.

I reached over and grabbed Frigga's necklace, carefully clasping it around my neck. It didn't take much to sling the backpack over my shoulders and to grab the suitcase pushing out of the little room.

The nurse looked me over her eyes locking onto Garrett. "How in the world does that bracelet work?" She asked starting a slow walk that I could follow. "We tried to get it to unlatch after it coiled into that flat shape. Happened overnight after we took it off of you. Clamped onto your ring too."

I bit my lip trying not to laugh at the sheer frustration and surprise in her voice. It was almost too easy to reply.

"It's magic."