A/n: Well, this one is being updated slower I know...but well, I need to work on two other stories and I'm trying to make this one longer than some of the other chapters from my two other stories. Ah and I must admit this chapter actually gave me the creeps since I was reading a story about Marionettes and it was a horror story |D...so this chapter is kind of creepy...well mostly at the end.

That lifeless doll on the shelf...

The Darkened Night Sky 02

Lifeless Doll On The Shelf

It just started with everything going downhill for him when he was young. Not loved, his parents dying, being treated like a doll by his father. He hid it all away behind a fake personality. No one noticed, no one seemed to care. Only one person seemed to crack the shell with one question, but even then, it was hidden away…but the darkened night sky was evident enough to tell them all something was wrong. What could bring light back to the darkened night sky? Steve/Tony

Natasha sighed softly and looked around her room, smiling weakly as she did so. It felt nice to have this room, which she had done her best to fill with things a girl would like. Her favorite thing must be the doll she had gotten from Clint that lay on the shelf. She loved how it looked...so beautiful and silent. It was just...so nice to see it there. She smiled at it and picked it up slowly. The eyes reminded her of Tony's oddly enough, it was the same color and depth...sept these eyes had a light in them. She sighed, the other wasn't doing to good and she knew it. None of the Avengers knew what to do either...

They all knew they had to do something before he fell into the darkness that he clearly wanted to fall into...and that was what they were afraid of. If Tony was gone, they would lose a friend, an Avenger, and someone that they all trusted. But there was something...different about him to start. There was some...lifelessness in his eyes for some reason. Like a doll. She looked at the doll in her arms. Like a doll. A lifeless doll. Her eyes widened and she set the doll down and ran out. A doll. That was what he was. He was trying to not be anything but...a lifeless little doll.

"Something on your mind Steve?" Clint asked as he walked into the kitchen, grabbing a cup of coffee. Rogers had come back downstairs; oddly none of the others had been there when he came back down. He sighed at the other male and shook his head, still thinking about what had happened between him and Tony earlier that morning. His heart hurt, and his mind was in chaos...why? He had no idea. He was just so confused. "Hmn...Did something happen between you and Tony? I saw you walking from his part of the Mansion..." He frowned.

"He's just not the same Clint...something is really wrong with him..." Rogers sighed and shook his head. "Those eyes of his...they're darker than the darkest black...hiding something away from him. I don't like it, and he won't tell me what is wrong...he just wants us to leave him alone...I don't know why...I...we need to-"

"Guys I think we have an issue." Natasha walked in and frowned, sighing a bit. "I think...we need to be careful." She shook her head some and sighed, sitting down. "I...kind of noticed something...I was looking at the doll you gave me Clint...and...well...the doll...it's eyes were lighter than...Tony's...it makes me think...is he acting like a...doll? A lifeless...doll?" It was an odd comparison but...as they thought of it. The two males had to look at one another to see if they were thinking the same thing.

A lifeless doll...he wanted to think he was one...to stop the pain...

I feel like a broken doll.

Lifeless.

I feel like a lifeless doll.

Broken.

I feel broken, lifeless...

A doll.

Doll.

Doll.

Lifeless.

Broken.

Take me apart...

I won't care.

I'm nothing but a lifeless doll.

Tony sighed and sat down on his bed, closing his eyes. He was wearing nothing but his boxers, and he didn't care despite the room being cold. "JARVIS, turn the heater up." He said and closed his eyes as the AI replied. He didn't care what he said; he just wanted to be warm...even if he shouldn't really care. He sighed and then closed his eyes and leaned back on his bed. He closed his eyes and sighed. "...Anthony...why does he call me that...and..." He trailed off. "Damn it...why do I feel so..." He groaned and took a deep breath.

You need to stop bugging me... You shouldn't even be in here. Go back to you're mother. She cares about the little doll you are. Brat.

He winced as a tear ran down his face and rolled over. He took a shaky breath, and tried to calm himself. No, no, don't think about that. Don't think about him, don't let your self know that it hurt...don't...be a doll. Be something that can't feel! He willed himself not to hurt, but he was. He hated it as the tears slipped from his eyes and he whimpered. Why couldn't he stop hurting for once? He didn't know...but he hated it so much. He needed to stop showing how much he hurt!

"Anthony?" He felt a hand on his shoulder and bit his lip. Rogers, damn it why didn't he notice this before? He closed his eyes tightly and tried to will the tears to stop. They wouldn't...why not? He hated them, because he never wanted to show who he was under his shell, his personality that he had made to keep it hidden was the only thing he wanted anyone to see. "...come on, why can't you tell us what is wrong...or maybe stop acting like a doll and act like you really want to..."

That one struck a nerve, and Tony winced. He glanced away and bit his lip, taking a shaky breath. He wouldn't tell Rogers why, he wouldn't tell anyone. He couldn't, because that side of him was locked away, and he wanted it to remain that way. The hand moved, and for a second Tony was glad, the other was probably going to leave him alone. Wrong. He felt two arms pull him back, holding him.

Comfort.

The comfort I always wanted but never got.

He bit his lip but closed his eyes and relaxed lightly, laying his head on the shoulder of the other man. "Anthony…we're here…for you…why can't you open up for us?" His voice was soft, but he knew he was right in the mind. He was right about a lot of things, and that always seemed to make it better to know what he was saying. "Anthony…" A soft hand brushed his hair out of his face and a sigh came from the younger male.

"My past, who I am, it's none of your business Rogers...I rather that you all just leave me alone...it's always been the best that way..." Tony whispered, he always ended up hurt in the end, it happened so many times...

I was they're doll.

I was they're toy.

I was they're puppet.

I was nothing at all.

My light was taken,

Because I was nothing but a puppet, a doll.

Darkness filled me.

I was scared...

But no one saw...

That cowering boy in the corner...

Away from the world.

And No one understands who I am...

What I hide...

What I wish to not tell anyone...

My darkness...

I have no light.

"I never asked about your past Anthony…I just want to understand why you are trying to hide you're self more now…" Rogers replied and Tony sighed softly. The man wanted the truth? Well he could give him that for sure. There was a reason he had started acting like he had been.

"Why? You're the one who started it." Tony whispered softly. "After all, you are the one who asked who I was under my armor…and now you know. A lifeless doll with no light ever shining…"

Lifeless little doll on the shelf.

Why do you not shine you're best?

Why do you not shine in the light?

Why are you a little lifeless doll?

What did you see in your past to cause this?

Something traumatic?

Something horrifying?

Abused?

Broken?

Shattered?

Lifeless little doll on the shelf.

Why do you not shine?

Why are you full of darkness?

Lifeless little doll on the shelf.

Why do you not smile?

Why do you hide who you are?

Why are you a shadow of what you want to be?

Why are you hiding who you are?

Lifeless little doll on the shelf.

Why do wear that armor?

Lifeless...

Little...

Doll...

On...

The...

Shelf...

Why...

Do...

You...

Cry...

Blood?