Ironheart

by Lalaith Quetzalli

-AU to Nightingale.- Sometimes tragedies may end lives, destroy families, shatter dreams; but sometimes they may also give some people a second chance, may allow new bonds to be formed and dreams believe impossible to become real. In the end, it's just a matter of how strong are your mind, your will, and your heart… (Can be Read as a Stand Alone)

2. For Love

Not one review/comment in the week since I posted the first part of this, not even one! That's... disheartening, but I remind myself of what my mom would tell me, years ago when I was starting and it broke my heart whenever something like this happened: 'You are looking for readers, not writers'. So, chances are people are reading this, they just either aren't interested, or simply aren't the kind to leave reviews. That's okay, I can leave with that. I won't say I write only for myself, because if I did I wouldn't post. I do love reviews, but I know that the lack of them doesn't necessarily mean no one likes this.

Anyway, moving on from that. And to what concerns this piece: I was kind of missing Nightingale confronting Asgardians to protect Loki, so I included some of that here. Also, I did something with Jason Stryker... it might be a tad crazy, but it just fit so well with everything else... I hope you'll like it.

Dreamcast: Mila Kunis as Risa, Helen Mirren as Old Anya Willow, Julianne Moore as Old Irene/Destiny, Riccardo Scamarcio as Django, Candice Accola as Lorna/Polaris, Amanda Seyfried as Ylva, Shiloh Fernandez as Fenrir, Katy McGrath as Helena.

The songs in this chapter are "Once Upon a December" the original movie version sung by Liz Callaway (for some reason even I don't understand I like it more than the more comercial one by Deana Carter), and "I Was Here" as sung by Beyonce (this song will actually be popping up on every single AU from here on out; I totally loved it and I wanted all the other incarnations to have that in common, as a sort of invisible thread connecting them all, because in the end they're all Nightingale).

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For Love

For Love they will Die, and they will Live, and Transform the universe.

For as long as she could remember, Risa'd had dreams. Not the normal dreams most people have, the normal, easy, sometimes ridiculous things; not even the bizarre, illogical others might claim. No, her dreams were different; they were somewhat fuzzy, yet incredibly vivid at the same time. It shouldn't have been possible at all, yet it was. And always, when she woke up, she'd have the absolute certainty that she'd dreamt important things, answers to every question she'd ever thought of, and some that would never occur to her… but she couldn't remember. She never remembered anything beyond the most basic things, lose details here and there. She remembered rose gardens, but had no idea where they were, if it was one, or more; she remembered heavy, stuffy dresses, and long, airy ones, remembered trees of silver and palaces of gold, singing and dancing… but hadn't the slightest idea of how it all fit together.

Risa wasn't a singer, not really, or at least she'd never one to sing where anyone might listen to her. It wasn't something that had been forbidden to her, because no one knew she'd ever sung, no one but herself… and Anya, a bit. Except Anya didn't remember everything. She remembered that there had been a time when her big sister would sing, beautiful lullabies in a variety of languages. Anya loved it when her big sister would sign her to sleep. She'd even asked Risa a couple of times why she no longer did it, why she'd never sung to her sons, her nephew and niece, like she would to her little sister… Risa would tell her she no longer sang, and that was it, no explanation.

It seemed like an odd choice to have made, seemingly for no reason. Except there was a reason, even if Anya couldn't remember it. She had been just five, five-years-old, hungry, exhausted, and almost terrified. The two girls had been traveling on their own for almost four weeks by then. Walking as much and for as long as they could every morning before stopping and taking cover during the hottest hours, foraging for some food; and then walking some more in the afternoon before finding some place to rest for the night. It was only a matter of time before something went wrong. And it happened that one night a group of bandits found them. It was awful, Anya was so young she knew nothing except that they were bad men, Risa for her part… she knew exactly what they did, what they intended with them. In the middle of the night, Anya had been too afraid to sleep, sobbing constantly, to the point where one of the bandits threatened to 'shut her up', so Risa did her best to comfort her, she began singing the first thing she could think of. And that was when the unthinkable happened:

At first Risa wasn't sure what was going on exactly. When one of the bandits, the one who'd been made to stand guard during the night, went and unlocked the cage where the girls had been thrown. He whispered to them to run… at first Risa hadn't trusted him, but he insisted, and then he referenced her song. As if something in the song had made him decide to let them go… Risa had no idea what was going on, but still she picked her little sister up and carried her out, shushing her as best she could on the way. The problem came when it was made obvious that one of the bandits was a very light sleeper. He woke as Risa stepped out of the cage, yelled at them. And then everyone else woke up.

It all became a hell of a fight in a matter of seconds. No one understood why one of them was defending them, apparently he'd never cared. And then he'd mentioned the song again. He'd been killed that night, had died covering them as Risa threw caution to the wind and ran straight into the forest, her sister in her arms. She didn't stop running for the rest of the night. Even then it took her several days to understand, at least in part, what had happened that night; the fact that her song had changed something primordial in that man. Had made a slaver, a man who'd never cared about the women and children he'd catch and sell, feel compassion for them and release them, made him willing to die for them. Having that kind of power… it terrified Risa, so much she never sang again… or at least not where anyone could hear her.

Truth was that every so often something would happen in Risa's life, things would become too much for her, the emotions too strong for her to hold them in, and the only way to let them out was to sing. So she'd walk away from the mansion, deep into the part of the forest that was still part of their property. And once she was far enough, once she was sure that no one would be nearby, no one could hear her. She'd let go…

Most often the cause for her singing was connected to her dreams. Those dreams she could never truly remember, nor could she let them go. They were so much a part of her, even if she couldn't hope to understand them, she wanted to believe one day she would, one day the truth would be revealed to her. She would learn what the places were she saw in those dreams, the people, the songs, the dances… who was the man she would dance with and sing for. She believed, she hoped, that one day she would know. And until that day came she would sing to the empty forest:

"Dancing bears, painted wings

Things I almost remember

And a song someone sings

Once upon a December"

"Someone holds me safe and warm

Horses prance through a silver storm

Figures dancing gracefully

Across my memory"

xXx

Risa first met Loki sometime in the eighties. He was going by Luka Hvedrungr, and while Risa knew right away that he was hiding something, she paid no mind to it. It's not like he was the only one. Eventually he trusted her enough to use some of his power in her presence, it was then that she named him Maverick and brought him to the Institute. He soon became a favorite of everyone there. The youngest children loved to see his tricks, to always be kept guessing about how he could do the things he did; while the older ones were thankful for his suggestions and pointers as to how to better use their own abilities.

Charles and Erik knew he was not a mutant, but never brought it up. Also, while it wasn't easy to connect with his mind, the telepath could see enough to tell that being at the Institute helped Luka as much as it did their young students and refugees. Erik didn't quite like not knowing everything about the man, but he'd long since learned to compromise. He was also quite sure that his eldest would have never allowed the man anywhere close to her, much less the rest of them, if she had not been beyond sure that he was trustworthy. And her position as the most powerful Empath in the world certainly allowed her to be sure.

It was sometime in the late seventies, early eighties that they found out mutants weren't the only Gifted in the world. There were the evos… though Charles was quite sure they were mutants themselves, just a different 'strand' of evolution, so-to-speak. They also seemed to be pretty new, unlike mutants who'd existed for several centuries at the very least. Then there were the skin-walkers. Raven and her team (and others that came to do the same thing later on, like the Maximoff twins, Kurt, etc.) had found several groups across the world, all who had the same ability: to 'shed' their human skin and turn into animals. The one thing that seemed to vary was what animal they turned into, though the most common were wolves. Some saw it as a blessing, others as a curse, but it ran in family lines and they tended to gather into packs, the position of alpha passing by lineage or by power. The Flowers in Mexico were young women who claimed to be descendants of those blessed by some Prehispanic goddess, they had all the same ability, to influence nature; and were lead by one girl who was said to be either a descendant or the reincarnation of the goddess herself. They also all had male guardians, most who could influence the elements and lived to protect the girls. And of course, there were the magic users, though aside from knowing they existed, and that there were different kinds in various parts of the world, they knew very little about them.

Most didn't seem to care about integrating with the world at large. Choosing instead to keep to their secluded communities; even those who chose to live as part of the 'human world' would keep their differences a secret from those who weren't family, or the same as them. It made Charles wonder sometimes if integration was possible at all, or if it was better to continue as they had until then, living in hiding. It rankled Erik, of course, living in the shadows; but he knew there was little that could be done. He wasn't about to wage a war, not only because (much as he hated it) he knew they wouldn't win, but because he knew it wouldn't be fair. For every human out there who might be like Trask or Stryker; there was one who would be like Jenny (their elementary teacher, she'd come to their attention because her daughter was one of the most powerful telekinetics in the world, and the woman knew and loved her daughter with all her heart; had never feared her or her gift for even a second) or like his own Anya. In fact, the numbers kept growing in the latter, as Anya, and later on others made sure that the humans with mutant family understood what was going on with their relatives, the good and bad, that it wasn't a curse but a gift; helped them understand and accept the change. Erik honestly did not know where he would be, where they all would be, if it weren't for Anya… and Risa.

It surprised absolutely no one when Risa and Luka became lovers in the late eighties. While he couldn't seem to be able to visit more than twice or thrice a year, a few days at a time, there was just a connection between those two, everyone could see it. It didn't even surprise them when she announced her pregnancy in the Fall of 91'.

Kurt and Jason were the most eager. Even though they were both grown men by then, Kurt being almost twenty-eight, while Jason had just left his teens behind. They were both excited at the prospect of having a little sister.

Risa's dreams got stronger and clearer as her pregnancy advanced. Some mornings she would wake up and feel like she almost had the name of someone on her lips, though it was quickly lost. Some things she came to understand though; like the fact that all the dreams were connected, as if part of a single ongoing vision or… or memories of another life… The part most people noticed though, was how she took to humming quietly as she walked through the rose-patch Vera (Anya's sister in law) and her daughter Ivy had created years earlier.

And then, finally, the day came. On March 20th, 1992, at 3:47 am, Marisa Ruth Eisenhardt-Xavier gave birth to her daughter, naming her Rose Alfdis Eisenhardt-Xavier. It had been a long, hard labor, having lasted since sunset the previous day. There had also been some concern since, in the late stages of her pregnancy Risa had been easily affected by the cold, dressing more warmly and heavily than any previous winter. The Institute's maids had made sure to keep the hearth in her rooms going at all times, and the students did their best to ensure doors and windows remained closed. Everyone loved Risa very much and the last thing they wanted was for her to become sick, or worse. Even then, when her labor began Risa had been so very cold, her skin practically freezing and her body shaking even with the fire on and a number of blankets on her. It had gotten to the point where every single mutant who had a gift connected to fire or heat made a point to be in the room and make it as warm as they possibly could. And neither the midwife (there was no way she was having her baby in a hospital when they had no idea how different she might be, considering her parents' genetics), nor Anya and Raven (both who'd insisted on being with her to assist with anything they could) complained, despite the fact that the room probably felt like a sauna to them. They only hoped it'd help.

It did, almost as soon as Rose was born, Risa's body temperature began stabilizing.

"It was her." The midwife (a mutant with a small, passive gift) announced. "She's a couple of degrees above normal, and look at her eyes."

They looked dazzling, a mix of red, orange and black, shifting like a living flame was shining from inside them, from inside her…

It took them a while for everyone else to realize Risa wasn't talking, she wasn't moving… in fact, she was doing nothing except looking at her daughter while the midwife cleaned her up and expertly swaddled her; except her eyes looked odd, as if she were not quite there in that moment.

"Risa!/Phei!" Raven's and Anya's cries and sudden panic made Charles and Erik rush into the room in a hurry.

"What's going on?" Erik demanded.

"What's wrong?" Charles asked almost exactly at the same time.

"I don't know…" Raven began, sounding so lost, like she hadn't since she was ten-years-old and breaking into the Xavier house in search for food.

"Give her the baby." Anya ordered.

The midwife either agreed with her or simply didn't see a reason for arguing, for she did exactly that. For all of a second Risa didn't seem to react at all, and then the moment passed and she cradled her newborn baby into her arms, holding her carefully against her chest and relaxing into the mound of pillows and blankets at her back. No one dare say a word, everyone just waiting with baited breath, trying to understand what was going on… and then Risa began to hum. The same soft, quiet melody she'd been humming through her whole pregnancy. The surprise turned to shock when it didn't stop there. It began as a whisper, but ever so slowly her voice grew both in volume and in confidence, until suddenly she was outright singing, her hazel eyes shining with a never before seen light, and not for a second straying from the beautiful baby girl in her arms:

"Someone holds me safe and warm

Horses prance through a silver storm

Figures dancing gracefully

Across my memory"

"Far away, long ago

Glowing dim as an ember

Things my heart used to know

Things it yearns to remember"

"And a song someone sings

Once upon a December"

In the silence that held after the end of the song, as everyone both inside and outside of the room tried to wrap their heads around what had just happened. None of them but Anya had heard Risa sing before; and after having done so, they just couldn't understand why she didn't do so, and often. She had such a beautiful voice… They were all so enchanted by it, by the song, that none noticed the moment when someone else stepped out of the shadows and straight into the room, not until he was standing at the foot of the bed…

"A'maelamin (My beloved)…" Luka breathed out, in a tone of a man who's just found an oasis after a lifetime wandering a seemingly endless dessert.

It was his voice that made her look away from the baby in her arms from the first time, a single word crossing her lips:

"Fintalëharyon (Trick-prince)…"

No one had the slightest idea of what either of them had just said. Even Charles, who liked to keep a mental list of the language his sister learned (even if he didn't have the gift for them she did… his telepathy might allow him to bypass language barriers and communicate when it was necessary, but that did not mean he knew the languages); even Erik, who knew a number of languages and could speak them like a native (there was a reason he'd taken over his daughter's class when the midwife insisted she spend the last couple of weeks of her pregnancy resting) had no idea what language those two had just spoken.

"Risa…" Charles began, not knowing what else to say.

"Schatzi (treasure)," Erik murmured in turn. "Is everything alright?"

"I remember." Risa said for all answer, in English that time.

"What?" Practically everyone asked at the same time, confused.

"What do you remember?" Anya clarified the question.

The answer was one that seemed to tell all, and nothing at all at the same time:

"Everything…"

xXx

The story came out eventually, and it was one no one could have ever expected. The story of an elven princess, set to be queen, until she falls in love with the second prince of another realm. Out of love for him she chooses to abdicate, weeks before she'd have been officially crowned. Things get complicated for a while, as it's revealed the prince was adopted and how the King intended for him to return to his own realm one day and rule there. But in the end love is stronger than politics or any plans. The love of two parents who love the prince as much as if he were theirs by birth (as much as they love their eldest); the love of a crown prince who loves his little brother regardless of their difference in heritage; the love of two people who have been matched souls as long as the stars have been shining in the skies…

But like many real stories, as beautiful as some parts might be, not everything is perfect. The princess and prince have ninety five years of almost perfect marriage, and a daughter who is the light of their lives. But shortly before the elven princess is to give birth to their second-born, she is attacked by a crazy enchantress obsessed with the elder prince. Her last plan had been thwarted by the elven princess, and that turns the spell-weaver murderous against her. After several attempts it all ends with the tragic death of the princess and her unborn baby girl.

The prince avenges her, but there's nothing he can do for his match, or their baby; he barely manages to save their eldest, who ended badly hurt in an attempt to save her mother. He goes almost insane with pain and grief, on a path of self-destruction, unable to handle the loss of his match, the emptiness on the other side of their bond… until his father makes a desperate choice: to make him forget. Hoping that forgetting the tragedy will allow him to forget the pain.

It doesn't quite work as intended. The prince still acts out, he knows there's something wrong, that something is missing, but he no longer remembers what. And since not just he, but everyone has been made to forget (so no one would trigger his memories, either on purpose or by accident) they no longer know why he acts the way he does. Even then, he manages to survive until, almost nine hundred years later, the elven princess is reborn, in the middle of horror and tragedy, to a gypsy mother that doesn't live to hold her in her arms, a miracle baby who manages to survive against all odds…

"You're… you're her…" Raven mumbled, flabbergasted. "This elven princess…"

"Tinúviel." Risa clarified with a gentle smile. "Well she… I was born Lalaith Mirloth, but my love gave me the name Tinúviel. And I chose to make that my name when I married him. I became Princess Tinúviel of Alfheim and Asgard, wife of Loki, mother of Helena Miriel…"

"What does it mean?" Anya asked, curious. "The name… Tinúviel?"

"Literally it means daughter of the dusk." Risa explained. "But in the Ljósálfar tradition, ages ago, that was a very elegant way to call a nightingale…"

"Or one with their voice." Luka… Loki, offered. "And thus she became Princess Tinúviel, the lady with the most beautiful voice in all the Realms…"

"Why hadn't you sung in so long?" Anya asked the question that had been in her mind since hearing her sing to the baby, and in some ways, even before that.

"You hadn't…?" Loki blurted out, clearly confused. "But I've… I've heard you! In the woods. It's what drew me to you in the first place!"

Risa couldn't help herself, she laughed. So much for making sure no one would hear her! Then again, perhaps that was how things were meant to be all along.

"I was afraid." She admitted, turning to look straight at her little sister. "You don't remember Annie, but when we were in Europe, before Charles and Raven found us, we spent weeks on our own, and one day, bandits found us. They were bad people, so very bad… they wanted to sell us, like merchandise. You were terrified, and they threatened to hurt you, to force you to shut up. So I tried to sing you to sleep. It worked, but as I later found out, it also did something else. One of the bandits, he opened the cage we were in. He let us go, and when the others woke up and tried to get us back, he defended us, he died covering our escape." She exhaled. "He didn't do so because he was a good man. None of them were good men. No, I…"

"You pushed your emotions onto him." Loki nodded, he was probably the only one who truly understood what had happened in that moment. "Essentially made him feel what you were feeling. And that made him help you."

"Exactly!" Risa nodded. "Now… now I know that is not something bad. That I didn't force him into dying for me, for us. I just… he'd probably never felt fear, or compassion in all his life, and when he did, that made him do the things he did. And the change was so extreme he couldn't even find a way to protect himself."

"Oh my dear…" Charles murmured, realizing where it was all going, and really, he'd felt exactly the same once, when first realizing how much power he truly had.

"I know now I didn't kill him." Risa forced herself to explain fully. "But back then… back then I was terrified of what had happened. I had no idea how much had been on me, how much on him. All I knew was that my singing had caused it, somehow…"

"So you stopped singing." Anya finished for her.

"I stopped singing where others could hear me." Risa clarified. "I was afraid of how my singing might affect others, but I still felt the… need to sing every so often. So I'd go into the woods and sing to myself, where I believed no one could hear me."

"Except Loki did." Raven pointed out.

"Yes, he did." Risa smiled despite the tears shining on her lashes. "Now that I have all my past-life's memories I know that it's all part of my empathy. I can feel other's emotions, I can show them what I feel, what others feel. I can also make emotions stronger or weaker. What I did to that man when I was ten… I made him feel things he never had before and he didn't know how to react to that. He tried to counter the fear I made him know I was feeling, by letting me go, but he'd never felt like that himself, and thus he didn't know what to do. And so when things turned against him, he couldn't defend himself… he got himself killed."

"You did what you did to protect yourself, and your sister." Erik reassured her, a hand on her shoulder. "There's nothing wrong with that."

Just like he'd done things he wasn't always proud of in defense of his family (and that didn't just mean his daughters, but Charles, Johann, Django, Nina, Raven, Kurt, Jason, and in some way every single person that was part of their community). Charles, Raven and most of the X-Men were in exactly the same position so they all understood that while killing would never truly be the first option, they had a right to protect themselves and those they loved from those whose only desire was to cause pain and destruction…

"Tut kamav dadro (Love you papa)…" Risa whispered as Erik inclined his head to kiss her temple softly.

"Me too schatzi (treasure), me too." Erik whispered back as he embraced her with one arm.

They might not have been what some would consider a normal family, but to her? To her they were more than perfect.

xXx

There were days when Loki did not know how he could stand living in Asgard anymore. Being away from his (reborn) match, from his daughter(s), from all those who loved him and accepted him, every part of him. But then he'd remember that as bad as things might have gotten, he still loved his parents and his brother, he couldn't just abandon them. He could only hope that one day they'd remember too.

In any case, he'd taken to spending almost as much time on Midgard as he did on Asgard. It was the one good thing about the last nine centuries, everyone had gotten so used to his absences, believing he was either hiding after some prank gone awry, or preparing his next 'trick'. It was demeaning in some ways, but in others it allowed him to go where he will, do whatever he may want with Asgard being none the wiser.

Of course that was, until Thor and his friends went and made such a mess of things that Loki decided he'd had enough.

He'd tried! With the stars as his witnesses that he'd tried! To understand his father better, to better show his mother he loved her, to be there for his brother… But Thor was just so wild, so reckless! His friends were the worst enablers in all of Yggdrasil! And no one seemed to realize it except him! They were all so used to getting away with things because they were friends with the crown prince! (And because, in the end, Loki loved his brother too much to let him get killed in one of his many stupid pseudo-quests) It was clear that none of them understood what it was to have consequences for their actions; of course, they understood Loki going through them, but never them. And somehow they'd managed to convince themselves that it was because they did no wrong. Rather than because someone (namely Loki) was always saving their asses, or because those who would force the consequences upon them either were too afraid of hurting the crown prince of Asgard and his friends, or when he did, he was then labeled an enemy of Asgard, and once again it seemed like Thor and his group could do no wrong!

It had actually begun the same way, Like so many of Thor and his friends' ill-fated quests. And Loki had so hoped that the mess with the dragon in Nidavellir would have taught them all a lesson, but it clearly hadn't! A part of the young prince wondered if it had ever occurred to his parents, when they chose to erase his match from all Aesir minds, the consequences it'd have. Not just for him, but for everyone. They hadn't just forgotten his wife, their elven princess, his daughter's mother (and he was never again going to wonder what anyone thought then had happened for him to have a daughter… the things that had been implied, it was an impugn upon the honor of all of them! One he only forgave because they knew no better, and it was his own family's fault!); the enchantment had also erased everything she'd ever brought about: like Sif's friendship, the Warriors' respect, Thor's maturity… they were all gone. And if Loki hadn't recovered all his memories he'd have believed such things to be impossible. Except they weren't impossible, just forgotten, and they were all the less because of that. At least the son of his heart: Fenrir, still had his own beloved: the lady Ylva, even if she probably did not remember ever being close to Loki and his match, at least they had each other. At least neither of them were completely alone, like Loki had been, until finding his beloved nightingale again, singing alone, among the trees…

Loki didn't even know whose 'brilliant' idea it had been to go there. To that useless little realm, so dangerously close to Jotunheim… he knew something was going to go wrong. He knew it… and yet the idiots didn't listen (when did they ever?), and if Thor even for a moment considered that Loki might have a reason for his reticence, it was all lost the moment that oaf Fandral made the suggestion that his hesitance might be caused by cowardice. As if! Perhaps he should have let him die, or that idiot Volstagg. Perhaps a death would have made them learn the lesson once and for all… but if either of them had died, Thor would have never forgiven himself, and great as Loki's exasperation might be, he would never hurt his brother.

He didn't even know who's idea it had been to go there. To that stupid, little, nameless realm. There was supposed to be a monster, and of course the 'valiant Aesir warriors' had to go and slay it, protect the people of Yggdrasil! Never mind that there was no proof there was any such monster, really, aside from the stories told by some really drunk merchants they had no reason to believe it existed at all! Still, they were all nuts, provoking each other and Thor had that odd obsession to prove he was brave and mighty and… Loki honestly had no idea why Thor was like that, he hadn't been like that, not even before meeting Tinúviel! Then again, they'd been quite young then, so who knows? Maybe that was who he'd have been if he'd never met the elven princess… and there was no point in thinking about that.

As it happened, there was a monster in that realm. A Siren. The complication, the moment the creature began singing Thor and the Warriors were under her thrall. Sif and Loki weren't, and that fact, instead of endearing him to her, somehow made her more suspicious. At least he managed to convince her to keep guard over her friends after they'd restrained them while Loki himself dealt with the creature. That part was easy enough, what wasn't was when killing her freed not just Thor and his friends, but also all the others she'd been keeping as her slaves, most whom were Jotun. It all turned into a battle very fast.

Things weren't that bad, until Thor took an ice blade to his flank. Loki's reaction was instinctive. He had been fighting on the other side of the glade, but the blonde's cry made the younger prince react immediately: he teleported to his brother's side. Loki didn't even think about it as he bodily pushed the Jotun away, using a concentrated burst of magic to effectively vaporize him. Then he turned and used his bare hand to pull the ice blade out of Thor. Didn't realize what a mistake that was until he threw the broken blade aside and then Sif began screaming, at him.

At first Loki thought she'd been hurt too. But instead she was pointing her swords at him.

"Sif, what in the abyss!" He yelled, confused.

"Step away monster!" She yelled at him.

He realized then that she wasn't the only one staring at him, they all were. Only it wasn't exactly at him, but at his hands… his blue hands.

"Heimdall get us out of here!" The young prince called loudly with all his authority, willing the Gatekeeper to hear him and obey.

He knew that they were too distracted. Even if it seemed like they had defeated all their enemies, more might yet come and he wasn't about to risk it.

They landed in a sprawl in the middle of the Observatory, but Loki didn't give them the chance to say a word, either for or against him. He held Thor tightly in his arms (after making sure he'd completely gone back to his Aesir form) and teleported the two of them out of there and straight to the palace's infirmary. Lady Eir and her attendants were beyond shocked by their sudden appearance but a word from Loki was enough to get them working. Thor was priority.

"Loki!" The voices calling his name briefly pulled the spellweaver out of his memories. "Loki come back! Loki!"

But Loki wasn't going back, not for anything, not after what they had done…

Loki was almost sure he hadn't even taken breath from the moment he practically dropped into the middle of the healing rooms, bleeding Thor in his arms; not until Lady Eir declared her work finished and that the blonde prince would be alright.

He was just beginning to relax when suddenly Sif was there, and the Warriors 3, and a squad of soldiers. They weren't Einherjar, but still.

"Whats the meaning of this?" Loki demanded.

And he wasn't the only one. For mother and father had entered through a different door, practically at the same time.

"He's a monster!" Fandral yelled. "He tried to kill Thor!"

"What…?!" The sorcerer couldn't believe that the so-called warrior was really accusing him of such a thing. And with no proof! "I'd never hurt Thor! I tried to help him! I brought him here to be healed!"

"He's a monster." Volstagg pressed. "A Jotun!"

That one he didn't even try to deny. Didn't see a point. It still took him by surprise when the warriors pointed their weapons at him. Loki froze, turning to the side instinctively, looking for his parents: his mother looked horrified, and his father… he was just staring at Loki, as if studying him. He made no attempt to approach, to stop the soldiers. It was then that the adopted prince realized the terrible truth, that no matter how much he might love his family, that did not mean they'd feel the same.

Loki exhaled in defeat, something his mother noticed. Her eyes widened, and Loki knew she must have realized something had changed, she might have even suspected what he was going to do next. It did not matter. Loki knew he could not expect any help, from anyone.

´Perhaps it's better this way…' He thought to himself, turning slightly to glance at the immobile form of his brother on the healer's bed.

He jumped in place, teleporting out of the infirmary before his feet touched the ground again. He knew he couldn't shadow-walk out of the palace. Or at least, not out of the deeper, shielded parts of it. But that was okay. He knew it wouldn't take long for others to follow him, so he rushed to his rooms, taking the things he couldn't do without and throwing them into his pocket dimension before stepping onto the balcony (he could hear hurried footsteps, his time was running out). He teleported out of his balcony and onto a nearby rooftop, and then onto a garden.

It wasn't easy. The Royal rooms were in the deepest parts of the palace. But with some judicious use of teleportation, Loki managed to make it to one of the outer gardens. By that point he was quite sure that they must have every soldier, Einherjar and Valkyrie combing the palace looking for him. They'd probably begin searching through the rest of Asgard soon enough. Didn't matter, it's not like he was planning on staying in the so-called Realm Eternal.

"Loki!" That was the voice of his mother, Loki knew that much.

That actually made him hesitate. Just for a moment, but he couldn't help it. Regardless of what might have happened, Frigg would always be his mother, he'd always love her.

The rush of more than a pair of feet reminded him that she wasn't alone, that they were after him, for being a monster. It didn't matter how much he might love his mother, how much she might love him, as long as some insisted on seeing him as a monster, he'd never be able to stay.

Frigg's form had just appeared on the archway leading from the palace to the garden, her eyes laid on her son, just for a moment, for a fraction of a second, before he took a step back, and dropped into the shadows.

Queen Frigg rushed to the spot where her youngest had been standing just a moment before, but she knew it was pointless, there was no way they'd be able to catch him, to find him. Not if he didn't want to be found. She'd lost her son…

xXx

Risa knew the exact moment when things went wrong with Loki. She could feel it through their bond. And she wasn't the only one, judging by the way Rose left her friends and rushed to her side; then again, Rose was ten and already as good a precog as Destiny. The older Seer was also sure that the girl would one day surpass her, surpass every cognitive on the planet. And that was before taking into consideration that Rose was also a fire elemental.

In any case, the two were left to wait in a secluded corner of the rose garden. It didn't take long. From one moment to the next Loki was there, practically stumbling out of the shadows. Risa caught him into her arms the moment he was fully out of the Shadow Plane, and he was so distracted, so unbalanced after whatever had happened to him, that the two went down on the grass, neither of them caring a bit. Rose didn't say a word either, she just knelt beside them and joined the family hug.

Mother and daughter made sure to be there, and even the boys, while they weren't exactly Loki's children, he was still their mother's husband, and that made him the closest either of them had to a father, so they did their best to show they were there for him. It was Erik who pulled him out of his funk in the end:

"It's not easy, being called a monster." He said straight out. "Worse even is looking at yourself in a mirror and wondering if they might be right."

They were in the rose garden. He knew his son-in-law had spent a lot of time there, according to Risa, because it reminded him of other such gardens from their past, it brought him peace. Erik was unsure if anything could bring true peace to Loki in his circumstances. It didn't matter that the mutant didn't know what had happened exactly, that was private and he respected that, even Charles had made a point of staying as much out of the sorcerer's mind as possible until he was better. Didn't mean Erik couldn't look at Loki and recognize the look in his eyes, he'd seen it way too many times in a mirror…

"You cannot possible begin to understand…" Loki began, low and dangerous.

"What has Marisa told you about her mother?" Erik asked in turn.

"That she was your wife." Loki began enlisting. "Her adopted mother, Anya's birth one, left you after you both believed them to be dead. Before they became Xaviers."

"Yeah… there's more to the story than that." Erik exhaled. "That day in Ukraine, when the hostel went down… I didn't know that Marisa had managed to get herself and her little sister out. All I knew was that the place was gone, that they were gone, and it was all their fault. Of the villagers, the humans who'd dared to get in my way, to keep me from getting to my daughters. They called me a monster, yet they'd just let two little, innocent girls die! I was furious, beyond that even, I wanted them to pay, to suffer like they had made my babies suffer. So I unleashed my whole power on them, on the whole town. To a level I'd never used before, never have since. I tore the place apart, left no building standing, no person alive… except for my family." He exhaled, closing his eyes briefly, tightly. "Magda watched me do all that. She… I'm not sure, I think… I think it broke her, somehow. She blamed me for the loss of the girls, called me a monster. She ran away from me. I went after her. For months I kept trying to find her… until I realized that she was running from me, she was terrified of me. So I let her go. I let her go and instead focused all my grief, all my fury, into hunting Nazis. I went on doing that for more than seven years, until Charles found me, saved me from drowning off the coast of Miami while trying to stop Shaw. In the following months he both helped me complete my mission, taking down the man who'd brought so much pain and destruction into my life, and reunited me with my daughters…" Tears were falling down Erik's eyes but he did not care. "Everything I have, everything I am, I owe to Charles. And of course, to Marisa and Anya. I wouldn't be who I am today without them."

"I wouldn't be who I am without my Nightingale, or our daughters either." Loki agreed quietly. "How do you do it? No longer see yourself as a monster?"

"Who says I don't?" Erik asked in return. "The only thing that has changed since all those years ago, is that now I know who I am. I know what I'm capable of. I know how far I'm willing to go, and for whom. What happened that day in Ukraine…? I know I could do it again, and if the life of someone I care for, a member of my family, ever depends on it I will do that, and worse; I will do it and never regret it. And if that makes me a monster so be it. I'm no longer the kind of man to be ashamed, to be afraid of who I am. And the people I love, who love me, they understand that, they accept me exactly as I am. What more could I, could any of us, ever ask for?"

"What more indeed?" Loki echoed softly.

The change wasn't instantaneous, but it certainly helped. The next time Erik came across Risa, his daughter embraced him and kissed his cheek tenderly, whispering quietly her thanks in Romani (as a way to show how much it meant to her). Erik just returned the gesture, they were family, and helping each other was what family did (and loving each other, but that was a given, wasn't it?).

xXx

It took several weeks for the Aesir to track down Loki. And the only reason they managed was because he'd left the safety of the Institute. It was something Loki had put into place even before Rose Alfdis's birth, once he'd come to know the people there, come to care for them; his most powerful ward ever created had been set on the place. It ensured that people with ill will couldn't enter, couldn't even find the place (they'd need to have more power than Loki had poured into it, and that was unlikely, as he was the most powerful spellweaver in the Nine Realms), it also made them invisible to other beings, including Heimdall, and whoever might try to use magic, science or technology to track any of them was inside the estate.

So for as long as Loki stayed inside the Institute no one in Asgard could find him. Heimdall had long since accepted his 'blind-spot' when it came to the second prince (he didn't like it, actually hated it in fact, but there was nothing he could do). But even all of Queen Frigg's spells had failed, until suddenly one day they worked…

It was Kurt's fault, for a value of it (though there was no maliciousness in it). Some of the young mutants had been talking about the carnival that had settled nearby, Kurt wanted to go. Loki had long since made him an amulet that could hide his appearance, allowing him a much greater liberty than he'd ever known before (though even before, he'd gone places sometimes, with Jason, who'd use his own gift to make sure no one would notice Kurt's 'differences'). He also didn't want to go alone. Seeing his eagerness, Loki couldn't say no, so off they went.

Jason's wheelchair could be a bit of a problem (no one knew what ailed him exactly, but he could never stand for long, though he didn't seem to mind either, happy to have his family push him around, and using Medea to go where his body couldn't), but no one in the family was bothered by this. So off they went.

The carnival wasn't quite as big or impressive as some might have expected, but Kurt, Jason and Rose were so happy, and their joy was contagious. Rose in particular took great delight in being there with both of her parents. While Loki had visited often, he had never before stayed with them for such a long period of uninterrupted time. Risa too enjoyed that, much as she might hate the way her beloved had been hurt, she couldn't help but be happy at the possibility that he might be staying, permanently, with them.

One moment they were giggling and chuckling, particularly at Loki's face as he tried to clean it from the cotton candy his daughter had insisted he try; only he had no idea how to eat the thing, or even how to hold it, had ended with more around his face than in his mouth. Had it been anyone other than his family the trickster would have been quite affected by the others laughing, that he was the reason; but they were his family, and he knew they weren't mocking him, it was all in good fun in the end. Also, if in the past he'd believed his match's laughter to sound like crystal bells, when his daughter's own was added to it… he was sure there couldn't be anything more perfect in the universe (except perhaps if Helena could spend longer with them, but their eldest had her own responsibilities which she couldn't shirk, it wasn't easy being the Queen of the Dead after all).

One moment everything was fun and joy, a perfect family moment, and the next…

"Incoming." Jason announced, suddenly deadly serious.

Jason wasn't a telepath, not really, his power lay with illusions; but in order to make people believe those illusions, he needed to touch their minds. So, even if he did not read them, he was almost always aware of every mind in his range. And he was certainly aware the moment that several non-human minds entered that range.

Loki and Risa detected them but a fraction of a second later. Their reactions were instinctive. As Risa stepped back, pulling Jason's chair with her with one hand, while drawing Rose closer with the other. Kurt took position around them, one hand on his mother, the other on Jason, with both Jason and their mom keeping a hand on Rose Kurt knew he'd be able to teleport them out of there at a moment's notice. Loki stepped forward instead, conjuring a couple of blades with just a thought. He was still in his human clothes, saw no need to change, not yet.

A small burst of Risa's empathy ensured that no civilians would get involved, even as they all watched the more than half a dozen figures approach.

Risa identified them all the moment she laid eyes on them: Thor was at the front of the group, with his four friends; and behind them: the King and Queen…

*My love…* Risa began, not quite able to find the words.

She didn't need to, Loki understood exactly what she was thinking, for it was in his mind as well, both equally shocked about it. They couldn't remember the last time Odin Allfather had chosen to leave the Realm Eternal (the last time that hadn't involved a war).

"My son…" There was so much feeling in Lady Frigg's voice as the two words crossed her lips, so much love…

"Mother…" Loki's response was automatic.

For a moment Risa felt like she might drown in all the love those two held for one another. They did say there was no love stronger than a mother's, after all… yet that did not change the fact that she wasn't the only one there.

"Brother, what…?"

It would be impossible to know for sure what the crown prince might have been about to say. It was obvious that in that moment he became aware of those standing behind Loki, and that left him speechless.

"Loki, it's time to stop this nonsense…"

That was as far as Sif got, whatever chastisement she'd been working towards was completely lost with the sound of the impact of flesh on flesh. And it wasn't just that, the warrior-lady's face was actually turned sharply to a side by the force of a slap. Most would be surprised that a mortal, a midgardian woman, had managed such a feat. Not Loki, he knew his match had pulled on just enough of his own power through their bond to allow her to do that. Risa had done that, she'd also used her empathy to project hurt at Sif, to ensure she'd feel it. It wasn't the pain of a physical wound, no, it was the hurt the Nightingale had sensed through his Maverick when the Aesir had called him a monster, twice. Truth was that Risa hadn't actually planned to do that. It was just… the moment she heard Sif begin talking, with that condescending tone, as if she considered herself superior to Risa's own beloved, and for what? The blood in their veins?! Risa couldn't stand it, not from anyone, she wouldn't.

Hands reached for weapons immediately, and Loki's aura became visible. They were all standing on the edge of a knife…

"Stand down!" the Queen ordered sharply. "We're not here to fight!"

"She attacked first!" Fandral snapped.

All mutants rolled their eyes. Did Fandral not realize how much like a preschooler complaining to a teacher he'd just sounded? It was ridiculous!

"Yes I did." Risa refused to stand down, she stared straight at Sif as she spoke, though the warning was meant for everyone: "And the next time you, any of you, refer to my match as a monster I will do much worse than that love tap. I will teach you why, in this world, I'm the one called goddess…"

It was the closest thing she'd had to an actual code-name before Loki had come into all their lives and she officially became Nightingale. The call-name of 'Goddess' had originated in the fact that, according to practically every X-Men, she had to be one in order to be able to put up with both Charles and Erik whenever a new topic of debate (or more like intense argument) came up. And while both men might be her family and she respected them greatly, that didn't mean she wasn't up for telling them when they were being idiots (mostly whenever they took their arguing so far they got dangerously close to fighting among themselves). Anya was liable to get all morose, perhaps even cry, whenever something like that happened; while Raven favored a more 'proactive' approach (which essentially meant she smacked them both). Risa was able to remain calm, point out what each side had right, what they had wrong and push them into a compromise; most of the time she even managed to make them believe it was all their idea too. Of course both men knew what she did, but as it had saved them a great deal of mental and emotional grief, none of them would be complaining any time soon.

"Who do you think you are?" Sif demanded, offended.

"I am Marisa Ruth Eisenhardt-Xavier, the goddess, the Nightingale." The brunette announced, standing to her full height. "Daughter of Erik Magnus Eisenhardt-Lehnsherr, sister of Charles Francis and Raven Nova Xavier, sister to Anya Willow Eisenhardt-Xavier; mother to Kurt, Jason and Rose Alfdis Eisenhardt-Xavier. Wife and match of Loki."

With such a long and elaborate introduction it actually took a moment for everyone to catch up with the last part of it.

"What?!" Disbelief was probably the most prevalent emotion.

"It's impossible for you to be his match." Odin was in complete denial.

"Why?" Loki challenged. "Because you refuse to accept that a mortal might be my match, or because you believe my match to be dead?"

That through them all (even Odin) for a loop.

"I am also the reincarnation of Lalaith Mirloth, daughter of Lamirima, sister of Merilwen; renamed Tinúviel, match and consort of Loki Odinson, Princess of Alfheim and Asgard, Goddess of Compassion, and mother of Helena Miriel Lokidottir."

For a few moments, a handful of tense, seemingly neverending seconds no one said a thing and then… it was as if something had broken, like metaphorical glass. Thor blinked, and Loki (whose eyes were fixed straight of him, believing that if an attack came their way, it was likely to start with him) could have almost sworn he saw a shadow leave those blue eyes and then…

"Brother…" Loki refused to believe anything had changed, until the next words left the blonde's mouth: "Oh brother how we've wronged you…"

A beat, two, three, and then…

"Can I say hi to grandma and grandpa and uncle Thor now?"

The question was asked with all the eagerness, joy and innocence that could be expected from a child; and it broke the tension like nothing else could have.

It was a bit anticlimactic, considering how much several of them had been preparing themselves for a fight. But still, a welcome thing, realizing they wouldn't have to fight those that were meant to be friends and family after all.

Words were exchanged, apologies made, explanations given; not all was forgiven, nor should it have been. But at least it was a start, a hope that things might be better than they had been for the last too many years.

The one thing the Aesir, particularly Thor and Queen Frigg regretted, was learning that Loki would not be going back to Asgard. He'd no idea if whatever had broken the enchantment in those there might have worked with those on the Realm Eternal too, but in the end he didn't really care. Asgard wasn't home to him anymore, hadn't been for decades (probably centuries). Also, he had a family right there in Midgard, with Risa, Rose and the boys; even if Kurt and Jason weren't his blood, they were as much his sons as Rose was, and he wasn't going to forsake any of them.

xXx

Time… something that couldn't be denied, yet wasn't felt in exactly the same way by everyone. They all knew it passed, whether they be mortal or immortal (or so long lived as to be seen as such), time ignored no one. And yet while it was a fact it existed, and the same measure of it applied to every living creature. It wasn't felt the same by everyone in the universe. So many phrases had been created to refer to that fact: 'seconds extending into eternity', 'moments that seemed to last forever', 'days, or months or years that passed and felt like no time at all'…

That was how it felt for some of those in the Xavier Institute. Those that the younger generations had taken to calling the 'Ironheart', mainly because they all carried the name Eisenhardt, either by birth (like Erik and Anya), adoption (like Risa) or by choice (like Charles). The four of them, the four of them were the very core of their crazy and twisted family, of the Institute and, on many ways, of the mutant Community as a whole. A community that had managed to remain hidden in plain sight for more than half a century… until the day that Thor Odinson and his friends arrived to the estate, bearing news that would change everything.

"What do you mean an alien invasion is coming?" Django cried out, horrified.

One of his hands went instantly to his daughter's shoulders, fearing for her. She was one of the newest batch of recruits for the X-Men, not even twenty-years-old yet; he wanted nothing more than to hide her away with the children and the noncombatants, but his Lorna had gotten the stubbornness from… pretty much every member of their family. There was no way she would stand back when so many of their family would be fighting. And neither would he, it didn't matter if Django was baseline human, no powers at all, he knew how to shoot, had made a point of learning, much like his own mother once did when she was young. He wouldn't be hiding away while his family fought for all of their lives.

"We knew something was coming." Rose reminded them, vaguely gesturing to Irene and herself. "We might not have known it was aliens but…"

She shrugged and everyone understood such things were details and didn't change the fact that they'd known a battle was coming, a big one. Then again, Rose had long since surpassed Destiny, and every other precog the X-Men had ever come across, some couldn't help but wonder if perhaps she had known about the aliens and had chosen to keep it to herself. Then again, the Sight was her gift, and it was her choice how much to share, or not, from what she saw. And in all the years she'd been active as a Seer Rose Alfdis, code-named Chaos Rose, had never lead them wrong, so they all trusted her.

"So, will we all be going?" A female voice with a southern accent inquired.

It was Rogue, or Marie, Risa's and Loki's youngest adopted child. They'd met when the feral mutant, Logan, had brought her around the mansion after having her hide in his truck, she'd been on the streets since having to flee her home, following the initial manifestation of her mutation. Logan knew Risa and Loki, the two of them, with some help from Rose and Charles, were the only reason he had any memories at all, that he wasn't still the lost man he'd been right after the mess in Three Mile Island in the nineties. He trusted them, so he decided that if anyone could help Marie, it was them. It was a complete accident that brought them to the discovery that the girl's mutation didn't work quite right on Risa and Rose (the draw was slow, it didn't hurt and the contact was easy to break) and not at all on Loki (or Helena, when she happened to be around). It was Rose who first referred to the younger girl as sis, and the rest just took it from there.

A decade later and the young woman had Master Degrees in Literature and History, offers from several universities for either a position as professor or in one of their doctorate programs, and she was the field-leader of the junior team of X-Men formed by Wolverine (who, in the last ten years had become her mate and second in command on the field), Pyro, Iceman, Shadowcat, Colossus, Blink, Polaris and herself.

There were two X-Men teams active living in the Institute. The senior team had Phoenix as team leader, her husband: Cyclops as 2iC, while the rest of the team consisted of Storm, Nightcrawler, Illusionist, Angel, Psylocke, Mystique and Beast. Then there were those who were officially retired, but would go back in the event of an emergency, which was mostly those from the first generation who still lived in the mansion (the Professor, Magneto, Nightingale, and by extension Maverick). Rose and the Maximoff twins were their own small team and they tended to travel all around, helping whoever was in need. Sean was in Scotland, had been there since shortly after marrying Moira MacTaggert (and hadn't that been a shock for all who'd known the woman back when she was still with the CIA; before leaving the organization to become a doctor…), they had two children and did their best to help what gifted they could, giving sort-of extracurricular courses to help them control their powers. Alex and Darwin had long since moved to California, where they'd created the second Xavier Institute, they also had their own X-Men team there, though not actually lead by them anymore, as they were both a bit too old for that.

It was something that could be confusing to some. It had been discovered by Beast and Charles that mutants with a certain level of powers, once they hit their prime, they effectively stopped aging. It was what allowed Charles and Erik to be in their eighties and still look like they were in their fifties at most. It was how Risa had managed to have Rose at forty-eight without any of the complications human women would have had (she also looked like she must be in her thirties, despite being over sixty). Even Anya, despite being pretty much a baseline human herself, she carried the mutant gene (her and Johann being both carriers was what had allowed Nina to be mutant herself; Django was born a carrier himself, while his own daughter Lorna was the next mutant to be born into their family-line), which made it so that she, despite being seventy-one (and actually looking it), she 'looked good for her age', and was actually more active than some people as much as a decade younger than her tended to be (the last could have been all Anya though, she was stubborn like that).

"If the invasion gets as bad as we think, then yes, we will all be going." Raven nodded seriously. "We'll even have to see who else we might call in, how long do we have?"

"Three months at most." Thor informed them grimly. "What Loki and my Jane did following the Convergence, to protect this Realm, is probably the only reason why this didn't happen years ago. It prevented any portals from forming…"

"In simple terms, the Mad Titan needed to bring his army the long way round, and that's taken him years." Loki summarized.

"Aye." Thor nodded solemnly.

"That also means it won't be easy to turn him away." Risa stated. "It won't be just a matter of closing a portal and denying them entry. And if he's actually made the trip… he won't be giving up easily."

"Not at all." Loki agreed. "Does he still seek to conquer Death?"

"He wishes to be immortal?" Hank McCoy inquired, confused.

"No, I suppose I might have chosen my words poorly." Loki shrugged. "Thanos is known as the Mad Titan for a reason. He fancies himself in love with Death."

"And his version of chocolates and flowers are all the living he can kill." Rose offered.

"Indeed." Loki confirmed.

"That's…" Charles couldn't find a word strong enough to describe that.

"He was long believed to be a myth." Risa said quietly. "Not many believed that a being that deranged could actually exist."

"And now he's coming our way…" Erik exhaled, horrified by the thought.

"There's one thing none of you have considered." Another voice offered.

All eyes turned to her. She was commonly known in the Community as Wallflower. A graduate of the Institute with a simple enough gift for going unnoticed which, while remarkable when one considered she was a rather curvaceous woman, didn't do much… at least that was until Loki took a second look at her and informed her that she wasn't going unnoticed, or becoming intangible. She was slipping into a separate dimension. She could use the Mirror Dimension to hide herself, to move around, to get one over her opponents; she could also step briefly into the Shadow Plane (the next layer), and use it to Shadow-walk within the limits of Midgard (her human need for oxygen meant she couldn't actually leave the limits of her Realm and travel to others). That was a lot more than anyone could have ever imagined. She still chose to keep her original code-name, deciding it was best for any possible enemies to underestimate her.

What was more important though, was that outside of the Community she was known as Darcy Lewis: Jane Foster's former assistant and current bodyguard (she was trained by some of the very best SHIELD Agents) and lover of Phil Coulson, the current Director of SHIELD.

Following the stand-off back in 2002, Thor and his parents had taken to visiting Midgard every so often, mostly through the Hidden Roads to avoid calling the wrong kind of attention. Sif too had visited as often as she could get away with, until she managed to earn Loki's and Risa's forgiveness. And then Ylva and Fenrir had joined their group (no one knew how exactly Thor and Sif had gotten the Allfather to release Loki's adopted child, but they somehow managed); the two had become frequent visitors; they were also Jane's escorts whenever she happened to be in the Realm Eternal.

In 2015 the Convergence took place. An amazing event that shouldn't have been too problematic. Until Darcy phoned them to let them know that her boss: Dr. Jane Foster, had been investigating the effects of the Convergence in London, she'd gone missing for five hours and upon her return someone had arrived in a rainbow and taken her away before Darcy could so much as demand an explanation (Darcy hadn't known about Thor, or the whole truth about Loki at the time).

Things happened very fast upon Jane's and Thor's return. Loki, Risa, Rose and Helena had been there to provide backup during the actual battle (making sure they wouldn't be noticed). At Darcy's own insistence they'd taken off before SHIELD could make its appearance. Though Thor had stayed to explain what had happened; also because as it turned out, Jane was his match. They were officially engaged before the month was over and married the following year.

When SHIELD had offered to fund Jane's research (both because she was the only one who understood how their world connected with others, and to be on good terms with the new crown princess of Asgard) she'd insisted on taking Darcy with her. It was how Darcy met Phil and eventually fell in love with him. It had also been his idea to train her and make her into part of Jane's protection detail (no one would expect the seemingly ditzy assistant to be a bodyguard, and no one but Jane, Phil and Thor himself knew about Darcy's mutation).

Phil knew about Darcy's status as a gifted, and what her gift was about, he also knew she was part of a secret community that wasn't the inhumans (the community SHIELD was aware of as they'd 'tangled' with them due to Phil's own protege: Skye, who turned out to be the only daughter of the deceased leader of the Inhumans), but not who they were or where they could be found. He understood why Darcy wouldn't share that and accepted it. Trusted her enough to know that if her community were bad, he'd know.

"SHIELD will be there." Darcy finished her statement.

"What can they hope to do?" Raven practically sneered. "Secret agents they might be, but this is completely beyond them."

"Not quite." Darcy almost smirked before throwing the bomb: "Let me tell you about something called the Avengers Initiative…"

Darcy shared everything she knew about it, and that was a hell of a lot, she was after all the Queen of Hackers, TaserQueen. She told them about Captain America, found in the ice back in 2011; Iron Man, though both Tony Stark and his alter ego were public enough figures; War-Machine was also well-known; the Hulk, and his other side, Dr. Bruce Banner; Falcon was a former para-rescue who'd helped veterans with therapy before being recruited; Hawkeye and Black Widow, former Agents of SHIELD who'd joined the team; and finally Spider-Man and the Green Goblin, the only two who still had secret identities, were friends and arguably the youngest in the team.

And then came the Secret Warriors. Lead by Phil's protege: Daisy Skye Johnson, code-named Quake, the heiress to the Inhuman throne (as well as a hacker known as BlueCloud, the second best hacker in the world) and her own partner, a human and former HYDRA operative (who'd switched sides out of love for Skye): Grant Ward. The rest of their team consisted of enhanced Deadlock, humans Melinda May and Alphonso Mackenzie, and inhumans answering to the names of Shock, Replica, Yoyo and Metal. Phil and Darcy themselves would likely join them in the upcoming fight.

xXx

It was easy enough to get word out to their allies. Helena might not live with them, but that was mostly because she lived with her fiancé: Dr. Stephen Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme, and thus leader of the Mystic Order. They also could get in touch with the leader of other magical enclaves. Charles and Erik together had enough contacts in the mutant community to put all on that side on alert, while Raven, Risa, Anya and Rose took care of those from other groups they'd met before (like the Flowers in Mexico, the various clans of skinwalkers, priestesses of several orders in different parts of the world, and many others); though the only ones that really were in the 'hero business' were the Justice League.

When their countdown reached one month, there were rumors running rampant about the things some people were seeing on their telescopes, even amateurs. It was then that it became obvious that the public didn't know about the coming invasion… at all.

"Are they idiotic, or just uncaring?" Anya demanded.

She was livid, even her own family had rarely seen her like that. Risa was quite sure that the last time was when one mutant looked down on her son for being human, Anya had gone straight to him and taken him down with a well-placed punch. Then she stood up to him, refusing to cower even when he threatened her with his claws (he was a feral). When he got too close she pulled out her favorite pistol and shot him the arm, little more than a flesh-wound, but an effective warning nonetheless. It had certainly earned her the respect, not just of Sabertooth, but of many others who hadn't been sure whether humans like her, like Johann, Django, and others, should be in the Institute; be considered part of their family.

"What are they going to do, keep ignoring it until the aliens descend on them, on us all, like a plague of locusts?" She demanded.

"We cannot allow that." Django agreed. "The people deserve to know what's going on. They deserve to prepare… as much as anyone possibly can."

"We've done our best spreading the world with our allies, even some who are little more than acquaintances." Raven pointed out. "The thing is, most of them are as separate from baseline humans as we are. So even if we're ready to fight, that will not help with the civilians, the baseline humans that are bound to end up in the middle of things simply because they live in this world, the same as we do."

"What can we do?" Lorna asked quietly.

She was the youngest person present, but as she was off-age and had officially joined the junior X-Men team, she was part of what was coming.

"Let me handle it." Darcy was only present through video-call, as the situation meant she could not slip away from SHIELD as easily as before, but she still kept in touch. "I'll make sure the word gets out."

Darcy did just that. With some judicious hacking, between her and Skye they managed to get the ball rolling. It began deep in the dark web, but in less than a week it was all over legit news. 'Something' was approaching their planet, at speed. By the end of the week the governments of the world were forced to capitulate and reveal the truth: an alien army was on its way to Earth, intending not conquest, but absolute destruction. The good news? (sort-of) They had allies willing to help humanity fight. They would be ready.

xXx

The day of the battle came. Humanity (baseline and gifted both) was as ready as they would ever be, and Thor had managed to convince their allies from other realms to send warriors their way. The gifted waited until the last moment to reveal themselves, until the aliens were upon them and then it became a battle for survival and things like genetic differences became irrelevant.

Plans had been made. The senior and junior teams of X-Men were sent to those areas that were lacking in gifted capable of properly dealing against the army coming their way. The others, the 'Ironhearts' waited until the battle was underway, until Loki could sense exactly where Thanos had landed, then they went straight there. It was probably no coincidence that that place ended up being Upstate New York, and was the same place where the newly formed Avengers headed once the attack began.

"He's tracking the Tesseract." Loki realized as they all arrived and he senses the energy nearby. "It's an Infinity Stone, of course Thanos will want it."

"We need to make sure he won't get it." Erik stated solemnly. "Willow…"

Anya was back in the Institute, serving as their Watchtower (Jubilee did the same for the junior team and Irene for the senior one) she was on comms and kept an eye on things through all the 'eyes' she could get on the place of the battle. Her middle name served well-enough as a code-name for the duration of the battle (they couldn't exactly call her Watchtower when there were three of those at the time). They had decided it was the best way to allow her to help, without putting her in undue risk.

The battle against Thanos, his Black Order and their army of Chitauri was the worst thing many of them had ever been involved with. The X-Men had experience in fighting, but that was mostly against mutants who decided to use their gifts for evil, or those who might choose to imprison and at times experiment on gifted; at times it was just a matter of new, volatile mutants who only needed guidance. None of them had ever fought a war. The closest they'd come was with the war that had never happened, the one they'd managed to prevent before dawn on October '62.

Still, they had a plan. Charles and Erik stood together, in the years since first discovering what they were capable of when together they'd learned how to control it enough that they no longer needed to be touching physically. As long as they were close enough to connect mentally Onslaught was always there.

They had a plan. As Charles's and Erik's complete focus was on each other and on Onslaught, ChaosRose and the twins (under the code-names of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch) took positions in a loose circle around them, guarding them. The three worked well together, Rose and Peter were a match, they'd known it since she was young, had waited only long enough for her to become off-age before beginning a relationship (with their families' full knowledge and blessing) while Wendy being Peter's twin, it allowed them a bond too. It was as if they always knew what each was going to do.

Loki and Risa too worked perfectly together. While she'd never chosen to be a Warrior (her only actual X-Men mission having been the one back in '62), she understood that sometimes it was about necessity, rather than desire. So the two of them had trained together until they were as in sync as they'd been a lifetime prior. They both fought with knives (she could fight with a bow and arrows as well, but had chosen not to, as they would have been rather impractical in their current fight), and where Loki had his magic, Risa had trained her empathy to be able to use it as a weapon if need be. It was something she'd have never imagined doing when she was young, had been terrified by it the first time it happened (with the bandits), but she'd grown since then, and she knew that she couldn't ignore a part of her gift because it frightened her, when it could one day be of use to her. And the day had come…

The battle was fast, hard, intense. The only thing they'd going for them was that, in the very first few minutes Loki had taken off briefly, tracked down the Tesseract, and secreted it away into his pocket dimension. Whatever else might happen, there was no way they were letting the Mad Titan get his hands on the Space Stone.

The battle was long, but they were managing to hold their own which, they all could tell, was both shocking and angering the invaders. They'd all expected Earth to be an easy target. It was supposed to be a primitive planet, with short-lived, weak individuals. It was what many thought, not just on Thanos's side, but in other Realms as well. They thought that because humans were mortal, and because they weren't unified, they were simple-minded, weak, useless… humanity was proving them wrong in every account.

Former Director Fury (who'd ended up involved in the fight taking place in Europe) certainly didn't like to see so many gifted and enhanced coming out of the wood-work; particularly he didn't like the fact that they had been around for years and SHIELD hadn't known, he hadn't known. In the spy business lack of knowledge could kill you! Then again, he had never been very open minded with those who were 'other' in any possible sense. Coulson was much more willing to work with such individuals, as demonstrated by the fact that the girl he treated as his own daughter had turned out to be one of them, the future leader of one of their groups, and Phil had never so much as wavered in his affection for her. Also, Hill had just informed him that Phil's own lover: Darcy Lewis, had just revealed herself as gifted too so… Nick wasn't sure if he should be proud of his chosen replacement for breaching the divide, or angry that he'd hidden it from Nick himself! Then again, Phil was the one calling the shots nowadays, and that was something Nick just needed to get used to…

They had been fighting for hours, and there were some that only kept going because they knew the terrible consequences that would fall upon them all should the battle be lost. And then it happened, from one moment to the next, a single thing that changed everything.

There was a cry, Nightingale picked up on it through the comms, though just a fraction of a second later she sensed the mix of grief and horror that was caused by it.

"The Prince has fallen!"

It was the cry that was taken up by all the Asgardians around. Crown Prince Thor had fallen. Nightingale reacted instinctively, giving two steps in the direction she felt the grief coming from, before remembering herself. Then she turned to her beloved who was practically vibrating with the mix of worry and fury even as he began conjuring ice blades at a faster rate, taking down as many chitauri as he could lay eyes on.

*Go!* He told her mentally.

*My love…* Nightingale whispered mentally, not knowing what else to say.

*You can help him more than I can at this time.* He pointed out grimly. *You go, I will stay with the children.*

Nothing else needed to be said. Nightingale focused, pulled on her match's power through their bond and them 'jumped'.

"It's me Jane!" Risa called out the moment she landed, even as she dropped to her knees beside Thor, ignoring everyone else.

Jane was on the other side of Thor, dressed in a turquoise gown and platinum armor, on her arm a platinum shield with a white swan and what would become Jane's royal name once she took the throne by Thor's side: Svanhvit.

Many eyes turned towards Risa instantly, and she knew they must have been shocked. Not just for her sudden appearance but also the fact that she was dressed in her black leather-looking X-Men attire, thick-soled boots on her feet, her long dark brown hair in a loose ponytail falling down to her mid-back.

"Nightingale, you can heal him!" Jane exclaimed, hope taking over her grief.

"That's what I'm here for Janey." Risa sent her some comfort before turning her whole attention to the blonde Asgardian on the ground.

It took a while. Healing an Aesir wasn't the same as healing humans. It required a lot more energy than any mortal did. Risa was quite sure that if Ylva hadn't delivered enough herbs for Loki and her to brew a few elixirs she would never have managed it. But she did, and was only a bit out of breath (and very exhausted) once she was finished.

"Sister…" Thor breathed out the moment his eyes opened, the only saving grace being that he did so in Old Norse, so it was unlikely that anyone not Aesir (and not Jane) would understand.

"I'm here Thor." Risa replied in the same language, before switching to English. "Just take a moment to breathe and then you can go bash a few more skulls."

"You should take a breath too my lady, you look exhausted." Ylva, who'd approached to help Jane guard over them, said quietly.

Risa was considering her chances of doing exactly that, when her body abruptly spasmed. Arching backwards before she curled into herself defensively, a half-strangled cry of pain leaving her lips before she could control herself.

"Nightingale!" Several voices cried out at the same time.

Risa paid them no heed, her whole attention was on her beloved. Her badly wounded match…

"Loki!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, before letting herself fall into the shadows surrounding her.

Nightingale hadn't shadow-walked on her own for a lifetime, yet in that moment it was as easy as breathing. She stood from her kneeling posture at the same time as she left the Shadow-Plane, coming out a good distance away from where she'd been seeing to Thor, to stand a few feet from her beloved; who was half kneeling, half lying on the broken concrete that used to be a sidewalk, a hand pressed to what was pretty much of a gouge on his flank.

A part of Risa took a moment to process the fact that her husband was in his Jotunn form, skin blue, hard and cold, and that was probably the only reason why his enemy's spear (one of Thanos's lieutenant) hadn't pierced him through right through the middle; instead deviating to a side and carving a bit into him. A horrific wound, but less dangerous than it would have been otherwise. Also, a touch from him, with the full might of a Royal Jotunn behind it, had been enough to turn Loki's enemy into ice, which even then was stood just a few inches from Risa, like a monstrous sculpture.

If that were all, Risa would have been able to relax, she might have even found it in herself to joke about the scare her match had just given her. But it was right then that his half-strangled shout interrupted her thoughts. She let out a quiet cry of her own as she saw that it was Thanos, standing right there holding her match by the neck, too high for even his toes to touch the ground. He was choking…

"Let him go!" Risa cried out, throwing her blades at the Titan one after the other. "Let my match go you monster!"

"I thought you would be interesting." Thanos commented offhandedly, looking at Loki. "But you're just like everyone else… a mere insect."

With a flick of his wrist Thanos threw Loki away, as if he were nothing. Risa let out a cry of terror, which was cut off when she saw Quicksilver come out of seemingly nowhere, catching her husband just in the nick of time. The development allowed her to breathe easier if just for a moment. And then Thanos's attention turned towards her.

It was… the most terrifying moment in Risa's entire existence. And she'd lived through things that would have traumatized everyone, several times over. She'd gone against bandits when being just a child, had been part of a team that was responsible for stopping WWIII… and yet nothing could compare with the absolute terror that seized her the moment the Mad Titan turned his whole attention towards her.

"And you, little one, what kind of insect are you?" He asked in a most patronizing tone.

Risa would never be able to explain the kind of anger, of outright fury that filled her in that moment. That… that creature standing before her, who looked upon humans like they were vermin, who threw her match aside like he was so much trash. She couldn't stand it. Couldn't stand the thought of him winning… It went beyond the tragedy it would be, all the lives that would be lost. In that moment it was just looking at Thanos and believing, above everything, that he didn't deserve to win. Power, might, experience, those were all irrelevant. Thanos was a monster and he couldn't be allowed to win.

Risa didn't even know what she was doing, not really. All she knew in that moment was what needed to happen: Thanos needed to be defeated. And it was on her to find a way to do exactly that… somehow.

"Phei!" It was Anya Willow screaming, practically shrieking in terror, through her comm.

And, almost as if behind her, everyone else could be heard as well.

The call didn't so much distract Risa as focus her, suddenly she knew exactly what she was going to do. She remembered Anya, all of five-years-old, in a yellow hand-sewn dress, remembered a dirt road by the edge of some woods, bandits, and a cage that smelled awful, and she remembered singing a lullaby to calm her little sister and how it changed everything…

There weren't actually any songs, not really; there was no time, and for the life of her she could not think of a tune that would give her what she needed. But with or without a melody, she was still an Empath, she was still the goddess of the X-Men, of the mutant community, she was still one of the Ironheart.

So, with that in mind, Risa threw herself straight at Thanos. She ducked low, avoiding the hand intending to swat her like a fly (like an insect), spun around to avoid the punch that came from the Titan's other hand. And then she pulled a bit (just a tiny little bit) on her love's magic to teleport straight into Thanos's space. She might not have been too tall, while he was a behemoth, but he'd half-crouched when seeking to hit her, and she worked that to her advantage, as it put him at the perfect height for her to press both of her hands, palms open wide, against his face, fingertips barely grazing his temples. She took a deep breath, and then just let go, unleashing the full force of her mutation on the Titan.

When Thanos dropped to his knees before the petite, dark-haired, leather-clad woman everything around them, not just in NY, but in the whole world, seemed to freeze. When his eyes closed and he began collapsing… it was absolute pandemonium.

The Chitauri fled, like wild animals when faced with fire. Thanos's last standing lieutenant went to his side, picking the warlord up. He briefly considered killing the one who'd dared bring him low but in the end decided the risk was too big, that someone else might try and finish what she began against his lord, so he fled too. Thanos would not reward his choice, but he'd be alive, and they could return to attack the planet another day…

Risa didn't really see any of that. She wasn't even quite conscious by then. The only reason she never hit the ground was because Quicksilver had chosen to take the risk and sped towards her, scooping her up and returning to where his sister and wife were standing guard over a still recovering Loki.

"What just happened?" Erik demanded.

He and Charles had been taking a break (and not their first one). Even if their powers were pretty much in their minds, they both felt as if they'd just run half a dozen marathons, consecutively.

"Risa knocked the purple grape out!" Peter announced with a chuckle that was half eager delight, half nervousness and near-hysteria.

"They're leaving!" Anya announced through the comms. "And it's not just in NY. All around the planet the chitauri are fleeing!"

"It's over." Charles breathed out, unable to help himself as he finally dropped to the ground. "It's finally over. We won."

Yes it was, and yes they had. Unbelievable as it might seem. They'd won…

xXx

It took all of three days for Risa and Loki to recover enough to join all those already helping with salvage, rescue and rebuilding in New York. Anya was right there, coordinating with the other groups, mainly SI and OsCorp that were footing the bills for much of what was being done. Anya, being so visibly human, dealing the exact same way with baseline humans, gifted and enhanced… she set an example even without trying. And when Nina came around with a bunch of rescue dogs (one of the rescue crews had allowed her to take over when realizing she could actually understand the animals, and thus was much more effective when telling others where to search for survivors) and called Anya mom… it was a perfect moment.

It was near the end of the day, when they were approached by none other than Nick Fury.

"Just who are you?" He demanded.

Risa cocked her head to a side, wondering at the reasons behind such a demand.

Truth was Fury had been making such demands since he was still in Europe, to no avail. While many had come to trust SHIELD since Coulson had become Director, they did not trust Fury himself (he refused to consider the fact that he might have been the reason why they did not trust SHIELD before…). The Inhumans were protected by SHIELD itself, due to their Queen's status in the organization, the spell-weavers tended to ignore him and leave when he became too insistent, and even he wasn't crazy enough to try and make demands of people who could turn into bloodthirsty beasts (mostly wolves).

"We're the Ironhearts." Anya announced, taking command easily enough. "We're the core leadership of the Mutant Community."

"Mutants don't exist!" Fury retorted. "They're a fantasy created by some Dr. Xavier…"

Several people actually chuckled, and the former Director had no idea why until one of the older men in the group stepped forward.

"That'd be me." He announced. "Doctor Charles Francis Xavier. I'm a mutant, a telepath to be precise… and before you say what's running through your head right now, let me tell you that you not knowing we existed, that we could even exist, does not somehow invalidate our own existence, nothing can do that."

"Your government knew once we existed." Erik added for good measure. "We worked with them for a while, Charles and myself, and a few others, back in the 60s. Things didn't go so well and we were forced to part ways."

"Division X." Coulson was the first to put the pieces together, and he was in shock. "Charlie Darkholme and Erik Lehnsherr…"

"You abandoned the humans when things got tough." Hill scoffed.

"No, we didn't." Charles shook his head. "After the attack on HQ… we just decided it was better if we handled things ourselves. We took down Shaw and the Hellfire Club ourselves, before they could force things in Cuba."

Several people blinked rapidly as things began clearing up for then. Things like Division X, Shaw, the Hellfire Club, might not have meant much for them, but anyone could put 'the 60s' and 'Cuba' together and reach the exact same conclusion:

"The Cuban Missile Crisis!" Spider-Man cried out in shock. "You were part of that."

"In few words, a man called Sebastian Shaw had been playing both sides of the board, in this case meaning both Russia and the United States." Risa declared evenly. "The reasons for this are irrelevant. He was absolutely deranged. A CIA Agent saw some of his people, the members of he Hellfire Club and that pushed her to seek Charles out. The initial plan was to form a special team that would assist the CIA in arresting Shaw, but after the attack on Division X's HQ, a new plan was needed. In the end we went after Shaw on our own, dealt with him and his followers just before the American and Russian fleets got close to Cuba. Were gone before anyone ever knew we were there."

"And what then?" Iron Man wanted to know.

"Not much." Risa shrugged. "We've focused on making sure our own people will be alright. That they will learn to use their powers, to have control, to be able to live among humans without hurting others or being hurt."

"I am human, baseline human to be precise." Anya announced. "My father and all my siblings are mutants, my husband was baseline, while my children, my son is baseline, my daughter a mutant. We may have our genetic differences, but in the end, we're still family. We always will be."

For a moment it looked like Fury was going to press. Really, the man was going crazy, so unused to not being in control, he clearly had no idea what to do with himself. But Risa wasn't about to allow him to ruin the best chance they'd ever had to achieve real integration, the biggest dream Charles (all of them really) had ever had, simply because one single man wasn't getting his own way. She also wasn't going to fight him, that wouldn't have been the right example. So instead she did what she did best, what had always worked for her. She took a deep breath, and she sang:

"I wanna leave my footprints on the sands of time

Know there was something that, meant something that I left behind

When I leave this world, I'll leave no regrets

Leave something to remember, so they won't forget"

"I was here

I lived, I loved

I was here

I did, I've done everything that I wanted

And it was more than I thought it would be

I will leave my mark so everyone will know

I was here"

They were there, and they weren't leaving. That was something that not just Nick Fury, but everyone else needed to know, to understand. Mutants had been around for decades, more than half a century (much longer than that in fact). They might have kept to themselves for the longest time, but it was no longer possible. They weren't going to hide, and more importantly, they would not allow others to use them, or to control them. They were mutants and proud of it, and they would stand side by side with every other gifted, enhanced and baseline human in the world.

"I wanna say I lived each day, until I die

And know that I meant something in somebody's life

The hearts I have touched will be the proof that I leave

That I made a difference, and this world will see"

"I was here

I lived, I loved

I was here

I did, I've done everything that I wanted

And it was more than I thought it would be

I will leave my mark so everyone will know"

"I was here

I lived, I loved

I was here

I did, I've done everything that I wanted

And it was more than I thought it would be

I will leave my mark so everyone will know

I was here"

They didn't exactly plan it, but as Risa sang right there, with Loki on her right and Anya on her left, Charles and Erik were standing just to the right of them all, while Raven joined them silently at their left side. It was all of them, the Ironhearts standing together, like they always had, since first meeting on the grounds of the Xavier mansion back in the Fall of 1962, when the daughters of one man were revealed to be the sisters of another, hearts were healed and the foundations for one family came into being. A family that would grow, exponentially, one that was and would continue being a big part in changing the world. Not just for mutants, but for all living beings.

"I just want them to know

That I gave my all, did my best

Brought someone some happiness

Left this world a little better just because

I was here"

"I was here

I lived, I loved

I was here

I did, I've done everything that I wanted

And it was more than I thought it would be

I wanna leave my mark so everyone will know"

"I was here

I lived (I lived), I loved

I was here

I did (I did), I've done

I was here

I lived (I lived), I loved (I loved)

I was here (oh)

I did, I've done

I was here"

Unknown to most people present, to all but ChaosRose and those most tightly connected with her, while the Nightingale sang, a new vision was taking form inside the gifted Seer's mind. A vision of the things that would come, all the ways the world would change following what was happening in that very moment… It wasn't a utopia, not by any extent, but that was okay, utopias are just lies, pretty, impossible lies.

What Rose was seeing was, in many ways, the things they'd all hoped for, dreamed of, since Charles had first put the idea of integration into their minds. For so long it had seemed like nothing more than a pretty dream, nigh on impossible. Even as they did their best to make sure that the human families would get to know their mutant members, to understand them, accept them. Sometimes it was possible, others there was no way. But they never gave up, they kept doing their best. And were rewarded with those families where love truly was stronger than any possible difference. Something that seemed to happen more often as years passed, times changed, people became more open minded.

Even then, it had always been one thing for family, loved ones to know the truth and accept it. Most of the mutants had never imagined a day when the world as a whole might know they existed, and not just accept them, but embrace them. The X-Men had helped save the world, and in return that somehow seemed to have proven, beyond a shadow a doubt, that they'd more than earned the right to be a part of it.

The vision was coming to an end when Rose noticed something. The spear that one of Thanos's lieutenant had used to try and kill her father… it had shattered, all but the gem at the top of it. A gem that had been picked up by one of them almost absentmindedly, at the end of the battle. Rose didn't see much, but enough to know exactly what she'd need to do, the way Tony Stark, Thor and Helena would be needed, working together to bring into the world the one person Wendy had been waiting for her whole life.

*Just wait a little longer Ed…* Rose mind-whispered to the jewel in her pocket. *You'll get your chance soon. Both you and Wendy will… I will make sure of it.*

---

So... what do you think? I love ScarletWitch/Vision but couldn't find a way to fit it in other than the implication for the future. Also, I handled Risa's gifts a bit different this time, even if some things ended being the same. I hope that was alright. I took special delight with Charles, making him different, because there were others who needed him. It's part of the idea that each character may change due to the people they connect with and events they experience. And in this case, that applied to Jason Stryker too.

For the next piece... I've always wanted to do something with Black Panther. "Midnight Songbird" was written before the movie came out and thus had nothing to do with it. But I loved the movie and wanted to do something with it. This was my chance. So see ya in three weeks!

P.S. I would really, really love it if I got some reviews/comments, please? (Anyone wanna guess where Nightingale's next incarnation will pop up exactly, I've already given you a huge clue...).