Substance Over Style

           During the day demons terrorize the streets, turning city after city into a living hell. By nightfall, the vampires come out to play, leaving people to cower inside their home just hoping that they can survive until daylight. But those are not the only monsters out there. Werewolves and skin walkers have made themselves known, along with ghouls, ghosts and many more.

           Crystal turns to look around this all too familiar living room. The dark green walls are overshadowed by the many bookshelves filled with knowledge. The real wood floors creek under her weight as she slowly sits into the ancient leather furniture. To the left of the room is an old marble fireplace that has fallen to ruin. To the right is a medical bed that seems out of place. Heart rate monitors are connected to the only thing that has kept Crystal together, her grandfather.

           When Crystal and her twin sister Ember were three years old, their parents disappeared. No one really knows what happened to them, but their grandfather decided to take them in. His name was Dean Winchester, and he was known for being a little strange. He was always into fantasy and learning about what everyone believed was myths. But he cared about the girls and raised them like they were his own.

           The heart rate monitor started to escalate, and Crystal was on her feet in seconds. In three strides she was at her grandfather’s side as he started to cough and struggle to breath. Crystal fumbled with the respirator until she was finally able to get it over his mouth. Soon his body started to relax, and his eyes opened. His mouth morphed into a smile as he saw his Granddaughter’s face.

           Crystal studied her grandfather, trying to memorize every wrinkle. His once brown hair is now white as snow. His skin is now thinning and fragile, his hands barely holding on. He was once the strongest man that Crystal had ever known, now he is barely able to breath by himself, it was almost more then she could stand.

           “Crystal,” Her grandfather rasped, “you need to listen to me darlin’.”

           “I’m listening papa,” She said, trying to hold back her tears,

           “there is a box in the attic,” he stopped and started to cough uncontrollable.

           Crystal was officially confused, “a box.”

           “Y-yes, a box. This box is especially important Crystal, you need to trust me. Grab the box, find your sister. Then you go through its contents. Learn the truth about our family, learn what it means to be a Winchester!” he started to cough again, rasping and moving slowly. His heart rate monitor is spiking uncontrollably.

           “Papa you need to calm down-” Crystal started.

           Her grandfathers hand grabbed her arm, “No Crystal you need to listen to me! I do not have much time left and people are dying. We, you, come from a family who helps people like them.”

           One bony finger outstretched slowly and pointed toward the Tv on the south end of the living room. The news had shifted to talking about yet another shifter attack in south west California. Crystal cringed as she listened to all of the people who were affected by the attack.

           “You and your sister need to help them. You need to learn what it means to be a hunter.” He coughed and then leaned back into his large pillow.

           “Hunter? Papa what are you even saying?” Crystal was starting to worry.

           “Find the box, find your sister and save the world.” He stated one last time before he laid down again and fell into a deep sleep.

           The live-in nurse came around at that point, checking his vitals and making sure that he was okay. Crystal turned back to the tv, lost in thought. The news caster talked about how the government has a plan to make living in America safe again and Crystal could just care less. She has not seen her grandfather so passionate about something in a long time. What could he be so worried about?

           As if on auto pilot Crystal moved to the attic. In the north hallway of the second floor there was a string that hung down. If one were to pull on it, stairs would fall gracefully to reveal a hole in the ceiling leading to the attic. Crystal had been up there a few times; it was used as a playhouse for her and her sister. But everything had been moved out of there a long time ago.

           The rope hung before Crystal, temping her with the possibility of the unknown. Outstretching her hand slowly she grabbed the rope and gave it a tug. When the stairs came down, Crystal felt that she was brought back long before any of this happened. Ember was already upstairs pretending to put together tea and cakes. Crystal would come up all dressed in her Sunday’s best. They would pretend to be rich, maybe even princesses sometimes. Everything was a lot simpler back then.

           Ember started to get into things that their grandfather did not approve of. She joined a coven and became what she called a wiccan. Granddad knew what it was, it was witchcraft. He did not approve but that would never stop her. They started fighting and getting up in each other’s business. It did not take long before things were said that should never have been said, Ember left never to be seen again.

           Now Crystal was going back to the place where the sisters had spent so much time. Now their grandfather wants Ember to come back. Could all of this be because of the monsters? What did he mean that they had to live up to their family name, like she had a legacy to uphold? Crystal was going to find out.

           Reaching the entrance to the attic, Crystal looked over the edge. For a second, she could see all of the play sets and toy chests. But they faded into the empty, dusty room it is today. Now there was only a single box in the middle of the room. Climbing into the attic she walked over to it. It seemed old with the corners frayed. There was no writing on it, but it was full to the point of she was barely able to move it.

           Slipping to the floor next to the box she pulled the flaps open to look inside. She was overwhelmed with the smell of old paper and leather. The box was filled with old journals written in from cover to cover. The leather seemed worn as if they had been well used. But there was no writing on the outside of any of them. But Crystal came for answers, so she dug right in.

           Crystal ended up staying up all night in order to read through all of it. Suddenly she had a lot to think about. She could not figure out if she came from a family of crazy people, or the only family that thoroughly knows what is going on. As it turns out all of this started for her family a long time ago.

           It started with a family of hunters called the Campbells, their youngest daughter married a Mr. John Winchester. They started to have a normal family until she died in a freak house fire. Then John was pulled into hunting and ended up becoming the best in the business. Johns two sons also became hunters, a powerful team who were a lot better then their father. Dean, the older brother, passed away during a hunt. Sam, the younger brother, lived a normal life after that, for the most part.

           Sam never stopped hunting, he just made time to start a family as well. Sam trained his son Dean to be a hunter. Dean the second is Crystal and Embers Grandfather. Dean taught his son to hunt, who taught his wife. They went out on a hunting trip one night, leaving their twin girls in the capable hands of their grandfather. They have not been back since.

           Crystal read about monster after monster, she read about the stories of the hunters before. She read about all of the creatures that are out there terrorizing the streets as she read. Crystal started to understand why her Grandad had such a huge issue with Ember getting into witchcraft. She also learned why they needed to start to work together to fix the world as it is today. If Crystal were going to start hunting, she needed back up only her sister could provide.

           As the sun started to shine through the circular window of the attic, Crystal heard some footsteps come up the stairs. Looking over, Crystal watched as the live-in nurse poked her head over the edge of the attic floor, with tears welled up in her eyes. Crystal did not even have to listen to the words being spoken to her in order to realize what was happening.

           Crystal could not get back down to the living room fast enough. In her mind, the world had flipped upside down. She forgot about the journals, about the passed and even her sister. All she could think about is her rock. The foundation that she had built her life on was crumbling and there was nothing she could do about it.

             Ember woke up frantic, panting uncontrollably. She had a dream she could not explain. For some reason it was about her grandfather, but by the time she was awake enough to think about it she had forgotten most of it. Moving her hand slowly through her hair she yawned the sleep away.

           Standing up slowly, Ember moved slowly across the other people sleeping towards the public bathroom. Her back ached from sleeping on the concrete floor with nothing but a blanket for support. As she made her journey she passed by her least favorite window, the one that showed what once was her pride and joy.

           A little over a year ago before all of these monsters surfaced, Ember had her own store. When she left her home and went out on her own, she took a chance and started her own business. Being a wiccan in a new town, she opened a shop to sell all things witchy. But when the world fell apart, her shop ended up burning down. Now she stays across the street in an old hotel that the military set up to keep the survivors as safe as possible form the monsters.

           A sigh escaped Embers lips as she reached the bathroom. Slashing her face with some water, Ember started to get ready for the day. Sadly, due to the fact she lived in the condo above her store when the store burned down so did all of her stuff. Also, since no one can safely have any stores, she is unable to buy new stuff. Until the government can figure out what to do about this infestation.

           Just when Ember filled her mouth with water to gargle, she heard someone calling her name. The weirdest part of the voice calling her name is that it almost sounded like it was her sister. Ember shrugged it off with the idea that it was probably with her ears playing tricks on her.

           However, when the door opened and Crystal came through, Ember spit all of her water onto the mirror. The sisters just stood there for a while, staring at each other for a sold couple minutes. Ember slowly whipped her face off with a paper towel, still unable to say anything.

           “How have you been Em?” Crystal asked.

           “Fine, you?” Ember almost growled.

           “Could be better, can we talk?” Crystal asked.

           “Does good old granddad know where you are? Did he kick you out for wanting to speak to me?” Ember said with a tinge of hate.

           “Papa passed away, now can we talk?” Crystal rose her eyebrows.

             “So, wait, before our Grandfather passed, he told you to go into the attic and read old journals about killing monsters. Now he wants us to what? Go cross country and save people?” Ember asked.

           “Yes, that is what I am to understand.” Crystal said, trying her best to focus on the road.

           Crystal drove a Volkswagen Jetta, not the coolest car in the world but it had great gas milage. She always loved how modern it feels and the fact she can connect her phone to the blue tooth. It also is the smoothest car she has ever owned, so naturally this is the favorite car she has ever owned.

           “Hey Em, what happened to your car?” Crystal said.

           “Ah well Crystal, lets think. I had a successful business and lived in the apartment right above it.  My Car was parked in the parking garage under the business. In fact, everything I ever owned was in that building. But then the building burned down, so crystal let me ask you. Where is my car?” Ember looked at her.

           “Look keep your attitude in check alright?” Crystal sighed. “Here pass the time by reading these journals.”

           Crystal handed her a leather book that seemed like a small three-ring binder. Ember signed and opened it, looking at the shitty handwriting that was inside. However, after approximately five seconds, Ember looked back at her sister.

           “So where are we going anyways?” Ember asked.

           “There is a place our great grandfather Sam talks about in his journal. It is a hide out that he and his brother Dean used for a long time during their hunting career. It was once a Men of Letters bunker. It if full of books and supernatural artifacts. I thought it would be a good base for us.” Crystal said.

           “What are the men of letters?” Ember asked.

    My driveway would be black asphalt that also cut through the trees. Though if you look up the summer green canopy shades your car from the sun. The Asphalt would have many different plants on each side, lining the driveway. After a minute or so of driving the trees would give way to a large clearing where my house would be. The first thing you would see is the drive way coming to a large circle in the middle of the clearing. In the middle of the circle there would be a large willow tree greeting you as you come to visit. 

To the left of the driveway there would be a large four car garage that is separate from the house. This would be where my Fiance and ! hold all of our cars in the summer, when it is prime motorcycle season. In the winter it would hold our bikes in its climate controlled interior so that they will be all set for the next spring. 

On the right side of the driveway but down the clearing a bit there would be two rather large pole barns. These would be where my fiance and our roommate would have their toys. The barn on the left would be our roommates where he would store all of his tools and have more than enough space to hang out, chill and work on his vehicles. Plus, he would also have space to work on any other project he might be interested in.

 My fiancee’s pole barn would be filled with all of his toys. He would have his professional wrestling ring of course and all the equipment needed to hold a show if he wanted to. He would also have his boats and his four wheelers. Basically anything he could want would be in this pole barn until he uses it. 

Finally though, after seeing the large green pasture and the prime storage locations, your car would turn to follow the circle of the driveway. You would finally be able to see the house that was covered by the tree. The house would be two stories tall, and rather long for a house. It would have a four car garage connected to it and a beautiful front porch. On the second floor there is a balcony that uses the roof of the porch for it’s floor. 

The house itself would be a beautiful light gray color with some dark gray accent. It would be covered in beautiful vines that I have planted around it. The front porch is complete with a swing with a table upon each side. There are plants hanging off the railings of both the porch and the baloney up above. There are also hanging plants hanging down from the ceiling of the porch. Around the border of the house there would be evergreen trees on each corner with various kinds of plants around the walls. 

Opening the garage first you would see that the garage has enough space for four cars. But by design there are only three cars calling it home. In the fourth stop there are a couple comfy couches, a durable coffee table and a rather large tv that we can use if we just want to chill outside for some reason. It does get very nice in the summer after all. But other than a few posters and some various decorations the garage walls are bare. Only holding the vehicles it needs to. 

Entering the house through the garage door, you would come to the entryway. This is also where you would be if you came in through the front door. This entryway would be a warm tan color that would feel like home. The coat closet would always have enough space for more coasts to visit. There would be a chest/bench for you to sit on in order to take off your shoes and a small table to hold whatever you need to put down for the time being. It would have a gorgeous victorian style rug to get your shoes on before going deeper within the home. 

Looking in toward the home you would see a staircase going up to the right, right up against the wall. Next to the first stair case there would be another one headed down this time though. On either side of the staircases there are open spaces where you would be able to explore the first level of the house. 

Walking up to the staircases and looking right first you would see a beautiful very modern kitchen. The appliances would be black and the  granite countertops would be black and grey. The cupboards and drawers would be a light gray and it would all come together with a small bit of white accent.  In the middle of the kitchen would be a large island, on the one side of it there are stools so that if you wish you could each in the kitchen. In the middle of the island there would be an elegant black fruit bowl filled to the brim. The kitchen would be stocked with every kind of small appliance i would need for cooking or baking purposes. 

Walking into the kitchen and turning to your left you would also see the connected dining room. The barror of the two rooms would be a large elegant archway separating the cool modern kitchen from the elegant rustic dining room. The floors of the dining room would be real wood and covered by another victorian style rug. The table would be a beautiful rose colored oak wood with matching chairs that have maroon cushions tied to them. There would be a matching maroon table runner and a centerpiece showing class in the middle. The walls would have paintings depicting beautiful forest scenes and maybe an animal or two. 

After entering the dining room, if you turned yet again to your left you would see a hallway that snakes behind the stairs. This hallway would be a light gray color with a thick comfy carpet. On the wall that it shares with the stars there would be a long thin table with a couple house plants and some nicknacks. Above that there would be a couple pictures of us and maybe some pieces of art. On the other side of the hallway is the back door that leads you to the back deck, but we will talk about that later. 

Down the hallway to the left completes the circle. There is an open arch way that leads to the first floor living room. Walking into the classy room I have created for when my more high class friends come to visit, there is another open archway to the left that leads back into the entryway. Looking at this room from the hallway there is a window on the other side that looks out onto the front porch. There is a table in front of this window that holds the record/cd/tape player that is also a bluetooth speaker. Below that is a storage case holding all of our records/cds and tapes. The walls of this living room is covered in white bookcases holding a variety of books and nick nacks. To the right of the room is a real wood brick fireplace. In the middle of the room is a black and grey victorian style rug. Two white couches with gray throw pillows and blankets sit on the rug with a glass coffee table with a seashell centerpiece in the middle of them. Matching glass end tables are on either side of the couches with elegant lamps stationed on top of them. Behind each of the couches are black wood tables holding pictures and house plants. 

Down the hallway a little further, on the right side,  is a full bathroom that is ocean themed. The walls are ocean blue with various ocean themed art works. Seashells decorate the room. The tile on the floor is a sandy color. The shower, bathtub and toilet are a very light blue color. Matching darker blue towels are on display as well. 

Further down the hallway to the left side is our roommates room. He can make that look however he wishes, i am guessing he doesn’t care too much. It does have a wonderful view of his pole barn though. 

Finally at the end of the hallway is my office. I had the walls sound proofed and made sure the sound acoustics were perfect, then I painted them a lavender purple. The carpet is a royal purple and is very soft. The walls are lined with black bookshelves. These shelves hold all of my various video games, and other geeky things that I enjoy. To the left of the room in the far corner I have a large L shaped deck. On the outside of the desk it is lined with more smaller book shelves. These shelves hold one of every gaming system that had ever come out. On the small side of the L shaped desk is where my two rounded desk monitors are that I use for youtube. On the corner of the desk is another large flat monitor I use for everything else. Everything from my consoles to my monitors are all expertly connected to my state of the art gaming pc that is locked in a metal box underneath the desk. The long side of the desk is open for various art projects or whatever else I might need space for. The open area of the room is used for virtual reality games for my youtube channel. The walk in closet however is a different story. 

The closet I use for my religious purposes. It is a large walk-in closet that is six feet by seven feet. I took out all of the hookes and such and painted the whole thing purple, it was also sound proofed. At the far end of the closet is a desk that holds my permanent wiccan altar. The walls are lined with bookshelves. These bookshelves are filled with various wiccan/witch books and supplies so that I can practice the craft. 

Moving upstairs there is another living room right when you get to the top of the stairs. This loving room is more modern. It has large black leather couches that let each spot recline. There is no coffee table, just a big comfy rug in the middle of the room. There are dark wood side tables with matching lamps on each end of the couches. On the Wall to the right is a huge nindy inch flat screen tv. This is where my fiancee would have his watch parties for his various sports events that he and his friends enjoy. 

To the left is a hallway, and the first door in the hallway is on the Left and is another bathroom. This bathroom however would be one that I let my fiance decorate. I am guessing it would be football/ basketball/ wrestling themed. Maybe it would be Dragon Ball themed, who can say really?

Down the hallway a little more and to the right is a room that is also my fiances. That room would be his office where he can work on his wrestling things or do basically whatever he wants in there. I also have no idea what that would look like or if he even wants an office… it might just be a guest bedroom i let him decorate. 

The second to last door in the hallway is on the left side, this is where the guest bedroom would be. It would have a large king sized bed with light blue comforter. The walls would be a light green and the carpet a dark green to give off a summer vibe. There would be an oak dresser that would also hold a sixty inch tv that has a built-in fire stick in case our guests want to watch something, or connect their video games systems in, before bed. It would have a closet as well and end tables that match the dresser. This room has the balcony that looks over the front lawn, with two lawn chairs and a table there so that they can sit outside if they wish. A large sliding glass door covered by dark green curtains leads to this balacy.  This room would be the room that we would change into a nursery should we ever need it. 

Finally at the end of this hallway is the master bedroom. This is where my fiance and I stay. The room itself is rather large, though we do not have a lot of stuff in it. The walls themselves would be a light grey with black fluffy carpet. Resting against the middle of the far wall would be our california king bed sitting on a nice dark oak bed frame. Marching end tables on either side would have lamps that we can use along with places for us to charge our various devices. Across from the bed would be a large nindy inch tv mounted on a swivel mount on the wall. Below that would be an entertainment system that has various gaming systems and movies sorted on it.the walls have various posters of things we enjoy on them. 

 To the left of the room is our large walk-in closet, which is various shades of grey,  that has built in cubbies and storage drawers so that there is no need for a dresser. In the middle of the closet is a large satin chair used for putting shoes on. 

    To the right of the entertainment system is our large master bathroom that is various shades of lavender and purple. There are two sinks with lots of counter space. The full jacuzzi tub is built out of lavender marble and the full waterfall shower is a darker purple. 

    On the right wall is a large glass sliding glass door with black curtains on it that leads to our own balcony. Our balcony has two reclining chairs that look over the back yard. The railing of this balacy is also covered with various plants. 

    Going down the stairs twice you will reach our basement. Now while our basement is finished it is only one very small room and one very large room. At the bottom of the stairs straight ahead is a door that leads to the small laundry room. To the left of that door is the door that leads to the gaming room.

    When you open the door you are greeted by a multitude of arcade games. In fact, the first half of this large room is just lined with arcade games and a circle of them in the middle. Past those you reach where we are usually hanging out. To the Left of the room is a large full bar that is stocked with all of our favorites. In the middle you see a pool table and to the right on the wall is a dar board. 

    Finally at the far end of the room is our gaming center. There are three desks on the left wall that each hold a PC gaming setup for each of us. On the right wall are three nindy inch tvs that are mounted to the walls for each of us and entertainment systems underneath them. There is a comfy black leather gaming couch that faces the tvs in the middle of the room. Behind the couch are shelves that hold a mini fridge and various snacks. On the end wall there are most of my fiance's funkos out on display with others in many places elsewhere in this room as well. On the ceiling are various posters depicting the nerdy things we enjoy. 

    Back up the stairs and to the back door we go to see the back yard. Just right out the door you step onto our back deck. In the middle is a sitting area that has a low table in the middle and comfy chairs around it. To the left is a large outdoor table with chairs around it for eating outside. Behind that table is a smoker and a grill set up with bricks around them and easy pull over covers for the winter. To the right of the back door is a large year round hot tub that my bedroom balcony sits on top of. 

    Beyond the deck there is a stone path that leads you straight into the middle of the back yard where a nice stone firepit is placed with company wood chairs around it. To the left is a large full in ground pool. Next to the pool is a shed where we keep out various lawn care tools and toys. 

    To the right of the firepit is my greenhouse and work station. The large greenhouse is the same width and length of the boys pole barns but only about half the height. Inside the green house I grow all of the herbs I could possibly need for the craft. It also has a large shed connected to it that I use to process the herds and also make candles, ointments and other things with them. I also use the extra space to make homemade wine. 

            This morning, before the sun had even shown itself, Asta had already started her day. She slowly stepped out onto her back porch with large buckets of food. She smiled as she smelled the morning dew of the fields. She slowly meandered toward the kennels and made sure to take her sweet time.

             Today is an especially important day for Asta, everything was about to change for her. But for now, she was enjoying everything as it always has been. She finished her thirty-foot journey to the kennels and gently pulled the door open. There was a loud creaking sound as the hinges rubbed against each other. Inside she took in a large whiff of canine smell.

             “Morning everyone!” She said as walked to the middle of the kennels, pulling the string to turn on the single light bulb.

             All around her creatures came to life, stretching their legs and shaking off the sleep. Ember farms is home to over twenty fully evolved arcainine used for breeding, all of them are retired police growlithe who have done their time. The amount of growlithe who call the ranch home vary on the time of year, but on this first day of May they had twenty-five.

             Ember walked from food bowl to food bowl, filling each of them with as much food as it can hold. After each Pokémon had its fill, she went and grabbed a pitcher and filled it with watch. Going to each water bowl she filled them to the brim, having to take a few trips in order to do so.

             By this point the Arcainine and Growlithe were starting to wake up. They were happy to see their favorite playing buddy. They each make sure to say good morning to Asta. She gave each of them some pets and said hello.

             After they were all properly fed and watered, ember grabbed some brushed and started to care for the coats of all the Arcainine. She would sit down on a chair and the Pokémon would patiently wait in line to get the matts out of their fur.

             Asta loved spending time with the Pokémon, they were always the best at listening when she was feeling down. She knew they were listening, they always seemed to understand what she was going through.

             “Well,” She signed as she started brushing her first Arcainine. “Today I turn ten. Today everything changes for me. I’m supposed to get my starter Pokémon and go out on some wild journey alone.”

             She seemed to slow down the pace of the brushing, “but what if I don’t want to go on an adventure? What if I do not want to be a Pokémon trainer? What if… I just want to stay here where I feel safe? I mean what is even the big deal, right? It just seems like a lot of walking to me.”

             “Arcainine?” The large creature looked at her.

             “Sure, it would be a great experience. But I have never been the battling type! I’m a pacifist to say the least, I don’t like battling.” She sighed and pushed the Arcainine so that it would turn around. “but no, of course my sister had to become the fire type gym leader of the Kanto region. With that success she instantly became the pride of the family! Now I’m supposed to fallow in her shoes!” Asta slowly grew more and more frustrated with the situation and ended up brushing harder and harder because of it.

             “Arcainine!” the Pokémon finally protested.

             “Sorry,” Asta mumbled. Shaking her head, she just focused on the brushing. She tried not to think about what today meant for her.

             Asta finally finished grooming the last Pokémon when the sky was already high in the sky. Letting the Pokémon out into the pastures for some exercise, it was time to clean the kennels. She was actually finding of excited to do it for the last time. Not that she would ever get the chance.

             “Asta! Asta where are you?” Her mother cried from the porch.

             Walking over to the door and cracking it open she yelled back, “Cleaning the kennels I’ll be done in a bit!”

             “Oh stop! You don’t have to worry about that anymore!” Her mom yelled back, “Come in and get ready! It is time for you to go get your own Pokémon and start your journey! Your father will worry about that!” Her mother Demanded.

             Asta frowned and leaned against the door frame. She touched the wood, wanting just a few more minutes to say goodbye to the life that she always loved so much. However, another shrill call from her mom got her moving back toward the house with a tear in her eye.

             After a rigorous once over by her mother, including a shower and a fierce combing of her hair. Asta was dressed in jeans and a Eevee Sweatshirt. On her parents had bought her brand-new pair of tennis shoes for this trip, along with a rather large backpack to hold all of her things. Once she was dressed, her parents packed her up in the car and took off with a tire screech toward the professor’s research station.

             Once they arrived, they pulled up out of the car and up to the door. They were moving to fast Asta’s feet never even hit the ground. Professor Oak was just as excited as her parents were, letting them in and instantly getting to work making sure she was set up with a cell phone, complete with a Rotom Pokémon so that it can act as a pokedex as well. Everything was going so fast, Asta’s eyes ended up glazing over halfway through the orientation.

             Finally, it was time for Asta for choose her starting Pokémon. Oak took her to this large round table with three Poke balls on top of it. He then went from right to left explaining what each Pokémon and their abilities.

             “Charmander is a fire type, Bulbasaur is a grass type and Squirtle is a water type.” He explained with a smile.

             Then the room went silent. Everyone stared at Asta, waiting for her to choose the Pokémon she would start her journey with. Asta looked around at each person, trying to figure out if there is any way she can back out of this. Sadly, by this point it was too late, so she stepped forward and weighed her options.

             I guess I could take the Charmander. She thought. Fire types are really cool. But if I am going to have a fire type it is going to be a growlithe. I could take the Bulbasaur, but I do not really want a grass type as my starter. I guess all that leaves is…

             Asta stepped forward and took the Squirtle poke ball, then she turned to Professor Oak. “I choose Squirtle.” She stated.

             The room erupted in congratulations and applause. They were all overly excited for Asta and started talking about how Squirtle will help Asta a lot of her journey to become a gym leader. They even started to talk about Ember being a water type gym leader.

             After a final goodbye and a hardy good luck from her parents and the professor, it was time for Ember to start her journey as a Pokémon trainer. So, Asta started down the road, only turning to look behind her once to see all of the waving hands. Asta could not help but worry about the pit in her stomach.

             Once Asta was out of line of sight of the research station, she pulled out her poke ball and let Squirtle out. He seemed to be incredibly happy to see Asta, which was a nice change. She had become very used to people being more excited about her leaving then her being there.

             “You wouldn’t’ mind walking with me, would you?” Asta Asked Squirtle. “I get lonely.”

             “Squit-squirtle!” Squirtle answered. He seemed okay with it.

             Asta and Squirtle walked into Vermillion City, as that is what Asta had been taught to do. From what Asta understood, in order for her to become a gym leader Asta has to first beat all of the gyms. The very idea of that made her stomach curl.

             Stopping by a local café, Asta ordered dinner for both her and Squirtle. She sat down lazily and leaned against the left side of her chair. Squirtle sat happily across from her. He seemed to just be excited to be there.

             “From what I have heard,” Asta Thought out load, “The gym to start with is in Pewter City. That is the Rock Type gym. I am supposed to become a Gym leader, so I am going to need a killer team in order to succeed. Are you ready for that Squirtle?”

             “Squirtle!” Squirtle answered without even a second though, Asta envied his enthusiasm.

             At that moment, a loud screech came from the other end of the café. The source of the sound seemed to be an Eevee. It was surrounded by trainers and was holding onto an ever stone with all of its might.

             “Come on you useless Pokémon,” One of the trainers growled. “it is time for you to evolve into a flareon!”

             Asta sat and watch them try to pry the ever stone for another minute. The whole situation made her sad. She believed that nobody should be forced to do anything. Especially if they are not ready for it just yet.

             Squirtle sat in its chair confused, looking from Asta to the Eevee and back. Finally, it got tired of see the Eevee in distress. It hopped down from the chair and started to walk right over to the table where the competition was at.

             “Squirtle” Asta called after him, “What are your doing.”

             “Squirt” Was all that Asta got in response.

             Squirtle walked right up to the trainers and with all of the air in its lungs it yelled at them in order to get their attention. Asta had just reached Squirtle when the group all turned around and looked right at her.

             “What?” One of the men growled at her.

             Asta looked at the group and froze, her anxiety levels rising fast. She was stuck in her position with no way out. Her stomach got all knotted like it usually does when she encounters conflict, and her palms got all clammy.

             A small tug on her jeans pulled Asta out of her trance. Looking down she saw Squirtle standing next to her. One of his claws was holding onto her pants and the other was pointing right at the Eevee who is being help up by the scruff of its neck. Squirtle seemed to be worried about the poor little Pokémon.

             Looking at the group of frustrated trainers, Asta took a gulp and mustered up the little courage that she had. “I-if you do not want the Eevee, I would happily take it off of your hands.” Asta suggested.

             The trainer who was trying to take the ever stone from Eevee shook his head, “look girly, you do not want this useless piece of-“

             Asta’s rage grew, “Why not?” She cut him off.

             He sneered at her, “because you little brat! This Eevee refused to battle or evolve! It is the most useless Pokémon on the planet!”

             “then you wouldn’t mind if I take it?” Asta retorted.

             The trainer seemed surprised. He looked form the Eevee who was still holding the ever stone back to Asta. He seemed to be weighing his options. Then she just gave Asta a Shrug.

             “Fine, if you want to waist space, then you can have it!” He Yelled at her.

             Grabbing the Eevee from his friend, he threw he Pokémon at Asta. Asta was able to catch it before it hit the ground. Then the trainers laughed at their misfortune and took their leave. They make sure to leave some horrible words and names in their wake when it came to the Eevee.

             Asta walked both of her Pokémon back to her table. The Eevee was shaking in her arms, still holding the ever stone with all of it’s might. She felt sorry for the little thing and order it some food as well. The waitress just seemed to be happy that the commotion was over and done with.

             “hey, hey” Ember said softly to the Eevee as she sat down in her chair.

             Squirtle crawled back up onto his chair. He seemed to be worried about Eevee, looking over the table as Asta tried to calm her down. He also started to give comfiting noises in order to try and get the Eevee to open up.

             “No one should ever be forced into doing something they do not want to do.” Asta said to Eevee. “I am on a journey to be a Pokémon trainer, but I don’t want to do that. I do not like battles or fighting either. But my parents want their kids to be gym leaders, so I was forced to. But I would never force you to battle.”

             Eevee was still shaking, but she started to move her ears as if she were listening to what Asta was saying. Squirtle was surprised by Asta’s words. He looked at Asta as if he did not know what to think.

             “Don’t get me wrong Squirtle,” Asta said quickly. “I am overly excited that I was able to meet you and work with you. But if I did not have to battle I wouldn’t.”

             Eevee looked up at Asta at this point. Squirtle seemed to understand where Asta was coming from. All three of them seemed to understand each other at this moment in time. Taking a moment of silence in order to cement their understanding.

             “Then why don’t you open a Pokémon refuge?” The waitress said as she delivered Eevee a drink.

             “A what?” Asta asked.

             “A place where mistreated Pokémon can go.” She explained, then she shrugged and left.

             Asta was in shock. Her whole world was shattered this morning when she was forced on this journey. She was never thought that her life would come back together so quickly, that she would have a new dream by now. As she looked down at Eevee and over to Squirtle, every piece of the puzzle slowly started to come together. Everyone seemed to be in silent agreement of the new and improved plan of action.

Loki sighed openly as he followed Thor into the avengers boardroom. He was truly hoping to spend the day outside in the beautiful sunshine today, but he guessed that wasn't going to happen today. Usually, him being called into a meeting with Fury meant Loki had done something bad. So he was going to get another stern talking to and thrown into a cage for the night.

His look of confusion only grew when he saw the other Avengers sitting at the same table. They all looked at him and the room went quiet. Loki could feel the tension in the room, though he had gotten used to it. Clint looked the most angry, he wouldn’t even glance in Loki’s direction.

“Why is he here?” Clint growled.

“For today’s mission, we need both gods on hand.” Fury explained, giving Clint a look.

Once Loki and Thor sat down, Fury cleared his throat, “Now Thor, can you tell me what you know of the Olympians?”

“Greek Gods?” Banner asked, looking confused.

Fury noded and all attention was then focused to Thor.

“Uhhm,” Thor looked at loki for help.

“Brother, you were never good at history, even the history of your own kingdom.” Loki scolded. “Olympus, the land of the Olympians, is one of the nine realms. It was taken under control of Odan a long time ago.”

Fury nodded, “Then I am sure the both of you know Amber, greek goddess of nature.”

As Fury motioned back to the door a gorgeous young woman came through. She had platinum blond hair and wore a long forest green gown. She smiled at all of them, a smile Loki recognized. He had used that same smile many a time before.

“Amber?” Banner scoffed, “I have never heard of a greek goddess named Amber.”

Amber gave him a little smile, “When the Asgardians took control of Olympus, most of the top twelve gods fell. Leaving only Apollo and Artemis. Who later fell to unfortunate circumstances.”

Fury cleared his throat, “Amber, tell everyone why you are here.”

“I am here to ask you all for help,” She Explained. “My younger sister is on earth, and she is dangerous. She is leading a small band of Olympians with the goal to destroy your world. I can take my sister by myself, but I need help with her friends.”

Loki could smell her lies, but he just smirked and went along with it. This was going to be fun, he could feel it.

After a short jet ride and a little research. The Avengers found themselves in an area where weird occurrences have been happening. Occurrences that suggest godly activity has been happening.

Stark made sure to make the plane invisible when they reached the area, and landed in a small clearing. At the edge, they all could see a small figure, sitting in the grass. As they closed the distance, they realized it was a little girl singing a song in a foreign language. Loki cast his usual translate spell, but made sure Amber wasn’t affected, and she didn’t know.

“While you live,” She sang, “Shine. Have no grief at all, life exists only for a short while and time demands its toll-” She stopped when she saw Amber.

Her eyes wild with fear, she stood up and started to scream, backing up quickly.

“Barton,” Amber barked, “Shoot her.”

“No, She is just a child!” Clint protested, putting his bow down.

With a growl Amber grabbed it from him and knocked the arrow herself. Before anyone could do anything, she let the arrow fly. It seemed like the world was moving in slow motion. Until with a Flash of red, there was another woman standing over the child, taking the arrow to her back.

She let out a low growl as she pulled the arrow out, “Run.”

The little girl ran off and the woman turned to the Avengers. She wore a black leather jacket and a white tank top now stained with golden blood. She had ripped blue jeans on over her black combat boots. She was growling and staring right at Amber.

“Hello dear Ember,” Amber chuckled.

Ember growled at her words and began to charge towards Amber. She was about to change when a hammer hit her in the forehead and she was knocked out cold.

“What about the rest,” Amber asked angrily.

“We are sending a team after them,” A low voiced man answered.

When Ember opened her eyes, she was being dragged by two humans in armor. Behind her was the team of people she saw with Amber. Before her is Amber talking to a tall African American man who is missing an eye. When Amber saw Ember awake, she smiled.

“Uh, can I talk to my sister privately for a second?” She asked.

The man nodded, and motioned the humans to bring Ember into a small room with a metal table in the middle with wo chairs sat on each side. Ember was pressed down into of of them and her arms were then restrained to the rests with metal claps.

Once the men were out, Loki stood next to Fury as they looked through the one sided glass. Fury started by turning on the microphone that projected the sounds coming from within the room, and only then pressed the button to realise the gag on Ember’s mouth. Neither goddess noticed they were being watched.

A low growl came from Embers mouth, “Traitor!”

Amber laughed, “Me? You cast me out! I am not the trader here!”

“You tried to kill off my citizens,” Ember growled, “It was for the safety of my kingdom!”

Amber walked over and leaned in front of Ember, getting very close and smiled. “You fought for the wrong team darling sister. Now you are a wolf on a leash while your people are slaughtered by the easy to convince humans of earth. I win. Your people are soon going to die and here you are, tied to a chair by the other species you fought so hard to save. If only you gave the kingdom to me, right?”

“Your not even Greek!” Ember spit in her face. “An Asgardian has no place on the throne of Olympus!”

“I was raised greek the same as you were,” Amber got very close to her sister.

“By force,” Ember growled.

Fury turned around and pulled out his phone in a flash. He flumbled and dialed the team of seals as fast as possible, hoping he didn’t just kill the last of a species.

“Disengage,” Fury yelled into the phone, “Do not engage with the targets, do not engage!”

“Excuse me?” Amber's voice sounded disappointed behind him.

He turned around to see Amber with her hands on her hips and her head shaking. “As my Mother Always said,” She glanced back at Ember, “if you want something done right you gotta do it yourself.”

Natasha was quick, she grabbed the remote and realised Ember from her bonds. Ember was standing in seconds, her hair beginning to burn like fire. Her eyes red with flames as she charged at Amber and they both went through a wall.

When the Avengers went to the hole in the wall, they saw a giant green dryad holding a long sword. It was having a standoff with a bigger wolf made out of fire. They circled each other slowly, never shifting their gazes.

“I Should have killed you when you killed Mother,” The wolf growled.

“I should have killed you after Mother,” The Dryad laughed.

The wolf lunged, grabbing the Dryad by the arm and ripping it off effortlessly, but in vain as it just grew back. The long sword came down onto the wolf but just missed as it jumped back. Lunging again the wolf nocked the sword out of the Dryad’s hands and went for her neck. Only to catch air.

Looking around Ember could see a small green bird flying toward the greek encampment. Ember growled and shifted into a phoenix. Her feathers the color of fire, and her body majestic. The Avengers all let out a sigh of amazement as they watched her take off to chase after the bird.

Only when the birds were out of sight, did the Avengers realise that they needed to fallow. They needed to help the queen of Olympus after what they have done.

Thor took his hammer and used it to fly, followed by Tony holding up Steve. Natasha, Clint and Bruce hopped into the jet. Fury stayed back thinking about how he could have changed this outcome. Loki sighed and turned into a raven, following leisurely, he didn’t want to fight, but this was interesting.

The phoenix finally caught up to the sparrow when they reached the clearing. Digging her talons into the sparrow, Ember let out a screech and flipped back, dragging the sparrow back to the humans. But the sparrow had other ideas, she turned back into Amber and grabbed the leg of the phoenix and they both started to plummet to the ground. Flipping over, Amber landed on Ember with a thud, shoving her sister out of her phoenix form.

Ember slid away from Amber, pretending not to be in pain from the fall. But she knew she wouldn’t be able to shift into her animal form again and Amber knew that too. Pulling out her long sword again, the shine of the blade made Ember want to melt it down. Ember on the other hand pulled out her long black whip, its spikes at the end dripping with fire ant poison, each slash is worth one hundred fire ant stings.

Going head to head with Amber was a challenge. Ember relied on her ability to become bigger and stronger than her opponent. Now that it isn’t possible, she had to keep her distance and try to whip her sister into submission. It wasn’t going to work out very well.

Ember scrapped by, she just barely didn’t get caught by the sword. While her focus was on Amber, Ember did notice however the Humans who captured her arrive. She was grateful when they didn’t get directly involved, it would have just made Amber stronger. Going head to head, Ember lasted a long time. They fought for hours without either one of them ever getting the upper hand.

“No! My Queen! She will kill you!” Ember turned to see the little girl running toward them with a dagger in her hands. The Avengers trying to catch her.

While she was distracted she felt a burning sensation in her in her stomach. Shen she looked down she saw the blade of a sword plunging through her. Her gold blood dripping down her shirt and pants. She felt her mind going blank and with a flash of black and forest green, her eyes went black.

When Loki arrived at the scene, he was just in time to see Ember get stabbed through the gut by her sister. A sudden flash of anger and pain rushed through his mind from an unknown source. He dive bombed Amber and shifted back into his true form, plunging two daggers into her shoulders under her collar bone. Amber let out a scream in pain.

“You are going to regret that,” Loki growled into her ear as he began to twist his blades.

Amber threw him off and shifted into her sparrow form, fleeing the scene.

When Loki regained his composure, he saw the little girl kneeling over Ember, tears streaming from her face. She looked up at Loki and started to sob, covering her eyes with her little fists. She stood up and leaned into his legs shaking her head.

“Please sir,” She sobbed, “Please help me bring Queen Ember back to the Oracle? Please sir, the Oracle can save her!”

Loki just nodded and picked up Ember, not caring about her blood staining his armor. He followed the little girl into the forest. He noticed the rest of the Avengers following suit. But Loki felt something growing in him. A feeling he has never grown before, he couldn’t even look down at Ember’s face, it only made the feeling worse.

Soon they reach a little clearing that was guarded by a tall metal fence. Men in gold armor stood at the entrance. They crossed their spears when they saw the avengers approach. When they saw Ember they got into a battle stance and started to charge.

“Stop!” said a raspy old voice.

A lady with white hair came limping out of the compound. She was leaning on a staff twice her height. She wore a white robe and her teeth seemed to be missing. It seemed like her eyes were permanently shut.

“How dare you attack the saviors of our precious queen,” The old lady scolded. “You all follow me.” She turned around slowly and lead them inside.

The buildings were all made out of white sculpted marble. Once they crossed the gate, everything seemed to be brighter inside. The buildings were all open and they could see couches covered in leopard skins. There were men talking about philosophy, others painting masterpieces,  and some working on slabs of marble itself. There were farmers selling their goods, all of them wearing the same robes.

When the citizens of Olympus saw Ember, they all bowed and started to cry. Guards took off their helmets, woman threw roses, men kneeled down and prayed. They all stood when Ember passed and started to follow the Avengers to the Oracle's temple.

The temple was the biggest building in the compound. It towered over all the others. Inside there were luscious fabrics and art pieces. There were herbs everywhere, and other healing remedies with cots for the wounded for sick. But mostly there were twelve large statues of the original gods, the ones of Apollo and Artemis being the biggest and in the middle. Behind them were larger statues of three beautiful girls.  

“Who are they?” Barton squeaked.

“The fates, the only forces we have left other then our queen,” The old lady sighed.

She had Loki set Ember down on a big table. Then she started to chant in Ancient greek. The little girl started to run around in a panic, bringing the Oracle different healing spices and remedies. The oricle never stopped her focus and seemed to know where everything she needed was placed in front of her.

After about ten minutes of chanting, Ember finally opened her eyes. She took in a breath and immediately turned to her side to cough up some golden blood.

“Welcome back my Queen,” The oricle let out a sigh of relief.

“Thank you my Oracle,” Ember said in a dry voice, rest on her back again with a cough.

Then the Oracle looked at Loki. After setting Ember down he couldn’t step away. He felt the need to be there and he didn’t know why. He had just stood there whole time, next to Oracle. When she looked at him, he stared back asking her for help, asking her what this feeling was.

“My Queen,” The Oracle started, “Do you remember the first time you came to see me?”

Ember laughed, “That was millenia ago.”

“Why did you come to see me?” The Oracle winked at Loki.

Ember closed her eyes and laughed. “I had just finished the last of my mother's romance stories. I came to ask you who my destiny was.”

“What did I tell you?” The Oracle laughed.

Ember though for a moment, “His hair is as black as a ravens feather, his touch as cold as ice. His heart is stained by hatred and loathing, missing the only thing that makes it a heart. But you, er, I will be able to go to his soul through large emerald doors and cleanse it of all things bad. He has been trained to be king since he was a child, but not for the kingdom he thought. Once I have cleansed his soul, he will bring Olympus back to its former greatness.” Ember sighed, “I’m sorry Oracle, I have searched the Universe, you know this. I have never found emerald doors.”

The Oracle smiled and grabbed Loki by his cape. He was speechless, he didn’t know what to say. He had always felt that his destiny was taken from him, only to now realize that it hasn’t happened yet. So when the Oricle pulled him down to look into Ember’s fiery eyes, he didn’t even resist.

But when Ember looked back into his emerald eyes, a sense of knowledge washed over her face and she let out a low growl. “Asgardian.”

Pushing Loki away roughly, Ember sat up quick with a grunt in pain. She came close to the Oracle and growled, “Asgardians have no place on the Olympian throne, those are my mother's words.”

The Oracle glared back, “he is no more Asgardian then you are. You know his story, I taught it to you in your classes. Besides, my Queen, you of anyone should know that just because he was raised in a place, doesn’t make him who they are.”

Ember’s heart sank as she thought of Amber. She layed back down on the table with a huff.

“In other words, my Queen, you need him. I have done all I could, but I know you can still feel Amber’s poison killing you from the inside out.” She sighed.

“But Oracle, can’t you cure her?” The little girl asked frantically.

The Oracle shook her head, “Amber’s poison is a magical one, it can only be cured by magic.” Then she looked up at the Asgardian god of Mischief and Magic himself.

Loki was still gasping for air after his realization. The intense red eyes of Ember burned into his brain in a new section he has never reached before. When he realized that the Oracle was asking him to do, he gulped and stood next to Ember. He could feel her tense at his touch,  her eyes looking up at him in a frustrated and painful way.  

Placing his hands on her wound, he could feel the poison slowly shutting down her organs and causing her as much pain as possible. He slowly eased his magic inside and started to coax the poison out of her body and into a vial close by. Ember started whimpering in pain only to be replaced with screaming in a minute or two. Loki felt tears run down his face as she cried and begged for him to stop. He never wanted to hurt her again.

When it was finally over he stood still, Embers wound started to heal and she had stopped screaming. Using his magic, he got rid of all evidence of his tears. Only to see her eyes on him again. She reached up and grabbed the collar of his armor, pulling his face close to hers.

“Thank you, lord of mischief. But I don’t care what the Oracle says,” She growled, “You may one day be king, but my words will always trump your’s. No exceptions Asgardian.”

“Today children,” The oricle started, “I will tell you a story. A story that explains why we are the way we are today. You have read all of the stories of the old Olympians, but you haven't been told why they are the ‘Old Olympians.’

“Long ago, when Zeus still ruled over Olympus with his kind attitude and iron fist, Olympus was invaded. Our invaders were the barbarian Norse gods, Asgardians. Their ruler, Odin, was set on ruling all nine realms and we were the last realm he needed.

“Our Twelve gods of old stood together in a long unending fight. Protecting their people with their lives and giving all they had. But they were no match for Odan or his daughter Hel who rode a top a large wolf. One by one, each of our rulers fell to Asgardian steel. Soon Only Apolo, our sun god and Artemis our goddess of the hunt were left. They quickly surrendered to the will of the Asargians and were allowed to live.

“Being the children of Zeus himself, they became the king and queen of our world, ruling under the sturn hand of Odin himself. From this came peace for many centuries, Odin rarely came to visit and let us be ourselves in the process, but we never felt free.

“When Odin wanted Apollo and Artemis to raise her bastard daughter, Apollo was done. Artemis was already fat with their first child and didn’t have the energy to care for another. He challenged Oldin to a duel for leadership of Olympus, which ended in the untimely death of our dear king. In his wake, Artemis took the bastard child in and raised it as her own.

“When our dear queen was born, she was praised by all, even her elder Asgardian sister. They were very close growing up, the Asgardian having the power of nature and the Olympian having the powers of animals and magic, they got along nicely. Until the younger sister was named as the heir to the throne instead of the elder. Making the Asargian very angry.

“When she confronted Artemis, things escalated very quickly. The two women fought for days, putting Olympis to ruin. It only stopped when the Asgardian ended Artemis's life, ending the battle in her own victory.

“But she hadn’t seen enough bloodshed yet. She turned her rage to the citizens of Olympus, killing every man, woman and child in her path. She was stopped by her sister once, and the godly fighting started again. But this time, our new queen, Ember came out on top. Ember Banished Amber, her asgardian sister, for as long as it took inorder for her come to her senses and love her people again.

“In the wake of the war, everything on Olympus was destroyed. So Ember moved what was left of our race down to earth, where we have been hiding ever since. Hoping Amber wouldn’t come back looking for a fight and that humans would never find us.

“It’s been generations since then and we haven’t seen Amber since. Ember doesn’t show it, but she mourns the loss of her sister and hates the Olympian hating monster she has turned herself into.”

Note: If you like the idea of this fan fiction then please let me know and i will continue to write it! 

That night, Tony took all of the avengers out to a new club. The club has a lot of good reviews, so he wanted to try it out. He even agreed to bring Loki for this adventure, he was that excited.

Loki sighed as he sat at the table with the rest of the Avengers. He never cared for their useless small talk, much less their talk about missions even less. They were the most boring midgardians he had ever met. Until Tony started to talk about his new applicant for his executive assistant position, that made Loki’s ears perk up.

“So, she was wearing this incredibly sexy suit, right? It was black and her pencil skirt hugged her thighs perfectly. She was also wearing the sexiest red blouse I have ever seen. Now don’t get me wrong, I have Piper, so I of course was sceptical. But when I saw that fucking resume man, I almost fainted! She's perfect, with a perfect degree. She is organized and confident, I love her already.” Tony explained excitedly.

“So did you hire her?” Steve asked with a smirk, taking a sip of his bourbon.

“No, of course not. No self respecting CEO hires an executive assistant at the interview. I have to wait a bit, feel her out. If she contacts me again then she is too clingy, but if she goes with the flow then it’s meant to be.”

Loki’s teeth was clenched shut by the time Tony ended the conversation. Knowing exactly who Tony was talking about, he shook his head. She was the first person to stand up to him about anything. The First person who wasn’t persuaded by his looks or his charm. She was intoxicating, and Loki was out for his next fix.

But he couldn’t find her, she didn’t even live in New York! So now he had to go city by city until he found her again, and he wouldn’t stop until he did. Until she was his… assistant? Lover? He didn’t care which one, she just had to be one of them.

Ember was standing out back with Pisces, smoking a cigarette. They talked calmly with the rest of the band about how tonight’s show was going to go, it was Scorpio night. Each member gets a night where they are the star of the club every ten days. But for some reason, it was always the most packed when it was Scorpio’s turn, no matter what day of the week it is.

Ember’s crimson hair was down over her shoulders now, she was relaxed and slouching. Her blood red tank top lazily over her torso, the back cut to show off her scorpion. Her dark blue jeans were presteen, she never liked the idea of ripping them. Her black-heeled-combat boots were shined to profection to match her new black leather jacket she wore over her tank. Revealing the scorpion was everyone’s favorite part of the show.

Virgo came out and signed that it was time to begin. So Ember crushed out her cigarette and checked her phone. Still no email from stark industries. She sighed and her shoulders slumped. Maybe she wasn’t as good as she thought she was.

When Loki noticed the fog machines getting to work on the round table of a stage, He closed his eyes in disappointment. He knew this club offered live entertainment, but he didn’t understand why they had to be so extra. He noticed, the other club goers grow quiet and rush around the table. He tried to think of what kind of punk would play in a club like this. He was pleasantly surprised.

In seconds, a gorgeous woman with Crimson red hair shot out of the middle of the table. Landing on her feet she went right into her first song. It was a rock song, the chorus was light and easy to dance to, the rest got a little heavy for him, but her body made up for the slack. He watched her intently, hoping she would be the one to get Ember Pendragon out of his head.

At the end of the song, the woman froze for just a second. Letting her hair fall over her face, she was sweating through her leather jacket. Slowly she grabbed the pull of her jackets zipper. She continued to sing the chorus of her song as she pulled the zipper down, everyone seemed to stand still in anticipation. When the electric guitar started up again in a solo, she ripped her leather jacket off and threw it into the crowd.

Even with the extremely loud yelling, loki stood focused on this goddess of a woman. On her back was a large tattoo of a scorpion, cutting some sort of  “M” symbol in half. His heart was beating so fast, Loki worried for a second Thor would heart it. Until it dropped into his stomach.

When she turned around, she faced just to the right of Loki, only then did he realize who she was. He cursed himself and her in his head. She was even more intoxicating now that he knew what she could do on stage, how beautiful her voice truly was. He let out a low growl when she started to speak.

“Hello my Scorpions!” she paused for a second to let them scream, “Tonight we have many different songs set aside for you, but I need to be truthful with you okay?”

Everyone started to whisper nervously to her friends before giving Scorpio their full attention.

“Tonight,” She said with a sigh, “I am feeling the need to drink until I become a lesbian.” The crowd laughed a little. “I’m not kidding, it had happened before. She was really pretty, I wished i remembered some of it.” she chuckled. “Either way, what I am trying to say is tonight will be shorter than usual.”

When a outward groan came from the crowd, she playfully put up a finger, “hey! I usually go twice as long as these other bitches.” She laughs, “I deserve to take it easy for one night.”

One would think that the main act of a club would stay on stage the whole time, for their own safety of course. They would be wrong, at least they would be if they were talking about The Zodiac Club. Scorpio loved to go out into the crowd. She jumped from table to table and did a cute little dance on each one. She also made sure to dance down each bar at least once.

About half way through the night, she jumped onto a table with a lot more people than usual. She shrugged it off, until she found the emerald green eyes of Mr. Laufeyson. Careful not to break her composure, Ember continued to sing as she felt to limbs begin to shake. But the worst part was when she broke eye contact, she looked around the table and found Mr. Stark there too, looking at her in awe.

Fuck.

When the song was over, Ember was back on the big round stage. She felt herself begin to laugh. “As most of your know, I have been trying to find a big kid job as of late. So far I have been to two interviews.”

The crowd went wild in excitement for Scorpio.

“I just noticed,” She gave a suspenseful pause. “They are both here.”

The crowd let out a loud gasp. The last song Ember had been singing, sang about being a slut and loving it. It was a joke song Ember wrote to make the club laugh, now it just ruined her chances at the job she wanted, so they thought.

“Well that sucks,” she said in a mockingly disappointed tone, poking her lip out with fake sadness.

Then she began to sing again, it was the same song as last time with a few modifications. Now the song was about being a slut for your boss, and loving him. The club goers loved it. Everyone who wasn’t dancing started to dance as the club music began again.

After Scorpio ended her performance, with three encores, she walked over to her table. The table closest to the door with a scorpion engraved in the wood. Aquarius was already there. The second Scorpio looked into her best friend's eyes, she felt her “I’m fine” facade fade.

“Do you wanna go out for a smoke?” Aquarius asked softly.

Ember just nodded and they made their way to the back door. They pushed through many large groups of people, none of which noticed who they are. When they started to pass the table with her potential employer at it, she took the long way around, avoiding eye contact.

Once in the safety of the back alley, Aquarius turned on her heels. “You never told me you had two interviews.”

“Yes I did.”

“No, you didn’t.”

“Remember the dude who wore the ugly green? Who didn’t want to pay me or give me maternity leave.” Ember sighed.

“Oh shit,” Aquarius went pale as she lit her cigarette.

“I am such an idiot, I didn’t connect the fucking dots,” Ember sighed as she lit her own smoke.

“What dots?”

“Remember our second year of college? We took that myths and legends class because we thought it was easy credits?”

“Yeah that shit was hard,” Aquarius almost winced.

“Eyes like emeralds, he was as graceful as an elk. His long hair the color of a raven's feather.” Ember recited.

They were both silent for a long time, staring at each other. Aquarius was panicking, Ember just sighed and shook her head at her own stupidity.

“So you’re telling me,” Aquarius started, her voice shaking, “That you openly insulted the norse god of mischief? The brother to the norse god of thunder? And they are both here right now?”