Search for the Soul Gem

Chapter Fifteen

     "My eyes? What's happened to my eyes?" I asked, finally finding my voice even if it was only a whisper.

     "Can you-" Tony's voice broke. He swallowed hard before continuing, "Can you see me?" he whisper, his thumb tracing up my cheek and caressing the corner of my eye. My hands gripped his biceps tight as I tried to ground myself in reality. His eyes were filled with tears as he looked at me, studying my face closely.

     "Tony, I can see. Of course I can see, why wouldn't I be able to see?" I asked, my grip on his arms getting a little tighter.

     "I think he's referring to the rather drastic change in your eye color?" Natasha pointed out as she stood behind Tony, arms crossed.

     "What?" I asked, finally tearing my eyes from Tony and looking up at her.

     "Doll, you've got green eyes," James stated quietly from next to Steve.

     "No I don't, they're blue. They've always been blue...," I trailed off. I looked back at Tony, who'd removed his hands from my face but still held tightly onto my shoulders, "My eyes are blue, aren't they?" I whispered to him. He pursed his lips and swallowed hard. He shook his head grimly.

     "No, sweetheart. They're green now," his voice was low and sounded extremely uneasy. I still wasn't sure if I believed them. How could a person's eyes suddenly up and change colors? I turned around and looked at my reflection in the metal of the table behind me. The eyes that stared back at me were not the eyes I'd been seeing in mirrors for almost 30 years. I tore my hands from Tony's arms and reached up to touch my face; like maybe if I touched my skin, they'd go back to normal. But they didn't. They stayed a vibrate shade of green they now were. It almost looked like they were glowing.

     "H-how is this possible?" I spun around and looked from person to person, landing my questioning eyes on Banner. Banner glanced from me to Thor and then cast his eyes on the floor.

     "Thor, you wanna start explaining what just happened here?" Fury asked. Thor looked over at him and down at me with a lost expression on his face.

     "I-I am not entirely sure what just happened. No one alive today has ever completed the ritual correctly or in order to elicit the proper result, and it is kept top secret in Asgard... But it has been said that the original creator of the Infinity Stones places out instructions that can be followed to help find and control the gems," Thor explained. There was a long silence where no one spoke. I felt Tony work his fingers under mine in the hand that was still clutching the compass. He managed to break my grasp and open my hand.

     "Uh, Banner. Come look at this," he said, his voice was laced with anxiety. Banner strode over, followed closely by Thor and they both knelt down next to Tony. The rest of the heroes drifted after the two and stood around behind them. Tony turned my arm over to reveal a mess of black symbols tattooed into the skin of my palm and forearm. I gasped and reached out with my other hand to try and rub these mystery marks from my arm but it seemed that these marks were burned into my skin and couldn't be simply rubbed off. I turned my arm over and found two more symbols on the back of my hand and down my arm.

     "Oh!" Thor breathed out as he took my arm in his hands gently. Banner took the compass from me lightly and it spun slowly in his hands.

     "What is it?" Tony asked anxiously. By now, he had moved to be sitting next to me and out of Banner and Thor's way, his arm rested behind me on the floor but it's presence was clear against my back. As he sat forward to be closer to Thor, his arm slid closer to me until it rested against my hip lightly. The gang of heroes behind them all had different expressions on their faces. Steve and James both looked worried, Sam and Clint looked confused, Natasha curious, Rhodey was eyeing Tony closely, and Hill glanced next to her at Fury who stood directly behind Thor with an unreadable expression.