DaHybridQueen: And he will, I assure :D
Summerstorm: Thank you so much. Your review meant a lot to hear. Someitmes I think I'm going too slow, and sometimes too quickly... It's nice to know that I have a nice balance. :D
Celinana: Oh, he will. ;)
ashleyk44: I'm sorry it's a Saturday too late, but I had no way of writing it until now. Again, I apologize. Oooh, now I'm curious as to where you think I'll take it - of course, I can't outright tell, sorry. haha.
EmLawrence: *Gives you a very very tight hug in gratitude.* That was one of the best reviews in a while, thank you :D I'm glad you like the story so much, and I hope I don't disappoint in future chapters. I'm looking forward to hearing from you.
Alright, lovelies, sorry it took so long - I have no excuse. Now, I want to make a quick announcement: I have just hit 200 followers on this story, and frankly I'm psyched. That's more than I have ever had before. :D Thank you all I hope to hear from some of you in the future, as I love all of your insight. also, I will inform you that this chapter may have a few triggers with mention of rape and some definitely insinuated things. So... be warned. Otherwise, I hope you all enjoy, and I look forward to your opinions. Ta :D
"Jora, why do you do this to me?" Jodis, Norn in charge of Loki Laufeyson whined to her sister, her loom forgotten as she had just gotten a glimpse of Elizabet Donovan's future.
"What's wrong with it?" Jora inquired, her head tilting as she looked. "Elizabeth is not yet ready for a happy ending, I thought this would be better."
Jodis glared at her sister. "Loki is going mad."
"That's not my fault. He was the one who decided not to believe her when she told him she loved him in the first place – and he was the one who wanted to think that she had betrayed him." Jora giggled. "Besides, Birgdis insists that it is the best for Scott. Don't worry, little Lizzie will live."
"Live?!" Jodis shouted. "She better! I'm not going to answer to Verdandi on why Loki suddenly decides to hurl himself off of Stark Tower – which he will if you keep this up. I will lose all control over his future because he'll make a choice I can't rectify...namely death."
Jora sighed heavily, rolling her eyes and stopping her movement on her own loom to look at her sister. "Oh do relax, Twin. Verdandi would have my hide if something very terrible happened to Elizabeth. She is crucial for the Grand Loom – you can't think that I would be that foolish. Besides, you know I hate tragedy."
"Says the Norn who drove Helen into Paris' path, and made her fall for him resulting in half of the Norns being furious with you because of how many fates had to end." Jodis countered. "And the one who insisted that King Henry would be fine once Jane gave birth-"
"Do not blame me for Henry, Hilde was the one who killed Jane." Jora defended.
"You had him kill off all his other wives afterwards." Jodis retorted.
Jora shrugged. "The other Norns agreed to it, I had to ask them first." she said. "Besides, it worked out fine."
"Worked out—Bah." Jodis exclaimed. "Only because I was chosen to lead Queen Elizabeth. Had it not been for me, England would have fallen because of your antics."
"Good job." Jora said. "But don't blame me. I didn't do half of the problems."
"Alright, you did, however, become in charge of the Romanovs in Russia. Why Verdandi gave you that particular lot I'll never know – especially after Troy!" Jodis continued. "You killed of almost all of them, leaving Hilde with that one daughter who got away – but only because of her!"
Jora winced. "Yes... she has never forgiven me for that. It took a few thousand years just to get the family – I don't think she'll do it again though." she muttered. "But why are you in a fuss? I never destroyed your fates – in fact, more often than not I have personally made sure your fates and mine get along and get along happily. Are we forgetting how I worked out that little matter of Henry the Fifth?"
"You killed Henry at age thirty-five, leaving only one child which was never a good idea for England in that time period." Jodis replied. "But closer to home, let's not forget what you did recently with poor Baldr, which Loki has forever held the guilt for."
Her sister frowned, looking rather sad. "I never meant for that to happen, I will confess. That was a mistake." Jora said, sighing. "If I could change one fate it would be his."
Jodis paused, pursing her lips as she thought of what to say. "Just make sure that all is alright with Loki and Eliabeth... please? For me?"
Jora tsked. "Jodis, darling, I can't tell the end. I work on a choice by choice basis – as do we all." she said, returning to her loom. "But I can assure you that I will do everything in my power to make sure that we do not have to go before Verdandi with heads hung low."
Giving a slow nod, her eyebrow quirked in begrudging acceptance she sighed. "Mmmhmmm..." and with that, returned to her loom, sighing over what was going to happen soon enough.
Veronika searched for Loki, the Avengers still looking for where Alex' headquarters could now be. She could see in what little she saw of him that he was very much in love with Lizzie, and furthermore very upset at the fact that she was missing. She had to smile at his determination, wondering how Erik and Sean would have liked him. No doubt her father would very much enjoy his way of thinking, as well as various other aspects of him... but now was not the time to think of that. Now she searched, wanting to know the man who her daughter had turned herself over to Alex for.
Stepping onto the roof of the tower, she saw his tall frame outlined against the darkening sky. A silhouette, with his hands behind his back as a captain of a ship might be, his head raised high as he watched the sun set. "I know you're there." he spoke, though did not turn. "No doubt you wish to speak to me."
"You're very aware of your surroundings." Veronika replied, stepping up beside him.
"Considering who I am, I'm sure you understand why." Loki replied, still not looking in her direction. "Why have you sought me out?"
"I want to get to know you." Veronika told him, looking up at his profile. She couldn't say that her daughter didn't know a handsome man when she saw one. "My daughter is in love with you after all..."
"And why should you care?" Loki snapped, finally looking her way. "You who abandoned her – had you been in her life she would not have suffered as she did."
"I know." Veronika said softly, looking down. "How often I have thought the same. I survived two timelines, and in both I left her to the wolves."
Loki scoffed.
"You think I do not feel the guilt?" She asked him.
"Feeling guilt doesn't change things." Loki retorted, turning to face her. "You could have changed things at any time. Instead of watching from afar, you could have been there, helped her, given her the one thing she told me she always wanted. She held you up as a figure of love, and someone who she held dear the memory of – but instead you were sitting there allowing things to happen to her."
Veronika felt the tears which had been built up over the years begin to fall. "You think I do not know her agony? That I do not know every last memory of what happened to her? I do not know her pain, her loss?" she asked him, lips trembling. "I am more than an empath, Loki. I can not only feel the pain of others, but I get to see it from their eyes."
Loki blinked. "What do you mean?"
The older woman sighed, turning away from him as she gathered her thoughts. "I can see the memories of certain people..." she began slowly, reaching for him. "One touch, and I can get all your memories if I so desire. It's very helpful – it can also bring out pain which I would prefer not to experience." she dropped her hand, memories flitting through her vision. Horrors which she never should have known deposited in her mind from an early age, horrors she fought hard to suppress. "That being said, I have no doubt Elizabeth told you about Saoirse, her daughter? And that she was born dead?"
"Yes." Loki ground out, thoroughly wondering why it was that the Norns had brought that child into the world. It seemed that if anything, Saoirse had only been a curse to Elizabeth, and one which she could have lived without. "She is the reason that Elizabeth wound up in the power of Alex this last time..." He paused. "Why?"
Veronika looked away, gathering her thoughts in a mental basket, preparing them for presentation. "When Elizabeth gave birth to Saoirse... I was at the hospital." She began. "I was spending my time as a nurse, my father in hiding at that time in Berlin. I was shocked that night when they brought her in, the name something I recognized – naturally – and her face one I had seen before in visions."
Loki turned to face her, listening to what she had to say.
"When she delivered, I found that I needed to know what her life had been like. She'd been missing for about ten years by that time, and Charles had been looking for her. To have her suddenly appear was a marvelous thing... that was until I touched her." she said, taking a deep breath. "The memories I saw were such that I knew immediately that she was the very weapon who had been a holy terror to the mutant world... and had helped to cause a war."
"War?" Loki repeated quickly, interrupting. Lizzie had never told him about any war.
"Yes." Veronika confirmed. "Alex had begun a war between the normal humans and the mutants. Lizzie was his lieutenant. Anesthesia she was called – but I'm sure you know about that."
"A bit yes." Loki replied. He hadn't known about her involvement in any wars.
Veronika sighed. "The Evolution War, it had been dubbed. For the first time in a long time, my father and Charles Xavier fought on the same side... either way, in a brief time of peace Elizabeth came into the hospital. The memories I saw only were comparable to that of my father... the horror."
"She has told me some of it." Loki replied.
"I'm sure she hasn't told you the entirety... but you've seen a glimpse of her current tortures?" Veronika confirmed. Loki nodded. "There is a reason she did what she did, Loki. It wasn't a fluke, and it wasn't due to some strange sense of betrayal. He threatened that Saoirse would endure her tortures, you said, that is no laughing matter to Elizabeth."
"Why? I understand that it would be painful, but what is it she's afraid of exactly?" Loki asked. "What is it that you allowed her to endure?"
Veronika let out a bitter laugh. "You really don't think very highly of me, do you?"
"Not particularly, no." Loki replied with a sneer.
"Would it help you if I showed you what I saw?" Veronika inquired, her brown eyes pleading with the man who loved her daughter. Not waiting for an answer, she grabbed his hand, and Loki's world went dark.
Suddenly, the darkness lifted, and Loki could see where he was. It was a cell, its walls damp with moisture, the room was cold. Loki looked around, spotting a figure huddled in the corner. He went forward, his hand trying to touch the figure, but failing as his hand went right through. It was obviously a girl, as her outfit could once be described as a dress - if one ignored all the dirt and tears.
The door to the cell opened, and the girl lifted her head, taking Loki aback. It was Elizabeth, he could tell, but she was much younger than he knew. She whimpered, scampering back as a figure's shadow was cast over her. Loki looked up, seeing a rather burly man towering over her.
"Come on, Kid, I don't have all day." the man grouched, she continued to whimper, "Come on!" he shouted, forcibly taking her arm and dragging her up.
"No, no, no, no..." she kept muttering as she was drug out of the cell and down the hall. Loki studied the man carefully, remembering his face. He had seen this man before, he was a guard.
He followed, unable to do anything as she was led to a white room - this Loki knew, recalling what Elizabeth had told him when she was explaining her past. He watched firsthand as she was thrown onto it, tied down as she protested, fighting fiercely as she was held down.
"Stop fighting, Elizabeth." a woman's voice said softly, "It will hurt less." Loki looked over to see the woman that Lizzie had fought so hard to protect from Alex. What had her name been?
"Terri, we don't have all day." A male voice interrupted. "Get her tied down." Terri followed her orders, reaching over and strapping the crying Elizabeth to the table. "It's done, sir." she said, pulling her long blonde hair out of her face and into a ponytail. "Shall I get the needles ready?"
"Nah, I've already got it. Have you checked on that other one yet?" the man replied.
Loki watched as the man came closer to Elizabeth, a vial of liquid in his hand which he stuck a needle into. Lizzie had told him that when she had first gotten her powers the first person to die - by accident of course - was this man. Loki felt pride swell within him for her. Yet, he felt anger surge within him toward the man who was about to cause her pain.
"When is this?" he asked Veronika, who stood beside him.
"The day she received her power." the mother replied, her eyes filled with tears as she watched her daughter get injected with the formula, writhing in pain. "Forgive me," she muttered. "I cannot watch this."
The scene blurred once more, and when it focused again, Loki saw Elizabeth before Alex, sitting down in a chair.
"Do you know why I brought you here?" he asked the girl that Loki had just seen. If he could guess her age, it would be twelve, while the last memory was probably only a little sooner.
"No." she replied. "Does it matter why you brought me here?" she asked, her Irish brogue confusing Loki for a few minutes.
Alex chuckled, "Yes, very much so, Little Elizabeth." he said condescendingly. "As it turns out, my dear, your ability is very rare. You would make a lovely addition to the Guard."
Lizzie glared. Loki could practically feel the hatred pouring out of her, and obviously so did Alex for he motioned to someone behind her and the door to the office opened.
"Lizzie!" the little girl behind her shouted, and Elizabeth turned. Loki recognized the girl, there was no mistaking Bella.
Elizabeth got up, rushing to her sister - or would have rushed to her sister had not a force-field stopped her. "Ah, ah, ah..." Alex tutted. "First you must agree to my terms."
Lizzie raised an eyebrow, a look which Loki was familiar with. "And what are those?" she asked.
"Join my guard." Alex answered. "Quite simple, you wouldn't even have to do much... but you would be given respect. And you would be let out of that cell you hate so much."
"Why should I trust you?" she asked.
Alex chuckled. "You shouldn't really... but you have nothing to lose, and everything to gain by taking my offer." he replied. "So what'll it be."
"No more tests?" Lizzie asked.
"No, my little firebird-" Now Loki understood why she hated it when he called her that "No more tests."
Lizzie seemed to consider this. "And what will happen if I refuse?" she asked, "What then?" Alex grinned, looking up to the mutant behind her. Bella suddenly screamed, clutching her head as if in pain. "Bella!" Lizzie shouted, trying to go toward her.
"Make it stop! Make it stop! Make it stop!" Bella pleaded, crumpling to the floor.
"Stop it!" Lizzie commanded, and Loki watched as the woman next to Bella suddenly started gasping for air, while Bella stopped screaming and started crying.
"Elizabeth!" Alexander shouted. "That is enough." Lizzie looked up at him, allowing the woman to breathe. "Now you know what will happen if you refuse."
"You dare to use my sister against me." Lizzie snapped.
"Oh, my little firebird. I will do more than use Bella against you..." he said, his voice low and deadly. "I will use your entire family if need be. Starting with Seanmhathair."
Loki watched as she just looked at him, her eyes glazed in fury before she spat out her decision: "Done."
The scene blurred once more...
Loki reeled the next time that the scene focused, this time causing him to be shocked. Three scenes he had witnessed, and each had proven to be more difficult to watch than the last. There she was, he could see her, Lizzie - but was it? She was dressed completely in black, her dark brown hair tied tightly in a bun, which made her features look more severe... but he could see the fear in her eyes as she paced the room which she was in. His mind flashed to the Lizzie he had seen under the influence of Alex... it was the same one, he could see.
"How old is she here?" he asked Veronika.
"Thirteen." she answered. "She was twelve in the last memory. For the first year after she was brought into the guard, she was taught how to control her power to her best ability. This is the first time that she is going to use it." He could hear the sadness in the woman's voice as the door to the room opened and two men dragged a young woman in.
"What is this?" Lizzie demanded.
"The Master said to bring you this one. Apparently she betrayed us." one of the men answered, his accent British.
"More than betrayed us." the other replied, his rough voice breaking the silence. "She played the whore to Lehnsherr's group... saying she was in love with one of his little minions."
Lizzie looked at the young woman, her brown eyes scanning her. "What is it that the Master wants me to do?" she asked, choking on the word 'master'.
The first grimaced, turning to her with a soft smile. "He wants you to incapacitate her." he said, "To make it so that she can't move." his eyes moved to the ground.
"Why?" Lizzie asked as the door opened again - the burly man who Loki had seen drag Lizzie out of her cell coming in. She stiffened, unconsciously moving closer to the first man. He rested a hand on her elbow, as if assuring her that she was safe. "What are you doing here, Brandon?" she asked.
Brandon smirked. "Didn't these two lugs tell you?" he asked, "You're to-"
"Incapacitate, yes I know." She interrupted. "But what are you doing here?" He just grinned, and Lizzie shuddered, images running through her mind which she probably shouldn't even have at that age. "No." She said quietly, looking over at the woman, her brown eyes filled with panic and worry.
"Excuse me?" Brandon asked, "Shall I tell the Master you are refusing his direct order?"
Lizzie shook her head. "No." she replied, turning to the first man and whispering. "Please tell me he's not going to do what I think he is..." she trailed off.
The man nodded.
She once more looked at the young woman, she wasn't sure she could do this...
"Shall I bring in some instigation?" the second man said. "I believe he said that if you did not comply, I was to fetch your sister, and put her in the chair..."
"No." Lizzie said quickly, moving toward the young woman. "I am sorry..." she whispered, and Loki watched as the woman suddenly went lax in the chair.
The image blurred as Brandon moved toward the woman, a sadistic smile on his face as Lizzie was forced to look on.
In the real world, Natasha and Clint were spending time together, simply quiet as he hung off the 'A' of the tower, having pulled Natasha with him. Finally she understood how he got up, and it wasn't as detailed as she had thought.
"So..." she said quietly. "Suction cups?"
"Yeah, they've been around a while, you know." Clint replied with a teasing tone as he looked out on New York. "I'm surprised you've never come across them."
Natasha gave him a playful glare, nudging him. "Smart ass." She was happy to see him a bit back to his old self, ever since he had returned from Rochester, he had been closed off... quiet and to himself, almost forgetting she existed. A worry had begun to creep within her, that she would never see Clint back to who he was before the whole ordeal.
"You're worried about me." Clint said, not looking at her yet. She sighed.
"I'm not worried at all." Natasha replied, adjusting herself a bit. "You're getting back to normal bit by bit."
Clint scoffed. "Exactly." he said. "I'm not me anymore... not since..."
"Clint..."
"No! I need to get it out." Clint snapped, finally looking at her. "It seemed like forever, but it was only about a minute." he started, looking back on the city. "He entered my mind and sorted through my memories – then he showed me Lizzie's life through his eyes, the things he had done to her. He raped her, Nat! She was a kid, and he raped her! He took pleasure in her pain!" His voice raised in pitch and anger, and Natasha smoothed back his hair in a comforting gesture.
Yet behind her calm facade she was boiling. Elizabeth had become a kind of sister to her, one she had never had, and to hear that Shaw had done something so heinous made her think of all the clever ways she'd kill him. In Russia she had been passed around between the men, being used as a toy by them – but she had been willing. It now made sense to her about certain factors of Elizabeth... why she had been afraid of loving Loki. Why she had been defensive when any man touched her. The pieces were falling into place, and Natasha saw red – and it wasn't her hair.
Clint's voice pulled her from her reverie. "He showed... He showed me...what..."
"Shh..." she shushed him, trying to comfort him as he began to shake. "You don't have to tell me, Clint, I'm not-"
"HE SHOWED ME WHAT HE'D DO TO YOU!" Clint shouted over her small voice. "He showed me how he'd kill you... how he'd make me watch, unable to lift a finger as he had you tortured. He'd put me on that table that he put Lizzie on, and he'd experiment on you, make you one of his soldiers – unless you fought. Then he would have his mutants have their way. You thrashed... it was painful I could tell."
"It wasn't real, I'm here, Clint." Natasha replied, touching his face and forcing him to look at her. "I'm not going to be killed by him – besides, we're all going to end this mess as soon as we find out where he is. He's not going to be allowed to live."
Clint gave a sardonic smirk. "You can't fight him, Nat. He's too powerful. This is a whole new playing field. It isn't Budapest, it isn't Manhattan. This man is completely insane, and he only cares about destroying those who get in his way, and you get in his way." he said, looking her over. His hands came up to her face, and he stared with intensity. "Promise me that you'll stay behind."
"Are you nuts?! After what he's done? I'm not staying here—"
"Stay behind, Natasha, this isn't your fight." he insisted, and she pulled away.
"What the hell, Clint?! I'm not a coward don't you—"
"I'm not asking, you Nat, I'm telling you." Clint stated, swallowing hard. "I don't know what I'd do if I lost you."
"Clint, I'm not going anywhere, but I'm not staying here while you all go get yourselves killed—"
Again he interrupted, but this time it was something which Natasha didn't know how to reply. His lips were on hers in an instant, his hands holding her face as he kissed her. Kissed her? She could feel his love, and his concern, as well as a pleading which she knew his words did not express to their fullest. It took a moment for her brain to respond, but not in time as he pulled away, a sad look in his eyes. He was defeated, and she knew he felt rejection, but he still held her face. "That's why Natasha... please..."
Mutely, she nodded in agreement, her eyes flickering between his eyes and his lips. She had to be dreaming, because Clint suddenly got a goofy look on his face – one which she had never seen before – and he leaned in slightly as if asking for permission. She nodded again, and he gently kissed her again. This time with a newfound hope.
Loki gasped as the world of the rooftop came back into focus, his mind spinning with the last memories which he saw, those being that of her pregnancy, and the hardship which she had endured. The first person she had killed, the abuses she suffered at the detestable hands of Alex... her... he couldn't even think about when Alex had forced himself onto her at age fifteen without wanting to both vomit and kill the man with his bare hands. He could still hear her screams as the man had taken her without her permission, the following memories of her dealing with the fact that she was then his whore.
"You..." he started, looking at the crying Veronika.
"Felt all of it as if I were her." she finished, her voice cracking. "Every bit of her pain, I feel every time I see those memories. I live through them through her eyes... like this."
His chest hurt as Veronika used her powers to make him feel the same pain, the same fear and agony... he nearly doubled over at its force. The memories now flitting through his vision from what he had seen. "I... I'm sorry." he apologized to the woman.
"No, I'm sorry." Veronika said sorrowfully, reaching to touch his face. "Had I done differently she would not have suffered..." she paused. "But then, she would never have loved you, would she?"
Loki blinked. Part of him blamed the woman, but he understood what she said. Loathe as he was to agree with her, he thought of an Elizabeth where she had had a normal life... he would never have loved her. She would never have been interesting to him, nor would she have been a challenge. Her understanding would have been limited, and her forgiveness even less. In all, she wouldn't be the Elizabeth he cared about... she would have been someone else, and probably loving someone else.
Veronika could see he was thinking, and she smiled softly, stepping onto her tiptoes so as to kiss his cheek. "I'll leave you, Loki." she whispered, pulling back.
A memory flickered across his vision, and for a moment he saw part of Veronika's life, a scene from her life which he knew that not many had seen. To an outsider they would have simply seen Loki tense, his eyes filling with fury, and his mouth tightening in rage as his temple pulsed. Within his mind, however, he viewed her memories, and saw why it was she had never gone near Elizabeth.
Finally the memories stopped, and Veronika turned around. "I showed you that in hopes that you may forgive me... I love Elizabeth very dearly, and as you do too, I wouldn't want us to be enemies." she said, beginning to walk back into the building.
Taking a step forward, Loki stopped her from leaving by placing a hand on her shoulder, and dropped a kiss on her forehead – one which he would have saved for Frigga only. "We are not enemies, Veronika." he declared. "I only hope you find me worthy enough..."
Veronika smiled again. "You are."
Without another thought, she disappeared from his vision, and he was left alone on the rooftop.
He was running. He didn't know why, but his life was in danger. Why? He didn't know... he just knew he had to run. His blonde hair got in his eyes, and he growled, wishing he had listened to Lizzie and had cut it before this happened. Lizzie... His mind flashed to the brunette woman briefly, hoping that by running he might save her... and their child.
His child.
He had thought it impossible, Alex had told him as much. Still, to know that from such a friendship a little life had been born into the world of turmoil was a strange bit of happiness. But to have a child? How could he have been so irresponsible? The sounds of shouting met his ears again, and he ran faster. He had to live. He had to get out so he could come back and save them.
Suddenly he tripped, and he rolled on the ground a bit, his leg hurting him a bit.
"Timothy Scott Walters!" He heard from his right. "We will find you!"
Maybe if he stayed still he could go undetected.
It seemed like forever before the hunting party moved past him, and he could hear their voices fade away. He allowed himself to breathe again, giving a sigh of relief. Maybe he would get away after all—
'Oooh, you think yourself soo clever.' he heard a voice in his head, its tone that exactly of Alex Shaw's. 'But you forget that you are mine... like she is mine...' a headache built in his mind as he tried to push Alex away from his conscious. The man's mental voice laughed. 'You think it's that easy.'
His legs gave out, and he fell to the ground, his hands clutching his head. "NO GO AWAY!" he shouted aloud.
'She. Is. MINE.' he heard Alex growl as his heart beat faster.
"No...NO!" Scott shouted, grabbing at his chest. His heart was beating as if he was going to run a marathon.
'After you... everyone will know that she is mine and mine alone.' Alex sneered in his mind. 'Thank you for giving me a perfect example.'
Scott gave a cry of pain as every nerve of his body wracked in agony, his heart finally exploding from the trauma.
Scott awoke with a shout, bolting up in bed, his hand clutching his chest. His heart raced, though not to the extend as he had felt in his dream... or was it a dream? … It had felt so real. Getting up from bed, he went into the bathroom and grabbed a glass of water, chugging it down in a heartbeat.
Memories were beginning to fade into his mind, memories that didn't seem to be his... and he didn't know why. Looking at the clock on his nightstand, he decided to get dressed. He'd be dealing with Elizabeth Donovan within the hour...
And these new memories of her being his lover in a different time frame weren't helping him in the least.
Aaaand there we are. Hopefully I'll get the next one out soon, and I promise the pain will end :) Ttfn, hons, reviews below would be most welcome.