Chapter 25 -
Harry, Natasha and Thor followed Jane into the building that she had lead them into. It looked like she wanted to take them into a specific apartment.
"You know I forget sometimes that I am British," Harry whispered to Natasha. "this would be called an apartment in America yet here it's called a flat. Interchangeable terms but still."
"How fascinating." Natasha said dryly.
"I know right." Harry grinned, ignoring her lack of enthusiasm. Eventually they got to the right door as Jane entered into the flat and the other three followed in.
"Jane!" A voice said and the three turned to see the black haired girl from the warehouse, Darcy Lewis, talking to Jane. "You can't just leave like that!" She added while Harry and Thor decided to put their weapons on the coat rack. "The whole world is going crazy, all the stuff we saw is spreading and...did you go to a party?" She added when she saw Jane wearing Asgardian clothes.
"Erik?" Jane blurted out when she saw Erik Selvig sitting at a desk.
"Jane! How wonderful!" Erik exclaimed as he got up and revealed that apart from a brown shirt and some tighty whitey's. He walked around and hugged Jane enthusiastically, though it was made awkward by Jane also noticing his limited amount of clothing. "You've been to Asgard?" He asked once he let go and realised Jane was wearing Asgardian clothes.
"Where are your pants?" Jane asked
"Oh, he says he thinks better without them." Responded a male who was also in the apartment.
"How does that work?" Harry whispered to Natasha who shrugged to say that she did not know.
"Okay, well I am going to need everything you have got on this, all of the work you've been doing on gravimetric anomalies, everything." Jane said to Erik.
"Okay." Erik nodded to Jane.
"Are you well Erik?" Thor asked.
"Thor!" Erik turned to him with a happy expression that suddenly disappeared. "You're brother's not coming is he?"
"No, no he is not." Thor shook his head.
"Oh thank god!" Erik said, but quickly backpedalled when he saw the look on Thor's face. "I mean what a shame." Erik walked over and gave Thor a big hug, patting him on the back as he did so. "Hold on, I remember you two." He said to Harry and Natasha. "You were at the battle of new York."
"Oh yeah," Darcy looked at the two with a smile. "Black Widow and Raven."
"Wait what?" The other male said. "Black widow and Raven?" He blurted out in shock.
"I'm sorry, who is he?" Harry pointed to the male.
"That's Ian, he's my intern." Darcy explained.
"Anyway, it's good to see you both." Erik moved in for another hug when Natasha put up a hand to stop him, Harry waved his hand and suddenly Erik was wearing pants.
"Hey!" Erik complained. "I think better without them."
"I can think better when everyone has them on." Harry replied.
"Hello mother." A voice said. Frigga's eyes went wide as she recognised that voice, she turned around as fast as lightning and saw Loki standing in front of her.
"Loki?" She whispered as she walked forward and placed her hands on his face, proving to herself that this was no illusion. "It is you."
"Yes," Loki nodded as he grabbed her hands with his own and held them. "yes it is me mother."
"What...what are you doing here?"
"I...I have something I need to talk to you about."
"Malekith is going to fire the Aether at a spot where all the nine worlds are connected." Jane said as she and everyone looked through all the information they currently had.
"Amplifying the weapons impact." Erik replied. "For each additional world, the power will increase exponentially. The impact would be universal."
"Yes but the alignment is only temporary, he has to be in exactly the right place at the right time." Thor replied.
"So we just need to work out where that is." Natasha said.
"Yes but how are we supposed to do that?" Darcy asked.
"We follow the directions." Erik said as he got up, the group followed him to a table that he placed a map on. "This has happened before, thousands of years ago, and the ancients were there to see it. All the great constructions, the Mayans, the Chinese, the Egyptians. They made use of the gravitational effects of the convergence, and they left us a map." He said as he began drawing on the map. "Stonehenge, Snowdon, the great Orme. These are all coordinates, taking us here." He finished as he pointed to a spot on the map.
"Greenwich?" Ian asked.
"The walls between worlds is going to be almost non-existent." Jane said. "Physics is going to go ballistic. Increases and decreases in gravity, spatial extrusions. The very fabric of reality is going to be torn apart."
"Than god I already have my pants." Erik said.
"Your welcome." Harry replied.
"I will deal with Malekith." Thor said as he summoned Mjolnir back into his hand.
"Be careful, he was dangerous before but now he's got the Aether in him." Harry warned. "Alright, Natasha you'll be going with Jane and the others. Your job is to keep them safe and make sure that they don't get hurt and help them with all of the anomalies."
"Got it." Natasha nodded. "What about you?"
"Me and Thor will be the ones going after Malekith and his band of dark elves." Harry answered as he summoned Leviathan into his hands. "This'll be a battle for the ages."
The next day the group had gone to Greenwich Royal Navy College, Darcy and Ian began putting Erik's devices all around various points while Natasha was with Jane and Erik. She had her magically enhanced guns ready in case they were needed, meanwhile Jane modified the setting in an attempt to gain some control over the anomalies so she could help Harry and Thor while also messing up the dark elves plan.
Harry and Thor meanwhile were searching for Malekith and his elves. They were encouraged to speed up by the rifts forming in the sky and around them which allowed them to see other worlds. Eventually they discovered the dark elves who had opted to ignore the stealth option.
The dark elves ship became visible just as its bottom part cut across the water before it reached the land and did the same, before stopping. It was rather hard not to notice it seeing as it easily dwarfed all the other buildings around it. The elves walked out of the ship just as Thor landed down on the ground, smashing it as he did so. At the same time Harry teleported next to him, wearing his full Raven costume with the hood up and the mask on.
"I miss Dobby." Harry said to himself as he and Thor walked to the dark elves while they walked towards the two. Harry missed the days when elves were simple little things that just wanted a job.
"You needn't have come so far Asgardian. Death would have come for you soon enough." Malekith said confidently, he possessed the Aether and had his army of elves with him after all.
"Not by your hand." Thor glared at him.
"Your universe was never meant to be! You're world and you're family will be extinguished!" Malekith shouted, he aimed his hand at the two. He used the Aether to send some dark red blasts at the two.
Thor was knocked backwards while Harry jumped to the side to avoid them, he tossed his axe at Malekith before following through with a torture then a killing curse. Malekith used the Aether to form a tentacle that slapped away the axe before using it as a shield against both curses. He aimed his hand at Harry and fired some more blasts, this time Harry used a shield which worked but still caused him to get thrown back. Malekith then blasted Thor when he tried to get up and sent him backwards again.
Thor got up as Malekith tried a third time but this time Thor was prepared, he used Mjolnir to shield himself and was only pushed back a few feet.
"You know" Thor said as he wiped some dirt off of his face. "with all that power I would've thought that you hit harder." He finished with a grin.
The aether surrounded Malekith as he prepared to attack but Thor quickly spun around and threw Mjolnir at him, Malekith was sent flying back and crashed through a pillar. Harry saw the other elves prepare to attack, he summoned Leviathan to his right hand while sending various spells at them with his left. He had managed to take out four of them before Leviathan had gotten into his hand, he aimed it at the elves and sent a blast of ice at them while Thor went after Malekith.
He teleported close to them and began alternating between cutting them to pieces with his axe and using spells. There were a few times where he nearly got blasted but he was able to cast a shield in time or block with Leviathan when he couldn't.
Harry ducked under one strike from a dark elf before slamming Leviathan into the elf's stomach. He got behind the elf and used him as a shield while he began firing killing curse at the other elves. After killing a good five, the elf shield tried to hit him but he blocked before hitting it with a close range killing curse. He removed his axe from the elves stomach when he saw three elves charging at him, he blasted one with a bone breaker to the leg which caused it to fall and trip up a second.
The third had managed to avoid falling and targeted Harry, Harry aimed his hand at him and had an organ liquifying curse ready when the elf was blasted back. Harry looked towards the source of the blast and looked up to find Natasha with a magically enhanced sniper rifle at the top of a building. He grinned just before turning back and firing his organ liquifying curse at one elf and a cutting curse to cut off the head of another.
"Harry," He heard Natasha speak in his ear piece. "two elves on your five." Harry already knew they were there but appreciated the warning, he turned to see the elves running at him. He slammed Leviathan into the ground, ice appeared from the head of the hammer and travelled along the ground to the elves and encased them in ice.
"You know I knew they were there." Harry said into his ear piece before smashing the ice, causing the elves to shatter.
"Uh huh," She replied in an uncaring voice before sniping another elf. "just watch your back."
"I'd rather watch yours." Harry replied before returning to battle.
Two group of elves charged towards him, Harry tossed his axe at one group and followed up with a few quick yet deadly spells, he turned tot he other group was about to send a wide range stunning charm when they suddenly disappeared thanks to a strange wave.
"What the f..." Harry looked around until he saw Jane and Selvig standing while Jane held a device in her hand, looking very pleased with herself. "I take it that's your doing."
"Yes it is." Jane nodded.
"Alright just remember to keep your distance, you could..." Harry was cut off as he was blasted off of his feet. He flipped through the air and rolled to his feet as he landed. He turned but was immediately dropped back down thanks to another blast from the Aether.
"I believe this is yours." He heard Malekith say, he looked up as he kipped up to his feet and his eyes widened in horror as he saw Malekith standing there with Natasha. He was holding Natasha up by the neck using a tentacle made from the Aether. Her hands wrapped around the tentacle in an attempt to make it easier to breath.
"You're going to want to let her go." Harry said in a warning tone as his hands lit up with lightning.
"Do it and she dies." Malekith said, unfazed by Harry's words or tone. Harry growled and reluctantly got rid of the lightning. "That is a wise move boy, now I think you should..."
Natasha took advantage of Malekith being distracted by Harry, she used her wrist gauntlets and blasted Malekith in the face just as Harry shined a bright light from his hands to blind Malekith, Natasha was released from the tentacles thanks to a well aimed cutting curse that cut it and allowed her to fall to the ground. Harry followed through with a high powered blasting curse that sent Malekith flying away. He teleported next to Natasha and began checking her other.
"Are you alright?" He asked in a concerned voice.
"I'm good," She replied in a raspy voice as she massaged her neck. "focus on Malekith."
"You got it." Harry nodded as he summoned Leviathan to his hand. He was a little worried about Thor as he couldn't see him but for now he would assume Thor was alive, if he wasn't then Harry was positive he would hear the screams of a thousand fan girls sometime soon.
He teleported next to Malekith just as Malekith got to his feet, Malekith tried to hit Harry with a right hook but Harry stopped it by cutting Malekith's arm, he then struck him in the face with his axe handle. He tried to slam the axe head into Malekith's neck but was stopped by the Aether which caught his axe. Harry abandoned that particular tactic when he realised that it wasn't going to work, his left hand lit up green and he fired a killing curse at Malekith's face.
Just as the blast was about to leave his hand he felt his hand get pushed away and the blast was redirected away from Malekith, Harry saw that it was Malekith who had pushed his hand away but the surprising part was he did it with his right arm which Harry was positive he had cut off.
"Nice try wizard." Malekith said "But you are no match for me."
"Want to bet your life on that?" Harry asked as he backed away and swung his axe again and chopped off Malekith's left arm before blasting him backwards. He watched as Malekith got up and the Aether regrew his arm.
Harry quickly fired a body bind followed by a stunner and a torture curse. Malekith blocked them all and fired another energy blast at Harry. Harry blocked it with Leviathan, he was tempted to point out how uncreative Malekith was being but he didn't feel like it was a good plan to give him ideas. Harry ducked under a second blast and sent a killing curse at Malekith, though this time he focused more on speed rather than power.
Malekith once again blocked it, though barely this time, and blasted Harry with more power than before. Harry despite putting up a shield went flying backwards.
"You can't beat me wizard." Malekith said without a single piece of doubt in his voice. "I possess the Aether, I am unstoppable. You cannot beat me, it's impossible, you're just a mere wizard."
"Just a wizard?" Harry laughed as he stood up. "I am Raven. I've done the impossible more times than I can count."
"If you want to die so bad then so be it." Malekith replied. Malekith raised his hands and Harry was blasted backwards and onto his back.
"Harry!" He heard Natasha's voice just as she began helping him up.
"You should run." He told her.
"I don't think it'll matter either way." She said. "If this goes on..."
"I'll stop it." Harry said once he got to his feet.
"Harry look." Natasha pointed up, Harry followed the direction of her fingers and saw the rifts in the sky which lead to other worlds. His attention was brought back to Malekith who had become surrounded in a red storm made of the Aether. The wind around them had become just as harsh as it had in the dark world. The Aether storm rose and began increasing in size as it travelled up into the sky and began moving into different portals to infect the other worlds.
"Raven!" A voice called, Harry and Natasha's head snapped in the opposite direction and saw Thor walking towards them along with Jane and Erik.
"Where were you?" Harry asked Thor.
"Here, there, everywhere." Thor said in an annoyed voice.
"We're too late." Jane said.
"The convergence is at it's peak." Selvig said as Darcy and Ian arrived.
"Can those things stop it?" Thor asked, pointing to Selvig's devices.
"Not from here." Selvig answered.
"Of course, it's never that easy." Harry sighed. "Thor, I'll go in first and distract him. You go next. Got it?"
"Got it." Thor said as he took the devices from the Selvig.
"Good." Harry nodded.
"I don't get it." Darcy spoke but was ignored for the moment.
"Be careful." Natasha said to Harry.
"Got it." Harry gave her a small nod before he teleported inside of the storm.
Once inside he saw Malekith with his arms stretched out, releasing the Aether. He knew he would have to stop this quickly.
"Just another day in the fuck-storm that is my life." He said to himself. He teleported next to Malekith, Malekith turned to him, his eyes full of surprise but he didn't get long to react as Harry slammed Leviathan into Malekith's chest. The axe head began releasing ice, freezing itself in Malekith's chest.
"You cannot stop me!" Malekith growled and back handed Harry, causing him to fly back.
"That the best you got?" Harry taunted as he got up, though in actuality he hoped that it was because that really hurt. Malekith aimed his arm at Harry but his attack was interrupted by his arm being pierced by one of Jane's device, Malekith turned to see Thor enter the storm. Any response he was about to come up with was interrupted by his arm disappearing along with the device.
"Yeah, that doesn't really do much." Harry told Thor as Malekith regrew his arms. "You should've gone for the head."
"Then why is your axe in his chest?" Thor countered as he gestured to the axe that was still in Malekith's chest.
"You think you can stop this?! The Aether cannot be destroyed!" Malekith yelled.
"Because I'm not going to rip the Aether out of his head." Harry whispered to Thor as he pulled out a container. "Ready?"
"Ready." Thor nodded as he rushed towards Malekith while holding one of Jane's devices in his hand while using the other to summon Mjolnir to his hand.
Harry teleported in front of Malekith, he grabbed the axe causing the ice to disappear and pulled down. Slicing all the way down, causing a massive cut from the chest to stomach, he pulled the axe out and tossed it away before rearing back his right arm and slammed his hand into the hole in Malekith's body. Harry let out a primal roar right at Malekith's face, he summoned the Aether into his hand or to be more accurate the container he held into his hand.
Harry couldn't have really done this with Jane without killing her, Malekith on the other hand...well Harry couldn't really care about what happened if he killed Malekith.
Harry ripped his hand out of Malekith and blasted Malekith away with his other hand, he looked at Malekith and saw that he still had some of the Aether left in him but it was flying out of him to rejoin the rest he had in the container. He assumed that was because he had the main part of the Aether. Thor jumped over Harry and slammed one of the devices into Malekith's chest and while using Mjolnir to slam him away with as much as force as possible. Malekith went flying backwards until he crashed into his ship.
Thor and Harry were unfortunate enough to be thrown backwards as well thanks to some of the Aether still being in Malekith. The device activated and Malekith disappeared with a scream, Thor was blasted the farthest away while Harry flew back a quarter of the distance that Thor had as he wasn't as close.
The container nearly fell out of Harry's hand but he managed to barely keep it in his hand, he was struggling to hold it still as the rest of the Aether flew into it.
"Shut it! Quickly!" Natasha yelled once all the Aether was in the container as she and the others ran towards him, though Natasha easily ran ahead of them thanks to being far more physically fit.
Harry reached across with his left hand to close it when he felt his magic go wild, warning him of danger. It was informing him of danger all around him but it was focused more on the left side, he looked left and saw a trio of remaining elves firing at him. He quickly raised his hand to make a shield which blocked the blasts, he saw one elf reaching for a black hole grenade.
Harry jabbed his hand in the direction of the elves and sent out a rope that tied the elves arm to his body right after he activated the grenade. Terror filled the elf as he tried to quickly get rid of the rope and throw the grenade but he wasn't quick enough, the black hole activated and pulled him and one other elf into. The third elf had seen the danger and managed to get enough distance between himself and the other elves in time but Harry quickly dealt with that particular elf with a killing curse.
His magic was still warning him about danger, judging by its reaction he could easily tell that the danger was close. He turned to his left side just as a sword pierced through his right arm, he let out a painful scream just as the container holding the Aether was kicked out of his hand. He was kicked in the face just before a dark elf removed the sword, he also noticed two other elves walking towards the Aether and another elf with a blaster a short distance away.
The elf next to him tried to stomp on his face but Harry managed to move his head in time, he blasted the elf off of him.
Meanwhile the other two elves had reached the container and were about to grab it when they were blasted by Natasha's magically enhanced guns, she had kept running while Jane and the others stopped as they were definitely not fighters. The two elves blasted by Natasha fell near Harry just as the elf Harry blasted landed next to them, Harry kipped up to his feet and hit the three elves with a killing curse to make sure they're dead.
The final elf with his blaster fired at Natasha who saw it coming and quickly rolled so she would duck under the blast. Harry fired a killing curse at the elf just as it prepared to fire at Natasha again. The next moment felt like it was happening in slow motion yet it would be one that Harry would always remember.
The elf fired his blast just as Harry's killing curse struck him, his aim was altered thanks to being knocked back thanks to the spell and instead of the blast being sent at Natasha it was sent a little off which was good. However the bad part was it struck the container holding the Aether, the container was pushed forwards and crashed into Natasha.
"Shit!" Harry cursed as the Aether flew into Natasha faster than he could stop it. Harry quickly rushed over to help her. "Nat," he said as he grabbed her by the shoulders and began looking her over. "Nat are you alright?"
"I...think so...but what just happened?" She asked, not entirely sure.
"Are you all alright?" Thor asked as he arrived on the scene, looking slightly worn out from the battle. The others arrived alongside him.
"No, not alright!" Harry frantically shook his head. "The Aether went inside Nat!"
"What?! Why?!" Selvig asked.
"It didn't happen on purpose!" Harry snapped at him.
"Alright, but there's got to be something we can do!" Jane said hopefully.
"Not unless you want to get Malekith back" Harry answered as he placed his hands on his head in an attempt to calm his thoughts.
"We could take her to Asgard and..."
"No," Harry cut her off. "we're criminals in Asgard and they'll lock us up at best. Besides, Thor was the prince and cared about you yet Odin didn't really seem to care one way or another about if you would die or not. I am not a prince and Odin doesn't like me, he wouldn't care about Natasha."
"But...there's got to be some way to save her." Darcy said.
"Harry, you need to calm down." Natasha said as she placed a hand on his arm.
"Not very likely at the moment." Harry said as he rubbed his face with his hands. He then looked at Natasha. "Nat, I've lost one love of my life and I am not about to lose another."
"Harry, perhaps I could convince my father to..."
"Hold it." Harry cut Thor off. "Everyone quiet."
"But..."
"No everyone quiet." Harry cut him off again. "Nobody speak, nobody say anything. Selvig don't look at me."
"What? Why?" A confused Erik Selvig asked.
"Because I don't need to be reminded of you and your tighty-whitey's when I'm thinking. Turn around."
"But..."
"Just do it Erik." Thor said as he gently turned Erik around.
"Thank you." Harry said to Thor before he placed his hands on his heads and began rubbing his temples as he mentally went through all of the knowledge he had gained through the elder wand, looking for something...anything to help. When suddenly an idea came along, funnily enough it was from something he had learnt himself while in Hogwarts. "Idea! Got one!"
"What is it?" Natasha asked.
"We'll be back in a bit Thor." Harry said to Thor before grabbing Natasha and teleporting her away.
"Harry?" Natasha asked when they both landed in Harry's apartment. "What are we doing here?"
"I have a way to fix this," Harry said. "just sit down and wait for me here."
"But if you could fix it then why did we go to Asgard instead of taking Jane here?" She couldn't help but ask.
"Firstly because I just remembered this method, secondly this method won't work with Jane. Just wait here." He walked away before she could ask any more questions. "Not knowing what to do she decided to sit down on the sofa.
She thought about all that had happened as she waited, a few years ago the weirdest things she had to deal with was overweight and disgusting criminals or complicated plot to steal or murder. Now her life was surviving alien attacks and working alongside super soldiers, gods and wizards.
Though with that thought came a realisation that she wouldn't have it any other way, well perhaps less opportunities to die, but she enjoyed her life. She enjoyed it with Harry, her life had changed ever since that day he burst in to save her from Redwood. Yes her life had gotten harder since then but it had also gotten better. She was at her happiest when she was with Harry, that sounded rather corny but it was true. After years of alternating between people looking at her for her skill set or her 'assets', it was nice to finally meet someone who could appreciate both yet still be able to look her in the eye and like her for who she was.
Barton was probably the first person who did that, but his heart belonged to another and neither of them saw each other as more than friends. Fury may care for her, but not in a romantic way seeing as he was both older than her and her boss. But even then he only initially accepted her for her skill set and value to shield.
"Nat," Harry's voice brought her out of her thoughts, she looked up to see him standing in front of her. "are you alright?"
"Yeah, just thinking." She said as he sat next to her.
"Thinking huh? So what's going on in that pretty little head of yours?" Harry asked.
"Nothing important." Natasha said as she looked at him. "So what's this plan of yours?"
"I'll get to that but first I want to do something else."
"What?" She asked, more than a little confused as Harry brought her here because of the Aether and looked like he wanted it dealt with as soon as possible a few moments ago.
"I want to do something we both love." Harry added.
"You...want to have sex now?" She said slowly, making sure she understood that right.
"No," Harry shook his head. "though I won't object if you want some later. Anyway, what I meant was I wanted to tell you something about Daphne."
"Okay, you have my attention." She said, wondering where he was going with this.
"When me and Daph were together, I asked her to marry me. It went great, she said yes and at the time it was the best moment of my life. Still top ten. Anyway, it went great for a good couple of reasons. Firstly because at the time it allowed me to use a pair of family rings, I gave one to Daphne and took the other one and the protections on the rings helped keep the both of us safe from stuff like poison and love potions."
"Love potions?"
"Yes, an actual thing, a bit creepy and very wrong in my opinion but still. Anyway, another reason was because now nobody could force her into a magical contract to get married as she was already engaged to be married to me. A third reason was the fact that we'd eventually be able to piss of Draco Malfoy with the knowledge that the girl he wants was going to marry his worst enemy so...bonus. Anyway, the next day Daphne showed me something that new engaged couples can do."
"I thought you said we weren't having sex now." Natasha joked.
"Very funny," Harry gave her a small smile. "anyway she showed me a book that was passed down through her family, in it was something really interesting. You have the Aether in you right now, it will feed off your life force and unlike Jane we don't have a Malekith to pull it out of you. The Aether is feeding off your life force, what if it didn't?"
"I feel like I'm repeating myself but what?"
"In Daphne's book was a ritual that me and Daphne performed together," Harry began explaining. "in that ritual two people get bonded together."
"Bonded together?" She echoed. "What like mind, body and soul?"
"No, not like that." Harry said with a small laugh. "The mind is unaffected, same for the body and I don't really have a soul so that wouldn't work. It isn't some 'soul/ultimate love bond' thing. It was used back before advanced medicine, they would usually use it on people who were sick or dying. The ritual makes it so that the sick or dying person stays alive as long as the other person. Usually it would bond both people by their life force but seeing as I don't really have a soul so I don't know how that would work."
"But you've got to have something or you wouldn't be telling me this." Natasha pointed out.
"You're right as always." Harry nodded. "I think with some alterations I can have it be made to connect your life force to my magic or body, though I think magic's the better option as that can survive even if something destroys my body."
"What are the side effects?" Natasha asked, deciding to go for the part of her brain that preferred to analyse and think things through before making a decision. "What will happen?"
"Let's start with the negatives of if we agree to do the ritual. We'll both be tired from the ritual, that'll probably last a little bit for me but for you it could be anything from a day to a week, at max a month but I can make things easier for you with potions and spells. There are possible side effects I won't know about since I am bonding you to my magic instead of my life force."
"Are there any other negatives?" She asked.
"Just one more. There will also be a brief amount of time where you will...not be acting like yourself."
"Meaning?" Natasha raised an eyebrow.
"Well when it happened to Daphne and I...well...she became um...this is awkward..." Harry ran a hand through his hair. "...she became quite attached to me and vice versa...more so than usual."
"Meaning?"
"We had to take potions and spells to keep calm around each other in public." Harry answered with a look on his face that told her that he still liked the memories despite the awkwardness of the conversation. "The ritual causes the pair to have a temporary increase in feelings for each other. So if a father and son did it then the dad would probably spend the time spoiling his son far more than he usually would while the son would be more attached to the father. It lasted about a day or two."
"A day or two?" She asked with a neutral expression.
"Two." Harry answered. "It was made a bit more difficult as the two of us were stuck in a boarding school but we managed to make it work. We thought it was necessary because of the war time."
"Will it make me immortal? Like you?" She asked.
"No, it won't." Harry replied. "It'll just connect your life to my magic, I am immortal because of my magic but you only get part of my magic. In the original it connects the life forces together, it doesn't combine them. In simple terms it's like taking two separate blocks and attaching them together. They're still two separate boxes but they're just connected.
If you're dying then my magic can help you depending on the cause of death. For example I believe that it can counteract the negative affects of the Aether, in the future if you get a cold or a virus then it can fight that off as well for you so don't suffer from it. However, if someone came and ripped your heart out or chopped off your head then you're dead."
"Will taking your magic affect you?" Natasha asked.
"No, you only get a limited amount of my magic and it's just enough to help keep you alive yet not overwhelm you physically or mentally, if you get worst then I'll probably end up giving you an extra burst of magic at best. I doubt I'd notice it without focusing on it. Besides my magic won't run out or anything, any it gives to you it can reproduce for me, I could lose half of my magic right now and still be on a full tank by tomorrow. Even if it couldn't it would still be worth it.
Plus let's say that you need half of my magic to keep you alive, you'll get that then I will adapt to get more magic so I can return to my normal strength."
"Why couldn't you do this with Jane?" Natasha asked. "I mean, why didn't you bond her with Thor?"
"Firstly because the ritual has to be done by someone who is part of the ritual so Thor would've had to do the ritual himself. That comes with it's own problems, firstly teaching Thor the ritual and the fact that Asgardian magic doesn't work the same as my magic. Their magic is more like a tool, mine is borderline sentient and knows what I want. If Thor, who is more of a fighter than a magical expert, did it then it's possible that it either wouldn't work or he could come overwhelm her with his raw power.
Plus remember what I said earlier, about us having a brief lapse of control, if that happened between you and me then that's be fine as I have been controlling my self for years and I've not always been as physically strong as I am plus my magic knows to limit my strength to a regular human so I won't hurt you. Meanwhile Thor as an eight year old could have probably crushed a skulls between his hands, imagine what would happen if Thor now lost control."
"He'd...he'd crush her." Natasha paled a little.
"Exactly," Harry nodded. "besides, there is one more factor that has to be mentioned."
"What's that?" Natasha asked, wondering what it would be this time. Harry took a deep breath before speaking.
"The person must be considered family to the person performing the ritual." Harry answered as he looked eyes with her.
"But then how that work with me?"
"There are a couple of ways." Harry answered. "The first would be to get a DNA test and discover that you are in fact my long lost sister then we either break up or do it Lannister style."
"Somehow I doubt that will happen." Natasha said dryly, finding herself to be rather appreciative of his humor as it worked in taking the edge of the conversation a little.
"Didn't think so either. The next option is we blood adopt each other which is where we basically become family by mixing our blood which is essentially the same as the last option and even then I doubt it would work as I wouldn't consider you family that way. I would suggest going for the third option."
"Which is?"
"Natalia Alianovna Romanoff," Harry slid off the sofa and onto one knee, causing Natasha's eye to widen, they became comically wide when he reached behind him and pulled out a small black box. He opened it and revealed a beautiful and thin silver ring with a green emerald the same colour as her eyes. "will you please marry me?"
"What?" She breathed out, finding herself speechless.
"Will you marry me?" Harry repeated with a smile.
"But...why? What does this have to do with the Aether and the ritual?" She asked, trying to stall so her mind could catch up.
"For a couple of reasons. But let's talk about the Aether first, if we become engaged then that would be good enough to consider each other family in the eyes of magic without marrying you today. My magic is reaching out to you this very moment, if you were magical it would prod your magic to seek permission to bond us but you're not so it'll require verbal permission to consider you family. I could believe your family but if you didn't then my magic would know and that would affect things when it comes to the ritual. Becoming engaged is the quickest way to be allowed to do the ritual as it's me accepting you as my family and you accepting me as yours." Natasha stood up, so did Harry.
"Are you doing this just because of the ritual" She asked, trying to keep all emotion out of view. Something that she would find easier if it was anyone but Harry talking to her now.
"No." Harry shook his head. "I've liked you for a long time. And...I do care for you. I could spend all day complimenting you, you've accepted me and all my faults. That means a lot. You're brilliant Nat, before I met you I was a guy who had given up on ever falling in love again. But you've managed to grab a spot in my heart, I fell in love once but thanks to you I'm back in love. I got this ring a few months ago, I was waiting for the right moment and I wanted to just keep enjoying ourselves for a while before I asked.
This was something I was planning to do for a bit. You see I know I was going to outlive you, which is why I wanted to enjoy as much time together as possible. This Aether thing just pushed up the schedule. Nat, look at me, please." He placed one hand under her chin and gently raised her head so she would look him in the eye. "You're a great spy, one of the best in the world. You know when someone is lying. Look at me right now and tell me if I'm lying when I say the following words. I love you and want to marry you."
Natasha looked at him as he spoke, she could sense no deception in his words or face. In his eyes she saw desire, something she was familiar with seeing, but she also saw something different. She saw something that she wouldn't see in the eyes of Fury, Steve, Barton or any of the other men she knew. She wasn't really sure what it was, it looked so foreign to her.
She didn't doubt that Harry loved her, even if she did her doubts would have gone away with the look that she was getting from it. The question was did she love him?
She thought about it, physically she was attracted to him and he was attracted to her so they were good on that part at least. Mentally the were both compatible as they both liked joking around yet knew when to be serious. Emotionally they understood each other, both suffered thanks to other people and both had to grow up. They both also had to do things that other's weren't willing or capable of doing.
She pushed aside her thoughts and decided to react with her heart, she had allowed her mind to always rule her. That's how she survived for so long, she was able to switch her emotions off when she needed to and reacted with her mind which had been trained to always focus on keeping her alive and completing missions. But this...this was something she had to decide with her heart, as cheesy as that sounded.
"Nat?" Harry asked when he didn't get any reactions from her. "Are you alright? If you don't want to do it then..." He suddenly found himself cut off as she wrapped her arms around his neck and smashed her lips against his.
"Yes." She breathed out in-between kissing before topping. "Yes I will marry you."
"Really?" He asked with a massive mile on her face.
"I...I've struggled with trusting people in the past but...I know I can trust you. I love you Harry."
"I love you too." He said as he slid the ring on her finger.
"We should have a party and invite everyone." She said as she examined the ring.
"Whatever you want Nat."
"Whatever I want?" She repeated with a smile on her lips and a twinkle in her eye.
She grabbed him and pulled him in close for another kiss. He placed his arms around her waist and returned fire with just as much passion, her right leg slid up his left leg, his left hand slid down from her waist and glided down to her leg which he grabbed and held up. She jumped up and wrapped both of her legs around his waist. He held her up by placing his hands on her rear, she was currently acting like she was trying to shimmy up a tree.
As they continued the two were both covered in a bright red light and seconds later the two landed in Harry' bed with Harry under Natasha.
"Holy shit!" Harry exclaimed in shock when their lips broke apart, "That was you!" he said to Natasha.
"Me? I did that?" She said as she looked around the room, like she didn't believe that she was the one who did that.
"The Aether, it does what the user wishes and you wanted to be in the bedroom so..."
"It reacted to what I wanted, just like your magic does." She finished.
"Yep," Harry nodded. "I can probably find some ways to limit it's powers until you gain control of it. We can start the ritual tomorrow."
"Good," She nodded before bringing her head down to his face, she began peppering his face with small kisses before moving on to his neck. "because I am a little too busy to think about rituals now."
"You'll be naked when we do the ritual." Harry whispered as he began kissing her neck.
"Good to know." She whispered in a husky voice.
"Sir," Maria Hill said as he walked into Director Fury's office. "we have a problem sir."
"When do we not have a problem?" Fury sighed. "What happened now? Did Stark blow something up or do we have another alien invasion?"
"None of those yet." Maria Hill replied as she walked over to the TV and put a news channel on. "Watch this." She said.
"The avengers," One news reporter said. "the individuals that banded together to help protect us against an alien invasion. Members include the billionaire genius Tony Stark in his 'Iron Man' suit, Captain America the super soldier from World War two, the big green goliath Hulk, two special agents known as Black Widow and Hawkeye plus the god of thunder himself, Thor. But there is one more person in this group.
The mysterious leader known as Raven. Raven appears to have magical powers, that or he has access to technology that makes him look magical. He fought in the battle of New York and spent a lot of time afterwards helping to clean up and repair the damage that was caused in the invasion. He was the only Avenger who's identity wasn't known."
The reporter paused just as a picture of Harry appeared on the screen, Fury felt like shooting the screen when he saw that. The picture of Harry wasn't one where he was looking at the camera which lead Fury to believe that it was taken without Harry's knowledge.
"Until know." The reporter continued. "The identity of Raven is Harry Black."
A.N: Hey guys, hope you liked the chapter. I now there are some things in it that some people may not like so allow me the chance to defend myself.
1) I know many people wanted me to go with giving Harry the Aether but I decided to go against that for multiple reasons. One of which is the fact that I also have other plans to make Harry get stronger and I don't want to make him too overpowered. After all if a wizard who was experienced in changing things could control the very fabric of reality then it would be hard to create more tension in upcoming battles plus it could affect the story I have planned.
2) I gave Natasha the Aether for a couple of reasons. One of which is because I like the idea of Natasha gaining powers. Mostly people who are not trained at all get powers, but what happens if you get a trained spy to gain power? I mean for example if Barton got the Antman suit or if Stark was given the power of Thor and had that plus his iron man armour or if black panther could turn into hulk while wearing a vibranium suit that expands to his size?
I originally got this idea from a review by a person who goes by Xaax, or at least I think I got that right, I'll check later. Anyway I liked the idea as it helps Natasha get stronger and makes it easier for her to hang with the rest of the avengers. She won't suddenly become unbeatable or anything, as I've mentioned she will have her powers limited for now at least and like Harry she'll get stronger.
3) The ritual, yes I know that there have been many fanfics that have Harry and a girl become 'bonded' thanks to their insane amount of love and all (I've even written stories like that before). But this isn't some 'soul/love' bond. It won't affect the two in many ways as it is just Harry giving her enough magic to stop the Aether from killing her which doesn't affect him as he'll adapt to get more magic so he can continue as normal. Perhaps I might have it make her a bit physically stronger but nothing drastic or extreme.
That should cover it all for now. Thanks again for reading, hope you enjoyed the chapter and feel free to leave a review.
P.S. here is another Omake (I made it just for fun, you don't have to like it but thanks if you do) as a thanks for reading.
Omake:
"Fury." Harry said as he entered Fury's office.
"Raven," Fury nodded to him. "you're looking well."
"Thanks, and you're looking...black? I'm sorry it's just...you always look the exact same, you should really try mixing it up a bit."
"Is there a reason why you're here?" Fury glared at him.
"Yeah, got more potential recruits."
"Go on." Fury gestured for him to continue.
"Alright, well first of all we have this one person who goes by 'Squirrel girl', her abilities are..."
"Red squirrel or grey squirrel?" Fury asked.
"Does it matter?" Harry asked slowly, wondering if he had missed something.
"Of course it matters." Fury said, looking at him like he was an idiot.
"Okay...red squirrel." Harry answered. "Anyway this girl is called Squirrel girl and she..."
"No," Fury cut him off. "I am not having an agent who dresses like a squirrel working for me and I can already guess that she does indeed dress like a squirrel, am I right?"
"Well, you're not wrong." Harry sighed. "Okay how about this other one, Jessica Jones? She's a private investigator, downside is she's a loner with a bit of an alcohol problem but we have Stark and Thor on our team so we can't really complain about alcohol. She's solved a lot of cases and from what we've gathered she has super human strength, durability etcetera and limited flight capabilities which is more like 'guided falling' at this point."
"What's her superhero name?" Fury asked.
"She...doesn't have one as far as I'm aware."
"She doesn't have a name? Bitch please, this is the big leagues, we aren't accepting no nameless alcoholics. We need special alcoholics...with names. Come back to me when you've got someone with a name."
"Is it really that big of a deal?" Harry asked.
"Barton is a guy with a bow and an arrow and he still has a superhero name. She doesn't, that tells me that even Barton is more important than her in the grand scheme of the universe."
"Fine, I'll keep looking for more." Harry rolled his eye and walked to the door, he was halfway out when he stopped and turned to Fury. "By the way, about Deadpool..."
"OUT!"