The two cried together for what felt like an hour but what could have been a few minutes. They released each other when their shirts became damp from the tears. Sanjeevani rubbed at her face with her hands, and Havardr wiped his eyes with the back of his sleeve. He gazed at her with new red eyes and lips still wobbly and pursed. "How did- how long was he with you?"
She sniffled and breathed in deep to clear her stuffy nose. "Almost twenty years. He grew up with me. We were babies together, toddlers together, kids together, tweens and teens together. But he left me when I gained my powers. And…that felt like abandonment." Havardr reached a hand out, and she let out a sob, face crumpling again as her shoulders slumped. He cradled her cheek and let her cry. "If he had been there, I think my parents still would have hurt me, but maybe I would've received comfort afterward…"
An icy spear ripped through Havardr's heart. He could do nothing but gently take her face in his hands and apologize for not being there. Eventually, she calmed down, her own hands pressed over his to keep them in place. She sniffled and watched him carefully through eyes of dark glass.
"What about you? How long was I with you?"
He shrugged, keeping his head turned to the side to avoid her gaze. "Same thing. You grew up with me, but you always seemed a bit older than me, oddly enough. Technically, she did. Peace. I don't know why that was so. But the same thing happened. She left me the day I ran away from my family." He bit his lip hard enough to draw blood and sniffled. "I wish she was with me when I was alone. It frightened me, traveling alone. I could manage with the languages. That wasn't so hard. But the behavior? Mingling with new people when I barely felt at home among my own family and community? I don't know how I survived until now."
He paused, shaking his head. "I don't know why she left, and I don't want to blame you. I would have felt so much safer had she been around, but…"
Sanjeevani moved closer and did the same for him, holding his face in her hands. He smiled carefully, resting sword-calloused fingers over hers.
They sat still for a while, watching one another in silence before the healer opened her mouth to yawn, dropping her jaw a little too low. Havardr squeaked and jumped back. "What?! Ew, how are you doing that!"
She laughed and tossed her head back to free up her neck. "Basically, I did a few years of choir in high school. I did one year in college too. I had to train my mouth to open really big to get the right notes and resonance and stuff. And now, I can kinda unhinge my jaw."
He gave her the kind of expression an adult would give a child who's playing in the mud with worms and bugs squashed in their little baby hands. "That's terrifying."
Sanjeevani winked. "I pretended to be an alien and sometimes a snake in elementary school, and most of my bullies got scared enough by it that they ran away."
Havardr snorted and raised an eyebrow at her. "Why wouldn't they?"
With a huff, she pinched his arm. "Rude."
His face split into a laugh, and she couldn't help but join in. There was something so familiar and homely about seeing him smile. He squeezed her hand, pressing her palm to his cheek. Eyes filled with loving light gazed back at a face as familiar as the one each saw in every mirror. The two shared a melancholy moment and began asking the right questions.
"How could it be that we've only just met despite having been in each other's lives since childhood?"
Sanjeevani sighed, shrugging. "I don't know. I think when I discovered my powers and when you gained your freedom was when the universe decided we had to meet and started creating all the right conditions for us to meet. Like the switch for our fates to be aligned was turned on."
Havardr tapped his lips with a callused index finger. "That does seem possible…"
She raised an eyebrow. "I was just speaking from a cosmological standpoint. I don't know if that's what really happened."
He nodded, patting her hand. "And I understood that. My point is, though, that you've got the right idea. I think something is drawing us together." Sanjeevani started to see what he meant, nodding as he explained further.
"That something has been pulling us towards one another since we were young. We were each other's companions all throughout our lives until the moment our futures changed? That's not a coincidence. Stuff like that doesn't just happen to people. We're an exception."
"Okay," she agreed, "but why? Why us? What could be that something? We have no connection. I'm not even from this dimension. Dr. Strange brought me to this reality to help him save Tony Stark. I was found by random chance, but our connection is not at all random. What could be the reason we're connected like this?"
Havardr bit his lip and glanced up at her nervously. "Can we try something?"
Sanjeevani, unsure but trusting him, nodded.
"Do you wanna see if we can read each other's minds again or speak telepathically?"
She hummed. "How?"
He smiled and held out his hands. "By trusting me and opening your mind. I know we think alike. Maybe there's more to this than randomly knowing beverage preferences and animalian fears."
Chuckling, she rested her hands in his and gasped like she was coming up for air after a long swim. The last thing she remembered seeing was Havardr's terrified face. And the world went black.
Her throat really hurt. She couldn't feel anything except the rawness of her voice. She'd been screaming for so long. Eventually, someone picked her up. They were so warm. They felt like cotton candy and smelled like oak and apples and something floral and unfamiliar, but just as beautiful as any blooming rose on the human planet.
She cracked open her eyes to gaze up at the being holding her and realized that the person was her mother. Well, not her actual mother, but the mother of whose-ever body Sanjeevani was occupying. The woman smiled down at the child, green-blue eyes big and proud. Two thin braids framed her face, and the rest of her hair was braided and then knotted up into a big bun. The woman cooed and wiggled her fingers under the child's chin, laughing when the child squirmed in response.
The woman handed the baby over to someone else, the child's father. He watched with gentle eyes and no other expression on his face. The child must have picked up his facial indifference because they started crying and screaming so their mother would take them back into her arms. Pouting, the father handed the child back to his wife, who smiled a little at the baby's yawning cries.
The mother lulled the baby back to sleep, and Sanjeevani woke up again in her own body this time, but as a toddler. That was weird. She didn't bother moving around too much. It was way too difficult to walk around with such a massive head and such small arms. She turned her focus to the scene before her and stared. The baby that she had occupied just now was babbling and playing with an elegantly-dressed ragdoll. Well, rag-warrior. The toy had a flimsy felt spear and leather armor. The child themselves had the palest golden hair she'd ever seen on a human, with equally pale blue eyes to match. Was that…?
The baby screamed excitedly at the sight of a large bug or worm of some sort and crawled forward on the ground to pick it up, the rag-warrior discarded without a care. His mother, who had previously had her eye on a different child of hers, lunged to pick the baby up after noticing his shout of elation. "No! Havardr, what have I told you about touching those dirty little creatures?!" With her angry and frustrated and fearful yelling, the baby began to cry, wailing and sobbing and trying to get away from her. The woman got angrier still, and it hurt Sanjeevani's heart to hear the child sob like that. To hear her friend sob like that. She had assumed the child was Havardr, so hearing it now was just confirmation. But still…
She hurried forward as quickly as possible after Havardr's mother set him down on the massive blanket the whole family also occupied. It looked like they were having a picnic of some sort, and his mother had jumped up to catch him before the bug could hurt him. Still crying and whimpering, the child rolled onto his back and tried to cover his ears. She plopped down onto her knees and looked at the baby, locking eyes with him. He gazed up at her hesitantly, opening his mouth as if preparing to cry again.
But she sat back on her heels and smiled, keeping her distance. She spent a few moments there, waiting for him to trust her. And when he sniffled and grinned at her with his gums, she cooed, reaching her hands out to cup over his ears. She didn't understand, but maybe it was the same thing as his light sensory issue from earlier. He babbled and gazed at her with those innocent eyes of his. Babies are always innocent, she knew.
Suddenly, a bunch of scenes flashed before her eyes, like someone was fast-forwarding through the boring parts of a movie. But this wasn't boring. This was her friend's life. This was important.
The next scene was Havardr running through a large open room with wooden floors, high ceilings, and walls covered in metal and wooden weapons of every make and model in the world. There were no guns or similar weapons, but the stuff that she saw didn't exist anywhere in the entire world. These were not human weapons. And this was not a normal training room. Or whatever it was supposed to be.
Sanjeevani kept her eyes on the young Havardr, who looked a few years younger than her. He rushed about the room, waving around a one-foot wooden sword and making sound effects the whole time. Eventually, a group of children his age flooded into the space, about twenty kids total. They avoided Havardr, who didn't seem to notice or care.
When the lesson began, he set down his belongings in a corner far away from the other students' and got ready for class. He was a little clumsy, swinging too hard or too far and almost hitting one of the other kids. He always apologized nervously, as if he were about to get punished for it harshly. Sanjeevani knew that behavior very well. She'd done the same thing so many times as a kid.
Eventually, the lesson ended, and Sanjeevani couldn't help the hum of joy as Havardr lunged for his items and sprinted away at top speed to his next class, chanting, "Mag-ic! Mag-ic! Mag-ic!" the whole way there.
Immediately after he hurried off, Sanjeevani was transported to his next lesson. And what the fuck?! Were kids supposed to know as much as he did about magic?
Apparently not because he knew the answer to pretty much every single question asked by the teacher, an elderly Asgardian woman with dark hair and warm brown skin who wore a long robe with full sleeves. She seemed averagely impressed with his knowledge but seemed to have a full breakdown when another kid got something right. Maybe she was used to him knowing everything. Maybe the class wasn't hard enough for him. It could have been anything.
But Havardr's magic looked different too. Tinged with flutters of pale green. And in the distance, she spotted Loki, the dude who kind of almost destroyed the world a few times over. He was smiling at Havardr, who hurried away with the prince at the behest of the teacher.
Loki knelt down with the child and chuckled softly. "I'll be teaching you from now on. I don't think your teacher offers enough of a challenge."
Havardr could only stare in awe and squeal, jumping up and down in place. Loki laughed a bit and patted his head. "If you have your belongings, we can hurry to the palace. I can teach you under my mother's supervision." Loki looked much younger than he did the last time Sanjeevani saw him. He laughed softly when the young Havardr giggled, grabbing up his bag and items before hurrying after the prince. How she knew Loki was a prince, Sanjeevani didn't know.
The two young men slipped through hallways bigger than palaces, through palaces bigger than cities, and landed in the home of a goddess.
The goddess smiled at them, opal white teeth and unruly gold hair. She stretched out her hands, and Loki stepped into them, kissing her cheek. When he stepped away from her warm embrace, she floated forward on strong feet, kneeling to meet the eyes of her son's first and last student. "What is your name, little one?"
The boy realized she intended no harm or judgment and puffed out his chest, standing up to his full height. "Havardr! I'm going to be a guard at this palace, and then everyone will see how well I can fight!"
The goddess laughed softly, patting his cheek. "I have no doubt that you can, my darling. Now. I'm sure you want to start your lessons with Loki. I'll be in the corner reading, but if you have any questions he can't answer or questions you only want to ask me, come over, and I will answer as well as I can." Smiling like the sun, Havardr nodded and set his items down near the door, standing up straight with his feet together and hands clasped behind his back.
"I'm ready to learn!"
Loki beamed and sat down across from the child. Across from Sanjeevani's friend.
"How about we play a game first?"
Havardr tilted his head to the side, puppy eyes and all. Sanjeevani wanted to scream.
"What kind of a game is it?"
The sorcerer chuckled. "Whoever can make the best illusions gets to teach the other person about something they like to do. If I win, I'll teach you how to prank Prince Thor. What will you teach me if you win?"
Havardr's eyes lit up, the undying stars of the furthest galaxies dim in the brilliant joy of his face. He tapped his chin with a delicate index finger before throwing his arms up. "Human music! Their instruments and styles are really interesting, actually! I can tell you all about it!"
Loki held a hand out to the boy, and Havardr held it gently. "It's a deal. Now. Let's get to those illusions, hm?"
Bracing himself for the effort of having to do illusions to match Prince Loki's, Havardr nodded and stepped back a few paces, having learned from personal experience the basics of magic:
One, leave enough space for people to get away in case things go wrong.
Two, never let yourself get distracted when doing magic or learning something new.
Three, whatever magic you do must be the kind that is reversible, or bad things happen, like pet birds dying from a simple transformation spell.
Sanjeevani watched as her childhood companion wove images and shapes and bodies with nothing but his bare hands and sheer will. Magic twirled around his hands like yarn tangled around a kitten's claws. And when he smiled, the two magicians' light reflected off of his eyes. His magic was tinted green, the kind of chlorophyllic, yellow-green hue that signified life and creation. Loki's green was more like a snake's, telling predators to stay away or suffer painful death: the brighter the green, the deadlier the creature.
And the scene shifted a few more times until Sanjeevani was abruptly shoved into a few more moments.
Havardr had broken his entire arm as an irresponsible tween who wanted to see how high he could jump off a cliff and into the royal blue waters below. His family called on the help of Asgard's best healers to save his limb. Grateful for their help, he babysat for the healers every single time they asked, without question or complaint.
Of course, the kids didn't know how to feel about him at first. He was kind of the weird kid in the city, and he didn't have too many friends. But when they realized how much he knew about different things and how good he was at magic, they forced him to join their games.
He couldn't complain, though. Those kids were adorable and so sweet.
And even though the boys made fun of him for letting the girls braid his hair, they still respected him for teaching them how to safely play with slingshots. That, too, after they'd broken four windows and a hand-made vase while messing around with the projectiles.
The very last time he babysat before leaving to train for his future job was for a new couple who'd had a newborn baby. They had to leave to take care of family matters and didn't know anyone in their community. Havardr had offered, having babysitted for so long and having helped his mother care for his baby sister for so many years.
The couple agreed, and he could only smile at the little infant's squeaking yawns and gummy grins. Sanjeevani hummed. This was the cutest thing she'd seen since that first scene of Havardr as a baby.
Then, she was forced out of the movie she'd been witnessing and awoke to Havardr clinging to her, his eyes flicking open at the same time as hers. She sighed in relief and sat up slowly, rubbing her head to soothe the migraine that had begun after she could see again. "Oh my god, what just happened?"
Havardr coughed and rubbed his face, eyes squeezed shut. "No clue, but that hurt. Your head is so loud. Do you have any aspirin?"
She groaned, rubbing her eyes again before searching in her bedside drawer. "I got ibuprofen, if that's okay." He nodded, and they took two pills each. She gulped hers down with water while he took them dry. "Fucking shit, man, doesn't that hurt?"
He chuckled, still wincing from the headache but a little less than when he just woke up. "Not really. Asgardians don't feel pain the same way as humans. Wait, you have healing powers. Why did we just waste ibuprofen?!" He realized what he said and opened his mouth to correct himself about the 'Asgardian' part before looking away.
Sanjeevani scooted back and leaned against her headboard. "I'm a fucking idiot, that's why. I cannot believe I forgot I can heal. But whatever. It's fine. If it still hurts, I can heal you, but I'll be fine." Hands in her lap, she spoke to her legs while addressing Havardr. "Why didn't you tell me?"
He sighed. "Same reason you never told me that your parents were so abusive that you preferred to go with a strange man to a new dimension despite not having any knowledge that other realities and magic existed, rather than stay with them." She cringed. He took her hand. "Safety."
With quiet hands clenched around his, she shook her head. "I don't like remembering the past. I only told you as much as I could trust you with. But I don't want people to see me as a complainer or as a weakling because of my past. People would judge me. I'd rather keep the friends I have than lose them because they think I'm weak. I'm a dark-skinned woman. They don't see me as a person who can be vulnerable and still be human. I'm either a weakling who can't survive in this world without a man, or I'm a badass woman who shouldn't need or ask for help from anyone ever at all. I'm not allowed nuance in a white man's world, Havardr."
Havardr shook his head adamantly, squeezing her hand. "Well, that's stupid. Those people are buffoons. But the people who care about you, the ones who love you, they don't believe that bullshit. They wouldn't. I'm not great with explaining the emotions of other people, but no one thinks you're weak."
She tried to protest, but he shook his head and covered her mouth. "No way. I don't usually get to say stuff like this that well, so just listen. You go out to almost die every day to protect people. You let your feet suffer in those harsh dance lessons so you can survive. You give up your own body's energy to heal random strangers and help them get through illness and injury. You think that's weak?"
She smiled behind his hand, despite her desire to scowl so hard her face rips in two. "Thank you, but-"
Havardr scowled now. "You still don't believe me. How do I make you see my point?"
Now she laughed, pulling his palm away from her face. "I'm not sure you can, but thank you for trying." Grumbling and huffing, Havardr leaned back with her, head lolling forward because of the uncomfortable back support.
"Sorry I never told you about…you know. I just."
She smiled, bumping her elbow into his ribs. "Safety."
A grin peeked out of his lips. "Yeah."
"I get it." And after a few moments, "You were the CUTEST as a kid. Holy shit, dude. You were so adorable. Those chubby cheeks!" Havardr groaned and put his hands over his face as she poked and prodded him.
"By Odin's beard…"
She laughed harder. "You will never escape me. By the gods, why didn't you ever tell me how cute you were as a kid?!"
He gave her a look.
"Okay, fair enough." With a hum, she glanced at him. "Can I?" She finished the thought in her head, hoping he would hear. Clearly, he did, because he smiled and scooted closer, slouching a bit. Maybe there was some good to having this telepathic-soulmate-friendship thing. She leaned her head onto his shoulder, taking hold of his hand to trace the calluses. "How old are you, really?"
Havardr flushed bright red. "A thousand."
She scrunched up her nose. "Crusty old man."
He snorted, despite the awkward moment. "Says you, newborn."
"You don't get to call me that when I saw you in your baby days, my dude."
"Hmm."
They sat in silence for what could have been an hour or just a few seconds. "Do you miss your home?" she wondered carelessly. She felt bad for asking that immediately after.
He shook his head. "My family didn't know me well enough to love me, I don't think. And I can't miss a place where I was never loved." It seemed like they rarely cared enough to even try to get to know him, though, so he had no idea what else to say.
Sanjeevani frowned. That didn't sound right. His parents had so much affection for him when he was a baby. And they worked so hard to get his arm healed when he was a teen. How could it be that they didn't love him? It certainly looked like they cared a lot about him from the scenes she saw when they were passed out, but she decided to not comment on it. Maybe there was something Havardr himself hadn't noticed. Maybe she was seeing things from a different point of view in those flashbacks. She didn't have a chance to ponder that because Havardr shocked her out of her musings with a question.
"What about you? Anything you miss from your home?" he murmured.
She sniffled, wiping away the few tears that slipped out. "My little brother. He was so young when I left. Just a few years old. He was going into pre-K."
He nodded. "Anyone else?"
She chuckled softly, pressing her thumbs into his palm. "My nieces. So young, so sweet. Such good girls. My cousins never even got to see me before I left. I miss my relatives. But not my parents. I never will."
Havardr spoke softer than the air in the room. "Is that why you mourned being disowned by your family for weeks on that ship?" He wasn't trying to be rude. He didn't want to sound rude. He thought he did, and he thought that's why she began to cry. But she didn't seem mad. She didn't seem to care about his words. She seemed to care that she was lying to herself about missing her abusive parents.
And that's why, she told him while crying into his shoulder like a child. He couldn't do anything but hold her. He couldn't pry. And she couldn't open up.
Sanjeevani pulled back and glanced at him with watery worry. "You told Kuro you'd come home. Won't he be worried?"
He nodded. "He will. But you need me right now more than he does. I can understand you, and you can understand me better than he ever could." Sanjeevani thought that sounded harsh and a little mean to Kuro, but she understood his point. They had seen each other's past. They knew one another's pain. They'd watched each other grow up into adults.
Havardr couldn't understand why she hugged him and told him she hoped he could have a good future with his family after all she'd seen of his life, but maybe she just saw things from a perspective different from his.
That didn't make her a bad person. It made her a confusing person, which wasn't new to him. Everyone was confusing to him, frankly.
But he smiled when she leaned into him and gave him a hug around his neck. He wrapped her up with his arms, and she was so warm. The room actually felt a little sweaty, but maybe it was her skin naturally overheating because of her powers. It was like coming home, and he'd wanted a real home since adolescence. Tragic that he only got it after his planet and civilization were nearly wiped out by an intergalactic dictator bent on slaughtering half of all life in the universe. But better late than never, right?
And when she pulled away again, there weren't tears in her eyes, just calm and exhaustion. He smiled. This is why he'd given her the name Peace. He had no idea why she called him Sena, the Telugu word for 'army', but he'd figure it out eventually. He usually does.
She bumped her nose into his cheek and smiled. "I can heal your calluses if you want."
He shrugged. "Not sure how effective it'll be, but you can try."
She nodded and took his hand into hers. But instead of just her hands, her arms and eyes began to glow as well, filling the room with delicate but constant light. She was like a humanoid lamp. It was weird, but kinda cool. Like those snakes with legs. Or those shrimp that can see colors that don't exist.
When she released his hands, they didn't feel like they used to. They were soft, almost unharmed by the steady weight of a sword or by the unrelenting rage of war. They felt leathery, as if he'd spent the last five hundred years of his life scrubbing dishes and cleaning floors and toilets rather than guarding the royal family of the world of Asgard. She grinned nervously. "I'd need to break the skin to make it heal fully, but I don't think having Asgardian blood on my sheets is a good idea, especially when you're trying to stay off the radar. And I'm not sure how strong my healing is, with how different your biology is from other humans'."
He nodded, giving her a soft grin. "Thanks anyway. But I guess I should go." He held her jaws in both hands and bumped his nose into her cheek, grinning wider when she laughed. "You need some sleep after all that stress and crying."
"You do too!" She retorted. He didn't understand what she was trying to argue about, so he just agreed. Maybe it was a human thing.
With one more super-long hug, they split apart, and Havardr opened a portal in her room. After she squeezed him in one last hug strong enough to crack his ribs, he chuckled and waved goodbye before stepping through.
Hugging him was so nice, Sanjeevani noted. His hands were freezing cold, but his torso was so warm, like he'd spent the past hour with a heated blanket covering only his chest and stomach and nowhere else. The black ring closed behind him, and the healing heroine needed a drink again. Not for energy, but for the buzz. This was one weird day. She would need at least half a bottle to get through it without losing her mind. Too many wild details, too many conspiracies and problems and people to help. She needed to get away from it.
As she tucked into bed for the night, seconds away from an alcohol-induced blackout, she smiled up at her ceiling and sighed. "What the fuck is going on anymore?"
In her dreams, she opened her eyes and groaned. Another issue with having developed her powers and having learned to focus her mind: Dr. Strange never shut up or left her alone, even in her sleep.
She returned to the same place she was forced to go to every night. Either way, she never had a choice. Not with Strange. Not with her dreams. And so, she started going willingly. Just dealing with the situation as it arose every night.
A large palace, nearly a death god's eternal home, loomed over her, the resulting vast shadows falling over the dreamscape like a blanket of shade. She stepped forward into the darkness, letting the warmth of her dream's light wash away as she approached the main door of the castle. Sanjeevani walked inside as the doors opened automatically for her like they would in a horror movie or something. Her body knew where to go without her mind's interference, so she let herself think and wonder about the next day's necessary activities without getting lost in the maze of hallways and rooms and chambers.
And when she stopped next, it was into the room where she usually had her talks with the Sorcerer Supreme.
Strange was already sitting there in that large velvet couch, petting the scarlet cloth like it was a dog or cat. Next to that couch was a smaller one, of the purest blue satin and draped in a comfortable throw blanket. And across from the two seats blazed a fireplace, all warm oranges and soft yellows showering the room in light. He was in the full getup too, this time. The cape, the fancy clothes he got from Kamar Taj, and the empty Eye of Agamotto, which lacked the Time Stone. His voice smiled tersely when he spoke. "And our prodigy returns. How are you, White Witch?"
The heroine only scowled and continued on her stroll forward, taking the blanket into her arms and laying it over her lap once she'd sat down. "Infinitesimally better, no thanks to you."
He smiled stiffly. "Alright, alright. I'm sorry. But you know my reasons for asking that you do what I said. His life is in greater danger when he's apart from them than when he's with them."
Her lips pulled into a snarl. "You don't get to tell me that, biology nerd. I saw his mind. I saw his past. The things I've seen…" Her voice broke. "I do what I want, and I am never giving him up."
"Never gonna let him down, run around, or desert him?"
She couldn't help the grin. "Fuck you, Strange."
He laughed softly. "I'm sorry."
Sanjeevani's eyes were far away, though. She couldn't think about Strange and how annoying he was with his stupid puns. She was worried about her friends. "Strange, you don't know what I've seen. I can't let him leave and return to his garbage family in good faith."
The magician shook his head. "Sanjeevani, you're an adult. You've grown up since you left the Avengers to find an escape. I trust you to make your own decisions. But this isn't up to you."
She smirked. "Oh, so it's up to him? Then I'm sure you wouldn't mind if I told him exactly what you've been suggesting I do?"
Dr. Strange clenched his jaw, pressing the index finger knuckles of his clasped hands to his forehead. "Sanjeevani, please."
"No fucking way, old man." She wasn't usually this combative with the man, but he was asking something unforgivable. "After seeing what I saw, this absolutely is my decision. I'm telling him, at some point, whether you like it or not. He doesn't deserve what you're asking me to do to him."
Strange rubbed his temples, trying to explain in a calm voice despite his clearly rising temper. "Sanjeevani, he is a threat."
She snorted. "You think I don't know that? He's easily one of the strongest people I've ever seen. His magic is fucking scary cool. He learned from Loki himself, even if it was only for a little while, relative to the Asgardian lifespan. But I am not letting you do that to him. I'm not letting you force Havardr to return to his family. I don't give a singular shit what Thor or Loki are asking you to do. He's staying with me. And if I die keeping his family away from him, so be it."
Frustrated with her inability to understand, he tried to appeal to her doubts and questions, knowing she was an impartial person when it came to sensitive family matters. "You only saw one side of the story. I know you did. You haven't seen his family or what actually happened. Trust me, I wouldn't put him in danger knowingly, and neither would Thor or Loki. You trust them, right?"
Sanjeevani gave him an unimpressed look.
"Okay, fair enough. You don't trust anyone over twenty-five. But you were going to learn from Loki. Don't you at least trust him?"
She rolled her eyes and pulled the blanket up to cover her chilly hands. "No, Doc. I don't. I trust that he needs to better his image and so agrees with whatever his very popular brother says or does. But no, I don't trust him, in his entirety."
Dr. Strange gave her a serious gaze. "You know that if you keep resisting, this might become an issue. You won't be able to join the Avengers and help the people you want to help without doing what they ask."
Sanjeevani bit her lip, choosing to instead glare at the fire rather than at the former neurosurgeon. "I know. I don't care. I care more about him and his safety than anything those lumbering weirdos want me to do. If protecting him means giving up on a chance to train with the greatest heroes in the world, I'll do it without hesitation. He's full of light, Strange. He's good and kind and understanding and loving." She pressed a hand to her forehead and sighed. "He complements me. Not completes. Complements. He fits with me. I can't imagine not having him around."
A snicker and a snort later, Sanjeevani was left to pout as the Sorcerer Supreme laughed at her. "You've known him for how long?"
"A month. You knew Tony Stark how long before you decided to save the universe with him and took Peter Parker under your wing?"
He huffed. She grinned.
"Exactly. That's what I thought. Besides." She smiled more sweetly. "Something else connects us, Strange. Something big and strong and powerful and abnormal. There's something to this that I can't put my finger on just yet."
He hummed, slouching and getting comfortable in his chair. "Fate. Fate is what connects you two."
"Boring answer, and too cliche, old man."
Stephen Strange shook his head, smiling at the girl's exasperated eye-rolling and sighs. "I'm being entirely serious, kid. Fate is what connects you both. Have you ever heard of the Divine Positive and the Divine Negative?"
She gave him a look like he'd started eating a live poison oak right in front of her. "The fuck is that?"
He chuckled, sitting up straight and leaning forward to speak more directly to her. "The Divine Positive and the Divine Negative are the two big forces in the universe. Kind of like the ideas of Yin and Yang, actually, but this is a very different concept. The Divine Positive and Divine Negative can actually take physical forms."
Sanjeevani raised an eyebrow, clearly not believing anything he was saying, but having no ability to disagree since she didn't know anything about any of this.
He continued. "They have no gender, no sex, no orientation. They simply are. Every single human millennium, they are reborn into human forms. The two humans may meet in death, or in life, or never. But they are born, and they are the purest forms of those concepts. The Divine Positive is the embodiment of all matter. It has substance and uses space and is the tactile aspect of all that exists. The Divine Negative is the embodiment of all energy. It has no substance and does not use space and it is the intactile aspect of all that exists." Sanjeevani still clearly did not understand. Strange tried another way of explaining it.
"You've been in a lot of fights, right?"
She nodded. "Yep."
"What are the things necessary to make a hit?"
"Um, the thing you're hitting with and the energy to make the thing move. Like, if you're punching someone, you need a hand to punch with, and energy to make your hand actually move forward in space."
Strange smiled. "That's exactly what I mean. The Divine Positive is the fist, and the Divine Negative is the energy you're using to make it punch."
"Ohhhhhhhhh."
He laughed, nodding his head. Finally, she understood. "Loki can explain it better than I can, being as old as he is, but that's generally what I'm thinking. I believe that you two are the Divine Positive and the Divine Negative."
She frowned. "How do we know who is which?"
"That's a good question. The answer is I don't know. I think because humans are not pure beings, even by birth, you two would have a little bit of each in both of you. But you definitely have more of one than the other."
Sanjeevani said nothing, thinking on what she'd heard for a little while. She asked her next question more curiously than anything else. "So does this mean I get like, super cool powers and stuff that I can use beyond the biomanipulation I already have?"
Strange laughed, putting a hand to his forehead while the kid just pouted and crossed her arms. "No, I don't think so. But it could explain why you two are able to speak on a telepathic level."
She grinned. "That's pretty cool, though, still. So it was random? Or were we chosen?"
He shrugged at that. Who really knew? "Not sure, but I'm sure you two can figure it out on your own."
"That'd be pretty sweet."
Dr. Strange brought the topic back around to the previous point soon enough. "But really. I need you to agree, Sanjeevani. Do you think you know what's best for him more than his family?"
Her arms crossed high and tight again, defensive and angry. "From what I've seen? Yeah. And maybe I'm not sure about what happened, but I will ask. And I'll try to understand. And I am telling him. I don't care what you say. I don't care what the Avengers say. He deserves to know, and you can't stop me."
Strange could only rub his temples. "I'll talk to Loki. He's had some rough times with parents. Maybe he'll know what to do."
Sanjeevani closed her eyes and shook her head. "I can't believe you'd ask me to betray my friend and force him to go back to the place that hurt him. If you even have a single bit of decency and care for me still left in that old heart, go tell them to back off and that I refuse to be their errand girl. I'm my own hero, and I have my own friends. If they try to hurt him, I'll go after them until they let him live free."
He smirked, peeking at her through the corner of one eye. "You think you'll win?"
She huffed. "I refuse to lose. Now go away, old man. I have a long day ahead of me, and I still need my beauty sleep."
Strange rolled his eyes. "I never understand people who say that. Sleep doesn't make you pretty."
She laughed. "You've clearly never been sleep-deprived like I have. Now, shoo. Go away. We can talk later. If you're man enough, come down to Paris and talk this through with me and Havardr like an actual adult. Alright. See ya, oldie."
He chuckled. "Goodbye, Sanjeevani."
And then she finally went to sleep. Annoying-ass old people.
When she woke up, her entire friend-family was surrounding her and sitting on her bed, faces bright and excited like hyperactive puppies.
"Get UP!"
She groaned. "What do you want from me?" And she yanked the comforter over her face so she could get a few more minutes in."
"A HOTTIE IS IN THE BUILDING, DUMBASS. gET UP!" Olivia hissed, yanking the blanket back from the hero's face. "It's some pretty-ass Danish guy. Or Swedish or something."
Alvin was just rolling his eyes as he watched everyone pester the girl. "Not Swedish, Olivia. I would know. He's probably Norwegian or something. Seems like an older dialect."
Sanjeevani paled from fear and confusion. Ahmed smirked. Oh, she hated him already. "Fuck you, Ahmed."
He smirked wider. "Oh, I see. So he was in here late last night. What were you two up to, hm?"
She scowled. "I hate you."
The other girls gasped, yanking at the heroine's arms while trying to drag her out of bed. "He was WHAT?!"
Sanjeevani grumbled. "All of you shut it for at least five minutes. Let me explain."
She didn't get a chance, though, because through her bedroom door walked in Lien, Kuro, and Havardr, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Lien had no shame, smirked as she sashayed all the way to the girl's bed. "Ooh, they all get to be in your bed, but I don't?"
Sanjeevani hissed. "You are on paper-thin ice, you bitch."
Lien only laughed, high-fiving Ahmed, who was very visibly avoiding Kuro's eyes. The healer had her own plans now.
"All of you get off. You have five minutes before I blind you." Havardr's eyes widened too much, and she tried to mentally send him a message. Don't worry, I don't mean that! I just said it so they'd get off me. They've seen me get brighter than you have, and it would hurt your eyes. I wouldn't do that to you, buddy. Havardr only smiled at that, nodding his head when she could see him over her friend-family's shoulders. His eyes were covered by black aviators, thankfully, so his chances of ocular damage were much lower.
Her friends scrambled off of her bed at the threat, standing up straight next to the newcomers. Jacques whipped his head around to look at them. "How did you-?"
Kuro smirked. "Ahmed gave us some nice access cards. We're your healer friend's life insurance policy."
Sonia stared. "What in the world does that mean?"
He winked at her, taking the moment to glance at the White Witch's disheveled state. "When she does stupid things, we protect her."
Sonia gaped. "So you know that-?"
He nodded. "Yep."
"Everything?"
A grin. "Everything."
"Shit-"
Everyone watched the interaction in awe, more shocked that Sonia said a bad word than that other people knew about Sanjeevani's secret. They knew the heroine had a hard time hiding the truth, mostly from people she trusted. "Hey, all of you up and at 'em. Pay attention," she called out to her companions. At least now she had a sense of how to command a room, Ahmed admitted to himself with a relieved sigh. The last time she tried to tell people to keep quiet and let her speak, she got two broken bones and had to heal herself for almost ten hours to stay alive.
But that was mostly because she tried to talk down a bunch of supervillains with unnecessarily powerful technology. With normal people, it probably would have worked.
She sat up in bed and stretched, yawning calmly. "Can you guys all just get in a circle and sit down so I can explain everything slowly? And I need to get cleaned up. Oh, and can someone bring me some food, please? I'm still hungry."
Timothy snorted. "You're always hungry."
"Yeah, so go get me food, Tim," she teased with a laugh. She grabbed up her towel and hurried over to hug her heroes hello before going inside.
Ahmed grinned. "You heard her. Tim, breakfast, please? Everyone else, let's make a circle."
Havardr nodded, sitting down near the edge of her bed. He called out to her in his mind. This telepathy stuff was really weird. He couldn't understand why anyone enjoyed it. Didn't you bring any clothes with you? Do you want me to get something for you?
She whispered back shyly, awkwardly, Um, could you? I have my innerwear in here for convenience, but I completely forgot to get normal clothes.
He hummed. Sure. What do I get and where can I find it?
Dark blue capris and my white flowy top. The capris will be in the upper of the bottom two drawers. Flowy top will be on a hanger in my closet.
Havardr carefully pulled off the long trench coat he still had on (those things were seriously way too warm. He missed wearing the guard's armor. That stuff breathed so well!) and set it down. The others gave him weird looks when he started going through the drawers to find her clothing, but no one stopped him at Ahmed's warning glance. He handed Sanjeevani the clothes through the tiny crack in the doorway she opened. Her bare arm stuck out, and he hung the jeans and shirt over her forearm. "Thanks, Havardr!" And the door slammed shut, likely from her embarrassment.
The two sisters, Helen and Olivia, stared at him without a single flinch. "What the hell was that?"
He flushed red, and his hands went up to hug his torso for comfort. "Oh, um, telepathy, I think. She told me what she needed, and I handed the stuff over. I- um, I can't read minds or anything, but she's an exception, for some reason. And she asked me to get her clothes, so…"
Jacques grinned. "You're also one of those fancy guys who do magic?"
Havardr tapped his chin and tried to not get too uncomfortable. "Um, I think so? Possibly?"
Sanjeevani stepped out of the bathroom after a few minutes in a flourish of steam and rose-scented air. "I'm back! Okay! Introductions! But first," she turned to glance at Kuro. "Did Eddie not come along?"
He shook his head, smirking. "Your old man had some investigating to do, so he didn't come along."
She sighed. "Well, I guess I did ask for his help with that. Oh well." She turned back to her friends-family-buddies-companions and grinned. "Everyone buckle in. This is gonna be a looong ride."
Twenty-five minutes. Twenty-five minutes they spent talking about random bullshit that had absolutely NO importance whatsoever with regard to the mission. Kuro was going to lose his mind from exasperation. But the hyperactive healer asked everyone to just play nice for the time being and that people could do as they pleased after the whole talk was done. Her friends left the room to go about their ways, leaving the other heroes in the room with her. She smiled and sat on the bed, inviting the others to join her.
While eating breakfast, she'd answered her friends' questions without revealing any info that couldn't be shared. Eventually, she finished her meal and spent the rest of her morning speaking to her fellow supers. "So. What are you guys-"
CRASH. Thunk thunk thunk! Everyone's focus switched to the origin of the loud sounds and found Venom knocking angrily on the door. Or maybe not angrily. It was always hard to tell with that giant freak. Kuro stepped across the room and opened the window, ignoring Sanjeevani's grin when he returned to sit with her and the others.
Eddie Brock waved, as sweaty as usual. Sanjeevani laughed, walking over to hold his face in her hands. Of course, it was a bit awkward for her because the top of her head barely reached his shoulder, so she had to stretch her arms to reach his head. And with some kind of weird focus and a flash bright enough to blind people if it was open and not smothered by the reporter's skin, he was suddenly very not sweaty. His clothes were damp still, but at least he didn't smell like a living sewer.
He sighed. "Thanks, kid."
"No problem, old man. You here for the talk?"
He nodded, and she snorted. "Kuro said you weren't going to join."
The reporter shrugged. "Venom decided to make one last visit after we got some odd visitors of our own at the hotel we're staying at."
Sanjeevani frowned. Was Strange already making good on her challenge that he visit her to talk things through? "And who's your visitor?"
"Visitors," he corrected. "Who else would visit me but the Asgard brothers?"
She snarled. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me."
An eyebrow rose up in response to her angry hiss. "You knew about this?"
Havardr grabbed her shoulder and pulled her up from her previous position: bowed at the waist, claws digging into her comforter with enough force to tear it open. He glared into her eyes. It was the same look he'd given her the first time they had met. Anger, confusion, fear, so much in that face. She squeezed his hand and sighed. He had every right to be upset. "A week or two ago, Dr. Strange asked me to help him bring you back to your family. I continuously told him I wouldn't. I was adamant on it when he spoke to me about it again last night. He visits me in my dreams, and I can't really avoid him. I'm not a magic person."
His eyes flashed with rage. This was not okay. The Odinson brothers may have been the ruling family in Asgard, but that did not apply after the planet was destroyed. That did not apply after Havardr left his family and new home to find freedom and peace. He stayed silent to sit with his anger so he wouldn't unleash it on someone later.
She continued. "He kept saying it was for your own good. I disagreed, especially after I saw your past with you." Havardr nodded slowly, holding her face instead of her shoulder. "You deserve to choose what happens to you, and I challenged him to come and speak to us himself like an adult rather than trying to make decisions for you. He said Loki and Thor were asking him to intervene because he knew and likely told them I was with you. But…"
"You never knew they were coming…" he finished for her.
She nodded, eyes now red with rising tears and jaw clenched with growing anger. "I'm not letting them take you away. I won't let them dictate your life for you."
Havardr tilted her head up to look at him and asked softly, despite already knowing the answer to the question. "Sanjeevani, did he call me a threat?"
Her eyes widened, and she couldn't say no. She couldn't lie to him. So she nodded, trying to swallow down the coconut-sized lump in her throat. "I'm so sorry, I never meant to put you in danger, and I didn't think they'd come down here, and I don't know how I'm supposed to protect you when I can't even do my own job right, and-"
He sighed, pulling her into a hug. She quietened her worries with the contact. "I'm sorry. I should have told you they were after me. I've known for months. That's why I never stay long in any place I'm in."
She frowned and looked down, pressing the crown of her head to his chest. "I'm sorry I forced you to make me that promise that you'll stay if you see me again. I didn't know about all of this. Had I known, I never would have made you say that promise. You can break it. It's okay. You can go. If it's for your own safety, you should go."
Havardr rubbed her back and shook his head. "I can't. Not anymore. I'm in too deep. This mission is big, Sanjeevani. And you all need me here. You, specifically, need me here. Okay? So don't worry about anything. Whatever they expect, we'll handle it together. I promise. Let's just…"
She sighed and put her face in her hands. Eddie looked at her with caution as Venom pulled forward out of his shoulder and stared at him. The alien seemed intent on poking its host with an unnecessarily fluid limb.
And with a guttural hum, the creature murmured. "I might have an idea."
Eddie flicked his eyes over to his partner. "And what might that be?"
Venom grinned or did his equivalent of grinning. "What if I spend a few minutes with the healer?"
Sanjeevani choked on her spit. Everyone except Havardr yelped aloud in unison, "What the fuck?!"
"I do not jest, puny humans. You know my power. Eddie is the perfect host, that is true. But the child may yet prove to be quite capable. Her body creates unnaturally high levels of everything. She could maintain me for a short period of time. She could still defend this hive while preventing the magicians from reaching her mate."
Eddie coughed awkwardly, while Sanjeevani and Havardr flushed red, avoiding each other's eyes. The healer squinted at the slime angrily. "Listen here, goo-man, I am not taking you away from Eddie. He's too used to you, and it might put him in danger. As for me, I don't like having people in my head. That's absolutely uncomfortable, and a MAJOR violation of privacy. Last thing, he is not my mate."
The create hiss-laughed. "Your mind is intertwined with his. Your energies align unnaturally well. Even your powers mirror his. I am six hundred million years old. I have seen more than you ever could. I know what a proper mate looks like, considering I've been in this buffoon's head for a few years now."
Sanjeevani grumbled. "Still don't agree, but whatever. What exactly is your plan, slime?"
Venom grinned again.
For the record, Sanjeevani knew it was a really bad plan. But it's not like everyone else gave her much of a chance. And she wanted to know what it felt like to have so much power and control over her own body. Venom was nice enough, though. Like an exhausted schoolteacher who'd done cocaine the previous night. All the excitability of God and the strength of a million rhinos.
"Stop hesitating. You're freaking me out. Either one or the other, kid. Make a choice," he'd growled to her in her head as he first entered her flesh. "Being on the fence is going to throw me off, and that's dangerous. You don't know my biology."
She had scowled. "Yeah, because you didn't let me study you, asshole. You're not even carbon-based. If I'd had a chance to understand your workings, maybe I wouldn't be so uncomfortable and awkward."
He had only chuckled and continued his way into her body. That sounded weird.
Havardr didn't like the plan at all. He'd had a few interactions with the Klyntar, and none of them were very good or positive. They were parasites, feeding on their hosts little by little until the host died in the process. And now one of them was in his friend. "Sanjeevani, are you sure about-" Before he could finish his question, the duo were out the window, bounding over roofs, leaping across buildings with frog-like ease. He gazed at Eddie and his other companions with confusion.
"Venom probably had an idea, kid. Don't take it personally, and don't worry. She'll come back to us safe. Venom made me a promise. He might be a man-eating parasite, but at least he keeps promises. Don't worry." The older human's promises did not make Havardr feel any better, but all he could do was wait and hope.
In the meantime, the others touched base on the plans to take down Genesystem Labs, discussing what Eddie had discovered and what Lien had witnessed about the company's activities.
Havardr kept freaking out and losing focus, though, his mind elsewhere during the meeting. Eddie sighed, patting the kid's shoulder. "Havardr, please. Just calm down. She'll be okay. Why are you so worried when you've only known her for a few days total?"
The youth rubbed his temples and got more comfortable in his seat. "I just…I've seen her ever since I was a kid. As an Asgardian, that was hundreds of years ago. And every single time, she felt like something familiar and warm. It feels weird not being around her now. We didn't know this before meeting, but when we were here yesterday night, we shared our minds with one another."
Kuro and Ahmed frowned in tandem while Lien just smiled. Eddie needed more explanation.
"It's like what you and Venom have, but not as constant. We have this telepathic connection. I can hear her sometimes, and she can hear me back. And I realized she was the companion I had as a kid. Like an imaginary friend that was actually real," he elaborated to avoid confusion. Brock nodded in understanding and asked him to continue.
"I have other friends, but she feels different. I just worry about her because she's seen and dealt with a lot in her life. More things than she's ever shared with any of you. I know her, I think. And I just want to make sure she's okay."
Eddie didn't understand what the fuck the kid was talking about, but he accepted the answer easily enough. Sitting there without Venom's overwhelming presence felt cold and sad and empty. That much he could understand about how the kid felt. And, just like Sanjeevani, the kid's words hit him late. "Wait, Asgardian?!"
Havardr only laughed, covering his face with his hand for some reason. "Like father, like daughter, I guess. Yes. Asgardian. Kuro and Lien knew from the start. Sanjeevani may or may not have known, since she healed me. I guess she never brought it up because she didn't want to make me feel uncomfortable or something. Maybe she didn't want to lose my trust."
Eddie stared while the other three occupants of the room just sighed. "So Ahmed didn't know? Kid, how are you so calm about this?!" he exclaimed at the youth.
The young man shrugged. "Whatever. Life is so weird. I should have known more weird things would happen. I just want today to be over so I can get my cheesecake and then go to bed. It's been too annoying to deal with people so far."
Havardr hummed, shaking his head as he leaned back against the headboard. He was sitting in the same place he did yesterday, same body position. He smiled. The whole apartment smelled like warmth and cinnamon and something spicy, but unfamiliar. Very much like his healer friend. "Best to get over things like this quickly, Mr. Eddie. Your life will only get weirder so long as I am involved."
The kid was probably right, Eddie knew. But that didn't suddenly fix the weirdness of the whole situation.
The group seemed to do their own thing for the next bit. No one really paid any attention to anything outside of their chosen activity. Havardr was playing around with magic in his little corner on Sanjeevani's bed. Lien was soaking up the lingering scent of the healer by laying in the sheets next to him. Ahmed sat at the desk, working on some kind of art or clothing designs he'd brought back from his apartment. Kuro just sat silently with his back to the wall across from the queen-size bed. And Eddie stood near the window, waiting to see Sanjeevani and Venom bound over buildings back towards the apartment.
"Ouch!" Ahmed dropped his pencil onto the table and decided now was a good time for a break. He'd been working on those sketches since seven that morning, and his hand had started cramping from the constant pressure and tight muscles. He was weeks ahead of schedule, and the sketches had to be submitted at the end of four weeks from that day, but he was under much more significant stress. Mostly about his powers and about his best friend's safety. Who knew what that idiot would do in the face of all this mess?! She cared too much about Havardr, who didn't interact with her for a whole month. She was willing to let an alien symbiote fuse with her body! What else would she do? How else would she get herself into trouble, and was there any way to protect her from herself?
Too many questions, he decided. And he stood up, pulling his phone from his pocket to check Twitter and go through the motions of scanning all his social media for any good news stories from that week. Sure, it was only Sunday, but there's always news. Especially in this new post-apocalypse world.
And he did find news. Just not the news he wanted or expected.
He grabbed one of Sanju's pillows and held it to his face so he could scream bloody murder. Was he in pain? Yes, but mostly the mental kind. His best friend was a fucking idiot.
When Havardr lifted his head and asked what was wrong with the most painfully innocent puppy eyes, Ahmed only showed him the phone screen. And Havardr began whimpering and rocked back and forth, knees hugged to his chest by tense arms. Eddie quickly caught onto the new vibes of the room and rushed over to see what the ruckus was. And his heart dropped into his ass.
"Jesus fucking Christ…"
"Yeah," Ahmed agreed, having set down the pillow and now glowering at the window with all the anger he could muster despite his exhaustion. "She's dead when she gets back here."
Lien woke up at that, eyes narrowed at the Sikh man. "Excuse me? What the fuck did you just say?" He showed her the phone screen. She wanted to toss herself out of the window. Her bedmate was a buffoon.
Kuro checked the phone himself, eyes widening with despair and annoyance and exasperation and something like respect. Ahmed couldn't understand what about Sanjeevani's deeds earned the photomanipulator's respect, but at least the experienced vigilante understood the gravity of the situation.
"Your friend is absolutely wild, dude," he had commented.
Ahmed could only agree. "I know."
"Did Venom put her up to this?" he asked Eddie Brock, dumbass extraordinaire and host of the aforementioned symbiote alien.
Eddie snorted. "I'd be shocked if he didn't, but I think this was a coordinated motion. She wouldn't go assaulting people without good reason, and Venom wouldn't put her into that kind of danger if he didn't think she would make it out of there alive."
"Still. He's millions of years old, right? Why would he even let her do that?!" Ahmed hissed, eyes close to tears from fear and stress and exhaustion. He needed a break from his friends. This was getting to be too much. Any more heart attacks, and he'd need a coffin before he'd need a superhero outfit.
The reporter merely shrugged, as if he had resigned himself to the fact that he couldn't control either of the two idiots. "I dunno, kid. I'm bonded with Venom, but I'm not him. I don't know why he does every single thing he does. He's shared a lot about his life with me, but I'm not telepathic. Not like you kids. That's not what I have with Venom." He wrung his hands and returned to his previous station at the window, now worriedly awaiting the arrival of his 'child' and his bonded symbiote.
Havardr only murmured his worries to himself. He didn't want to freak out anyone else, and he certainly couldn't freak out openly. His powers would get affected as a result, and that was dangerous, considering the news and his current predicament with being in the same city as his former leaders.
And then Sanjeevani burst through the open window, Venom enveloping her in a suit of black and white. The creature pulled away from her head and undid the mask he'd created to reveal her angry sneering face. Venom lunged forward towards Eddie's free hand, flooding into the reporter's flesh before rising from his shoulder. Eddie stomped up to the young woman and grabbed her by the shoulders, his eyes burning from anger and something else he couldn't describe.
"WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING?!"
She leveled her gaze at him. And only then did he see the ring of blood-red surrounding her irises. She didn't respond, just glaring back at him with a dare threatening to spill from her lips.
He spoke again more calmly. "What happened?"
She took in a deep breath, closing her eyes as she inhaled and opening them as she exhaled. "I went up to where they were. Venom helped me find them. They stood on a roof. They were waiting for me, maybe. Loki said hello. Thor was polite."
Havardr smiled a little shyly. Loki was definitely the better between the brothers. He knew what the master magician had done, but he was still better. Sanjeevani kept going, barrelling ahead. "They asked what I was doing there, and I said that all of Paris was my jurisdiction. I asked what they were doing there. They said I knew. I asked if Strange told them what we'd discussed in my dream last night. They said yes." And just like that, his good mood vanished.
"And then what? You don't just hit a fucking Avenger on a whim, kid."
She scowled deeply, cruelly. She was raging. Eddie could see it beneath her cool, collected veneer. "They told me that I had to bring Havardr to them. For his own safety. I didn't believe them. They don't know him better than he does. I said no. They kept going on and on. I was getting tired, and then Thor said Havardr would never fit in with us no matter what. He said he wouldn't ever be one of us and that he belonged with the other Asgardians. I slapped him with all the strength I had in me. And then I yelled at him and left. That being said, my hand is probably broken, but I don't care."
Eddie clenched his jaw. "From a friendship standpoint, that was good. You defended your friend and told off the person who insulted him. But from a moral and logical standpoint, what the fuck, kid? You have put your entire team at risk. You've put yourself in the media's eye. You've put us all into deep shit."
Sanjeevani's scowl didn't disappear. "Not for long."
Havardr knew exactly what she was doing, and he knew he couldn't stop her. So instead, he got up and pulled her into a hug, trying to show her his gratitude with nothing but physical contact. She must have understood because she wrapped both arms around him and pressed her face into his neck. "Fuck that shit. Thor was wrong. He was being an absolute dick, and you don't deserve that kind of treatment. If he was saying that, and he doesn't lead New Asgard anymore and has given up the throne, then how the fuck would the rest of the city treat you? No thanks. You're free to stay with us if you want to." With careful hands, he pulled back and watched her quietly. She seemed concerned, based on the wrinkle in her eyebrows and the terseness in her jaws.
"First of all, thank you. That's, um, really cool." She smiled, and he kept going. That was a good sign, right? "How long have you known that…I'm not human?"
Her smile wavered and didn't reach her eyes. "Since we met, but not exactly. Your biology is obviously different, my friend, despite being carbon-based. I noticed. I didn't put the pieces together until I saw your past. I just thought you were born with some kind of condition I'd never heard of, but apparently not."
He sighed. "Getting yourself in trouble with the Avengers is not going to endear yourself to them."
"Who said I wanted to? I'll make them need me. And frankly, they do. I am the epitome of free healthcare, and those guys are not good at the healing part of recuperating after major world disasters."
Havardr's sigh filled the room with the same vibes that everyone else felt. "Do I even want to ask?"
Then, she grinned, and it finally reached every corner of her face. "I'm telling the media as much as I can about myself except for the mission."
"Won't it put you into a position of hypocrisy once the info about the mission comes to light?"
She nodded slowly. Damn, he had a good point. But still, it wasn't like the Avengers weren't free of that same mess. Captain America went off the grid and fought outside the law for years, but they still welcomed him back the moment the Snap was undone. "Everyone working on shady issues is a hypocrite, Havardr. It just depends on how you address it. Besides, as long as I have public support, I'll be fine. And the only people I need to endear myself to are the members of the UN. I'm going to register with them under the Sokovia Accords. Hopefully, things will all go well from here."
Ahmed walked forward and put a hand on her shoulder, forcing her to turn and look at him. "I can't tell anyone about me. I hope you understand. I just…I know you want to create this comparison of truth to deception with the Avengers, but I can't do it. I have never gone on a mission, and I don't know the extent of my powers."
She smiled and patted his hand. "I never said you had to, Ahmed. Those who want to share about themselves can. I will support you and vouch for you. Otherwise, I've got to get a press meet together. I'll see you all in a few hours."
Havardr pressed her into one more hug before she hopped out the window again with a wave and a grin. "See ya!" And she was off.
The former Asgardian warrior gave Eddie Brock, constantly exhausted and constantly sweaty reporter, a look. "I can see why you're always stressed around her."
He snorted. "I met her a few days ago, kid. You've known her for a month."
"I wasn't around for three weeks, Eddie."
A noncommittal hum. "So. Who's gonna go after her and make sure she doesn't say or do anything stupid at that press meet?"
Lien rolled their eyes, pulling up their mask and doffing their street clothes. "I got this. I've seen this bitch do dumber shit in the time I've known her. Send psychic updates on the mission my way once you get a chance. Later." And they also jumped out the window.
Ahmed sighed. "Who wants a drink?" Everyone raised their hands. "Thought so."