Well, ladies and gents, this is it.
The cumulation of 21 chapters.
Over 37,000 words- my longest story to date.
78 reviews as I type this.
All Hallow's Eve...
Is over.
Now, there will be a sequel, and I'm working really hard on it. It might even beat its predecessor's wordcount.
But as of right now...
IT IS FINISHED.
Please enjoy and review if you liked this story.
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It was the very next night after watching Doctor Who. The Young Avengers were scattered around the Tower, helping out on numerous projects, or just hanging out.
Tony and Tasha were down on the sciency floors, as they were referred to by most of the team. Everyone else- with the exceptions of Pepper and Steve- were hanging out on the main lounge floor. Pepper was at a business meeting, Jarvis had informed them, and Steve was beating up punching bags.
The elevator doors opened. "Anyone seen Tasha?" Tony asked casually, stepping into the lounge. "She said she had to go do something and then kinda vanished. She hasn't come back yet."
"Sir, she isn't in the Tower," Jarvis reported. Brenda frowned. Was that a hint of... worry in the AI's tone?"
"So she's been kidnapped?" Tony said sharply.
"No, sir. Her heat signature disintegrated a few minutes ago in the elevator, between her level and the lounge."
Stephanie looked up from her Starkphone and frowned. "That makes no sense... unless..."
Her eyes suddenly widened. Fear covered her face as she asked quickly, "Where's Steve?!"
"Punching punching bags... why?"
"Get him up here- we're leaving!" she said in a panicked voice, rising to her feet swiftly.
Everyone else started as Claire shouted something and stared at her hands. They were vanishing, and her head snapped up to stare at Clint.
"I'm sorry! I'll miss you, Dad!" she wailed in sadness as Clint took a few steps forward- and then she was gone.
"Captain Rogers is on his way," Jarvis said.
"We just have to stay for five more minutes!" Stephanie whispered, willing herself not to vanish.
Brenda was crying as she, too, started to vanish from the waist up. "Bruce- Father- be careful," she ordered, tears streaming down her cheeks. Bruce nodded as he looked like he was trying not to cry.
Nathan didn't even have time to say goodbye before he was gone. Stephanie was practically hyperventilating by the time the doors opened, all the way across the lounge.
She felt an odd tingling begin in her hands and started sprinting towards Steve, who was looking confused. "We're going back- I'm left and I won't be here much longer!" she shouted quickly, willing herself to stay.
But it wasn't working, and just as she was about to hug Steve for the last time, she felt her control slipping. The last thing she managed to yell was "DAD!" before she was gone, and Steve was left grasping for open air.
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Lori and Lena sat in the Great Hall in Asgard. It was large, and ornate columns ringed the roof, which was partly cut away to reveal the night sky. The sky itself shone with billions of stars and galaxies that truly couldn't compare the view back on earth.
More than once, Lori was caught staring open-mouthed at it.
Lori wore a long emerald green gown with a black shawl draped over her shoulders lazily. Her black hair had been combed into an Asgardian fashion, and the only Midgardian thing she wore was a thick scarf Loki had given to her. It was patterned green and cream, and was the scarf he had chosen to wear at Stuttgart only a few nights earlier.
Lena sat next to Lori, both cheerful, but both feeling the unresolved tension swirling around them. Lena wore a deep red dress, only this one with long sleeves, unlike Lori's. She raised one eyebrow at her stepsister. Lori's frown dropped a little.
A small polished silver plate lay in front of the two teens. On each a pure golden apple rested. Lori looked at it cautiously.
"To Lady Lena and Lady Lori!" Sif said jovially, raising her goblet in the air. She gave a rare smile at the two. Lori clinked glasses with Lena, who sat on her right, and Loki, who was on her left.
Loki was unbound and the muzzle was gone. A small trial had taken place yesterday, and while Lori wasn't present, she had a good idea of the verdict. Odin was so consumed with guilt at his failure in parenting, that Loki was barely getting by with a slap on the wrist. Apparently he simply had to do enough good deeds to be called 'redeemed.' Loki nudged her on the arm, Lori's head popped down from the sky.
"Mhm?" She asked.
"Better get ready," Loki whispered quietly. "Soon you'll hear the 'mighty heroes' speech from Thor, and then… immortality is yours." Lori shivered a little in anticipation. Lena glanced over at her.
"You nervous at all?" Lena questioned.
Lori put a hint of a smile on her face. "Not at all," she lied smoothly.
"My fellow Asgardians!" Thor boomed, his voice filling the entire Great Hall. "We are here to celebrate the return of my brother, and the arrival of two new Asgardians: the Ladies Lena and Lori. They have proven themselves worthy of being called Asgardians in battle only a few days ago…"
"What did I tell you?" Loki said smugly.
"Show off. You've known him for years!" Lori protested. "I've only watched the movies!"
Lena was intently listening to her doppelganger drone on and on about battles and worthiness and immortality and something about a bilgesnipe.
"And so, it is here where we offer them the true gift of Asgard… immortality. By partaking the apples of Idunn, you are accepted as a full citizen of Asgard, and as members of our court. Thank you for your service, and we look forward to meeting your acquaintance better." Thor smiled. "Now! Eat!"
Lori and Lena made brief contact, and each plucked the apples from their plate. They raised them up to their mouths, and Lori could almost taste it… Both were about to bite in when-
-They vanished.
Dead silence fell over the Great Hall. "WHAT SORCERY IS THIS?!" Thor boomed, enraged. "Loki- if this is one of your tricks-!"
"I promise you brother, it is no such thing," Loki said coolly. "Besides, why would I prevent the child who is like a daughter to me from receiving immortality?"
"Then who do you expect is behind this?"
Loki paused, then thought quickly, "They've gone back…"
"What?" Thor asked, his eyebrows furrowing in surprise.
"They were never from our world, Thor. They had to go back sometime… But the timing was atrocious…" Loki frowned.
"Will they come back?" Sif asked, piping up into the conversation.
"I truly do not know…"
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Stephanie blinked in shock. She was standing back at the haunted house, back to back with her friends, about to go get scared for the heck of it. "Everyone here?" she asked, voice quavering.
"Headcount says yes," Nathan said after a brief second.
Lori hugged Stephanie tightly as the latter started to cry. "I didn't even get to say goodbye!" Stephanie whispered, tears rolling down her cheeks as Lori tried to comfort her.
"Chin up- we'll cry when this is over," she whispered, voice trembling with sorrow. "I didn't either."
They made their way through the haunted house, trying not to take out any of the actors on their way through. Stephanie partially failed- someone jumped out from behind a door and she uppercut him with the edge of her (once again cardboard) shield. After a few sincere apologies, wherein Stephanie looked liable to break down, they exited the haunted house without further incident.
They gathered at the trunk of Tasha's junky old pickup and clambered into the back. Stephanie lost it and started crying, right along with Brenda. Lori wrapped her arms around Stephanie and tried not to let the tears seep out of her own eyes. Nathan was comforting Claire, with both arms tightly secured around her as he rocked her silently.
"Ya'll ok?" someone with a southern accent shouted.
Tasha fixed her 'Stark Smile' in place and called, "Yeah, we're fine. Some of us just got a bit scared, is all."
"Nice coverup," Lena complimented, patting her arm gently, before pausing. "Um... I... I sound different..."
"No more Shakespeare in the Park," Brenda said, wiping some tears out of her eyes and sniffling a bit.
"Awwww, I loved Shakespeare in the Park," Lena complained. "It was really fun."
"Excuse me, we've just returned from an EXTREMELY different universe and we now have to deal with being without everything we're used to!" Stephanie snapped, trying to pull herself together. Then she broke again. "How does Dad do it?" she whispered.
Everyone knew who she was talking about.
"Now to face the normal world," Nathan said grimly.
Tasha clambered out of the trunk and got into the driver's seat, glancing over her shoulder at her friends. "Hold on tight," she ordered them, and turned the old gas-guzzler on.
They drove back to Tasha's place, where all their things were stored for the Halloween sleepover. The wind blasted through their hair, mussing everyone's costumes as they did so.
They arrived very late at night, and clambered out of the back. There were only a few kids outside as they started to walk back inside, trying not to cry. As Stephanie was about to step inside, something stopped her.
"Miss?"
She slowly turned around.
"Why were you cryin'?"
It was a small girl, dressed as a fairy. Her head was tilted slightly to the side as she looked up at the older girl.
Stephanie paused.
"Coming, Steph?" Tasha shouted.
"One sec!" she called over her shoulder, and knelt down to the girl's level.
"Did you lose your daddy?" the child asked.
Stephanie forgot to breathe.
"Cuz my mommy said my daddy's gone," the girl continued, not looking at her. "She said he's gone to be with Jesus."
Stephanie swallowed. "You're right," she said. "I have lost my daddy."
"Has he gone to be with Jesus too?" the girl asked.
Stephanie shook her head. "No. We're just separated by... a lot of space and probably some time."
The girl looked at her solemnly. "It'll be ok, then," she said simply. "You'll see him again."
Stephanie tried to smile. A tear slid down her cheek and she wiped it away. "Thank you," she said with a small laugh. "You don't know how much I needed that- especially right now."
The girl nodded again.
"Arianna!" a woman called.
The girl turned. "I have to go," she said. "My mommy's calling."
"Go on, then- Arianna, right?"
Arianna turned to nod at her.
"Thank you."
Stephanie paused as she watched the young girl walk away. She shut her eyes for a moment, and a memory flashed in front of her eyes.
Her eyes snapped open.
"Stuttgart," she whispered. "I saved you in Stuttgart from Loki."
Arianna turned to smile mysteriously at her, and vanished back into the darkness.
Stephanie stared silently at the place Arianna had been seconds before as she slowly rose. She turned around and slowly walked back up to the house, staring at the door for a brief moment.
She stepped inside, and glanced over her shoulder one last time. Arianna was standing at the end of the sidewalk. She waved quietly, and a ghost of a smile crossed her face.
Stephanie nodded, and closed the door.
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There is always a time when a good thing must come to an end. Their time there was short, a fleeting moment in their life.
But the impressions will last...
Forever.