The autopsy had "confirmed" that it was an accident, but this only proved how powerful HYDRA had grown. Sigyn had read the official report. Howard's skull had been cracked, and Maria's neck had been broken. The mere words she had read on a piece of paper were going to haunt her for the rest of her life. If only there was a way to know what kind of assassin HYDRA had sent after them to do this…
At least they were being put to rest as heroes. Sigyn didn't have the mental strength to cast a cloaking spell during the funeral, but she couldn't miss it either. So, here she was, standing next to Peggy once again. Daniel was holding her left hand. Without a word, Sigyn took the other. They were keeping their distance, Mr. Jarvis was doing his best pretending he didn't know them, but Tony was still stealing suspicious glances in their direction. He had never met Sigyn, and he thought Peggy Carter was just some kind of liaison to Stark Industries. His face was perfectly neutral, but that was just an act. He was his father's son, after all. Like Mr. Jarvis had predicted, Tony had brought him back to the Long Island Mansion immediately, with the best nurse money could hire. Mr. Jarvis feared for him, though. He said grief was consuming Tony, and he was acting more reckless and irresponsible than usual. Mr. Jarvis' attempts to talk him out of it had failed so far. If he kept going like this, he was probably going to drink himself to death at the age of 21. Sigyn thought of using magic to help him, but then realized Howard probably wouldn't want anyone to mess with his son's mind, not even Sigyn. Besides, any form of mind manipulation was dark magic.
After the funeral, she told Peggy that the Skrulls still needed the Tesseract, as Mr. Jarvis had instructed and went to Mar-Vell's lab. Even if Peggy suspected something, she didn't ask any questions. Perhaps deep down, she knew ignorance would keep her and her family safe. For the first time since Sigyn had come to Midgard, she felt like she was in an exile. A well-deserved one. She barely ate and slept, whiled the days away by doing nothing but staring into the abyss. That was how Odin himself found her.
"Sigyn," he said coldly.
Sigyn should probably stand up and greet him properly, but she didn't.
"What is my punishment?" she asked instead, hoping Odin would keep his promise and put her in the same cell with Lorelei. Anything less than that would be too merciful. And death would be too quick. She deserved to suffer.
"Your beloved friends died because of your arrogance. That's punishment enough for you."
Perhaps he was right. Any other punishment might ease her guilt, and she didn't deserve such a relief. Still, the Starks had to be avenged. "Who killed them?"
"HYDRA, as you already know."
"Yes, but who?"
"Have you still not learned your lesson? You are here to protect the Tesseract. You should not meddle with other mortal affairs."
"This is not a mortal affair. I want my revenge, and I shall have it."
She was going to kill those monsters with the darkest, most painful magic she knew. That was the least she could do for Howard and Maria.
"You shall do no such thing. You shall stay with the Tesseract, and keep it safe at any cost. That is all." With these words, the Allfather's projection disappeared, and she returned to her mourning.
…
"Howard and Maria, I bid you take your place in the halls of Valhalla,
Where the brave shall live forever. Nor shall we mourn but rejoice
For those that have died the glorious death."
"That's an Asgardian prayer," Soren said curiously. Soren was the pregnant Skrull she had seen when Mar-Vell had revealed herself to Sigyn. They had become good friends after Sigyn had helped her deliver the baby.
"It's a prayer for all the brave men and women of the Nine Realms." Those were the exact words her father had told Sigyn when she had caught him praying after her mother's death.
"Howard Stark was a good man. We wouldn't be here if he hadn't trusted us."
Sigyn got back on her feet. "I wish I could finish what Mar-Vell started, Soren. I really do. I know how to harness energy from the Tesseract, I once used it to take two of my friends to Asgard. But I can't take you somewhere I don't know."
"Don't worry about that now. We're safe. I didn't mean to interrupt you, but we have a guest."
"A guest?"
"Your husband. I don't know how he even found this place, but he's here."
"Loki?" she cried. What was Loki doing here?"
"Hello, Sigyn," Loki himself broke in. There was no anger, or even cruel triumph in his voice. He wasn't here to say "I told you so." Soren left to give them to some privacy.
"I'm sorry for your loss," he started once they were alone.
"Are you?" she asked skeptically.
"My mother said Howard Stark finally did it. He made you stronger."
"He did."
"Are you happy?"
"I got him and his wife killed, Loki. I'm not happy."
"No, I mean, are you happy with your newly found strength?"
"Yes. I'll be forever in Howard's debt."
"Then so will I."
She gave him a questioning look.
"We still share a life, remember? Even if you don't want me anymore, I know you're still faithful to me. You're the Goddess of Fidelity, after all."
"And my fidelity gets people killed!"
"Is that why you push me away?"
She shivered. Did he know?
"I'm no fool, Sigyn. I know you're afraid of something. You don't have to tell me. Tonight, I'm only here to share your pain. And help you pay our debt of gratitude to the Starks."
"How?"
"I heard Heimdall tell my parents something. I think he and my mother hold themselves responsible to some degree for what happened, but as usual, my father said the wisest thing to do was to do nothing."
"But you disagree?"
"I think it's something that can ease your conscience."
"I don't deserve to be relieved of this guilt after what I—"
"Just hear me out, alright?"
"Alright."
"Howard has a granddaughter."
"What?" This could be the last thing she had expected to hear. She had expected a name. The name of the assassin, the bastard who had given the order, or the traitor who somehow knew about the supersoldier serum… The name of someone she could kill. "Are you certain?"
"I am. She was born only a few days ago, in a city called London."
"Who is the mother?"
"Her name is Irene Clarke, and she is very ill. Heimdall doesn't expect her to live for much longer. But more importantly, she doesn't want to give the child to her father."
"To whom will she give her, then?"
"No one. When her parents discovered the pregnancy, they convinced her not to kill the unborn child, but after the birth, she came up with a different idea. She wants her to grow up as an orphan."
"Why?"
"To get back at the Howardson. She was hoping to become Tony Stark's one true love, but he left her, like he left everyone, so… She is quite vindictive, from what I gathered."
"I'll go to London and talk to Irene Clarke's parents, then. They sound like decent people."
Loki snorted. "Decent? Oh, Sigyn, you're so naive… Do you think they care about the child? They want her because they're hoping she'll earn them a fortune or something like that. I don't know if that's even possible, you understand these mortals better than I do."
"Of course it's possible. If Tony refuses to raise the child himself, he's going to have to pay them to do it."
Sigyn understood his confusion. There was no such thing as "refusing to raise your child" in Asgard. Since Asgardian contraception was much more practical and effective, unexpected parenthood was unheard of. Sigyn was, once again, an exception.
The plans of the Clarkes filled her heart with rage. Sure, with the help from the best lawyers, Tony could win this battle. But such greedy mortals wouldn't give up easily either. They wouldn't stop until they turned Tony and his daughter's lives into a nightmare. Sigyn couldn't let that happen.
"I'm going to save the child from those monsters. Can you stay here with the Tesseract until I return?"
"Of course."
"Thank you."
Sigyn pulled him into a gentle embrace and kissed his lips to show her gratitude. But deep down, she knew she had failed to change the future.
…
With a SHIELD Clearance Level 10, it wasn't hard for Sigyn to find someone in Midgard. She guessed the child had been conceived while Tony was studying at Cambridge, and she had turned out to be right. Irene Clarke was a graduate student, like Tony, at least her illness forced her to drop out. Stage four breast cancer. And like Loki had said, all she cared about was her posthumous revenge. She refused to hold the baby in her arms, or even look at her. Sigyn would never understand how a mother could be so cruel. Irene's parents were doing their best to convince her to call Tony and tell him about his daughter, but she kept saying she would never forgive them if they ever did such a thing after her inevitable death. Loki was right. The maternal grandparents only hoped to use her to milk money from Tony.
Three weeks later, Irene Clarke died. Sigyn took the baby from the hospital, and used her magic to make sure Irene's parents wouldn't even remember that they had a granddaughter. She didn't know if there were anyone else who knew about Irene's pregnancy, but she could find out later, once she didn't have a mortal baby to take care of. But mortal or Asgardian, Sigyn didn't have much experience with babies. She had only two friends who did: Peggy and Soren. The former was busy with SHIELD these days. Howard's sudden death had left SHIELD in chaos. Peggy was going to sort things out, and once a new Director was appointed, she was going to retire. But that would take time, so Sigyn decided to take Howard's granddaughter to Mar-Vell's lab instead. Soren would care for her until Sigyn decided how to proceed. Luckily, she had been doing a lot of shopping for the Skrull children since Mar-Vell's death, so at least she knew what the baby would need before leaving Midgard.
The Skrull children had never seen a human baby before, so they adored the youngest Stark. Sigyn even took a few pictures of them with an instant camera. Those devices were quite popular among mortals these days, and Sigyn had bought one for the entertainment of the Skrull children. Who knew, maybe one day Howard's granddaughter would see these photos… But then, even if Sigyn decided to introduce herself to Tony one day, giving him a picture of his daughter surrounded by a bunch of pointy-eared green aliens might not be a good idea. So, she let the Skrulls keep the photos instead. It wasn't long before Loki, too, took to her. In fact, Sigyn would sometimes have to remind him that she wasn't theirs to keep.
For two weeks, she tried to figure out the best way to give Tony his daughter. She had to make sure he would at least do a paternity test and not dismiss the idea of fatherhood immediately, but also it couldn't be tracked down to her. By now, she had learned why she had to stay out of mortal affairs. Perhaps Odin had a point. Still, the Stark name was this girl's birthright. If Howard were here, he would never let her grow up in an orphanage. Sigyn had to do the same. She owed him that much. Eventually, she decided to leave her on Tony's doorstep and let Mr. Jarvis take it from there. There would be a lot of unanswered questions, but this was the safest way. She contacted Mr. Jarvis through astral projection, and told him everything. Naturally, he was delighted to hear about the newest member of the Stark family. After Howard and Maria's murder, he had become more eager to fight the sickness that had been consuming him, for he knew Tony needed his support. Now, his eagerness had almost turned into desperation. He wanted to survive, so that he could help Tony raise this child. Once the boy made up his mind, Sigyn would return to London, alter the hospital records, and erase the memories of everyone who knew about the baby, so that he could raise his daughter in peace. It was dark magic, yes, but no amount of dark magic could possibly be more tainted than the hearts of those vicious mortals.
…
"Where are we, Mr. Jarvis?" she asked, looking around. The city seemed unfamiliar.
He smiled. "This is Budapest."
"Where you and Ana met…"
"Yes. Shall we?" he asked, offering Sigyn his arm. She took it, and they started to walk.
After leaving the baby on Tony's doorstep and ringing the bell, Sigyn had cloaked herself invisible and observed. At first, Tony had thought this was just a prank, but Mr. Jarvis had convinced him to go to the hospital and do a paternity test. After they had left, Mr. Jarvis had returned to his room with Sigyn. She wanted to stick around in the Long Island Mansion until Tony made up his mind. Claire Travis, the nurse Tony had hired for Mr. Jarvis, didn't know Sigyn was here either. Mr. Jarvis had told her that he was very tired and he wanted to sleep, so Claire had told him to ring the bell if he needed anything, then retreated to her own room to get a few hours of sleep. He and Sigyn wouldn't be disturbed until Tony returned from the hospital.
To ease his pain, Sigyn would use her magic and give Mr. Jarvis pleasant dreams, just like she used to do to her mother in her final days. And she would let Mr. Jarvis choose the setting of these dreams. This time, for example, he had apparently chosen the city where he and Ana had met. His body might be failing him, but his mind was still strong.
"She is such a lovely baby."
"She is, indeed. But she needs her father."
"And her father needs her. I was so scared for Master Tony. Believe it or not, it's easier for him to mourn his mother. His father, on the other hand… Master Tony is trying so hard to find forgiveness in his heart for him. Unfortunately, he can't. The guilt he feels, it's a terrible thing. He is lost. Fatherhood might give him a new purpose."
"Can you convince him to keep the child?"
"I don't think he's going to need much convincing after the paternity test. He's going to be shocked and confused at first, sure, but he's not the heartless young man he pretends to be."
They both knew that. They also knew it was Howard's cruelty that had forced him to appear so unsentimental. Not to speak ill of the dead, she changed the subject. "So, what do you want to dream about today?"
"The first time I saw Ana… Oh, here we are. Look, that's the hotel she used to work at." He pointed at a building on the corner of the street.
Sigyn forced herself to smile. It was hard not to shed a few tears at times like this. "Very well. I'll leave you alone with her."
With these words, she withdrew from his mind. A few hours later, Tony returned, and came to Mr. Jarvis' room, with his daughter in his arms. The elderly man was still asleep. Without making a noise, he sat down in the armchair beside the bed, and started watching him. Sigyn didn't know if he had made a decision yet, but he looked like he had already embraced fatherhood. There was hope.
"Ana," Mr. Jarvis mumbled in his sleep at some point. "Ana, I missed you so much, my darling."
Tears welled in Sigyn's eyes, and she wasn't the only one. Tony must have missed Ana as well. But upon inhaling his daughter's scent, a smile appeared on his face.
"You're cheating. It's not fair."
The baby just looked at him, and blinked in response.
"Master Tony?" Mr. Jarvis asked with a feeble voice. He must have just woken up.
"Jarvis? How are you feeling?"
"Much better."
"You look better." That was, of course, a lie. Although he was doing his best, Mr. Jarvis wasn't getting any better. Still, he managed to sit up in the bed without help from Tony.
"So, she is…"
Tony nodded. "My daughter."
"Do you know who the mother might be?"
"No idea." After a moment of silence, he went on, this time with a hint of frustration in his voice, "Obie thinks I should give her to a foster family. He's already made an arrangement."
"With all due respect, Master Tony, I don't think you should let Mr. Stane make this decision for you."
"I know. That's why I came to you."
He smiled. "What do you want to do?"
"I don't know. But I know what I don't want to do. I don't want to give her away."
"Then don't."
"I can't do that either."
"Why not?"
Tony remained silent.
"May I?" he asked, extending his arms. Tony gave the baby to him.
Mr. Jarvis cooed her for a while before asking, "What is it that you fear so much, Master Tony?"
"I don't want to be like him."
Mr. Jarvis gave him a sympathetic look, then returned to cooing the baby. He knew Tony was right, they all did. But Mr. Jarvis would never speak ill of Howard either.
"Jarvis, you always said my dad and I had much more in common than I knew. Do you think I'll be like him? Tell me the truth."
"Sadly, I cannot see the future. I don't know what kind of father you'll be. I knew your father made mistakes, but I always thought time would heal all the wounds. What I didn't know was that there was no 'time.' Do you want to know the truth? The truth is, he died with many regrets. If you don't want to be like him, you must make sure you have no regrets. Look at her. She's the only family you have now. Do you really want to deny yourself the joy she will bring into your life? If you give up on her, one day you will regret it, Mr. Stark. I know you will."
This was the first time he called Tony "Mr. Stark." For some reason, that seemed to have helped Tony made up his mind. "Well, I guess Claire can take care of her until I find a nanny. Damn, I'm going to have to read a lot of resumes tonight."
Pleased, Mr. Jarvis prepared to give her back to him, but suddenly, he froze. "Mr. Stark? Does this beautiful young lady have a name?"
Tony's face lit up with the same kind of pride Sigyn would often see on Howard's whenever he came up with a brilliant idea. "Ana," he said "Ana Maria Stark."
If Sigyn didn't have to remain hidden, she would have hugged Tony at that moment. Mr. Jarvis was, of course, even more touched by the gesture.
"Thank you, Mr. Stark. Thank you."
After Tony took little Ana and left, Sigyn revealed herself to Mr. Jarvis again. They were both on the verge of tears.
"That boy does have a heart, doesn't he?"
Mr. Jarvis sighed. "If only I had more time to be with them. To watch her grow up…"
She held his hands. "What are you talking about, Mr. Jarvis? Of course you'll watch her grow up. You'll be the only grandparent she ever knows."
She had thought she could lie to him successfully, but her trembling voice and tear-streaked face betrayed her.
"My lady, please… Please don't cry. You've been such a good friend to all of us. I would hate to leave you here with a broken heart."
"Mr. Jarvis, my heart is not broken. The years I spent with you, Ana, Peggy, and the Starks are, and will always be, the most precious years of my life. If grief is the price I have to pay for those memories, so be it. I wish I could stay with you, but I must go to London again first, and then return to Mar-Vell's lab. Loki is waiting for me. I'll visit you as often as I can, I promise. Maybe not physically, but through astral projection…"
"Go, my lady. Don't worry, I'm in good hands."
"I know." She released his hands. Leaving this room wasn't easy. But she had to.
"Oh, Lady Sigyn?"
"Yes, Mr. Jarvis?"
"I'm glad Mr. Stark was able to give you the serum. If anyone deserves this power, it's you."
"Thank you, Mr. Jarvis. That means a lot, coming from the most honorable man in the Nine Realms."
Although he had no regrets, Sigyn knew the dishonorable discharge was still a wound on his pride. And for what was worth, she truly believed Edwin Jarvis was the most honorable man in the Nine Realms.
…
Mr. Jarvis died fourteen months later. It was a quiet ceremony. He had devoted himself to the service of the Stark family ever since he had come to America. He hadn't had much time to make friends. Peggy, Daniel, Tony, and Ana were the only ones who had come to bid him a final farewell. Sigyn, as usual, was invisible to everyone, but Peggy's hand was ready to hold hers. So, she went to stand next to her, and held it. She dreaded the question of whose hand she was going to hold during Peggy's funeral.
"You're the only friend I've left, Peggy. Don't leave me," she whispered. Peggy squeezed her hand gently in response.
Daniel looked around suspiciously, like he had heard her. And he probably had. He gave Peggy a questioning look, and she blinked. Daniel nodded, to show both women that he shared their grief. After they buried Mr. Jarvis next to his wife, Peggy went over to Tony.
"Hello, Tony."
He frowned in confusion, still clueless about his father's past. "Hello, Mrs…"
"Agent Carter." Peggy still used her maiden name, mostly because "Peggy Carter" had been recorded as a feminist icon in Midgardian history books.
"Right… You were a government liaison to Stark Industries, right? I had no idea you knew Mr. Jarvis."
"He was a good friend of mine," she simply said.
Tony raised his eyebrows questioningly, but didn't ask for details. Peggy looked at the little girl in his arms. Tony had been taking good care of her. She had grown into a lively, happy toddler, and right now, she looked like a porcelain doll in that black velvet dress. "Your daughter?"
"Yeah."
She smiled at Ana. "Well, hello there…"
"Hi," she said.
"What's your name, mm?"
"Ana," she replied, then buried her face in the crook of her father's neck.
"What a beautiful name," she said with a sad smile, and looked at Tony, who had flushed in embarrassment. He must have figured out Peggy knew Ana Jarvis, too. He probably didn't want people to know how sentimental he actually was. Like father, like son, Sigyn thought once again.
"Her vocabulary seems quite advanced for her age…"
"Well, she is a Stark," he said curtly, as if he wanted Peggy and her husband to leave at once. Peggy must have realized that they weren't wanted, so she took Daniel and left. Tony thought he was alone with his daughter, so perhaps Sigyn should leave as well, but she was also curious to see what Tony would do next.
He seemed different from how Sigyn had remembered him. The last time she had seen him, he was just a boy, who had lost his parents. Now, he looked much more serious, much more of a "Mr. Stark," in that sleek dark suit, with his daughter in his arms. She was too young to understand the concept of death, but she must have realized something sad and important was going on, because she, too, looked equally solemn.
"Jeeves?" she asked innocently, looking around.
"I'm sorry, baby girl. Jarvis is gone. We're on our own now."
A tear fell from his eye, but Ana wiped it away with her tiny hands. "Dadda, no…"
"Huh." The gesture must have surprised Tony as well. "You're an angel, you know that, right? You're Daddy's little angel. Come on, let's go home."
Walking out of the cemetery to give Tony the privacy he thought he had, Sigyn concluded that for once in her life, she had done the right thing. Those two were going to take good care of each other.