Hello everyone! Here is chapter one of Book two!

Disclaimer: I do not own Carrie White, Rachel Lang, the X-Men characters, the Avengers (MCU), Loki (MCU) or any MCU character.

Chapter 1

Rachel liked to watch Carrie whenever the older girl sewed. She was very good at it and had already made a new skirt and button up blouse for Rachel to wear. It was also an excellent way to keep Carrie calm whenever things weren't going so well. Her older sister had already gone through a couple of nightmares that shook the Manor. While Jean or the Professor usually reacted quickly to snap Carrie out of the nightmare, Rachel got glimpses and it made her stomach curl.

Chamberlain sounded like a horrible place on the news, from what Rachel (and, often, every telepath on the grounds) was able to gleam from Carrie's slipups, the reporters weren't doing the sheer nastiness of the town justice. She was glad that the Hargensens were doing jail time. Chris Hargensen was a monster, and her father hadn't done nearly enough to restrain his daughter's worst impulses or teach her some basic human decency. If he did, Carrie's life still would have been painful and lonely, but nothing so horrific.

Most of the abuse seem to stem from Chris, with everyone else following her lead because they were just as nasty or afraid of her family. They were all paying the price for their spinelessness now.

"Rachel?"

The dark-haired girl looked up, breaking away from her thoughts and the book she hadn't been reading. Carrie, sitting across from her on the bed, was holding up the beginnings of a nice blue jacket, considering the product.

"Yes?"

"Do you think this sleeve is bigger than this one?" The blonde girl laid it down on the bed, smoothing the material out so Rachel could gauge the sleeves properly. The younger girl leaned forward to look.

"I think the holes you cut for the sleeves is bigger for the right one." She confessed, pointing to where the right sleeve took up more space where it was being connected than its left counterpart.

Carrie frowned. "My hands still aren't as steady as they should be. Sleeves have always been tricky for me too."

"I'm sure you'll get it right." Rachel encouraged. "Are you going to fix it?"

"Maybe. I need to think." Carrie got out the sketchbook Kurt and Kitty had given her and started writing something down. She always kept it close to her, even when she went to classes and technically didn't need it. It was almost like she was afraid to let it out of her sight for too long.

Rachel had a good guess as to why and it left a bad taste in her mouth.

It was seven months since the Chitauri's invasion and things had settled into a new normal. The Avengers scattered across the world but occasionally met up and either as a group or separately, came to visit Carrie. Once she was well enough, Carrie returned the gesture, and went to Stark Tower every other weekend and for part of their class breaks.

Right now, Tony "Iron Man" Stark was recovering from surgery to remove the shrapnel that endangered his heart after fighting against a terrorist called the Mandarin. From what Carrie had told her about her last visit, Mr. Stark's teammates were quite annoyed he hadn't called for backup or at least let them know what was going on. The Avengers had been in one of their, "going my own way for a few weeks, will be back," separations at the time. Captain America had even given a lecture about "not doing everything on your own" and her older sister's expression made it clear that Rachel should wish she had been there to see it.

Carrie was cutting the sleeves off. She looked a lot better than when she first came, all pale and tiny in Hank's arms, covered in bruises and in need of a bath. Her cheeks were fuller and there was a light to her eyes that was smothered when they first properly met. Friendships were solidifying too.

Yet the echoes of Chamberlain persisted. Carrie was polite to the teachers and students in her classes, but never asked for help and was always careful about what she said. The powerful telepath would have blended into the background and go about her day unnoticed if her classmates would let her.

Thankfully, they didn't, and took it upon themselves to make sure she caught up with all the movies and shows she missed growing up thanks to Margaret White. They even used the list of "must-see" Tony Stark left on the laptop he dropped off one visit. He was delighted when he found out.

There was some movies Carrie saved to watch with Rachel, just the two of them. Mostly Disney, which the younger girl didn't mind, and they used those times to bond as sisters.

Rachel loved liked Carrie. She was mostly happy with how things were going.

Keyword being mostly. There was one thing Rachel would like to change but didn't have the power to do so.

Loki.

Rachel, as it turned out, really shared all her sister's abilities – the Cube was ecstatic to sense her when the God of Mischief dropped by the Institute the first time. The girl wasn't exactly thrilled when she realized what was nudging at her mind with annoying insistence. It was so late, it was early.

The annoyance was quickly followed by terror when she realized who had to be nearby if the Tesseract was on the grounds. It only got worse when she pinpointed its location in her still weakened sister's room.

One psychic message to Jean and the entire manor was on lockdown as the active X-Men rushed to Carrie's room. Rachel and her roommates were on edge for an hour before lockdown was lifted. Everyone was told it was a false alarm, but when she went to visit her sister, Carrie confirmed Loki had been in her room.

With tea. Apparently, he wanted someone to talk to and decided her sister was going to be his newest conversation buddy. Worse, Professor Xavier and the X-Men were grudgingly allowing it.

Rachel could understand part of the reason, with the Tesseract, Loki was almost impossible to catch. He was just too freaking quick and powerful for them holding onto that gamebreaker.

The second part was where she was upset. They hoped Carrie could get information about Loki's plans and what he was up to in his free time. Rachel knew there was more to that than they were saying and was annoyed at being left out.

Professor Xavier notified the Avengers at least, but other than Thor coming to the manor more often and sometimes standing outside Carrie's door in hopes of catching his brother nothing was truly done.

She was just a kid. There was nothing Rachel could really do to stop it and Carrie wasn't nearly as worried or unnerved like she should be. If anything, the teenager seemed to look forward to his visits.

Rachel hadn't met Loki in person yet, but that would change tonight. She was going to figure out why that man kept visiting her sister for the last five months. She was going to figure out what everyone was keeping from her.

Hope you enjoyed this!

Sincerely,

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