A/N: I'm back! Sorry for the delay, it's beginning to be hard to write five stories up front. So I can promise one chapter twice a month, but no more. Sorry 'bout that, but if you bear with me, it'll be worth it.
I also wanted to thank lokiAU10 for his/her (never asked your gender I realised) kind ideas and suggestions about Simon and his future appearance. No too long now, I promise. ;)
Disclaimer: All characters depicted here are the property of Marvel Cinematic Universe; Marvel Comics; or Twentieth Century Fox. I only own the plot surrounding them.
Ad Astra
4. Secrecy
Secrecy is what makes the world we live in. Everyone we look, someone has a secret to keep. Whether it is their own – a lover they can't admit they had; a mistake they made when they were younger and more naïve – or someone else's, everyone has a secret to keep.
Secrecy can destroy homes, can form a rift between friends and families, can abide to foes and enemies alike. Secrecy is a very dangerous thing.
And someone on Asgard was keeping a very nasty secret. One to be soon uncovered by our heroin.
Ever since it had been decided that she'd go on Asgard with Vision, Captain America and Thor, Wanda had felt trepidation and impatience. She'd spent less and less time training with the others and more and more time with Pietro's still face, promising things she should have known were not all possible to live by. But she did not care.
Seeing her brother's frozen features was like a burn to her soul, one that would never be healed until she found a way to bring him back. In crazed moments, she could swear she had seen his fingers twitch or his eyes open. She would never tell anyone, knowing they'd think her mad, but it brought her hope to imagine those movements.
Asgard was her best shot yet at finding something to save her brother. Idunn Apple's. She had once again read everything there was about them, how they were originally kept in the care of the Goddess Idunn herself before her untimely demise at the hands of Fenrir the Great Wolf. They had then been given, along with the three that grew them, to Queen Frigga, who had kept it in her own gardens.
And now Frigga herself was dead, Wanda could only hope that Odin had kept the tree safe.
But then, if he hadn't, would he knowingly bring death upon himself and his people? She did not think so. Leaders had always that same fault: they always did whatever they could to please the crowds. Was it keeping them immortal or killing millions, it was always the same.
The morning the group of four was due to leave, Wanda found herself in the locker room with Black Widow. The older woman had requested her presence so that she'd show her her new S.H.I.E.L.D. outfit to replace the black dress and red jacket she always wore.
Wanda did not care for the garment. It was made of spandex, like the Captain's outfit, something that in itself meant it was horrid; and made of a dark colour that would surely not compliment her pale skin and dark eyes.
But the Widow would not relent, and so she agreed to put the offensive thing on, knowing in the back of her mind that as soon as she was able, she'd conjure the thing off. She looked at herself in the lengthy mirror of the room and her nose turned up in disgust. She looked awful.
"There. Don't look that offended. Agent Hill pulls that thing off alright."
"Agent Hill is not graced with magical powers." She sneered, and Natasha looked at her reflection with a frown.
"You are always angry, child. Calm yourself, or you might well start a war we do not wish on our hands."
"How could I start a war with Asgard? Thor is one of your most trusted allies!" It was something that had not even grazed her mind, the possibility of antagonizing the Allfather. To be honest, she did not really care any way.
"Odin is not very fond of magicians." The Widow squeezed Wanda's shoulder almost to the point where it hurt. "Loki was one, and see what good it did us."
Wanda tilted her head to the side but did not answer. Fury had assigned her to the mission because she had magic, and now she learnt that Asgardians were weary of magicians? Well, if they tried anything on her, she'd give them a taste of her wrath. And damn the consequences. She had enough been manipulated by men who kept secrets. No more. Whatever the Director's agenda was, she wanted no part in it.
So she nodded in fake assent, and turned to leave the room.
Her outfit squeaking as if she had been wearing plastic.
Vision had once again decided to wear the obnoxious yellow cape over his usual purple appearance, but upon seeing Wanda looking so uncomfortable in her own clothes, he frowned, and a second later, his purple body had taken a more sombre dark grey hue. She flashed him a thankful smile just as Thor and Rogers joined them.
They were standing just outside the facility, where the Bifrost had already burnt the grass and left its imprint. Fury was there, Hill also, and while the Director gave them his last orders – mainly to make sure they returned unscathed and they didn't start a war, just as Black Widow had said – his assistant was tapping away on her tablet's screen. Wanda was tempted to scan her thoughts to know exactly what she was doing, but didn't really care as long as it didn't concern herself.
Then, at last, Fury and Hill moved away from the site and Thor entered the circle of runes, gestured his companions to do the same and, when they were all four squeezed inside it, he raised the arm wielding Mjöllnir and called for Heimdall.
Wanda didn't believe her own eyes at what happened next.
She had witnessed the Bifrost's wonders before, either in Thor's mind or from the facility's windows, but living it was much different.
A beam of light first engulfed her and her companions, and when she felt her feet leave the concrete ground, she could not repel a squeal of surprise. She was floating at the highest speed she knew, colours flowing around her at such speed that it looked as if she had entered the heart of a rainbow, and she could see round discs fly by, their colours dimmed by the beam of light. Worlds, she thoughts, planets. That's what she was seeing.
The journey lasted no more than a minute. As quickly as it had taken them, the beam of light threw them all on a hard tiled floor. Wanda and Rogers fell to the knees while Thor and Vision landed gracefully on the coloured tiles and smiled up at Asgard's guardian.
Wanda groaned as she stood and looked over her shoulder. Behind her, nothing but the immensity of a starry sky, similar to the one she could see at night on Earth. Except she could see the light of day outside the bubble they were in, and that puzzled her greatly.
Heimdall was indeed a giant of a man. With his deep golden – almost orange – eyes and black skin, he looked like a Titan of old. She stared at him until his eyes fell on her and for the first time in her life, Wanda Maximoff felt little. He kept his golden irises trailed on her for a long moment, and the turned line of his lips told her that Thor's tales had not been lies: Heimdall had seen all of their lives before his own gaze. He had seen what she had done. And he did not approve.
"Dear Heimdall, we are here to see the Allfather!" boomed Thor, and the guardian nodded in answer.
"The Allfather is waiting for you," he answered in a deep baritone voice. "But he has requested that you settled your friends down in their quarters first, for he is presently meeting with generals from Alfheim."
Thor nodded with a beaming smile. "Very well!" then he turned to his companions and added, "I'll introduce you to the Warrior Three! Come!"
Wanda internally cursed, for she had no wish to meet the 'Warrior Three' at all, but one look from Heimdall and she knew she had better run behind the three men and not question Thor's choice of activity. She'd have to watch her back during her stay, and she had not counted on that. Stealing Idunn Apples would probably be more difficult than she first thought...
The golden bubble that hosted the Bifrost had already been a beauty in itself, but nothing could possibly prepare Wanda for the sight of the Rainbow Bridge and the Asgard beyond. The bridge was impossibly beautiful, and yet it was very difficult to describe it. Only that it seemed made of pure light. Light that would have been cut in all the colours of the spectrum, from a deep magenta to the lightest of reds. She stared at it for long moments before she realised she had fallen back from her companions, and ran to catch up.
Vision looked back at her, ans smiled, his mind grazing hers at once. "You look contemplative. It is a welcomed change."
She kept her eyes set on the city on the horizon, with its crystal clear domes and golden pillars. "I have never seen anything like it."
"Yes, it is without equal." He nodded his assent, and remained silent.
Yes, Asgard was without equal. Without any doubt.
Once they reached the city, Thor took the group through mazes of streets and market-places. Many Aesir bowed their heads on their wake, but their prince seemed not to notice any of them as he strode through the crowds, engrossed in a tale he was trying to tell Rogers. Who didn't seem like he was listening either.
The palace was made of gold and diamonds. Three high towers rose into the purple sky like glass spears, the light of the sun shining through them as if through ice. Wanda was amazed.
Even more so when they entered and she could glance at the delicately sculpted pillars, the runes engraved on the gold so fine that it looked at if the metal was soft wood.
"Come!" Thor boomed to three people who had been standing in the middle of a corridor. "These are our guests!" He snaked an arm around one man's shoulders, and beamed at his three Midgardian colleagues.
The man he had taken in such a brotherly embrace was almost as tall as himself, with short golden hair that was combed to one side. He also had a golden moustache and goatee, and he looked like a man who knew his charms and played them to perfection. His eyes fell on Wanda easily, but she ignored his blue inquisitive gaze, knowing all-too-well the vanity of such men.
The second man was shorter, with jet-black hair and a complexion that was not without reminding her of Asians. His eyes were long and resembled those of cats, and he was dressed in deep black clothes, giving him an austere look emphasized by the frown on his lips.
The third person was a female. She was taller than Wanda and lean and muscular. She was clad in an armour that clung to her form like a second skin, and kept one hand trained on the hilt of her sword. Her long black hair was loose and she was smiling at the group in a welcoming smile.
"I am Lady Sif. But I prefer only 'Sif'." she said, and Rogers answered with his usual 'Madam' that made Wanda roll her eyes. "This is Hogun." she gestured to the severe man at her side, "and this stupid flirt, is Fandral." The blonde man grinned a toothy smile towards his friend, then back at Wanda who kept a neutral figure.
"And these are my dearest companions on Asgard. Although Volstagg is missing, no doubt engrossed in his third meal today. Never mind, we'll see him later." Thor entangled his arm from around Fandral's shoulders, and gestured to Rogers. "This is Steve of Rogers, Captain of America; my Vision; and Miss Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch."
At the last word, Sif's eyes narrowed, but Wanda kept her mask on, trying not to feel too offended at the way the woman's face had tensed in a look of mistrust.
"Come now, let's meet Father!"
As soon as Thor had left the three in an enormous room that would be their chambers for the extent of their stay, Rogers and Vision started discussing what would their approach be with Odin, who was a notoriously proud person.
Meanwhile, Wanda strode to the balcony attached to the room and stood facing the Rainbow Bridge in the distance, and the sea of stars that was beyond. She felt a powerful need to see her brother, to have him by her side, to tell him how beautiful this whole place was and how she wanted never to leave. But then her heart constricted in her chest and she recalled feeling him falling, and the void it had left.
Her hands gripped the golden rail harder and the metal started buzzing with power as her anger channelled through it. When it became hot and started to melt under her touch, she flinched away and hissed. Not because she had hurt herself, but because she had defiled something that did not belong to Earth.
A gentle touch to her mind told her someone else had noticed her slip up, and she sighed while lowering her mind barriers.
"Wanda? Are you alright?"
She tried to make the anger fade, to no avail. "I'm fine."
"No, you are not. Careful, young one, you are losing focus."
She glared aimlessly over her shoulder and then back down at her outfit. She cursed in her mother tongue and waved her hands in the air. A faint smoke made of red magic waved over her, and when it dissipated, she was back in her comfortable black dress and fitting red jacket.
Thor came back to them nigh on two hours later. The Allfather would receive them at last.
Vision was swift in conjuring his golden cape back on, and silently chastised Wanda for her change in wardrobe, before they all followed the Prince of Asgard back in the maze of halls of his home-land.
The throne-room was immense, almost as big as one whole Helicarrier. The whole population of Asgard would have no trouble standing altogether in such a space, Wanda guessed. It was as impressive as it was ugly. Perhaps the first place on Asgard that made her think that, but she would keep the thought long after her first encounter with the place.
Odin sat on his throne, his staff held high next to him, almighty at the top of his stairs. His sole eye trained on the group approaching him, he waited for the four to have respectfully bowed – although Wanda hated the thought of bowing to anyone ever again – to address his son.
"You have asked for my counsel, son?"
Thor then began to explain to his father what exactly the Avengers were there for, and as the speech got longer, Wanda let her thoughts wander.
Odin looked like a weary old man in the memories Thor had 'shown' her of him. An old man tired of ruling, who had willingly passed on his powers to a less loved son while he was resting in his magical casket. But then, the man who was sitting before her was not the same man. Not really. He held himself with the ease of a young soul, and his eye was no longer weary but alert.
She wondered, and as her hands crossed behind her back, she glanced at Vision and smirked to herself. If she could...maybe just for a second...he'd never know...
So she stretched her psyche forward, ever so gently, so that it grazed Odin's as softly as it could to make sure he would not feel it.
But then, as she did catch a passing thought, Wanda gasped and retreated back in herself.
Odin was not Odin.
Odin was Loki.
Well...perhaps this could be interesting...
