September

It had taken Abby a week to recover from her mental conversation with the mystery man. The whole week, she kept wondering what had happened to him. Was he alive? Dead? Was he even real?

A month passed and she heard nothing. She kept a weathered eye on the news, looking constantly for a dark haired man with strange eyes, but his picture never showed up.

Her mother was back and working again, even though she had moved out of the apartment next to Abby. Meredith had moved into James's townhouse in downtown Manhattan, leaving the entire building to Abby.

"Knock out the walls, add on to your place!" Meredith had said cheerfully as they loaded boxes into her nice new car. "It's time that you start thinking about the next step of your life, honey."

"Thanks for the input, Ma," Abby had mumbled, trying to shove a box into submission. Once her mom was gone, Abby had stayed up all night down in the shop, cutting flowers and fixing arrangements. It was her stress release, what she did when she was nervous or when she couldn't sleep. She found herself feeling quite a bit of both lately and she wasn't quite sure why.

A solid month after her run in with Mr. Red Eyes, Abby woke up with a sinking feeling in her stomach. It stayed with her as she got dressed and opened as usual. No one seemed to echo her feeling, going about their business as usual.

Around two, she felt this gnawing feeling that she simply couldn't ignore.

"Hey, Cali, I'm going to run to the greenhouse for a few."

The beautiful dark skinned woman smiled back at the brunette. "Sounds good boss. Hey, bring down some dahlias and seven white orchids, would you? Brandon is still wrapped up in the Greeson order so I was going to start on the Macton wedding stuff."

Abby nodded, heading up the stairs. "Sure thing, Cal."

She ascended up the four flights of stairs and opened the door at the top. Stepping out onto the roof, she inhaled deeply, trying to clear her head. She simply couldn't get over the feeling of unease spreading throughout her body.

Scanning the skyline, she could see no immediate cause for alarm. It was a pretty enough day, a few clouds in the sky but the temperature was perfect. From her view on the roof, she had a clear view of magnificent buildings like the Empire State and Stark Tower. The streets below her were filled with activity and life, lovers walking hand in hand, mothers with their children. While Abby often found herself missing their ranch out in San Fran, New York made her feel alive.

Suddenly, there was a large bang, coming from the direction of Stark Tower. She looked around in time to see what appeared to be Iron Man get hurled back by something, only to fly back towards the building. Abby rolled her eyes. It was probably Tony Stark just working on a new project.

Spending the next few minutes trying to relax, Abby watered a few plants and checked the temps, marking it all down on her carefully plotted chart. Grabbing a basket and carefully extracting the flowers that Cali needed, she was walking out of the greenhouse, ready to go back inside, when she saw a bright blue beam shoot up into the sky.

A chill went up her spine as she stared, watching as that beam ripped a hole in the sky and things that looked like flies started to pour out of it.

"Oh, my god."

There were multiple bangs as the sound barrier was broken and the flies started to fly towards the city. Except, as these things got closer, Abby realized they weren't flies at all. They looked like monsters straight out of a horror movie, flying through the air at full speed.

Flowers forgotten, Abby bolted down the stairs at record speed, bursting into the shop. Some people had started to notice what was going on while others continued meandering about.

"Everyone, listen up!" She climbed up onto the counter and looked over the sea of people. "I don't know what exactly is going on, but something is about to go down. If you need to leave now, leave and run. If not, you need to stay here and follow our workers down to the basement." She was met with uncomprehending eyes and slack jaws. "NOW!" she snapped.

Her frustration rose to new levels when they still did nothing. They stood and stared at her like she had just grown two heads. Cali came up beside her, a concerned look on her face.

"Abby, come on down," she said softly, reaching up to take her hand. Abby jerked away from her.

"Don't look at me like that, Cali, there's something seriously—"

The sound of an explosion cut her off as she and the rest of the patrons turned in time to see car roll down the street, completely set aflame.

"Wrong."

Now everyone started to panic. Some hit the ground, others began to run out the door to get a better look. Abby tried to call them back, but her words died in her throat when there were several more explosions, sending more vehicles tumbling down the street.

"Basement," she whispered to herself. "Everyone, basement, now!"

Instructing Cali to lead people down the stairs, Abby ran out to the street, pulling people into the shelter of her shop. "Go downstairs!" she yelled to them, ushering them down. She went to grab another person when something caught her eye.

Across the street, one of these monsters had touched down, a thing of nightmares. Taller than a human, they didn't appear to have skin. They had dark, dirty looking roped muscle down their bodies, much of it protected by armor. Its face was terrifying, like a decaying skull with eyes and the jaws of a large animal, it was advancing towards a screaming kid. The kid's mother was on the ground, motionless.

Her feet began moving on their own accord, running towards the beast and the child. Just as the creature lifted its weapon, she screamed, "Get away from her!"

She reached out with the intention to tackle the alien away from the sobbing girl, but instead of grabbing onto it, a beam of light shot from her hand, hitting the creature in the head and knocking it to the ground.

Abby froze, astounded. She lifted up her hand, examining it. There was nothing out of the ordinary, just her regular hand.

"That's interesting," she whispered. Her thoughts were interrupted by the screams and explosions coming from down the street, forcing her feet to move again. Snatching the girl off of the sidewalk, she held her close as she ran back to the shop, the little girl screaming the whole way back.

"Mommy!" she shrieked. "Mommy, we have to get mommy!"

Once they were safely inside, she sat her down and shook her slightly, trying to get her to pay attention. "I'll go back for her, okay? I'll get your mommy, but you have to stay here, do you hear me?" The girl nodded and hiccupped, tears streaming steadily down her face. Abby turned her and pushed her into Cali's waiting arms before running back out onto the street.

It was mass chaos now, something out of a movie. People were scattering everywhere and the things that had come from the sky were all over, shooting people down. There were cars and buses that had been exploded that laid upside down or on their sides. Piles of rubble had small fires on top of them, along with cars that had caught fire as they had been thrown from their place on the street.

Looking away from the carnage before her, she crept towards the area where the little girl's mother laid. She still hadn't moved, which Abby assumed wasn't a good thing. Making her way over to her, she squatted low to the ground, trying to keep an eye out for the things that were shooting at people. Rolling her carefully on her back, Abby's heart sank. The woman's clear blue eyes were open and unseeing, glazed over in death.

For the first time, tears came to Abby's eyes as she shut the woman's, gently and with great reverence. That little girl was now motherless. Did she have a father? Did she have anyone else to care about her?

A great bit of commotion made her look up in time to see a large group of the aliens coming over to where she was. Without any thought, she flopped down to the ground, closing her eyes and holding her breath.

Play dead, Abby, play dead or you won't be playing anymore, she thought to herself.

She heard them pass by, making inhuman noises that sounded more like shrieks than anything else. Counting to two hundred, she opened her eyes slowly, peeking around to see if any of the bastards had decided to stick around. Thankfully they hadn't.

Standing up shakily, she ran back to the shop, slamming the door closed. Right as she was making her way to the basement door, a sudden horrific pain in her head drove her to the ground.

There you are, little one. I've been searching for you.

The voice made gooseflesh break out over her arms. She knew that voice. It was the man from her dream except…not quite.

He sounded different, more sinister. Pain no longer made him breathless and he wasn't speaking with clenched teeth. No, he sounded much better now.

She ground her teeth together and turned over, pushing herself up. It felt like someone was stabbing her in the head, hurting her so badly she couldn't see.

Do not fight me, human. You will come away from this much healthier if you give in. Come to me.

Letting out a strangled cry, she fell back to the ground, trying to put up some sort of mental wall.

A dark laugh went through her head. You think you have the power to stop me, power to match mine? She vaguely heard the bell on the shop door chime, footsteps coming closer and closer to her.

Abby felt a presence next to her, crouching down and staring. Turning her head, she opened her eyes as tears of pain leaked out, trying to see around them.

"You have no power over me, mortal." That dark voice was no longer a whisper in her head. It was an actual, living person in front of her. The man who possessed the voice looked at her with a smirk curving his lips, green eyes staring down at her, shining as she remembered them. His skin was pale, no longer tinted with blue. He was clad in some sort of armor, a large horned helm on his head, hiding his hair from her sight.

"You," she panted, trying once again to sit up.

A large hand landed on her chest, forcing her back down. "Yes. Me." The smirk left his lips and he looked over her quickly before leaning down to where his lips were inches from hers.

"Sleep, little one. No harm will come to you now."

"Who are you?" she whispered.

"I am Loki, of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose."

A feeling of extreme exhaustion permeated her being and in seconds, she complied with the dark stranger's demands, falling into a deep dark sleep.

She dreamed of flowers.