Welcome! Here we are, after so very long, at the beginning of the end (am I being overdramatic or what?) In any case, this is the last AU to Nightingale! It turned out a tad more complicated than I originally planned, hope you like it anyway... Truth is, this story could have been much longer and more complex, but I just had neither the time nor the inspiration to write it all. Even then, I couldn't just ignore the idea in my head, so I did it this way.
The basic idea for this particular AU has been in the back of my mind for a while. I considered several ways of handling this, and it wasn't until pretty much the day I finally began writing this, that I thought of even using the original (for this fics) Nightingale. I know that back at the beginning of this last set I said she wouldn't be appearing anymore, but it just happened, and I like it. It feels almost like closing the circle. Also, while I usually prefer to use different actors for different lives, I kept picturing Tom Hiddleston so... yeah.
Dreamcast (in no particular order): Emily Browning as Silbhé/Nightingale, Saoirse Ronan as Róis/Rose, Kristen Stewart as Leán/Lena, Tom Hiddleston as Lucas, Diana Dumbrava as Chara, Max and Charlie Carver as Bill and Tom, Sarah Bolger as Tinúviel, Katie McGrath as Helena, Georgie Henley as Meril, Ian Harding as Avain, Lucy Hale as Solvi, Amanda Seyfried as Ylva, Shiloh Fernandez as Fenrir.
Songs in this chapter. This time we have songs in several languages, at least three, most I won't actually write the lyrics in the story itself, only mentioning them, but I still highly recommend them all: "El Privilegio de Amar (The Privilege of Loving)" as sung by Lucero and Mijares (Mexican singers), "Heaven" as sung by Ayumi Hamasaki (Now, this is the song that I actually include in the fic; after much thinking I decided to write the lyrics in English, a version that was actually twitched a bit to flow like true lyrics should, rather than just a literal translation; this was done in order for those who actually read the lyrics to understand the message she's sending with it; if you can you should really look the song up in youtube, regretfully the video I'd recommend is no longer on youtube, not sure why, you can listen to any version really, though I especially recommend the piano version as it feels more heartfelt to me).
I must also point out that "Heaven" was one of the main reasons why I wrote this fic. While I've been a huge fan of the song, and of Ayumi in general for about a decade now, I recently listened to the song again and couldn't help but think of Nightingale and Loki, could imagine her singing it, so I just had to include it somehow, and here we are. The video I wanted to share a link to and could no longer find in youtube had her sing in casual clothes, but there was just a quiet intensity to her every word and every motion that gave me shivers every time I re-watched it (I downloaded the vid many years ago and have it in my computer). In any case, I tried to communicate that intensity and hope you'll enjoy it and the fic.
No Goodbyes
(Alternative Universe to Nightingale)
By: Lalaith Quetzalli
Some things are Fated, others are Chosen. Some souls are meant for certain things, both good and bad, and nothing and no one will make them stray from their path. The Trick-Prince and his Songbird know this, always have. It's engraved into their very souls, their constant, in every Universe and every Life.
No Endings
Some things don't end, they just change shape.
Sometimes Fate can be cruel, sometimes Destiny can be kind… and sometimes it's beyond any and all. Fate knew tragedy would come, at least one life would be lost, possibly more, Destiny saw fit to intervene, wishing to give the beautiful match more time… and it changed everything. Not just for the two, but for the universe as a whole…
xXx
Stephen's whole body arched sharply and his mouth opened in a silent scream, eyes open and pupils blown so wide he wasn't really seeing anything. He collapsed onto the room's mats but a moment later, panting and reaching for something only he knew, as if he'd been running for a very long distance, or falling from some great height. Wong was also fairly certain that he was going to be sick if he so much as moved… he looked that bad. Aside from them a tanned, dark-haired couple stood around the edge of a carefully engraved magical circle, watching the younger man seizing in the middle with half-concealed concern.
It would be hard to explain to those outside their circle what brought them to where they were right then. What had pushed them into making such difficult, dangerous choices. They were sorcerers, all of them, even if they'd each come to be where they were right then in different ways, from different places of origin, for very different reasons. In the end, at the core, they were the same, magic users tasked with keeping their world, their reality, safe.
Many years prior, when the Ancient One had finally found the person she believed to be strong, in body, mind and magic, enough to be her successor. She'd prepared him, very carefully. And not just him, but his match as well. For she knew that some people just weren't meant to walk their paths alone. When he'd no other he'd still have her, and that was how things were meant to be. The Ancient One was the odd one in that regard, alone for so very long; but it was the choice she'd made, to honor her match, to ensure that his own sacrifice wouldn't be in vain. And with the arrival of her successor she could finally put it all behind, put her very long life behind and join him on the Other Side.
She left him, left them both, with a warning, on the day before her passing. One day there would come one, broken both on the outside and the inside. One they wouldn't be able to help, because he didn't want to be helped. Because he had burned and now all he wanted was for the world to burn alongside him. Destiny would give him a chance, because she always did, because in the end it was still up to each individual, to their Free Will. But if he failed, and the Ancient One very much believed he would, the Order of the Mystic Arts would have to stop him. Least he bring total ruin to the whole universe.
When Stephen Strange first arrived to Kamar-Taj, Karl at first wasn't sure what to say, or even what to think. The man was a mess! Having been the most famous neurosurgeons in America, well-known consultant for the Medical branch of SI, rich, a man who'd been known to date females from every Realm… only to lose it all due to reckless driving. It wasn't even clear whose fault it was, some claimed it was all him, others that there had been another driver on that dark highway who caused him to go straight off the road and into that ditch. Stephen Strange had almost died, and his hands were completely torn apart, even after reconstructive surgery he still had some residual pain, and his hands would shake when stressed out… Neurosurgery tended to be a very stressful job! Also, there was apparently something in him that made it so he wasn't compatible with Asgardian healing, so that was out too. In the end it was only thanks to a former patient who himself had been to Kamar-Taj, that Strange ever learned they existed and went looking for them in Kathmandu.
Karl wasn't sure what made him decide to take the man in. Though on his worst days (the days where Stephen would drive him half-crazy with his angst and wit) he would blame his wife for making him feel compassion for the younger man. Chara would just laugh at him and tell him that if he weren't the man he was he wouldn't have been chosen as the Sorcerer Supreme.
It hadn't been easy. Karl and Stephen were so alike in both the best and worst of ways: both strong-willed, tenacious, courageous, willing to take so much weight on their shoulders to protect others; and yet at the same time they were diametrically opposite in some things: With Karl, all the violence he'd been subjected to in his youth in Romania, the fact that he'd lost so much of his family, and came painfully close to losing his beloved Chara as well, when they were both still teenagers; meant that Karl had come to believe that he needed to be strong, needed to be able to fight in order to protect those he cared about. He would fight and would kill if it was necessary, to protect himself and his own. Stephen… after losing his mother to a sickness that could have been treated if only it had been discovered in time, and almost losing his sister as well when the delay in medical attention caused almost irreversible damage to her; the man was obsessed with succeeding. Besides that, and even with everything else that had happened since the loss of his hands, he still considered himself a doctor, and he followed the Hippocratic Oath, refusing to do harm. The two men had had some legendary arguments on that.
Chara just found the whole thing extremely funny. Due to the malnutrition early in her life she'd only managed to give her husband one child, a son. And he'd long since left them to make his own life. He was a fighter and would go into the farthest places in the world, fight for those who'd no one else to fight for them. He still visited them at least for a few days every year, and while both Chara and Karl missed him, they were also very proud of him. In any case, Chara knew that she tended to treat many of their apprentices and acolytes like they were her own children. Wanting to look after and nurture them as much as they'd allow. And Karl wasn't that different, wanting to teach them, to protect them. Stephen was a contradiction in that it was so clear that he saw them as family and enjoyed it; yet ever so often he'd rebel, like a part of him felt there was something wrong with feeling that way.
Much had changed since Stephen's arrival to Kamar-Taj. There had been a time when Karl honestly feared Stephen to be the one his old teacher and predecessor had warned him about prior to his ascension. And then Kaecilius turned out to be the one and it completely blindsided Karl. He'd known Kaecilius to be hurt, deeply, by his many personal loses. Had known him to be disappointed that magic couldn't undo them. But life and death were forces one did not mess with, not through magic and not through anything. They were forces not meant for humans to understand, much less affect. Karl had always believed Stephen to be more at risk, he wanted so badly go back to his old life, to get back his hands… and Kaecilius on the other hand seemed to have found his place in the Order. He, unlike Stephen, wasn't so focused on going back to a life he was no longer meant to live. And then Kaecilius went nuts, tried to turn their world, the universe as a whole, in to Dormammu! And when Chara was almost killed, and Karl himself was so crazy with worry over her to effectively fulfill his duty, Stephen stepped forth. He provided the anchor Karl so dearly needed and the two together stopped Kaecilius before he could destroy a second Sanctum.
Nothing would ever erase the pain and grief of the loses wrought in London, but NY and Hong Kong were safe, the world was safe, and that was enough. A new master was chosen for the London Sanctum and Stephen had moved into the NY one to take over as Master there when Daniel Drumm decided he was just too old to be the Warden anymore. There were many who didn't understand how Stephen, who hadn't been in the Order for more than a year, who'd gone through his studies so fast a few had been worried about it, who wished to still be referred to as Doctor, despite not being able to practice medicine anymore, how could he be the right man to head a Sanctum? And yet, he'd been there, right beside Karl, against Kaecilius. Stephen Strange might not have been the most orthodox Master, but he was a good one, and what was more, he was a good man.
They'd survived the greatest threat they'd known of. Which was why, when Stephen first began having those episodes, they were all so surprised. They didn't fully realize anything was going on at first. The way Stephen would stop paying attention to them, would fail to answer a question… most just thought he was getting distracted by something. The man was a genius, it wasn't that surprising that his mind would be working on several things at the same time and he would end up paying attention to something other than the people talking to him right then. And then the shaking began.
By that point Stephen had finally given up on healing his hands. Though he had made himself available to the hospital to serve as a consultant to other neurologists and neurosurgeons. Mostly he kept up with things through his sister and sister-in-law: Donna and Christine Palmer-Strange. The shaking though, wasn't of his hands, but his whole body. He said it was like he was losing control of himself completely.
It was Wong who found the answer. Someone from another plane was trying to reach Stephen. Whoever it was had no finesse, either because their training was lacking, or some sort of urgency. Wong believed they should ignore it, wait for it to pass; and it would eventually. They had no idea who was trying to communicate and it could be dangerous. And not just for Stephen himself, but all of them. Chara on the other hand believed that if someone was trying so desperately to get in touch with Stephen there must be a reason and they needed to find out what it was. What if it concerned their safety? The safety of the world?
Karl decided to leave the decision to Stephen in the end. He was the one most at risk after all. He agreed to try. They found a ritual that would allow him to meditate in such a way that he'd reach a different dimension, one that wasn't theirs, or the Mirror Dimension, but instead a sort-of middle-point with other universes. He hoped to be able to find whoever was trying to contact him there. So he did the ritual while the others waited silently around the circle. It still took him by surprise when he returned.
"Elaine…" Stephen whispered, voice hoarse as if he'd been screaming, hand open… he couldn't really raise his arm but he was still reaching out, to someone who wasn't there.
He was still half lost in his head, Chara could tell by the way he wasn't looking at any of them. She wondered who Elaine was exactly. She knew Stephen had dated a lot, and not just human women but she-elves, half-bloods, and there were whispers that even one or two Aesir ladies had been among his conquests. And yet that's all they'd ever been, conquests, women he'd gone out with briefly, perhaps bedded, nothing was ever serious; even he'd admitted to that. And yet… the way he'd just called that name: Elaine… there was so much feeling in his voice, deep, old feeling, there had to be something there!
It took a while for Stephen to recover enough to be able to focus and be coherent. He was still in a lot of pain, though one of Wong's teas helped take the edge off. Then Karl ignored all his complaints and carried the younger man to a couch, where he curled up a bit, his hand still opening and closing repeatedly in what could almost be called a nervous tick. The other three found seats around him.
"What happened?" Chara asked quietly once she thought Stephen had finally begun to relax.
"A universe just died…" Stephen answered just as quietly.
The reactions that phrase got were either of grief, horror or a mix of both. Karl knew that life and death existed in an inevitable, endless cycle. People were born, they lived, they died; as did animals, plants, and any other living creature. Even if humans managed to live a century or so, while beings like Ljósálfar and Aesir counted their lifespans in the several thousand years; in the end they all lived and died just the same. And on a grander scale, even stars had their cycles: they came to be, grew, eventually went nova, planets died, and from the remains of that other stars and planets were created. There was no real ending really; the ending for one was just the beginning for another. Karl knew that, understood it. He'd seen people be born, grow, die… he knew he was part of that same cycle. And yet, hearing of a universe dying… it was almost too much for his mind to grasp.
"The person I met, he was my counterpart from that universe." Stephen began explaining. "He told me about a very hard, forbidden piece of magic he'd used to astral travel to other universes and warn them of the Destroyer of Worlds."
"Destroyer of Worlds?" Wong asked in disbelief. "Sounds like a bit much, doesn't it?"
"Thanos, the Mad Titan." Stephen elaborated. "The only Titan. He courted Death. According to what my alternate self told me he went around the galaxies, killing whole races, destroying planets and claiming they were gifts to Lady Death. Tried gathering the Infinity Stones to that effect but could never finish. Even then, the damage was done. Too much power on his hands caused a deep imbalance and the universe was lost. My counterpart said that from the moment he realized that there was no stopping the End he began jumping to other universes to warn them."
"Thanos…" Wong enunciated carefully. "I don't remember reading anything about a Mad Titan in the Library."
And he would know, he was the Librarian after all.
"The Ancient One never mentioned any titans either." Karl offered.
"I've read some things." Chara stated. "Some papers written by a Mythology Major a few years ago. A Silbhé Kinross-Salani. She made comparisons about what different cultures called Titans, comparing the descriptions, and the possibilities of either of them existing. Like, we all know that the Greek Gods existed in ancient times. But their powers depended on mortals believing in them, and when they lost worshipers they became mortal and eventually died. All that survives of them now are several lines of Gifted. The Asgardian Gods we know come from another Realm. And so on and so forth."
"What did she say about Titans exactly?" Karl asked his wife.
He knew she liked reading. All sorts of things. They'd had so little growing up. The thing that had fascinated Chara the most when the Ancient One first lead them into Kamar-Taj had been the library. Karl was quite sure that if he hadn't been chosen to be Sorcerer Supreme, with her as his Consort and greatest support, Chara would have been quite content in Wong's place, as Keeper of the Books and Records in Kamar-Taj. She'd probably read every single book there. And then Stephen had bought her a tablet for her birthday, shortly after the last fight against Kaecilius, along with membership to several online libraries around the world, which allowed Chara to read all sorts of books, on any topic she could think of. Karl had never been much of a fan of some of the modern technologies, but he so loved seeing the look of almost childish delight in his wife whenever she started a new book.
"Only one of her articles spoke of Titans." Chara informed them. "She said that the creatures the Norse mythology referred to as Titans were truly nothing of the sort, but rather giants. Something lost in the translation apparently. She also was of the opinion that if Greek and other pantheons of Gods had existed, chances were so had the Titans, but for creatures to exist with the kind of powers the Greek mythology claimed, they would have to exist outside of our dimension, of any mortal dimension as a matter of fact." She cocked her head to a side, thoughtful. "The theory didn't have much support and she never again mentioned Titans. Instead focusing on the studies regarding the different pantheons and the Gifted lineages to have come from them. Also, a few papers concerned the existence of mutants, inhumans and other gifted tribes. Apparently she collaborated with known leaders of those groups."
"How trustworthy is this woman?" Karl wanted to know.
Chara clicked something on the tablet she'd already pulled out and then offered it to him, it showed a profile on some website. At the top it read: Professor Silbhé Arianna Kinross-Salani, and there was a picture of a pretty girl, looked like a teenager actually, with dark-auburn hair and bright hazel eyes in a lilac halter dress.
"Why does the picture show her so young?" Karl asked, confused.
"She graduated at nineteen." Chara pointed at the part of the profile that revealed that. "With Master Degrees in History, Literature and Mythology."
"Why isn't she working in the Yggdrasil Embassy or something like that?" Wong was in shock about that.
"Because she's paying off a Debt." Chara emphasized the last word.
A 'Debt' meant one with the other Realms. It was usually regarding to healing. In all of Earth only one country had ever found the cure to some of the worst diseases that affected mankind. And they had been a completely isolationist nation for centuries. Even after the revelation of the other Realms, Wakanda for the most part kept to themselves… well, aside from the fact that both young royals had married foreigners. But theirs was a very specific case.
When the Realms, especially Asgard, had revealed their existence to humanity in the last year or so of WWII, they'd done it for their own reasons. They refused to participate in the war itself, but had gone out of their way to ensure the preservation of the lives of civilians. Once the War was over they'd done the best to help with rebuilding, with peace efforts. Had refused any effort from any and all countries to gain any sort of weapon or military advantage, but had been open to working together to create technologies that would improve things for humanity. It was well-known that some like Howard Stark in America and the Holmeses in the UK had taken great advantage of this.
However, there were some aspects of medicine that couldn't be replicated by humans, no matter how hard they tried. King Odin had claimed they couldn't just heal everyone, humans had to learn to stand on their own if they truly wanted to be a functional part of the Realms. But he'd allowed that they did deserve some help. So a system had been devised. A person with a terminal illness could request aid, they had to prove that they had already tried human methods of healing and they had failed, that they were needed, and what they were willing to offer in trade. It wasn't a matter of money either, they had to offer something of themselves, a service of some kind, and not for Asgard, but to improve their own world. The program had allowed some of the most talented doctors, teachers, scientists, to find their way to where they were needed the most. And it wasn't even just that, but artists as well. They would work in their art, keeping only what they needed to survive of what they were paid, and the rest being put in a fund to aid others. Such was the case of Silbhé Salani.
"She was diagnosed young enough… shouldn't her parents be the ones paying the Debt?" Karl asked, intrigued as he kept going through the profile.
"I was curious about that too." Chara admitted. "From what I've been able to find the mother was Indebted as well. She worked for several years as a teacher in several places in Eastern Europe and Asia. Took her whole family with her. But her daughter insisted on paying her own Debt as soon as she was old enough. Most expected her to do so as a teacher as well, what with her studies and the fact that she's the very best in two of her fields."
"So she's not a teacher?" Wong didn't understand.
"Not at all." Chara smiled almost impishly as she took the tablet back briefly, pulled up a web-browser, typed something and then handed it back. "She's a singer."
Right on the cue the video began: It showed the same girl, a bit older than she'd been on her profile picture, wearing a simple but very beautiful lilac goddess-style, sleeveless, floor-length dress with a white sash and white slippers, she was singing a song in Spanish that the video-title claimed was called 'El Privilegio de Amar (The Privilege of Loving)'.
"She sings in Spanish?" Karl wasn't expecting that one. "But I thought…"
"In Spanish, and English, and Italian, French, Japanese, Irish, Norse and whatever other important language you might think of." Chara enlisted. "I think she even has a song in the language of one of the other realms!"
Karl clicked on a recommended video and an interview came up. He was only half listening to what was being said when Stephen abruptly sat up. It happened so suddenly that he even dropped the tablet, thought thankfully the coffee table was right under his hands so it didn't fall far. The other three had almost completely forgotten about Stephen while discussing Silbhé Salani, Karl had been almost sure the man had fallen asleep, yet he'd been wrong.
"Stephen!" Chara cried out, very concerned.
"What happened?!" Wong demanded.
"The Nightingale!" Stephen cried out, more clearly this time.
"Nightingale what…?" Char didn't understand.
"Not what, who." Stephen corrected. "That's what the interviewer just called her."
Chara rewinded the video just a bit, and Stephen was right. The interviewer called Silbhé Nightingale at one point. The girl blushed a bit embarrassed, stating that she wasn't alone. She was actually part of a group called Gypsies, the other two members being her little sisters: Léan and Róis, who were five and seven years younger than her respectively. The two owed no Debts and yet they'd apparently been delighted to join their older sister when the option came up. The three women all had auburn hair, with Róis's being the one closest to red, and Léan's the darkest and at the same time closer to black than to brown, unlike Silbhé's. They each had completely different eyes: Léan's being the lightest green, while Róis's were a very bright brown, against Silbhé's own hazel ones. Also, while it was said that all three could sing, Silbhé was considered the vocalist, with her sisters favoring instruments instead: Léan the violin and Róis the piano.
"What's so important about her?" Karl asked seriously, knowing that Stephen wouldn't be going nuts over this girl unless there was something important.
"She's the axel…" It sounded more like a question than a statement. "Axis? I cannot remember the exact word, and my other-self was in a hell of a lot of pain, trying to hold all the magic and the dimensions in his world together…" Stephen broke off as something else suddenly occurred to him and he was suddenly completely serious and looking straight at Karl. "Should the worst ever happen here, you're leaning on me, you hear me? I don't care whatever ridiculous notions you might have that the weight of the world is for you alone to carry. If you ever need help, ever, with anything, you call me. Got it?" When it looked like Karl might complain, or even try and dismiss him, Stephen added. "The other me? He was the fucking Sorcerer Supreme, okay? So I know what I speak of. I know how bad it can get. I could see it, and right there at the end I could even feel it, or at least an echo of it. So, if you need help, you ask for it."
For a moment Karl honestly had no words, and then he remembered something, something he had forgotten for the longest time. He could hear his old mentor whispering to him on that last day, after all the other warnings and the pieces of advice she could think of, she'd told him something else:
"I know the world can be a terrible place. You, Karl, you were forged by the fires of your youth. You learned the hard way what is truly precious in life, and how easily those precious things can be lost. But I don't want you to feel like you cannot hold anything close to you because of that. You have Chara, and she's important, I know that. She's the other half of you, just like my Artair is to me… But there's more waiting for you. There's one who will be like a brother to you, if you just let him. He'll need you as much as you need him. Brothers by choice and deed. You'll be his strength, and he your flexibility. If you just let him in…"
He'd forgotten that, after so long, after the mess with Kaecilius, Karl had honestly forgotten all that… until that moment. Until Stephen's own words brought back the memory of the Ancient One's… no, of Gwen's own…
"I promise." He nodded serenely.
Stephen pulled back abruptly, he clearly hadn't been expecting him to acquiesce so easily. But a moment later he just smiled, satisfied.
"So, if we're done with your little side-drama." Wong called in a lazy drawl. "What's so important about this Nightingale?"
Stephen flushed, cleared his throat a bit and then focused:
"According to what the Other explained, she's like a focal point, or a catalyst… or both." Stephen shrugged at the specifics, then decided it might be better if he explained the details he did know. "It all comes down to the Infinity Stones. They aren't just powerful artifacts. The Time Stone, and the other five, they're the remains of the very power that created our universe. It's why only a rare few can even get close to them. And that's with the Stones in relics like the Eye of Agamotto. In their pure form the Stones can only be touched by individuals who are more than human, or elves, or any other race known. He didn't actually know the right word for them, only that they were More. Also, the Stones are never meant to be gathered, not until the End of Days. Because like I said, that's the power that created the universe, it can change the universe, and it's the very same power that will one day purify the remains and allow it to begin all over again."
Karl and Wong blinked, they were clearly having trouble processing everything Stephen was telling them. Chara… she seemed to actually be holding her breath as she tried to deal with the revelations. Though in the end they were dealing with matters that just weren't meant for mortals to comprehend!
"And how is Miss Salani supposed to be connected to any of this?" Wong asked, curious.
"Thanos can touch the Stones, but they're not meant for him, never were." Stephen explained. "They are meant for the Guardians… there's another word for them but the Other didn't know it. Said that he never did learn everything. The Nightingale… she knows the Guardians, she's the reason most of them meet, or something like that. According to the Other, in the universes where she's not born, or dies before she has the chance to meet at least one of them, Thanos gets his hands on at least half the Stones, and once he does that balance is ruined and the universe is lost." Guessing what the next question would be he added: "I don't even know who the Guardians are exactly. Even He didn't know. All I know is that She does."
"And how are we supposed to get close to her exactly?" Chara inquired. "No one knows where she and her sisters live exactly. Despite their very public profession they've managed to keep their private lives exactly that, private."
"We could approach her after a concert?" Karl suggested.
How hard could it be? They had magic on their side after all.
"If you're planning on doing that you might want to do it soon." Chara stated calmly.
"Why?" Karl suspected he wasn't going to like the answer.
"Because the concert next week is going to be their last." Chara stated with finality as she showed the men an announcement on her tablet. "The Gypsies are retiring."
xXx
Tony Stark was, above all, a curious man. He always had been. From the time when he was a four-year-old and, taking pieces of his father's own experiments, he began his own. His dad loved Tony's curiosity, said it was his best attribute, what made him a true genius. What allowed him to take his father's half-finished prototypes and random ideas and turn them into what had become one of the biggest companies in the world: Stark Tech.
Stark Tech was all Tony's, had been from its inception. And even if eventually he'd managed to convince his wife, his dear Pepper (her name was Virginia Potts-Stark, but to him she'd always been and would always be his Pepper) to be CEO of the company, allowing him to focus on the part he really liked, the R&D. It wasn't that Tony couldn't create weapons, he could. He just didn't like it. On the one side, weapons were his father's legacy, and Tony wanted more for himself, something that was just his own. On the other hand, and while Howard would never admit it, Tony knew it bothered the elder Stark sometimes, how the world only saw him as a creator of weapons; SI had been in the plastics, mining and intelli-crop industries from the start, even before they picked up all those contracts for weapons during WWII, but whenever the people thought of SI, they thought about weapons, about war. Tony was almost sure that the only reason his dad hadn't fully closed up shop once Stark Tech had taken off was because he would never do that to all his loyal workers; and he knew that even if some people might have done wrong with his weapons, American soldiers still depended on him: his weapons, his equipment, and he wouldn't put those valiant men and women at risk just because he was uncomfortable with what one man had done with SI weapons.
Obadiah Stane was one name that was never pronounced in any place that bore the Stark name. The man had been a monster, had tried to arrange for Tony's kidnapping a few times, and for Howard's and Maria's assassination at least twice. And if it weren't for Uncle Steve, but more importantly, for Aunt Peggy, he'd have succeeded the last time!
In any case, Tony Stark was a curious man, and what made him most curious was and had always been his own existence. And not even just his, but everyone's. Why were they as they were? Why was their world as it was? Curiosity was good, especially when people kept learning new things every other day. Tony had never been as foolish as to believe that he knew everything, or that he had a chance to ever know everything. Others weren't as accepting of such a limitation as him, and hadn't they all gotten their panties in a twist when they learned that they (humans) weren't the only intelligent race in the universe?! (some might argue that, with people as them, humans were quite far from being the most intelligent).
It had all begun, at least for them, back in the forties. No one ever knew for sure what kick-started it exactly. Things had been more than a little hectic since the passing of Dr. Erskine. A woman that most people knew simply as 'the Jewel' had taken Steve Rogers with her afterwards, promising to train him to be the kind of warrior they needed, and people either respected her or feared her enough to allow it. The first mission Rogers went on he was accompanied by a woman known by the code-name Valkyrie. They'd gone behind enemy lines to rescue over two hundred imprisoned Allied Soldiers, including Rogers's own best friend: Bucky Barnes.
After that mission, the POWs who'd been willing to continue fighting instead of being sent home, had formed their own squad, lead by Steve Rogers, who was granted the rank of Captain, to allow him and his squad to have enough weight. Later on a few men were given the rank of Lieutenants to help with the same thing; and while the rest didn't change in ranks, their pay was higher than any enlisted soldier due to the amount of danger in their missions. They were the ones going after HYDRA after all. Valkyrie was still with them, though she wasn't officially part of their ranks, instead she was registered as an Agent with the SSR, like Peggy, and the woman who'd trained Steve: Jewel.
It was well known that Bucky and Steve had both almost fallen off the train during the mission to capture Arnim Zola, and only the intervention of Valkyrie and the unexpected arrival of Jewel saved the two men. It was during the final assault on Red Skull's base that everything changed. A group arrived just before the assault truly began. People the two female agents knew, who weren't from their world…
That was how Earth learned that there was more in the universe than what they knew. Other planets that held life, intelligent races, and some with incredible powers. Steve would never know all the ways his life might have been different if the Aesir hadn't chosen to reveal themselves that day. If they hadn't gone straight for the Tesseract, if the brunette male with the knives hadn't killed the Red Skull before he could rally the HYDRA soldiers… Steve had no way of knowing how things might have ended.
For a while after that day some had even doubted that everything that was reported happened in that battle actually did. Especially when it took almost a decade for any other visitors to make an appearance. The only explanation that was given was that they had things to deal with in a different planet. As for why Jewel, and several others were absent, they had died…
Valkyrie was chosen to stay on Earth and act as a sort-of representative for Asgard, almost like an Ambassador. It was also then that her identity was revealed: she was the Lady Sif, Goddess of War, and once Royal Consort. The blonde who'd lead the charge on Red Skull's base was Crown Prince Thor and he couldn't stay because he had duties to see to on Asgard. In the months following Sif and Bucky rekindled their old romance, eventually getting married. It took them a long time to ever have children, and they never spoke of the reason, though there were those who suspected it was connected to her status as 'former Royal Consort'… eventually she did give Bucky a son.
Steve retired from the army following the end of WWII, he and Peggy dated and eventually married. When Howard got into trouble the couple were right there to help him, along with their closest friends. Jarvis (the first Jarvis, the bone and flesh one) loved to tell the story of how it was thanks to Steve and Peggy that he had his son: Edward. Even if the pregnancy was so hard on Anna it ended killing her (and she refused Asgardian healing, claiming it went against her faith); Edward Hanan Jarvis was born and he was loved.
Also according to the stories they all just seemed to keep getting into trouble until sometime in the 80s they finally decided to take a more active role in things. To act instead of just react; and thus they founded the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, SHIELD for short. Howard was part of the foundation, though he did his best to keep his involvement a secret, and completely separate from both his company and his family.
Tony Stark knew he was a very lucky kid. He'd grown up not just with two great parents (even if his dad and he didn't always get along, once he grew up Tony understood that the two were so very alike, and his dad just didn't know how to relate to him and had been so very afraid to hurt Tony when he was a kid), but also his godparents (Aunt Peggy and Uncle Steve, he called them), Jarvis, Ed (who was almost like an older brother to him), and a bunch of other not-quite-related aunts, uncles and cousins. And of course eventually Ed married and had children and Tony had no compunction about calling Wanda his sister and their twin children his nephews (he spoiled them as such too!).
Also, Wanda was the youngest daughter of Uncle Charles's (Charles Xavier, the Headmaster of the Xavier Institute, a school for mutants; as well as one of the leaders of that Gifted Community) partner: Erik Lehnsherr. And she effectively claimed the British man as her own father, which Tony took as implicit permission to claim them all as family as well.
Tony himself met Pepper shortly after the creation of Stark Tech. She was one of his accountants before becoming his PA. It had taken a lot to convince her to go on a date with him, the last thing she wanted was to put her job at risk. But in the end Tony managed to be charming enough and the rest, as some might say, was history. They waited until their company (she'd been there practically from the start, of course it was Their Company) was exactly where they wanted it. And then they married. She'd given him two daughters Tony loved with his whole heart: Aylen Victoria and Anna Morgan Potts-Stark. Their eldest had been detected as a mutant almost from her birth, eventually manifesting as a technopath (though Uncle Charles suspected she had another gift latent, she just hadn't had need for it yet); they weren't sure about Anna but didn't worry about it anyway. They'd love her either way.
So, in short. Tony loved his life. He was quite satisfied with everything he'd achieved through Stark Tech, from the phones, tablets and other things that much surpassed anything Samsung, Apple or Huawei could come up with; to the extremely advanced and accessible medical devices and even prosthesis; and their crowning jewel: the arc-technology. After over a decade working on it Tony had managed to find a way to make the huge and impractical arc-reactor his father had designed not just smaller, but cost-effective. It was his greatest creation ever (aside from his daughters, of course, but they were his and Pepper's creations so…). The biggest advertisement for the arc-reactor technology was the tower he'd had built in Manhattan; he and his family lived in the top floors, there were also a bunch of labs, and in the lower half of the tower the offices of Stark Tech were located. The whole Tower functioned entirely on the energy provided by an arc-reactor, completely clean energy, couldn't be hacked and would last for at least a decade.
Still, much as Tony might love his life, a part of him couldn't help but be curious of how exactly that life was possible. He was a pragmatic man, and he'd always find it very interesting that the Aesir had first appeared exactly when they did. If they hadn't done so much good he might even think that they had some ulterior motive. But in more than fifty years they'd never shown to have any bad intentions. And he personally knew Sif, called her his aunt, her son his cousin.
He knew not everyone understood it. Even more than half a century after the existence of other worlds (Realms) was revealed, some people still had a trouble wrapping their heads around it. There had even been those who refused to believe in any of it without absolute, incontrovertible proof (and apparently Valkyrie did not count!). Of course after the Convergence in 2015 it had gotten harder for them to deny things. Hard to deny there were other worlds out there when everyone could see them through the portals that had effectively been floating across the sky in the UK for a few hours!
That was the day that Crown Prince Thor first set foot on Earth since WWII. He had hardly changed at all in the inter. Though perhaps what shocked people the most was when just a few months later his marriage to a human scientist: Dr. Jane Foster, was announced. The woman was one of the few who'd proven to be so good in her field to qualify for an Asgardian apprenticeship. According to her Masters she understood more of the Realms and the travel between them than even some scholars thousands of years older than her. It was why no one in the other Realms had opposed her marriage to Thor. Or their ascendance to the Throne a year or so later.
Their world, Tony was sure, was very different than it would have been if Asgard hadn't revealed itself to them all those years before. His own life would be nothing like what he knew. And, as has been established, Tony loved his life. His wife, his daughters, his parents, his whole family, by blood and not. So perhaps it was alright if Tony never managed to fully satiate his curiosity, where the reason for his current life was concerned, as long as they could all be happy with it.
xXx
In Westchester, two old men sat on a terrace overlooking the huge estate that for more than fifty years had been the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters. Sharing a drink over a game of chess was something of a ritual for them, had been almost since they'd first met, and if they got to do it out in the sun, with children's shrieking and joyous laughter all the better. The men looked to be in their sixties, maybe, though they were in fact almost thirty years older than that. It came with the territory of being two of the most powerful mutants alive, they didn't age quite the same way humans did. They'd never live as long as Aesir and Ljósálfar, of course not, but they'd live more than humans did, and they managed to stay in their prime also longer.
Their names were Charles Francis Xavier and Erik Magnus Lehnsherr. Two completely different men, of hugely different backgrounds, who came together in the most unusual of ways and circumstances, and yet they both knew their lives would be the lesser if they'd never met. Charles had grown a rich boy, with too much money and hardly any attention; a mother who never wanted a son and only had one to ensnare the rich man she wanted, a father who died before his time, and a step-father and step-brother who only ever cared about the money and saw Charles as a complication to getting what they wanted (which became especially true when Sharon left everything to her son and nothing to either of them). Erik had grown a little Jewish boy in a time when being such was seen as a crime, or worse. He lost his little sister, his father and uncle, and would have lost his beloved mother as well if it hadn't been for the angel that saved them in the last moment.
Erik could still remember that moment with perfect clarity as if it were happening right then. As Schmidt gave him the order to move the coin, do it or his mama would pay the price. And Erik kept trying and trying so hard but the coin wouldn't move! And then right as the time ran out, fire… fire everywhere. Erik screamed, for a moment sure that his mama was dead. He didn't even care if he died too as he threw himself into the flames that enveloped her. Only to find himself going right through them. To discover that the column of fire was protecting his mama, had stopped the bullet from hitting her. And then he saw her. The woman wasn't exactly tall (Erik was almost sure he'd been taller than her even back then), but she looked so imposing, in an off-white short dress with what looked like armor in a rose-gold hue on top; knee-high boots… and she was the one controlling the fire! He'd never forget the words she said to him that day:
"You have a gift, young one, one that will bring you to great things. Will lead you down difficult paths, hard choices. Choices only you can make. Only you can decide if the things you do with your gift will be horrible or wonderful. If, centuries from now, your name will be remembered in fear or in joy. But I have hope, of the boy you are now and the man you can be. And remember, whatever might happen, you're not alone. You never have been, and you never will be…"
You're not alone… she'd said those words, and so had Charles eighteen years later. Erik was certain that was at least part of the reason Erik was so quick to trust him, when he hardly ever trusted anyone. Then again, his mother had probably been part of it too. Erik honestly didn't know what would have become of his life if his mother had died that day, if he'd lost her too. He certainly wouldn't have had the first idea of what to do when Magda left him with three children (two of them babies hardly days old!); but she just hadn't been able to handle him being Gifted in the long run. She was a simple girl, who wanted only a simple life, and she realized at some point that Erik's life would never be simple. It was why he let her go. At least he had his children, and his mama to help make sure he'd do right by them.
His mama was particularly happy when he and Charles agreed on working together, when they created the Institute. Even if at first they had to work in secret. The world might have known aliens existed, and some people might even know that Earth too had individuals who were… more. But not everyone was ready to know that. Eventually it came out, and by then they were ready. The Institute became more than just a school, it became a sanctuary, and almost without realizing it Charles and Erik found themselves leading the Mutant Community. They never planned on it, but they didn't shirk the responsibility either. They gave it their all.
Of course, even when they first began working together Erik could have never imagined that he and Charles would ever be… more. More than business-partners, more than friends. It wasn't that he didn't realize that Charles was an attractive man (he had eyes!), or that he wasn't aware of what happened sometimes between men (he could still remember his Uncle Haskel… or rather the fact that the man wasn't biologically his uncle, but he'd been close to his family, had lived with his mom's brother: Yossel, for as long as Erik could remember). Even then, it had still taken him by surprise when he realized that Charles attentiveness meant more than a desire for a friend. Of course his mama knew, she might have been human but she was so intuitive; she knew what Charles felt, and how Erik felt, and her son's doubts. Erik owed everything he had and everything he was to his mother.
Legally Erik might only have been able to claim the man across the table from his as his husband for not quite a decade, but he considered the two of them to have been married for much, much longer than that. After all, wasn't marriage vowing to love and cherish and respect and be by the other's side for as long as you both shall live? Charles and Erik had done that, in private and before their closest family and friends, more than once, back in the sixties. It didn't matter if it had been illegal back then, if they could have gotten in a hell of a lot of trouble if anyone outside the estate had seen them and reported them to the authorities. They knew their hearts and their minds and their loved ones supported them, that was enough.
"What has got you so deeply in thought, my love?" Charles asked softly, in that British accent of his that he knew always drove his husband a little crazy.
"Been thinking about the past." Erik admitted easily enough. "About all we are and all we have and how lucky we are."
"Lucky we are indeed." Charles agreed wholeheartedly.
"Gramps! Opa!" Two loud voices called right then.
"Bill, Tom." Erik nodded at each of them in greeting.
Charles, much more open (Erik would almost say careless) with his affections than his husband, went to hug each of the younger men, the youngest of their grandchildren.
Charles had once explained to Erik, that he found both women and men equally attractive. Though back in the fifties and sixties it had been much easier to take girls to his bed, easier to interest them, and less of a risk of him ending in trouble. None of them had ever interested him for anything more significant than a one-night-stand. Perhaps Moira might have been different; her temperament, the strength of her will, Charles had admired that, but then he had met Erik and Charles was gone almost right away.
Erik on the other hand, he didn't find himself sexually attracted to others easily. What he and Magda had had… he knew her as a child, before the camps, before the ghettos, found her again the same night the Rose of Chaos (it was what his angel-savior called herself) saved him and his mom from Schmidt, while her friends took down the Nazis, freeing everyone in the camp. Magda had no one, and Erik felt the need to protect her, almost as if she'd been Beatrix, the little sister he lost. But Magda wasn't his sister, not really. And somehow after a few years, it just happened. The two of them married, and they had Anya. His mama told him, years later, after Magda left and they were left caring for his three children, that she'd always known it wouldn't last. She could see it, that Erik and Magda loved each other, but they weren't in love with each other. They had confused the love of friends, of family, with the love of a couple, and that was never going to last, not in the long run. It was until Erik met Charles, until he felt that warmth in his heart, the fire deep in his belly, that he understood what had been missing all along, that he realized it could have never been anyone but Charles.
Still, thanks to Magda he had a family, they both did; because Charles was beyond elated to claim any family of Erik as his. Starting with Edith Lehnsherr and going from there. Anya would never forget her mom, and Erik knew a part of her would always hurt that she'd chosen to leave them, but she loved Charles anyway. Would jokingly call him mutti (mommy) sometimes, and Charles took it with humor instead of being offended. As for the twins, Wanda and Pietro… they had no memories of Magda. To them, Charles and Erik were the only parents they'd ever known, and they were happy enough like that.
In time the family grew. Anya met a veteran of the Vietnam War, a human with a mutant sister, called Johann Reynolds, fell in love and married him. They had two children: Django Maximilian and Nina Charlotte (Charles had cried). Johann sadly died before Nina was ever born, a traffic accident, there was nothing that human or asgardian medicine could do for him, he'd died before anyone found the wreckage. Even then, Anya wasn't alone, she had the rest of them right there to help her raise her children. To ensure that Django would never feel like he was less, being human in a family of mostly mutants, and that Nina's gift would develop in the best way possible.
Wanda too had found her own match, a nice man called Edward Jarvis, godson of Howard Stark and apparently the son of the rich man's butler (Erik never understood the details). Edward was completely human, but a very open minded one, he loved Wanda, loved to watch the red glow of her powers at work. And he was never afraid of her, even when she at times lost control. He had a gift for technology, for fixing things; though that was just a hobby of his. He was actually a chef, had his own restaurant right there in New York (initially in a rented area near Central Park, though once Stark Tower was built, one of the floors had become his new Restaurant), which he'd opened with the help and blessing of the Starks. The two had married in the eighties, and shortly afterwards Wanda had given birth to twins of her own, boys: Billy and Tommy (who one day claimed to be too old for such childish names and began insisting on being called Bill and Tom instead).
They even had great-grandchildren! One at least. Django hadn't been too lucky where love was concerned. he'd been married for a few years, but in the end his wife, Susan, wasn't able to handle the rather hectic life Django lead, working as a Mutant Liaison with the government (like his own mother, Anya, had before him). She tried to convince him to quit, to choose a quieter, easier life. Django refused, and so Susan divorced him. Nina, by then a lawyer (the Mutant Lawyer, the world called her) had handled the divorce and ensured her brother kept full custody of his only child: Lorna. Which turned out to be a good thing when the girl manifested as a mutant less than a year later, she had her great-grandfather's power over magnetism (her hair had gone from blonde to green years earlier but no one had known if she'd have an active mutation).
Nina had some on-again off-again thing with a fellow lawyer called Matt Murdock. Erik didn't understand it; but she was young still, there was no need for her to decide the rest of her life until she was good and ready.
Perhaps the only one who made Erik wonder sometimes was Pietro. It wasn't that Erik wanted all his children to be settled and having families, not at all. If Pietro, or any of the others, wanted to be on their own that would be just fine with Erik (Django hadn't been too interested in another relationship after the divorce, and everyone supported his decision). But the thing was, Pietro wasn't alone, not really. He was in a relationship, with a girl so much younger than him that if it weren't because he was a mutant and looked in his thirties rather than the sixty-something he was there was no way it would work, especially considering the girl in question was in her twenties! (his twin grandsons were older than her!) To make matters even more complex neither Erik nor really anyone in the Institute except Wanda had ever really met the girl in question. Pietro always referred to her as his Rose, and it was clear to everyone he loved her, but still! The man claimed it was because she was so busy all the time, Erik wasn't the kind to trust easily, and he didn't like that someone who held his son's heart in her hands the way she did wouldn't make the time to meet his family!
"We're going to a concert!" The boys' announcement pulled Erik back to the present.
"What…?" The two old mutant leaders didn't understand what was going on.
From one beat to the next, Pietro was suddenly there.
"It's time!" Pietro announced with a huge smile, like nothing anyone had ever seen on him.
"Time?" Charles asked, curious.
He couldn't really read Pietro's mind, had never been able to, the boys' thoughts moving as fast as he did, Charles could hardly ever get more than a handful of words and nothing that really made any sense to him.
"The Gypsies are retiring." Pietro explained. "And they've decided that it's time."
"Time for what?" Erik pressed, still not understanding.
"For the whole family to get together!" Pieto answered brightly, then seeing, that his fathers still weren't getting it, he added. "My Rose? Her real name is Róis Kinross-Salani, though the press likes to call her Fire Rose… she's the youngest Gypsy."
Charles's jaw dropped, just for a moment, but it did. Erik was sure that it was only all the ways he'd trained himself to conceal his emotions, back when showing vulnerability was a sure way to get him, and the rest of his family, killed, that kept him from doing the same. His son's girlfriend was one of the Gypsies?! Suddenly her never having time, and Pietro always running off somewhere to meet her made a lot more sense. Also, they wanted to meet, Erik liked the idea. Especially because, judging by the younger twins' excitement, the invitation was for all of them. Erik definitely approved of that. Not sure yet if he'd approve of the girl, but they'd see.
Erik (nor anyone else) could have known it, but they were far from the only ones to receive special tickets for the concert that day…
xXx
There were several surprises as the special guests began arriving to the concert. First was the fact that it was a much bigger thing than some would have imagined. Almost three thousand people fit in the theater, and the place was full. Also, as they'd learned, with use of Stark Tech the entirety of the concert would be captured and projected holographically over a dozen theaters and concert halls in the most advanced countries in the world; and for those who might not have that kind of technology just yet, the concert would be projected in cinemas in hundreds of different cities. The bottom line being that a hell of a lot of people around the globe would be watching that concert, live. It was a huge thing. No artist before them had ever been as huge as Gypsies; they sang in all the most used languages in the planet, and there were rumors that they had at least two songs in languages from other Realms; they had been in the business for almost half a decade (since the youngest of them finished her postgrad), and now they were retiring… and no one understood why. Though it couldn't be just about the Debt, that much was obvious.
Debts were both more complex, and simpler than most people would think. They had been put into place to both help in the betterment of the world, and to follow Asgard's request that the healing be made available to everyone. Money and connections were irrelevant when it came to requesting aid from Asgard and the other Realms, what mattered was that the one requesting the aid be willing to offer something of themselves in exchange. Voluntary work, donations to those who needed them the most, it was all valid, as long as it improved lives. Most Debts were fulfilled in less than three years, with the longest time-spans applying to those who'd been healed from Cancer and other terminal illnesses.
The other, more secret reason behind the Debts, was to conceal the fact that not everyone was a candidate for Asgardian Healing. It was something they found out the hard way. Asgardian Healing had been created, as it sounded, for Asgardians. And their genetic make-up was very different from humans. And while they could be easily adapted to other races like the elves and dwarves, humans were much too different. Humans were a young race still, so short lived that evolution happened differently than it did in other Realms. There were exceptions of course. It had been discovered that members from the other realms had been visiting Earth many times over the years, and some had done more than visit. And then there were the gifted tribes, who either as a result of experimentation (inhumans), survival instinct (metas) or evolution (evos and mutants) had changed enough to make them compatible.
The Debts meant that only those willing to give of themselves would even seek Asgardian help. And those people were also capable of understanding when sometimes the answer to their request was no. It was always terrible, especially when children and young teens were involved, but it happened, and there was no changing it.
Silbhé Arianna Kinross-Salani was the eldest daughter of Sebastian and Aislinn Kinross-Salani. She was diagnosed with leukemia when she was four years old. Her parents applied for assistance from the Yggdrasil Embassy the moment the official diagnosis came through. They knew she would be a candidate, as Aislinn's own studies had shown she had a distant Ljósálfar ancestor, which allowed the healing to work on her even though she was a baseline human (it would eventually be revealed, that as human as the parents might be, all three of their daughters had been born gifted). In such cases it was usually allowed (some even encouraged it) for the parents to take on the Debt; Silbhé had a different idea. Her parents were at the time paying the Debt incurred by the healing of Aislinn, who'd been diagnosed with Cancer herself a year earlier; they had moved temporarily to a village in Eastern Europe where Aislinn was teaching both children and adults to read, write and basic math, while Sebastian put his own degree in architecture to work. It would have been relatively easy for the two to just continue doing that for a few years longer (they already had plans to move to a different village once they were done teaching the basics there, and Sebastian had suggested Syria as their next stop). And then Silbhé insisted on paying her own Debt.
It was unheard of, to the point where no one knew quite what to do. But the little girl insisted. Her desire to do something to be of service was such… and it was exactly why the Debt System had been created in the first place. So an agreement was reached, where the girl would pay her own Debt once she was old enough and had finished her studies. Of course, no one expected it when Silbhé took that as motivation to push her studies with an intensity rarely seen in one so young, even geniuses. By twenty-one Silbhé Salani had Master Degrees in World History, English Literature and Mythology and Folklore, as well as being certified in a dozen and a half languages, including Elvish (two dialects), and the form of Norse used in Asgard for some of the oldest ceremonies (there were rumors that she was learning the language of the dwarves, but no one would either confirm or deny that).
The next surprise came when her younger sisters: Léan and Róis chose to help her pay off her Debt. The first had majored in Linguistics and Cultural Studies, the second in Nursing and International Relations, they were also each certified in over half a dozen languages each. Not quite as many as their older sister, but then again, they'd intended to be finished faster in order to team-up with Silbhé.
Between their extensive studies, numerous languages, and status as active gifted (Silbhé was a very powerful empath, Léan a double elemental with control over wind and water, and Róis a fire elemental) the sisters could have gone to pay off Silbhé's Debt in many ways. The last thing anyone could have expected was what actually ended happening… it had begun like a happy accident, or a coincidence. The representative of the Yggdrasil Embassy who was handling her case happened to come upon the sisters when they were entertaining a group of orphaned children (the Embassy sponsored the St. Agnes Orphanage). Three months later the Gypsies were giving their first concert and soon afterwards they'd become an international sensation (and eventually a galactic one too).
Tony, his wife and daughters were the last ones to arrive the evening of the concert. The theater was huge and a section on the first balcony had been reserved for 'special guests', like a sort of luxury box. Tony was quite surprised to see, aside from his parents, Ed, Wanda and their twins, there were also Uncles Steve and Bucky and their respective wives, Wanda's family (most of them mutants), Thor, a very pregnant Jane and their two sons, the Inhuman Royal family, several members of the Justice League, SHIELD Agents, four sorcerers from Kamar-Taj and some others Tony couldn't readily identify.
"Just what's going on here?" He asked, to no one in particular.
No one answered, but by the looks several of those present were directing at each other it was quite obvious he wasn't the only one thinking that very thing.
"I've heard much said about these Songstresses." Thor spoke up. "Am most interested in seeing what their voices might sound like?"
"You've never heard them?" Wanda seemed honestly surprised by that. "But I thought they were paying a Debt with Yggdrasil?"
"They are, but no, I've never heard them." Thor admitted. "I do my best to dedicate time to my family, my sons, now that my Father is still able and willing to guard the throne, allowing me to organize my time at my own discretion."
"You ever heard good singers before, Point Break?" Tony asked, interested.
"Many," Thor's voice turned quieter, almost melancholic, his eyes gazing into the distance, as if focused on something only he could see. "Though one in particular I remember most fondly. Princess Tinúviel, of Alfheim and Asgard, hers was the most beautiful voice in all the Realms…"
"Princess of Asgard?" That called the attention of several of those present.
"She was my wedded-sister." Thor explained. "My brother's match and consort."
"Brother?" Bucky asked animatedly. "I didn't know you had a brother, big guy!"
"He died in glorious battle, a very long time ago, as did she." Thor answer, even more solemn as before. "I miss them most dearly."
No one had any words with which to reply to that, Jane just held his hand in wordless comfort.
The Concert was opened by a children's choir singing one of the Gypsies's most popular songs: 'Rise', to much clapping and cheering. They always did that, as a way to promote young talent and to motivate them. After that, the first piece from the Gypsies, as usual, was one purely instrumental. Róis's piano, Léan's violin and Silbhé's traversal flute came together in a melody that they called 'Trail of the Angels', which sounded almost like a lullaby, very beautiful. The sisters were fully seen on the stage then, wearing simple goddess-style off-white dresses, with sashes of different colors (violet for Silbhé, royal blue for Léan and scarlet for Róis). The public loved them. It was when the third song came, that things got interesting:
"Hello everyone!" Silbhé called, first in English, before repeating the greeting in every other language she knew, her sisters stepping in with a few more in the end.
The cheering only grew, and Tony had no doubt the same must be happening in every single place where the concert was being projected, whether holographically or in a movie screen. It didn't matter, everyone loved the Gypsies.
"Today is our last concert." Silbhé settled for speaking in English (though, unknown to those there in New York, those in other countries would be listening to her little speech in their respective languages, as they'd made sure to prerecord their words for that purpose). "We're gonna miss you all so much! But first, first we're gonna have some fun today, okay?" She waited for the cheering to die down before continuing. "My sisters and I… we thought long and hard about what we wanted tonight's first song to be. We have some very special guests on this, our last day, and we wanted to send a message out. I've always believe that I express myself best through singing." Her smile grew as the public yelled their agreement. "So here's how we're going to do it. To all our fans in Japan, this is one of your favorites, I believe: Heaven!"
The melody began with the piano. Léan had put aside her violin and picked up a guitar, it was something she did sometimes, though she'd said in a few interviews that the violin would always be her first choice of instrument. The two younger sisters built the melody between them before Silbhé, sitting on a stool between them, pulled the cordless mike to her lips and began singing:
"At the very end, your smile
Was the thing you gave me
It was so very beautiful
I couldn't help it, and my tears flew"
"On that day, we were touched by love, I know"
"We kept on searching
At times forgetting ourselves
If we would've found it at last
No matter what end was awaiting"
"It wasn't but the call of destiny"
"Lalala... lalala..."
Tony knew Japanese. Languages were of the few things that gave his genius mind a challenge, so he'd made a point of learning a new one every few years. Also, they'd proven to be a very good thing when it came to his Company. Showing up to a meeting, or a special event and being able to greet his hosts in their own language gave him a lot of points. He even managed to gain King T'Chaka's approval when he spoke to the King in Swahili (the closest he could get to the nation's own language until the King gave his permission and his own children taught Tony Wakandan).
In any case, Tony knew Japanese, he knew most of the languages the Gypsies sang in, in fact, which allowed him to enjoy their music more. While there were subtitles on various screens for those who didn't know all the languages, and something in the singer's empathy made it so her public always felt the song even when they couldn't really understand the words, Tony had always preferred knowing what he was listening to. He liked the song's lyrics, she was singing to someone… not exactly something new when it came to her. He'd long since realized that many of her songs, of the songs all three of them sang, seemed to be directed at specific people, mostly a loved one, a match… it made things interesting when one considered that neither was known to be in a relationship (there were suspicions about the youngest, Róis, but nothing had ever been confirmed). What Tony wasn't expecting was Thor's very obvious reaction once the song began.
The blonde Asgardian had stood abruptly just a verse in, as if lightning had hit him or something. He even looked like he wanted to rush down and straight to the stage; only to remember a second later where he was and that he couldn't do that. He didn't sit again though, instead just stood his ground watching the stage as if drawn to it, or maybe he was drawn to the singer? Tony knew he was missing something, and hadn't the slightest idea what it was… he didn't like that, not one bit.
The tempo of the song shifted then, the music growing louder, the two younger gypsies' voices joining the older one as they began echoing certain words, giving them, and the song as a whole more power. And then Silbhé stood from the stool and, mike still held tightly in one hand, began walking around the front of the stage, turning and gesturing and… there was so much emotion as she sang each line, it left everyone breathless. Told them that the song was important, very much.
"In the heaven you left towards
Stars shine gently upon me"
"Be with me, my love
Cross time, and change your form
The future we still see
Remains as it is right here"
"Be with me, my love
Cross time, and change your form
The future we still see
Remains as it is right here"
"Believe me
My love, you live inside me
And so from now on and forever
I will not say goodbye"
"On that day, we were touched by love, I know"
There was a lot of cheering and clapping as the song came to an end, but Tony's whole attention was on Thor, who'd finally dropped back into his seat (with enough force it was a wonder it didn't break). His eyes looked glassy, almost as if he were about to cry, and a single word came from him: 'Swestar'… it actually took him a few seconds to comprehend that one, as the man was much more practice in modern Norse than in the old Proto-Norse-whatever that some Asgardians would slip into sometimes. It meant sister…
Tony turned abruptly back towards the stage, wondering just what the hell was going on… It wasn't that he wasn't used to not knowing everything. As has been established, he was a practical man, he knew that as much as he might strive to learn, no one could ever know everything. But there was a difference between not knowing how beings who looked so similar could be so completely different on the inside, and trying to understand why the Prince of a place referred to as the Realm Eternal had just referred to their own world's most famous singer by a word that could be translated as 'sister'… especially when the only sister he was known to have had was dead, had been dead for who-knew how long (probably centuries). Tony had a feeling they were soon going to find out why exactly they were all there, he was quite sure that, as different as they might all be from each other, it was no coincidence…
Hate me yet? Remember, if you kill me I cannot give you the second half of this. See ya in a week!
P.S. Any fans of my HP xovers around? If so, please head to my profile page and vote in my poll there. I'm trying to decide what to do with two of my stories.