AN: This chapter shows a little of what Thor and Enid's life has been like over the last six years, and it's taking place a week after the previous chapter; enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything but my made-up characters.
Chapter 79: We Haven't Lost Yet
Enid sat at her desk in her office, elbow propped up on her desk; she was leaning in her hand; Enid was supposed to be working, sending out important emails, making phone calls, and doing other things, but instead, she was falling asleep last night Enid wasn't able to get any sleep; all week, she's been having weird dreams that woke her up during the night; Enid was exhausted; the last six years after what everyone was calling the blip, was crazy, and all happened so fast; first, Loki told them if Asgard needed a place to rebuild; her and Thor could have Saphira and his land to do it, he and they could have the house too, then gave them an enormous amount of cash to help with it, and two days later Loki disappeared with Fenrir, and after no success with finding them, her and Thor got together, and started planning, and coming up with the money to rebuild, everyone stayed at Enid's casino until houses and apartments could be built, there were more apartments then houses, it was quicker that way, after a year, what little was left of their people moved into their new homes, Thor had assigned who lived were so no fighting broke out, he went around taking names and how big families were, smaller families or people with no children, included those not married got to live in apartments, larger families or those with a lot of children what few there was, got the houses, including Volstag's widow, and what children she had left, Thor personally made sure of that.
After being missing a year, Loki suddenly showed up with Fenrir right after Frigga and Mystique announced their engagement; Enid guessed Mystique's plan of allowing it to be put all over the news and social media worked; and Loki heard about it and showed up because he wanted to go to their wedding, Loki admitted that he had been thinking of visiting anyway, said Fenrir was missing them all, Enid had a feeling it wasn't only Fenrir, and she could tell it broke Thor's heart to see Loki in the shape he was in; Loki looked awful, bags under his eyes from not sleeping, he was thin from not eating anything, he wore holy and baggy jeans and baggy faded t-shirts, with his hair thrown back in a messy ponytail and was tangled, like he couldn't be bothered to brush it anymore, he looked, dressed, and acted nothing like Loki, barely speaking, only smiled when first arriving and hugging his parents, it was clear he wasn't taking care of himself. Still, Fenrir wore nice clothes, hair neatly fixed, and a healthy weight and size; Loki had been using his energy to take care of Fenrir and didn't care about himself. Fortunately, he slowly started looking better each time he visited, and within a year, Loki was back to looking and acting more like himself because what he needed wasn't to be alone but to have his family with him. He wasn't the Loki they all knew before, but he probably never would be.
They all have changed a bit since the blip, and not long after, Loki came back into their lives. Thor started talking about having children; Enid, at first, didn't think it was a good time; she was so busy with government meetings, trying to get Asgard declared its own country, and finding people to help run her casino since most everyone who worked there was dusted, in the end, Lady Sif took over it, and most the employees were Asgardain, except for Korg and Meik, which meant after Asgard was declared its own country she had to get a visa for her, Thor and anyone who worked at the casino so it would all be legal, then there was the running Asgard itself, a job her and Thor split, and Frigga even helped out, but then after giving it some thought and spending time with Fenrir, Enid decided she did want a child of her own, told Thor and stopped using birth control, surprisingly it didn't take long for her to become pregnant when she found out she was having a girl, Enid knew the name had to honor Saphira in some way, she thought about just naming her after her, but decided that wouldn't be a good idea, after seeing how Loki wenched every time Saphira was mentioned, so, she chose a name connected to nature, and by the time her baby was born, her and Thor had agreed upon naming their daughter Meadow Thordottir, they decided she didn't need a middle name.
Enid's thoughts soon left her mind as she fell asleep; the next thing she knew, Enid was standing in nothing but blackness, nothing around her, then there was a noise behind her, sounding almost like a bird; Enid turned around and saw nothing; Enid looked around and to her right saw far in the distance what looked to be a silver casket floating in the air; Enid, curious, took a step towards it, her heart hammered in her chest with each step, but the moment Enid reached the casket and went to open it, Enid suddenly realized she was standing on nothing, the knowledge of this seemed to cause the space to open up. Giant flames shot up, and Enid screamed as she went falling.
Enid's head slipped from her hand, her eyes flew open, and her body jerked, making her chair fall over; and Enid hit the hardwood floor, pain shooting through her; Enid lay there a moment before deciding she probably should stop working for the day and to find Thor and Meadow. Enid stood, then bent over, picked up her chair, strengthened her purple blouse, ran her hand through her short hair, then picked up Mjolnir and hooked it to her side. Then Enid left her office and searched for her husband and daughter; she found them outside; Thor was pushing Meadow on the swings in their yard, and Tempest sat on the ground not far away; she was now the size of a tiger.
"Hi, mommy," Meadow called to her, waving; Enid smiled and waved back; Meadow was the sweetest, happiest four year old, Enid knew, with blonde hair and sky blue eyes like her father, but her facial features all came from Enid, she even had a slight point at the tip of her ears. Meadow had Thor wrapped around her finger, a daddy's girl through and through. Thor caught sight of her and waved too; Enid stepped off the porch and walked over to them.
"Glad to see you out of that stuffy old office." Thor greeted, leaning in to kiss her.
"Yeah, I decided to join you guys," Enid replied.
"Daddy said we can go to Grandma's," Meadow said, "Uncle Loki is dropping Fen off today; I want to see them."
"Not yet, though, " Thor said, "Loki does not usually drop him off until around five."
"Looks like he decided to come early," Enid said, nodding across the road to Frigga's house, where Loki and Fenrir had just appeared in the yard, along with the two wolves and Rosey.
"Uncle Loki!" Meadow yelled, jumping off her swing; Loki turned and waved at her, then he turned and followed the others into the house, and Meadow turned to Thor. "I want to go see them."
"Alright, Angel, we'll go see Uncle Loki and Fen," Thor said, taking her hand.
"I'm not an Angel, daddy," Meadow said, "I am a Princess."
"Pardon me, Princess, then." Thor grinned, and Enid took hold of Meadow's other hand, and the three of them, along with Tempest, walked across the read; when they made it to the other side, Meadow let go of their hands and ran across the yard and into the house. When Thor and Enid entered the house, Loki held Meadow as she chatted away.
"You should have come yesterday; daddy got in trouble," Meadow said.
"And what did daddy do?" Loki asked, smirking at Thor, who looked embarrassed.
"He was saying bad words," Meadow replied, "I accidentally knocked Mommy's hammer off the table, and it fell on daddy's foot, and he started hopping around saying bad words, and Grandma said not to say those things in front of me, Grams thought it was funny." Meadow ended her story with a giggle, then Loki turned to Thor.
"You know better than to say bad words, Thor," Loki teased; Thor glared at him.
"Shut up." Thor snapped, flopping down in the living room chair. Mystique and Frigga were sitting on the couch next to each other.
"Mother, Thor told me to shut up," Loki said, causing Mystique to laugh and Frigga to smile.
"Dad, you sound like a kid," Fenrir told him as he sat on the couch next to Frigga; he wore his usual patched jeans and t-shirt, with his black gloves and nails polished. Fenrir acted so grown-up sometimes; it was hard for Enid to remember he was still a kid.
"You shouldn't be mean to your daddy Fen, " Meadow told him as Loki sat her down, and she went over and climbed in Thor's lap; Fenrir rolled his eyes, and his two wolves sat at his feet; he propped his legs up on one, and Rosey was still standing by Loki, and Tempest had gone into the kitchen, for unknown reasons.
"I'm not being mean to him," Fenrir said. "You're delusional." Meadow stuck her tongue out at him, "And so childish."
"I'm only four," Meadow replied.
"That's enough," Frigga said, "Before you two start arguing again."
"Yes, the last thing I want to hear is children bricker with each other." Mystique put in; she acted as if children got on her nerves, but it was an act; Mystique adored Fenrir and Meadow; even if Meadow wasn't her biological granddaughter, she allowed her to call her Grams, spend the night at their house, and even watched her on her own before, even if Thor annoyed her, Meadow was just as much Mystique's grandchild as Fenrir was.
"What's for dinner, Stepmother," Thor asked on the Friday evenings Loki dropped off Fenrir; they all had a family dinner here, surprisingly; Mystique did the cooking; she was a good cook, and Enid didn't know why Thor always asked that Mystique would never tell him.
"Don't call me that." Mystique demanded, "And you'll see when I cook it"
"Yeah, Thor, you'll see when Mum cooks." Loki teased.
"Brother, you are asking for it," Thor warned.
"Asking for what?" Loki asked.
"For a beating," Thor said, and Loki burst out laughing.
"I like to see you try," Loki replied. "As you would even bother getting up, you have gotten lazy in your old age, brother."
"I am not old," Thor said. Loki only laughed again; he seemed to be in a good mood today, every once in a while, he got in these moods, but his eyes still held sadness, one that would never go away.
"Enough," Frigga said, "I know you are only teasing each other, but it will lead to real fights, talk to each other like adults."
"You're acting more like kids than I do," Fenrir said; Loki looked at him, then seemed to remember something and turned to Enid
"Would you do me a favor?" Loki asked. "Get Fenrir to do his math; I could not get him to do it last week or this week."
"I'll get him to do it," Enid promised.
"I can't; I forgot my math book," Fenrir said, grinning; Loki raised his eyebrow.
"You said it was in your bag," Loki replied; Fenrir shrugged.
"I might have thought it was in my bag," Fenrir said, his smirking grew.
"You should not lie to me, Fen. " Loki said, then smirked, held out his hand, and a math book appeared.
"How did you find that?" Fenrir demanded.
"You need to get more creative when hiding things," Loki replied, "You should not have lied about having your book in your bag."
"I wanted to forget it." Fenrir admitted, "Because Aunt Enid would make me do it."
"Exactly, " Loki replied, smiling at him as Frigga laughed.
"Fenrir reminded me of you when you were his age, always trying to get out of something and trick people," Frigga said.
"I do not." Fenrir denied.
"You let him by with too much, Loki, " Mystique said, "He needs more rules."
"He does not; I do not," Fenrir replied; Mystique gave him a stern look. "I'm not back talking to you, grams. I'm just saying."
"You better not; you show your grandmother both of them respect," Loki said, "Or I'll take your games for a month."
"I think you should go ahead and do your math," Enid said.
"No way," Fenrir argued. "School is over for the day."
"Then think of it as homework," Enid replied, "Do it now, and you'll have the rest of the weekend to do whatever you want."
"Dad," Fenrir said, looking back at Loki with pleading eyes.
"She's the teacher at the moment," Loki replied.
"It won't take long for you to get it done if you start it and not quit until you finished," Enid said, walking over and sitting next to him; Fenrir groaned, made the two wolves move, grabbed his book, sat it on the coffee table, and opened it; Loki made a pencil appear and handed it to him; as Fenrir opened the page to where his work was stuck in, Enid sat on the edge of the couch to help him.
"I'm going to start dinner," Mystique said, standing.
"I'll help you," Frigga said; she and Mystique headed into the kitchen, Meadow got out of Thor's lap and followed them, and Loki sat down on the couch; with Enid's help, it didn't take Fenrir long to finish both pages, and by the time he set his pencil down and closed the book, dinner was ready, they all sat around the table as they ate dinner and talked. Afterward, Thor took both children across the road to watch movies. Loki headed home with Rosey, and Enid stayed behind to speak with Frigga and Mystique, then left around twelve to get Thor to take Fenrir back to Frigga's so they all could go to bed.
The next day Enid and Thor were sitting on the porch while the kids played in the yard, Meadow was running around playing with Tempest, and Fenrir was sitting on the swings playing a handheld game, the lazy wolves lying in the middle of the yard, in the sun.
"You've been quiet today, my beloved," Thor said, "Is there something wrong?"
"I'm just tired," Enid said, "Those weird dreams keeping me awake, and when I'm awake, it feels like something is invading my mind."
"I wish I knew how to help you," Thor said; Enid smiled and laid her head on his shoulder.
"It's okay; I'll figure it out," Enid replied. Before Thor could answer, there was a black SUV pulled up in her driveway, and to Enid's shock, when the doors opened, Bucky Barnes, Natasha Romanoff, Sam Wilson, and Scott Lang climbed out.
"Bucky!" Fenrir cried, jumping out of his swing, and came running over to Bucky, who grinned and put his arm around Fenrir's shoulders.
"Hey, kiddo, I haven't seen you in a while," Bucky said. "You've grown." Fenrir talked to him a minute before going back over to his swing.
"We liked to never get by your guards," Sam said, stepping up on the porch. "They were all for arresting us until they saw Bucky."
"I'll have to have words with them," Thor said, "All of your names are down as friends, well, all but Antman."
"That's only because we thought you were one of the dusted," Enid explained.
"We all did too?" Sam said, "Are you free to talk?"
"Sure," Enid replied, "Have a seat." They all sat down, except Scott, who was pacing.
"Are you okay, Antiman?" Thor asked.
"I didn't turn to dust." Scott began, "I didn't even know about it until a few hours ago."
"How could you not know about it?" Enid asked, confused.
"Have any of you guys ever studied Quantum Physics?" Scott asked.
"No," Thor answered.
"A little bit, but not much," Enid replied. "Why?"
"I'll tell you what I told them." Scott replied, "Six years ago, right before Thanos, I was in Quantum Realm. The Quantum Realm is like its own microscopic universe. To get in there, you have to be incredibly small. Hope was supposed to pull me out, and then Thanos happened, and I got stuck in there."
"And that's why you didn't know about the blip?" Enid asked.
"Exactly," Scott answered, "But for me, it wasn't six years; it was six hours. See, the rules of the Quantum realm aren't like they are up here. Everything is unpredictable. What I am saying is. Time works differently in the Quantum Realm. I can't stop thinking about what if we could control the chaos and navigate it. What if there was a way we could enter the Quantum realm at a certain point in time but then exit the Quantum realm at another end in time, like before Thanos.
"Are you talking about time travel?" Enid demanded.
"Yes, " Sam said, "He is talking about time travel."
"I'm sorry, Scott, but time travel, that's not possible," Enid replied.
"I know it's crazy, but I can't stop thinking about it. There has got to be some way." Scott said.
"My sister, Saphira, used to watch these stupid youtube videos that talked about time travel; she believed in that crazy stuff; I'm going to tell you what I told her," Enid replied, "It's not possible because the past is gone, there is nothing there to go back to, it only exists in our memories, and the future hasn't happened yet, there is nothing to go forward to, there is only now."
"But what if it was?" Scott demanded.
"Come on, Enid, it's worth trying," Bucky asked,
"Stark already turned us down," Romanoff said.
"Oh wow, I'm the second choice," Enid said.
"I tried to get them to come to you first," Bucky said.
"He did." Romanoff said, "And suggested you again when Stark said no."
"Come on, Enid, it won't hurt to try," Sam said, "Not like we can make anything worse."
Enid and Thor looked at each other; she knew he wanted to give it a try, and though Enid wasn't sure any of this would work, a part of her didn't think it would hurt to try. Could there be a chance? We time travel was possible? Before six years ago, Enid wouldn't think snapping your fingers while wearing six magical rocks would turn trillions into dust as possible, but it was.
"Say we can time travel," Enid asked, "What do you want to do? Go back and stop Thanos from snapping?"
"No," Romanoff said, "We thought we could go back and collect the infinity stones."
"Bring them back to our time," Bucky said.
"And snap everyone back," Sam said. "It sounds simple when we say it, but we know it'll be hard."
"But it'll be worth it if we make it work," Romanoff said.
Enid looked out in the yard; Meadow was now sitting on the ground brushing Tempest's fur, and Fenrir was now sitting closer to the porch, sitting on the ground, leaning back into Skoll, using him as a pillow, and still playing his game.
"If we do this, we can get the stone; we only bring back those blipped," Enid said, "We change nothing else."
"I'm not losing my daughter," Thor spoke up; as he watched Meadow. "Sorry if that seems selfish, but she's worth more than trillions of people I do not know."
"I don't think she's at risk of disappearing," Scott said, "Look, if I thought this would make the millions born after the blip disappeared, I'm not sure I would want to do it."
"If we get the stones and snap, we are only bringing back everyone lost six years ago," Bucky said, "Nothing else will change."
Thor and Enid looked at each other for along a moment, communicating with their eyes, both nodding at the same time and turning back to the others.
"Alright, we'll see if we can figure out this time travel," Enid said, standing, "But we might need another person to help us. Make sure we don't mess up."
"That would be a good idea," Scott said, "Three brains would be better than two, but who?"
"Do you know someone?" Bucky asked, "Because Bruce is gone, and Stark did everything short of telling us to get lost."
"Hank McCoy," Enid replied.
They all decided to meet up tomorrow and ask Hank McCoy for help together; their friends stayed and talked with Enid and Thor for a while before leaving; that night, when Enid went to bed, that same dream haunted her, and once again, Enid felt the curiosity of the casket pull her to it. Once she stood next to it, Enid reached out to open it, hesitated then, flipped the latch and slowly opened the lid, and got immediately blinded by bright, colorful lights that threw off enormous amounts of power; Enid let go of the top, and covered her eyes, she heard the lid slam shut, and a loud voice that echoed said.
"Not yet."
Enid turned around, trying to see where the voice was coming from, when suddenly she was surrounded by Flames reaching out for her, she tried to back up, but more flames shot up, Enid let out a scream as they grabbed her and pulled her in, and Enid went falling into the fire once again; Enid felt her mind getting invaded, Her head felt as if it would explode, Enid screamed, and her body jerked, and she fell onto the bed.
"Enid?" Thor asked from beside her; he noticed Enid shaking and crying and pulled her to him. "Hey, it was only a dream."
"I know, but it felt like I was there," Enid replied.
"You're with me now; nothing can get you; as long as I'm around, they'll have to go through me," Thor said; Enid smiled as she took a few deep breaths and climbed down; after a moment, she pulled away.
"I'm going to check on Meadow," Enid said, grabbing her robe and slipping it on over her night grown.
"Do you want me to come with you?" Thor asked; Enid walked around to his side of the bed and kissed him.
"No, honey, " Enid replied, "I'll be fine; you can go back to sleep."
"Are you sure?" Thor asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine; there's something else I want to do before coming back to bed," Enid answered; she leaned over and gave Thor another kiss; before leaving the room, she went down the hall and stopped at Meadow's door, she looked in on her, she was sleeping peacefully next to Tempest, who had chosen to sleep in Meadow's room tonight, Enid closed the down quietly, before heading to her office, once there she flipped on the light and went over to the desk, and got out her tarot cards to do a reading. Enid still had some doubts about what she and Thor agreed to do. Enid reached out to flip over the cards.
The first one was The Sun Reverse, meaning negativity, depression, and sadness; it's been a few years, and everyone was still feeling the effects of their loss.
The second card was: the Strength upright, meaning inner strength, bravery, compassion, and focus. Everything they were going to need if they were going to succeed with Scott's time travel Idea.
The third card was: The Hangman upright; the meaning was sacrifice, release, and martyrdom. Enid didn't like the sound of that.
The fourth was The Tower upright, sudden upheaval, broken pride, and disaster. Enid expected they would fight someone, most likely running into a past Thanos or one of his goons.
The fifth was The Wheel of Fortune upright, change, cycles, inevitable fate. Enid had a feeling that wasn't supposed to be wrong.
The sixth card was Justice Upright, which meant cause and effect, clarity, and truth. Not too bad; it could mean anything.
The last was The World Upright which meant completion, Fulfillment, and harmony,
Enid leaned back in her seat and smiled; maybe they could pull this off, travel in time, get these stones, and bring everyone back. Perhaps they haven't lost to Thanos yet.