A/N: Just recently realized that 'Midguard' is spelt 'Midgard', without the 'u'… *headdesk*. I feel really brilliant (not). I'll be trying to spell it correctly from now on, mmkay?

FINALLY! A longer chapter! And, you know, hopefully more exciting than the last one, sorry if it bored you guys. :D Also, really sorry for the late update.

I couldn't sleep. I'd been lying awake for hours now, after having a nightmare of my own; one that included me running down a hallway filled with broken glass, only to encounter a piece that was, in fact, a mirror shard, and to catch sight of my reflection in it. Only it wasn't my reflection. I mean, it was definitely me, but the creature in the mirror was… well, a Frost Giant.

You ever see a female Frost Giant? Yeah, me neither. My brain came up with a seriously weird mental picture.

And now… now I was lying in bed, staring at the ceiling in the darkness, unable to even close my eyes. Stupid Loki with his stupid nightmares… he was fast asleep, and let me tell you, his dreams were far less tame. I'm talking blood, guts and gore everywhere. Though I'd decided that I would start monitoring his dreams, and as hard as I'd tried, it had been way too terrifying to plunge into his nightmares, even for a second. I had my own nightmares. I didn't need his, too.

And each second I spent in his dreams felt like they were reality; I was dimly aware that I was dreaming, that this was his dream, due to a certain aura that surrounded it… But that knowledge was hidden far away, deep in the corners of my mind. For those few moments, I had been dragged into the nightmare, lost to the darkness that cloaked his dreaming. It took me a long time before I realized that this was his dream, not mine; and even longer to realize that I could escape it. It was… unnerving.

But right now, I was awake from my own bad dreams. I glared at Jekyll, who was lying by the door to my room, on the floor, curled up tightly with his nose tucked into his tail. After a long, tiring day of naps, he was completely dead to the world, passed out and oblivious. I was jealous of him; and not for the first time. Dogs have it easy. Way too easy.

I pushed myself out of the bed, sitting on the edge for a moment and rubbing my hands over my face before standing and walking over to him. Crouching in front of him, I shook him gently.

"Get up, fuzz face."

He was awake in seconds, dark eyes glittering with a vague sense of intelligence. He yawned massively, showing off impressively sharp teeth, and stood when I pushed past him, opening the door. He followed me as I left the room, immediately awake, completely ready and willing for whatever I wanted to do. Absorbed in my every action, monitoring my every footstep, like something important and dangerous would happen if he wasn't watching every second of my life.

I shuffled out of the room, scratching my head and blinking a few times. I glanced to the clock and grimaced. I knew that I would never be able to stay up until the morning and stay awake the whole day following as well. But there was no way I was going back to sleep, either. Definitely a no-win situation.

I took a shower, trying to clear my head, then threw on some jeans and a T-shirt, grabbing my helmet and making for the door. I put Jekyll on a leash, and his tail wagged like crazy as I dragged him along, going towards my old bicycle. For some reason, I didn't want to leave him behind. As I slipped the leash over the handlebars and started towards the Tower, he ran alongside, keeping pace with me fairly easily; though I had to slow down a few times to let him keep up with me.

My worries for Fraye had continued long after I'd left the Tower; and long after my short 'dinner' with my parents. Since I left before the cops came, I didn't know what had happened; if her parents had been found, if the shadows had come back… I was completely in the dark. I hated it, hated not knowing. I was going psycho, just waiting to figure it out; so I headed towards the Tower, worry still churning in my gut. Fraye was just a little girl, after all… and she'd been scared half to death…

Tony would be awake, anyway; he usually was. Geniuses keep odd hours; so if not him, then Banner, if he was still there. And if neither of the science boys, well, there was bound to be some Avenger in the place who wasn't snoozing. Superheroes don't always work well with the whole 'eight-hours-of-sleep-every-day' thing.

I snorted to myself as I realized that I now seemed to fit that profile. I was far from a superhero. I wasn't even close.

Well, I reasoned as I pulled into the garage, if no one else is awake, then JARVIS will be. But my worries were for naught; both Tony and Bruce were still very much awake. Tony was typing into his computer, his eyes ringed with dark circles, and Bruce was watching kiddy cartoons with a wide-eyed Fraye, who was curled up on the couch next to him. Her head, surrounded by matted black hair, was resting on his lap, and his hand was placed comfortingly on her shoulder. Her little hands were clenched in fists, held close to her body, constantly defensive despite how relaxed she looked. Her jewel-black eyes were locked on the screen, watching intently, with no sign of sleep anywhere on her face.

Tony was in the room directly outside of the one she and Banner occupied; on seeing me and Jekyll, he turned and smiled in a worn-out way. "The cops tried to take her," he explained, gesturing to Fraye through the glass door. "But the shadows came back."

I frowned, sympathy spiking through my heart. Now that Loki was asleep, I didn't have his paranoia tempering that pity; I could feel exactly the way I wanted to feel. It was a nice change of pace. "Any luck on finding her parents?"

Tony shook his head. "None. She said her last name was 'Burns'; so we did a little digging. There's absolutely nothing on her folks." His eyes went to mine. "She said the shadows got them."

"She's been speaking, then?" I asked, pushing aside another onslaught of empathy, forcing it away so that I could think on more practical concerns.

"A few things, here and there," Stark answered. "She likes Bruce, but she's still a little nervous around the rest of us. Can't tell why."

I rolled my eyes. "Maybe because you're all tall, buff, and totally threatening?"

Tony looked to me. "You think I'm buff?" he asked, his eyes twinkling roguishly.

I sighed heavily. No use explaining to him how every last one of the Avengers was ripped beyond belief; or completely and utterly beautiful besides. It would just inflate his already swelled head. "She's a little kid, Tone." I said, ignoring him. "Of course she's going to be nervous around you."

"Seemed to take to you pretty quick."

"I'm different." I slouched against the wall, leaning my shoulder into the corner between that and the door. "I don't look so dangerous. Not at first glance, anyway."

"Second glance doesn't exactly make you seem like 'America's Most Wanted', either."

I didn't respond. I didn't want to explain that little kids tended to know whether or not you were a good person; and that was why I'd stopped babysitting in the first place. It was inevitable that one of them would realize I was a monster someday…

I shook myself out of it. It was no time to allow old anxieties to get the best of me. "Mind if I bunk here tonight?" I asked Tony. "I'll take my old room, I just…" I shrugged. "I couldn't sleep."

"Sure," he answered easily, turning back to his screens. He still let me keep up my old room at the Tower from time to time; the request wasn't so unusual.

"Thanks." I studied Fraye as Jekyll pranced around my feet, entangling my ankles in his leash. I pulled myself out of the knot he'd created as I looked at her. She was so small, so weak and defenseless…

"Hey, Tony?"

"Yeah?"

"Those shadows… what do you think they are?"

He paused. Then, slowly, carefully, he turned to me. His eyes were grave, and dead serious; more so than I'd seen in a long time.

"I don't know," he said at last. "And, in all honesty…" There was almost fear in his eyes. "After seeing those things… I don't think I want to know."

I swallowed dryly. Tony was a hard person to scare. If this scared him, then…

I shuddered and looked back to the glass door, to the room where Fraye rested. She curled in on herself a little tighter, and Banner gently stroked her hair back, trying to be consoling, comforting. If these shadows could scare Tony, then who knew what they were doing to that poor child…

I tugged on Jekyll's leash gently, leading him inside, and he followed me as I entered the room. Bruce and Fraye both looked up at the sound of the door opening-with Fraye wincing slightly- and I smiled gently at them both. She sat upright on the couch, staring at me with a trace of worry.

"Hey, kiddo," I greeted Fraye, crouching down despite how I was at the opposite end of the room from her. She looked at me, eyes wide as they traveled across my face, then to Jekyll. A tentative little smile began to appear on her lips. I followed her gaze and grinned.

"You like the puppy?" I asked, stroking Jekyll's head a few times. His eyes had similarly locked on Fraye, and the hackles on the back of his neck started to rise. He was occasionally nervous around new people, but never violent, so I didn't think much of it. "This is Jekyll."

Her head tilted to the side. "Puppy…" She breathed quietly, reaching out a hand… after a moment, however, she seemed to remember who she was and pulled it back, looking nervous.

I grinned at her. "It's ok, Fraye. He won't bite."

She stayed where she was, her legs kicking back and forth as she studied the carpet. Cautiously, I lead Jekyll towards her. He resisted, tugging against his leash and whimpering a little. I rolled my eyes.

"Come on, you little coward," I chided him. You never knew what he'd do around new people; sometimes he absolutely loved them. He'd taken to Thor in a heartbeat, and Steve in seconds. Sometimes, like with Tony, he'd get all nervous and shy. Dogs.

He let me lead him up to Fraye, and she reached out her hand. "Let him sniff your hand, first," I told her. "It'll let him know that you're friendly."

She nodded, though she seemed to already be doing so before I even said a word, as though she already knew what she was supposed to do. Her pale, tiny little fingers came within an inch of Jekyll's nose; he sniffed them carefully…

Then, suddenly, the hackles on the back of his neck went straight up. His fur stood on end, poofed out like a cornered cat's. A low growl began to build in the back of his throat, and it got louder and louder as he tried harder and harder to wrench away from his leash; when he saw that was no good, he stood between me and her, growling even louder.

"Jekyll!" I scolded, completely stunned. I pulled him back quickly. There was a reason I named him after the good guy, a reason there was no 'Hyde' to counterpart him. The stupid mutt wouldn't hurt a fly; there were days when I thought that, if a burglar were to enter my house, Jekyll would just roll onto his back and expect the thief to rub his tummy. 'Docile' didn't even come close to describing what a complete wuss this dog was.

But now… his lips were curled back from those sharp white teeth; and, with them so close to Fraye's tiny little fingers, I started to worry.

"Sorry, Fraye, he's a little antsy," I said quickly, trying to cover it, trying to remain soothing… but she seemed oddly unafraid.

"S'ok," She said in a quiet voice; slowly, she lowered herself from the couch, dropping down to her knees in front of Jekyll.

"That's probably not such a good idea…" I said slowly as she knelt at his eye level, reaching her hands out towards him. She gently gripped both sides of the dog's fuzzy face, forcing his gaze to hers. He continued to growl for a long moment, but it slowly trailed off into a whimper. He lowered himself onto the ground and rolled onto his back, paws in the air. Fraye giggled softly.

"Good puppy," She cooed, running her fingers along his stomach. He whined a little. Something stirred in my chest, a hollow, cold feeling… suspicion. Jekyll never reacted like this. Not around anyone. And now that Loki was asleep, now that his emotions weren't clouding mine, now that I wasn't so irritated at him for being so distrustful, my own true feelings could come through. I looked at Fraye, a bit warily, as she giggled, burying her face in the little white patch on Jekyll's chest.

A vague sense of unease settled in the back of my mind, and though I tried to push it aside, to shove it away… it lingered. Fraye's big black eyes turned up to me after a moment, wide and imploring. My thoughts halted in their tracks, everything inside me freezing up under her gaze.

"We used to have a puppy," she said, her lower lip jutting out a little. "Me and mommy and…" She looked down at Jekyll, stroking him absently. "Daddy," she managed to finish, but it was broken, strained. She brushed tiny tears out of her eyes with small fingers, sniffing a little. Her gaze suddenly shifted back to me, a little bit more urgent now. "You'll find them, right, Nat'lee? You'll find my mommy and daddy, right?"

Ok. Heartstrings sufficiently tugged. I totally lost it, crouching down next to her and wrapping my arms around her gently. "Of course we will, Fraye. Of course we will. We won't stop searching until we find them, I promise." I held her a little closer. She was just… so fragile. "I promise…" I repeated in a breath.

I sat with Fraye and Bruce for a good few hours, watching a mindless kid's show that was all about friendship and lollipops, probably meant for kids much younger than Fraye's age group, but she didn't seem to mind. Jekyll, tail between legs, was positioned at the farthest corner of the room, standing sentry by the door, his ears continually up and his fur constantly bristling. I ignored him as Fraye cuddled up next to me. Tony was right. She'd seemed to have taken a serious liking to me, and the feeling was mutual… most of the time. Every time she spoke, every time she called me 'Nat'lee', every time those big black eyes turned to me… I would completely break down and just want to hold her close, to protect her from whatever darkness the world was throwing at her; even if that darkness was alive, if the shadows themselves were hurting her. The bandages on her arms made wave upon wave of sympathy crash over me, as did the way she would shiver unexpectedly, the way she was so thin and fragile…

But why the hell didn't she call me 'Nat'?

It was such a simple little thing, so incongruous, so completely inconsistent with everything else that was going on in her life. It was such a small issue, so much so that it was almost nonexistent… but it nagged at the back of my mind, anyway. What little kid would immediately skip to saying 'Nat'lee'? I mean, probably a lot of them, right? It was no big deal… but it just seemed strange that she went right for that, instead of trying out 'Nat' a few times. 'Nat' was easier. Simpler. Kids like easy and simple.

Bruce probably told her not to call me that. Or Tony. It was no big deal. I mean, how else could she possibly know that it was a bad thing to refer to me as, possibly know that it made me cringe every time I heard it? She couldn't. I was being ridiculous.

Another whimper escaped through Jekyll's teeth as Fraye yawned, curling up closer next to me, her big eyes slowly closing. Bruce had draped a blanket over her small form, and she was slowly beginning to nod off. It was absolutely precious. Undeniably, unreservedly, unbelievably adorable.

It was a manipulation.

My fingers drummed out a quiet rhythm on the armrest as Fraye's breathing became deeper, more even. Her eyes stayed closed. After a moment, tiny little snores came out from her; she was out cold. I stayed where I was, letting her sleep… but my eyes kept flicking to her, searching her face for any signs of malice or deceit. Any hint at deception. But her features were perfectly neutral, made expressionless by sleep. I was being paranoid. I was always paranoid.

But just 'cause you're paranoid… it doesn't mean they're not out to get you, right?

And then there was the fact that … as peeved as Loki had made me, as frustrated as I'd gotten at him… he didn't trust her, either. His suspicion was far more pronounced than mine, but still.

Besides; when the Norse god of Mischief stops lying long enough to tell you he doesn't trust some one, it doesn't matter how badly he gets on your nerves. You shut up and you listen. Loki was an irritating, pompous, selfish, arrogant, annoying, self-righteous son of a bitch, it was true; but he was no fool. He'd seen things, in his days before his travels to Earth, in the days of his so-called 'exile' from Asgard… when his world thought him dead, when his family mourned… He had gathered information, had traveled the universe, had seen entire worlds before he had procured his army. He knew things about the universe that none of us did; and that apparently included things that could manipulate shadows. He'd talked about creatures with the ability to do so; and these shadows were attacking Fraye. He had to know something more about it than I did.

Carefully, gently, I lifted Fraye's tiny head off of my lap and moved her over to Banner; she stirred, her eyes opening blearily, but I whispered, "It's ok, Fraye. Go back to sleep." And she obeyed, curling up in a tight ball on the couch. Bruce watched me go curiously, but he said nothing as I left the room, Jekyll close on my heels.

Tony had moved from the computer screen and was now working with holo-projections, studying calculations and blueprints that I couldn't make sense of. I looked them over for a moment, making an attempt, but it was all lost in a blur of math; which, it has been said before, holds a personal vendetta against me. This science-y stuff was always more April's thing, anyway.

April.

That's it.

I went up to Tony, a new urgency fueling my footsteps. I'd visited her this morning, but… it always helped me when I was curious. The cemetery would be closed right now, though; which is why I needed Stark's help. I waited beside him for a long moment, until, finally, he seemed to notice my presence and turned. He lifted his eyebrows questioningly.

"I need something that can pick a lock, no questions asked."

He blinked once, then shrugged. "Going to visit her again?" He questioned, moving to the other side of the room, looking around for something. He found it and tossed it in my direction; a small, silver-and-red object.

I plucked it out of the air, catching it with ease. Tony's version of a pocketknife; the thing could be lethal. But it had what I was looking for.

Natasha and Clint had insisted that I learn how to pick a lock, adamant that it was a necessary skill for survival. But I used that skill for a large number of other things these days.

"That's twice today, isn't it?" Tony inquired.

"I guess," I said coldly, stuffing the object in my pocket and tightening Jekyll's leash on my wrist. Tony gave me a look, and I turned my eyes away. "What do you want me to say? It's been a rough twenty-four hours."

He half-raised his hands in false surrender. "Who am I to judge? I've still got her number in JARVIS' database."

I don't know why that made me smile, but it did. I tugged on Jekyll's leash carefully. "I'll be back," I informed Stark, heading back out towards the garage, where my bicycle waited. I fastened my helmet's buckle under my chin, slipped Jekyll's leash over the handlebars, and started off.

It was not the first time I had broken in to the graveyard. It wouldn't be my last, either. Like I said; I keep odd hours. But, beyond that… it was always harder to come here in the day, knowing that at any second, April's mother could barge in and start ranting about how I wasn't supposed to be there, how I was the reason April was dead in the first place, how it was and always would be my fault. At least when the place was supposed to be closed, when the gate was locked… I could have some time alone with her.

I tied Jekyll up in the side with my bike, then walked to the front gate and got to work. The lock was simple, on a thick, heavy chain; I got through it without much problem. I'd done my research on this place, looking for any other kind of security; so long as I was careful, I was relatively safe.

Once I'd broken into the lock, I closed the gate behind me and slunk in the darkness over to the farthest back corner, where April's grave resided beside Phil Coulson's. I navigated my way through the shadows easily, arriving at my destination in a matter of moments.

The place wasn't well lit, as you can imagine, so I pulled a flashlight from my jacket pocket, shining it on the grave in question. I smiled sadly as I read the name there and slowly lowered myself to the ground, sitting on the grass in front of it.

"Hey, crazy," I greeted her; as though she was still alive. I always talked to her like that, always acted as though she was still standing there, still talking with me, still laughing it up like the old days. It was a lot harder to come up with conversations these days, as she was usually the one who did most of the talking; and I would listen. That was always my job, my role; I listened to her. To everyone. I tried to solve everyone else's problems. That was who I was.

But… when I really needed someone to talk to… I always went to her. Not my mom, or my teachers, or any of my other friends. Even the Avengers couldn't help me when I was at my lowest; it was always April.

And that was why I was here now.

I took a deep breath. I never knew how to start these things, so usually I just blurted everything out. And that's exactly what I did; I explained in detail everything that had happened in the few hours since I'd last seen her, filling in things from what I'd told her before. I babbled for a long time about Fraye, about my suspicions, about Loki.

It seemed horribly ironic, that the only person I felt comfortable discussing Loki with was the one person who'd truly lost everything to him; the one casualty in his most recent power play. But April was one of the most mild, happy-go-lucky, could-care-less people I'd ever met. She never held a grudge for anything a day in her life. She was just sort of like that; a genuinely nice person. And, though there were always days when I worried about being as close as I was to Loki, worried that I was betraying her memory by doing so… I had to believe that she would slap me out of it and say, "Don't be such an idiot! If you don't try and help him, no one will! Then someone else'll die! And then you'd feel really stupid, wouldn't you?"

I smiled a little to myself as I voiced my worries out loud. In the still night air, they seemed tiny and pointless, standing against the enveloping darkness. Put back in their place, back where they belonged, back into insignificance.

"So that's the gist of it," I concluded lamely. "And I just… I don't know what to do with this kid. I mean, I want to help her, but…" I leaned back on my hands, the flashlight on the ground next to me, and sighed heavily. "I want to listen to Loki, too. To at least make an effort at trusting him." I glanced to the headstone. "Does that make any sen-"

Something flickered in the corner of my vision, and I shut up abruptly. Moving with the speed and reflexes that I never had before I started hanging out with the Avengers, I flicked the flashlight off, gripping it tightly, my heart immediately beginning to pound. I wasn't worried about the usual fiends in the night; but if some night watchman found me out here right now, I was busted. I strained to see in the dark, my eyes still too used to the light to adjust to the blackness so quickly.

I listened to the silence, straining my ears for any noise. In the darkness, nothing moved. Nothing breathed. There was the barest whisper of wind that shifted through the grass, but the world was otherwise still. The only sound was my own quiet breathing in my ears.

At first.

For a long time, it was so utterly quiet and still that I convinced myself I was just imagining things. I'd begun to stand, to put my flashlight in my pocket, when a low, trembling vibration began to ripple through the air.

I couldn't hear anything, per se, not initially. It was deeper than that… more primal than that. I could sense the noise, could feel it down in my bones, resonating with my heartbeat. A primeval instinct, brought out by the animal within… this feeling wavered in the darkness around me, a subtle sense that vibrated against my ribs.

It slowly began to build from there; becoming harsher and harsher, more and more intense. My bones began to rattle, my entire body trembling. My heartbeat went up, faster than before, each beat sounding like the tattoo of a war drum, pounding inside my head.

When the sound finally reached my ears, it translated as a low, guttural growl. It echoed deep within the very core of my being, growing louder and louder with each passing second… I gave in and flicked my flashlight on at last, sending it in a sweeping arc at the area surrounding me…

It was knocked out of my hand abruptly, a chaotic swirl of jagged light following its path into the grass, where it shone uselessly at the ground. I stumbled back, trying to determine what, exactly, had knocked it from my grasp… and the growling grew louder, shattering the night, obliterating the stillness…

I tried to focus my fear into fury, to use it, to force myself to think… It didn't work. Not only was my ever-handy indestructible side not making an appearance, but I wasn't even glowing yet; my fear was blocking the anger, keeping me from reacting as I needed to. I was overwhelmed by the mortal terror that had started to overcome me. My hands were trembling; I had a very distinct sense of the order of things; the status of the world around me. To be more exact, I had a true idea about the meaning of 'predator and prey'. I could feel my role in the food chain diminishing; I was no longer the hunter in the world.

I was the prey. I was being hunted. I didn't know how I knew this, but I knew that it was true, knew it somewhere within my suddenly fragile-seeming heart.

But what the hell was it?

I sensed something moving closer to me; something huge. I felt it tickling against my cheek, felt its hot breath on my back as it circled me, slowly, slowly, again and again. I stayed perfectly still, trying not to move, trying not to breathe…

April's grave is nearby…

Don't let it touch her.

It was a very nonsensical thought; a random idea drawn out of no where, pulled from thin air. I should have been more worried about myself, should have cared less for the dead… but I'd spent so many years before now trying to protect the people I cared about that it seemed… unimportant, that I had already failed. So I grasped the thought tightly, clinging to it in desperation, using it. It didn't matter how ridiculous it was, how illogical I was being; right now, I needed to be angry. I needed to be furious. I needed to be hell-bent on destruction and I needed it now.

It worked. That single thought flowed through my veins, scorching my blood, and my fury became a tangible, palpable thing; a glow spread across my body, bright and searing in the darkness, illuminating my foe.

As soon as it did, I wished it hadn't.

The thing was black; solid black, as black as pitch, black as black as coal, black as Fraye's eyes. The darkest, deepest, blackest black you'd ever see in your life; from its bristling fur to its swishing tail, all the way down to its enormous teeth and wicked-sharp claws. There was a very distinct canine look about it; with a wolf's muzzle, ears, and tail… and the general shape of its body was that of a canine's… but where Jekyll (a fairly large animal) only came up to my waist, this sucker towered high above my head.

But it was strange; the thing couldn't seem to hold a proper shape. While at some times it seemed to have a thick, muscular body, other times it shifted, looking thin and lean, and even other times it seemed… skeletal. I quickly discovered the reason for this; this was a creature made out of pure shadow, constantly shifting and changing, a living shade, pieced together and created out of the darkness. Shadows would drift away from its form, then rebuild it, its fur transforming and flickering like the shadows cast by firelight.

The second the light touched it, it backed away from me, whimpering in an injured way, moving incredibly fast, ducking away from the illumination. I struggled to breathe as it lingered on the edge of the light, still whining… then slowly, slowly, began to growl again. I was rooted to the spot, my feet like stone; I couldn't move to save my life, and right now, that might be exactly what would save it. But I just couldn't move.

The dark, demented-looking creature began to take a few steps towards me; scrambling for comfort, my brain locked on the idea that maybe it truly hated the light, maybe it wouldn't be able to touch me so long as I could keep up the glow… but that was dashed to pieces as it took another few steps towards me, each one slow and calculated. Black lips curled back from black teeth as black eyes sparkled at me, locking on, zeroing in on its target.

No clever plan went through my head. No sarcastic remark came to my lips. My life didn't flash before my eyes. The only thing that went through my head was: ohshitohshitohshit! I'm gonna DIE! I'm actually gonna DIE!

The growling grew louder as the thing took another slow step towards me. Only a few moments had passed since I'd first heard the thing; and only a few seconds since I had first seen it. I was fairly certain that it would only be a few more seconds before it ended me, before the lights would go out once and for all.

Its face went level with mine, lowering down on now-broad shoulders, ducking to my eye level. Its own eyes glinted with a fierce intelligence. As it studied my all-too-fragile human form, whispers started to surround me, surround the creature: quiet, demanding words that echoed in the starlit night.

Fraye.

Fraye.

Where is Fraye?

A tremor ran down my spine and went out to the rest of me, shocking down my nerves and making me quiver like Jell-O. I swallowed thickly, painfully. The whispers grew in volume, in intensity, a thousand different voices hissing out quiet words.

The mortal girl carries her scent.

The mortal girl is not Fraye.

Where is she?

Where is the child?

The creature took a final step towards me; this one brought it so close that its black claws came within inches of my face, that it knocked me backwards, onto the ground. It brought its black nose within inches of my face, teeth glinting in the moonlight.

Speak, mortal.

Tell no lies.

Liars are punished.

The child, where is the child?

Where is Fraye?

I tried to breathe. To suck air into my lungs. But instead I ended up gaping, like a fish. Unmoving, unblinking, staring at it uselessly. The creature looked to the side and snorted, as though frustrated, and growled louder.

Pointless.

The mortal knows nothing.

Worthless to the cause.

Destroy it. Find Fraye.

Fraye is all that matters.

The creature looked back to me, a low snarl building as it reared its head back, ready to lunge at me… I caught sight of those black teeth and started speaking quickly. Ok. I was terrified out of my wits, petrified beyond all reasoning, and I was fairly certain that I had peed my pants in sheer terror. But I was the therapist of the Avengers; I ate weird for breakfast. Eventually, I could push down any fear, any shock, and figure things out. That was my job. It's what I do.

"What do you want with Fraye?" I demanded, trying to keep my voice from shaking, trying to make myself sound clear and calm. Yeah, give that up. My voice was shakier and squeakier than a mouse on a massage chair. But it did the job; the creature halted, its head tilting to the side.

It speaks.

The mortal knows.

She knows of Fraye.

I cleared my throat and tried to steady my voice a little more, to speak a little clearer. "I asked you a question."

I was stalling. Playing for time. Looking for a way out and, finding none, I started creating my own.

Loki, I called out in my head, making my internal voice scream out as loud as I could. Loki, get up. I need you.

He stirred a little, but otherwise did nothing. I tried to stifle my panic. I couldn't do this without Loki, couldn't keep my emotions in check without his help. I'd been able to force the nanobots into the bubble without his help before, but this was different; this was when I was already in a state of pure fear. I needed to be angrier. Madder. More enraged.

Tell the child's location.

Tell and you will be spared.

Tell and you will not be harmed.

I tried to get irritated, at least. To be annoyed. But it wasn't working. I'd had less problems being unafraid of Loki than I did of this thing. "I asked you a damn question," I forced the words out, pulling myself to my feet. The wolfish creature allowed the action, but not without a warning snarl.

"What do you want with Fraye?" Even with my voice louder, stronger… it still seemed so tiny and weak when facing this giant. One monster facing down another; but one of us had a very definite advantage. Hint: it wasn't me.

Loki! I snapped. Get up!

Still nothing. His nightmares had him permanently rooted in sleep.

The creature responded at last; or whatever was talking responded. I had a feeling it was the shadows; they were flickering and dancing at the corners of my perception, moving and wavering.

The child is ours.

She belongs to us.

Give her back to us!

Ours. That was interesting. So far, pronouns had been avoided; but now I knew that this was more than one thing. Definitely the shadows then; and not the monster in front of me. Unless there was more than one of them, and right now I absolutely, thick-headedly, obtusely refused to even consider that. For the sake of my sanity, if nothing else.

"What do you mean, she 'belongs' to you?" I inquired, taking a step forward, looking the thing in the eye. Damn, do I have a death wish, or what?

We stole her.

Destroyed the parents.

Destroyed the home.

And now the child.

The child is ours.

Ok. That rubbed me the wrong way. I stopped bugging Loki just for a second, a spark of irritation urging me to take another step forwards, to clench my hands in fists. "So you killed her family? Destroyed her home?" My teeth ground together. Sick bastards. "Why? What claim do you think to have on her?"

These are not mortal concerns.

"Like hell!" I cut in before any more whispers could follow. The familiar feeling of fire running through my blood was a welcome one; it warmed me from head to toe, searing hot in moments. All I could think of was Fraye's small, innocent face, her big, wide eyes… filled with tears as blood poured down her weak little arms… so defenseless and alone against these monsters…

"Fraye is a mortal!" I shouted. "A human! That makes her our concern!"

No.

The child is not of earth.

Not human.

Never human.

I froze. Ok, that put a little hiccup in my plan. But I was used to aliens by now (A-hem. One. In. My. Brain. How many times?). It didn't matter to me if she was human or not; Fraye was under the Avengers' protection. And, if I did say so myself, I was an (honorary) Avenger.

And I wasn't going to let these vile things touch her.

"She's still a little girl," I retorted, stubbornly jutting my chin out despite how my knees were quavering. "And she is under my protection."

LOKI! GET THE HELL UP BEFORE I END UP STARTING AN INTERPLANETARY WAR!

He started to pull himself from his nightmares, but it still wasn't enough. I kept screaming at him even as the creature began growling again, even as the shadows resumed their hissing, whispering questions.

You stand as her protector?

Her guard?

Her defender?

Could. Not. Resist! "Her Avenger," I cut in, folding my arms across my chest. I was being very careful not to drag any of the others into this. I was fairly certain of what their choices on the matter would be, but of course I couldn't be absolutely sure. And, as serious as this seemed to be getting, I definitely didn't want to pull them into it as well.

Then you must perish.

The child must be found.

Fraye is ours.

The wolf dropped down, slinking around me, wiping a black tongue over black teeth. Fear spiked through me again.

LOKI, YOU LITTLE SHIT! I'M ABOUT TO DIE! THE LEAST YOU CAN DO IS WAKE UP!

Somewhere far away, in a dark prison cell on Asgard, the Norse god of Mischief's eyes flickered open.

I'll say this for Loki; the guy took the situation in a whole lot faster than I did. After glancing briefly through my memories of recent events, and scanning the creature before me, he summed things up quickly, succinctly, and nicely, in five little words: You are going to die.

No shit! I shouted at him, ducking out of the way as the animal lunged at me; the thing was breathtakingly fast, striking with speeds I could barely comprehend. I made it out of its grasp by the skin of my teeth. A little help?

Years of training on Asgard-and battles on other realms- had strengthened Loki's combat reflexes, had turned him into a fighting machine. There was no pause, no hesitation; now that he knew what he was up against, he threw himself into action, not seeming to care that he had been sleeping only seconds ago. It was easy for him, to change gears so completely, to throw himself into the world of blood.

Or, in this case, to throw me into that world of blood.

His mind pressed against mine; then went even further. This was now a matter of mutual survival. And that, we could both agree on; working together, we fought for control over my emotions. As usual, it was so much easier with him helping me; so much easier for me to smother the fear, to bury it beneath wave upon trembling, fiery wave of anger… all the while keeping just enough mortal terror in the mix to cause the nanos to react…

And just like that, my indestructible side came out to play.

It emerged in its usual shape; a sphere, a bubble that extended a few feet away from me. But as the creature made another attempt towards me and I danced to the side, Loki helped me to focus my rage into a white-hot pinpoint near my heart; which, in turn, made control of the nanobots that much easier. The bubble contorted, shrinking, wrapping around me like a second skin. The one weakness, a hole in the force field that was meant to allow air and moved about when it was in its circular form, now transferred over to my mouth; still allowing me to breathe, but also letting me know where that weakness was, so that I could protect it.

Crying out, I threw a hand into the creature, jumped aside, then ducked back towards it, landing a series of quick, lethal jabs before dancing backwards again. My blows seemed to have little to no effect; I backed away a few more steps, trying to gain a better advantage. Or rather… Loki did.

It was strange, the way him and I fought. It wasn't as though he was in total control of my movements, wasn't as though he was taking over. He was… a part of me. His knowledge of combat combined with mine, his thoughts flowing beside mine, his battle reflexes transferring into my body.

The distinctions between us blurred, became nonexistent. The two of us were fighting for the same thing, like we were meant to. I moved exactly as Loki would have, were he truly in my situation; while also incorporating some of my own personal fighting styles. This wasn't a matter of Natalie and Loki; it was us, us without any division between us. We had now agreed to fight together, agreed to achieve this one goal, and there was no stopping us. We were far more powerful together than we would ever be separate; particularly with our emotional control.

Loki helped me keep a tight leash on my emotions, ignoring the terror, pushing aside the desire to simply curl up in a ball and whimper. Instead, we stoked the flames of my hatred, making it burn hot, making it turn my blood into fire. Molten lava seared through my veins, and the nanobots fell into line like perfect soldiers, following my orders, my commands, without any second's hesitation.

I became a machine; a perfect battle weapon, forged from the skills that Loki had acquired, forged from his wars. As the creature's claws slashed towards me, I no longer dodged to the side; as I usually would have. Instead, I went onto the offensive, shouting at the top of my lungs and flinging myself towards the creature, underneath its claws. I threw up my hands, clapping them together above my head, my fingers pointing at the sky… the force field that surrounded me responded with ease, sharpening into a wicked point above me, piercing into the creature's paw. The thing let out a harsh whine as its entire leg vanished into darkness…and then reformed with a swirl of shadow.

I would have sworn loudly, but Loki had expected this. I didn't question how he knew it would happen; right now was not the time. Now was the time to survive. And I could only do that if I trusted him, trusted him completely. Because, when it came right down to it… my life was in his hands.

It was spooky, really.

I kept charging beneath the creature, the point of the force field above me thinning out, still sharp as ever but flattening, so that it was more like a blade… It cut at the creature's underbelly, slicing it open; shadows spilled all around me, darkness that bled out over my head and spilled down my shield-protected shoulders. The creature screamed; a keening howl that echoed throughout the entire world, a horrifically haunting sound that brought forth the worst in me; that brought forth all of the world's worst memories. That melancholy, terrible note that was indescribable… it brought forth thoughts of loneliness, yes, but more than that, it dredged up the most terrible of memories. Memories of being a child, afraid of the dark, hiding away and crying…

Being the monster that you knew, deep down, that your father scorned…

That feeling echoed through both Loki and I, but it was strangely reversed: I felt his pain, and he felt mine. Our roles snapped back together, meshed and blended… until our minds descended into that chaotic pain…

We shook ourselves out of it, and I ran underneath the creature, still slashing at it, still cutting into it, then emerging behind it; the shadows converged on me, the whispering fiends that had sentenced me to this fate. They swarmed around me, hissing out accusations.

You will not stand against us.

Fraye is ours.

Her protector must die.

"Shut up!" I blurted out in a yell; the force field blew out into its normal spherical shape, then exploded outwards, holding the shadows back, holding them away from me. But they swarmed all around it, enveloping it… and slowly, they began to creep into the gap, my one weakness. A weakness I could no longer protect, as it was not directly next to me…

The shadows danced around me; I could no longer defend myself against them. They were inside the force field, inside my second skin, attacking me at my core. I fought back a girly scream and focused on getting out of this, focused on fighting, surviving. It was hopeless; the creatures swarmed about me, the shadows feather-light and cold as they brushed against me… but slowly, they began to get sharper, hotter… until the shadows were burning, blazing hot, tearing at my skin… cuts slashed about all around me; tiny nicks and scratches, but thousands upon thousands of them… I brought my force field closer to me, wrapped it around my skin, and it forced some of the shadows out… but the ones that remained inside continued their gruesome task… I stumbled forwards as pain blinded me, the death of a thousand knives… not really the best way to go…

But Loki wasn't giving up on me yet. Gritting his teeth, he closed his eyes and focused solely on my predicament. I don't know what he did, but in the next second I was as determined as he was to live; to do whatever it took to survive… and to make these bastards pay. Pay for what they were doing to me, for what they tried to do to Fraye…

The mention of the little girl made our control waver for a moment; she was something we did not agree on, something we both would not fight for… but we quickly reestablished that control, worked together again… I felt my glow suddenly burn a thousand times brighter, flaring in the darkness, burning bright…

The shadows howled and retreated from the light; quickly, I brought the force field closer to my skin, leaving only the weakness by my mouth open for attack. And then I started running; I could try and fight, but we all knew that I stood no chance against these monsters…

The canine creature was upon me suddenly, its enormous claws digging into my back, which was thankfully protected by my shield… but it still threw me to the ground. The creature lunged, its teeth sliding harmlessly off of my force field, which rippled into visibility under the pressure. I rolled onto my back so that I could see the thing as it pulled back for another strike. Holding my arms out in an 'X' in front of me, I readied myself for the blow, already planning my next moves…

But the strike never came.

Something stopped the blow from coming: Jekyll. I don't know how he got into the graveyard, but I know that he did, the remains of his leash trailing behind him. He ran towards that thing like a bat outta hell; barking like a maniac, and actually frothing at the mouth as he barreled into the creature. His teeth snapped into the shadowy form, taking gouges out of the darkness before it had a chance to reform again. The shadow monster howled again, but Jekyll didn't seem to care; he clawed and bit and ripped at the creature, tearing into it…

Had it just been me, I probably would have stared at the mini-battle in rapt horror, or tried to rescue Jekyll… but, at Loki's urging, I pulled myself to my feet and started to run, run away from the monster, from the shadows.

I expected to hear something following me, and was surprised when I heard nothing but the sound of Jekyll's fierce attack. A sharp whine split through the air, and I heard something heavy strike the ground. My heart seemed to rip in half… but Loki pushed it back, forced me into numbness, forced me to keep running.

I glanced behind me, but the shadows were not pursuing. The dark canine creature shook itself off, its now-muscular body rebuilding itself from where Jekyll had torn chunks off of it… my eyes flicked to a big brown patch in the grass, my heart hammering in my ears. Relief flooded through me as the brown figure slowly got back to its feet, bleeding and wounded, but still alive.

"Move, Jekyll!" I shouted, unable to help myself. That dog had been around for a long time. He'd been with me when April died. He meant a lot to me, and I wasn't going to leave him behind if I could help it…

I didn't need to tell him twice. He raced out of there, charging towards me, running full tilt despite a bad limp. The shadow creatures watched us go, turning to us and observing silently… but they didn't make a move towards us. They simply studied us as we fled.

Why are they giving up? I questioned in my head.

They are not giving up. Loki's response was filled with a quiet, ancient dread. They are retreating.

But why?

New orders, perhaps? I kept running as Loki frowned. Jekyll made it next to my side and ran with me, whimpering every so often but still running.

Orders? I asked, surprised. No. No, those things were in command. Those shadows. They were controlling the creature. Why would they call it off?

Loki didn't answer for a long time, but when he did, there was a terrible, cold certainty in his words. Someone is playing a very long game with you, Miss Frost, He told me. There was not a single quiver of doubt in his mental voice. You are being manipulated.

I frowned, but kept running. The creatures still did not follow, even as I made it out of the graveyard, even as I raced out into the street. I debated going back for my bike and decided against it. I might have gone faster with it, but I would lose time going back to where it was stashed. I'd have to get it tomorrow. Or have Tony do it. Yeah, I'd send Tony. No way in hell was I coming back to this place…

You have to. April is there.

Loki rolled his eyes, but did not protest to my line of thinking. I pushed it aside. I wasn't out of the woods yet. Not even close.

Still waiting for the darkness to swallow me whole, I ran all the way back to Stark Tower.

I carefully washed the blood off of my arms, my face, and everywhere else. I'd about given Tony and Banner heart attacks when I'd burst into the room, covered in a thousand different cuts, bleeding all over the place, completely out of breath. My clothes were tattered, covered in crimson, and I was panting as I said, "Avengers. Get them. All of them. Now."

Banner had examined my cuts, then quickly ordered me to go wash them off so that he could get a closer look while Tony phoned everyone in. Well, everyone but Thor, but he'd be there tomorrow anyway. I left Jekyll in Banner's care as I headed to the bathroom to clean myself up.

The cuts were everywhere, the shadows' damage done. After I washed up and changed into a hospital gown, I looked back into the mirror, at the little injuries that pockmarked my face. After a few moments, Loki joined me, surveying the small marks through my eyes.

Not too deep, he noted. Mortal science should be able to help them. They will not scar.

Never thought they would, I answered easily, looking down to my arms. And what do you care if they scar or not?

He paused. Wounds caused by creatures such as the one you faced today tend to be far more dire, Miss Frost. And no mortal cure will help them. Should they be left untreated, the scars they create will cause a great deal of agony; pain that may never ease. He added sarcastically, I apologize if my concern offends you.

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. Loki's concern was not for me; not directly. But my pain hurt him; and, eventually, it would hurt him far worse than it already did. I hesitated in front of the mirror. He might be a pretentious ass, but… he did save my life. I sighed and decided to be the better person. Not for the first time. All right, all right, I get it. I sighed heavily. Listen… thanks. You really pulled through back there.

His lip tugged downwards; I could feel it, like another extension of myself. We were no longer quite so closely connected; now that the immediate threat was over, the two of us had separated into ourselves again. But, nonetheless, we were still connected. Just… not so deeply.

It was necessary. He seemed a little miffed anyway. But I am not a tool to be used; a way to access your powers more easily. Do not think me under your command.

Never, I answered easily, still scanning my arms. It was only then that something he'd said sunk in; 'wounds caused by creatures such as these tend to be far more dire'… You ever see anything like that… thing before?

He followed my line of thinking and scowled, wishing he'd phrased that differently. But he answered truthfully enough. Shadow Hounds. I've only had the misfortune of encountering them once; but I have done… extensive research on the subject. As much as is possible; they are not well known in either of our realms. Only in the mythology of… he shut up abruptly.

Where? I pressed immediately, fully intent on pulling it right out of his head if he didn't tell me. These suckers were dangerous; and Loki was going to be helpful whether he liked it or not.

He sighed quietly, reading my intentions and seeming mildly… disappointed. But he answered, Jotunheim.

Crap. I felt a blush creep over my cheeks. Ok, now I felt like a heel. He never could really talk about his true birthplace without some degree of hesitation. I really should have known better than that by now, I'd only been linked with him for what, a year?

But I pushed the feeling aside. There was no time for it. Ah.

Many Jotun myths and legends are centered around such creatures, Loki acted as though I had not spoken. Though they are frequently ignored by Asgardians; and thus not well known. Bitterness had crept into his tone. I fought a sigh. Looks like I was going back to Asgard tomorrow; for the fifth time that week.

Though I doubted the Avengers would let me. After what I'd told them about the creature- the Shadow Hound- it was unlikely that any of us would be going anywhere outside of the Tower. I wasn't exactly an Avenger myself, but I was kind of an honorary one. And right now, we needed everyone we could get.

Good to know. I told Loki. Anything else?

A long pause. Then, I still do not trust the child.

I scowled. Noted, I said curtly. He backed off without further comment, and I pushed the door open, walking back to the lab.

Bruce was there with Jekyll; Tony was upstairs, guarding Fraye, the armor within ready and easy access. The Captain, Clint and Natasha had been contacted; the Captain would be here in minutes, Natasha in hours, and Clint by noon tomorrow.

I walked up to my puppy, scratching him behind the ears as I assessed the damage. There was a long cut along his side and one on his leg, but Bruce had managed to first sedate and then bandage him; and, I had no doubt, give him an X-Ray as well.

"How's he doin', Doc?" I asked, monitoring Jekyll's breathing, made steady and even by sleep. His uninjured paw twitched a little.

"I'm not a veterinarian," Banner said slowly, "But I'd say he's doing fine. You, however… well, we'll have to see."

I waited patiently for him to examine all of my little injuries; and to patch up all those that needed fixing. On a few, I needed a stitch or two; but most of them could be repaired via band-aid and a bit of time. Nothing was too bad, for which I was grateful; I'd gotten out alive and relatively uninjured.

Once finished, I changed back into my normal clothes and went upstairs to check on Fraye. She was sleeping like a baby and, with the adrenaline buzz in my veins beginning to die down, I found myself extremely jealous. I was weak, exhausted, worn out. Despite how afraid I had been… well, not even that was enough to keep my eyes open.

I retrieved my dog, who was still drowsy from the drugs he'd been given (but awake enough to follow me into the elevator), and then walked with him into my room. He was too tired to jump onto my bed without help, and when he curled up at my feet, he passed out in seconds. Moments later, I joined him, submerging myself in sleep, in dreams.

Surrendering to the dark.

In a world where they have never met me, I have to convince them, I have to prove to them that I knew them, prove that I knew almost everything about them. I have to show them that they once trusted me.

I plead with them to understand; beg the Avengers to listen. They will not. They turn away, one by one, my cries falling on deaf ears. They never knew me. And soon, I will never have known them. If I can not prove that I knew them, prove that I once loved them and they me, then the memory of them will fade from my mind, vanish like smoke…

The heroes-my heroes- lay scattered. They have abandoned me. They do not believe me, can not believe me. How can they ever believe me…? I am the monster that they tell their children of at night…

And now, here I am. And there he is.

My last hope.

I stand in the darkness, with that one little patch of grey light that I know so well. The light of Loki's cell. And there the man himself stands before me, his hands clasped behind his back, his green gaze so bright and shining… suspicion leaks from those eyes, disbelief haunting them, echoing in the air around him. But he is listening. He is listening to me. And that is all that matters.

"You have to know, Loki," I plead with him. "There was another time, another place. I knew you. I knew everything about you." My heart wrenches, twisting about into a thousand tight knots. "You have to believe me."

"And why would I?" He questions, his voice quiet, soft. "I do not know you." He takes a step towards me, "So how could you possibly know me?"

"I know everything about you!" I insist, becoming desperate. "I know about your brother, Thor, your father-your true father- Laufey, I know about everything! Everything you did! Please, Loki, please, just believe me!"

He scoffs. "Everyone knows these things. You claim to be special." He begins to circle me with slow, predatory steps. "What makes you special, little mortal?"

"Our connection! We were linked together! You and I! You knew everything about me, and I knew everything about you!" I have to convince him, have to make him remember before I fade away forever…

"I do not believe you," he whispers, so venomous, such a serpentine creature… A snake, disguised as a man… He stops circling and turns from me with slow, measured motions. He begins walking away, deeper into his cell, walking away from the light…

Desperation floods me. My hands clench. I know what I have to do, but can I say it? Can I say the one thing that I know will hurt him the most? The one thing that will kill him inside?

But he is walking away from me, and soon he will be lost, and I will be lost… I squeeze my eyes shut and shout out the greatest, most terrible secret he has, the most horrendous secret that he will ever have.

"I know that you're afraid of the dark!"

He freezes.

Silence rings in the room, echoing in the still air. My eyes fall down to the ground, and I whisper, "I know what the darkness did to you, Loki. I know what she did to you." As Loki turns to me, I roll up my sleeve, all the way up to the elbow, and display the scars on the inside my forearm. A single word is written in the pattern of scars, a small and simple thing… But for some reason, I can not read it.

Loki takes a step towards me, jade eyes wide and round. He takes my arm in his hands, and strokes the scars with gentle, cold fingers.

"I know what the darkness does." I breathe.

I bolted awake, shocked out of my slumber by the sound of someone rapping on my door. "Natalie, you there?"

Clint. That was Clint's voice. I sat up, rubbing my eyes as Jekyll whined at the door. He was looking better today. "Yeah. Yeah, just a second," I called back, pulling myself upright and jumping out of bed. I carefully stroked Jekyll's head, glancing down at myself as I did so. Meh. The Avengers had seen me in my PJs before. Frequently.

I wrenched open the door and went out into the hallway, where Clint was waiting. He lifted an eyebrow as he saw me.

"Avengers meeting. We want you there." He turned and walked onwards, clearly intending for me to follow. I suppressed a grin, the anxieties of my dreaming diminishing in the light of day. The Avengers wanted me at a meeting. That was pretty rare, actually; considering that, not only was I not 'technically' an Avenger, but also that Loki was listening in to every single one of my thoughts. Anything said to me was a direct link to him. But Loki wasn't the current enemy anymore, and so I was needed.

Jekyll walked next to me, limping a little. I looked to the makeshift bandages that Banner had wrapped around him. That dog was a lot braver than he looked.

I hadn't yet come to terms with the fact that the stupid mutt had probably saved my life; but I was determined to let him know how thankful I was. Come lunchtime, Jekyll was getting a steak; the best that Tony had in the house, no matter how badly Stark complained about it.

I followed Clint to the elevator; he didn't say anything as he pressed the button, and it began its ascent. He stayed stoic and silent all the way to our final destination; the doors finally opened to reveal a large, mostly empty area, with an enormous holo-table in the center and the Avengers sitting around it. Thor was there, thankfully, as was Natasha, but Steve was no where to be seen.

"Ah. Natalie. Glad you could wake up," Tony gestured for me to sit; I obeyed silently, Jekyll padding after me. No one protested the animal's presence.

"Where's Steve?" I asked, ignoring the very slight jab.

"Watching Fraye," Natasha answered, nodding her head to a door on the side of the room. "We didn't want her involved in this yet."

I nodded; that made sense. We had to figure out what we knew about the kid before we brought her into this whole mess. "Right." I waited for Clint to sit, then took the last vacant seat. "Bear in mind, guys," I added, tapping my forehead a few times. "He's awake."

Eyes darkened. Fists clenched. But a general number of agreeing nods swept the room. Loki being awake meant that not only would he hear everything, but it was possible he would participate as well. Things like what happened with my parents the day before, though uncommon, were not unheard of; if Loki's opinion was strong enough, he had been known to voice it from time to time. And of course, everyone here was far too used to me suddenly falling quiet, no longer seeming to pay attention to my surroundings as Loki and I discussed things in our minds.

"Understood," Tony acknowledged.

"So what are we up against here?" Clint inquired, folding his arms and leaning back a little in his chair. "Shadows?"

"More than that," I said, suppressing a shiver. "Living shadows. Shadow Hounds. All that creepy stuff." I recounted quickly what I had seen in the graveyard, as well as everything that the shadows had said. A majority of the Avengers frowned.

"Loki says they're Jotun legends," I finished. "He's done some research, but most Asgardians wouldn't recognize them." I nodded to Thor as I said this. "But, if what they said is to be believed… then Fraye…"

"Isn't human," Clint concluded for me. I nodded.

"So what is she?" Natasha asked. "And why do they want her?"

Banner frowned. "I didn't exactly do full body scans, but she seemed human enough when I bandaged her wounds. She didn't react to disinfectant or anything."

"Maybe she copies what she sees?" I asked, biting my lip in concentration. "Becomes like that which is around her?" They looked to me, and I shrugged. "Probably not intentionally, but it is a possibility. I've heard about it before." I smoothly glossed over the subject without mentioning where I'd heard of such a thing happening before; Loki didn't always look the way he did, after all, but they didn't need to be reminded of that.

"That could be," Banner conceded, nodding slowly. "Or she could just look like us. The Asgardians do, after all."

"The Asgardians seem to have a bit of a thicker skin, though," Natasha noted carefully.

"She is not of Asgard," Thor seemed fairly confident in his assessment, and we did not question it.

"Regardless of what she is, those things are still coming after her," Tony put in. "The question is, why?"

I picked at my fingernails for a moment; a bad habit that I'd only really picked up since I started hanging out with the Avengers. "They said that they'd killed her parents. 'And now the child'. They kept saying she was theirs. Like she belonged to them."

They were lying.

Loki's protests remained in my head, unvoiced, but not unheard. I am the Master of Lies, Frost. Do you truly believe that I would not know if they were lying to me, to you? This is a manipulation. A deception.

I didn't tell the Avengers of Loki's constant protests; I knew they would not believe him. For crying out loud, I didn't even believe him. The man was paranoid as hell.

But he was right.

After sleeping on it, I'd realized that he was right. The way the shadows hesitated after their big attack… it really did look as though they were receiving new orders. The shadows were just puppets; someone else was pulling the strings. I couldn't be certain of this, of course, but it was beginning to nag at me. An instinctual feeling, but I tended to trust my gut over most everything else.

I wasn't at the point where I was going to eject Fraye from the Tower, though. Not like Loki seemed to want me to do. I still didn't know if she was lying or not, if she was anything but a scared, confused little girl. But I was going to keep a close eye on her.

"Why would she belong to them?" Natasha brought me back to the conversation at hand.

"If she is from another planet," Banner said slowly, "It could be some kind of… well, slavery. One species enslaved to another, that sort of thing."

I scowled, my fist clenching. If that was the case, then someone was going to get a serious lesson in the Art of Ass-Whooping, courtesy of Professor Frost. I can't stand people who like to tower above everyone else, who think themselves better than anyone else… It's part of the reason Loki and I came to blows pretty frequently.

"Could be," Tony admitted. "It fits."

I hesitated. It did fit; from what little we had to go on from these shadows, the idea of Fraye being some kind of slave to these creatures- possibly from birth, likely escaped- fit perfectly.

Too perfectly.

"Nat'lee?"

I jumped a little, but Loki's reaction surprised me more than anything else. On hearing Fraye's voice, sheer panic overwhelmed him; he actually lurched to his feet in his cell, ready to run… He calmed down fairly quickly after I did, however. I turned to face Fraye; ok, something was definitely up.

Steve stood behind her. I smiled at the little girl, with her overlarge, jewel black eyes that always melted my heart. "Hey, sweetie. What's wrong?"

"One of her cartoons scared her," Steve answered for her; Fraye walked up to me, and almost without thought, I found myself kneeling down on the ground next to her. "That artwork is… psychotic," he noted.

I bled a little. A lot of kid's shows scared me when I was little, too. Again without thinking about it, I gently wrapped my arms around Fraye and lifted her off the ground, getting back up into my chair and keeping her on my lap. She seemed very content there, curling up next to me, tucking her head on my shoulder. She was just so adorable. How could she be anything but harmless, anything but a helpless little girl…?

"It's ok, honey," I said easily, stroking her black hair. Since she'd come to us the other day, all covered in blood and dirt and grease, she'd gotten to take a shower, had her bandages changed frequently. She looked a lot better for it: her hair was no longer matted, her clothes no longer dirty. She looked almost healthy, almost like a normal, ordinary little girl, with a normal, ordinary life. "It wasn't real. Just the TV. It's ok."

She pulled away from my shoulder, sitting upright, so that she could look at me. "I know what you're saying about me," she said quietly, unable to meet my eyes. "I could hear you."

Eyebrows went up all around. My throat felt like glue. Well, we'd suspected that she wasn't human. Here was the proof.

"Don't let them take me again," she begged quietly, tears welling up in her eyes. "Please. They don't own me. They…" She choked. Loki watched her coldly; the ice that crackled around his heart threatened to spread to mine, but Fraye's eyes melted it, kept it at bay.

"We're not going to let them take you," I promised carefully, quietly. Loki disagreed, but he kept silent. "Fraye?"

She looked to me. I swallowed. "Can you tell us… what you are? What happened to you?" I lowered my voice a little. "What happened to your parents?"

She didn't speak for a long moment; we all waited with bated breath. Then, finally, in her usual small, childish voice, she answered.

"They were es-plorers. We used to go around in our ship, go see other worlds." She looked to Jekyll, who had retreated to the far end of the room the instant she entered. "Me an' mommy an' daddy… an' my puppy, an' the ship was all big an' silver an' shiny…" She sniffed quietly. "An' the ship used to talk, used to give me my lessons…"

Loki was watching indifferently, but every last one of the Avengers were wrapped up in Fraye's every word. I wasn't sure where I fit in that category. I was torn between rapt attention and cruel, dangerous suspicion.

"Then the shadows came for us… they took mommy an' daddy, an' I haven't seen them since… they… they hurt my puppy, he was covered in blood an' he wasn't breathing an'… an' they said they did the same to mommy an' daddy…" Her voice grew more childlike with each second, regressing backwards. She was tugging on every single heartstring; you'd have to be completely without heart to look at her and not feel sorry for her, not want to help her…

So what was wrong with me?

No. No, I did feel sorry for her, I wanted to help her, I wanted to make the monsters go away for good.

"An' the ship kept going, the ship said it would take me somewhere safe… it was trying to take me home, but I never knew where home was, an' then the shadows came back, an' they put me here an' I don't know why…" Tears were now spilling in steady streams down her face. "An' I don't know what I did wrong. I don't… don't know what I did wrong…" She looked back to me, black eyes wider than ever, still leaking fat tears. "They said I was a monster, Nat'lee. They said I was bad, evil…" She wiped her nose with the back of her hand. "I thought that I was a good girl… why do they hate me so much?"

I went completely rigid, entirely stiff. The few Avengers who were not totally enraptured by Fraye's story were looking to me, watching me intently. I felt their stares on my back, but I ignored them. An icy chill had gripped my spine and refused to let go.

I carefully hugged Fraye closer to myself, no longer looking into her eyes; those big black eyes that made me want to protect her, want to help her, to save her from the dark… "You're not a monster, Fraye," I said carefully, consolingly, stroking her hair. "Don't worry, sweetie. We'll take care of you." I glanced to the Avengers; not one of them disagreed. "I promise."

I held her tightly for a long time; until she had cried herself out. Then I sent her over to Tony, who said he'd set up a video game for her; something nice and innocent, with no monsters. The Avengers discussed things quietly, but mostly fell into disarray, the meeting clearly over. So when I stood and exited the room, no one said anything to me; and I returned the favor.

I stayed completely silent as I headed to the elevator and pressed the button. I said not a single word as the contraption took me back to my floor. I didn't talk to Loki about what had happened as I walked down the hallway and made it into my room.

I closed the door behind me, clicked the lock into place, then walked to a chair at the other side of the room. It faced the mirror, and I studied my reflection for a long moment.

I blinked, and it changed; suddenly, Loki was looking back at me, watching me from inside of the mirror. My reflection: the Norse god of Mischief.

I sat up perfectly straight, my face blank and hollow, my spine rigid against the back of my chair. Knowing that JARVIS would hear, and quite possibly speak to Tony, I kept the conversation solely in my head, not talking aloud.

All right, my mental voice was a hard monotone. She's a liar. What now?

A quiet sigh of relief escaped Loki's lips. What changed your mind? His mouth did not move, and I heard his voice in my head as opposed to the illusion of him speaking out loud.

I looked away from him, glaring at the wall. She made the same mistake you did. Tried to play on those feelings that I'd buried. She's saying all the right things, trying to make me identify with her… I'm sure she's done it to the others by now, too. We don't know who she's convinced. I felt my features settle into stony, bleak indifference. So we're not trusting any of them until we have this figured out.

Agreed, he concurred. His lip twitched upwards. It made him happier than he probably cared to admit, seeing me not trusting the Avengers. A cruel kind of happiness, but still.

What about you? I asked. How did you figure it out?

He paused. Then, slowly, cautiously, he responded, She… reminds me of someone that I once knew. Someone very dangerous and powerful, with connections to the shadows that go far beyond what we have seen. His eyes- blue, as they always were in these mental projections- locked on me. I hope, for all of our sakes, that there is no connection between the two.

That caught my attention. Something clicked in my head, and I found myself making a sudden intellectual leap. This other person you knew… they were in your dreams, weren't they?

He stiffened, going tense, then scanned me intently, trying to determine where the question had come from. But, after a moment, he answered, with great caution, Aye.

I paused, considering that. I knew that I would not have made this connection if not for my own dream, if not for…

I swallowed. A question had been raised by that dream; a question that I suddenly had to know the answer to. Loki… I hesitated, then, Are you afraid of the dark?

If I thought that he'd been tense before, it was nothing compared to the rigidity that followed this query. His every bone and muscle locked into place, and his gaze-which had shifted to the ground- whipped up to me, burning with bright blue flames.

And where would you get an idea like that? He asked with icicle-laced words, still as aloof as ever. But his expression was slightly more guarded.

Not a direct answer. And thus not a direct lie. In response, I thought about my dream, pulling it to the front of my mind, allowing him to scan it. He did so in silence, tersely. Once finished, he looked away from me again.

I see, he said coldly.

Are you? I pressed. His eyes flicked to me, touched mine briefly, and then turned to the side once again, staring at the wall. I looked at him in disbelief.

You are.

He sighed through his nose.

I swallowed, immediately falling back into friendly-neighborhood-psychiatrist mode. Hey, we all have childhood fears. I mean, come on, you've seen me with needles.

I was only trying to help, but Loki gave me one of his famous Really-mortal looks and I shut up abruptly. He looked away again; he couldn't seem to keep his eyes on me for too long, and only glanced in my direction when he wanted to convey exactly how much he despised this conversation, despised the fact that he was forced to speak of it with a mortal.

We fell silent for a long moment. After a while, another thought occurred to me, and my hands suddenly clenched into tight fists.

That bastard.

Loki, still facing the wall, now lifted his eyebrow before turning to me, curious.

You're afraid of the dark, and your father puts you in a cell that's nothing but darkness? I growled dangerously. With nothing but that dinky little light to keep you sane? What the hell kind of dad does he think he is?

Loki smiled very softly. I rarely got angry at Odin, but every so often he, just like everyone else in the universe, really kind of pissed me off. It tended to make Loki smile a little, as though someone else saw what he'd been saying all along… but then I would end up agreeing with Odin on some other matter, and that would disappear. He does not know, Loki informed me quietly, resting his elbow on the armrest and tucking his hand under his chin.

I frowned. How could he not know? He was Loki's father, wasn't he? If Loki was afraid of the dark, then he would had gone to his dad about it a few times as a kid, wouldn't he have? And if not Odin, then he'd have gone to Thor, and I knew that Thunder-Boy wouldn't let this happen if that was the case… Maybe Odin thought he grew out of it…? Yeah, that made the most sense, but why didn't Loki say anything about it? Was his pride really that great, that he would live in that constant fear, rather then tell his father about it…?

Yeah. Yeah, it probably was. But it still didn't make sense; Thor and Odin would still remember that frightened child, would know that he was still in there somewhere… And Thor visited Loki so often… he would have seen that old fear creeping back in, he knew his brother so well…

Loki let me puzzle it out, observing silently without commenting. Of course, Thor wouldn't have seen it if it wasn't an 'old' fear… Loki could have hidden it if… but no. No, that couldn't be… that didn't make sense…

Have you figured it out yet? He asked, his voice laced with a mild bite of acid.

I looked up at him. The fact that he'd even asked meant that he knew I had; that I was dead on. But it just… it just didn't compute. Loki sighed very quietly.

It is not a childhood fear, he confirmed my suspicions.

I chewed on my lower lip thoughtfully. A fear of the dark didn't tend to form after childhood; it was one of those things associated with kids, like the monster in the closet, the boogeyman under the bed. I mean, I was sure there were cases that broke this mold; particularly people who'd been through traumatic events and associated it with darkness… But this was Loki. He was fearless. I mean, the Asgardians were really just a bunch of glorified Vikings: They were the kind of people who laughed in the face of danger, who looked right into the eye of Death and cried, Bring it, bitch!

And Loki was certainly no exception. So why…?

"Wounds caused by creatures such as the one you faced today tend to be far more dire, Miss Frost…"

"Shadow Hounds. I've only had the misfortune of encountering one once; but I have done… extensive research on the subject…"

"Someone very dangerous and powerful, with connections to the shadows that go far beyond what we have seen…"

The thoughts hit me out of no where, things that Loki had said before, things that had slipped my mind, until now. I looked to him, and my eyes widened. My brain started whirring, putting the pieces together. Someone with connections to the shadows. Shadow Hounds. You've seen these things before. I mentally whispered. The shadows, the Hounds… You've seen them before, haven't you? I hesitated. This… this person with those connections to the shadow… They did this. My heart skipped a beat. They made you afraid.

Living in that cell… My mind was still racing. Thinking that darkness could come to life at any second… I felt my expression soften. You should have told me about this.

He gave me a look, and I fought the urge to sigh deeply. Of course he wouldn't have told me. He could discuss some things with me; his brother, his mother, even his father on good days. But these were things I already knew about, things we practically had in common. Daddy issues weren't exactly new to me.

But this… This was different. This was fear. This was weakness. There was something more to it, something else that he wasn't telling me, something that these shadows had done to him… but I didn't question it. It wasn't important enough right now, and from the look in his eyes, he was unwilling to talk about it, anyway. I gritted my teeth and let it slide, forcing myself to trust him. He'd tell me when it was necessary. I had to trust him enough for that, at least.

All right, I said slowly. We'll talk about that later. Let's just focus on the problem at hand. I felt my eyes harden again, felt my expression turn dark, and saw it through Loki's eyes. What are we going to do about Fraye?

A/N: Finally! It is done! *faints*

Ugh, this chapter really kicked my butt, you guys, I hope you're happy. I was feeling pretty uninspired with this latest chapter, couldn't get motivated, nuu. ;_;

*cough* Anyway. As always, reviews are greatly appreciated!

Also, wanted to give a quick thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter, and to everyone who has ever favorited/followed me, cause I don't thank you guys enough, anyway. You're all amazing!