2 - Searching For Answers

2024

London, England

Hi Mum, hi Dad.

On her break, Freya went to go visit her parents. Their smiling faces stared unblinking back at her.

Well, rather their memorial. Because, of course, she couldn't actually visit them, for they were not there. She didn't know where they were, but not here.

The museum had put up a touching memorial to the staff and partners lost during the Blip. Now only the names of the two Dr. Dezzerays remained, as everyone else had returned, but not them.

Everyone except for them.

This tugged at her heartstrings - why only them? It made no sense. She wanted answers, she was used to researching and eventually getting those answers, but not this time it seemed. This time, everything around her was shrouded in mystery and secrets.

Not wanting to linger too long - this brought up so many memories - Freya pulled herself away form the memorial and down the hall in the direction of her office. On her way, a familiar face passed by.

"Dr. Santiago, hi!"

The other woman jumped at Freya's cheerful greeting and forced a smile. "Dr. Dezzeray-"

Elena Santiago was an amazing curator, a huge inspiration of Freya's, and they hadn't had a chance to talk yet.

"Oh, 'Freya' please. I was wondering - and hoping - that we might be able to chat, passionate curator to passionate curator?"

"Well I'm really busy at the moment, so I can't really promise anything..."

Freya tried to ignore the sinking in her stomach and hold the smile on her lips despite feeling it fading. "Right, of course, doesn't need to be right now, of course. Just sometime soon, I was thinking." I was hoping... "Thanks Dr. Santiago. Talk to you later." And she walked away back to her office, head hanging in shame.

She wasn't left alone long to wallow in her embarrassment for there came a tap at the door and Margaret peeked her head in. "Hello Love, I have a job for you."

Just what I need! A good distraction!

Margaret held out the object she had carried in with her: a gorgeous jade box.

Freya's jaw dropped. "Oh gosh - where is it from?"

"That's what we hope you will find out for us. And that's not all-" Marg opened the box to reveal an equally beautiful deep green pendant necklace inside.

"Oh, I love it-" She would definitely wear something like this on the daily. "It's gorgeous."

"I take it you like your assignment."

"Very much so - thanks Margaret, I'll get right to work."

"Cheers, Love." And with that her boss left her alone with the new item - items, she kept reminding herself, for the box alone was so fascinating in itself she kept forgetting about the pendant within.

Firstly: find out where it came from.

Well, jade had a long history and lots of ties with Asia, that was her first thought, so Asia seemed like a good place to start.

On that note, true to her word, she got right down to work.

"Freya, go home." Marg appeared in the doorway. "Everyone else has already gone, and I'm on my way out myself."

Freya's head snapped up from where she was closely examining the surface of the box with a magnifying glass. "Oh-" Was it that time already? Clearly so. She had been so captivated by and deeply invested in her work she hadn't noticed the time flying by. Now the museum was closed for the night and everyone had gone home. "Thanks Marg, but I think I might stay on, for just a little while longer. I'm having too good a time to leave it now."

"It'll still be here when you come in tomorrow."

"I know, but I've got all my notes, some tea, it's all good."

"Very well - I'll let Joe in security know you'll be staying on for a while."

"Thanks Marg, for everything."

"Goodnight Freya."

"Goodnight." More than happily, she turned back to her work - perfect distraction indeed!

She was becoming more and more certain the box was of Chinese origin which was helpful in narrowing down her search. Asia had been good and helpful of course, but she still had a lot further to go in narrowing it down. Identifying location of origin was one of the most important parts, one of the most important pieces in the vast puzzle this was.

It was so fun, so exciting, and she found herself smiling while she worked, which was a very good feeling and a very good sign.

Pleased with her success with the box so far, she moved her attention to the pendant and examined it closer. She held it up against her neck in the reflection in the mirror. Normally she would never ever do such a thing with an artifact (of all things!) but something about this necklace just drew her in, pulled her to it.

"Brilliant," she mumbled, a smile finding its way onto her lips.

What a great first project on the job!

So I'm thinking this is probably more AU and I'm not sure yet if Ying Li, Shang-Chi, and Xialing will appear yet or not, due to the timeline, but we'll see! Just want to make that clear (it's not entirely clear yet to me either!)

On that note, I promise Wenwu himself will appear very soon! ;)

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed ! :)