Book II – Just another family gathering

"Aiden!" A voice rung through to him. "Aiden!" Gods, he knew that voice too well. "Aiden, you need to get up, if you want to shower before the others arrive!"

The young blond groaned and rolled over on his stomach before smashing the pillow over his head. He didn't want to get up yet, the training with Kane last night killed him… Just as he thought that this little monster had given up his door was opened and just a second later something – or someone – jumped onto his back.

"Aiden! Come on!" She wouldn't give up, would she? "Please, if you don't stand up now Kane will come up here and get you out of bed."

The blond groaned and pulled his pillow off his head before turning it so he could look at the girl on his toned back. Her silver eyes met his two green ones causing a grin to spread on her lips. "You're a terrible liar. Kane is never awake at such a time."

Her grin got even wider. "You're right. But I thought you wanted to shower since you didn't last night after your training session and you practically fell asleep in my doorway." She giggled and plopped down next to Aiden on his bed.

Sighing he popped on his elbows and watched his little sister next to him. 17 years have passed since she was born and as annoying she could be at times, he loved her with all his heart. Her golden locks now fell down to her bellybutton and turned slightly redder the farther they went down, but never turning completely red like their brother's and father's hair. Her skin was still as pale as his, which was one of the few things that even made it seem like they were siblings, next to their blond hair. He smiled lovingly – yet fucking tiredly – at his little sister and flicked her forehead.

"Ow!" She complained, attempting to slap him in return but was surprised as Aiden caught her hand quickly. "Wow, your reflexes got faster."

Aiden chuckled. "Thanks, sis."

He said and watched Lyra lower her hand before standing up and heading to his door. "I will be down stairs and help mom prepare everything. You shower before Kane and dad wake up, you know that otherwise you will be the last to shower and we wouldn't want Mr. Handsome to be late."

Aiden laughed and sat up in bed, while throwing the covers off him and standing up. Lyra's eyes went up and down his body before she frowned. "Has Mr. Handsome been to the gym lately? 'Cause those muscles weren't there last time I checked."

Again he laughed, why was his sister so good in making him laugh? "No, I haven't, Flipper and it is slightly off-putting that you're checking me out."

"It's not my fault that all the girls at school fawn over you and Kane whenever one of you picks me up and those gatherings don't help either." Lyra said, while massaging her forehead. That caused Aiden to frown. His sister only massages her forehead when something is off.

"You okay?" He carefully asked, not approaching her yet because he knew that she would shut him out then.

His little sister sighed and nodded. "Yeah, just school. It's more stressful now that it is only a year until graduation." A lie, Aiden knew so much, but why was she lying to him?

Smiling he walked over to her and hugged her tight. "Don't worry, the stress will decrease and if you ever need anything you know that you can come to me or Kane or mom and dad." He felt Lyra nod against his chest, whereupon he let her go and smiled at her scrunched up face. "That bad?"

"Terrible." She agreed and pushed away further. "Seriously, Uncle 'Zar and the guys will flip if they smell you."

Aiden chuckled. "Okay, okay, I'm going. But do me a favor and save a few pancakes for me."

"On it." Lyra said as she went down the stairs and left her brother alone again. For a short moment Aiden debated with himself to just lay down again, but on the other hand if he did his brother and father would occupy the bathroom forever and he wouldn't have that… again. So he grabbed new clothes and a towel from his cupboard and left his room to take a very long and very hot shower so that his family would know what he was dealing with for years. Smirking he closed the bathroom door behind him. Oh, they wouldn't know what hit them as soon as the water would start running.

"Have you managed?" A beautiful blonde woman asked as she emerged from the kitchen.

Lyra nodded and hurried over to her to help her decorating the rest of the garden, while putting the rest of the food on the table and saving Aiden a few pancakes. "Yep, it took a while but he is in the shower now. He looked really beat when I woke him up."

The woman sighed. "I should tell your father that he shouldn't be so hard on him."

"No." Lyra said quickly. "I don't think you should, mom. It's good for him, he got a lot stronger since the last time I saw him."

"Well then, he will be alright." Her mother told her and set another plate on the long table under a bunch of trees in their garden. "Lyra, would you be a darling and fetch me the salads from the kitchen?"

The young blonde nodded. "On it, mom." She said and hurried inside again. As she entered the house and hurried through the living room she heard slurping from the kitchen. What the…? Frowning the young blonde went over to the fireplace and grabbed a sword from behind it. Then she very carefully lifted herself into the air and flew into the kitchen to eliminate the intruder. As she reached the kitchen the young girl braced herself for the attack and prayed to the gods of Asgard that her strength would not leave her when she charged.

Nodding to herself Lyra held the sword up higher and flew into the kitchen to face the intruder, which she recognized as male, but she recognized too late who that male was as her sword went right through his body and cut the cup he held in hand in half. "Oh my gods…"

"Not again…" He sighed and turned around to face the girl. "Can't I drink my tea in peace for once?" Lyra just stared at her brother with wide eyes and tried to calm her breathing before she scrunched her face and hit her brother's chest. Hard. "OW! What was that for?"

"You scared me, you damn idiot!" She exclaimed and hugged him tight before he could say anything back. "I could have killed you."

Aiden sighed and put his arms around his sister. "I'm sorry. But you really need to stop being so paranoid."

"I know." Lyra said against his chest. Yeah, I just need to releax. This isn't school… "But thank gods for your magic."

Aiden chuckled. "Well at least someone in this family has talent."

His little sister smiled against his chest and hugged him tighter. "Bastard." She mumbled and listened to the breath he exhaled in a snort as she heard steps coming towards them.

"Lyra? What is taking you so long?" Her mother called and came into the kitchen only to find two of her three children and her sword standing in front of each other, while facing her. "What's going on here?"

"Nothing, mom. I just showed Lyra another one of my tricks." Aiden said smoothly, while smirking.

Thorunn frowned at her second oldest son and crossed her arms. "What tricks?"

A smirk graced Aiden's aristocratic features. "Watch this." He said and raised his hand in graceful movements, while a green light shimmered around them. Thorunn and Lyra watched in awe as the bowls of salad were lifted into the air and set themselves on the cooking island behind them. Proudly grinning at his work he looked at his mother and sister, while waiting for an answer.

His sister as the first to recover and squealed in excitement. "That is awesome, Aiden. I didn't know you could do that next to the magic Uncle Loki taught you."

"Does your father know you can do this?" His mother asked next, looking torn between her emotions.

Aiden nodded, smiling reassuringly at his mother. "Yes. He supervised Uncle Loki teaching me."

"How long?" Thorunn asked stepping closer.

Suddenly the boy began to feel uneasy. There was a reason why they hadn't told his mother about this special power and that there was someone else, who trained him beside his uncle. Swallowing he looked at his mother with his two green eyes and opened his mouth to speak. "Six years."

His mother's jaw dropped. "Was that way you had to switch school back then?"

Aiden avoided her eyes. "Kinda…"

At this the blonde sighed and hugged her son tight. "Oh, darling, why didn't you tell me?"

"Different reasons." Aiden confessed sighing. "Mainly because Kane was always the one with the amazing powers and I only the 'spare', who only served purpose if something happened to the crown prince. But other than that I was just overwhelmed and didn't know how to deal with a power that even my uncle couldn't achieve."

Thorunn's eyes watered at her son's words. "No… you are not the spare for Kane. You are your own person, you have the choice to be whoever and whatever you want to be. And those powers only chose a strong individual with a great future. So embrace them and make us proud."

The blond was stunned at his mother's words, he certainly didn't expect such an answer, but he loved his mother even more for it. "Thank you, mom." He breathed and hugged her small form tighter to him and only a second later felt his sister join the hug.

"Okay." His mom said as she pushed away and brushed a few tears out of her eyes. "I think we should set the salads on the table and wake your brother and father before the others arrive." Nodding her two children followed their mother out in into the garden again, before heading upstairs to wake their brother.

"Who has the honors?" Aiden asked smirking as he leaned in the doorway to his brother's room.

His little sister smirked as well and looked up to him before mentioning for him to enter the room. "I think it's your turn, dear brother."

"I hate you." Aiden said sighing and stepped forward. Raising his hands the blond concentrated on the task at hand. Only a second later he watched his hands be engulfed in a mixture of light and emerald green energy. His hands twitched a little as he moved them with such grace that Lyra was more than impressed. She watched the energy floating over to her oldest brother and settling around his head, before his eyes shot open while a yelp escaped his lips.

As his body shot into a straight sitting position his right fist began to glow bright white and was raised to punch the one responsible for his not so gentle wake-up call, but stopped when his eyes landed on his sister, who now sat at the foot of his bed smiling brightly at him.

"Morning, brother." He heard a voice that didn't belong to his sister, whereupon he cast his eyes to his younger brother, who stood next to his bed. "Sweet dreams?", he then asked, a sly smirk gracing his lips.

Kane furrowed his brows and glared at his brother. "I know your visions when I see one, blondie. And I will repeat myself only this once: stay the fuck out of my head!"

"Calm your tits, man. Mom told us to wake you, the others will arrive soon." Aiden told him, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Kane ran a hand through his red hair and looked at his little sister. "How soon?"

Lyra just shrugged. "15 Minutes?"

"What?!" Wide-eyed the redhead jumped out of his bed and began to collect clothes to wear.

"Calm down, beauty queen." Aiden said, chuckling. "You know that Uncle 'Zar and the lot won't arrive on time, so no pressure."

Kane groaned and headed for the shower. "How come you are even awake before me, Barbie?"

"You can thank Flipper for that." Aiden said as he sat down next to Lyra and put an arm around her shoulders.

"And you didn't think of me first?" Kane asked, while he faked hurt. "I'm your oldest brother! I was the first to hold you when you were a newborn."

Lyra snorted, while Aiden raised his left eyebrow which was split by a scar that he got back in his middle school years. "Correction, idiot. We both held her and furthermore that argument was completely beside the point."

Kane grumbled something along the lines of 'stupid know-it-all' and left for the bathroom out of which their father just stepped. "Well good morning, you three."

"Morning, Dad." Lyra just beamed at her father, skipped over to him and kissed his cheek before she turned to her brothers.

Kane just rushed past their father with a quick "Mornin'." and disappeared into the bathroom, which caused the other redhead to chuckle. He then turned to his second son and clapped him on the shoulder. "How are you feeling, bud'?"

Aiden just shrugged to hide his wince from his father's clap. "Quite good. Can't wait for the next session."

James chuckled. "Always so sarcastic…" He sighed. "Anyways, we should go downstairs, your mother might be already waiting."

"Finally, what took you so long?" Thorunn asked as her oldest decided to show up in the garden.

Kane rubbed the back of his neck and laughed nervously. "I'm sorry, Mom. I still had to do my hair."

The blonde sighed and soothed her own hair back. "Fine then. The others are about to arrive, so behave."

"Why should we behave, they've known us all our lives." Aiden argued, while looking between his mother and the pancakes on his plate.

James chuckled. "He's got a point, Love."

Thorunn just sighed and contemplated what to say when she saw a group of people approach. "Amber, Selena!", she called, stood up and hurried over to hug the women.

Lyra sighed and gave a strained smile before she rose to greet the rest of their extended family, which did not go unnoticed by either Aiden or Kane, who shared a meaningful look after this. "Boys, come on!", their father called, which caught their attention and caused them to walk over to the gathering.

"Kane, my man!" A tanned, tall, brunette guy called and walked over to the brothers and hugging the older. "Long time, no see. How've ya been?"

"Great. How've you been, Luke?" Kane asked as he was swarmed by four other teens, all of them around his and Aiden's age, the youngest being half a year older than his sister. "Kiara, Tylak, Tyson, Kari." He greeted smiling.

"I've been great. Wakanda is awesome, you need to visit some time." Luke said and let his yellow eyes roam the garden. "Where's Aiden and Lyra?"

Frowning Kane turned around only to come face to face with Kiara. Her green eyes sparkled as her black hair framed her beautiful face. The only problem was that she was slightly annoying when she fawned over him, constantly. "Hi, Kiara."

"Hi, Kane." She sighed.

"Have you seen my brother and sister?" He asked next, whereupon she shrugged. Oh man… "Tyson, Kari, have you seen my siblings?"

The two brunettes turned and looked at him with their green eyes. If he didn't know better he would say the two of them were twins, but instead Kiara and Tylak were twins. And they couldn't be more different. "I think they are with Nate and Ash." Kari answered him, smiling. She reminded him of Lyra, always so cheerful and full of life. Smiling Kane thanked the girl and went on to look for the two platinum blond boys and his siblings.

After a few minutes of small talk with the attending adults Kane finally found the ones he was looking for. "Aiden! Why did you leave me alone over there?"

"Hm?" The blond asked as he turned. "Oh, sorry, man but I got distracted with this little monster here." He pointed behind him to Lyra, who was talking to Nathan and Ashton. Kane immediately understood, he knew that both twins had at one point a crush on his sister and he would be damned if he didn't at least try to keep them off her back.

"Right… Lyra!" He called and saw Aiden face palm next to him. "I think it's time to eat. You coming?"

His sister frowned at him and nearly impaled him with her silvery gaze. "Mom didn't call for us. What's going on with you two?"

"Kids! Come, it's time to eat!" The voice of their mother rang out and both Aiden and Kane sighed in relief. The wrath of their sister was something they didn't want to deal with right now. Lyra sighed as well and shot both of them a look that meant that their conversation wasn't over yet before she went over to the table with the twins in tow. The two remaining brothers shot each other one last glance before they joined their extended family at the table.

To say the gathering was fun, was accurate. To say it was nice to spend time with his friends out of school was great, was mostly correct. To say the gathering wasn't a complete chaos at the end, was a full out lie. It started normal enough with funny conversations and no interruptions, but at some point Francis and James began to throw insults at one another concerning their past. At the other end of the table Kiara began to heavily hit on Kane again, while Aiden and Lyra just sat opposite of them and stared confused. At some other point Tyson began to bother his siblings with small shocks of electricity, which caused a full out fight on their lawn. And the worst was that the rest of the adults just pretended neither was happening.

"Oh, Lyra." Pym suddenly called, which caused the blonde to look up. "How's school going?"

The girl stiffened a bit in her seat, which Aiden noticed immediately. "Quite good, just a lot of stress. And with Kari and Thomas having graduated it's a bit quiet."

"But you surely have other friends that keep you company, don't you?" Selena asked, smiling sweetly at her.

Lyra swallowed the lump in her throat and smiled at her aunt. "Of course."

Aiden quickly cast his gaze over to his brother, who was eyeing their sister carefully before meeting eyes with his brother. He knew it too… their sister totally lied when she said that, but why would she? Didn't she have lots of friends last time they picked her up from school? They needed to investigate on that.

Soon the fights cleared and the younger generation took on a game of their powers, two teams against one another in a spar like fight that lasted way too long. As soon as it was over the families gathered at the front gate and bid their goodbyes until the Rogers' were alone on their ground again.

Thorunn sighed. "Finally. I love them but all together at on table…"

James chuckled, put an arm around his wife and kissed her forehead. "I know. Now, what about you take a hot bath and the kids and I clean the mess the family made?"

The blonde sighed and looked lovingly at James. "I love you, you know?"

"Yeah, I know." James said, chuckling and leaned down to kiss her meaningfully. "The three brats back there are the proof of that, I think. You wouldn't put up with them and me when you didn't love us."

Thorunn grinned and kissed James again before replying. "True." With that she walked back into the house to leave James and their children to clean the garden.

Sighing the redhead walked back into the garden to find his three children sparring under a few trees. Lyra flying around the tree, Kane throwing his galactic punches at Aiden and him blocking them with his magic and close combat skills. He smirked at himself for being a part of their lives and for partly giving them life. He couldn't love them more unconditionally than he already did, they could murder someone on cold blood, become an evil mastermind and he would love them with all his heart. And never in his 'two lives' could he have imagined for this to be his reality at some point.

"Hey, brats!", he called over to them, causing all three to look at him. "Like to help me clean this mess?" Laughing his three children approached him and Aiden ran after Lyra as she tried to run into the house to escape the cleaning. In the end they helped him and James watched the three working with so much love in his eyes, just as much love Thorunn held in her eyes as she watched the scene from the bathroom window upstairs. She as well wouldn't have something like that ever being her reality. Back in Asgard she often had nightmares about a loveless marriage and feared that she wouldn't love the children that came out of the wedlock as much as she would have loved a lovechild. Luckily she didn't have to face an arranged marriage and could love and marry whoever she redeemed worthy… and gods was James worthy of her love and the children that came from their love couldn't be loved more than they were. Thorunn could really say that her life and that of her children was truly perfect.

AN/: Hi, guys! I missed you! Thank you for all your kind words and support, I really appreciate it. I know it's been way too long, but I'm back now. :*

So here we are finally, Book II of the next Avengers. I decided to post it in the first 'cause I didn't have a title and wanted to ask you what the title should be and if it should be more like a story of their normal teenage lives or if you want action and fights and that stuff, because if you do I need villian, a really sick on! :)

I'm also interested in your ships, so who do you ship?

Where do you think is Kate?

Do want single descriptions of the children in the next Author's Note?

What do you think Lyra is hiding from her family concerning school?

All in all I hope you really liked this chapter and will like where this story will go wether you want a teenage-life-story or Second Generation Next Avengers Action story :)

Either way this chapter plus the next will be posted as a new story, just look for a title that was submitted in the review section ;)

I can't wait to hear from you guys, I love you so much! 3

Lots of Love, Annie :*