Author's Notes

Song Lyrics from ONE OK ROCK - When I Was King
watch?v=egS3MP2Q_sU&list=PLb-h0TgZRJZpYbnvq7gW1FBvsBMdCI_mZ&index=5

Additional Song: Griff - Black Hole
watch?v=A7E22-6L_WE&list=PLb-h0TgZRJZpYbnvq7gW1FBvsBMdCI_mZ&index=6

Whole Playlist:
/playlist?list=PLb-h0TgZRJZooJ-TPIjxWEFoYEnXi2vcl

Luciana didn't know how much time had passed since that day. Days, weeks, months, years - it was all the same to her. Every day was as bleak as the other, monotonous even. By the evening the young woman often didn't even recall how she had passed the time.
Had she been reading? Did she venture into the city to observe the lives of Asgard's countless citizens that went on and on as if nothing had ever happened at all?
Or had she cried herself to sleep again, spending the hours in the warm embrace of a dream? A dream where she was free from the cruel reality that awaited her upon her awakening.
She didn't remember. Not that it mattered to her in any way. Nothing really seemed to matter.

The only things that stayed in Luciana's mind were her conversations with Thor and Frigga. She found comfort in their presence as the three of them shared the same pain. She often found herself reminiscing with either of them about events that now seemed to lay in the distant past. About memories they shared or only one of them held close to their heart. Some had been happy, others infuriating, funny ones, sad ones - they were all precious to her but reminded her of what had been lost all the same.

It was strange really, Luciana had never been particularly close to Thor. Yes, they were childhood friends, but yet she had never really completely warmed up to him. In fact, a lot of his qualities had been downright annoying to her. And if her past self had ever been suggested the possibility of her talking with the older prince as intimately as they did now, she'd have likely been disgusted at the thought alone. One could say that it was only possible "thanks" to Loki's death. It was the only good thing that had come from it.

Good thing - if you could call it that.

It was one particular day when the Allfather called for his son and Luciana. The two had been quietly talking in the castle's garden and she had comforted Thor as she did ever so often. Additionally to losing his brother, the God of Thunder had also been separated from his new found love. The destruction of the Bifrost, he himself had induced, had led to the isolation of Asgard from the other realms, including Midgard, where Jane Foster lived. Therefore, he was suffering from the loss of two people dear to him and even through all of her own pain Luciana felt that this wasn't fair. No one person deserved to be forced to endure something like this. And it had been the reason why she had initially approached the prince, despite her own reluctance towards him.

As the two entered the grand throne hall, Luciana thought how strange it was for her to get summoned. She was still convinced that the Allfather didn't exactly hold her in high regard. He had never explicitly called for her before. Sure, she had tagged along more than a few times when the Allfather had called for his sons, as had Sif and the rest of the Warriors Three, but…
Unsurprisingly, Luciana thought it strange all the more to suddenly get summoned like that and she couldn't fight the ominous feeling that spread inside her as she walked down the long corridor at which end the Allfather sat on his throne. However, never had she thought it possible to hear those words from the king's mouth.

"A..live? …Loki is… You're saying he's alive!?"

Her eyes wide in shock, Luciana stood in front of Odin and watched as he slowly nodded. Next to her Thor seemed to shout something. She could see that he was as surprised as she was. No, not only surprised, he seemed… mad? The blonde man was flourishing his hands wildly and his face displayed clear agitation as he threw all kinds of questions at his father's head. But although he was screaming, Luciana couldn't make out a word he said. Everything around her had grown silent, the woman's ears couldn't detect a single sound. It was a strange scene, surreal really, and it made her stomach turn.

It took Luciana a few seconds until she noticed the cause of the phenomenon. She must have involuntarily used her powers on herself. Probably due to the shock from Odin's words she must have lost control of them for a moment. The young woman gulped, albeit her mouth was so dry that it only hurt her throat. She had to concentrate. She took in a harsh breath and with the fresh air all the sounds reappeared. And Luciana could finally hear what Thor was screaming.

"You're saying my brother is currently on Earth? And he's planning to use the Tesseract to subjugate humanity under his rule? That's crazy!"
"That is why I want the two of you to retrieve him, along with the artifact." Odin replied, unfaced by his son's outburst.
"Allfather, excuse my interruption but... How do you plan on doing this? The Bifrost was destroyed, and with it our only way to Midgard." Luciana spoke for the first time since they had entered the hall and it drew the attention of both Odin and his son to her. Although she expected the Allfather to react dismissively to her question, to her surprise he graced her with something of a smile. "A reasonable question, my dear." Slowly he rose from his seat.
"I will send the two of you there myself."

"What?"
"Father, that-!"

Whatever Thor had intended to answer, he was interrupted by the sound of Odin's mighty spear hitting the ground. As the tone resounded through the grand hall a portal opened up behind the two of them. Luciana only had the opportunity to look at it for a split second before she already witnessed Thor dashing inside it as he yelled "I won't disappoint you Father! I will bring my brother back home!".

The young woman stood still for a moment, staring at the colorful vortex in front of her. Unsure, she turned around again and was met with the uncharacteristically warm gaze of the Allfather.

"It has to be you."

"What?" she uttered in confusion, not sure whether his words had only been a fabric of her imagination.
"Lady Echo- No, Luciana, you are the only one who can get through the haze. You must go now." the Allfather added. There was a sense of finality to his words. The young woman wanted to retort something. Her mind was buzzing with all the thoughts swarming around her head. What did Odin mean? It was the first time the Allfather had ever said her name. And what was that about a haze?
However, Luciana had no time to say anything as she was suddenly hit by an invisible force, likely caused by Odin's spear. And with that she got pushed inside the continuously spinning vortex.

Nothing seems right
Stuck in the past

The next moment Luciana found herself in the sky. Or rather falling from it. "Really now!?"
Couldn't Odin have secured them a safe landing at least? As she was skydiving ever faster towards the ground, she was surrounded by dark clouds. She could hear thunder roaring and lightning was striking towards the ground to both of her sides. Thor was clearly not amused. Then again who could blame him? After all, he had been deceived all this time. As had she.
Now that the first shock of hearing the news was slowly starting to wear off, she could feel anger rising inside her as well. Not only had she been lied to all this time, no she had been left a grieving mess. Had he expected her to not give a fuck? Or had he simply not cared at all?
"Goddammit!" she yelled in frustration, knowing full well that now was not the time for getting lost in her emotions. First she needed to stop her imminent big splash on the ground.

As she passed another black cloud in her fall Luciana's eyes caught upon a flying object underneath her.
"Lucky me! Now I just need to-"
Purposefully, she adjusted her body in an angle so that her fall changed into the direction of said flying object. As she grew closer to it, she realized it was some sort of aircraft.
"Well, excuse me~" A grin slowly spreading on her lips, Luciana unsheathed her rapier and brought it into position. "Hah!" The moment her body barely seemed to pass the small aircraft she rammed the blade into its right wing.

While a normal rapier would simply have shattered into tiny pieces upon impact, hers was made out of a special kind of metal only found on Asgard. The plane's material never stood a chance and upon the impact the whole aircraft shook, dangerously tilting to the side for a few moments before recovering its flying position. Not a second later, Luciana could hear frantic voices from inside.

"What the hell was that?"
"Agent Romanoff, it seems like there's a person dangling on our right wing."
"What!? Let me check."
No sooner than she had heard the female voice, her ears detected a sliding sound. Her eyes caught sight of a woman with short red hair who was staring at her with a mix of disbelief and… annoyance?
"Hello there~!"
"Urgh… Another one."

Soon Lucina found herself inside the plane. Its passengers watched her warily as she entangled her long hair with her hands, as the fall had messed it up quite a bit.
"So, are you with the other weirdo?" the redhead asked.
"Hm? Oh, you met Thor already?"
"Tho- Oh, great, just great."
"Hm? What's wrong? Did he cause you any trouble? He kinda seems to do that wherever he goes."
"You could say that…" she sighed.
As the woman, who had been called Agent Romanoff before, explained what had happened only mere minutes ago, Luciana's eyes grew wide. "He was here!?"
"What?"
"Loki. He- He was on this plane?"
The other woman blinked. "Uhm, yeah. Until Thor busted in here and dragged him off somewhere."
"Ahahahaha… Well, he should be able to handle him. …I think."
The red head raised an eyebrow. "You think?"
"Yeah, well… This is Loki. He might have a trick or two up his sleeve, so you never really can be sure." Luciana replied, awkwardly scratching her head. Her words drew another, even heavier, sigh from the Agent. "Great. Just great. Well, Stark and the Captain went after them, but just to be sure-"
"We should check up on them."
"What I was about to say."

Agent Romanoff only needed to glance at the man who was flying the aircraft and he immediately took a harsh turn to the right, heading towards the direction the men had jumped off.
"So- Mind giving me your name? Makes you less suspicious, you know."
"Oh, sure! I'm Lady E- No. Wait. You know, what? Just call me Lucy!" An innocent smile displayed on the lips of the Asgardian woman, which again, caused the red head to raise an eyebrow. "Are you sure you belong to the same group as those two?"
"Hm? Yes. Why?"
"You don't have the.. vibe. I guess."
Luciana chuckled. "You're funny Romy!"
"Don't call me that."
"Ehhhh… What else should I call you then?"
"Agent Romanoff." she stated matter of factly.
"But that's so long!" the brunette pouted, drawing a sigh from the other woman.
"Fine. Natasha."
"Nat it is!" Luciana announced, clapping her hands together.
"Wh- Haaah…"

Suddenly the aircraft seemed to stop in midair. The two women looked at each other for a moment and got up to peek outside. Down on the ground they saw three wildly different dressed men.
"Oh, there's Thor!" Luciana pointed at one of them.
"As are Stark and the Captain."
"Are they-"
"Fighting. Seems like it."
Natasha and Luciana looked at one another again.
"Men."
"Men." They both sighed in contempt.

We said tonight
No going back