I'm back!

After what seemed like forever, I'm now fully back on a Loki-centric mood, and on this series. Nexus is the official sequel to Nightingale (we're back to the main timeline). It's a rewrite of T:tDW, like I've said before, though obviously with a spin to fit with everything in Nightingale (all but the last paragraph of the Encore... please ignore that).

This fic has a light-crossover with the first trilogy of books "The Secret Circle" by L.J. Smith, you don't need to have read the books to understand them, as they're just minor characters, though I do recommend them to you.

Also, for those who don't know and might be interested:
Nexus: (noun) a connection or series of connections linking two or more things.

And what's the Convergence but a Nexus between worlds?

Almost forgot! I don't own Thor, Loki, the movies or anything else in the MCU, that's all Marvel's. Nightingale belongs to me (though not the actress I've chosen to play her), I'm not making any money out of this (though reviews, favs, alerts and such are worth much more to me than you'll ever know). Please don't sue, hope you enjoy!

Nexus

(Sequel to Nightingale)

By: Lalaith Quetzalli

When one lives in a world where magic and science exist side by side, where individuals with extraordinary abilities walk the streets every day, the lines between myth and reality can become blurry. When the points align, the Veil will be lifted, and the Universe will never be the same again...

First Element: Earth

Like the Earth we are solid, strong, it teaches us to care for all things that grow...

Murmurs all around seemed to drown the sound of my steps as I walked across what just a few hours earlier had been the site of a most vicious battle. The viciousness being actually the very reason why I was there in that moment, even if many couldn't understand it. After all, why should a goddess, a princess of Asgard, be walking through a bloody battlefield?

There are many ways such a question could be answered. I could say that I wasn't born either a princess or a goddess, I could say that I cared more about helping people than my own safety at times, I could say that I had as much right as everyone else to want to help and protect the realms; each and everyone of those answers would have been as true as the other, though there are some people that would have disliked one more than the others. My match has never liked me putting myself in danger, especially since I died... It's a long story.

The short version of it is that I am Lady Nightingale, goddess of Devotion, match and consort of Prince Loki, adopted son of Odin Allfather and Lady Frigg, the King and Queen of Asgard, born the bastard firstborn son of Laufey, the former King of Jotunheim.

The longer version of the story would be explaining that I was born Silbhé Arianna Kinross Salani, daughter of Sebastian Salani, an architect, and Aislinn Salani (nee Kinross), a musician (piano was her specialty); niece of Kathryn Adler Salani, former Agent of the MI5, the SSR and SHIELD. My mother died when I was very young, cancer. I was raised mostly by aunt Kathryn, as my father was always working (though she claims my dad spent a lot of time with me when I was a child, I just cannot remember it because of how sick I was at the time). And it's that at age five, after spending months getting weaker and sicker, a doctor finally diagnosed me with cancer, leukemia to be precise. I spent the next four years under treatment, which kept me at times so sick I've forgotten much of what happened back then (which, I guess, makes my aunt's words at least plausible). At nine I went into remission. And then, at eleven, I met a young black-haired, green-eyed individual that changed my life forever. His body looked like that of an eleven-year-old, and then I looked into his eyes... and I knew there was no way those eyes could belong to a child, there was too much in them (feeling, thoughts, history, shadows...) for that.

That was how I met Loki, though he introduced himself to me as Luka Hvedrungr (a name he later solidified as his human identity). Through the years I called him by many names: Maverick, Aquarius, rebel, my love, my match...

At fourteen the cancer came back, stronger than before, and the old treatments no longer worked. After I decided I had no interest in trying the newer, harder methods, I was given three months to live... I was ready then, it's not like I wanted to die, but I'd grown used to the idea. Until Loki interfered. Using something that had only existed in fiction (in a sci-fi novel I'd been reading at the time, in fact), he saved me; binding his life-energy to mine in the process. Back then I did not understand what that meant, exactly, I wouldn't for years.

I think I might have loved him from the very start. First in that way only children can love, so pure and innocent and unconditional; yet as I grew, that love changed, it never stopped being unconditional, but it went from the love of a child, of a sister or a dear friend, to the love of a girl, and then the love of a woman, all passion and surrender. I didn't breathe a word about it, first because I feared he might see me as too young, later because I didn't believe myself to be enough for someone like him. Until the day I almost lost him, found him again broken in body, mind and soul... I did my best to put him back together, and in the process did the same to myself.

It wasn't all smooth sailing after that, all the opposite. He was forced to go back to the abyss, to the one who'd tortured him so, pretending to be the pawn the awful creature wanted, in order to keep an eye on the Titan, and stall for as long as possible, giving time for Midgard to be ready for the war to come. I did my best to make sure Earth would be ready. It wasn't enough, yet again, we'd known it'd be almost impossible. At least they managed to survive and achieve victory (as much as one can call it victory when the true enemy was never on the field, half his army still remained, and there had been so many deaths...); I suppose it could have been worse.

So much happened in the next year, though I was only truly conscious and focus for about half of it. In the end my beloved was given a chance, and I with him. They tried, Thor, Jane, Phil and the rest of the Avengers. They listened when my match and I told our story, and at least some did their best to keep an open mind, to understand why we'd done the things we did. There was one other person too, though she did much more than try: Darcy Lewis. She heard it all, smiled, and offered her friendship like it was the most natural thing in the world. She was probably our truest friend in any realm.

The Chitauri went back for a second battle a year after the first. That one was better planned. It took place in the desert rather than the middle of an over-populated city, no innocent civilians were involved, and few people died, all but one full-fledged Agents of SHIELD who knew exactly what they were getting into... There was one more person who died though, the only non-Agent casualty; and while the cause listed was in no way related to the chitauri, SHIELD or the battle that had taken place, those involved knew better. The name: Professor Salani-Hvedrungr.

That was the day I died. And it's not a figure of speech. I left my last breath in my beloved's lips, having asked for one last kiss, before opening my eyes again to the 'mist and shadow' realm that was Helheim, home and kingdom of my match's daughter: Lady Hel Lokidottir. It was she who truly explained to me the depth of the bonds that tied Loki and I together. And it wasn't even only the deamarkonian anymore, for I had unlocked that during the battle, to make it impossible for the Titan to use me against my consort, it was what killed me, as Loki's energy stopped battling the cancer and it finally took me, like it ought to have when I was fourteen (I was 21 at the time, which meant I still got to have seven extra years). She told me that the deamarkonian might have been the beginning, but the bonds between us went far beyond that; they were unbreakable. And it was that which gave me a chance to go back... the catch: If I did I would be like Loki, no longer human, an immortal, I would never know the death humans took for granted, the afterlife, the chance to rest... (Immortality is much more complicated than vampire romance novels make it seem) I said yes, I knew it wouldn't be easy, my brain couldn't even process the idea of living for thousands of years... but as long as it meant getting a chance to be with Loki, I was willing to take it, was willing to do anything.

I got to Asgard right on time to do what I vowed to do the night Loki first came back to me, after the mess of Thor's near-coronation, the near-war with Jotunheim, his short time as King and the vicious battle of brothers on the edge of a broken Rainbow Bridge (from which my beloved fell, straight into the abyss). After treating his physical injuries, and doing my best to deal with his mental and emotional ones, I vowed to stand by him, always, no matter what; I promised, first silently to myself, later on to him, that if I ever got the chance I would stand by him before all of Asgard, and I would show them the kind of man my beloved truly was.

My beloved was scarred, the marks on his skin may no longer be visible, not since my healing gift first manifested in the aftermath of the lashing he was subjected to as the first part of his punishment, during his second trial; but the scars were still there, invisible to the eye and touch. They were on me too in a way, because I could remember every touch of the whip, every searing lash, leather biting into skin and muscle... I would never understand how no one had realized it, despite how many times the bond between us had been mentioned; neither do I know where I got the strength to hold my pain (my whimpers and screams) in throughout it all, maybe it was part of the same strength that allowed him to keep silent as well. And it wasn't just the lashes either, it was also the torture he was subjected to after falling through the abyss, endless time compressed into one month (there was a reason why I hardly ever talked about those weeks).

Things did not end with that second trial, though. Though, even with the whipping, we counted that as a victory, in a way. I was recognized as Loki's match and consort, even if I didn't really need anyone's approval or blessing to become immortal (I already was), our marriage was finally legal, and the Aesir were beginning to accept it (not fully, how could they when they didn't even accept my beloved fully?).

Then the magik storm happened, and everything changed... again. We were already in trouble, because we'd violated the 'palace arrest' and gone to Midgard to save Gwen Stacy when the Green Goblin almost killed her on Queensboro Bridge (Heimdall was actually the one who warned about it, but I never gave him up). Then the storm happened, and no one was doing anything! Because magik storms couldn't be stopped, and they were all used to dealing with the aftermath... and then we found out it'd just hit the East District... the school to be precise. It was then that my husband and I decided to ignore the Elders and their babbling and just go and do something. We might not have been able to stop the storm, but Loki could certainly deal with the fire that it'd started, while I used my own magic to first teleport the people out, and then heal those that needed it most.

A lot changed that night: Asgard found out its second prince (whom they'd recently learnt was adopted) was in fact a Jotun; yet no one could really complain about it, not with all the children (and a few adults) singing him praises for what he'd done. Asgard also found out that I could heal, a rare gift, referred to as a blessing; when I explained that I got my magic from my match, one then had to assume that he was the blessed one, therefore it shouldn't matter that he was a Jotun, if the Higher Powers had given him the rarest of all blessings in the 9 Realms! Asgard could also see that there was more to Loki than mischief and lies, he was a protector... and so was I.

After that things went easier. The Elders couldn't exactly keep punishing us when the children we'd saved and their families loved us so... So we were free to leave the palace (even if not Asgard). I felt like it was right then that our new life truly began.

My father died, not long after that day. I got the opportunity to say goodbye, thanks to my step-daughter. Then I was left to mourn, I may have grieved more over the father I could have had, than the one I actually did, but it hurt all the same.

Things should have been better after than, and they were, until the Elders saw fit to manipulate my match into going to Jotunheim to settle matters... knowing fully well that the Frost Giants would want to kill him. I wasn't about to stand for that, so I went (who cared that they refused to let me, it's not like I needed the permission, or the means, I had the will and the power). Not sure how it happened, exactly, but I managed to not only stop King Helblindi from killing Loki, and also got him to agree to the start of peace treaty; even ended with a son (Helblindi's own runt son, Hákon, Loki and I adopted him). He became mine... my boy... my son...

"Princess Nightingale!" A voice calling from right in front of me pulled me from my memories.

Before me stood a tall woman, with hair like the threads of the lightest gold, almost more gold than platinum, falling straight down her back in a very loose braid, her eyes somewhat small and the most beseeching amber color; she was dressed in a style similar to Sif, except her armor had a golden hue and the clothes underneath were pale-brown, her boots made of tanned leather; she wore a brown cloak over-herself (much simpler than my own plum colored one, but no less useful), though the two most attention-drawing details of her were the ten daggers strapped to her body, eight small, stiletto style and the same platinum-gold as her armor, the last two a bit wider, longer, with a bladed side, and a darker gold color; the other detail was the woven bracelet around her right-wrist: one strand made of tanned leather, another of her own platinum hair, and the last of dark-silvery-gray hair only few in all the realms knew who it belonged to...

She was a Valkyrie, one of the few female warriors to have been to Valhalla and been allowed back, the warrior ladies under the service of Queen Frigg (just like the honorable Eihenjar served Odin Allfather). As I'd discovered since my arrival to Asgard, Sif wasn't an oddity for being a warrior-lady in itself, but because she fought like a Valkyrie, among them even, without having set foot in Valhalla. Her name was Ylva... and she was also Fenrir's match.

Fenrir, known by several names: Fenris Wolf, the demonic wolf, monster... some believed him to be an offspring of my beloved, but that wasn't true. There was a connection, but not one of blood. Loki had found Fenrir when he was still young, taught the creature to control its inherent powers, to change its size and form (he could take a humanoid shape) at will. It'd gone well until Fenrir set his eyes on Lady Idunn (of the Golden Apples) and desired her. He was more wolf than man, and his courting seemed to the lady more like hunting... she did not understand, and sent the Asgardian army after him. Only my beloved's prompt intervention saved Fenrir's life, though he was forbidden from ever setting eyes on the lady again, and eventually someone went as far as to create a magical barrier that kept him pretty much imprisoned in a dark clearing deep in the oldest forest of Asgard.

So, Midgardian myth got a lot wrong, where it came to Fenrir. He wasn't a Lokison (though my husband did love him like a son, as did I after getting a chance to know him), there was no sword running through his mouth, nor chains keeping him tightly bound, nor any specially dwarven tie holding him in place (even if he was, indeed, imprisoned). The nature of his prison, though, allowed him to move inside the limits of the meadow (which wasn't exactly small); it also allowed him to receive visitors (it was made to make it impossible for him to escape, but any other living being was free to come and go as they pleased). It was how Loki got to visit and spend time with him, same as me, and his match: Ylva.

No one knew for sure how those two had met, and while the Elders hadn't exactly approved, enough people had spoken up for the Valkyrie's trustworthiness, her loyalty, and her prowess in battle, so in the end no one tried anything against her, or Fenrir. She'd been handpicked by my love to be one of my handmaidens and my personal guard after the first attempt on my life (there were some who, regretfully, still saw my husband and my son as monsters, and myself as an abomination for standing by them).

"Yes Ylva?" I asked softly, forcing my mind to focus on the present.

"We're here, my lady." If she noticed my absent-mindedness she did not mention it.

Which meant also, that no one else was close enough to notice (she'd have mentioned it if there had been); that was good, what wasn't, was the princess of Asgard being so distracted while standing where only a couple of hours earlier a vicious battle had taken place. Especially because, even if that battle had been won, there were still Marauders in Vanaheim, and they could be hiding anywhere (hence the need for a bodyguard, even though we'd long since dealt with the dissenters in Asgard).

Indeed we were 'there'. In this case, 'there' being the medical tent set up on the edge of the camp. Far away enough from the army tents that the boisterous, impromptu celebration taking place right then wouldn't bothered those who needed to focus on recovering, or the few healers that had volunteered to travel with the army as they took care of the Marauders across the Nine Realms They were few, and mostly low-level healers, who sought to take advantage of the war to get ahead in rank faster than they would have working in the palace or anywhere else during peace. It was why I'd been called, even if my formal experience was less than most, my abilities (both with herbs and magic) far surpassed that of any of them; Lady Eir herself had taught me all she knew about magical healing, she also said I just seemed to have an instinct for it, as if I'd had the gift forever, or simply been meant for it all along.

Without saying a word I stepped past Ylva and straight into the tent. I waited just long enough for the healers and the couple of guards (unhurt ones) present to acknowledge me before Ylva took off my cloak. I was left in my knee-length plum-colored riding dress, knee-high dark-leather boots and arm-guards. My hair was in a bun at the nape of my neck. It wasn't the kind of clothes most people were used to seeing me in; while in Asgard I always wore simple dresses and sandals, my favorite being a sleeveless lilac one with a white sash and white slippers. There was a certain likeness of my riding dress with the kind of attire the Valkyries wore... except I wore no such armor (only an aketon, reinforcements for my arm-guards, boots and finger-less gloves), then again, I did not need it, every single piece of that ensemble was spelled to be as resistant as the best dwarven-forged armor, without being as heavy or cumbersome.

I began working right away. Mostly using healing stones, elixirs and herbs, and only aiding those with a bit of magic when the wound I was treating was particularly delicate. Aesir might heal fast, but as they were still in the middle of a conflict it was especially important that they recover as quick as possible; for them and Asgard as a whole.

A couple of hours later, things changed abruptly. I wasn't surprised that I hadn't yet seen neither hair nor hide of my match, or my brother-in-law, as they were both most likely working on keeping morale high, while preparing a strategy for the next battle. I'd heard there were plans to disassemble the camp and move on to the next location at first light the next morning. They were done with that sector... which is why no one was expecting the attack that came:

The sound was like that of glass breaking, and suddenly a corner of the tent was in flames. A corner of my mind remembered the molotov coctails gangs sometimes used back in my home-world; the rest of me was more focused on doing something to solve the matter. No one was expecting an attack, and to that same level, it was like no one seemed to know what to do.

Eventually one of the healers moved, she took a pitcher of water from a nearby table and threw it at the fire... it did nothing.

"It's magical fire!" She cried out nervously.

I knew what that meant, so I took another pitcher and moved closer to the growing fire.

"Water will never put out a magical fire, my lady!" The same healer told me, afraid.

"I know." I told her calmly, before putting my hand inside the pitcher and calling: "Vann..."

At first one would think nothing happened, until I pulled my hand back out of the pitcher, pulling the water with it. I focused, allowing my magic to seep into the liquid for several seconds, before pointing my hand in the direction of the fire and commanding the water to follow it. It worked, the magic-charged water dousing the fire in the way the other one hadn't been able to.

"It worked!" The healer girl cried out gratefully. "Oh, thank you princess!"

"Don't thank me yet." I told her, tone more grim than I'd intended. "It's not over. Those that attacked are still out there, and failing won't plan probably won't stop them from trying again."

That finally made the two guards react as they went to deal with the attackers, I suspected two men wouldn't be enough.

"My lady, I should take you to Prince Thor and Prince Loki." Ylva told me quietly.

"We're not leaving these healers and injured warriors to the mercy, or lack thereof, of the bunch of attacking marauders Ylva." I told her seriously.

She knew I was serious, had known me long enough for that (and it's not like my exploits before that were a secret, for that matter Thor seemed to get some strange pleasure out of making them all as public as possible... there was a reason I was called the goddess of Devotion, considering everything I'd done, and the reason why I'd done it all).

"Very well, princess." She nodded, resigned, at me. "Just, please, stay inside, I shall go help."

She did as she said, which actually did help. I went to stand at one of the openings to the tent, watching the unplanned battle progress. The two guards were young and had little experience, still, they were trying very hard to keep almost half a dozen Marauders away. Ylva herself was doing her part, with her very particular battle style, she'd already taken down two opponents and was in that moment dealing with two others.

What none of us was expecting was the moment two others threw more fire-bombs: two at us, at the tent, and two more at the fighters. I got a fraction of a second to ponder on how little the Marauders seemed to care for their own comrades, before my instincts took hold, I was moving before I was fully conscious of it. Running out the tent and to stand as close to the fights as I could (without actually getting in the middle of it), I threw both arms out, even as my fingers traced runes in the air, calling:

"Algiz!"

The shield shimmered into place just in time, causing two of the firebombs to bounce right off it and back in the direction of those who'd thrown them; causing upon secondary contact a blaze big enough to consume them. The other two burnt in contact with the shield, which made it harder than I was expecting to keep it up, though I did manage to, in the end.

While I'd learnt to use magic (at least my most used spells) without having to draw runes in the air, or call them out-loud, the magic seemed to be stronger when I did, as if something in those actions focused the power better. Lady Frigg said it was a consequence of using a power I wasn't born with, and which technically didn't belong to me (even if, with the strength of our bonds, the phrase 'what's mine is yours, what's yours is mine' held more meaning than ever before, anywhere else).

Everyone turned to look at me in that moment, shocked at the turn of events. Apparently it was one thing to hear my brother talk about my 'adventures' in Midgard (and Jotunheim), and a very different one to actually see me stand up to a number of enemy warriors. There was much time to ponder on such details, though, as two of the marauders the guards had been fighting managed to get away from the Aesir and ran straight at for me instead.

"Princess Nightingale!" Ylva called, distressed.

I directed a calm look at her, even as she did her best to take down her own opponents as fast as possible to run in my defense. I knew there was no need to worry. And I was proven right when, before they had even given the fifth step, my two would-be attackers, fell, each with an ice blade running them through (one the neck, the other the forehead).

"My Maverick..." I called softly, still not moving.

He was beside me in a second, a protective arm around my back.

"My Nightingale.." He murmured in return, his voice turning cheeky. "I leave you alone for a little while and you go looking for trouble!"

"I don't go looking for it... it just keeps finding me." I replied in the same tone. "And it's not like I was defenseless."

I was right, and he knew it. The moment the fire had vanished I'd let the shield fall, instead reaching for two of my daggers, which were in my hands in that very moment. I was ready to fight. Though that had become completely unnecessary when I felt my beloved's aura approaching rapidly, he'd become aware of the attack.

"Sister mine!" Thor called loudly as he joined us. "Are you well?"

"Just fine Thor." I assured him calmly.

And I was, the battle was over already, a handful of warriors had arrived right behind the two princes (most notably were Sif and Hogun among them) and dealt with the remaining Marauders (though Ylva and the two guards had done a good job on their own, too).

"This should have never happened..." Thor murmured. "This sector was supposed to be free of Marauders already."

Thankfully there hadn't been much damage. Loki dealt with the burnt hole on the tent in a matter of seconds, and aside from a few scraps and bruises, and one shallow cut, the guards were just fine, Ylva's wounds were even less than that; also, seeing how I was a healer, I would be dealing with those details shortly.

"I told you it was unwise to treat this realm as if it were completely separate sectors." Loki said seriously. "Unlike realms like Alfheim and Nidavellir, the geography in Vanaheim is not such that you can completely isolate one area from the others."

"What do you propose then?" Thor asked, acknowledging the wisdom behind his brother's words.

"We need to create patrols and leave them in each zone where we manage to defeat our enemies." Loki proposed. "Small enough that we won't weaken ourselves after we've left several groups behind, but not so much that they're in risk of losing if strays attack them after we're gone."

"Could your magic be used to create some sort of alert system, in case one of the patrols needs additional help at any moment?" Thor inquired.

"It would be possible, yes." Loki admitted, liking the idea. "Though the effectiveness of that plan will depend on where the army is if and when the call comes."

Thor nodded, it was a risk, he knew it, we all did... but it was also probably the best plan they had, at least it was better than risking fighting in circles around Vanaheim, never being able to take out all of the Marauders.

"Maybe you should leave now, sister." Thor said next, turning to me, worry evident in his every feature. "Before there is another attack."

"If you think I'm leaving without making sure everyone here is as healed as I can make them you know me not at all, brother..." I stated seriously.

As if to further prove my point I spun around before marching back to the tent. Thor didn't say anything further, didn't try to stop me, while my husband simply chuckled at my stubbornness before going after me. He wouldn't try to stop me from doing what I felt needed to be done; he also wouldn't be leaving my side for anything until I was safely back on Asgard.

It took a couple of hours longer, then my job was finished and I was back on the Observatory in Asgard, with a promise of my match that he would be back in a fortnight. That was good, I'd missed him so, as had our children. Thankfully Vanaheim was the only realm still with trouble from the Marauders, once things were finished there we ought to have peace and the chance for some quality family time... I could hardly wait.

xXx

"Your dilly-dandling to that mortal realm shall stop." Odin called, voice full of authority.

We were standing on the throne room: Odin, Frigg, Thor, Loki, Hákon and myself. It'd been our intention to make another trip to Midgard, like we'd been doing every so often since my birthday party almost three months before. I didn't believe our travels were causing any trouble, judging by Odin's tone of voice an expression it would appear I'd been wrong.

"What does that mean, Father?" Thor asked, tense, he already knew he wasn't going to like the answer, whatever it might be.

"It's time you, all of you, fulfill your duties as princes and princess of Asgard." The man stated, in a somewhat pompous tone (at least to my ears). "Too long have I allowed you to drift, to waste your time spending it with those Midgardians. You are part of the royal family of Asgard, and your duties are to all the realms in Yggdrasil."

None of us spoke, none of us knew what to say. If I was honest with myself, a part of me had known it was coming. Odin had already bent more than expected, allowing my match to Loki to stand (not that we'd given him much of a choice), I was sure that the last thing he wanted was to risk Thor choosing to bind himself to a human too. The part Odin didn't seem to realize was that it was too late for that too, I'd been able to see the beginnings of Thor's and Jane's bonds even before I died, and they'd only grown since then, though I wasn't sure anyone besides me and Loki had noticed yet.

"Marauders have been laying waste to towns and cities across the Nine Realms." The Allfather continued in the same time. "You shall put a stop to it. It's time everyone remembers the might of Asgard, and of its army..."

I was horrified by the idea of places being destroyed, innocents hurt by what, in my mind, amounted to inter-dimensional terrorists. However, that didn't stop me from noticing the words Odin Allfather used to explain what ought to bee done, which made it sound like he didn't really care about the people or the places, only about showing off his army, and his sons.

Of course I wasn't to participate in the upcoming battles in any way. It wasn't proper... and while usually I would ignore such things, there was the fact of my son. There was no way I was leaving Hákon alone for spirits-know-how-long. Especially when I did not trust Odin to do right by the child (I'd already seen how wrong he'd done by my love). So, even though I'd promised both myself and my match that the next time something happened I would be by his side... I wouldn't. He understood, of course, he loved Hákon as much as I did (and, knowing him as I did, he was probably relieved I wouldn't be putting myself in danger).

"We shall make sure the Nine Realms are safe." Thor nodded, knowing it was necessary.

"But we shall make one more trip to Midgard first." Loki added, as if it had been planned. "We are not leaving our friends without giving them a reason, leaving them to believe we've been hurt, or worse, that we're abandoning them. They've done too much for us and deserve at least that much respect from everyone..."

It was criticism directly to the Allfather, disguised as it was in Loki's speech, we all knew it, though none of us mentioned it. Odin himself said nothing, just waving us away. He probably knew he wouldn't have been able to stop us; and in the end, it's not like he needed to, he'd gotten what he wanted, the trips to Midgard would stop...

Almost a year had passed since that day. It hadn't been easy, saying goodbye to all our friends. Especially after having lived with most of them for a good part of those months (whenever we were on Earth) and before I'd died.

Tony, as could be expected, insisted on a farewell party before our departure, everyone was there: Jane, who refused to leave Thor's side all day, not knowing when she would see him again (she knew the option of following him wasn't available to her); Tony and Pepper, who'd just returned from their honeymoon in some private island; Bruce, Betty and little Robbie, who'd recently been reunited, with Tony's help; Clint and Natasha, who outside the tower kept acting like the perfect emotionless agents, while inside it they'd stopped hiding their relationship; Steve, whose badly-hidden grin told everyone that his 'weekend getaway' had gone quite-well (more even), though he refused to tell anyone about it; Darcy and Phil, who had come out as a couple right after the birthday party; Peter and Gwen, engaged, living together, going to college and planning to marry right after graduating; Harry and MJ, living together as well, and trying to find a balance with their extremely different lives as CEO and theater actress; even Fury had dropped by for a little while.

The only person missing was Aunt Kathryn. It'd taken me a lot to convince Fury that she was family and, as such, deserved to know the truth. I think that his own old connection with her might have helped in the end (even if I myself didn't know exactly how deep that connection ran), for he agreed. The problem: Aunt Kathryn had gone back to working with the 'Doctors Without Borders' program after my father's funeral and was somewhere in south Africa (or so we thought), with no planned return anytime soon. The powers in that continent, both from mutant and other old tribes that still held onto the old-traditions and gifts, were such that neither Loki nor I were able to track her with our magic. We would have to wait until she returned.

After Odin's 'order' of stopping our trips to Midgard I couldn't help but think that maybe it was a good thing that I hadn't seen my aunt before that. She would have never let me go quietly, and it wasn't like I could exactly oppose the Allfather's orders, he was my King. Also, the order actually had some logic behind it, as it was important that Asgard take care of the Marauders, and who better to lead the army than Thor and Loki?

It wasn't easy, while some people (mostly those born after the Great War) were willing to give my beloved a chance, and the children downright loved him (some insisted it was awesome that he was blue and could control ice), there were also girls who found me fascinating for some reason (I suspected it was my small size, some of them were as tall as I!); most Warriors, though, still hated Jotunheim and its inhabitants for what had happened during the war. Even the treaty that we'd been working on with King Helblindi hadn't been enough to change their minds. The worst part was that the resentment that extended to Loki, since everyone had found out the truth about him after he'd revealed his own skin during that magik storm. And even if his bloodline weren't the problem, there were those connected enough to the Council or others in the palace to know at least some of what had happened in Midgard... it did not matter if my Maverick's intentions may have been noble. I honestly believed that Aesir couldn't comprehend things like secrecy, subtlety and the use of underhanded tactics. And the fact that Odin Allfather had, from my point of view, bowed to the pressure from the Council of Elders to actually charge and punish him, even though the King knew exactly why his second son had done the things he did, only cemented those ideas. For them if it wasn't done directly and in full view, it was cowardice (which was absolutely ridiculous!) but still, it explained why they simply couldn't understand Loki and the way he did things.

At least he'd Thor. The blonde had proven he truly loved Loki as a brother, and cared not at all about his parentage, his power, or the questionable things he might have done either while Thor was banished to Midgard, or after his fall from the Rainbow Bridge. So strong were his beliefs that he had no compunction about expressing them, loudly, to anyone who might think differently. I just hoped that, ever so slowly, he would be able to teach others to trust Loki as well. Otherwise eternity in Asgard would get boring pretty quickly... It's not like we actually had to stay in Asgard forever, I did like the idea of seeing other realms... but still, it was supposed to be our home...

As always, full-sized poster and a set of wallpapers can be found in my Deviant-Art account (my name is Princess-Lalaith there). Hope you'll like them.

Updates will happen every week for this story, might slow again for the next.

Future plans: After Nexus will come a new set of AUs (fewer this time, probably only four or so). Before we fully dive into the third part (fourth if you add the side-story) of this series (which doesn't have a name yet), where I will go more into Agents of SHIELD, Captain America, X-Men (movieverse) and a few other things. You're welcome to suggest ideas and pairings, there are some still for grabs and if people make a good enough case (and it fits with my universe) I will follow your advice.

Please don't forget to review. Tell me what you like, what you don't like, what you think is missing, that kind of thing. See ya around!