Blind Success {Book 1 - Blinded Trilogy}

4 - Issues

"Family quarrels are bitter things. They don't go according to any rules. They're not like aches or wounds, they're more like splits in the skin that won't heal because there's not enough material." F. Scott Fitzgerald.

The darkness was overwhelming. Now normally I wouldn't feel like this, but somehow the thought that I had upset Loki seemed to upset me. I stayed in my bed for 4 days before someone actually came to see if I was alright. That person was Bruce.

"Andrea?" His voice was slightly muffled by the door and I muffled a reply back at him before the door opened and he walked towards the bed. I felt it dip slightly as he sat down beside me. "Are you okay?" I didn't turn around to face him. I just kept facing towards the wall that I knew was on the other side of the darkness that clouded my vision.

"I just want to be alone Bruce." My voice had gone husky because I hadn't used it at all since Loki returned me home.

"Come on Andrea, you can't spend all your time in here. Come out for a while." All I did in response was a shake of my head before closing my eyes and cuddling into the blankets more. I heard a sigh escape Bruce but ignored it as the bed shifted once more when he stood and then walked out. Once again I was alone with my thoughts.

I thought about my life. When SHIELD first took me in, the day they started training me and my first assignment. For reasons unknown to me and everyone in the Tower, my life before the age of 5 is a mystery. I don't remember my parents, or siblings - if I even had any. Unwillingly, tears start to stream down my face with my eyes pinched shut. Being who I am, I don't tend to show any emotion except Anger, Smugness and maybe a little bit of Sass, but apart from those, I never really showed tears unless it was from pain.

I guess that's what I was feeling now though. Pain. You would think I'd be used to pain. I've been shot, cut, stabbed and had bones broken, but nothing could have prepared me for this kind of pain. Mental pain. Physical pain is nothing. I've pretty much grown used to it over the years because not one assignment have I started where I get home unscathed. Not possible really. For me anyway.

They say that nothing hurts more than a broken heart. Why is that? I may not have been in love with Loki, but when he left something inside me realized that there was something about that black haired mega Smurf that I needed. Honestly that scared me. My heart ached for a friendly face, but it then plummeted when I couldn't even see a friendly face. Something was nagging at the back of my mind though. When Loki had given me sight before taking me to that Jotumhiemer place - or however he said it - I had seen my reflection in my bathroom mirror for the first time.

A girl with bright and attentive green eyes and hair as dark as midnight had been staring right back at me. I didn't even recognize myself. Then Loki walked in behind me. I had caught myself looking at his reflection and comparing it to mine. The same green eyes that twinkled with a hint of mischief and grief and the same black hair but shoulder length belonged to him.

I curled into a tighter ball, bringing my blanket over my head to try and separate myself from the outside world as much as possible. I was in my bubble. The one place where I could feel somewhat safe and secure from the crazy world around me... A world that's just got a lot stranger.

Time escaped me and I have absolutely no idea how long it was before I heard my door groan in protest as someone entered my room. I kept my eyes shut and focused on keeping my breathing even hoping that whoever had entered would think that I was still asleep. My nose picked up the smell of food and I willed my stomach to stay quiet as I heard a tray being put on either my desk or bedside cabinet.

"I know you're awake Raptor." Great... I mentally groan when I hear the familiar voice of Tony Stark. If there's one person I love with a capital H-A-T-E it's him. Always managing to rub me up the wrong way, we have a fantastic hateful relationship which just gets better and better as the days go by. Of course that's a total lie. I've beaten the tar out of him more than once and I always managed to rub it in his face that he was beaten by a blind 17 year old... Actually I would have been 12, 14 and 15 roughly the first few times. What a way to deflate his ego.