ETHEREAL

TWO

~Everything you look at can become a fairy tale, and you can get a story from everything you touch~

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"Before we enter could you go down the stairs and leave all your weapons and suits, please" asked Althea as she motioned towards a door.

The Avengers pushed the door open and made their way down the stairs with a little hesitation. Thor, on the other hand, walked quickly and left his hammer on the floor of the room before excitedly making his way up. The rest of the Avengers cautiously put down their weapons and removed their suits while looking around the room which seemed to be an Armory. It was filled with all kinds of weaponry from different timelines throughout history. Bucky looked around and recognized some of the weapons that were used when he was still the Winter Soldier.

A giddy looking Thor approached Althea as she stood waiting for the rest of them. "I was sorry to hear about your mother" Thor spoke softly, not really knowing how she was coping. He remembered when he lost his mother, and the grief he had experienced. "I'm sorry about your family and everything else that happened" Althea responded.

Before they could say anything else, the Avengers made their way back up the stairs. "Anything else you need us to do high lady" Tony questioned in a mocking tone. But Althea simply shook her head and smiled at his behavior.

Turning around, she pushed the main doors open with ease and walked into the entrance hall with the rest of the people following quickly. To say the place was beautiful would be an understatement. It was decorated in such a way that it looked grand and soft at the same time. Althea smirked as she watched them look around in amazement. The smirk was short-lived, however as a cold wind seemed to blow over from nowhere and shut the doors loudly. Bruce was suddenly lifted off the ground and the rest of the Avengers were stuck on the floor.

"What kind of trap is this, why aren't we able to move and why is Banner floating in the air" Sam shouted while trying to move his limbs.

"Miss Lucy stop it" Althea exclaimed and stomped her foot in anger. "They are all my guests, Miss Lucy let them go."

Bruce was slowly lowered back to the ground and the rest of the Avengers were able to move again. "Who the hell was that" Bucky whispered to himself, but the woman heard it. "That was Miss Lucy being protective over me and since you guys are new here," she replied while glaring at Miss Lucy. At this point, all the Avengers, including Thor were getting suspicious of Althea's behavior.

Miss Lucy had died a long time ago but had taken an oath to protect Althea and her family as long as they lived inside the castle. Since this oath wasn't an ordinary one, it stayed with her even after her death. Now the spirit of Miss Lucy roamed the castle and protected Althea. But she could only be seen by the people she was protecting, so anyone other than Althea and Quinn couldn't see her, until now.

Dr. Strange took a step forward as he asked "What are you glaring at."

"Miss Lucy," Althea replied as if it was obvious.

"Althea, there's no one there" Thor spoke softly as his face contoured into a concerned expression.

"What do you mean, she's right there" Bucky stated as he pointed at her. However, when he looked around he realized that no one else could see her. "Why can't they see her," he asked Althea.

Althea didn't know how to tell him that it was because he was her soulmate. She didn't understand how a person was supposed to say something like that. And above it all, she wasn't sure if she wanted a soulmate. so she decided that she would answer the question some other time and replied with a simple "It's complicated."